Stop paying credit cards. Give yourself a bailout!!
- Thread starter jueco2005
- Start date
UK has just announced the budget.They are going to charge 50% tax for anyone earning over 150k. So,let me get this right.I am going to carry on working in order to hand over half my money to the thieves and incompetants that caused this crisis.
Here's my answer, NO.Not gonna do that.Not only am i gonna carry on being a 'loser' i will take take on the task with real relish.
And true to form,they carry on lying by claiming false,made up, projected growth figures to pay off the decades of debt that they are directly responsible for saddling us with(while continuing to fiddle their personal expenses,and resisting calls for transparency) Meanwhile,following the death of an innocent bystander at g20 riots,police brutality against anyone who dares to protest on the streets is being investigated.Like the government, their first move was to attempt to 'investigate' themselves.Today,footage which they attempted to withold, clearly showing the same officer brutalizing other protestors in other locations on the same day,was released.
We don't trust our politicians-with good reason.We don't trust our police-with good reason. The only thing we can trust is our own judgement about how best to survive in an increasingly fucked up world.....
Here's my answer, NO.Not gonna do that.Not only am i gonna carry on being a 'loser' i will take take on the task with real relish.
And true to form,they carry on lying by claiming false,made up, projected growth figures to pay off the decades of debt that they are directly responsible for saddling us with(while continuing to fiddle their personal expenses,and resisting calls for transparency) Meanwhile,following the death of an innocent bystander at g20 riots,police brutality against anyone who dares to protest on the streets is being investigated.Like the government, their first move was to attempt to 'investigate' themselves.Today,footage which they attempted to withold, clearly showing the same officer brutalizing other protestors in other locations on the same day,was released.
We don't trust our politicians-with good reason.We don't trust our police-with good reason. The only thing we can trust is our own judgement about how best to survive in an increasingly fucked up world.....
Society should change politicians frequently.. the way we change a baby's diapers... and for exactly the same reason.
lol thanks,at least you made me laugh!
Let me just be clear. I am by no means misfortunate. I have 2 legs, 2 arms, one good eye, a roof over my head, food, and health insurance. I have however not been able to improve my financial situation no matter what I try or hard I work. On top of that, the cost of living is continuously rising, even though it seems wages for a lot of people are stagnant or even decreasing.
I have discussed on ET a of lot how I didnât go the traditional route that most people do. I donât want a job, I always wanted to create the job. Inevitable this requires capital, risk, persistence. But what I have found each time I fail and try again, is that jobs I used to use to save money are shrinking. At the same time the cost of living never stops going up. So Iâm not only working hard to try to get ahead, itâs also a race against the clock. And itâs a race Iâm losing. With our current policyâs, things are only going to get worse. People who work full time jobs are now finding that that barely covers the essentials, if that, and have turned to credit cards to make up for it. TraderAntiChrist and the like will have you believe that this whole mess was created because everybody thought they deserved a big screen tv and a nice house. There may be some truth to that, but what do you think causes more bankruptcyâs? People buying big screen tvâs or medical bills. People who talk like that sound like those people making a big deal over the AIG execs getting 160 million when they owe the government 160 billion. Look at the big picture.
I guess what I mean is that Bill Gates was a smart guy and went into business and made billions. But there was probably just as many people out there who were even smarter and had a better product and would have brought more value to this world. But they didnât make it, Gates did. Thatâs just the way it worked out. Not everybody can be rich. But what I hear a lot of around here, is that all those people who didnât make it, are losers who deserve to live in poverty because theyâre failures and scum of the earth. I donât think riches should be given to them by any means, but at least they could go work for Gates and make a decent living. They still can bring value. Thatâs the way it used to be, but now people like Gates, have decided that a mansion, beach house, Rolls Royce, and country club membership is not enough. They now need a Ferrari, ski lodge, and a little something for the mistress. In order to get this, he skims dozens of little guys. He cuts their wages. He ships their jobs to Mexico and ships Mexicans here to work jobs that he claims âhe canât get Americans to do.â He prints money out of thin air and gets government contracts that he overcharges on. All of this is of course paid for by the little guy who now is struggling to just stay afloat. He then turns to credit cards to pay his bills, which of course Gates is more than willing to give him. Then Gates still hasnât made enough money, so he jacks the interest rate to 29%. Then when he defaults, TraderAntiChrist goes on his verbal rampage. Iâm not saying people havenât made mistakes, but when looking at this current economic crisis, try looking at the bigger picture before passing judgement. Our job markets are crumbling and then you wonder why we get in situations like these. We need to reexamine our policyâs.
Sandy... if you know it all, why are you stuck in your current situation? If you don't have a victim's mentality, why do you think "luck" (circumstances beyond your control) plays a greater role in success than it actually does? If, as you claim, you have not been able to improve your financial situation no matter what you try or how hard you work, why don't you have more than a high school diploma? Why haven't you learned a trade? If there wasn't a huge problem in the U.S. with people living beyond their means, why did home equity liberated from remortgaging play such a huge role in the economy from 2000 to 2006?
First off, I donât know everything. Youâve just never been able to combat my arguments, let alone present a reasonable one yourself, and it frustrates you to no end. Thatâs why you resort to name calling and verbal rampages. If you were a prosecutor, the judge wouldnât even let your case go to trial. Heâd throw it out for lack of evidence.
Youâre obviously not in touch with the real world. Where does this notion come from that education is the answer to our economic problems? The evidence doesnât support this. In fact, itâs just the opposite. As the percentage of the population with a college degree has steadily increased, real wages have actually decreased. How is that possible? The smartest population in the world canât make up for the fact our job markets are crumbling.
Report: Most not seeing real wage gains
Employee pay lowest share of GDP since 1947, when government started tracking data. Corporate profits highest share of GDP since the 1960s.
August 28 2006: 11:32 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Most workers have not seen wage gains keep pace with inflation during the current economic expansion, the first time that has happened since World War II, according to a published report.
The New York Times reports that the median hourly wage for American workers has declined 2 percent since 2003, after factoring in inflation. Median wages are the point at which equal numbers of workers earn more and less.
The paper reports that while average family income, adjusted for inflation, has continued to advance at a good clip, that has been helped by gains by the top wage earners.
The paper says that about nine out of 10 workers have seen inflation that has outpaced their pay increases over the last three years, according to the Labor Department. That includes workers earning up to $80,000 a year, a level that puts them in the 90th percentile of wage earners.
The paper reports that with employment gains softening in recent months, inflationary pressures stay high due to factors such as high energy prices, so the gap between wages and prices could increase for many workers.
The paper reports that the gap between the top wage earners and other workers is growing. It cites research from economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty that showed that in 2004, the top 1 percent of earners --a group that includes many chief executives --received 11.2 percent of all wage income, up from 8.7 percent a decade earlier and less than 6 percent three decades ago.
In addition, corporate profits are growing more quickly than wages and salaries. Employee pay now makes up the lowest share of the nation's gross domestic product since the government began recording the data in 1947, according to the paper, while corporate profits have climbed to their highest share since the 1960s.
Again, I will use real life examples, something you seem to lack quite a bit of. I just got a temp job. A job, by the way, that pays very well for doing relatively easy work. I almost feel guilty getting paid that much, but I do my job well and thatâs what they pay. I certainly try to earn that. A guy I work with there told me that he graduated 2 years ago with a Bachelorâs in business. He said that he has yet to find a permanent job. I havenât really talked with him about it much, but he told me heâs just been able to work a few temp jobs. Of course he has student loans to pay back now. So basically he followed your plan. But the problem is, thereâs no job for him and on top of that he has student loans. See, you tell half the story. Youâve forgotten the part about how to pay for all this education. I think we can all rule out the scenario that both my parents used. They got half scholarships and worked part time at a grocery store and paid for all their living expenses and tuition and graduated debt free. So the only other alternative that I see now is student loans and credit cards. But if there is no job after graduation, the loans donât get paid. Then you go on a rampage about people not paying their debts. So your solution to the problem is the problem itself. That makes a lot of sense.
Second story. I was in McDonaldâs yesterday. I saw next to me the manager speaking to someone who was turning in an application. They were speaking in Spanish, so I couldnât understand them, but I could figure out that the manager was saying she had absolutely no positions open. The applicant looked like sheâs fit right in there as well. The manager wasnât trying to make excuses. So what is it saying when McDonaldâs isnât even hiring?
I have already demonstrated several times how our job markets are eroding, but yet you come to the conclusion that people are in debt because they lived beyond their means? Yea peopleâs problems are a result of that $1000 big screen tv they bought. It couldnât possible have anything to do with health insurance going up 15% a year. Or $4 gas. Or electricity and food bills going up dramatically. Or property taxes going up. Or stagnant wages. Yea itâs gotta be that cell phone bill that got them into trouble.
I love it when people say donât spend more than you make. Iâve asked several people this and have never gotten a good response. If I break my arm and go to the hospital and the doctor says itâs going to be $1000 to fix it, but I only have $500 in the bank, what do I say? Gee doc Iâm not supposed to spend more than I make, so could you just fix half my arm and Iâll come back when I have the other $500? Your simplistic logic is wrong as evidenced by you never being able to give a real life example or story. I live in the 12th richest county in the country, but Iâm having a hard time finding those that lived well beyond their means. When I look around all I see is townhouses and condos. Where are these McMansions? Everybody I know drives cars more than 10 years old.
BTW I got an insurance license and Series 6 when I was 18 and worked full time for one of the big insurance companyâs. Itâs not like I havenât gotten any training. But after awhile I wasnât able to make anything of that and I didnât enjoy it either.