It's truly absurd too for both parties to sit there and talk about "tax cuts" when this is going on. Positively ridiculous.
I saw one of those focus groups on CNN and basically the undecided were saying they both suck and don't offer real solutions and do not describe the real problems...
it's like "whose rhetoric" sounds a little better and that's clearly Obama. I appreciated those people's disgust at all of this for that is certainly where I am at.
Can we ever get policy that is responding or addressing the real statistics on what is going on and they actually listen to real experts?
I first noticed it in jeans - same brand same cuts didn't fit right (no cracks on my state of un-fitness!!) and definitely didn't seem to last as long - Then come to find out levi's (and later wranglers) were no longer made in the US - Levi's went to Brazil and there was a clear quality drop - yet the prices didn't come down concurrently. Thinner material, poor stictching you name it.
Students loans have become a scam, but it also depends on where you get your loans from.
I went to Purdue University and the loans I took at through the school itself had a very, very low interest rate and they were very helpful and understanding when I needed to make a payment late or somesuch. It didn't take very long for me to pay those off.
HOWEVER, I unfortunately took out most of my loans via Sallie Mae, who screwed me over worse than any credit card I've ever had... Their interest rate was ok at first, but then they starting changing the time of the month my payments were due (without telling me of course; I was just supposed to remember to check my account status online constantly.. >.<), which caused me to make a payment a few days late. Once that payment was late, they jacked up my interest, plus tacked on "late fees" and "re-billing fees" which came up to around $200 extra I had to pay. So then, I started checking my account info all the time to be sure it didn't happen again. So they changed tactics. For maybe 5 months or so, I was making $60 payments a month (The minimum was $55 and some change, so I rounded up). Then a month came up where the minimum payment amount was suddenly $61 and some change; Luckily I caught it in time and sent a second payment of $1 and some change. If I hadn't caught it, it would have been another interest increase and another $200 down the tubes.
And before all that mess during the time I was paying on my loans, they managed to screw me over, too. When I filled out the loan app, they told me that I wouldn't have to start paying on my loans until 12 months after I graduated/stopped going to school. Well, the person I talked to was incorrect or lying, because its actually 6 months, so I wasn't paying anything for those months because I didn't know I was supposed to be. They never sent me a single bill or anything in regards to my account during that time (though they did send me PLENTY of solicitations asking me to take out more loans). Then around the 6 month mark, my mother gets a call from them saying that they needed to get in contact with me about my loans. I call them back and they tell me I'm delinquent, which is a total shock to me. They tell me that I can agree to a forbearance and they said that would basically wipe the last 6 months away, taking away the interest accrued and taking it off my credit record. So of course, I agree; I'm just starting out in life, I don't need awful credit on top of everything else. Then a few months ago, I apply for a loan and am rejected because of poor credit. Come to find out, that forbearance did NOT take those delinquencies off my credit report and when I called Sallie Mae about it they "had no idea where I would get that impression from". Also, the guy who told me that conveniently 'doesn't work there anymore'.
Sorry, this went on longer than intended... The whole situation has just infuriated me to no end. I agree with you, Blueneck, that a huge part of the problem is that tuition and book costs have gone so high. Despite my loans (which are now paid off), I still haven't been able to afford to go back to school to finish my degree. And with the state of our current economy, I don't see that changing soon. :(
remember that was the "sale" on bad trade deals...if we give our jobs away then magically that's foreign policy and that will keep the peace? They replaced bombs with giving away the middle class economic health.
to me this is the real result of mixing the two.
Yeah, I can see that,they built basically a system, yeah, sure it's a global system, but not analyzing such a structure from a system architecture and points of failure is seriously dumb.
It sure looks like they could use the systems engineering concepts where one isolates faults...if one component fails it doesn't bring the system down...
and I still this Paulson's protege there is insane and am not referring to him with his 5 year old MBA.
How about clothes? I went through the "can't I find a toaster that even toasts evenly and doesn't burn one part" hunt recently too. You can pay $75 bucks and still be better off sticking your bread on a stick over a fire.
But clothing, anyone notice that clothing is shoddy, ugly, not tailored and we all look like the communist party in their uniforms except ours are sweat pants made in some slave labor country somewhere? Even more high end clothing it all looks like trash.
credit cards maxed out, possible job loss....the buy now, pay later society was probably already completely tapped out anyway and now this.
The more incredible point is how they look at Americans as only consumers and just refuse, refuse to pump up production type of sectors like manufacturing to turn Americans back into producers.
It's a dead zone on that topic Green jobs? They still are not talking about how those green jobs can be created in China and India and not the United States.
Done correctly, though, wouldn't an artificially intelligent anti-missile be the ultimate anti-aircraft missile, making about 5000 course corrections to every one a human pilot can make?
Of course, that would suggest that you actually have the right chips in the anti-missile to begin with....
hey I’m really glad you posted this because I know my parents have been complaining about the high gas prices. Recently there was a Time’s article on the benefits of high gas prices and I just then notice the bright side of having high gas prices. The high gas prices really if you think about it, has changed a lot on what Americans do as a habit today. For example, in Taiwan and other Asian countries, they walk and take subways or buses which is good way to lessen the air pollution if everyone took them. However I know, living in Southern California, that is utterly impossible since everything is so spread out. However It think there should be more public transport and the public should think of other ways for transportation such as carpooling. I noticed that the Public’s habits are also changing.
Iceland was able to secure a loan to buoy their banks...... from Russia.
But there's a catch.
It looks like the Russians want to lease the old US airbase as Keyflavik. With Tu-95 "Bear" Bombers (the workhorse of the Soviet Strategic Nuclear program) this is a 4.5 hour trip from New York. Less than 2 hour by the Tu-160 super-sonic bomber.
This would cut the time to New York by about half from what it is now. And beefing up strategic nuclear bombers is a way to counteract the change that the proposed missile defense shield would bring.
Strategic bombers don't have fixed trajectories, they can evade countermeasures. They can have the "stealth" technology like the B-2 bomber. In short, they are a way to get around a missile shield.
I have one of the last US made RCA TVs in the basement - that Bloomington IN plant closed about a decade ago. Some may say that Sony makes TVs in the US - but that operation is nothing more than a final assembly point of foreign components "putting the knobs and labels on" and packaging.
I recently had the old US made kenmore microwave my dad gave to take to college 28 years ago give up the ghost - that thing was rock solid. The new chinese GE we bought (and this is one of their top of the line models) is cheap plasticy and flimsy feeling - seriously doubt it will last more than a couple years.
Still using my 20 year old kenmore washer - the repair guy we have says to keep these old ones going as long as you can because the new ones "just aren't made like they used to". With kids, this thing runs constantly
my 30 year old Marantz amp and Bose speakers still going strong, while I have eaten up many a cheepo imported stereo components over the same period of time
I was priveledged to own an actual American-made television, that sadly just went bust. We purchased this Philco TV over 24 years ago at a local electronics shop. Yes, over the years, the little thing needed repairs, but it was never nothing major. My friends and family said replace the thing, but I couldn't..how could I? How many "Made in the USA" televisions were out there? I couldn't find one. No, I threw logic out the window and kept my little Philco out of sentimentality and love of what went behind putting it together. Unfortunately, the tube finally went, a miracle if you think about it, two decades of constant use and only now does it die on me. I've had newer televisions, including one of those new HD TVs, but that little Philco had a special place in my heart.
But it wasn't just televisions. Many years ago, we owned a GE Toaster, it was one of those small oven units. I had purchased this as gift to my mom (she was going through a "I gotta make everything in toast form" phase). I purchased this in my freshman year in high school over a decade or so ago. At the time, I paid no attention to the label of where it was made. It had become simply "the white toaster" in the kitchen. A staple image in the scene, that made everything from cookies to..well toast. Unfortunately, like my television, it too died after a decade or so of usage. You can probably guess, yes...the toaster oven was "Made in the USA". I only realized this as I was tossing it out and saw the label. My parents had since purchased a new toaster from Walmart, one of those namebrands made in China. While that old GE unit was a workhorse, my parents have since gone through 2 different toasters. I guess that says it all.
Great idea, and the sort of demand side bottom up approach that is needed to stabilize the housing bust, it did slip in other the radar and caught many by surprise.
Probably just some sort of deperate grab for McCain though - wityh all his tax cutting and coporate welfare there would never be enough money to actually make it happen
Clearly the counterfeit chips article underscores 3 of the major issues with "free" trade - product quality has been a major casualty, intellectual property theft, and the ramifications for national security as technology is offshored. yet NONE of these issues are ever discussed in the MSM, or the political discourse. Free traders continually spout their talking point of "improved" product quality as a benefit of trade despite all the evidence to the contrary - look at all the imported products that do not last nearly as long or work as well as the domestic products they replaced - consumer electronics, appliances, houswares, shoes, hand and power tools, furniture and so on. Tools used to last decades and be passed down from dads and grampas, chinese and mexican tools for example are only good for a few uses then they are junk - and good luck finding half inch wrench that fits right on a half inch bolt! Same brand same price shoes that used to be made in Maine and last years fall apart rapidly, furniture that used to last generations, now replaced with cheapo pressboard crap. Appliances used to last decades, new ones are lucky to last a few years and cost more than they are worth to repair - if you can find someone to work on them!
all I can see is go to bloomberg website and read the headlines.....this is crashing fast and furious, 34% Japan corporation bankruptcies increase, stocks crashing, markets halting....
Did anyone notice that McCain just suggested a refinancing at reduced , low fixed rate FHA 30 yr...of distressed homes about to be foreclosed on?
I know we all think he's a putz but this idea happens to be highly recommended by economists and both sides of the isle...
it kind of slid right by and should be promoted.
I found that amazing because, say for example Trade, McCain usually just tows the corporate lobbyists talking points...
and I also notice Obama sure does not have this in his plans and it's one of the key issues to stop the foreclosures.
He sounded like a damn Progressive when he said that...
Anyone else going to acknowledge this even though we're all a bunch of lefties?
Seriously. (and yes he sucks on health care, but when someone actually presents a plan that so many economists are saying will work...hell man, they deserve some credit).
There is so much going on right now that it's hard to even comment on it intelligently.
My immediate thoughts were if businesses can get loans from the central bank why not nationalize the banks generally (which Sweden did and it worked) and why would anyone bother to go to a regular bank under these circumstances.
Then, because it's the Fed....what happens if these people do not pay back their loans...although if the IRS is any indication the Fed could own everything, yet default because it's plain out of money? I raised that earlier and while it seems completely improbable....why not happen here, why does everyone believe the US is immune?
But, I think it's contagion (as said earlier) and nothing the Fed does at the moment is going to make a dent...it's like waves of waves reverberating upon each other bringing down the house.
It's truly absurd too for both parties to sit there and talk about "tax cuts" when this is going on. Positively ridiculous.
I saw one of those focus groups on CNN and basically the undecided were saying they both suck and don't offer real solutions and do not describe the real problems...
it's like "whose rhetoric" sounds a little better and that's clearly Obama. I appreciated those people's disgust at all of this for that is certainly where I am at.
Can we ever get policy that is responding or addressing the real statistics on what is going on and they actually listen to real experts?
I first noticed it in jeans - same brand same cuts didn't fit right (no cracks on my state of un-fitness!!) and definitely didn't seem to last as long - Then come to find out levi's (and later wranglers) were no longer made in the US - Levi's went to Brazil and there was a clear quality drop - yet the prices didn't come down concurrently. Thinner material, poor stictching you name it.
Students loans have become a scam, but it also depends on where you get your loans from.
I went to Purdue University and the loans I took at through the school itself had a very, very low interest rate and they were very helpful and understanding when I needed to make a payment late or somesuch. It didn't take very long for me to pay those off.
HOWEVER, I unfortunately took out most of my loans via Sallie Mae, who screwed me over worse than any credit card I've ever had... Their interest rate was ok at first, but then they starting changing the time of the month my payments were due (without telling me of course; I was just supposed to remember to check my account status online constantly.. >.<), which caused me to make a payment a few days late. Once that payment was late, they jacked up my interest, plus tacked on "late fees" and "re-billing fees" which came up to around $200 extra I had to pay. So then, I started checking my account info all the time to be sure it didn't happen again. So they changed tactics. For maybe 5 months or so, I was making $60 payments a month (The minimum was $55 and some change, so I rounded up). Then a month came up where the minimum payment amount was suddenly $61 and some change; Luckily I caught it in time and sent a second payment of $1 and some change. If I hadn't caught it, it would have been another interest increase and another $200 down the tubes.
And before all that mess during the time I was paying on my loans, they managed to screw me over, too. When I filled out the loan app, they told me that I wouldn't have to start paying on my loans until 12 months after I graduated/stopped going to school. Well, the person I talked to was incorrect or lying, because its actually 6 months, so I wasn't paying anything for those months because I didn't know I was supposed to be. They never sent me a single bill or anything in regards to my account during that time (though they did send me PLENTY of solicitations asking me to take out more loans). Then around the 6 month mark, my mother gets a call from them saying that they needed to get in contact with me about my loans. I call them back and they tell me I'm delinquent, which is a total shock to me. They tell me that I can agree to a forbearance and they said that would basically wipe the last 6 months away, taking away the interest accrued and taking it off my credit record. So of course, I agree; I'm just starting out in life, I don't need awful credit on top of everything else. Then a few months ago, I apply for a loan and am rejected because of poor credit. Come to find out, that forbearance did NOT take those delinquencies off my credit report and when I called Sallie Mae about it they "had no idea where I would get that impression from". Also, the guy who told me that conveniently 'doesn't work there anymore'.
Sorry, this went on longer than intended... The whole situation has just infuriated me to no end. I agree with you, Blueneck, that a huge part of the problem is that tuition and book costs have gone so high. Despite my loans (which are now paid off), I still haven't been able to afford to go back to school to finish my degree. And with the state of our current economy, I don't see that changing soon. :(
reminds me of farmers pouring milk on the roads in the 30's all the while people in the US were starving.
This is one ominous sign.
remember that was the "sale" on bad trade deals...if we give our jobs away then magically that's foreign policy and that will keep the peace? They replaced bombs with giving away the middle class economic health.
to me this is the real result of mixing the two.
Yeah, I can see that,they built basically a system, yeah, sure it's a global system, but not analyzing such a structure from a system architecture and points of failure is seriously dumb.
It sure looks like they could use the systems engineering concepts where one isolates faults...if one component fails it doesn't bring the system down...
and I still this Paulson's protege there is insane and am not referring to him with his 5 year old MBA.
How about clothes? I went through the "can't I find a toaster that even toasts evenly and doesn't burn one part" hunt recently too. You can pay $75 bucks and still be better off sticking your bread on a stick over a fire.
But clothing, anyone notice that clothing is shoddy, ugly, not tailored and we all look like the communist party in their uniforms except ours are sweat pants made in some slave labor country somewhere? Even more high end clothing it all looks like trash.
I don't know the history of S&P 500 but as I recall doesn't that over 10 years always been all other indexes and has this happened before?
credit cards maxed out, possible job loss....the buy now, pay later society was probably already completely tapped out anyway and now this.
The more incredible point is how they look at Americans as only consumers and just refuse, refuse to pump up production type of sectors like manufacturing to turn Americans back into producers.
It's a dead zone on that topic Green jobs? They still are not talking about how those green jobs can be created in China and India and not the United States.
Done correctly, though, wouldn't an artificially intelligent anti-missile be the ultimate anti-aircraft missile, making about 5000 course corrections to every one a human pilot can make?
Of course, that would suggest that you actually have the right chips in the anti-missile to begin with....
Insulation works.
We need some better firewalls- this is basically the same problem as when the first internet worm was written back in the early 1980s.
hey I’m really glad you posted this because I know my parents have been complaining about the high gas prices. Recently there was a Time’s article on the benefits of high gas prices and I just then notice the bright side of having high gas prices. The high gas prices really if you think about it, has changed a lot on what Americans do as a habit today. For example, in Taiwan and other Asian countries, they walk and take subways or buses which is good way to lessen the air pollution if everyone took them. However I know, living in Southern California, that is utterly impossible since everything is so spread out. However It think there should be more public transport and the public should think of other ways for transportation such as carpooling. I noticed that the Public’s habits are also changing.
Iceland was able to secure a loan to buoy their banks...... from Russia.
But there's a catch.
It looks like the Russians want to lease the old US airbase as Keyflavik. With Tu-95 "Bear" Bombers (the workhorse of the Soviet Strategic Nuclear program) this is a 4.5 hour trip from New York. Less than 2 hour by the Tu-160 super-sonic bomber.
This would cut the time to New York by about half from what it is now. And beefing up strategic nuclear bombers is a way to counteract the change that the proposed missile defense shield would bring.
Strategic bombers don't have fixed trajectories, they can evade countermeasures. They can have the "stealth" technology like the B-2 bomber. In short, they are a way to get around a missile shield.
Indeed
I have one of the last US made RCA TVs in the basement - that Bloomington IN plant closed about a decade ago. Some may say that Sony makes TVs in the US - but that operation is nothing more than a final assembly point of foreign components "putting the knobs and labels on" and packaging.
I recently had the old US made kenmore microwave my dad gave to take to college 28 years ago give up the ghost - that thing was rock solid. The new chinese GE we bought (and this is one of their top of the line models) is cheap plasticy and flimsy feeling - seriously doubt it will last more than a couple years.
Still using my 20 year old kenmore washer - the repair guy we have says to keep these old ones going as long as you can because the new ones "just aren't made like they used to". With kids, this thing runs constantly
my 30 year old Marantz amp and Bose speakers still going strong, while I have eaten up many a cheepo imported stereo components over the same period of time
I was priveledged to own an actual American-made television, that sadly just went bust. We purchased this Philco TV over 24 years ago at a local electronics shop. Yes, over the years, the little thing needed repairs, but it was never nothing major. My friends and family said replace the thing, but I couldn't..how could I? How many "Made in the USA" televisions were out there? I couldn't find one. No, I threw logic out the window and kept my little Philco out of sentimentality and love of what went behind putting it together. Unfortunately, the tube finally went, a miracle if you think about it, two decades of constant use and only now does it die on me. I've had newer televisions, including one of those new HD TVs, but that little Philco had a special place in my heart.
But it wasn't just televisions. Many years ago, we owned a GE Toaster, it was one of those small oven units. I had purchased this as gift to my mom (she was going through a "I gotta make everything in toast form" phase). I purchased this in my freshman year in high school over a decade or so ago. At the time, I paid no attention to the label of where it was made. It had become simply "the white toaster" in the kitchen. A staple image in the scene, that made everything from cookies to..well toast. Unfortunately, like my television, it too died after a decade or so of usage. You can probably guess, yes...the toaster oven was "Made in the USA". I only realized this as I was tossing it out and saw the label. My parents had since purchased a new toaster from Walmart, one of those namebrands made in China. While that old GE unit was a workhorse, my parents have since gone through 2 different toasters. I guess that says it all.
Great idea, and the sort of demand side bottom up approach that is needed to stabilize the housing bust, it did slip in other the radar and caught many by surprise.
Probably just some sort of deperate grab for McCain though - wityh all his tax cutting and coporate welfare there would never be enough money to actually make it happen
Clearly the counterfeit chips article underscores 3 of the major issues with "free" trade - product quality has been a major casualty, intellectual property theft, and the ramifications for national security as technology is offshored. yet NONE of these issues are ever discussed in the MSM, or the political discourse. Free traders continually spout their talking point of "improved" product quality as a benefit of trade despite all the evidence to the contrary - look at all the imported products that do not last nearly as long or work as well as the domestic products they replaced - consumer electronics, appliances, houswares, shoes, hand and power tools, furniture and so on. Tools used to last decades and be passed down from dads and grampas, chinese and mexican tools for example are only good for a few uses then they are junk - and good luck finding half inch wrench that fits right on a half inch bolt! Same brand same price shoes that used to be made in Maine and last years fall apart rapidly, furniture that used to last generations, now replaced with cheapo pressboard crap. Appliances used to last decades, new ones are lucky to last a few years and cost more than they are worth to repair - if you can find someone to work on them!
all I can see is go to bloomberg website and read the headlines.....this is crashing fast and furious, 34% Japan corporation bankruptcies increase, stocks crashing, markets halting....
Did anyone notice that McCain just suggested a refinancing at reduced , low fixed rate FHA 30 yr...of distressed homes about to be foreclosed on?
I know we all think he's a putz but this idea happens to be highly recommended by economists and both sides of the isle...
it kind of slid right by and should be promoted.
I found that amazing because, say for example Trade, McCain usually just tows the corporate lobbyists talking points...
and I also notice Obama sure does not have this in his plans and it's one of the key issues to stop the foreclosures.
He sounded like a damn Progressive when he said that...
Anyone else going to acknowledge this even though we're all a bunch of lefties?
Seriously. (and yes he sucks on health care, but when someone actually presents a plan that so many economists are saying will work...hell man, they deserve some credit).
There is so much going on right now that it's hard to even comment on it intelligently.
My immediate thoughts were if businesses can get loans from the central bank why not nationalize the banks generally (which Sweden did and it worked) and why would anyone bother to go to a regular bank under these circumstances.
Then, because it's the Fed....what happens if these people do not pay back their loans...although if the IRS is any indication the Fed could own everything, yet default because it's plain out of money? I raised that earlier and while it seems completely improbable....why not happen here, why does everyone believe the US is immune?
But, I think it's contagion (as said earlier) and nothing the Fed does at the moment is going to make a dent...it's like waves of waves reverberating upon each other bringing down the house.
Pages