Happy Halloween!
Goblins, witches, warlocks and evil spirits. We all know it's a ghoulish economy with financial ruin at every turn. Who hath stirred a boiling wicked brew of economic pain and mayhem? Below are some economic horror stories for your All Hallows Eve.
Economic Crime Does Kill
From the Financial Times, a few statistics on death by finance:
Here in Philadelphia, two people committed suicide after losing their homes to foreclosure. Data from the US Center for Disease Control indicate that US suicides increased from 33,300 in 2006 to 35,547 in 2009 and that the rate increased from 11.15 per 100,000 people to 11.9. In contrast, there were only 17,826 homicides in 2008, with a much lower rate of 5.86 deaths per 100,000.
Plus, millions of Americans will die years before their time from the stresses of this second Depression – and from the lack of medical care resulting from deep government budget cuts. Overall, Wall Street corruption will probably kill more Americans than al-Qaeda.
Homeowner Horror
Just another foreclosure horror story, but this one with a somewhat happy ending in that there are no suicides or divorces. Love in the Time of Foreclosure:
Unless we win the lottery, there is no way for us to remain in our home as the owners without loan modification:
- If we don't sell the house soon, the bank will sell it from under us and we will have a foreclosure on our record for seven years.
- We buy a couple lottery tickets each week
When you're buying lottery tickets in hopes you will survive financially, that's a horror story. The book goes through one person's experience with buying a house, at the height of the bubble and then losing it. Yes, this is the new American horror story. The author has up a blog with updates on how they thought the house was haunted too!
Civil Lawsuit Test Cases
Think the deck is stacked against you? You're right! Seems large class actions are getting a few test cases to actually go to court. These cases are known as bellwethers and used to see if the large class action civil case should proceed, or be settled outside of court. Thing is, defendants are picking and choosing the weakest cases to actually go before a judge, guaranteeing the plaintiff loses and large liable corporations win. This new spin on civil suits literally means large multinational corporations can get away with murder.
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Foreclosure Mill Law Firm
As if you didn't know some are getting rich foreclosing on people, law firm Steven J. Baum, celebrated their vampire mentality with a Halloween party. Their costumes? Dressing as their now homeless foreclosure victims, all to mock them.
Reader's Horror
Count on the Business Insider to collect some real financial nightmares from readers for your holiday pleasure:
Financial horror story: I’m in my late twenties and just got pointed to you. I am divorced and have custody of my 3 kids. My ex does not work and will not get a job, so I get no child support. I bring in roughly $3200/mo, but half of that goes to daycare. Keep in mind I still buy diapers and wipes, food, clothes, etc.
I live in Texas where land values, and thusly the cost of living, are lower, which is how I survive, but I still have to live with family… Texas does not have alimony by the way…
I’m so broke I can’t even afford your book, so I’m having a family member buy it for me for Christmas.
The horror part is that I got in a wreck a year and a half ago which shattered two vertebrae, and I didn’t have medical insurance because the company I contracted through at the time didn’t offer it, so I have $180,000 in medical bills sitting on my credit report.
Top Fears Are Economic
No surprise it's not terrorists scaring the crap out of America, it's economics:
The No. 1 fear they listed was "Being Injured or Contracting a Serious Illness." The reason SmartAboutMoney said they are so scary is "they can put you completely out of commission."
The second fear was "Something Happening to Your Home or Car." Problems can come from bad weather, breakdowns and the age of the property.
The third fear was "Not Being Able to Support a Family Member." Parents age and may need help. Or nightmare of nightmares, adult children sometimes need to move back home.
Foreclosure Ghost Towns
Anyone in the real world knows America is turning into the poverty stricken 3rd world. Here's the latest forecosure ghost towns.
Least we not forget, there are already manufacturing ghost towns springing up like mushrooms since 2000.
From the Archives
Here are some economic horror stories you might have missed from us!
- Scientist Who Laid Groundwork for Nobel Prize Can't Get a Job. You can't make this stuff up folks.
- Banks Laundering Drug Cartel Money
- Rejecting a Job Applicant based on their credit score. Gee, maybe you can't pay your bills because you need a job!
- Only those who already have a job need apply. Discrimination at it's finest.
- Who can forget 2.4 million jobs lost to China in 7 years.
- Most of the recent job losses are from offshore outsourcing.
- Wages in America, most of us are have nots. 2010 is even worse
- Bailed out Banks forcing Americans to train their foreign worker replacements before being fired.
- Mexican Truckers Allowed onto U.S. Highways, Displacing U.S. Truckers.
Honorable Mentions of Financial Fright
These lists below are full of more foreclosure fraud, identity theft, scams and bank errors. Be afraid. You'll never look at the greenback the same again.
- Fox's financial ghastly tales
- Bankrate's reader submitted personal finance horror stories
- College Express's Financial Aid Horror Stories
- MSN's financial scam list of trolls and golbins eating your lunch.
- Here are some corporate top 5 horror stories for 2011. Outage anyone?
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