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Theory on economy?
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<blockquote data-quote="muttmeister" data-source="post: 319219" data-attributes="member: 135"><p>I agree with donna; the main factor was GREED, by everybody from the top down.</p><p> </p><p>The government went along by deregulating the big guys so they were able to @#$% the little guys. </p><p> </p><p>They offered credit to people they knew would not be able to pay in the long run but were satisfied to get as much of the blood out of the turnip for as long as they could. They convinced the powers that be that, somehow, charging somebody 30% interest was ethical and should be legal. Remember in Shakespeare when everybody was appalled that Shylock was charging 10% because it was usurious?</p><p> </p><p> We sold houses to people who could not afford them. In the old days there were whole sections of houses built for working people at prices they could afford. Then everybody decided they had to have a mansion to impress people they didn't even know so they quit building houses that people could really afford and sold monstrosities to people who could barely make the minimum payments with loan schemes so complicated that buyers never understood what they were getting into.</p><p> </p><p>Businesses weren't satisfied making a little profit so they farmed jobs out to developing countries for pennies; they made a profit for awhile but people in this country lost their jobs so how were they supposed to spend the big bucks to buy the companies' products?</p><p> </p><p>For awhile, the government was catering to the rich and they were allowed to pay less taxes while the rest of us had to pay more. That means we had less money to spend on goods and services. Warren Buffet lives in my state. I remember when he said that he thought it was a crime that he was allowed to pay less taxes than his secretary. But the government thought it was great.</p><p> </p><p>On top of all of that, we have disruptions caused by weather, terrorists, crop failures, and just general angst. </p><p> </p><p>Plus - there will ALWAYS be ups and downs in the economy. I remember when things were good during the Clinton boom and some jack-donkey on TV who was supposed to be an expert said that things were so good that we should not expect the usual ups and downs to happen. We were beyond that. Yeah, right.</p><p> </p><p>Greed by the big manufacturers, greed by insurance companies, greed by goverment, greed by rich people, and greed by all of the rest of us. We are not willing to live within our means. We HAVE to have that new pair of shoes, that more expensive cut of meat, that new dress, that new sofa, that fancy house, etc., etc., etc. We were on a greedy binge and now we are paying the price. I just hope that it gets spread around evenly and the little guy doesn't get stuck with the whole bill like we usually do.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="muttmeister, post: 319219, member: 135"] I agree with donna; the main factor was GREED, by everybody from the top down. The government went along by deregulating the big guys so they were able to @#$% the little guys. They offered credit to people they knew would not be able to pay in the long run but were satisfied to get as much of the blood out of the turnip for as long as they could. They convinced the powers that be that, somehow, charging somebody 30% interest was ethical and should be legal. Remember in Shakespeare when everybody was appalled that Shylock was charging 10% because it was usurious? We sold houses to people who could not afford them. In the old days there were whole sections of houses built for working people at prices they could afford. Then everybody decided they had to have a mansion to impress people they didn't even know so they quit building houses that people could really afford and sold monstrosities to people who could barely make the minimum payments with loan schemes so complicated that buyers never understood what they were getting into. Businesses weren't satisfied making a little profit so they farmed jobs out to developing countries for pennies; they made a profit for awhile but people in this country lost their jobs so how were they supposed to spend the big bucks to buy the companies' products? For awhile, the government was catering to the rich and they were allowed to pay less taxes while the rest of us had to pay more. That means we had less money to spend on goods and services. Warren Buffet lives in my state. I remember when he said that he thought it was a crime that he was allowed to pay less taxes than his secretary. But the government thought it was great. On top of all of that, we have disruptions caused by weather, terrorists, crop failures, and just general angst. Plus - there will ALWAYS be ups and downs in the economy. I remember when things were good during the Clinton boom and some jack-donkey on TV who was supposed to be an expert said that things were so good that we should not expect the usual ups and downs to happen. We were beyond that. Yeah, right. Greed by the big manufacturers, greed by insurance companies, greed by goverment, greed by rich people, and greed by all of the rest of us. We are not willing to live within our means. We HAVE to have that new pair of shoes, that more expensive cut of meat, that new dress, that new sofa, that fancy house, etc., etc., etc. We were on a greedy binge and now we are paying the price. I just hope that it gets spread around evenly and the little guy doesn't get stuck with the whole bill like we usually do. [/QUOTE]
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