US Financial Crisis

[Andy]

This definitely needs a thread.

The United States is entering its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. It's the result of a housing bubble burst as offshore funding went way down, plus companies who gave more loans than they could handle, leaving mortgages that cannot be paid off. Now major mortgage companies are filing for bankruptcy, and the government is stepping in to pay off all the mortgages, which is adding a massive burden to our national debt.

The dollar's value is also going down. People are buying gold (whose value tends to never drop) and waiting for the worst.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/502886

[Simmi]

That's kinda scary... I'm only 12 so I don't really know what happened during the Great Depression but I can figure from all the stories told in school that it's REAL bad. So our US today might suffer something worse than the Depression is horrifying--for me at least. Haven't read the article yet but I don't think I will...

[Rouge]

It was inevitable. It all goes back to when people disregarded stuff from our Founding Fathers'.
Like Washington's Farewell Address, pour example:

Don't get involved in foreign affairs.
Don't split into separate parties.
etc.

We brought it upon ourselves....

[Zombified]

If only we had a few billion dollars to spend so this didn't happen.

Oh, wait!
We did!

We spent it all in Iraq.

:mad:

[Shaun]

I'm getting really sick and tired of the media trying to play off this financial crisis as if it is even remotely the same as the Great Depression. It's not. In fact, even at our current low we're so far above the Great Depression that those people back in those days would be wondering what the hell the fuss is about. The Economy isn't dead, it's not dying. It's in a massive slump, but we learned our lesson the last time in terms of protecting against major crashes. The U.S. isn't going to become a third world country, we're not going to get a great depression, meh.

Yes, we're having problems, this is a crisis that needs an immediate resolution, but to liken this to the Great Depression, as if our current predicament can even remotely compare to what our predicessors had gone through is like saying a terrorist bombing in Israel is the first time since the Holocaust that the Jews have had to worry for their safety. I mean really. We're being pathetic little babies. Yes, be concerned, but stop whining like this is the worst damn thing to ever happen. We still have public services don't we? Your roads are still being fixed at a pathetically slow pace as they always have been, right? There are still picnic tables in the park and a McDs or Starbucks on the corner.

Sorry, it just irks me that we're getting all worked up as if we have any way to compare to the people that survived the Great Depression, when the stock market actually did crash and everyone lost everything and people had no job protection so if they bitched at work they'd just get chucked out on the street and some other guy would take their place, or where people couldn't even afford toilet paper, let alone a bicycle. If money is such a big point of contention in the US, maybe people in the US need to change the way they do things. Like maybe riding a bike more (you can get them for like $10 on Craigslist now), or maybe walk. Or, gasp, stop buying bigscreen TVs that cost thousands that you don't need, but buy because you think you need it. Or maybe you should go to school and get a better educations so you can get a better paying job, or a billion other things you could do to improve your standard of living, but that you currently won't do. But you'll bitch to the rest of us that "Oh noes, I can't buy a brand new 40 foot screen and a projector to build my personal movie theater in the backyard cause the economies are broked."

Meh. I know. I'm an ass. Yes, I know people have lost their homes and been put on the streets, and some of those people deserve to be there for not being remotely intelligent and realizing they couldn't afford that house in the first place. And yes, we should punish the loan people for giving loans to people who couldn't afford it and I think all those companies we're bailing out should pay a high interest rate for the next 50 years to pay off the deficit that we're creating to keep them alive.

Meh.

[Crocolyle]

If only we had a few billion dollars to spend so this didn't happen.

Oh, wait!
We did!

We spent it all in Iraq.

:mad:

This isn't really connected to Iraq at all. It has more to do with risky business practices of the individual private enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which led to investors getting concerned, ultimately resulting in several companies going downhill.

Right now, in fact, the Bush administration, forgetting the Republican ideal of no government interference in the private sector, under the direction of Paulson, the Secretary of the Treasury, and two others who I forget the names of, has put aside $500 billion to save certain companies and stuff. Also $85 billion was loaned to AIG to keep them afloat. Some companies, like Lehman Brothers, however, the government let die, based on overall usefulness. The government actually eschewing politics and is doing a lot to keep the economy afloat.

EDIT: $700 billion now...

[jordanisonfire]

The US isn't the only one. England's economy has gone to shit ever since that retard Brown came into power. Now even more than half of his own political party want him out.

[Pibs]

I'm not going to quote everything you said, Shaun, but...

for once I agree with you wholeheartedly!!!! :hug:

So, yeah. It's tough right now, but it could be worse. And it's what the economy does, right? It's supposed to go up and down. We just made it worse for ourselves this time, and whining isn't helping.

[blue phoenix]

I agree with Shaun. Well, from what I know, which is aka nothing, but it makes sense. But one thing is I live in the country so I can't walk or bike anywhere, the closest place to buy milk is like a couple miles away. So ya...but we don't have to worry about it for long cus' there's going to be an apocalypse and we're all going to die!!!!!!! *hemhem* Sorry 'bout that.

[Shaun]

Well, yes, it's supposed to go up and down. But it's not supposed to go down this much. We saw a normal recession when Bush first came into office and people were getting all upset then too, even though that's perfectly normal. We can't expect the economy to be at the top all the top. It doesn't work that way.
Think of it in terms of a stock (a good stock, not a crappy one). It sits there for a while, not making a lot of money, and then it suddenly starts growing, but it goes up and down up and down, and then eventually it reaches a relatively stable peak where it doesn't really increase beyond the peak, nor does it go below the lowest point. It just wobbles up there. We started from nothing when the Great Depression happened, and then we exploded and now we're at a point where the ups and downs aren't bad anymore, and there are protections to stop drastic drops.

And for those that are throwing a fit now, you should realize it is going to get worse. No matter what the government does right now, it's going to get worse. More people will lose their jobs or houses, more companies will go overboard, etc. But in the end, it's all not that big a deal. The country isn't going to go kerplunk into the big pile of dung that so many third world countries are desperately trying to get out of. The U.S. will still be a first world country.
And what people need to do right now is stop bitching and start doing something improve their lives. Maybe some of these people should have thought about how they spent their money in the first place, maybe saving up so they'd always have a rainy day fund. And I'm not talking poor people here, because they're always bitching for, more often than not, good reason. I'm talking the middle class people who make a decent wage, but were too stupid to save some of that money and bought loads of garbage they didn't need. You didn't need that suped up Mustang or the Porsche. You didn't need the 13 foot screen or whatever. You didn't need the cellar full of $10,000 bottles of wine. So, it's your own stupid ass fault that you're now broke, because you spent all that money on shit you don't need. You're like children and now you're blaming the government for the fact that you're a moron. The government has it's hand in screwing up the economy, but they didn't make you spend your money. You did. If you didn't want to save some of that by buying a fuel efficient car or a small TV or the occasional bottle of wine, that you actually drink rather than save, then that's your fault, not the government's. That's what freedom is about. You have the freedom to be a complete moron, and you have the freedom to bitch, but if you bitch when it's your own damn fault, then I'll ridicule you. This isn't the end of the world...

[Rouge]

Well, yes, it's supposed to go up and down. But it's not supposed to go down this much. We saw a normal recession when Bush first came into office and people were getting all upset then too, even though that's perfectly normal. We can't expect the economy to be at the top all the top. It doesn't work that way.
Think of it in terms of a stock (a good stock, not a crappy one). It sits there for a while, not making a lot of money, and then it suddenly starts growing, but it goes up and down up and down, and then eventually it reaches a relatively stable peak where it doesn't really increase beyond the peak, nor does it go below the lowest point. It just wobbles up there. We started from nothing when the Great Depression happened, and then we exploded and now we're at a point where the ups and downs aren't bad anymore, and there are protections to stop drastic drops.

And for those that are throwing a fit now, you should realize it is going to get worse. No matter what the government does right now, it's going to get worse. More people will lose their jobs or houses, more companies will go overboard, etc. But in the end, it's all not that big a deal. The country isn't going to go kerplunk into the big pile of dung that so many third world countries are desperately trying to get out of. The U.S. will still be a first world country.
And what people need to do right now is stop bitching and start doing something improve their lives. Maybe some of these people should have thought about how they spent their money in the first place, maybe saving up so they'd always have a rainy day fund. And I'm not talking poor people here, because they're always bitching for, more often than not, good reason. I'm talking the middle class people who make a decent wage, but were too stupid to save some of that money and bought loads of garbage they didn't need. You didn't need that suped up Mustang or the Porsche. You didn't need the 13 foot screen or whatever. You didn't need the cellar full of $10,000 bottles of wine. So, it's your own stupid ass fault that you're now broke, because you spent all that money on shit you don't need. You're like children and now you're blaming the government for the fact that you're a moron. The government has it's hand in screwing up the economy, but they didn't make you spend your money. You did. If you didn't want to save some of that by buying a fuel efficient car or a small TV or the occasional bottle of wine, that you actually drink rather than save, then that's your fault, not the government's. That's what freedom is about. You have the freedom to be a complete moron, and you have the freedom to bitch, but if you bitch when it's your own damn fault, then I'll ridicule you. This isn't the end of the world...

Eh, Shaun, you're amazing.

It is going to get worse, but we've learned in history class (and yes, I know that it's not supposed to be this low,) that when you go into a recession, you come back out. The Roaring 20s is a good example of high economy since it had just come out of WWI, then the Great Depression, but after WWII it was all good again, and so on and so on.
It's all a huge circle that goes round and round and round.

You're not always going to be on top.

[Shaun]

Eh, Shaun, you're amazing.

It is going to get worse, but we've learned in history class (and yes, I know that it's not supposed to be this low,) that when you go into a recession, you come back out. The Roaring 20s is a good example of high economy since it had just come out of WWI, then the Great Depression, but after WWII it was all good again, and so on and so on.
It's all a huge circle that goes round and round and round.

You're not always going to be on top.

The thing is that in order for us to descend to the same level as the Great Depression, a lot of really effed up stuff has to happen in the country, including our government completely crapping out, the stock market seizing up despite failsafes, etc. The Great Depression wasn't even the first of the depressions, it was just the big one that everyone remembers. But there was one before it too. The Great Depression simply taught us a valuable lesson about how to protect our assets and prevent stuff like that from happening again.
So, short of the entire world going "eh, we don't want America anymore" and no longer buying from us and everyone in the U.S. losing their houses, we're really not that bad off. It just sucks right now and it'll come back and we'll all giggle and sip our tea and think "boy, we averted that disaster" and I'll go "Yes, but I didn't piss my pants about it. I still have clean underwear."

End of story.

[Crocolyle]

It just sucks right now and it'll come back and we'll all giggle and sip our tea and think "boy, we averted that disaster" and I'll go "Yes, but I didn't piss my pants about it. I still have clean underwear."

End of story.

Thank God for George Bush and Henry Paulson's dedicated team! ;)

[Shaun]

Well, maybe if George Bush and Paulson and their retarded employees hadn't effed things up in the first place, we wouldn't have to have this discussion at all...but no, they had to do something stupid, that everyone said won't work, and now we can actually say, with 100% certainty that George W. Bush is the worst president ever.

[Crocolyle]

Private enterprise screwed things up.

[Shaun]

Very true. And stupid people.