Well, folks, there was quite a shocking headline today (www.nytimes.com), and interestingly enough I'm working on a lawsuit that involves a bank which greatly helped bring about this mess. I'm not quite sure how to react to the idea that the DOW dropped nearly 700 points, or that a consensus can't be reached on the Great Bailout to avoid another Great Depression.

I do hope that the reason the U.S. House of Representatives didn't reach an agreement is because they're finding ways to excise -any- benefits for executives who are responsible for bringing this fucking mess.

This is just one example of how bad it has gotten: in the lawsuit I'm working on, the unnamed bank was giving out loans for hundreds of thousands of dollars to individuals based on what the individuals -said- they made; one guy got a loan for over $350,000 based on his given information that he worked for McDonald's and received $8,500 per month. Jesus. They didn't even bother to verify his employment and salary info.

So many people took advantage of the "self-regulation," and they kept doing it despite being warned about a crash in housing prices.

If you're curious, here's generally how this mess started: Pretend I'm a bank. I loan you $350,000 for a house at a low interest rate, and you set up a low monthly payment. You understand that this isn't a fixed rate, but I don't tell you that there's a good chance that in a few months your monthly payments could triple unless you pay off a certain amount.

Meanwhile, I sell your loan to someone else, meaning they give me $350,000 plus whatever fees or interest I set up, and I don't put aside any money to pay that someone else because I know that you're going to be giving me money every month which I can give to that someone else.

Suddenly, your monthly payment triples, you can't make your payment because your house has depreciated in value because the housing balloon has burst, and I'm not getting money from you so I can't pay that someone else who bought the loan from me because I didn't set any money aside. All this money that is supposed to be there for paying people back isn't.

Banks are now holding back on giving people credit because there's been so many people giving out so many bad loans, so less people have money with which to purchase things. All this has led to everyone kind of freaking out, and rightfully so.

The issue that I have, along with most everyone else in America, is that these executives and other bank administrators viciously sought to market these bad loans to people who couldn't pay them -for years-. Someone needs to go to fucking jail for this; I can only hope that today's bad news is actually good news in progress.

GO GO SUBPRIME MORTGAGES

The Great Depression.....DO IT AGAIN!

No no, DON'T do it again. :-p

My intuition tells me that this won't be a depression, but rather a time for change, though not in the empty-Obama sense.

God, it's all in the shitter. And it's so depressing. I see it at work, there is a rise in panic from my customers... I think it's going to get worse before it gets better. No matter who is elected (god please let it not be MacCain/Palin!) the state of things in general are not going to be fixed overnight and we're all going to have to learn to be patient, and we're all going to have to learn to live a little less high on the hog.

Thanks to deregulation of the banks some 26 years ago, we're now strapped with the possibility of bailing out corporations who've made poor yet greedy descisions. Thank god the 700B bailout has been nixed for the time being, now we're looking at plan B.

If anyone's interested (looks at Pooter) here's an interesting thing I read the other day. I urge anyone who wants a layman's explanation and better grasp of what's going on to give it a read:

http://economistsvie...krugman-ca.html

My mom's dad, he's 94, and he was affected terribly by the great depression. He doesn't want to see Hoovervilles again in his lifetime... and his father before him was, shall I say, gravely affected by the great depression. And although I don't stand to lose a house (I'm actually glad to be a renter right now given the state of things) the fallout has already adversely affected us nationally and the ripple of this will be felt worldwide, it's just a matter of waiting to see where all the chips have fallen once the dust has settled. We've not seen the end of this - I feel bad for all who may be faced with losing part (or a significant chunk) of their retirement savings, something they worked long and hard to secure in the first place. And it could affect any or all of us getting a line of credit to purchase a new car, go to school, maybe purchase a starter home you can afford - and while we're ahead just think about how this will affect the already sky high unemployment rate. Ugh. Yeah, unfortunately things will get worse, before they get better.

What a way to help top off what's been a rather dismal year anyway. :(

So who is everyone voting for ?

it's worldwide problem. we've been doing the same thing with self-certified mortgages and already the government has had to nationalise two big lenders here and convince other banks to buy out other parts of their business.

the same with another big European bank

it's nowhere near on the same scale though and america is a very big ship to turn around. it's going to take quite a time to rectify...

Whirlys right, it's def going to get worse before it gets better.

how daft does our prime minister look having bragged when was chancellor of the exchequer "I've put an end to boom and bust economics"

I have to say I agree with madpooter with regards to people taking responsibility.

I know governments aren't keen to regulate business too heavily, they want to encourage business, encourage growth but people surely have to be held accountable for selling debt in the name of profit.

with regards the election.

I've read quite a bit about the campaign and seen a fair bit on the news here....

but is Obama using the pointer sisters 'yes we can can' as his campaign song?....if he's not he's missing a trick. if somebody could have a word.

ta

As if the election wasn't stressfull enough, now they have this problem. I'm trying to ignore the fact that this will also affect Canada. Unfortunatley, anything that happens to the US pretty much happens to us too.

I'm voting for DION!!!!

wait....wrong election.......

It is fun right now with the elections here in Canada and down in the states. I have already hit up a bunch of my local politicians trying to find out about the whole arts funding issue that many people are arguing about here in Canada. Now with the rejection of the S700 Billion bill by the US house of representatives.....well this is just turning into some weird political hootenany.

Hootenanny indeed.

@Jeans: I'm voting for Obama. Unfortunately, my experience with politics leads me to believe that although his election will be a change from the current administration, there are still huge, detrimental forces at work in our political system that will take time to undo and it will have little to do with Obama being in office.

I'm thankful that there seems to be little chance of McCain being elected. People blame Republicans for the economy; Sarah Palin is a joke, and a fortunate detriment to McCain's candidacy; and Obama appears to have some actual knowledge and a determination to make this country better, as futile as it may be.

It's not just the economy that sucks, it's also the American election system. A system in which money determines who's got the longer wind, where gazillions of bucks are being blown out and people celebrating politcians frenetically like popstars, where each speach is like a supa dupa event with gliz' comming down and people like puppets waving flags is questionable.

I'd rather had seen Hillary, as a woman, running for presidential candidacy because a real change is a change in mind. I do think a woman would have brought fresh air into the dusty oval office. And this time we haven't had even to fear a blow job affaire...

Unless she was the one giving the blow job...

Keep in mind, though, that Sarah Palin, a woman, being the vice presidential candidate is no change at all from the current administration.

Obama will save us all. He's the Magical Negro!

Yeah, that's true pooter but it would be just a family business this time :lol:

As for Sarah Palin, isn't she the one preaching water and drinking wine instead?

Ohhh lord, I praise the perfect idyll!!

I don't like the sound of the bailout plan and am glad that the initial plan was not passed though I have a feeling it's going to pass in some reiteration with just as much obscurity. Plus you hear about who some of Paulson's advisors are for this plan and it makes me feel even more dubious about the whole thing. It seems like such a foolish maneuver to just approve some measure simply because of this whole "sky is falling" atmosphere that some people present. But the US is so addicted to the quick fix that I bet something will transpire this week.

Oh and I certainly will not be voting for McCain but when you look and see who some of the top contributor's are for Obama it makes me question whether or not I want to vote for him either!

I plan on voting for Obama and am in agreement pretty much with what Pooter said.

My ideals, my stance on too many issues is far too left on the political spectrum to ever consider voting for McCain. Had Hillary beat out Obama, I'd be gritting my teeth and voting for her despite her playing dirty with a nod and a wink, and sending Bill out to do her dirty work on the campaign trail. To me, Sarah Palin is grossly underqualified for the job of vice president and god forbid, the presidency, should McCain kick the bucket while in office which isn't just a passing morbid thought but a reality. McCain was getting killed in the polls and ratings, so bringing her to the ticket was nothing more than pandering to the disgruntled Hillary voters. But that's all losing its steam now - and that's a good thing. Let's focus on the issues at hand and take it with a grain of salt as just about all politicians have self serving agendas to some degree, and all have some shady dealings in their past and present. That's politics, American style.

Sure, a woman in the Oval office would be a breath of fresh air - but not this time. Not Palin. I'll vote with my head, not my vagina. ;)

I'm gonna make this short as possible.

Democrats = Shitty, and not voting for

Republicans = Shittier, and will never vote for this party (Ironic spin: I registered as Republican to vote for Ron Paul in the primary, for obvious reasons...)

Economy = colossal dino dung

Amerika = FUCKED

I couldn't agree with you anymore Bosco!

This presidential race is even tighter now. The 14 swing-vote states are now almost even and some americans are confused whether or not they want a republican president with political experience or a democratic president that can change the entire current administration. But more importantly, some young americans are going to be voting blindly this november due to the lack of their research on the candidates political backgrounds or the issues they want to tackle when sworn in the White house.

I hope this election doesn't come down to the end with one of those big electoral vote states like Texas, California, or Florida. I want a clear cut winner.