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  dexlovex27 months ago

  When I read quotes like this I feel lots better about my own thought processes.

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    daducha7 months ago

    To make you feel even more better dex, my financial adviser/broker lost much much more money than I did from the latest stock market down trend. Gives me a lot of relief.

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      Teech7 months ago

      It's a raw deal these patriotic Americans are getting. Taxpayers need to bail them out!

      George Bush clearly gave all Americans a directive. Go shopping! He said.

      So, they refinanced and took out 125% of equity loans on their homes and went shopping at Walmart just like Bush said! How were they to know that Bush would give away the surplus in the treasury and borrow 10 trillion to give tax cuts to the richest Americans of all? How could they know that being in the oil business and with family business ties to Saudi Arabia he'd work to get oil and gas prices qudrupled? How were they to know that they'd borrow from their kids future so that the little tough guy could kick some a$$ in Iraq? How could they predict their jobs would be outsourced, and any chance of universal health care for their families would be vetoed by The Great Decider? How could they know their pensions would be looted by managment due to Bush's new laws?

      Mission accomplished. Kick a lib! Vote Republican.

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        jumpmaster7 months ago

        Anybody who relies on any politician to make important and life changing financial decisions is as stupid as can be. They deserve what they get.

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      dissent7 months ago

      Relieved? Yeah, of your money that's about all.

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    browntiger7 months ago

    Yes those quotes are pretty stupid.

    But look at fundamentals.... With all job going to india, china, southamerica and local governments refuse to downsize - what can we really afford.

    Instead of fixing the stuff we have, we demolish existing schools and build brand new 140 million dollars schools that can hold at maximum of 700 students.

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  Francisca7 months ago

  Never want too much ( far beyond his own means...) Of course everyone would like to have his own house ( like the one of the neighbours, or of the friends or family ), but nothing is easy, even for the very well informed people ( may be especially for the very well informed people! ).So easy to lose or a job, or a wife, or a husband...Nobody is sheltered from such worries...

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  crespi7 months ago

  My father (a scientist who likes to save money) lives in a mostly black and mixed condo neighborhood that is a small lower middle class neighborhood where the people take care of their homes, are trying to move up, but don't have much money.

  He receives ONE OR TWO SUB-PRIME STYLE MORTGAGE LOAN OFFERS A WEEK.

  Now he is educated but many of the folks these flyers are sent to have no fiscal experience (it was illegal for their great great grandparents to read, write, or own property, while many white families were building what later amounted to STOCK PORTFOLIOS.)

  THESE often are the same type of people who completely blame the homeowners for falling for attractive offers like "No payments for five years!" Even my own (very smart) wife says it sounds attractive even to her until she realizes what a scam it is being perpetrated, by THE BANKS not the homeowners.

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    crespi7 months ago

    Hmm...

    First lenseview attacks the striking TV writers in a post, thereby DEFENDING the creepy corporate network owners, and now attacking the homeowners, thereby diverting the WELL DESERVED blame from the big banks for this mess THEY INSTIGATED...

    L, are you paid by the Rockefellars by any chance?

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      bubba27 months ago

      Lensview posted the stories - he didn't write them.

      Don't see any comments from him on this thread.

      While posting a story can imply that the poster agrees with it, criticizing Lensview by saying he is "attacking" script writers and homeowners is rather disengenuous.

      How about YOUR opinion on the sub-prime mortgage crisis and who is to blame ...

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      bubba27 months ago

      Actually your opinion is above this post, which I agree with ... so I stand corrected on that ...

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      lenseview7 months ago

      hey, crespi -- enjoying the comments and thoughts. and thanks, bubba for the responses. it's true, i didn't write either of the pieces and i don't necessarily agree with all of the perspectives of either of them.

      but, fwiw, here's what i think....

      on the striking writers. i don't side with the big-media companies or producers. in fact, maybe to a fault, i take for granted their "greed" and "bad" values, etc. i've kind of worked on various sides of the businesses. and my thing with the writers is not at all that they shouldn't try to get a fair % of the money they help create. it's really that they're kind of grossly (and absurdly) aligning themselves with workers and rights interests whose situations and plights are genuinely tough; whereas the writers' plight is something very different. in truth, when i heard that they were marching on martin luther king day, carrying civil rights-type placarards it really did hit me the wrong way....

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        lenseview7 months ago

        i think too, while i absolutely think writers should get paid fairly by the big media folks, i find it hard sometimes to sympathize with a lot of them--not in terms of the money they're paid (or want) but in terms of their trying to position themselves as relatively "pure", with integrity, as artists, etc. i take for granted that their "bosses" are almost entirely interested in money and not in making interesting, worthy programs, movies. but i guess i'd prefer that the writers be more honest about what they do and who they are -- in many ways they're no different than their bosses. they want to make a lot of money, they're (or many are) willing to write as much crap as they're told. as an small aside, in TV the writers are also the show producers -- the people who run the shows are writers and they get tons of money. (not saying they don't deserve it; just that, in that context, they are the ones in power)....

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          lenseview7 months ago

          ...on this piece about mortgages...again, i too feel that the banks were bad news in many ways. they misled people, they conned some people, they took advantage of a system that allowed them to exploit a lot of inexperienced or unprepared people who are now hurting. i think my take on this piece, though, is not that the banks are blameless but that there are quite a few people who kind of know better (or should) who recklessly charged ahead with borrowing in any case. as i said, i didn't write the piece. but i think (not entirely sure) the intent is that 1) hey, look, a lot of supposedly smart people are acting kind of clueless (so maybe a lot smart people who act "smarter" than others really aren't), and 2) it's more appropriate to find fault with the smarter/more educated people who, despite what they knew or should've known, nonetheless went out there and behaved recklessly....

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  marshx7 months ago

  smart people make bad decisions all the time, its a case of being lured by a good conman!

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    BronxBomber7 months ago

    Yep penny wise ...but dollar dumb as they say....

    :o/

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      icono17 months ago

      true.

      It's all in the flash and dash and nothing about the dirt and water.

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  bubba27 months ago

  Absolutely, people were lured into those mortgages.

  I am an intelligent person, but when I read through contracts and the pages and pages of "legalese", it makes my head swim.

  It is a sure bet that many of those lenders verbally "described" the contract as THEY wanted the loan applicants to hear it and did NOT explain all of the "fine print".

  Millions of potential home owners were mis-lead, at the least, totally ripped-off at the worst.

  But, the Bush admin will bail out the lenders while chastizing and offering little help to the people who were screwed by those lenders.

  With the current administration, it is the big corporations and oil companies and banks that win out every time, while the rest of the people in this country are screwed by them, in more ways than one!

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    markmawn27 months ago

    Do you think the price of pistols will go down now? I wouldn't put it by them to offer that as an option. Happened in the 80's.

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    Lurch7 months ago

    Nevermind the details! I read the details of the whole damn contract.

    Then, day of my signing they switched it on me and, "oh, geez, sorry, gee whiz, we tried to get you that deal but the home office nixed it at the last minute. just sign this one for now and my office manager promised he would approve a new one for you six months down the road."

    Seriously, that was the speal I got. I have a higher ed degree and speak a foreign language fluently. I don`t think I am a dummy, and I got slightly taken. These people are pros.

    I read of one couple who asked and read and made sure NO early pay off penalty. They sold a few years later, they had to pay an extra $15K to get out of the loan. $15K! Both college educated!

    Worst thing of all, the Central Bank bailed the banks out but neither the CB nor the govt will bail out the people who got lied to and suckered.

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  chevydog7 months ago

  Yeah, some of those things were pretty stupid. For that, the people should be pelted with blueberry-filled donuts and exiled to the laundromat.

  But behind every stupid decision there was a lender willing to back it up--and more than likely egging it on.

  I don't think either party should get off scot-free. But I rather suspect that the lenders more likely will than the borrowers. Don't know that this is right.

  The theory behind capitalism is that one takes an investment risk to earn money. In this situation, it seems more like "I took the risk; it was a studpid one and didn't work out; so I should get some money anyway."

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  globalwarmer7 months ago

  I only have stupid stories from stupid people but I feel bad for anyone who has had to buy a house in the last 5 or 6 years, no one should have to pay that much for a house. What are people thinking when they get a variable rate loan?

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    jordan117 months ago

    What are people thinking when they get a variable rate loan?>>>>

    I'd like to know what the bankers were thinking in GIVING those loans. They're supposed to be the financial experts, and THEY should have known better.

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      itsme27 months ago

      Well jordan, those loan officers know exactly what they are doing they just dont care!

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        bubba27 months ago

        You said it!

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        Lurch7 months ago

        "Here`s comes a big fat bonus check from the fee and my commission on this huge loan this customer can in no way afford, but so the f` what if this sucker loses his home, his savings, and his credit for seven years - I`m getting a new boat!"

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      jumpmaster7 months ago

      If it sounds too good to be true....

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    globalwarmer7 months ago

    I believe its because they get to keep their commission even if the loan is in default. The agent wants you to get the loan no matter what!

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  markmawn27 months ago

  It's good that we're distinguishing "smart" people from intelligent and wise people.

  Does it take a smart person to make money? Does it take a stupid one to spend it? Where's the line?

  University Degrees and net worth are no signs of intelligence. Otherwise we would be on Mars by now.

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    MajJohn7 months ago

    There's no intelligent life on Mars. Maybe the banks could set up kiosks up there. Plenty of property and no intelligence, what a business opportunity. Sure the bankers knew what they were doing, but they were gambling that the downturn in housing prices was far off. So did the borrowers, hoping to refinance when the price went up. It was a gamble and all parties lost. Sort of like the stock market, buying on a margin hoping the price of a commodity will go up. If it doesn't you lose! Should the government bail you out?? It did not take a genius to see that the housing prices were way over inflated and had to come back to earth. We have a long way to go, still overinflated prices out there. There are, however, as housing prices come down opportunities for new home buyers who could not afford a house at the old higher prices.

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      markmawn27 months ago

      I'm in that boat, and the waters are getting calmer for me. Sort of like watching the Tsunami coming from the mountaintop.

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  macemare7 months ago

  ONCE AGAIN WHITE COLLAR CRIME OUT DOES BLUE COLLAR...SAVINGS AND LOAN SCANDLE---ENRON SCANDLE--AND NOW LENDING SCANDLE---ALL WHITE COLLAR..ALL ALLOWED BY OUR CROOKED POLITICIANS..OUR POLS ARE MAKING MEXS POLS LOOK GOOD...

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  THOMNH627 months ago

  it is all Bush's fault

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    crespi7 months ago

    AND his cronies...

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  NelsonR7 months ago

  Fourteen mortgage entities have been and are currently under investigation by the F.B.I. concerning fraudulent activity. I think that should say it all.

  We already went through this white collar upper crust crime in the 90s and the lending institutions were bailed out then. You could count your fingers on one hand concerning how many of these elitist went to jail. They are judged by a separate set of rules while the average class and poor are judged by another. I smell bail out time again.

  I do not dismiss the actions of many homeowners and I agree, the government should not bail them out. They do have a recourse, the courts. But good luck in the courts since lady justice is blindfolded and loves our rich who set the ground rules.

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  pongping7 months ago

  Quote from a high-placed banker probably.

  "Although, the man who hired me would turn over in his grave, I don't mind loaning money to borrowers whom I know will have a high probability of running into trouble later. I got Jones and Southstein out peddling those loans in a bundle to folks greedier than I. Sort of like passing the buck to a schmuck who really ought to know better. If things don't work out for me, I'll just lay off 1500 peons, collect my bonus, and all the while sport a fabulous tan while the politicians are clammoring for ways to bail me out. Life really is good, isn't it?"

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  ETproductions7 months ago

  Every scam artist knows this. No matter how smart a mark is, greed often outweighs gray matter.

  Wisdom tells one that any deal that looks too good to be true almost always is. But wisdom and wit are two very different qualities. We can be quite intelligent and still be utterly lacking in wisdom.

  Still, none of that absolves the scam artists that lobbied Congress for bankruptcy "reform" (elimination) then deliberately lured suckers into unsustainable loans with enormous prepayment penalties. Put them under the jail.

  And while we're at it, go back and see who championed the bankruptcy reform and who voted for it. Put them out of office. If it wasn't obvious to them why the lenders bribed them to do this, they lack the intelligence to be decent legislators. If it was obvious, but they took the bribe anyway, they lack the requisite integrity.

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    Lurch7 months ago

    good point.

    any bank that lobbied for the "no-accountability for corporate america screw the customer" bankruptcy bill should have to pay back the fees and commissions they took from the customers they suckered into loans or gimmicks the customers could not afford.

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  jamesburney7 months ago

  Bush is part of a world order The Order of Skull and Bones, once known as The Brotherhood of Deathbones order. Anything that occurs while Bush is in power is more than mere coincidence as the order are behind his every move.

  If you don't believe this theory then read this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones

  Then do your own investigation. It's gonna get very scary from here on in, especially when you read the theories around 9/11.

  Anyone who doesn't believe in such theories is blind to the truth and not wanting to believe that such evil exists in our world.

  I still respect you for our opinion but unless we all wake up and smell the coffee, Bush and people like him will carry on instigating many more tragedies and politically motivated massacres all in the name of profit, there profit.

  http://bakedchicken.tumblr.com/

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    crespi7 months ago

    Skull and Bones has become "watered down" since the late 1980's but the old school Skull and Bonesmen are still as dangerous, evil, and connected as ever.

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  zplan7 months ago

  Has anyone heard this one?... " Well, that's just the risk you have to take."

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  extanker27 months ago

  There are people out there that are just plain stupid. they can make all the excuses they want to but in the end they aer responsible for there own actions. IMO if you dont know what an A.R.M. is you are to stupid to own a home.

  also if you are taking your financial advice from a polititian you are probobly to stupid to live.

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    crespi7 months ago

    Same for the bankers, maybe as you say, investment bankers are too stupid to live (your words.)

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  THOMNH627 months ago

  oh james pllleeeaase, so he is a member of the skull and bones club big deal. Conspiracy theorists should go back to their cubby hole and and work harder at coming up with reality.

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    crespi7 months ago

    It's no conspiracy, just an organization that tapped important people in the 20th century and lured them with greed to break our American laws and our American Democracy for profit of the few...

    It didn't seem odd to you that our choices were Skull and Bones member John Kerry versus ultra-Skull and Bones honcho's son George W Bush running against each other as our only choices of that presidential election?

    It seemed a little strange to a lot of people...

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