These jokers buying crap on their credit cards are keeping our economy propped up for just a little longer. Enjoy the party while it lasts, man. Wont be long before it all collapses like a house of cards and those people that gave you your large income will then be making 3rd world country wages and not buying anything, therefore destroying your frieght business. (or at least crashing it to where you arent making nearly enough to afford payments on a 16k car loan.)
My business became crap the last few months to the point where I just put my house on the market, will most likely lose the 50K in upgrades (cash money not a loan) I put in....Maybe even short sell the thing as I cannot possibly afford to go on as it is.... I guess reducing the cost of living will be easy after I don't have to shell out $4,500/month on house/utilities/taxes etc... Again, there is much anger in failing but no shame....The shame lies in not being able to rebound and burning through 80K in savings between the remodel and keeping up with costs after the gig collapsed... I've been "rich" (if that fits the definition of a 19 year old making six figures with no bills) then broke (filed bk after getting scammed by ex gf for a bit over 50K and company I was running took a plunge after the owner got into booze and dope and spent all the money) and then on top of the world earning as much as 25K in a single month before opening my own biz....and making six figures again... At least I will have a few valuable lessons to teach my kids, and the freight gig will eventually rebound... Heck, I'm only 29 so life goes on, there's too little time to cry and whine about the present when the future is still bright ahead...keep living by what I've been taught by a great friend of mine: "what is the worst that can happen?"
I paid one creditor half, the one I liked, the rest, nada.. about a year and a half to go to statute of limitations.. I was barely able to make the minimums when I stopped paying. There were too many things that bothered me. One was how much less there was to worry about when you don't have credit. Another was the absolutely abject stupidity of the American Government. Europeans don't have identity theft!! Does everybody get that? Congress can pass a law any f@#king time they want and ID theft is a crime of the past... Another thing was how they can jack your rates and put you in a position of never being able to pay off a loan. I signed up for an auto pay that was late consistently and by the time I got that sorted out I was paying 31%. All that bothered me a lot. Finally the downside of having credit outweighed the upside and I told them to shove it sideways so far that it made their head hurt... I was working when I defaulted, then I got out of work and went to work on trading full time, the collectors did all sorts of illegal things to me and I just laughed, we were moving anyhow. We moved, they haven't found me as of yet, and why would they bother with all the millions newly out of work that will get shook up with a phone call and send them money... When they were phoning I would mention that I didn't know what to do because I had a huge tax bill too. It wasn't huge and we paid it but I hoped they would make a notation... they know that if I go bk-reorganization the judge will toss out the unsecured stuff and allow me to make payments to the IRS, that's what they do, they have their public sector retirement fund to protect... it's just game theory to me.. if you can't pay you can't pay... Boy, I really miss those credit cards... NOT!
I don't know what the big deal about this credit card stuff is. If I have an order more than about $100 I pay with my cc, if its under $100 I pay with cash. I pay my balance in full every month. Every once in awhile they send me a letter telling me they are lowering my rate due to my outstanding credit score. Its that simple. What's the mystery about? Now people like me are going to have pay annual fees and what not to help pay for the non-functionals of society. Thats not cool Obama.
This is a sentiment shared by many, and it will only continue to grow. - - - The thing is, your bank 'loaned' you something that they made up out of thin air. They never had the 'money' (another total fabrication) they loaned you sitting in any vault, but just fabricated it via 'fractional reserve banking' whereby $ 1 dollar in deposits can be used to 'back' $ 30 in loans. Then they charged you outrageous interest rates. And when the bank execs screwed up big time with their own high risk speculations, they had their paid lawyer/liar politicians make a 'law' forcing you as the taxpayer to cover the "too big to fail " banks losses. And the key to it all is keeping the peons dumb and working hard. Give the peons just enough to survive & make them dependent on the oligarchs for the bare essentials including their housing, living stipend, and health care. The institution of slavery is alive & well & prospering - - - for the oligarchy, - who play by entirely different rules than the peons. - - -
Well said. I think there is a fundamental problem with the entire system. It's fair for us to pay our taxes, if we don't pay we get screwed (liens - jail - garnishments etc) yet we don't have a say as far as what is done with our money... I honestly don't give a rat's ass about bailing out banks and insurance companies, fighting a fabricated war that costs this country billions and filling the pockets of a few select politicians.... On the other hand I would love to see the potholes in my town fixed, more money for education, universal (a la France) healthcare etc....I for one believe the governement should be a servant of the people and not the other way around... Again, I don't endorse deadbeats who charge the fuck out of credit cards and then go the bk route, I stand for honest hardworking people that get cheated out of 30% of their income every year that ends up going in a bottomless pit... If we stopped policing the world we may have more money to spend at home....Because I (hopefully like most people) would love to see my tax dollars at work.... FYI, I was going over my tyax returns out of curiosity, between property taxes and fed medicare state and ss I have paid something to the tune of $295K in taxes to date....I'm 29 and I'm done being a cash cow so someone else who DOESN'T NEED IT MORE THAN ME can get the green.... Plan of action is going back to cash only - (I'm only 7K away from being all liquid after the sale of the house and paying off the car - should take about 6 months worst case scenario) so the pigs get nothing from me - I'm already incorporated, pay hardly any ss and medicare taxes (why bother, they're both going bankrupt) and I think next year I'll switch to dividends only (self employed) so those programs get nothing from me....Don't have to pay why bother???? I was supporting Obama (sorry but Palin as a vp is nothing short of a disney tale, like Maher said, the MILF and the maverick, no thanks...lol) but now this all seems to be a joke as well.....Wish more people had the clarity of voting for a guy like Paul, who'd clearly stand against the crooked establishment and actually do something for the people, especially in this time of need... I guess back to the original point, let's bail out the banks and give them money at 0% so they can fatten their bottom line, meanwhile all the people who'd see a world of difference if their mortgage was cut 30% get fucked....nice one Bernanke and Barack....you did nothing... ( in case Obama supporters want to flame, go ahead I'm not taking part in the debate - universal healthcare is nice, his handling of the economy - what to say he's a puppet - we'll know in the long run, but so far it's not looking good - wait for the rest of the arms and exotics to adjust and then we'll talk - everything else I like his approach but the economy is numero uno and that's not getting fixed...) I'm done with the rant...lol
Potholes make people drive slower(if there are enough of them)Therefore making the yearly death toll alot lower for car accidents. A head on collision at 25 mph probably wont kill you. One at 70 MPH probably will. MORE money for education? We spend more money on education than any other country in the world but we are not the brightest. So more money isnt going to make us smarter. I say cut education 50% and let parents actually help do some of the educating. I dont agree with socialist healthcare either. I think there are some people that should get free healthcare...the people that cant work for instance. I dont think the guy that is sick every week because he doesnt clean his house or take showers should get that free healthcare and i think that 95% of all fat people should not get free healthcare either. Smokers, illegal substance abusers and violent criminals should also not get free healthcare. If they chose to live an unhealthy lifestyle...let them get sick and possible die. They might change there ways if nobody helps them get better.
You should come up here and check out the roads....we're talking northern illinois in a fairly well off neighborhood...Cops on every corner, no way to speed even if you wanted to...But pretty easy to blow a tire, bust a rim and cause an accident because of the roads.... I'll always be a dick when it comes to education. There are two ways to look at it: A.We can pay more for education and have a higher quality population - which IN THE LONG RUN will be more productive and reward society with lower unemployment, higher awareness and all together pay for itself...Stupid ass people cost all of us money. Intelligent people tend to make smarter decisions, both health wise and financially, which reduces the economical burden on society... B.We change nothing and keep having a population majorly composed of ignorant morons, that believes that american idol and the winner of flavor flave are more important than homework. Same people that end up being fat stupid lazy, claim welfare and be a pain in your ass as much as in mine...Because they're too dumb, lazy and useless to be of any value to society....What the fuck do we expect??? You have to put kids in a competitive society mold and shape them to be an added value to society, but when even talented and bright kids cannot afford to go to a quality school there is a problem....Education should be based on merit, not the size of dad's wallet...I hate to bring France up again, but this is where I was raised as a teen, and if you succeed in school you are ENTITLED to FREE higher education... Another issue that weighs on society is immigration and all the free shit the illegals are getting - to clarify I don't mind illegals that speak english and pay taxes...They should be issued green cards on those two conditions alone, as they bring something to the table....The ones that are cash only, no ingles and no health insurance - should not be allowed to be treated and collect any state or governement benefits. And what about this spanish press two bullshit?I am an immigrant too you know, speak english work pay taxes and have healthcare....If you don't speak english, get the fuck out, learn and come back.... Again sorry for the rant, but I believe that a society should be built from the bottom up...A strong educated population with a good social support system will make a country prosper - just by looking at scandinavian nations as an example: low immigration, low unemployment, universal healthcare, low crime rate are the trademarks of those nations.They all have a strong state, but people are taught the right way since day one... I guess we want to have it all and never pay for anything, and in the end we will have nothing.Ten years from now we'll be broke, China will own more than half of whatever is left of our assets, the dollar will be worthless, we'll have sky high healthcare costs, gas through the roof and of all things we'll find that normal....Because the president said so.... Wake up.