Or can I be more cliche and say its the root of all evil? It makes people do crazy things. It divides people that were once good friends. It takes relationships/marriages and destroys them. We spend a lot of our life trying to make as much as we can, then when we have it, we try to keep it to ourselves, and show it off at the right moment. What is it worth these days? Its that retirement commercial, with everyone walking around with their number under their shoulder. Its the professional (insert sport here) that is being disrespected because he’s only making $5M a year and he has better stats then (insert athlete here) and he is making $7M. We are making so much more than our parents ever did, and living more lavishly. Then why are we in such a shitty place? Well, I don’t want to speak for everyone - it seems like we are in a shitty place. Banks closing. Houses foreclosing. Prices rising. Everybody is trying to get theirs, before the shit really hits the fan, right?
The balance is way out of whack. And you know who is telling us what’s wrong, the people on the TV that are making 7 figures. They’re not worried. They got their car waiting for them outside to take them to Grand Central Oyster Bar for a 2 martini lunch and rub down at the Turkish bath house. And maybe squeeze in 18 at Trump’s Golf course before going home to the butler and wife/girlfriend/mistress who spent the day at the spa. Yeah, I’m pissed. Can you tell? I don’t want some douche in a suit telling me what needs to be fixed. GO FIX IT! Oh, I forgot, you aren’t paid to do, you are paid to “think”. We gots lots of thinkers these days. Go earn your money.
This has been building for a long time. And guess who is coming to save the day? Dun-du-Daaaa! The Fed. Because its what’s best for the economy. To the tune of $700 Billion. Yes, that’s Bill-yun with a B. I didn’t know we had $700B laying around. I thought we were operating in a Trillion (with a T) deficit. Was this money just hidden in Colombian coffee cans? In Ronald Regan’s mattress (I mean, he did forget a thing or two. Sorry RR). Why? We are saying that due to some assholes making bad decisions they need to be rescued. Why don’t we take the money from the assets of those companies and sell them off. Maybe take the CEOs bonues and liquidate their assets. Put some accountability to it. Send their ass to prison and rip their family out of the cushy lifestyle that being a white collar criminal has provided them. Instead the guv’ment is bailing them out with money that ultimately comes from the tax-payers of this great country.
Who do you blame though? The buyer who knows they are out of their league, or the seller who gave it to them anyway. Freddie and Fannie were giving out mortgages to people like Halloween candy. Opportunities, right? The person who gets the mortage - “Oh, we’ll make it up when we sell it”. My mom uses the word “over-extended”. People got into things they could potentially afford. Mortgage companies f-ed up. Because a bunch of quick buck artist came in, figured out how made they could make some big money, and people starting catching on as to how they could make quick money too. By then, bad decisions were being made and somebody gets left holding the stick. You know, when I lost $10k in the market, the fed didn’t come in and save me. I got an invoice from my brokerage house saying sorry charlie - send us more money.
Its going to be interesting this year, given that elections are right around the corner. Bush checked out some months ago. But where the typical debate conversation is about abortion, unemployment and taxes, this one is going to be about how we save the economy. Its not a quick fix. Its not a $600 “stimulus” payment (but thank you anyway!). Why don’t you guys bring in some Stockholm Think Tank economist and get it done with. But then you might have to admit you were wrong. Because you never are.
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