Merged Topics: Bush's Speech & Op Ed by Newt Gingrich

[Chris_]

This ain't funny but it is funny.

The world hates us because of our wealth. We use to many resources. We spread to much influence blah, blah, blah. Our economy has a bad case of the hic-ups and the world panics. Now they expect us to bail them out.

I lived my life as a "pay-as-you-go" citizen and saved the money that others have barrowed. Why should I be expected to bail them out now when I'm about to lose my ass? 

+1

I took 8 years to get a 4 year degree, because I worked my ass off during that time, and would not take student loans, government "grants" or any other handout to pay for my own education.

My vehicles are paid for because I paid cash for them at the time of purchase.  I do my own maintenance on them.

My home is the only thing I have on credit - 4 years into a 15 year note - and even that had 30% of the sale price plunked down in cash by me when we bought it.

I gave up on credit cards about 8 years ago as being more trouble than they were worth.  I cut them up then; and nowadays, when I need to rent a car or book a flight, I use the standard issue debit card connected to my business account.  It works wonders for paying all my bills online, and the nice thing is, when I'm out of spending cash, I STOP SPENDING!

My father in law is much the same way, and the last time he looked at his credit report/score, it was "hideously" low, simply because he had very little credit history.

I have very little use for credit.  If for some reason someone were to revoke my credit and reposess my house, I'd quietly go back to renting a house for my family.  But I refuse to go through life beholden to sombody else.

[Willow]

This ain't funny but it is funny.

The world hates us because of our wealth. We use to many resources. We spread to much influence blah, blah, blah. Our economy has a bad case of the hic-ups and the world panics. Now they expect us to bail them out.

I lived my life as a "pay-as-you-go" citizen and saved the money that others have barrowed. Why should I be expected to bail them out now when I'm about to lose my ass? 

+1

I took 8 years to get a 4 year degree, because I worked my ass off during that time, and would not take student loans, government "grants" or any other handout to pay for my own education.

My vehicles are paid for because I paid cash for them at the time of purchase.  I do my own maintenance on them.

My home is the only thing I have on credit - 4 years into a 15 year note - and even that had 30% of the sale price plunked down in cash by me when we bought it.

I gave up on credit cards about 8 years ago as being more trouble than they were worth.  I cut them up then; and nowadays, when I need to rent a car or book a flight, I use the standard issue debit card connected to my business account.  It works wonders for paying all my bills online, and the nice thing is, when I'm out of spending cash, I STOP SPENDING!

My father in law is much the same way, and the last time he looked at his credit report/score, it was "hideously" low, simply because he had very little credit history.

I have very little use for credit.  If for some reason someone were to revoke my credit and reposess my house, I'd quietly go back to renting a house for my family.  But I refuse to go through life beholden to sombody else.

You are a very smart man. That's the way we live too. We don't owe anybody anything. We built our home by ourselves and paid for it as we went. Took about two years of hard hard labor but it was paid for when we walked in the front door.  Don't you wish you really knew how many gazillion of trillions of dollares people have lost in the stock market?

[Wineslob]

As I understood it, he basically stated that we're screwed unless the .gov bails out these businesses. I'm not real inclined to agree. One question brought to mind by one of his statements is why do we NEED credit to get on with our daily lives ?!?!?!? Maybe, therein lies the problem.....

Then you don't understand the problem.

Do you pay cash for everything?  Your house?  Your cars? 

Do you know about M0/M1/M2, etc.?

Credit makes the workd go round.  And it is based on confidence.  If everyone called in their chits at the same time, the global economy would collapse.

Can you imagine what would happen if we (U.S.) called  in all those nations that owed us?   

[Chris_]

As I understood it, he basically stated that we're screwed unless the .gov bails out these businesses. I'm not real inclined to agree. One question brought to mind by one of his statements is why do we NEED credit to get on with our daily lives ?!?!?!? Maybe, therein lies the problem.....

Then you don't understand the problem.

Do you pay cash for everything?  Your house?  Your cars? 

Do you know about M0/M1/M2, etc.?

Credit makes the workd go round.  And it is based on confidence.  If everyone called in their chits at the same time, the global economy would collapse.

Can you imagine what would happen if we (U.S.) called  in all those nations that owed us?   

Yeah, we'd be left empty-handed by all those America hating countries who have no problem taking our dollars into their corrupt little countries.  And then we'd really feel the BOHICA when CHINA followed suit and called in all those T-Bills they've been patiently buying up.

"The Full Faith and Credit of the United States Government" wouldn't be worth the paper it was printed on after that.

[Woody]

Don't you wish you really knew how many gazillion of trillions of dollares people have lost in the stock market?

My wife's parents have similar views.  They've set aside a good chunk of their income over the years, and invested conservatively for their entire life, primarily in CDs and bond funds, because "you know, that stock market can crash".  

They're about to move into a retirement community.  However, they don't have the money afford the places they like.  After hearing about their investment strategy, I'd be surprised if they did better than "break even" after taxes and inflation.  If they had invested half of their savings into something as simple as an index or SPDR fund, they'd now have more than enough money to afford their first choice.  

[Thor]

 Being retired military, I'm wondering how this will affect us retirees and then, the active duty folks. I DO recall getting a couple of late paydays because the budget hadn't been approved. After that, the Government started monkeying with the payday schedule.