Reuters:
Poverty in the United States is spreading from rural and inner-city areas to the suburbs, according a study, a situation that can worsen as the economy confronts what may be a protracted recession.
The study by the Federal Reserve's Community Affairs department and the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program found that poverty levels in the world's richest nation were on the rise.
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Poverty in the suburbs will persist longer. The suburbs are not an efficient housing pattern - they require too much energy to maintain and the density is to thin to support mass transit. Suburbanites will need to buy larger per capita amounts of energy and must go into debt to own automobiles.
These are not advantages in the current financial situation.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Bush's true mission, a person, who had no major accomplishments in life, none, but was guilty of being involved with one fraudulent 'deal' after another, to become the POTUS, is a dangerous proposition. Born with a silver spoon, with a criminal mind, and putting this type of person in a position of power is a dangerous thing!
We haven't seen nothing yet! It is so bad, it will never be exposed!
What about the credit card industry telling people with good credit that they're lowering their limits? I told them when the economy improves not to contact me with higher limits because I won't be interested.
The government needs to clamp down on Daddy Credit Card too. How can they just decide to charge 28% interest on anything? Or late fees for $40.00? If everybody were to pay off these people they'd be looking for jobs too. Cut them up.
That's actually the first time I've heard about that.
someone on Cspan's Washington Journal called this morning about the same thing. He missed 3 months in a row of paying on his cards due to heart surgery and they raised his rates from 7% to 31% just like that.
Someone called as said there needed to be a straight across the board caps on how much interest credit cards can charge and how much in late fees, ect., They need to restructure the whole thing because these people are robbing people blind now and it's cheaper not to have one of those. Maybe if enough people canceled and stop using them and being dependent on them, the industry would reform out of necessity.
Narrative like that can skew anyone's opinion. I don't know the real story, but if the man had a pre-scheduled surgery, he would have notified the CC companies. Or, he should have an arrangement to pay his minimum payment. There are now legal options to avoid late fees, thus maintaining your current rate. CC will take it out automatically from his checking account. I have the same agreements with all my CC.
I can agree on across the board caps on interest and late fees. It's very true that the CC industry is in need of reform.
Amex, Chase, BankofAmerica and Citi have not sent me notices. My limits have increased over the years. They double the limits even without my permission. They may holdthem this during chaotic time. I can literally buy a new car between 2 cards, if I want to. I wont, obviously because there is no way I can pay it off within 35-45 days with 2-4-weeks paycheck. Limits doesn't really affect me.
I use credit cards [CC] to my optimal advantage. 'am "rehabing" my old dilapidated stone house. I spread any single purchase over $1500 between 2 CC's, use them only after the cut off date to lengthens the due date at least 35 days. Some National stores extend payment to 90 days, interest free. It works much efficiently than an incremental piggy bank savings. I pay all my bills on line, post a future payment date any where in the world to avoid late fees. I travel a lot with my work, and on-line finance management works for me.
Anyone with 28% rate is not using CC to his advantage. Low rate CC's are excellent ways to enhance purchasing power and convenient - works very well for me. The keys is a DISCIPLINED BUDGET.
Dad says credit worthiness is a powerful statement about a person. Ability to pay debts can define who you are, your credibility, enhanced purchasing power but can also destroy your life. That's how the world works - right or wrong.
Lesson learned.
Once your credit goes south, it is very hard to rebuild it. My went bad when I got laid off from an IT job after Y2K, an had to take a job paying 2/3 less just to get insurance. I have worked my way back up to making half what I used to make, but my credit is still suffering. I can't even get a loan against my paid-for house to make improvements so that I can sell it to downsize, and the hit I would have to take to sell it without doing so is not worth it.
You can blame Congress for the Bankrutpcy bill and their refusal to add a cap on credit car interest rates at that point. Thanks Republicans for the bankruptcy bill and the credit card gift. I truly believe the Republicans at the top saw this disaster coming. That's why the bill passed and the cap didn't.
I'm a grandmother living in California and the food prices are crazy. Planned a Thanksgiving dinner for 12 and not a turkey with the pounds I needed....
Don't let them hold you hostage. Find a butcher; they're usually cheaper. Get fruits and veggies at a Farmer's market.
I used to live in SoCal, I have never seen a 99 cent/ pound turkey. Ever. While I agree with you that the cost of living is ridiculous, you can find the deals.
That's unreal. I paid 79 cents a pound for a good one at a local chain in central iowa. It was everything it needed to be, too!
Looks like Reagan's trickle down economics needs a huge dose of Flomax. It is a tribute to the power of plastic that it lasted this long before crashing. Now, there will be debt for decades, and it will get much worse before it begins to get better. The fallacy of this economic policy has been exposed: greed by the wealthy.
Republicanism has thoroughly been discredited.
I saw a man working an open seam of coal on public property filling burlap bags this week, it is really making me take a hard look at our economy.
this is the stuff my mom talks about after living thru the depression
Bypass Mortgage Bankers who refuse to cooperate! Offer lower cost Fixed Rate Loans at the FED Rate plus 2% or 3% to Home Owners and Businesses using the Internet!
Offer Direct Low Cost Government loans using the Internet and Automation with manual Checking!
The best approach is to have Fannie and Freddie offer automated internet loans using FED Rate + 2% or 3% directly to refi homes and avoid many layers of refinancing fees and the mortgage bankers who are responsible for these “Trick” Loans! Offer this service in libraries for those not having access to the Internet at home!
The automation can do 98% of the verification and loan application and the other 2% for manual final check by Fannie and Freddie!
But who is responsible for agreeing to these "trick" loans?
Welcome to Free Trade.
Right now I'm watching a History Channel special about the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. I've been like everyone else, boo-hoo-ing about the economy, but we do have it so much better than people did in the Dirty 30's. We should feel lucky to have a couple of unemployment extensions, FDIC and a president-elect who actually cares about us to get more programs in place before he takes office.
Unfortunately, it seems that with the rush of Black Friday nonsense and now a person trampled to death in the endless pursuit of useless stuff, a lot of us have not learned the lessons from history. I for one, have, and will not be giving in to consumerism anymore and when I am lucky enough to find another job, I'm saving every penny to get me through the next recession. I only hope that more people will wake up and realize what their priorities really are, and that an expensive home in the burbs and two cars in the garage are no replacement for being able to have food on the table and being able to get to sleep at night. The lesson to be learned is to appreciate and enjoy what you have and stop trying to find something bigger and better.
don't think it will be better than the 30s. if things get as bad as it could the present day situation will be much worse because today's american is mostly urban so removed from their source of food that they will eat each other to survive. where is the nearset store to you? where do they get their food? how are you gonna get there without gas money? what jobs do you think will take the place of all the meaningless, almost worthless, skills you've learned and been paid for up until now ? are you willing to earn an indian, mexican or chinese wage to perform them? soon micky dees and wally world won't even be viable alternatives for employment as fewer and fewer people can afford their wares. it'll be much, much worse than the great depression.
Bingo and don't forget all the people with guns who will be using them on their neighbor if they get hungry enough.
It all started with Ronald Reagan.
That's "Saint Ron" to you.
America, the land of happy endings as long as you've got your own scriptwriters ...
YES IT DID. CHECK OUT THE MOVIE MAXED OUT.
Yep, what you say is true. The 'B' movie star, and his cohorts, messed with our country, with a wink and a nod. Found that out when I retired, and qualified for dual retirements, and lost $250 a month, because of a Ronnie quote, 'windfall' reduction of pension. I paid into and got robbed out of what I had earned.
Things are never so bad that they cannot be made worse.
--Humphrey Bogart
We watch with interest..
Funny, you didn't and aren't watching, Bush and Cheney and their cartel!
You're just now figuring this out?
Pretty soon there won't be a middle class at all; just rich and poor.
No... just poor, all my rich customers have stopped spending and left me here as a middle class businessman virtually bankrupt. Some of my customers are also slightly larger small businessmen and have been taxed and scared of proposed taxes and regulations to where they are shutting it down and moving assets off shore. Obama's tax the rich retoric does have an impact. I will be laying off employees by months end...
I hope he taxes them enough to make up for 20 years of free trade.
You're kidding, right? If you are serious, then you have no business owning a business. You are too simple. You are trying to pin the threat of higher taxes on only 5% of American households, not the reality, but the mere threat of it as the reason you will be laying off employees? Could you be any more obtuse? If your slightly larger small biz customers are large enough to shut down and move offshore rather than pay an extra 3% on amount over $250K, then A, they aren't really small businesses, and B, they are cowardly and unpatriotic. The country goes through hard times and asks you to sacrifice a little bit, which will not make you noticeably any less wealthy and they wanna shut down rather than contribute? Who needs them? Open your eyes.
Joe the Plumber! I wondered where you'd gone! Your tales are as tall as ever.
So your user name correctly really means d.*ck.head
Riiiiiiiiiiight. And all that moving and redistributing the money to wealthy for the past 25 years on the backs of the middle and working class is not anything to be concerned over or in need of correcting as far as you are concerned.
Yep..that was pretty much the plan. I have "the audacity of hope" that we can still turn this around.
Bush and Cheney have not done with us yet.
WE overheard a neighbor last week opine, "We're so poor we have to jack off the dog to feed the cat."
LOLZ
ewww! that's really foul!
That's just so wrong... hehe
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First Posted: 11-28-08 03:29 PM | Updated: 12-29-08 05:12 AM