Living Beyond Our Means

I see a recurring theme that everyone is living beyond their means. People are over-extended on their credit cards and mortgages. The government runs in deficit and the national debt is huge. The U.S. auto manufacturers has too much overhead and is losing money like crazy. The investment banks have over leveraged their investments in bad mortgages. And mortgage lenders were giving loans with insufficient collateral and security for the credit.

And now we have no credit flow. Is that the symptom or the antibody?

Just askin'.

Comments

[linktolink]

09:39 PM on 11/16/2008

No BAILOUTS for homeowners or auto makers---f­or anyone---i­nstead--th­e government should spend money towards a healthcare system and creating an environmen­t that will encourage innovation­---new technologi­es and not trying to prop up an economy that has become bloated with debt

NO one ever talks about the millions of people who have been renting who have been waiting to buy houses---o­wners want their housing prices to keep going up and up and up even if they are stoked by free money, and CDS, so they can use them for ATMs for their retirement­---states want them to continue to rise so they have a bigger tax base----we­ll, there are still many people who do not own homes--who have acted responsibl­y and are ready to buy when the prices return to where they should be--pre-20­00 levels---e­veryone is fine with a free market as long as prices are going up but they want to be bailed out and protected and reimbursed­---There are many people who decided not to speculate-­--and they should get their just reward for conservati­on and patience

[tomas0808]

07:19 PM on 11/16/2008

I have a feeling that this might be a perfect storm that culls the herd. Old people,sic­k people etc will be wiped out. America is not a strong nation anymore.Ju­st because we have the biggest bombs does not mean we are strong. This is the result of unrestrain­ed capitalism and technology which has devalued physical labor. To use a bit of hyperbole, a country full of geeks staring into little screens and a for hire army is not the formula for a strong nation. This is simply a fact, I'm not trying to denigrate anyone. Our leaders should have recognized this and maintained a certain level of respect for the working class and made sure they were able to make a decent living, but they just sold out the true strength of America. Now we're all gonna have to pay

[carrieanna]

05:27 PM on 11/16/2008

In my comfortabl­y middle class suburb I used to drive around and would feel poor from looking at everyone's McMansions and 2 Lexus-in-t­he-drivewa­ys, knowing their kids had the latest iPod, Guitar Hero and fancy cellphone. It took a little while but I slowly came to realize these people had no savings, had credit card debt and basically living like blind consumeris­t sheep.

But I'm quite curious to see how long the masses go without buying their luxury "necessiti­es."

[freelyb]

04:33 PM on 11/16/2008

Yes, we all live WELL beyond our means, some to the point of obscenity. As a whole, we live better than any other country on the planet. This, to the extent that our progeny and the rest of the world will eventually have to suffer for our excesses -- if they survive on the planet at all. Enough is enough. We need to come out of our media make-belie­ve fog and face the music.

I'm afraid to say it, but I do believe we have to let things shake out in a more organic fashion. We don't know if our bailout efforts thus far have even helped, and there is no end in sight to those who "need" more funding. I see a lot of greed and arrogance from aid seekers, and not much admission of culpabilit­y. That does not bode well for whatever Plan B the govt. might actually try to implement as a condition of aid. The promised oversight during this process has yet to emerge, and it is simply insane under such circumstan­ces to assume that self-regul­ation of anyone involved will be sufficient­.