America's Descent Into a Third World Country Has Begun.

It seems that some people living in California(of course, one of the most expensive states in the nation), are now creating a "Tent City" in Inland Empire. Many housing experts say that most of those suffering from the current Subprime mortgage crisis will end up here.

Go here to read the article yourselves. America is on the path of becoming a third world country:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071221/us_nm/usa_housing_social_dc

The mortgage crisis is now effecting the Rental Market. Those of us who live in apartments now have to pay a large amount of money because rental demand has shot through the roof due to the millions of people who are losing their homes.

When I was about 10 years old living in Gardena, a suburb of Los Angeles in 92, we had a nice apartment in a great neighborhood for $800 per month. Today, $800 per month in Los Angeles puts you right smack in a dangerous ghetto.

For those of you who CONTINUE to downplay the decline of the U.S. economy, this is just one more article in a long list I've posted here at DP this year which shows that I'm right, and everyone who is against me is wrong.

I've built a financial website, I'm getting so many of these articles I think I need to start a section on the decline of the economy so I can track it.

 

I saw that on Yahoo. The Greenspan housing bubble has only started to deflate and its already wrecking havoc.

The housing bubble is far from over. Look at these prices
http://www.coldwellbankermoves.com/...earchID=2341166#results_2341166_1612_1_0_0_10

Some illegal aliens are going back to Mexico taking jobs for $22 a day from Americal companies and sending the money back to their families in the US.

It wouldn't be long before Americans start to become illegals in Canada and Europe,

 

I want to give a piece of advice to those of you here at DP who are financially well off, and have a true understanding of the nature of the U.S. economy: Now is a great time to start marketing alternative financial e-books, products, and help guides.

In the last six months, I've written an e-book which I've marketed with great success on the web, and in January, I'm going to market it again to make even larger profits. The fact of that matter is that many Americans are looking for answers, and they're fed up with the BS that the mouthpieces on TV are feeding them.

Most "financial experts" are establishment representatives which will only give you financial advice which fattens their own pockets. If anyone here at DP has a financial website that gets large amounts of traffic( at least 500 visitors per day or more, and is a minimum of a PR 6, I'm willing to spend up to $200 per month to buy ad space on your site, so long as you give me a static banner on a prominent page and you don't put me on a rotating banner system.

Now is the time to start educating people on how to survive whats coming, because there are going to be winners, and there will be losers. I don't plan on being a loser, and the number of people who have paid for my e-book tells me that there are a lot of people out there who want alternative information on how to build wealth, and anyone who has that information stands to become wealthy and help others at the same time.

 

Thanks Tesla, I have always enjoyed reading your posts dude.

 

Those housing prices are ridiculous, yeah this country is finished. I can't believe there are people here at Digital Point who still thinks everything is ok.

A house for $6 million? Good God almighty. And the thing about the illegals is so true, this is why I'm 100% against illegal immigration. These guys come to this country, don't pay a dime in taxes, then turn around and send money OUT of the economy back home to their family members.

The wages then get driven down, and then corporate slave masters claim that "Americans won't do these jobs" but of course Americans won't work for $5 per hour, they can't afford it, look at the cost of housing and rent.

This country is being set up so bad, only people who are disciplined and well informed have a chance.

1. If you have children, or mouths to feed, you're in deep trouble.
2. If you have large amounts of debt, you're in trouble.
3. If all your assets are in paper money, you're in trouble.
4. If you don't understand why the economy is going into decline, and whats behind it, again, you're in trouble.
5. If you're Middle Aged or older, and you didn't save or invest while you were young, you're in deep trouble.
6. If you got a college degree in a field that can be easily outsourced, you're in trouble.
7. If you're broke, you're in trouble.
8. If you're working at a dead end job, and don't have the resources to pursue a higher education, you're in trouble.


Anyone who finds themselves falling under any of the categories above better spend a lot of time brainstorming on how they are going to survive the next five years, because if you fall under any of the categories above, you may find yourself homeless.

 

Only if you rely on it to make a living I admit to having one, but I don't even remember in what hole I stuffed my diploma, it's probably lost forever just like the money I spent on college.
When you do something stupid, the smart thing to do is learn from it and move on

 

Tesla, hoping you will see this if I post it here.

LA Times Editorial Board takes on Sec. of the Treasury Paulson
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion...0,7810419.story?page=1&coll=la-opinion-center
(3 pages)

 

Guerilla, I read the article under the link, and I have to tell you Henry Paulson sounds like a piece of work. I'm going to quote what he said here, and then given my analysis of it:

Henry Paulson is a man who clearly believes in a managed economy. You can tell by reading the article that it seems like he wants to protect the investors more than the homeowners, and this to me is foolish. I hate the fact that, instead of the way things were done in the past, where you dealt with the company that actually gave you the mortgage loan, today, that money comes "from investors spread around the globe." This clearly creates a situation in which crisis just like the subprime mortgage mess can occur.

Whatever happen to the old days, where the company you got the mortgage from actually WAS the source of the funding, rather than international investors?

I think Paulson's solution is going to exacerbate the problem. He is doing the "one size fits all" approach, and this approach is going to lead to nothing but problems. The houses should be allowed to fall to the natural price, let the free market take care of itself. People will end up homeless, and investors will lose money, but that is the risk you sometimes have to take in business.

Henry Paulson's logic is flawed. I'm not even a trained economist and I can see that clearly. Since he wants to "protect" the investors from their mistakes, I guess the government should start protecting everyone who makes bad business moves. The very concept of it is ridiculous.

The situation with the subprime mortgage crisis is simple: corrupt banks and lending institutions loaned money to people who they knew couldn't afford it, and the people who signed up for the loans were too foolish to see the scam. The lenders collected hundreds of millions in monthly mortgage payments plus interest for at least 5 years, and then the bubble popped, and the only people who really lost everything was the homeowner.



I also want to analyze the following quote, from the last page:

There Henry goes again using the word "homeowner" to describe people who don't own their homes. When will people get it through their thick heads that when you're making payments on something, and will lose it if you stop making those payments, you don't own the home? Homeowner is a deceptive term which was used by lenders to get low income people into ARMS, and that is why we're in this mess today.

If say, Tom Cruise or some other rich celebrity pays for a home in cash, they are "true" homeowners. The property belongs to them, they didn't have to go into debt to get it. And then Paulson talks about how he talks to people in Asian and Latin American and African countries, and how the people their aspire to have home ownership like we do in America.

I take this to mean the people Paulson has talked to want to be in debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars, getting mortgages were the interest rate could shoot through the roof. Paulson is a joke, this guy is an establishment lapdog. His logic is perhaps the most flawed I've seen yet.

Paulson's only solution for the problem is credit. Credit, credit, credit, damn, whatever happened to saving money for the things you want, instead of borrowing? Oh yeah, thats right, the dollar has lost 60% of its value against the Euro since 2000, and the dollar has lost over 90% of its value since 1914. No wonder everyone has to borrow money to get houses, the paper money they use has been totally devalued!

My grandparents paid for their house in cash. My uncle's family paid for their house in cash. These were true homeowners, not "fake" homeowners who claim they own their home but get scared if they suddenly lose their job and aren't able to make the mortgage payments.........give me a break, the banks run this country.

Henry Paulson is a establishment lapdog who preaches the exact philosophy that is going to cause an economic collapse: allowing a handful of powerful men to decide which direction the economy should go in. Common sense tells you that these powerful men are only going to steer the economy in a direction that fattens their own pockets, and leaves everyone else in the poor house.

Human nature is the number one reason why a managed economy can't work. You can use all the mathematics and technical terms you want MR. Paulson, but I keep it simple and sweet: as long as humans "manage" and economy, expect to have nothing but problems.......and that is exactly what we have here in the United States.

 

You know, the banks think most of us are so dumb........I went into my bank about two weeks ago to make a small deposit, and the nice teller asks me: Sir, would you like us to take your money and place it in a savings account?

I looked at the Teller, and said: The small amount of interest you would pay me is worthless. The National rate of inflation is around 12 to 13%, this means inflation would eat up any interest you would pay me............unless you're going to give me 17% interest or more on my savings account, I might as well keep my money in a checking account........

Then the teller and the other bank representatives start laughing nervously.................there is a reason why they give out "suckers" at banks. Think about it....

 

Well, the real question is, who gets hurt with the government intervention?

If losses are absorbed through federal instruments like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, then aren't "we, the taxpayer" subsidizing the bailout?

Paulson really is a piece of work based on that article. I'm happy the Times editorial board went after him. People in this country are slowly waking up.

 

Superb posts as usual telsa.

You make it easy for for dumbasses to actually see the damage that is being done to your once great country.

 

The USA survived the Great Depression of the 1930s. Why? Capitalism and free markets work.

America is still the economic engine of the world, despite the naysayers. Why? Capitalism and free markets work.

For the same reasons (capitalism and free markets) a free people will surive economic cycles and continue to go forward. Will everyone prosper? No. Will opportunities to prosper through diligence and hard work still be there? Absolutely, as always in a free society.

 

I have to disagree Jim.

Yes capitalism and free markets work. What we have today is a weak form of socialism, combined with corporatism. The landscape is radically different than the Depression era.

No one actually owns anything today. As soon as people have equity in their homes, they borrow against it to acquire more.

Coming out of the depression, inflation was still low enough, that people could work hard, save and get ahead.

Today, it is impossible not to lose ground with your savings. The only chance people have, is to take on debt, service it, and hope to get clear later. It's a wonderful scheme for the banks really. They get the new credit to loan out for free basically, make money off of interest, and never have to take on any credit risks, they can't erase later with more new credit in the system.

We are in an unprecedented time in history, with a system that has traditionally been unsound and prone to failure. It will be interesting to see if the bankers can keep their ponzi scheme rolling.

 

The homeowners(or more correctly, fake homeowners), tax payers, and the American economy in general will be hurt. Henry Paulson is very revealing in his interview when he talks about "how lenders and investors need to get together and solve this problem with the government."

When you read between the line, what he is really saying is: "the mortgage lenders, investors, and government will get together so that they can cover each other's ass." This is what Paulson is really trying to say. You see, the homeowner gets no say in this decision, only the lenders and investors, and I must tell you, this is ironic to me because these are the same forces that put the borrower in debt in the first place.

Common sense shows that if/when these guys get together, at the very best, their solution may only help some homeowners, and at the very worst, it will cause even more problems.

You're right, capitalism and free markets work, but I don't feel we live in a free market economy any more, at least, not 100% free market. I say this because you have the government managing the economy. The fed prints money that they turn around and loan to the government, who then has to pay interest on it, and that comes through either taxes on Americans or simply transferring that debt overseas.

I can't say we live in a free market when, for example, in New York city you have one dominant power company(Con Edison), which is a monopoly that has no competition. That isn't free market. You can also look at the oil industry and see that that isn't free market either.

But the Internet? Now there is a true, 100% free market. The Internet is the ideal example of a free market at work. There is not a lot in the offline world today that makes me think we're living in a true free market economy, especially when the government manages everything, and we have a central bank.

America was a free market before the Fed was created. After that, the free market economy was largely a thing of the past, because you now have a central bank that essentially controls the monetary system.

Jim I tell you the truth: The United States today is not the nation it was in the 1920s, we cannot withstand another economic downturn of the magnitude of the Great Depression. If we get hit with another Great Depression, I firmly believe, and I may be wrong about this, but I firmly believe America will no longer be a global superpower, and not even a first world nation.

 

To be totally honest, I think the Internet is our saving grace, our trump card, our one advantage in all of this. The Internet is the wild card that the Elite never anticipated. If they had anticipated it, they would have never allowed the general public to gain access to such a technology, and it would have been hidden much like all the other advanced technologies that the Elite keeps under wraps.

Now the Elite are desperately trying to come after the Internet, but I think they will fail, because the Internet is to connected to our society, people will explode with any type of serious Internet regulation, even Google and MSN and Amazon are against the end of the net neutrality and government regulation.

So, for many of us, I think the Internet will be salvation, and will lead us through this darkness into the light. God forbid what life would be like if we didn't have the Internet.............I don't even want to think about it.

 

To give you an example of how the Internet is a free market, and how the free market is the best friend of the poor, let me give you guys this illustration:

Anyone who doesn't have a job, but who has skills as a programmer, artist, musician, writer, web design, link building, can come here to Digital Point and find work quickly. All you have to do is start a thread, offer people your skills, and for the right price, someone will hire you. If you do a good job, you get a positive itrader point. As you continue to do good jobs, you can get more itrader points.

Eventually, you've become so good that people come to you for projects. This is a true free market. With the Internet, there is NO REASON why anyone should starve or be hungry. Right this second, if I need to make $50 bucks real quick, I have people here at DP who can give me the $50 job I need to make money. No red tape, loop holes, or other BS.

In addition to Digital Point, you have a bunch of other sites where you can either hire people do jobs for you, or find work yourself. You can use Craigslist and many other such sites, and if you don't have any particular skill, there is plenty of information online to teach you the skills you need to find work, and if you are aware of your natural talent(such as a gift for number of something like that, you can find jobs that match your natural skill set.)

With the Internet, there is no reason why anyone should go hungry or be out of work. It is the last refuge of those who want to get real information to make real decisions. The old way of doing things is dying, the Net is the future, it is the future of education, finance, music, programming, everything. It is a free market, and as long as it stays that way, the Internet will continue to be the driving force of innovation as we move further into the 21st century and beyond.

This is why the Internet has become dominant, and is pushing the limits of innovation. And this is precisely why the Elite are drooling at the mouth and ready to take over it the first chance they get.

 

The major chink in our financial armor that kicked America into the Great Depression was the collapse of the stock market. At that time (1929) you could buy stocks with a 90% margin. That is, you only needed $100 cash to buy $1,000 of stocks. So if the market dropped just 10%, you were wiped out and lost your entire investment. Obviously, the market dropped far beyond 10%.

Today the allowable buying on "the margin" is very small. Controls have been set up that will not allow a repeat of the margin-induced market collapse of 1929, followed by the Great Depression.

 

The Internet is not perfect, I mean, there are many kooks and charlatans all over the web, but I tell you that I trust the Internet a LOT MORE than any BS I see on television. Once you realize that five large corporations own every channel that comes on TV, you have to start to question the information you're being given.

Notice on TV that no one is getting to the root of the problem, and no one is talking about precious metals, except Ron Paul. I advice you to look at history and start looking for alternative sources of information other than what you receive on the news.

The way I hand the situation is, I get my information from Economists who are not part of the establishment, like Dr. Paul Craig Roberts for Instance:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Craig_Roberts

It is important to separate the economic experts who are telling the truth from those who are controlled and paid by the establishment. I look at the person's credentials, their history, and Roberts is perhaps the best person to listen to. Read is free articles on his site, and you will see what I'm talking about. He says the same thing I'm saying, this economy is headed into the toilet.

 

You're 100% right, but I think this depression we are headed for will be different than the Great Depression, and much worse. I say this because Ben Bernanke is stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he lowers interest rates, the value of the dollar falls, which makes prices for everything increase. If he raises interest rates, the mortgage market falls even harder, no matter what these guys do, the U.S. is in deep trouble.

Jim, you also have to combine the subprime mortgage crisis with:

1. Illegal immigration, which drives down wages.
2. Outsourcing, which sends American jobs to foreign countries.
3. The dollars, which has lost 60% of its value against the Euro over the last five years.
4. All the personal debt, public debt, and national debt this country has.
5. Wars in the Middle East which continue to cost us trillions.
6. The rising price of commodities as a result of a devalued currency.

You combine all this with the subprime mortgage crisis, you have a situation which becomes very dire, and looks as if we're headed in a very dark direction.