I Told You So! (AKA The Economy's in Flames)

POSTED BY: SignyM
UPDATED: Saturday, April 25, 2026 22:20
VIEWED: 5454
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HERO

Thursday, January 31, 2008 3:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
What did low interest rates do?
Set off a housing bubble.
Put lots of almost-real money in people's pockets.
Got them to buy cars and shit.

It wasn't the low interest rates that cause the bubble. It was the steady rise in interest rates after 2002 coupled with predatory lending practices.

Low interest rates meant people buying houses they could afford. Bigger, nicer houses. Unfortunately not everyone bought them at the same time. Interest rates rose, but lenders continued to offer the sweet rates, like 3%, only instead of being fixed rates, they were adjustable sub-prime rates. This meant a large number of people buying houses they could not afford. That was the bubble.

Cutting interest rates, limiting unfair rate increases, making foreclosure more difficult, and subsidizing state refinance programs will allow this problem to correct itself. Better regulation and prosecution of criminal lending practices will prevent it from happening again.

So, bad as it is, its not all bad. Prices are dropping and interest rates are too. If fixed mortgage rates go below 4%...I'm going house shopping. Saw this coming, spent the last couple years saving, so I have cash, and my RAD stock is up 25% in less then a month, thats another $2500 right there...no credit card debt either. Hell, far as I'm concerned the economy is great...for me! Feel bad for the rest of the folks who ran up there credit cards, didn't save money, and didn't read the fine print on the lending documents.

H

RUE

Thursday, January 31, 2008 4:30 PM

Now where is Rap when you need to talk with him about the econmy ?

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"Global warming - it's not just a fact, it's a choice."

WULFENSTAR

Thursday, January 31, 2008 4:46 PM

Even tho the rates are going down, the house prices themselves are not. Its mostly due to the stupidity of the sellers. They still believe they are going to get rich off of the rest of us.

Can't help but laugh as the prices drop by the (literally) hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I saw a 2 bed condo drop from 320 (in a no-name area with nothing going for it) to its standing price of 160. 160 is still too much as they bought it for 93.

Hehehehe its fun to watch the greedy get screwed....

CHRISISALL

Thursday, January 31, 2008 4:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hero:
Feel bad for the rest of the folks who ran up there credit cards, didn't save money, and didn't read the fine print on the lending documents.

The man does have a heart after all....

isall

CHRISISALL

Thursday, January 31, 2008 4:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Okay, I hereby formally open up this thread to EVERYONE who's been itching to say

I TOLD YOU SO!!!

Have at it!

I SO SAW THIS COMING AND I TOLD Y'ALL SO!!!!!

Kinda bittersweet that is....

I was hopin' I was wrong Chrisisall

6IXSTRINGJACK

Thursday, January 31, 2008 6:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Sabot:
Maybe my sense of history is a little off, but was it not the government that brought America out of The great deppression?

And a response could be that the scandinavian countries have had great succes with implementing expansive state agenda´s

Also, if you want to privatize state owned property, just look at the UK in the 1980´s cause that went real well.
(sorry about my humble spelling, this is not my given language)

Some people here are under the impression that it was the government that may have put us into that Great Depression in the first place.... or at least those shady, wrinkly old white men who were in the pockets of those running the Fed of yesteryear....

Here we are, 70... 80 so years in the wake of the aftermath....

Heaven's me, we're looking straight down that cliff again, aren't we? ...just waiting for some cocksucker in a suit to push us off of it. Perhaps we should all buy parachutes here with our tax rebates... What say you, as an outside party?

Seeing as how we're so dangerously close to where we started when our benevolent government unconstitutionally taxed our income, for our own collective good, I'm not especially giddy about the cold hard truth that the only thing we really got out of the last deal was a social security number.

Funny how this is all happening at the same time, what with the housing crisis, the credit crisis, Mexican's overrunning our southern borders and taking jobs without paying taxes, and of course the "Terror" from the middle east..... all right in time to take that next big step for mankind and implement a real ID on each and every one of us.

What I really fear is what might be orchestrated one day as to convince our children to one day voluntarily give their palms up, so they may all be branded with barcodes which serve no less a purpose than to allow them entry into their local supermarket to buy the very foodstuffs which bring them sustainance.

Granted... that's likely not the majority opinion here. To believe so would be to proclaim your own madness.

At any rate... It is kinda fun to have a first class seat to see it all unravel.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." http://www.myspace.com/6ixstringjack

RUE

Thursday, January 31, 2008 8:19 PM

6-IX

You're citing history ? I thought you didn't believe in anything unless you were there to see it yourself.

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And besides, history is, like, SSOOoooooo yesterday.

BADKARMA00

Thursday, January 31, 2008 9:31 PM

Hmmmmmm

Dow Jones is up 207+ today at 12,650
Nasdaq is up 40+ today at 2,389
S&P is up 22.5+ today at 1,378

Yeah, the ole economy's in the crapper all right. What a buncha doomsayers.

But that's what keeps coming here reading this stuff fun,

Bad_karma
Heckler of the self-disenfranchised

CHRISISALL

Thursday, January 31, 2008 9:43 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by badkarma00:
Hmmmmmm

Dow Jones is up 207+ today at 12,650
Nasdaq is up 40+ today at 2,389
S&P is up 22.5+ today at 1,378

Yeah, the ole economy's in the crapper all right. What a buncha doomsayers.

I guess reduced blood loss means the patient's out of the woods, eh Doc?

What's up Chrisisall

KIRKULES

Thursday, January 31, 2008 9:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
What did low interest rates do?
Set off a housing bubble.
Put lots of almost-real money in people's pockets.
Got them to buy cars and shit.

Now that the housing boom has turned into a bust, spending is down.
Investment is down.
The economy is down.

Those that think low interest rates have caused our current problems have only looked a rates from the perspective of their own lifetime. Interest rates were at historic highs through the 1970's and 80's so when they returned to the historical trend line for rates everyone thinks rates are at historic lows. This is not the case. All the problems you site are actually due to the inefficient use of capital due to historically low lending standards. Capital that should have gone into business investment and to responsible home buyers went to those only interested in how many new cars they could buy with their home equity loan. For the same reason the tax rebate portion of the stimulus package will do nothing for the economy in the long term. Judging by the almost universal doom and gloom I'm hearing here, I think I'll be putting my rebate to work in the stock market. When everyone thinks the end of the world is coming is the best time to buy stocks. Plus, buying stock will actually have a stimulative effect on the economy.

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