Families and the Mortgage Crises

About 7 years ago, my father said something to me that has stuck. (And no he's not some sort of radical.) He said China could take us over without ever firing a shot. At first I just laughed. Now it makes sense. We get all of our loans from them including the stimulus. We buy 90 percent of our goods from them. I didn't check that last number, but it seems like everything I buy is from there because I don't really have a lot of options. Now, I hate to point fingers but companies like WM have really hurt our economy. Over the last year I have been trying to buy what I can from local mom and pop's. It cost me a little more but at least my money is staying here.

 

Your dad's right about China, by the way, and it wouldn't take a weapon. Good idea about the local businesses. I like doing the same but the pickin's are often slim in my general area.

 

Well Russia once said that socialism would take this nation without firing a shot.....looks like it may at that.

Who would have guessed that the US would actually vote in socialism?

 

I think that many have bought the anti socialism hype that the wealthy keep floating around, and that it isn't the enemy that many people are led to believe it is.

Add in the fact that many people aren' t taught the difference between socialism and communism and I can see how the fear keeps getting stirred up.

In the end, any civil society provides services that are a form of socialism, to keep order and preventing huge class wars.

I don't think we want our own version of the French Revolution, do we? It's better to make the orderly, and needed changes now, than to wait until civil unrest threatens everything.

There's nothing wrong with a little parity.

 

"There is nothing wrong with a little parity"

We already have that. Everyone has the opportunity to get an education and work. I should not have to support someone and their children because they choose to not work or because they chose a profession that doesn't pay them what mine pays me. They are not entitled to the fruits of my labor.

The problem is that people like you excuse socialism as ok and part of a civil society. It isn't. Which could explain why the nations that have tried it have lost their best and brightest citizens to other nations....like the US.

The only reason you think that it's the wealthy who are using socialism to scare people is because you are listening to the wealthy democrats who want to keep their wealth by getting the masses to vote them back into power.

Try talking to some people who lived under socialism.

 

Here is an email I was sent last week. I have not checked out the link. But it gives you something to think about when we feel opec is the problem.
>
> Subject: FW: OIL (NOT a JOKE) YOU CAN CHECK THIS AT USGS]
>
> The U. S. Geological Service issued a report in April ('08) that only
> scientists and oil men knew was coming, but man was it big. It was a
> revised report (hadn't been updated since '95) on how much oil was in this
> area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota; western South Dakota; and extreme
> eastern Montana ..... check THIS out:
>
> The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska 's Prudhoe
> Bay, and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign
> oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 > billion
> barrels.. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable... at $107 a barrel,
> we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion.
>
> 'When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their
> jaws hit the floor. They had no idea.' says Terry Johnson, the Montana
> Legislature's financial analyst.
>
> 'This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in
> the past 56 years.' reports, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It's a > formation
> known as the Williston Basin, but is more commonly referred to as the
> 'Bakken.' And it stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota > and
> into Canada. For years, U. S. oil exploration has been considered a dead
> end. Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells
> decades ago. However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up > the
> Bakken's massive reserves.... and we now have access of up to 500 billion
> barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels
> will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!
>
> That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 41 years
> straight.
>
> 2. And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then this next one should -
> because it's from TWO YEARS AGO!
>
> U. S. Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World!
> Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006
>
>
> Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the
> largest untapped oil reserve in the world. It is more than 2 TRILLION
> barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. In > three
> and a half years of high oil prices none has been extracted. With this
> motherload of oil why are we still fighting over off-shore drilling?
>
> They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders, > than
> all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the official estimates:
>
> - 8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
> - 18-times as much oil as Iraq
> - 21-times as much oil as Kuwait
> - 22-times as much oil as Iran
> - 500-times as much oil as Yemen
> - and it's all right here in the Western United States .
>
> HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this? Because the
> environmentalists and others have blocked all efforts to help America > become
> independent of foreign oil! Again, we are letting a small group of people
> dictate our lives and our economy....WHY?
>
> James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've got more oil in > this
> very compact area than the entire Middle East -more than 2 TRILLION > barrels
> untapped. That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in > the
> world today, reports The Denver Post.
>
> Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price - even with this find? Think > again!
> It's all about the competitive marketplace, - it has to. Think OPEC just
> might be funding the environmentalists?
> Got your attention/ire up yet? Hope so! Now, while you're thinking about
> it ...... and hopefully P.O'd, do this:
>
> 3. Pass this along. If you don't take a little time to do this, then you
> should stifle yourself the next time you want to complain about gas prices
> .. because by doing NOTHING, you've forfeited your right to complain.
> --------
> Now I just wonder what would happen in this country if every one of you > sent
> this to every one in your address book.
> By the way...this is all true. Check it out at the link below!!!
> GOOGLE it or follow this link. It will blow your mind.
> http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911
>

 

My relatives in Britain don't seem to share your horror of socialism...does that mean they're communists?
Really, why can't you answer Laughingmouse, but start into your harangue? She had several excellent points you could have "answered", you know.

 

The only question Laughing Mouse asked was if we wanted our own version of the French revolution and I took that to be rhetorical.

My family in Britain DOES share my horror of socialism. So do those family members in France, Germany and Canada.

I have a good internet friend who grew up in the Soviet Union. You should ask her about Socialism.

 

Frankie, everyone with your world view has "a good friend" brought up in the USSR. Spare me.
If your families shares the "horror" of Socialism, they should fricken well get off their fundaments and move to a country that shares their particular societal view.

 

I believe you know my friend, Here. You have sparred with her before.

My family plans to return here in due time. They are working in those countries at the moment. When they are finished, they will return home to their Federal Republic.

If you are so enamored of socialism why not move to one of those nations?

 

I've noticed that it tends to be easier for people to leave their homeland and move to the USA, than it is for the average U.S. Citizen to leave for another country.

It's a financial thing, by the way, and not a comfort thing.

 

I've noticed this, too. Do you think it has to do with having less to "leave behind" or because they are simply looking for opportunities their country doesn't provide?

 

I don't think it is due to a lack of opportunities in the other countries, but is more likely that living in the USA drains enough money on a monthly basis that it is difficult to save enough to leave.

 

And what, living in other countries is so inexpensive that people can pick up and move easily?

It's more like those people are looking for a better way of life and have the initiative to make it happen.

 

I know a woman who came here from India with her family.

She was stunned to find that it took both incomes to keep a roof over their heads. In India, you can have a decent home with only one adult working in the household.

In India, when you are down and out there are, apparently, options besides being homeless. In some areas you can stay in what we would have called a "flop house". She hadn't seen anything like that here, and I haven't ever seen anything like that outside of old movies.

She and her husband are trying to save money to go back to India and finding it quite difficult. It's not like they have a huge mortgage and a bunch of credit, either. They both have decent jobs.

Each country has its pros and its cons. There's no reason to believe that people don't leave the USA because they get comfortable and can't match the standard of living. For many, other issues are more important. There is also no reason to assume that a lack of motivation keeps people here, either.

For every tale of people looking for a better life, there is a tale illustrating how stunned people from other countries are when they find out what daily life is like, compared to the country they left.

This isn't a value judgment, but something important to remember. It's not an either/or proposition and its not adversarial.

It's just the way things are.

 

Yes... and I find this so very sad. So many people think of this as the land of opportunity and pin their dreams on that (like your friend from India) and then have to have that cold reality thrown at them. :-( Are they determined to return, or might they change those plans?

I remember very long ago talking to a friend in Malaysia and being shocked to think that she thought all Americans were filthy rich... well I guess to the very poor countries, most of us are... but it showed me the perception.

 

Many folks from other countries have a difficult time adjusting to the "alone-ness" of the USA. They are accustomed to having long standing relationships with people they can trust. It isn't the "alone-ness" of being a new citizen that concerns them, but that which is exhibited by people who are native to the USA.

Here, the profit margin governs many interactions and one has to constantly guard against being taken advantage of in a way that immigrants aren't always prepared to deal with.

 

Well that's surely the truth, yes. And because of the way some businesses are, those are the very people they prey upon. Vicious circle.