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2008-11-07
, 07:51
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Posts: 72 |
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Joined on Sep 2007
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#52
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The Following User Says Thank You to DingerX For This Useful Post: | ||
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2008-11-07
, 08:22
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Moderator |
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Joined on Oct 2007
@ Vancouver, BC, Canada
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#53
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Meanwhile, the whole world economic system is built on similar principles...
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2008-11-07
, 10:36
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Posts: 3,220 |
Thanked: 326 times |
Joined on Oct 2005
@ "Almost there!" (Monte Christo, Count of)
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#54
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What's to say you're not BOTH right? People being deprived of an opportunity to own a home were forcing bankers politically to be more open to giving loans.. and then there's the overly greedy bankers who decided to use this as a great opportunity to do some creative vulture lending practices and screw a little of everyone in every type of way. It's not like all the banks did this.. but a lot of the most greediest certainly appeared quite happy to get involved in the practice of predatory lending and then turned around to blame the people they lended to, whether they were guilty of being irresponsible or not.
The short of it, as I see it: a lot of bankers and investors were greedy and a lot of lenders and borrowers were irresponsible.
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2008-11-07
, 12:44
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Posts: 5,795 |
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Joined on Feb 2007
@ Agoura Hills Calif
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#55
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2008-11-07
, 14:28
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Posts: 3,397 |
Thanked: 1,212 times |
Joined on Jul 2008
@ Netherlands
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#56
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I would call those "bait-and-switch-scam-mortgages". Those were the classic sub-prime mortgages that brought the whole house of cards down. I don't think they're even allowed to sell those up here in Canada. That was a uniquely American form of self-destruction. "Don't worry, you'll sell the house for a 10% profit long before you have to pay that high rate of interest..."
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2008-11-07
, 17:56
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Posts: 2,427 |
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Joined on Dec 2007
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#57
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Good points, but how does this take into account that banks all over the world are allowed to create money out of nothing only having to back up 8% of all the money they have written out on bank accounts? And that we, the people, have to pay for this indirectly (inflation) or directly (government debt)?
The Following User Says Thank You to daperl For This Useful Post: | ||
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2008-11-07
, 18:57
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Posts: 11,700 |
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Joined on Jun 2006
@ North Texas, USA
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#58
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2008-11-07
, 19:16
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Joined on Aug 2007
@ norway
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#59
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2008-11-07
, 20:40
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Posts: 2,427 |
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Joined on Dec 2007
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#60
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The All-American make-money-now-and-screw-the-future attitude has made even healthy economies like the one up here sag and buckle under the weight of American foolishness. America is like that guy that quietly gambles and drinks all his money away, then, before anyone realizes he's broke, starts borrowing heavily from all of his friends, feeding them stories to keep the cash coming. The stories are so believable that his friends borrow money from their friends, so they can give him more money. Then one day, someone catches him at the roulette table with the money they just lent him, and word gets around... all of his friends start demanding their money back, and when he can't pay, everyone suffers.
Another interesting analogy is the the one Cringley uses about forest fires. Bubble after bubble has made the US economy dangerously ready for a giant conflagration.
Since I mentioned Cringely, he actually has something to say about the original topic of this thread, too.
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Last edited by qole; 2008-11-07 at 06:56.