Economy, Maine... (Portland: mortgages, credit card, student loans)

[Submariner]

Well, I am new to Maine.

I get my paycheck from the Navy, 1/4 of my previous monthly income when I was on Active Duty.

I did get a COL raise in January!

The economy in Maine? I don't know. We are living here. Trying to finish building this house. The flood did not help any.

I did have a lot of fun last summer with the Farmer's Market, overall when the books were closed we lost money.

So this year I am working trying to expand, to produce more food, and hopefully when the season is done, we hope that our losses will have also grown.

I just got our insurance quotes this morning, to allow me to be a vendor in Bangor. Ouch! If I had been insured last year, the insurance and the fees to join the market would have equaled 50% of my season Gross income.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

Ok, I know that the higher costs of oil affects things like raising food prices (costs more to farm/ship) and extra money spent on heating homes has left many people broke, but those are separate issues. The raise in oil is an independent occurrence separate from our 'slagging' economy.

If oil went back to under $100 a barrel would you still say that the economy is down the drain, like it supposedly is?

Kind of a cause and effect thing isn't it? If it rained $100 dollar bills tomorrow how would that effect the economy? If you take out the largest cause of the problem then the problem goes away...You should have a government job, you sound just like a politician!

[RANGER.101ST]

how can you say its an independent occurrence? it affects every thing and every one.
if a company has to pay extra for oil then they have to raise their price on their product.
thats one jump then you have to ship that product thats jump #2 them the retailor thats #3 now a product that cost 5$ a year ago now cost 8.
veen if the price went back to 100$ or even 90$ a barel thats not going to fix what has all ready happend .you hear every week that unemployment is down.it isnt downe they come up with that figure based on how many people are collecting unemployment that week.the only reason unemployment is downe is peopls bennifets ran out and cant collect any more.that doesnt mean they are back to work.

[Maineah]

Ford announced today it is cutting production for most models for the rest of the year! How does that fit into a robust economy?

[RANGER.101ST]

Originally Posted by Maineah

Ford announced today it is cutting production for most models for the rest of the year! How does that fit into a robust economy?

maybe we can all go to work at walmart to fix our economy.

[Nor'Eastah]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

If oil went back to under $100 a barrel would you still say that the economy is down the drain, like it supposedly is?

The price of oil is just a symptom, it isn't the whole disease. The disease is buried in our banking system. Does anyone remember Bear Stearns? Are you aware that the Fed is loaning treasuries (= money) to large Wall Street banks in exchange for their bad paper (mortgages, car loans, student loans, credit cards - all gone/going bad)? When the Fed loans money, it prints it out of thin air. This concept seems to unsettle a lot of people. They have some idea that when you take out a mortgage or a loan, you're 'borrowing' someone else's 'deposit'. Not so. The Fed creates digital money out of thin air and distributes it to major banks.

Adjustable-rate mortgages have just begun to reset. We are looking at another year and a half of mortgage resets coming up, from refinancings of 3 years ago. This thing isn't even half over. There will be many more foreclosures. Expect large banks (and some smaller ones) to go belly-up. Expect runs on banks, as depositors panic and want their cash back. Expect Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and Citi to go bankrupt and/or be taken over by larger outfits as was Bear Stearns.

I am not alarmist and all that I have just written here can be googled and seen to be true. The more money the Fed "creates" by loaning to these big banks to keep them solvent (and it's taking more and more "loans" to do it), the more our money supply is being debased. How many of you recall the recent announcement that our pennies and nickels will soon be made of steel, rather than copper and nickel? Google THAT! Copper and nickel are too expensive to 'waste' on pennies and nickels, they think. When a currency is debased (worth less), it takes more units to buy something of value.

That's why the price of oil is really going up. Also why food and everything else is going up. The problem is with the banks and the monetary system, not oil. Not OPEC. Not the speculators. Watch where you park your cash. Methinks under the mattress would not be the worst place!

[DanBev]

Well I do not know about the post with eggs bread and milk,more like 100 percent,our eggs were 99 cents now $2.39,milk $3.50 now $4.78,bread not important get at day old store.Our salvation is grocery store with buy one get one free,stock up shelf and freezer.Be cause of situation we just listed our home at $152,500 trying to attract buyer.Five acres,2000 sq ft ranch with 3 out building's,$35,000 below replacement.Our gas $4.00,deisel $4.49 Sad.Sad,this in north FL

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by DanBev

Well I do not know about the post with eggs bread and milk,more like 100 percent,our eggs were 99 cents now $2.39,milk $3.50 now $4.78,bread not important get at day old store.Our salvation is grocery store with buy one get one free,stock up shelf and freezer.Be cause of situation we just listed our home at $152,500 trying to attract buyer.Five acres,2000 sq ft ranch with 3 out building's,$35,000 below replacement.Our gas $4.00,deisel $4.49 Sad.Sad,this in north FL

Where are you planning to move to?

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah

The price of oil is just a symptom, it isn't the whole disease. The disease is buried in our banking system. Does anyone remember Bear Stearns? Are you aware that the Fed is loaning treasuries (= money) to large Wall Street banks in exchange for their bad paper (mortgages, car loans, student loans, credit cards - all gone/going bad)? When the Fed loans money, it prints it out of thin air. This concept seems to unsettle a lot of people. They have some idea that when you take out a mortgage or a loan, you're 'borrowing' someone else's 'deposit'. Not so. The Fed creates digital money out of thin air and distributes it to major banks.

Adjustable-rate mortgages have just begun to reset. We are looking at another year and a half of mortgage resets coming up, from refinancings of 3 years ago. This thing isn't even half over. There will be many more foreclosures. Expect large banks (and some smaller ones) to go belly-up. Expect runs on banks, as depositors panic and want their cash back. Expect Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and Citi to go bankrupt and/or be taken over by larger outfits as was Bear Stearns.

I am not alarmist and all that I have just written here can be googled and seen to be true. The more money the Fed "creates" by loaning to these big banks to keep them solvent (and it's taking more and more "loans" to do it), the more our money supply is being debased. How many of you recall the recent announcement that our pennies and nickels will soon be made of steel, rather than copper and nickel? Google THAT! Copper and nickel are too expensive to 'waste' on pennies and nickels, they think. When a currency is debased (worth less), it takes more units to buy something of value.

That's why the price of oil is really going up. Also why food and everything else is going up. The problem is with the banks and the monetary system, not oil. Not OPEC. Not the speculators. Watch where you park your cash. Methinks under the mattress would not be the worst place!

Great post again as your posts tend to be Nor'Eastah! You are correct. You say you're not an alarmist, though I think we need some alarmists to start shouting from the rooftops before the whole thing collapses out from under us. Problem is when money becomes worthless all the cash in the mattress becomes just more stuffing.
It's time to study the Great Depression in detail to see how people survived.
A piece of land and some farming, hunting, and food preservations skills will be worth more than anything money can buy when the bottom drops out!
People will be forced to take care of themselves. Remember, rabbits are easy to raise and return the highest feed to protein ratio of any animal. Plus they taste good too.

[RANGER.101ST]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm rabbitstew .
when the bottom drops out the country folk can survive.