I would just like to point out (San Jose, Union City: credit, loan)

[5thgenSF]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

I am curious about your claim that fewer than 10% of American households earn $120,000 annually? Where did you get that? I see quick stats that indicate the number at 17% -- 23% for 100K ... I also would point out that we are talking California household incomes, not national.

i was just googling that myself.

How much does the Average American Make? Breaking Down the U.S. Household Income Numbers.

The median household income in the United States is $46,326. Here in California people have a hard time understanding that yes, 50 percent of our population live on $46,000 or less a year. Even today, all the elixirs and remedies being thrown around fail to focus on income and the big brother of income, solid employment. Dual earner households have a higher median income at $67,348.

(they have a graph here)

As you can see from the above chart, only 17.8% of all U.S. households make more than $118,200 a year. Only 2.67% make more than $200,000. The fact that only 34% make more than $65,000 is astounding given how expensive other cost of living items have gotten over the past decade. That is why the middle class is feeling squeezed from all different sides.

(another graph)

I ran the numbers for a state with no state income tax, Texas. A family at this level is only bringing in $3,215 a month. The national median home price peaked around $200,000. So let us assume this family purchased the median home:

5% down payment: $10,000
Mortgage 30-year fixed (6.5%): $1,200
Taxes and Insurance: $333
PITI: $1,533

Right off the bat, this family is spending 47% of their net pay on a median priced home. We didn’t even account for any pre-tax retirement account investing. Given the recent stock market performance and the loss of $50 trillion in global wealth, maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea. The bottom line is the average American family is being squeezed from every angle. What we need is a focus on jobs and our economy, not bailing out banks. That defeats the entire purpose. The average American family is struggling getting by and when they hear about these billion dollar handouts, they can’t help but to feel left out.

[TNEC_Dad]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

"Ballpark theory" doesn't have a damn thing to do with record foreclosures.

The majority of people losing their homes are people who have lost their income source ... due to the overall crash of the economy -- triggered by the bursting of of home values that were falsely inflated by nefarious intent to defraud -- which fraud was carried out with considerable deliberation by a relatively small sub-culture of financial geniuses and their witless political tools.

As for "negativity"? Read your own damn posts.

Sorry, you are wrong again.

Foreclosures are due to people who bought more than the should have which did not allow for savings.

This is what you call negative thinking when in reality it is responsibility.

It looks like you are having another negative day again. I hope life gets better.

[TNEC_Dad]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

I didn't find .highnlite's "ballpark" example to be anything even vaguely related to the kind of nonsense you are trying to "conflate" it with here. He simply stated a simple example of how home ownership would be possible ... nothing about businesses becoming worth millions of dollars.

I am curious about your claim that fewer than 10% of American households earn $120,000 annually? Where did you get that? I see quick stats that indicate the number at 17% -- 23% for 100K ... I also would point out that we are talking California household incomes, not national.

The point is that the example is flawed. That pointed out got the feathers ruffled and now the backtracking.

Sure, home ownership is possible, we all know that.

[5thgenSF]

Originally Posted by TNEC_Dad

Foreclosures are due to people who bought more than the should have which did not allow for savings.

[TrueTimbers]

Originally Posted by user_id

Research what? Living and traveling "as locals do" isn't free, I'm a local here, yet....the gas station expects money, the buses expect money, the trains expect money, the airlines expect money, the grocery store expects money, etc.

Now, you could save up the money for plane ticket to Europe and be homeless for free. Is that what you're suggesting? That college graduates illegally reside (can't stay more than 3 months without a special visa....not going to get it if you're homeless) and become homeless vegabonds?

There are a few "work for food/board" type of opportunities that can be pursued, I already acknowledged that, but most people have obligations that prevent them from pursuing them and these opportunities are very limited....by no means could the majority of graduates pursue these sorts of things. But, working for peanuts in another country...isn't exactly "traveling the world", its going to one location in the world and working for peanuts usually for some sort of half-baked humanitarian goal.

There is nothing realistic, for the vast majority of graduates, about traveling the world after they graduate from college.

OK, I quit! Whatever you want to believe User... Consider one thing... $1 US goes along ways in many countries, heck $0.25 gets you a square meal in many SE Asian countries... A person with a $1000 can live like a king for quite some time. Follow, well maybe not you tend to only see things from your perspective.... Have you ever gone down to Mexico, away from the tourist crap?

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by TNEC_Dad

Sorry, you are wrong again.

Foreclosures are due to people who bought more than the should have which did not allow for savings.

This is what you call negative thinking when in reality it is responsibility.

It looks like you are having another negative day again. I hope life gets better.

Simple world view from a simple mind.
The dynamics are far greater than you appear capable of grasping. They include the entirety of our cultural history -- as well as psychology ... they include the nature of belief and its manipulation by very capable but tiny minorities of aberrant individuals ... it includes the illusionary monetary system of fractional, central banking we are all stuck with as has been perpetrated on us by some damn clever manipulators ...

But for folks like you it is preferable to blame other everyday worker-bee people that you wish to feel superior to.

My day is great -- as are most all my days. I particularly enjoy calling out disingenuous shallowness. Thanks for showing up again to provide entertainment. Here's one of those little smiley icons you think are so "cute" to hate:

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by user_id

Probably not....nationalism always rubbed me the wrong way. Heck, even as a teen I got the army recruiter to hung up on me. Good times....

Yeah. No doubt. They tend not to waste their time on non-patriots, airheads, radicals and illiterates.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by EdJS

My house is in the heart of the Bay Area -- about midway between Oakland and San Jose, and about five minutes from a BART station.

As I said, it's a very good neighborhood. Sure, it's not Palo Alto but it's certainly not "ghetto".

Union city isn't in the "heart" of the bay area, and the bay area isn't a major city....its a loosely connected mass of cities. I'm talking about major cities...and perhaps their immediate suburbs. Union city is not an immediate suburb of either San Fransisco or San Jose,its ~25 miles from the core of San Jose.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by user_id

Union city isn't in the "heart" of the bay area, and the bay area isn't a major city....its a loosely connected mass of cities. I'm talking about major cities...and perhaps their immediate suburbs. Union city is not an immediate suburb of either San Fransisco or San Jose,its ~25 miles from the core of San Jose.

A right minimal distance to stay away from any city, of course ... 60 miles is better ... coupla hundred miles is downright comfortable and sane ...

[user_id]

Originally Posted by TrueTimbers

Have you ever gone down to Mexico, away from the tourist crap?

Nope, what's the point? I can visit east LA.

But....I'm not the traveling sort anyways. I wouldn't have "traveled the world" in my 20's whether I had the money or not.... Though I will likely leave the US sooner or later..... I wasn't talking about my owe experiences, rather the realities that face college graduates today.

Yep, the US dollar can buy a lot in some poor nations, but you still have to get their....and you still have to have money. But I could have traveled Southeast Asia for free....never bothered, I get enough of it here.