[mike0618]

Originally Posted by danielj72

Way too much credit card debt out there. People make fun of me, I have an old style tube TV, not a new fancy flat screen. My cell phone is the cheap one that comes with the plan. I have modest cars that are paid for. I may not have the nicest things, but they are paid for. What good is it to have all that stuff if your going to lose it anyway??? Even if you can pay the bill, then you have to work your tail off at 2 jobs to keep it all, or have one super career to pay the bill. Many people have made themselves slaves to the stuff in their houses. How liberating it is to free yourself from all the debt that most people acrue. Dave Ramsey is dead on right about debt. Too bad he is not the president, our goverment could learn from him as well.

dave ramsey is awesome. I have been listening to him on the radio. working towards his baby steps to financial freedom once my family is back together.

[LivoniaMi]

Originally Posted by LIS123

I don't know if you saw this today, but I saw a little ticker at the bottom of the TV screen saying that Ford was going to create 170 (or 340, as it may have been in two areas, it wasn't clear) over TWO YEARS in hybrid/fuel cell cars. 170/340 jobs in two years.... pop the champagne! What a joke!

Lose 10's of thousands of jobs.....and gain a few hundred.....WOOO HOOO!!!! Or not.....

[Pmarlow]

Don't you just love how people tell you how you can find work if you rally want to? These rubes are retired idiots drawing SS or SSI and telling others how its done. I would not give them the time of day. Michigan is DOA and is where the rest of the country is going and these idiots are telling us how there is a lot of work out there. Just ignore the old farts who walked up hill both ways to school and ate dirt for dinner. THEY LIE.

[mike0618]

Originally Posted by Pmarlow

Don't you just love how people tell you how you can find work if you rally want to? These rubes are retired idiots drawing SS or SSI and telling others how its done. I would not give them the time of day. Michigan is DOA and is where the rest of the country is going and these idiots are telling us how there is a lot of work out there. Just ignore the old farts who walked up hill both ways to school and ate dirt for dinner. THEY LIE.

i dont think they lie, they just dont know that todays michigan enviroment is different than what was thiers when they grew up. But they are not all wrong. read my situation i posted in this thread. It is not all hopeless. Dont give up, network and some luck and hard work and you can find a job.. it might just lead you out of michigan, but there are ways... you do what you have to do.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Pmarlow

Don't you just love how people tell you how you can find work if you rally want to? These rubes are retired idiots drawing SS or SSI and telling others how its done. I would not give them the time of day. Michigan is DOA and is where the rest of the country is going and these idiots are telling us how there is a lot of work out there. Just ignore the old farts who walked up hill both ways to school and ate dirt for dinner. THEY LIE.

What old farts are you referring to?

[LIS123]

Originally Posted by Bhaalspawn

Yeah, that's what I figure will happen. It isn't hard to find someone saying, "Now is a great time to buy a house!" However, I wonder, what if housing prices continue to go down? What makes people think that they won't decrease further?

Take your average middle class house of 2000 ft and three or four bedrooms in the suburbs. If our nation loses 20% of its middle class over the next couple of years, what will happen to those houses? It seems like the prices for those types of houses would have to drop precipitously so that people earning near-minimum wage could afford them.

Hopefully the lower wages the workers end up earning will translate into either lower prices or new jobs, but I'm concerned that much of it will simply translate into higher profit margins and larger CEO bonuses.

I definitely agree that part of our nation's economic problem is too much government meddling in that sort of thing. However, I also think that the free market is part of the problem in terms of a failure to regulate CEO pay, a failure to eliminate and regulate externalities, and our exposure to foreign labor.

The increased productivity will be good for businesses. Sure, some of the money may be pocketed by management, but businesses need to continue to grow, spend on CapEx, invest, etc. This will lead to resources saved through increased efficiency being allocated in the right way. That's what the market does.

If firm X generates extra money through increased efficiency and wastes it (i.e. by lavishing its extra money on higher salaries for upper management), firm X will pay the price for that in a competitive (and free) place. In 2010 America, firm X maybe in bed with the federal Government, in which case it can still do fairly well even if it does not allocate resources properly. This is not a good thing.

CEO pay should be regulated by the market, NOT the Government. Companies that overpaid their CEOs and focused solely on short term earning paid the price for that. The only problem was that they were bailed out instead of allowed to fail.

Just ask yourself... do you want then same idiots who run $1.6 T+ annual deficits, preemptive wars, take > 50% of some peoples' incomes and have put us on the hook for close to $100 T in unfunded liabilities, destroyed the currency, etc.. gaining MORE power?

[Pmarlow]

Originally Posted by magellan

What old farts are you referring to?

If the depends fits...............LOL

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Pmarlow

If the depends fits...............LOL

Wow, that was hilarious. Enjoy your ban moron.

[Sparrow_temp]

One of the problems with this is that the wrong type of houses were built. Housing was built for those who couldn't really afford it. We now have houses that have been foreclosed that nobody can afford if priced on what they cost to build. Instead of building small homes (< 2000 sq ft), we have large houses with > 3000 sq ft. I suspect these will lie vacant while more and more people become homeless. Or there will be lots of property available later at bargain prices.

Originally Posted by LIS123

The housing market, if allowed to operate freely (which it wasn't on the way up and isn't on the way down), will find the right prices for housing. If the demand for housing continues to drop, then prices will fall. Yeah, people will take a hit but that's what needs to be done if that's what the market indicates for prices.