Monday, October 12, 2009

Middle class collapse?



"Distinguished law scholar Elizabeth Warren teaches contract law, bankruptcy, and commercial law at Harvard Law School. She is an outspoken critic of America's credit economy, which she has linked to the continuing rise in bankruptcy among the middle-class"

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Too funny. When it was over, I realized, thanks, you just described my life as a single parent with kids.

Anonymous said...

Great stuff, especially considering this speech was given one year before the credit collapse and mortgage crisis.

It's really descriptive rather than prescriptive though. She doesn't try to explain why the average middle class mortgage is so much higher today than 25 years ago when we're really not buying that much more house. That would seem to be a product of too much easy credit. Ditto with the revolving debt load -- too many credit card companies sucking people down the black hole of easy, 20% money.

My father made a decent living but never bought a car on credit. He saved his money and paid cash on the barrel head for every damned thing he ever bought. And he never lost one minute of sleep worrying about debt collectors. He grew up in the Depression and, like most people of that era, learned life's lessons the hard way.

Sort of like a lot of folks are doing today.

Anonymous said...

Excellent, informative, thanks KF

Disturbing as well in that the middle class is the single most consistent indicator in the rise and fall of civilizations. The growth predicts a rise and the decline predicts the fall.

Can we make Congress watch this?

Anonymous said...

To all the liberal idiots out there. Here comes your comeuppance:

Over the last three months, banks put 63 percent of their new cash into euros and yen -- not the greenbacks -- a nearly complete reversal of the dollar's onetime dominance for reserves, according to Barclays Capital. The dollar's share of new cash in the central banks was down to 37 percent -- compared with two-thirds a decade ago.

[... snip ...]

Economists believe the market rebellion against the dollar will spread until Bernanke starts raising interest rates from around zero to the high single digits, and pulls back the flood of currency spewed from US printing presses.


You fuckheads ain't seen nothing like the economic bloodletting and hardship that is about to be loosed on this country.

Best of luck. All of you numbskulls are going to need it.

Anonymous said...

Hell I will just marry a chick that has a good job.

Anonymous said...

Hey 5:00 pm, did you vote for Keyes? And its called ebb and flow, money moves where it becomes more valuable. Over time, it will ebb back. If you have such a great insight, go invest where you can make money on your claim. Your use of profanity only weakens any comment you make.

Anonymous said...

Disagree with October 14, 2009 7:47 AM RE: term 'ebb back'.

What is happening is not currency trading to earn on differences in exchange rates. These are the first stages of the dollar being devalued permanently. Big difference.

Over-exposed foreign creditors are sprinting to the exits. The skyrocketing national debt is the straw breaking the green back. The world will no longer allow the USofA launder our deficit spending via dollar manipulation. The ponzi scheme is over.

Anonymous said...

My point re: 'ebb back' is to look for those investments where the weak dollar will be of benefit over the long term (5-10 year window), especially, multinationals who repatriate dollars and are able to inflate earnings on the currency devaluation (think KO). Eventually things do balance out, and eventually they go to extremes. I'm just a single investor and I'm sure we could discuss this ad nauseam, my real point of the comment was the use of profanity and the liberal reference. It had nothing to do with the overall value of the message in the blog post.

Anonymous said...

Fresh Elizabeth Warren KF.

Anonymous said...

8:16 am---

"loosed" on this Country? I'm sure you'll be at home, stocking your Y2k bomb shelter with lentil soup and wontons while the stock and housing markets continue to soar. Isn't that what Rush told you to do? Let me guess: it's Obammy's fawlt! This slackjawed State full of yokels never ceases to amaze me. If i were you, I'd get my money back for that "degree" you got from Meesseesseeepeee State.

Anonymous said...

oops. i meant 5:00 pm


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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

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