Interested in understanding our economy?

[WeaselInYerFoot]

Good video (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9050474362583451279) here.

If any of you have ever heard or read anything from Dave Ramsey (great guy!) you'll know that he constantly quotes proverbs about the dangers of debt. Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that our economy is based entirely of debt. In other words, the loan you got from the bank, was money they got from another loan from a bigger bank and they got it from another one etc. Even the money you deposit from work was created as a loan.

Just some mind candy for those interested.

[WeaselInYerFoot]

Another (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-466210540567002553&q=mises+institute&total=114&start=0&num=50&so=0&type=search&plindex=0) interesting video done by the Ludwig von Mises Institute

[The Unknown Gomer]

...Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that our economy is based entirely of debt....Just some mind candy for those interested.

Just as long as it's not ME who is in debt (I pay off the credit card in full every month and had the car payment for all of two months before I all but cleaned out the savings account to pay the thing off), I'll leave the rest of the bean counting to someone else. Call me blonde, but the economy is one of those subjects that makes my head hurt. Like car maintenance. I don't need to know how it works, I just want it to start when I press the power button. :)

[Evanescence]

The Federal Reserve is a joke, IMO....our founding fathers warned us against getting tangles up in debt and big banking. I am researching this now...but the way the Fed Res was founded and implemented is corrupt in itself...

Just ask JP Morgan....;)

[EmmoGomer]

Just as long as it's not ME who is in debt (I pay off the credit card in full every month and had the car payment for all of two months before I all but cleaned out the savings account to pay the thing off), I'll leave the rest of the bean counting to someone else. Call me blonde, but the economy is one of those subjects that makes my head hurt. Like car maintenance. I don't need to know how it works, I just want it to start when I press the power button. :)

Blonde!!!
We're the same as you Karen our only debt is our mortgage and we hate having that.
I think the whole world runs on debt doesn't it? Everyone's borrowing from everyone else.

[WeaselInYerFoot]

Just ask JP Morgan....;)

Or President Woodrow Wilson, who completely regretted his decision.


If we consider that only 10% of the country has a positive net worth (meaning that what they own is worth more than what they owe), 90% of the entire country is owned by the banks....

[The Unknown Gomer]

...Just ask JP Morgan....;)

Didn't she play on Match Game? :P ;)

The only thing I'm currently having to pay off, thankfully, is "Bank of Mom", for the $5000 she loaned me for half my down payment on the car. But unlike BoA, who I paid off after two months because the finance charges were killing me, BoM doesn't charge finance charges, plus if I get bogged down with other charges for a month or so, like all the dental stuff this month, I can reduce or completely skip a payment if I need to.

Parental banking, gotta love it. :cool:

[clemsontigers23]

I'm taking Economics right now, so I'm pretty sick of the economy. ;)

[Evanescence]

I tell ya's...the more I look into the history of this country and Govt, the worse it gets...

While I work on the facts, here is a link to a GREAT video/film...this Vid has gotten GREAT remarks and reviews from those interested in the real history and truth about our country and our banking system. the first 6 minutes were MINDBLOWING. This is a short clip/....part 1 of 5 about the Fed.

It really is a must see for all...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_dmPchuXIXQ&mode=related&search=

[clemsontigers23]

I tell ya's...the more I look into the history of this country and Govt, the worse it gets...

While I work on the facts, here is a link to a GREAT video/film...this Vid has gotten GREAT remarks and reviews from those interested in the real history and truth about our country and our banking system. the first 6 minutes were MINDBLOWING. This is a short clip/....part 1 of 5 about the Fed.

It really is a must see for all...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_dmPchuXIXQ&mode=related&search=

I want to see something. Name 5 postives about living in America and our government. You're always talking about the negative; let's hear the positive.

[Evanescence]

Woodrow Wilson accepted mass amounts of campaign money from the banking elites, Rothchilds, Morgans and Rockefellers. It pretty much gave him a shoe in for the Presidency. The trade off? Enacting the Fed Reserve system.

But, he would later regret it...

- Woodrow Wilson- I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit. We are no longer a country of free opinion, no longer a Govt by conviction and a vote of the majority, but a Govt by the opinion and duress of a few dominant men. W. Wilson- 1919

[Evanescence]

I want to see something. Name 5 postives about living in America and our government. You're always talking about the negative; let's hear the positive.

1. Slowly educating you and Valpo...:cool:

[clemsontigers23]

1. Slowly educating you and Valpo...:cool:

Nice job sidestepping the question. :rolleyes: ;)

[Evanescence]

Nice job sidestepping the question. :rolleyes: ;)

Shhh,.....conspiracy advocate at work...:P

[Evanescence]

Interested in whats really going on in the world, and USA?

http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/statement.htm

[The Unknown Gomer]

Hey, I'm doing my part to help fund more debt, my very first AmEx card came in today! :P

Swore I'd never have one of those, since I refuse to get a credit card that charges a yearly fee considering the number of cards available to me that DON'T charge any sort of yearly fee whatsoever.

But I just signed up with the CostCo around the corner and the only way to use their much-cheaper-than-the-surrounding-stations gas station was to either use a debit card (no thank you) or an AmEx card. Fortunately, if you have a CostCo membership they give you an AmEx card with 1-3% cash back and no yearly fee. So I signed up.

Guess I'll retire the other cards for now and see how this one does for rebates in comparison to my Amazon Visa card. It'll be nice to get cash back that I can actually spend somewhere other than Amazon.com.

Ooooh, an American Express card. And it even has my photo on the back! I feel so "elite" now! ;) :rolleyes:

[danbos]

If any of you have ever heard or read anything from Dave Ramsey (great guy!) you'll know that he constantly quotes proverbs about the dangers of debt.

A little on the off-topic side here, but Dave Ramsey is definitely a great guy. I actually just got back from a class at my church called Financial Peace University which is based on his DVDs.

[WeaselInYerFoot]

A little on the off-topic side here, but Dave Ramsey is definitely a great guy. I actually just got back from a class at my church called Financial Peace University which is based on his DVDs.

I've been slowly listening to the CDs. His take on relationships and money is spot on.

The Unknown Gomer,

Why won't you use debit cards? That's what I use and it's worked out fine for the past 7 years.

[The Unknown Gomer]

...Why won't you use debit cards? That's what I use and it's worked out fine for the past 7 years.

I'm too blonde and forgetful. I've got one - my bank ATM card doubles as my debit card - but it would be just TOO easy for me to start using it and then forget to log in each purchase in my checkbook and before I'd know it, I'd have checks bouncing around like Happy Fun Ball. I did that at the ATM one time, forgot to log in a withdrawal, and ended up trying to bounce a couple of utility payments because the cash I thought was there wasn't. :eek:

It works out better to just put things on my charge card anyway. I've been using my Amazon Visa for the last several years, they assign points for purchases, and each time you reach 2500 points, they send you a $25 Amazon gift certificate. So figuring I've got to pay for stuff one way or another anyway, I just charge pretty much everything to get the points. I've spent more than a couple hundred bucks there at Amazon, at no cost to me, courtesy of the Visa card. They've all but financed my entire Sims2 collection. Kind of a nice deal. :cool:

Now we'll give the AmEx card a try. They'll give me cash back once a year so it'll be interesting to compare what I get back from THEM vs what I've been getting back from Amazon each year.

[WeaselInYerFoot]

Ah, I get it. I, on the other hand, can't carry a credit card. I can keep track of my expenses just fine, but if I have a CC I tend to think "I'll pay for this within the next couple of months!" which never ends up really happening. I'd have to say that in my case, the benefits of a CC (5% back or gift cards) aren't worth the risk of racking it up in no time so I stay away from them.

Some of us just don't have enough discipline! :D

[The Unknown Gomer]

I know I have to pay off the credit card each month (well, I don't HAVE to, but I always do anyway), so I just mentally keep in mind how much I've charged to make sure I can actually DO that each month. Sometimes I hold my breath until the bill comes in, hoping I've got enough to cover it (THIS month was scary, with an unexpected $700 in dental bills; I put it on two credit cards so that I'd get a later due date on the second half of it that would be coverable by the second paycheck of the month). Even with that, Bank of Mom might still have to get a reduced or a non payment this month until I get back on track a bit.

But I've had people ask me what percent my credit card finance charge rate is, and I have to tell them I have NO clue! It's a moot point, since I pay up every month. Actually had someone turn me DOWN for a credit card because their research showed that I paid off my card every month. Tragic when a credit card company turns down someone that they KNOW they're not going to have to chase after for payment or send a collection agency after them, just because they won't get any finance charges out of them. :rolleyes: And I told them as much too.

[WeaselInYerFoot]

Wow, I just hijacked my own freakin' thread....

[3D NC fan]

Wow, I just hijacked my own freakin' thread....

Well done. :D