Douglas ([info]beagley) wrote,
@ 2008-09-15 10:19:00
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Entry tags:news

Foreclosure Fun
Updated, Again: In case anyone missed this tidbit: In August, 1 in every 416 American homes was "foreclosed upon." That's a new record and a 27% increase in filings from August last year (when things already sucked.)

Sometimes foreclosures just mean a hasty refinance or sale of a home. The homeowner gets deeper in debt, or loses equity, but they can come out of things without being completely devastated.

The final stage of a bad foreclosure is when the bank seizes the home. Bank seizures have more than doubled this August (compared to last August).

(Read an Article with Details)

I don't really know what can pull us out of this spiral. My instinct tells me we need to stop looking to the service-based economy to save the day. My instinct is we need to go back to being a country that makes something... be it energy, media, or technology. We've been busy exporting all the production tasks, and people are reduced to working at Walmart, flipping burgers, trading stocks, or somehow "servicing" industry as opposed to creating it. That's not sustainable.

Oh yeah: and we need to stop buying things we can't afford. And by things, I also mean wars.

But I'm an amateur at this stuff. Anybody else have any ideas?


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[info]sevenpsychosis
2008-09-15 03:57 pm UTC (link)
Time travel. Go back in time and give Americans credit counseling. Bail outs are really all that will fix the bubble that was burst. Too many people buying homes they can't actually afford, and the same people having maxed out credit cards does no good for them either.

So yeah, time travel! But I'm no economist.

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[info]beagley
2008-09-15 06:01 pm UTC (link)
We need a Tardis.

:-)

-d

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[info]moropus
2008-09-16 12:55 am UTC (link)
While you are out in the Tardis, get a few bankers and knock their heads together. Obviously to me(and I am no expert) a metric ton of people got loans they could not possibly afford to pay off.

I'm afraid to open my mutual fund statement. I just don't want to know. Excuse me, I have to go finish burying my head in the sand.

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[info]yoicksandaway
2008-09-16 02:00 pm UTC (link)
I think Lara and I should liquidate all our assets and just build a house out of stacks of cash. We can reinforce it with the plastic bins for her Star Wars collectibles and my comic book long boxes. And maybe mud. For when it rains.

And it's TARDIS, geekboy. :P And if we all had one, we wouldn't need houses anyway.

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[info]ariel_in_blue
2008-09-15 08:25 pm UTC (link)
As well as being a country that makes less of things, we need to, as people, make more things ourselves. I.e, socks. I haven't bought socks in a year. I've made all the new socks I've purchased since about when I got pregnant. Or food. Grow some veggies, instead of eating bananas. Do you know how much gasoline it takes to get you a banana?

We need to be content with fewer *things* and be willing to invest more in getting them.

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[info]identitee
2008-09-18 06:17 am UTC (link)
I agree with K. And I like this of Beagley's:

My instinct tells me we need to stop looking to the service-based economy to save the day. My instinct is we need to go back to being a country that makes something... be it energy, media, or technology. We've been busy exporting all the production tasks, and people are reduced to working at Walmart, flipping burgers, trading stocks, or somehow "servicing" industry as opposed to creating it. That's not sustainable.

That is how I want to live my life.

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