Warrior General Games

Originally posted by mwoods07
Lets go back to the economy...I'm TIRED of being broke, and I make really good money. I don't know how people making 40-50k make it nowadays...

well now I see that deliquencies are increasing on auto loans. Once again, be freakin' responsible people!

You guys have no idea
If you want a better idea, listen to this

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=365

Here was something I just had to write.
Only for those who have nothing better to do..

The economics of white collar crime can be unbelievably complex and irrational. The drive for money and power which can boil down to basic greed will make once pure hearted men and women turn into irrational beasts. Our economy is based on basic capitalistic principles. After the Great Depression the powers that be realized the “Pure Capitalism” can create havoc and despair. The fundamental concept of pure capitalism is that there will be winners and losers. The winners will ultimately take all, and it only takes playing a couple games of the popular board game “Monopoly” to understand this concept. The post Depression leaders made some changes to the system and instituted some Socialist policies that would regulate the private sector. Once government intervention was introduced into the private sector a new game started. The game turned into a complex strategy of cat and mouse. Who ever could understand the new government laws and rules best and then bend them in their favor would become the new winner. All the while the public was idling sitting by, trusting that the new government entities were doing their job to make sure the greedy capitalists were not able to repeat their tricks that brought the economy to a halt the first time. Over the years the tricks and rule bending became more and more complex. The government was doing their best to keep the laws up with the 21st century digital age, but to no avail. White collar capitalists became more and more careless with their investments. Junk bonds, Hedge funds, Sub-prime Mortgage Loans were the quickest way to get rich. While the public had some clue about the dangers of these types of high risk investments, they had no idea about the true economy killer, Credit Default Swaps.

Credit Default Swaps are wagers that only a person or company with over five million dollars can wage. The way it works is a person or company can make a bet on a any company by placing the wager with a willing bank. If the company actually fails then the failing company gets a huge chunk of money from the bank and the person who made the wage wins too. Why would a bank allow a person to take a bet out on a company? Most banks saw tons of money fall into their hands knowing (or thinking) that the business was never going to go under. The bets were more like insurance policies. A person could pay 20 million dollars to insure a company for a billion dollars. Thousands of bets were being placed subsequently the bank was pulling in billions of dollars. This new money was invested and more money was be made. It is just like a thousand people who "you" dont know taking out life insurance on You! If you die, then all these people win if they bought in when you were healthy. No bank expected the large companies like Lehman Brothers to collapse. Once the collapse did occur the banks couldn’t pay the bets; too many bets had been made. Over 40 trillion dollars in bets dues were owed when in fact only about four trillion dollars of actual bet money had been placed. Remember these bets were more like insurance policies. All the banks froze their lending/credit because they weren’t sure if they were going to have any money to lend. The scary part was that banks were betting with and on other banks. All of this was totally unregulated. If banks don’t have any money to lend, then the whole economy stops. That is because almost every daily transaction happens through short term money market loans. Businesses and governments (state and local) depend on these credit lines to be open to pay for bills, payroll and capital improvements. Uh oh. You have only seen the beginning. Let's pray for the best.

Originally posted by mwoods07
Lets go back to the economy...I'm TIRED of being broke, and I make really good money. I don't know how people making 40-50k make it nowadays...

I fall into that 40-50k mark and let me tell you, just barely...

Originally posted by BigCowboysFan
Originally posted by mwoods07

Lets go back to the economy...I'm TIRED of being broke, and I make really good money. I don't know how people making 40-50k make it nowadays...

I fall into that 40-50k mark and let me tell you, just barely...

I believe it man. I don't splurge, don't take many vacations, no car payments, rent a house and can barly pay the bills. It insane...I've worked hard all my life to get to this point in my career, just to see myself still struggling to pay the bills...it really really bites ass.

I don't blame it on anyone, just really frustrated.

Originally posted by mwoods07
Originally posted by BigCowboysFan

Originally posted by mwoods07


Lets go back to the economy...I'm TIRED of being broke, and I make really good money. I don't know how people making 40-50k make it nowadays...

I fall into that 40-50k mark and let me tell you, just barely...

I believe it man. I don't splurge, don't take many vacations, no car payments, rent a house and can barly pay the bills. It insane...I've worked hard all my life to get to this point in my career, just to see myself still struggling to pay the bills...it really really bites ass.

I don't blame it on anyone, just really frustrated.

I'll cosign that.

I have no credit card debt, I don't even own a credit card. I don't take any vacations. I rent and don't own. I don't splurge on anything. The only thing I pay that I could probably do without is a few bucks to this every once in a blue moon and I haven't done that lately, just retired some players to get my flex. I also pay $6 a month for Netflix, but other than that. Nothing. One thing that does eat my lunch right now is health care for myself and my kids. I get it through my employer but its almost $500 a month. That's an eight of my annual salary gone to healthcare and that doesn't include co pays or anything of the sort.

Yeah I get about a grand taken out of my pay check every month. I don't pay social security and claim the max on my dependents so I dont' get much in the way of taxes pulled out. Still almost $1000 taken out. well that does include my 6.4% retirment contribution for my pension. Health insurance is expensive.

Originally posted by Rybread
Yeah I get about a grand taken out of my pay check every month. I don't pay social security and claim the max on my dependents so I dont' get much in the way of taxes pulled out. Still almost $1000 taken out. well that does include my 6.4% retirment contribution for my pension. Health insurance is expensive.

That's about what I lose monthly...I need to move back to a state without income tax. But yeah, between healthcare, retirement and life insurance for the family...it all goes away. Life was so much easier when I was in college and bringing home about $150 every 2 weeks...I actually seemed happier and didn't wonder if I was going to be able to pay the damn bills...

Originally posted by mwoods07
Originally posted by Rybread

Yeah I get about a grand taken out of my pay check every month. I don't pay social security and claim the max on my dependents so I dont' get much in the way of taxes pulled out. Still almost $1000 taken out. well that does include my 6.4% retirment contribution for my pension. Health insurance is expensive.

That's about what I lose monthly...I need to move back to a state without income tax. But yeah, between healthcare, retirement and life insurance for the family...it all goes away. Life was so much easier when I was in college and bringing home about $150 every 2 weeks...I actually seemed happier and didn't wonder if I was going to be able to pay the damn bills...

LOL the good old days. Sometimes the wife threatens to send me back, secretly I hope it's a promise.

Originally posted by Rybread
Originally posted by mwoods07

Originally posted by Rybread


Yeah I get about a grand taken out of my pay check every month. I don't pay social security and claim the max on my dependents so I dont' get much in the way of taxes pulled out. Still almost $1000 taken out. well that does include my 6.4% retirment contribution for my pension. Health insurance is expensive.

That's about what I lose monthly...I need to move back to a state without income tax. But yeah, between healthcare, retirement and life insurance for the family...it all goes away. Life was so much easier when I was in college and bringing home about $150 every 2 weeks...I actually seemed happier and didn't wonder if I was going to be able to pay the damn bills...

LOL the good old days. Sometimes the wife threatens to send me back, secretly I hope it's a promise.

Well, if she does, see if you can take me too...if it wasn't for my kids, it would be worth it!

I agree with you Rye....college was definitely some of the best years in my life by far. A much simpler time to live in if you can believe that.

other than all the classes I had to go to...and skip, It was great!

True, the classes usually got in the way of all the fun.

I'll chime in. For disclosure I vote Republican as they are usually close to my values and beliefs. That being said we need to run 95% of all elected officials out of office. I am tired of the greed, special favors and lies by both sides. We truly need someone to shake the tree and I firmly believe neither Obama or McCain will do this. While everyone is pointing fingers over the economy the real culprits are laughing all the way to their resort knowing the politicians are talking from both sides of their mouth.

America really needs to show their anger but most of us talk a lot but fail to act when it comes to election time. It most likely is going to take someone that already has a ton of money and power who doesn't need more and is willing to buck the system.

Hope everyone is doing well. My dad lost his job/house/ basically lost everything in 87 but I don't think this will be that bad. Thankfully my family is in a secure situation. Not a lot of money but my job is secure.

here here...cheers my friend...