Truer Words Were Never Said Better

Materialism has not provided what we needed. As our current crisis deepens, luxury cars and Rolex watches will seem so phony. Childish symbols like yellow rubber wristbands and yellow, pink, and rainbow ribbon stickers on our SUVs do nothing to change the world. When you are walking down the street, look people in the eye and say hello rather than staring at your feet or checking your latest email or text message on your “crackberry”. Deeper personal relationships with family and friends will become crucial. The thieves and crooks occupy Washington DC and Wall Street. We do not need what they are selling. Economy sized dreams of hope will sustain the citizens of this great country. Instead of accumulating stuff, give your stuff to people who need it. Donate your stuff to Purple Heart, the Salvation Army, or any other worthy charity. Donate your time to Manna, Habitat for Humanity, or any other worthy cause. Don’t delegate your role in caring for your fellow citizens to the government. Americans will soon realize that what they wanted was not what they needed.

James Quinn, What's My Payment

Debtors Revolution & How Banks are shhhh QUIETLY Negotiating down debts

Gotta LOVE this...a debtors revolt is going to happen if this gets passed along!



The Washington Post reports on the quiet practice going on by banks of secretly negotiating with cardholders to let them lower their debt amount & interest.

The Gubmint's latest plan to rid of us debt

U.S. Government Stages Fake Coup To Wipe Out National Debt

When Debtors Default: How debt defaults are at levels last seen during "Shay's Rebellion"

Pretty bad when the most relevant comparison of today's level of consumers not paying on their credit cards is best compared to a revolt in 1786!

The deteriorating relationship between Americans and their creditors has not yet reached the level of Shays’ Rebellion, the 1786 uprising by poor farmers in western Massachusetts during a recession. But the basic issues are strikingly similar, suggesting an eternal tension between creditor and consumer.

Boston merchants, who were suffering themselves, aggressively sought payment from their customers. When the folks could not pay, which was often, they were jailed. The incensed farmers sought “reforms that would permit repayment on less destructive terms,” writes Bruce H. Mann in “Republic of Debtors,” a history of bankruptcy in early America. “Creditors replied with lectures on frugality, luxury, virtue and the sanctity of obligations.”

Shays’ Rebellion provoked mixed reactions, then and now. Were the rebels trying to remedy grievous wrongs in the spirit of the Revolutionary War, or were they threatening public order and the fledgling state — acting as terrorists, in the modern parlance? Shays’ followers were quickly arrested and quickly pardoned, although two were hanged.

Fixed Plastic A Thing Of the Past

Looks like the days of a fixed credit card are jusssssst about over.

Full disclosure: I have several credit cards with a variety of companies. My cards that are with Chase (aka JP Morgan) all sent me a notice in the past month strong-arming all cardmembers that 1) if you owe a balance, your rate is going up 2) we will bend you over and *$(& you in the arse if you use a balance transfer by charging you 5% of the amount 3) If this pisses you off, close out the account and pay us back.

On the other hand, Home Cheapot increased my credit line by 1500 bucks. Lackluster sales, maybe?

Advanta, which issued cards to small businesses, shut down their company altogether and just wants you to please pay them back. Capital One may be next, which is why they absolutely HAD to buy MD based Chevy Chase Bank.

The days of leveraging credit card advances and playing the balance transfer game. The entire American economy and most of its population (including this author) all fell for the trap of debt and overleverage at some point and in some manner.

It's going to hit the fan hard

A scary article from The Market Ticker, As I sit at my car lot with no customers I have time to surf the web and find info like this. Between my personal experiences, and what I see our incompetent government trying to bruch it all under the rug, I can't help but wonder how bad it is really going to get. In order for recovery to begin the bad debts must be cleaned out. This can not end well folks...click on the link to read the whole thing:

Recessions cannot end until the conditions that caused the recession are removed from the economy. This is elementary logic and obvious to anyone with an IQ larger than their shoe size.
For an inventory recession growth returns when enough capacity is destroyed through layoffs and inventory selloffs to bring capacity and demand back into balance. Employers then hire new workers and the economy recovers.
For a credit recession, however, there is a much larger problem: The reason real interest rates went negative is that debt has a carrying cost and consumes free cash flow; so long as the debt taken on in the credit binge remains the cash flow impact also remains.
Default and bankruptcy clears excessive credit (debt) from the system - if it is allowed to occur. But if it is not, then the bad debt remains on the balance sheets somewhere and the cash flow impact remains in the economy. Employment remains weak, capital spending restart attempts falter as demand fails to return and credit quality continues to remain insufficient to support new credit demand.