Credit Cards The Iceing on the Meltdown Cake

[OptionsPlease]

Credit Cards where first made in the early 50's and where thought to be a great way for regular consumers to purchase goods more raising the GDP and helping the economy as long as they payed the firms back with interest. Well Credit Card Debt in America is rising like crazy if someone could find me numbers I would appreciate it... I know it probably has risen even more these past couple years with this sub prime issue. As you know a couple credit companies filled under the TARP Program to get Federal funding. This is just the first sign they are hurting bad. I am waiting for them to get head or over heal deep in this shi%. That in my mind is the Last Iceing on the Meldown Cake.......Your thoughts???

[madcowdisease]

Originally Posted by OptionsPlease

Credit Cards where first made in the early 50's and where thought to be a great way for regular consumers to purchase goods more raising the GDP and helping the economy as long as they payed the firms back with interest. Well Credit Card Debt in America is rising like crazy if someone could find me numbers I would appreciate it... I know it probably has risen even more these past couple years with this sub prime issue. As you know a couple credit companies filled under the TARP Program to get Federal funding. This is just the first sign they are hurting bad. I am waiting for them to get head or over heal deep in this shi%. That in my mind is the Last Iceing on the Meldown Cake.......Your thoughts???

A quick internet search revealed these:

-Roughly 2.0 to 2.5 million Americans seek the help of a credit counselor each year, mostly to avoid bankruptcy.
-From 1990 to 2000, the number of Americans seeking the help of a credit counselor doubled.
-In two thirds of the counseling cases, the individual is referred to a household budget counselor, financial advisor or a social worker.
-Many individuals experiencing financial difficulties have experienced a job loss, an interruption to their income due to illness, or a divorce / separation.
-Nearly 75% of those seeking help from a credit counselor held a credit card.
-The average person seeking a credit counselor carries a balance on two credit cards.
-The average client seeking the help of a counselor had $43,000 in debt, of which $20,000 was consumer debt and $8,500 was revolving debt.
-The size of the total consumer debt grew nearly five times in size from 1980 ($355 billion) to 2001 ($1.7 trillion). Consumer debt in 2008 now stands at $2.6 trillion.
-The average household in 2008 carried nearly $8,700 in credit card debt.
-As of the twelve months ending June 2006, there were 1.5 million consumer bankruptcy filings, including 1.1 million Chapter 7 filings, 0.1 million filings for Chapter 11 and 0.3 million Chapter 13 bankruptcies.
-As of June 2008, consumers spend roughly 14% of their disposable, after tax income, to pay their mortgages obligations, personal loans and car loans.

However, as much as I agree that the credit card companies changing their status to a bank to be eligible for TARP is a sign defaults are way up, I disagree that this is the "icing on the cake" or "straw that broke the camels back" or whatever other euphemism you want to use.

The collapse will come when the United States as a nation can no longer support it debt service ratio. At some point the global economy will not want our bills, notes, and bonds. Our credit will be denied and our barrower rating lowered. That is when it will all come tumbling down. Until this cataclysmic event we are on a steady path to this ultimate demise. Exactly when this will happen I am not certain. It may not even happen in my lifetime. But with all the promises our government continues to make to support the standard of living for its citizens and extend aide to foreign countries the breaking point will come, eventually. After all, the structure of the whole monetary system is destined to fail as it creates more debt with each dollar produced out of thin air.

[OptionsPlease]

Originally Posted by madcowdisease

A quick internet search revealed these:

-Roughly 2.0 to 2.5 million Americans seek the help of a credit counselor each year, mostly to avoid bankruptcy.
-From 1990 to 2000, the number of Americans seeking the help of a credit counselor doubled.
-In two thirds of the counseling cases, the individual is referred to a household budget counselor, financial advisor or a social worker.
-Many individuals experiencing financial difficulties have experienced a job loss, an interruption to their income due to illness, or a divorce / separation.
-Nearly 75% of those seeking help from a credit counselor held a credit card.
-The average person seeking a credit counselor carries a balance on two credit cards.
-The average client seeking the help of a counselor had $43,000 in debt, of which $20,000 was consumer debt and $8,500 was revolving debt.
-The size of the total consumer debt grew nearly five times in size from 1980 ($355 billion) to 2001 ($1.7 trillion). Consumer debt in 2008 now stands at $2.6 trillion.
-The average household in 2008 carried nearly $8,700 in credit card debt.
-As of the twelve months ending June 2006, there were 1.5 million consumer bankruptcy filings, including 1.1 million Chapter 7 filings, 0.1 million filings for Chapter 11 and 0.3 million Chapter 13 bankruptcies.
-As of June 2008, consumers spend roughly 14% of their disposable, after tax income, to pay their mortgages obligations, personal loans and car loans.

However, as much as I agree that the credit card companies changing their status to a bank to be eligible for TARP is a sign defaults are way up, I disagree that this is the "icing on the cake" or "straw that broke the camels back" or whatever other euphemism you want to use.

The collapse will come when the United States as a nation can no longer support it debt service ratio. At some point the global economy will not want our bills, notes, and bonds. Our credit will be denied and our barrower rating lowered. That is when it will all come tumbling down. Until this cataclysmic event we are on a steady path to this ultimate demise. Exactly when this will happen I am not certain. It may not even happen in my lifetime. But with all the promises our government continues to make to support the standard of living for its citizens and extend aide to foreign countries the breaking point will come, eventually. After all, the structure of the whole monetary system is destined to fail as it creates more debt with each dollar produced out of thin air.

My friend they are going to have to make up a whole new monetary system soon. Did you know the dollar was backed by Gold up until 1971 when Nixon couldn't pay France. Well this gave the old crook a idea lets go to the treasury and exchange 100 billion bonds for 100 billion dollars bingo hes just created are monetary system. The dollar has appreciated in value 90% since 1971 and the Treasury has enough bonds in paper to shrink the amazon. The government is just great uhhhh...

[madcowdisease]

Originally Posted by OptionsPlease

My friend they are going to have to make up a whole new monetary system soon. Did you know the dollar was backed by Gold up until 1971 when Nixon couldn't pay France. Well this gave the old crook a idea lets go to the treasury and exchange 100 billion bonds for 100 billion dollars bingo hes just created are monetary system. The dollar has appreciated in value 90% since 1971 and the Treasury has enough bonds in paper to shrink the amazon. The government is just great uhhhh...

Sure did. The gold standard was first attacked by FDR then later fully abolished under Nixon. We now have a full fiat currency that is backed by nothing other than an agreement that we the laborers will pay the debts of our nation. Good times!

I'm all for abolishing the Fed and implementing the gold standard until a suitable replacement that is regulated by congress can be constructed. Our current federal reserve is an economic terorist with repeated boom-bust cycles that leave anyone but the uber-wealthy wiped out and forced to build anew.