Stories about a consumer debt crisis are overblown; most Americans aren't overloaded with debt

They are NOW!

Yes, because they are stuck with the tab created by BANKSTERS. The Banksters are sucking the life-blood out of the American consumer.

The banksters are broke. They can't resell the debts anymore, no one is buying.

That's the "business cycle" Trin's movie talked about. This whole menagerie of crap is all made up.Concocted by the rat bastards that run the Fed and Wall St.

There's only one way to stop it. That "way" is ugly, but it maybe the only "way".

(Hint: The "way" requires boolits)

That article is PURE BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!! Debt based on what? Income? Shit incomes have been falling and with the built in inflation it doesn't matter much - bottom line is people are not making enough or have enough "slush" money at the end of the month to afford all the shit t hey currently have.

They were broke in the first place...they just created "money" out of thin air and then pretended it had enough value to purchase tangibles. They were leveraged 30-to-one. In order to cover their bets, they are taking the money belonging to the rest of us.

If the blood-sucking Banksters will leave us alone, we'll save our way out of the Greater Depression.

[link to finance.yahoo.com]
Interview with Howard Davidowitz...Video at link

We consumers are tightening our belts and SAVING money.

End the Fed.

Oh yeah....And NEVER let a similar entity return.

I disagree with the author RED. But maybe because the majority of my friends are business owners? Just one example some good friends of ours own a concrete recycling buss. his sales are down 48% from last year,he needs to pull 1k a day to break even,last yr. he was doing 3k a day now most days are around 800 bucks. I visted him at his site and it was quite scary, every truck driver that came in asked if he was hiring. I could repeat ex. like this this ad nauseum

Thank God we were forced to get our house in order in 2006,at the time it was tough but now I'm glad it happened

I don't agree with you. I see the article as putting a light on the truth of the matter.

I'm tired of being told that the collapse of the economy is the fault of the American consumer. It's not true. The blame for the collapse must be placed squarely where it belongs...ON THE BANKSTERS.

I'm paying my debt down, and since I stopped using credit cards, I've got more cash available. I'm not leveraged 30-to-1 like the BANKSTERS.

But I'm going to get caught up in the aftermath of the GREED exhibited by the BANKSTERS...as the economy collapses, I'll have to worry about JIT and the food chain; I'll have to worry about whether or not my municipal water authority will be able to pay for the chemicals and equipment they need to keep my tap water potable. I'll have to worry about whether or not my city can keep a police force, or if the street department can keep the streets and roads in good order.

There's a whole host of things I'll have to deal with that are the consequences of unbridled BANKSTER greed. All of us will have to deal with the aftermath.

But the downturn isn't his fault. That's the point. It's not the fault of the average consumer. He can't meet his obligations because the BANKSTERS have nuked the economy. He didn't do it. His truckers didn't do it. The BANKSTERS did it.

Whose worse? The drug dealer or the drug user??? The provider of supply or demand?????? Could they not be equally to blame??? I don't feel sorry for people who took out too much debt - no one put a gun to their head and forced them to sign on the bottom line!

Oh, its also pathetic how the consumers sat around masterbating each other and talking about how their "wealth" was going up, up, up!!!! Yet none of these idiots realized the fundamentals of markets, and how impossible such a notion was. I didn't hear anyone crying outloud and whinning about how fast commods were going up, its only now that reality has set in that you hear people complain. Fuck 'em all!!!!!!! Both consumer and banker for getting us into this shit storm!!!!!

Consumers cannot meet their obligations because they can no longer afford them and bought into the ever increasing commod bullshit hook line and sinker. Its circular in nature. BOTH parties share equal responsibility!!!!!!!

But without "banksters" he would have never got the money to start his company. Investment bankers I have no use for but local bankers are mostly good people that do provide a needed service..unless you pay for everything in cash

Unfortunately, it is not overblown. Far too many people have too much debt in mortgages, student loans and credit cards.

Culturally, we have been on a 20 or 30 year spending spree and charging it.

Fine when you have enough income to pay on it all. Not fine when that income is vanishing.

Sure, there are people who should never have entered into the contracts that created their debt problems. Some people are either too ignorant, or too lazy. Sure. I can understand your sentiment. You aren't wrong about those kinds of people.

But the percentage of those kinds of consumers is really quite small. They are not the reason this economy is coming undone.

The BANKSTERS have been telling us, via MSM, that it's you and me and all the other CONSUMERS who created the mess, but it's not true. It's the bastards who created the derivatives, the CDOs, etc.; it's the bastards who leveraged so much using so little.

They want you to believe YOU did it.

It doesn't matter at this point. If banks start failing, they take your deposits and credit with it. FDIC has 99 years to pay you back. Read the fine print. Do you really believe that FDIC has billions sitting around in the event of a major bank failure? The line will be long.

I don't equate my corner bank with THE BANKSTERS. Maybe I should have made that clear when I started this thread. My little community bank is a gem. But they've had to tighten their belts to the nth degree because of the BLOOD-SUCKING BANKSTERS sitting on Wall Street and at the Fed.

I'm not overloaded with debt; I'm underloaded with money:)

Yes but the CDO's, derivatives, etc. are ALL BASED ON DEBT!!! WHO SIGNED OFF ON THE DEBT?????????? Surely it was not the bankers buying up each others debt, was it? No it was CONSUMERS buying "DEBT" (over prices houses, cars, vacations, refi's, fun, etc.) which was then repackaged and sold to investors for higher profits. THEY ARE BOTH TO BLAME!

Fundamentals of markets? How do they play into this new meltdown? Nothing fundamental about CDOs, hedge funds, derivatives. Those are NEW instruments that were created out of thin air and bundled debt. What's fundamental about how they've been bandied about?

Can't disagree with that! I've been shorting(Puts)the vipers since last August,so they are providing a service,just one they don't like

I hear ya.

They were new loan/investment tools. Once again they would not exist if someone (consumer) had not obligated themselves to the debt that was then repackaged and sold through the avenues you mention.

Yes fundamentals of markets - what you buy must be paid back. When you refi and "pull the equity out of your house" it must be paid back - none of this is "free" money, though many believed it was until the train came off the tracks.

On tickerforum, there is an article about how people can't trade in their vehicles because the resell value has decreased and lenders aren't willing to cover the difference on the loan. On average, these cars are only 79 weeks old. These fuckers are trading in practically new cars, and incurring more debt. I believe there are still a lot of clueless folks out there and we haven't seen the last of the defaulters. There are a lot of delusional folks in Cali., who believe their jobs are safe, R.E. will come back in a year, and are living paycheck to paycheck, even though the paycheck is over 10K.

Here in Denver and other foreclosure "capitals" of the country, people are tapped out and using their remaining charge cards for groceries. Not everybody, just those with incomes less than about 80K.

" Wall Street was massively overextended, but on average, consumers are not."

It's not the fault of the consumer that debt was bundled and sold, then sold again, and then sold again...each time for the benefit of the BANKSTER, not the consumer. It's not the fault of the consumer whose $200k mortgage was turned into something along the lines of $6mill on PAPER because the BLOOD-SUCKING BANKSTERS leveraged that mortgage debt at 30-to-1. It's not the fault of the consumer that the leveraged bundles were then INSURED. It's not the fault of the consumer that the big Casino on Wall Street crashed.

But it's the consumer who is getting stuck with the aftermath. We'll be losing our jobs. We'll be losing our homes. We'll have to deal with what the FED and the BANKSTERS have created.

End the FED, and we'll do what comes naturally...we'll survive and flourish.

Regardless, the banks today are leveraged 30/32 to one.

When we did not 'enjoy' these circumstances it was required that 'they' loan no more than 8 times what they had deposited. Also on each and every Friday to maitain this, they were required to have this on deposit. They often borrowed this to comply with that.

Banks in their greed, have ravished the entire economy and they are not finished with this. In 2005 they had sweeping things in behalf of themselves granted by the house and the senate. They are allowed to be both banks and insurance companies and vice verse. They have long coveted entering directly the real estate business but that has been denied. So now, who co9ntrols a large measure, inddirectly of this, via the back door REOs, foreclosures, but the banks and now they are trying to get the following. hey want it to be approved that only a bank approved appraiser will be used to obtain a loan. They want to control that aspect of it completely and tha is not good news for anyone, they will be in the apprasial business too.

Presently there is a realtor who was tops oin production with Remax who has been hired by One very large bank to run ALL their business on foreclosed homes in the entire state of Nevada. All offers will have to be remitted electronically and solely according to how the bank wants it neglecting how realtors are required to handle such things ordinarily. This does not bode well for consumers.

I agree with the banks and Wall treet have made life hell and it will continue to be so and the bill of laden will be handed to us, the American taxpayer.