Foreclosure USA - US Housing Bust, Debt and Democracy Lost

The Market Oracle ^ | feb 25, 2007 | Joel S. Hirschhorn

[GATOR NAVY]

Whenever he tries to "blame Bush" for this stuff I just skip over it. I can't agree with him on that. But I think he is really just blaming whoever happens to be the current occupant of that office.

Ummm, not really. This little sample is from the link in post #63:

I can understand the considerable passion to hand Republicans a defeat this year. I am as anti-Republican as anyone. George W. Bush will surely go down in history as the nation's worst, most corrupt, most incompetent, most dishonest, most elitist, most war-mongering, and most anti-democracy president - a true disgrace to American ideals.

That's your buddy Joel S. Hirschhorn speaking.

[Always Right]

Ole Joel makes Helen Thomas look like a Bush-lover.

[Doe Eyes]

AMT for "upper middle class" is going to cost you 31% in Federal Tax.

At what income level does this kick in?

I just check my taxes for 2006 and the AMT worked out to just less than 16%.

[RobRoy]

>>That's your buddy Joel S. Hirschhorn speaking.<<

I wouldn't call him my buddy. I agree with a lot of what he says, but not that statement.

[brianr10]

As you near retirement, you are supposed to be primarily in fixed income investments. That's what those 'Lifecycle Funds'
are for.

[veryconernedamerican]

Poor middle class. It isnt that they decided to spend more they can afford it is a conspiracy, give me a break.

[gas0linealley]

I agree. But in 1928 and 1929, foolish people took out loans for stocks that they shouldn't have. The whole world was impacted though.

The day after the market collapsed, the sun rose and life went on, but what a different place the world was. I've often thought about that, and about how much the economy depends on confidence.

[Pelham]

"What kind of a country are we when we no longer make anything, we no longer produce, we no longer save, we no longer have the ability to provide for ourselves, and we no longer have the capacity to pay back our debts?"

What kind of country? Picture Wily Coyote, hanging in space for that brief moment ahead of the plunge.

[Old_Mil]

I'm upper middle class, and my annual taxes, total, are rounded off at 18% of my income.

I presume you include sales, gas, property, etc in that 18%? If so, I want the name of your accountant. :)

[Pelham]

There actually wasn't much margin involved in the '29 crash. A "5%" margin claim often gets tossed around, but this applied to a very limited pool of stocks, IPOs as I recall. Margin rules were comparable to what we have today, perhaps even tighter.

[Borderline]

What a dumb article. We may all blame George W. Bush for many things, but how is it his fault, personally, that so many people who don't bother to read their mortgage applications are now having problems?

I couldn't agree more than with your statement. In fact I wrote the guy and asked him pretty much just that, why the political rant, believe it or not he actually answered. However the answer was a simple "buy my book".

Rick

[petercooper]

bttt