Pay it Off Later -- Debt as the New American Dream

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

By Dee Hon, Adbusters. Posted November 10, 2007.

http://alternet.org/story/66634/?page=2

---snip---

But the party is coming to a halt. An endless housing boom requires an endless supply of ever-greater suckers to pay more for the same homes. The rich, as Voltaire said, require an abundant supply of poor. Mortgage lenders have mined even deeper into the ranks of the poor to find takers for their loans. Among the practices included teaser loans that promised low interest rates that jumped up after the first few years. Sub-prime borrowers were told the future pain would never come, as they could keep re-financing against the ever-growing value of their homes. Lenders repackaged the shaky loans as bonds to sell to cash-hungry investors like hedge funds.

Of course, the supply of suckers inevitably ran out. Housing prices leveled off, beginning what promises to be a long, downward slide. Just as the housing boom fed upon itself, so too, will its collapse. The first wave of sub-prime borrowers have defaulted. A flood of foreclosures sent housing prices falling further. Lenders somehow got blindsided by news that poor people with bad credit couldn't pay them back. Frightened, they staunched the flow of easy credit, further depleting the supply of homebuyers and squeezing debt-fueled private equity. Hedge funds that merrily bought sub-prime loans collapsed.

More borrowers will soon be unable to make payments on their homes and credit cards as the supply of rent dries up. Consumer spending, and thus corporate profits, will fall. The shrinking economy will further depress workers' wages. For most people, the dream of easy money will never come true, because only the truly rich can live it. Everyone else will have to keep working for less, shackled to a mountain of debt....

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Here's a great presentation on money as debt:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18205.htm

[fenriswolf]

1. yeah debt is rising all around im guessing in the next

couple of years we are going to be hearing phrases of "family debt" and "generational debt"

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

3. It wouldn't surprise me at all if such phrases come into use...

...also I envision an effective military recruiting device here -- give 5 years and we'll retire ALL your family's debt up to $XXXXXX amount (maybe they already do something like this, I don't know). That will be hard for many to pass up.

[Xipe Totec]

2. If I die penniless and deep in debt, I win

The tricky part is timing it, so that I can enjoy the good life on somebody else's nickel for as long as possible, and keel over just when the the bills come due.

Take that, American Express!

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

4. Yeah, come to think of it...

...I've never understood the "Whoever dies with the most toys wins" philosophy. "Whoever dies with the most debt wins" might actually make a little more sense in some respects -- Especially if you can somehow escape being enslaved by it while you're alive. No easy trick for most I'm afraid.

[DCKit]

5. Too True!!!!

I know several fans of the Rapture who are waiting for Jeebus to come save them from the bill collectors.

Just remember, you don't want to leave any assets... That would spoil the whole point.

[soothsayer]

6. just wait for the 'non-chattel- mortgage that is tied not to your property but to YOU, and when you

die, it passes to your heirs. Debtors prisons and indentured servitude will follow.

[fenriswolf]

8. see my post "family debt"

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

12. The private prison industry will soon become a political force...

...with their own lobby in DC pushing for these kinds of measures.

[patrice]

7. Thanks, I guess . . . I'm stunned.

I knew that money isn't anything but paper and there's way less of it than there is GNP so the difference is all credit. And I knew that the rules that govern my debt are way different from those governing prime lending, but I DID think what was being loaned was what was on deposit. I'm stunned . . .

I am going to have to watch that again, to get my head around it.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

9. I've watched "Money as Debt" several times...

...The truth about money, the Fed, and how we have been suckered into enslavement, is a bit shocking -- it takes a little time to drink this presentation with all it's ramifications in. It is, I think, a very important one for people to see.

[patrice]

10. I sort of thought I knew what was going on.

I mean, I stay informed and I have thought about money a little, but this is a bigger deal than I thought.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

11. I used to think I was reasonably well informed...

...and felt I had some grasp on macroeconomics. Only in the last few years I've begun to realize how woefully UNINFORMED I've been most of my life (my own fault) -- I'm trying to catch up as best I can these days. Getting off the MSM koolaid is a good first step for anyone -- they specialize in keeping people uninformed and/or disinformed, especially on the most important truths.

[patrice]

13. The money as debt video should be on YouTube. nt

[Locrian]

14. Money as Debt

The money as debt "cartoon" is on google video.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9050474362583451279

Also, there is a 2 x 2 hour movie called the Money Masters that goes into a lot more debt. There is a DVD version or you can find it (I think) on google video.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-515319560256183936

[patrice]

15. Thank you very much! nt