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The U.S. Economy (I need to rant!)

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by brad34695, Mar 31, 2008.

  1. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    I still think you took the wise route. You missed out on all the stress of having the bank on your back, and anyway, I don't think those homeowners are the ones getting bailed out. The banks and lenders are the ones W is going to throw money at.
     
  2. brad34695

    brad34695 New Member

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    TJ:

    I must address your post that somewhat attacks me and at the same time defend what I do for a living. When the market was going nuts, I was driving a taxicab full time to pay the bills. Why you may ask? Because here in Florida, properties would sell so easy, people did not need Realtors. People could easily sell their houses themselves, not needing to pay me a commission. I stopped doing R.E. FT in '03 because of that. Being a family man that needs to pay the bills, I could not depend on the inconsistencies of a commission only lifestyle.

    Realtors are obviously only responsible for sales, not refi's. So if someone got a home equity sub prime second, how can you blame a real estate agent? I still stand by my statement that homeowners need to blame themselves. Ignorance cannot and should not be a substitute for people's own actions.

    As far as what I do now, it got me out of working 70 hours work weeks to make $600. I haven’t driven a cab for 18 months, and I can now do a job and have a carrier doing something I like. In addition, I am guaranteed to be compensated for my time as it is NOT a commission paying job. When the market turns around, I will be evaluating regular purchases for appraisal verification purchases to help eliminate fraud.


    I personally take offense to "lumping" me in a category of people you dislike. I know one shouldn't take a message board too seriously, but I guess I find that to be difficult when someone like you posts.

    Brad
    Tampa BayFlorida
     
  3. TJandGENESIS

    TJandGENESIS Are We Having Fun Yet?

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    You can't defend them all. But nice try.
    Simple, in my case, the real estate agent showed me the crappiest homes that I have ever seen in my life, for a quarter of a million dollars. Then this same agent took me to what was in comparison, a castle. It was, of course, not. And also, at this point in time, 2005, he was telling me how it was only going to get more expensive. He knew I was new at this, and took advantage completely. I was too naive for my own good, I'm afraid, and I trusted this person. Which is my mistake.

    Again, trust. You tend to trust those who know more then you on a given task, such as real estate. I am sure that there are others who trust them as well, especially in 2005, and this is what that trust got a bunch of us.
    If the agent knew it was going to be a sub prime loan, a agent should look out for their client. They should know what they are being sold, the customer, and in my case, I was not given all the facts.
    There was gross negligence on his part.

    I blame myself for trusting those who sold me the place, to have more knowledge about this then I. As I would trust a electrician to wire a house, or a car mechanic to fix a car. You need to have trust, or try, or this world continues on it's downward spiral.

    Ignorance is often equated with bliss. It's also sometimes a character flaw, I will admit. Again, their were sharks who were preying on the those who were ignorant. Is that a correct action? Should we always assume that someone is out to get us, and act accordingly? What a shame if that is the case.

    It is the internets. Just words on a screen. If I was too harsh, sorry. But I do fault the industry as much as they should have known better, but they let greed blur their vision. I am sure that their were those who tried to take advantage of the market who are now paying for it.
    No sympathy there.

    But for the hard worker, the one who also drives a cab, who maybe is not as bright about real estate as those who work it each and every day, they trust those they pay, to not screw them. And this is what that trust has brought about.

    A market that exploded from greed, that won't recover for years, and millions of people are going to be without their homes, their savings, their dreams, because of greedy self serving real estate agents and the lenders in that industry as well.

    Again, if you weren't one of those who was a shark then, or now, sorry. But the waters were filled with them then, and now, and I don't see them as nothing but shameful people.
     
  4. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    Corporations avoid U.S. income tax.

    "Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from Congress.

    The study by the Government Accountability Office, expected to be released Tuesday, said about 68 percent of foreign companies doing business in the U.S. avoided corporate taxes over the same period.


    Collectively, the companies reported trillions of dollars in sales, according to GAO's estimate.


    "It's shameful that so many corporations make big profits and pay nothing to support our country," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who asked for the GAO study with Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.


    An outside tax expert, Chris Edwards of the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, said increasing numbers of limited liability corporations and so-called "S" corporations pay taxes under individual tax codes.


    "Half of all business income in the United States now ends up going through the individual tax code," Edwards said.


    The GAO study did not investigate why corporations weren't paying federal income taxes or corporate taxes and it did not identify any corporations by name. It said companies may escape paying such taxes due to operating losses or because of tax credits."


    Maybe if corporations paid their fair share we wouldn't have to raise taxes or cut back services.


    I'll say it again. A corporation is not an "individual". Nor do they have a constitutional right to make a profit. In fact, since they are not "individuals" corporations have no constitutional rights.
     
  5. Zythryn

    Zythryn Senior Member

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    Actually, according to the Supreme Court, they are, and they do have some limited constitutional rights.
    Corporate personhood debate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Please, note, I strongly disagree with this. I don't think they should have many of the rights they have been given (the right to lobby 'their' congressional representatives is a BIG one I disagree with).

    I do think we should find out more about these corporations that don't pay taxes. Most corporations are actually small businesses. And small businesses tend to not make much, if anything in the first 3-5 years of their existance.

    However, the flip side is, if you tax corporations more, who pays? If you said the corporations, you are wrong. Ultimately the tax is passed along to the consumer as a cost of doing business.
     
  6. Godiva

    Godiva AmeriKan Citizen

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    Actually, they're not.

    That is a "typo" or mistake in the Supreme Court record that has been perpetuated.

    That needs to be corrected.