How U.S. Consumers Are Conquering Debt

Two words: Liar and Loser. Go back upstairs in Mommy's house so you can rest up for your busy Saturday of having Mommy make you bacon and eggs and then she cna let you borrow her laptop so you can make such silly statements. You probably didn't even have any income in the last 2 years...you aren't Republican or Democrat...just a plain loser who has never really worked and has been supported by his parents since your exited out of the womb.

Hey. One more question Jimbo. Do you even know what a girl is? Thought so. You are a f-in loser. Go back to the club with Mommy and Daddy (who probably can't stand you) and try to meet someone. You won't though, because you are egotistical, obnoxious, and generally an a-hole to be around. I'd tell your friends but I am sure you don't have any.

Sam Landers of TN 6:04AM January 22, 2011

I became quite rich during the Bush years due to his very generous lower tax gift to the wealthiest of us and from the rewards of my Stock Market "so-called war profiteering" with Haliburton and Blackwater. And then the money just keep rolling in when Bush (and Obama) guaranteed all those bad bank loans and insurance company debts. Wow. I thought it would never end.

But now I'm finished with all that high living thanks to Obama. I too like the many of you have cut back. I've insisted that my wife buy a new Mercedes　CL550 every 18 months and not every year as she had done before. I've gotten rid of 1 of our 6 houses. And 6 months ago I instructed the servants to prepare meals for us at home 4 nights a week, a real sacrifice for us (my wife is still angry with me..... women, go figure).

I will to continue to cast my vote on the Republican side because they're the only politicians who really understand that by giving more tax breaks to the most wealthy, the result is a downward flow of money to the people underneath who are then able to buy more stuff at the $1 shops and Walmart which keeps the Chinese economy going and going and they're able to continue buying our debt (win ~ win). Back in the 70s the Gripper certainly understood the benefits of lower taxes for the rich to the country.

Then I like that plain talking Palin too even though she may not be a 100% Republican. Even when she's wrong about something, she doesn't say sorry, she just keeps the mama bear attitude and fights back. There's the kind of hard-headed leadership the country needs to keep all the lefty-liberals in line.

I don't have time now but I'd like to comment more to about this subject like why we don't need to create jobs in America because Ferrari doesn't have a plant here anyway. And so forth. But, another time friends...... See you at the club.

Jim of AZ 1:06AM January 14, 2011

My wife and I began our journey to rid ourselves of all debt except for our mortgage about two and a half years ago. We are on track to finish our journey early next year. We will revert back to the way we were raised, making do with what we have, never buying into the gotta-have-it newer bells and whistles marketing ploys.

We'll never buy a new car, and will instead purchase a '72 GMC Truck after selling our current vehicles. We are now receiving our television programming with an over the air digital antenna, have measured rate home phone service, have one cell phone w/basic services, don't eat out much (even burger joints), and have substantially reduced our utility bills.

People today are so "connected," that "they are truly disconnected." The art of conversation, letter writing, and sending greeting cards are going by the wayside....as is sitting down with a good book rather than a digital screen. Can you imagine going to an elementary school to read a book to a class, then show the nice art work in the story only to be handed a Kindle to read from?

Remember the art work on the old 33 rpm album covers, and the included posters? Now we just have small cd photos, or nothing at all because of "downloads." We also had lyrics sang with natural voices which were instruments themselves.....but today it's all about videos and electronically enhanced voices of people who could not carry a note otherwise. Remember the great voices of Mo-Town? When and where did we stray away from those timeless voices, moods & lyrics, and ended up with (C)rap?

Hmmmmmm, the good old days. Some progress is good, but most of it is stagnation.

Thanks for letting me vent about our new culture.

Billy-Chris of CA 11:51AM January 11, 2011

Rick Newmann you are an idiot.

Lets start with the very first sentence.

"Excessive debt helped cause the recent recession, and made it worse than it needed to be."

Really? Well, that is not what we were told. We were told that the recession was caused by toxic assets. It had nothing to do with credit card debt at all, so we were told.

Those toxic assets were bundled up and sold as securities to schmucks in Europe and Asia and were leveraged to the hilt 30X over or more. It didn't matter if a loan defaulted, with the leveraging someone got paid over and over for it anyway!

Second sentence-

"Consumers with unaffordable mortgages and bulging credit-card balances defaulted in record numbers, pushing up bank losses and sucking the whole economy into a panic that started in the financial sector."

Well, it is true enough that record number of mortgages defaulted, but that happens when the whole freaking economy gets yanked out from under our feet!

"Unaffordable mortgages", that's rich. The housing industry conspired with Government to artificially drive up home prices. The only person who didn't have all the information was the poor idiot buying the house. Unaffordable my ass when a potential buyer of a house is surrounded by real estate agents, mortgage bankers, lawyers, all painting a picture of how it is affordable to the mark, er, borrower. Have we not always been told that buying a home is the single best investment a person can make?

I can't put the blame on the guy buying the house when he is making his decision based on what the "professionals" are telling him.

Third sentence, and this one is a real doozy.

"Families that should have had a cushion during the downturn instead found their finances maxed out, with no ability to borrow as a bridge to better times."

Ok, so the premise of the paragraph is that excessive debt got us into this mess and then this sentence is saying that people needed to borrow more but couldn't, to get out of the mess? WTF? Does this make any sense? Do these idiots even think about what they are writing?

This is the last sentence-

But millions of Americans willingly used debt to live far beyond their means, raising perfectly valid questions about whether U.S. consumers had become the most irresponsible spenders on earth.

I have to ask, is not our own Government truly "the most irresponsible spender on Earth"?

Haywood Jablome of OH 2:46PM January 10, 2011