So the great depression was a matter of people having a collective case of bad attitude? Or the more recent global financial meltdown was because attitude determined altitude?
The recent recession was caused by a bubble in the housing market. Instead of putting down 20% of a homes price to qualify for a loan, you merely had to come up with 1% of the homes value in many cases. With this came supply & demand, so the price of homes sky rocketed. That means you could buy a $100k houses with only $1000 down. Now a rational person whom looks at that situation would say...if I can only come up with $1000 down, I don't need to be buying a $100k house. But because we as a society are a bunch of bandwaggoners, we made stupid irrational decisions...because everybody was doing it XD The next bubble to pop will be colleges. Watch & see. And in the case of the depression, you do know not everyone was poor right? My great-grandfather made tons of money in the depression. Yes, those following the lead of others were very much poor. But those looking at the market and saying hmmmm what do people need, made a killing. The answer? Low income housing. So he built it, with no money in his pocket, and he was very successful because of two things...Hard work and forward thinking. Capitalism at it's finest baby
Finance crisis was caused by bond markets deliberately falsifying the credit worthiness of subprime and alt a mortgages. These fake AAA investments were bundled into asset portfolios and traded as low risk. Default swaps were attached to these low risk bundles insuring them against the inevitable loss. So no, it was not a magic fairy bubble. It was a marginloan scam. It was not capitalism. It was a crime. As far as your relative making a mint on the depression, good on him for having the liquid capital to reinvest. He would be in the .02% documented citizens who had that capability. Literally 90% of investments and capital were wiped in the 29 crash. Which was also due to a margin loan scam on property credit and farm land lease contracts. So no, there is no magic attitude fairy that sprinkles dust on those who succeed. There is a system that is ripe for corruption and exploitation. It is not some perfect god to worship.
Actually he had no cash. He tore down his home and repourposed the land and materials. Without risk there is no reward. You call the housing market burst a scam, I call it ignorance of people. Just as on pimd, if you fall for a scam who's to blame? The "scammer" or the the person not using their brain? It's quite unreasonable to expect to be able to afford a house costing hundreds of thousands of dollers when it takes you 5-10 years to make that much money to begin with. What do you expect to live off of? If something sounds to good to be true, it is. I love sales. I'm a saleswoman ride or die. But at the end of the day in the sales game...we don't care where you got your money, how much of it's left after we sell you something, or how many kids you have to feed. Only the cut throat survive in this game. You call it a scam, i call it business. Once again, the only complaint i seem to hear from you is your hatred of capitalism. If you hate it so much go be a socialist yo
If cut throat scamming is your vision of capitalism, then peace be with you. If you view scamming in a game the same as tossing 8 trillion in capital down a black hole, then peace be with you. I am a capitalist and view the system differently than you. Ethics holds civilization together, and from ethics springs laws. But you put capital above law as a kind of god. I hope your worship always rewards you with gold. Thank you for the spirited debate. I will return to my field of expertise and count my blessings.
Here's a McQuote for you Eat or be eaten. It's the world we live in. Scamming is not what I do. But using my resources to the fullest extent is. If something's legal, than it is not a scam. Even if it's stupid, if people will pay for it, then so be it. Don't cry scam everytime YOU make a stupid decision.