Alessandro

Barney Frank's Bad Housing Loans

I think this article is selectively missing at least two key points.

Many potential home owners were goaded into first time home loans by banks that were able to demonstrate that they could own a home short term for virtually the same money as renting.

If in five years, they could not afford the accelerated ramping up of their monthly mortgage payment, they could sell the home for a tidy profit, in essence living rent free for those five years.

Who is going to turn down that kind of an offer?

It would have been much wiser if the home mortgage vice had been turned much more slowly on the sub prime mortgage 5 year price escalations. Instead of having the escalation occur overnight, in which the payment could suddenly double or triple, the mortgage payment should have been reset to increase in much more realistic increments.

This would have bought everybody time and not instantly jettisoned some many newer homeowners out of their homes so quickly.

Where's the Outrage at the Banks?

You pick Oct. 25th, 2009 to write your article, the very first day of a HUGE protest in Chicago, Called Showdown in Chicago, in which thousands of protestors are protesting against the banks.

Just google "Showdown in Chicago" and maybe you can start catching up a bit.

Credit Card Issuers' Reported Profits Should Not Be Taken for Granted

Amount in millions? How about Billions?

How Galleon Got (and Lost) Its Edge

The article states "If the majority of hedge funds managers were so crafty, not so many funds would have gone bust last year–or lost bundles of money for their wealthy investors." end quote.

Or.... It just took a while longer to discovery the level of dishonesty and the inevitably of a crash was put off because of it, afterall, Bernie Madhoff turned himself in after a several decades year run of deception.

Credit Card Bill of Rights: Why I'm Mildly Skeptical

The point of "OPT OUT" is to say 'NO" when the credit card companies change an existing agreement. This is like consumer rights 101.

I have an agreement with a bank, they change terms AFTER the agreement is in place, I SHOULD have the RIGHT to say, "No Thanks", I will OPT OUT. I agree to keep paying down the loan via the agreement already in place and the account will be closed to further activity.

This is such a basic tenet, and apparently it is not in the H.R. 627 bill????

What crap.

www.daily-protest.com
www.robotsagainstchase...
www.bloggersagainstcha...

http:

How PHEVs and EVs Will Sabotage America's Drive for Energy Independence

Lithium Ion is superior to lead acid. I can power an on the shoulder video camera for 3 hours with a 1.9 pound lithium ion battery.

Lead acid would require at least twice the weight in batteries, maybe more, to give me the same performance.

The biggest problems with automobiles and batteries is the weight. The automobile has to continually carry the weight of the batteries around, so the lighter the batteries per same power output, the more efficient the car will be.

I dispute the weight savings that are being cited in this study. The weight of the lithium ion batteries will probably be HALF of the lead, and with no combustion engine, additional weight savings should be seen there and in the frame of the car which won't require as much metal to support the lighter lithium batteries.

Prices will drop as more lithium ion batteries are made, no? As the lead batteries AGE and their efficiency drops, the extra weight actually causes the lead batteries efficiency to drop even faster.

I believe the Lithiums perform at similar capacity until they just no longer work. I'd rather have a battery stay steady and then eventually quickly drop off, then have a battery that slowly loses efficiency over several years time.

Buffett's Betrayal

I believe the one trillion dollars in consumer credit card debt that neither the government nor the banks want to see paid down is the big sticking point in the economy. I agree with Leftfield's comment
"I don't see any prominent American leader sticking up for average citizens."

So, lets try and keep raising awareness.
www.daily-protest.com
www.bloggersagainstcha...
www.robotsagainstchase...

On Aug 05 03:12 PM Leftfield wrote:

> I don't see any prominent American leader sticking up for average
> citizens. The founders risked everything on principle and now our
> leaders are far worse than King George III. Getting far ahead in
> life used to bring a sense of service to society amongst some. Now,
> besides Ron Paul, all I see is continued swindle.

Cash for Clunkers May Cost Up to $45,354 Per Vehicle

I would suggest that how the old clunkers are handled may be the real issue. I would hope they do not end up on a boat headed to some other poorer country as a "gift" for people who need a car.

Cash for Clunkers May Cost Up to $45,354 Per Vehicle

To do a fair comparison, how many MORE cars would have been sold IF there was enough money in the program to meet the needs for an ENTIRE quarter for everyone who qualified?

Assuming the rate of car purchases remained elevated at the same level as it has been for the past five days, but for an entire quarter, what does that do to your numbers?

Put another way, compare overall car sales over the past five days both with, and then without the incentive program, what was the actual increase?

Singing the American Express Blues

It appears that the airlines do sell frequent flyer miles to the credit card companies in exchange for better terms on their loans.

So it is in these credit card companies interest to cancel frequent flyer miles, or make them next to impossible to use, and then reallocate lost frequent flyer miles to the credit card companies for lower interest rates on loans.

I could almost live with that (not really actually) as long as the credit card companies passed on lower interest rates to all of their customers, instead they are doing the opposite!

Please stay involved, don't just complain here, that is a great start but more needs to be done by all of us.

www.consumeraffairs.co...
www.bloggersagainstcha...
www.daily-protest.com
www.changeinterms.com
dailypuma.blogspot.com...

Why Are Employment Numbers So Bad?

As local businesses dry up, credit card defaults rise as well, thereby making the concept of for every percentage point the credit card companies raise their interest rates, the default rate increases by at least one percent, a reality.

Why Are Employment Numbers So Bad?

People seem to be underestimating the role of the one trillion dollars in consumer credit card debt. Besides the trillion dollars of consumer debt, the credit card companies desire to keep raising the interest rate on this trillion dollars of consumer credit card has caused local economies to crash to a halt. Money that would have been spent locally instead is going back to the credit card companies, causing local jobs to shrivel up, which in turn reduces local government tax bases who then turn against local business by raising taxes.

Any consumer credit card debt over three years of age should have all additional interest charges waived if the consumer is paying the debt down, that would be a real stimulus plan.

www.bloggersagainstcha...
www.daily-protest.com

California's Default Is Certain

Don't discount the credit card companies role in this. As the banks starve everybody out, they also become everybody's best friend since we believe we need them more and more.

Local and state governments revenue is falling because people have less money to spend every month because credit card companies are on a mission to raise interest rates on the almost one trillion dollars in credit card debt which just erodes more and more buying power from the citizens.

The irony is, unlike the banks that asked for and received a bailout, all the consumer needs is a break. Just eliminate the interest charges on consumer debt that is over three years old so the consumer can start to PAY DOWN their credit card debt.

There will be no economic recovery until the almost one trillion dollars in credit card debt is at least cut in half.

www.daily-protest.com

Nightmare on Wall Street? Upcoming Bank Earnings Could Rock World Markets

For those of you with more research acumen than myself, be wary of rising oil prices that create more profit, which in turn creates more money to invest in propping up the stock market.

Why can't Wall Street see the value in offering consumer incentives to help reduce the almost one trillion dollars in consumer credit card debt?

Want to help turn the economy around, do the OPPOSITE of anything Chase Bank does to its customers.

www.daily-protest.com

Nothing Is Ever Truly 'Off the Books' in the Financial World

quoting from the article, "Keeping the credit card trusts viable is particularly important to banks because as consumers prepay balances, the trusts’ capacity is recycled into new loans. If losses reach a certain point, investors can accelerate payments reducing the capacity of banks to issue credit card debt. Banks are trying every manipulation possible to prevent that from happening."

--------

Wouldn't it make sense to waive all interest rate charges on aged consumer credit card debt that is older than three years? Wouldn't this help consumers pay down that almost one trillion dollars in credit card debt while at the same time returning cash back to the banks?

Is that a better plan than what Chase Bank is doing by trying to default over a million of their best, most loyal credit card customers by raising the monthly minimum payment an additional 150% above and beyond what it currently is.

And Chase Bank is not allowing for any kind of OPT OUT option either. talking about shooting fish in a barrel, the question is, why Chase Bank, why?

www.daily-protest.com