Gaucho

Oil Companies Paid More Than Bottom 75% of Taxpayers

Pathetic state of affairs for the botton 75%.
I like the statement that the top 1% pay over 50% of the taxes in this country. Yet the other side is the top 1% control over 60% of the countries wealth and earn over 50% of its income and that is after deductions. That side is never mentioned. Well let them eat cake.
The wealthy have the following attitude. The bastards don't deserve heath care. Let their children suffer! We have all the money so why should we share. More tax breaks for the rich. And while we are at it why should we pay any social security up to 90K of income at all. We do not use it. let them pay the additional 7% of their salary plus 7% from their employer. We are superior human beings and that is why they should send their children off to die in IRAQ and not ours.

Fed Pumps More Money Into the Economy

Well the numbers are great and so was Potemkin’s Village. I guess this is typical keep the economy going until elections are over no matter what the long term damage. The economy is sliding into a deep recession and numbers for GDP were an illusion. The FED estimated the inflations rate @ 2.6% as if the rest of the country was blind. Most people out there really believe that the inflation rate is more like 5-7% and I am one of them. Take this realistic inflation number and GDP actually fell by at least 2.5%. This is the second quarter that the FED has underestimated the inflation rate and conveniently came up with an anemic growth rate of .9% annually.
The housing market fall is accelerating and the FED keeps pumping billions into the banks. This cheap money will slosh around but the bond traders (smart money) will not touch the toxic waste called CDOs, VIE and XYZs. The consumer is tapped out but the FED states that consumer spending is flat. Plug in the huge increase in gas and food increases and the consumer is spending just to get by.
The 600 dollar ‘feel good’ will only pay for two months gas. Natural gas and oil increases will by themselves eat up the six hundred.
Consumer credit card debt increased at %5 in March alone. This is not a good sign. It means they are tapped out and cannot extract more money from their house so they are using plastic. Obviously this cannot continue for more than a few of months. Then the defaults start on the credit cards.
We keep hearing the worst is over yet the adjustable rate mortgages peaked in February through March of this year. SEE credit card debt spike in March. The delayed reaction will take minimum three months to show up on the banks delinquent list and 6-8 months for foreclosure. At that point the banks will dump the house on the market since they will already be full of REO properties. About that time the ALT-A and Option arms begin to reset. Many people will see their house values cut in half and just throw in the towel even if they could continue to pay the mortgage. Who wants to spend the rest of his life just to break even on their mortgage?