News Detroit City Bankrupt

[Innordinate]

Most countries don't care about the US military. Besides lots of bombs that the US just can't afford any more, the US military isn't going to fair well against most other countries in man to man combat.

I agree...but not many people in the world are aware that the US has never won a single battle that they have started. Not one single war. They are, for whatever reason, Kennedys Star Wars bluff, held in high esteem throughout the world as military greats. The military great! of the world!

Good example.. In Canada..the news rarely talks about the Australian army ...it's American or Canadian. Propaganda is at work here...but not many understand or can weave their way through all of that.

When American crumbles...so does the world.

 

[anthony]

Most countries outside the US wouldn't fight each other unless we really had too. The reason is because we all train in similar methods, man to man fighting, and thus defeating the enemy isn't as easy. We don't train to rely on support with lots of bombs. Trust me... if the US fell apart, other countries wouldn't start attacking one another, they would all party that the US military has stopped it's global nonsense. More than likely everyone would pull together to ensure the US historical emphasis on war was dismantled completely. Clear out all the nutjobs in their militia camps and such nonsense, then let the country become great without all the war philosophy. The NRA would be the first to be dismantled. ;) :D

China accept they don't have the resources to try and patrol the world as some global freedom fighter. They care about China and only those countries immediately around them. The rest... they accept it would break them investing too much into their military.

 

[Rumors]

Detroit is not the only mega city that has filed. Birmingham, AL filed as well and is a model of what will happen down the road.

As for the US and it's bombs, we don't have a president with enough "biscuits" to push the button regardless. The stock market is at an all time high, the Obama administration is screaming victory on the economy front and think it is all over. Truth is, her in the US anyway, more bubbles are exploding and other scary things are coming to head. The next MAJOR bubble to burst here are credit unions. Scary, scary, scary! If mortgage rates go up, you will see the failure of many credit unions. The trend says that mortgage rates will go up toward the end of this year. Most banks that were "shocked" 5 years ago would have shown a loss. TODAY, they show if interest rates go UP their profit grows. That is backwards to what was occurring 5 years ago!

All I know is that it is all eff'd up! I am just THANKFUL to not owe anyone! I am thankful to be able to call the shots in my life at this moment in time! I have such deep empathy for those who are caught up on the wheel! Especially the gov'ment wheel!!!

We cannot seem to run our cities, counties, states, or countries like they were business and fiscally responsible. What makes me sick is that Obama said that government CANNOT be run like a business! I believe to a degree that human well being MUST be taken into account, however I believe in the same respect that fiscal responsibility MUST be addressed as well. Ok, off my soap box!

 

[anthony]

I tend to agree that you can't run a Government like a business, in that decisions can't be based on their profitability. But the overall economics of a Government, IMO, if you aren't making the money from taxes and internal sources, then you shouldn't be spending it. You should only be able to borrow what your Government is making, IMHO.

I look at it like applying to the bank for a loan. If you make $100k per annum, and there are costs of $80k per annum coming out of that, then you only have a disposable income of $20k. That would be generous IMO... most don't have that much disposable from that income. Make more, spend more, philosophy. The bank can then assess your lending criteria based on those figures. It may work out that you could borrow a mortgage of $1m on those figures. But then they also take into account that you have physical product that they can repossess and sell if required.

So as a Government, I think borrowing should be the same. If you're borrowing money to spend on something that isn't creating a tangible good, then maybe it should be looked at like a personal loan instead of a mortgage. The above example, a bank may only loan you $50k as a personal unsecured loan, based on your income. Not a million if mortgaging a house.

We are all borrowing far more than what I believe we can repay adequately as countries. Our debts keep mounting up, and we write it off because our economies grow in unison, so we borrow more and it keeps growing. When the economy has a downturn, which happens for a decade or more typically, suddenly that debt becomes a major issue.

 

[Rumors]

I guess, in essence, it should be run like a 501(c)3 non profit organization. When I say "business" I use that term loosely in the sense that I don't expect a profit but merely to break even! Break even would be incredible!

 

[anthony]

Yer... if they could get close to break even, wow... populations would be happy. Maybe we wouldn't detest politicians so much!

 

[Rumors]

Amen brother! Detest is nice as to what I was thinking! Lol!

There is too much greed to insert good business practice into the plan. Makes me ill.

 

[anni]

Well, it's not quite true that banks won't let you live beyond your means. Part of our whole collapse in the first place is that we sold our entire population an image of everything 'we' hadddd to have, deserved, and were financed as if everyone were a Hollywood mega-star, so flaunt it. Houses have to be bought at the outside edge of one's credit, not something affordable and comfortable. Same with car, who buys used if you're making a point ( I'm ONE OF YOU ), and most are, buy new, swap it over every 4 years to the next new model along with payments. Is it a 'plot'? Sure, only by the oligarchy behind segments of the governemtn, it's money interests at play not really power. The banks have us all kinds of wrapped up. Don't get me started on their death-grip in our educational system. Student loans take these kids graduating college HALF of their working lives to pay off, if not more. There's no other option for most, talk about a monopoly.

It's getting better, a little, but only out of sheer desperation. The banks went too far of course, crashed an awful lot of folks into bankruptcy along with the middle class.

I don't mean to be argumentative, but it's the first I heard that both parents working would be the reason for the gap between classes. Both parents generally work to make ends meet here, and even then it'd be paycheck to paycheck. Barring the knock-down, drag-out professionals, women would LOVE to stay home to raise the children, believe me. It would be great if it were a choice, or even a problem, gosh, we're making SO much money we're endangering the borders of our class system, let's back up the bus here. It just isn't, possibly a discussion somewhere in gated communities. Then they both get in their cars, check out at the gate's security guard, who is on the phone with his wife who works at Walmart. That double income household just had the electricity turned off because a medical bill came due.

Agree hugely on tech being our best, greatest frontline. In poin of fact, the US has JUST been caught with its pants down on our power grid, having ordered the power companies to close some gaps in security after they lied to Congress on the subject. " Yep, yep, we're FINE ", they said. Well, we are not, more holes in the system being exploited as we speak by sleeper viruses, etc. The power companies of course dislike spending profit on anything, keep sliding around Congressional mandates- meanwhile a national terrorist hit will come from a mouseclick, not an explosive. Not sure we should be looking at the sky, pretty sure we should be screaming at both Congress and our individual power companies. And please no one start witching to me about how this would of course be Obama's fault without checking your facts. This was begun well before his watch, for one thing, for another he took one look at the situation and began cutting off heads and for yet another I'm kind of tired of hearing about how Obama ate that stupid apple Eve handed him, geesh.

 

[Rumors]

I am always perplexed when people solely blame banks for the fall out. What happens to personal responsibility? If you are head of your household, you should know if you make 45k a year you can't afford a 400k house. Also, what about the Clinton initiative where he deregulated the mortgage sector? Not only did he deregulate it, he encouraged it by making sure that the rules were written so that anyone could get a loan. Ever heard of a no doc loan?

Then, let's not forget about what wall street did. They talked the SEC into letting bundled them up into securities and sell them for 5x their worth back to us, or those of us who chose to buy. Then not only did they do that, but they sold a guarantee to them and talked the SEC into not sectoring it into an insurance which would require strict regulation but instead let them take that money and spend it however. Remember AIG? Sold how many trillions in CRedit Default Swaps and spent them on planes, cars, homes, salaries, etc. When that money came do to those who were cashing out, it wasn't there. Hence the bailout money, etc. That is the banks fault? They were culpable in a lot of things, just not for sole blame.

 

[anthony]

I agree with the personal responsibility people need to take in their quest for greed. It isn't the banks fault for people being greedy.

Consumers have no fault in financial advisors scheming, profiteering (greed) and masking it as a good buy back to the investor (consumer). The financial operators and politicians should be jailed for their parts in that collapse.

Consumers should smack themselves silly if they borrowed more than they could realistically repay if interest rates increased, because they HAD to have it, or more so, they wanted to have it, or compete with their friend, neighbour or whoever. Nobody forced a person to buy that big TV, new car, holiday or anything else, all on credit. Rumors has it spot on in that regard IMHO... people need to take responsibility for their own stupidity.

Politicians should take responsibility for selling out to cut the red tape on financial borrowing, thus prosecuted for it IMHO. They took bribes basically, to create a problem. In most cases, that is illegal... yet they got away with it. I'm very glad for our extremely strict banking laws here. Borrowing just isn't easy in this country. You need to show consisten savings and your ability to repay under all conditions, good to bad, as the economy fluctuates.

 

[shoulderblades]

It isn't the banks fault for people being greedy

The Federal Reserve is responsible for that. The Federal Reserve controls greed with greed: by enabling greed and manipulating people into debt. The Federal Reserve - and thus, the banks of the world - exploit people's naivety and financial hardship to earn a buck or several billion. The Federal Reserve and all affiliated corporations are the evil behind the world collapsing, both financially and politically.

President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act on December 23, 1913; its purpose was to provide a backup of liquid assets in times of financial crises. On his deathbed, he said that he had destroyed his country by privatising the banking industry. He was right. In 1920, the Independent Treasury Act came to an end and Congress handed the control of treasury over to a private corporation; the control of the banking system was handed over to the Rockerfellers, the Rothschilds, the Warburgs, the Lazards, the Goldmans, and several other wealthy families - all called "banking interests". Together, they merged and formed a banking cartel. The Federal Reserve is to this day held by those very same "interests" and NONE is held by the US Treasury. Meaning, America does not own its own currency. America is a corporation, not a country.

It is these "interests" that control the banks. It is these "interests" that have installed the credit system. It is these "interests" that have monopolised the system in such a way that it is now nigh impossible to exist without getting into debt. It is these "interests" that possess over three-quarters of the world's wealth and because the Federal Reserve is privatised, it means that there is no transparency and no auditing of where the money is actually going.

Politicians have no control over how the Federal Reserve acts. The Federal Reserve OWNS American and global politics. It is these corporations - these families - that control the government. They control the currency, so they control the politics and how politics behaves.

The Federal Reserve control how wealth is distributed throughout the world; it controls the stockmarket, how banks operate, how prices are set from the stockmarket right down to the prices in supermarkets - they control everything.

And thus, the demise of the US economy and the European economy (and, soon, the Australian economy, once China officially becomes the next superpower, which is predicted to happen by 2015): because the families own the currency and so they can play us like pawns, as if they are playing their own game of Monopoly and we are the game pieces. The Federal Reserve is responsible for every recession that has happened since the Federal Reserve Act. They create and dismantle economic crises at their own desire - simply because they can, to control the population and to control governments.

We live in a world where the visible people in power are an illusion; the political choices governments have are controlled by the Federal Reserve. Two-party systems have been installed in all Western countries, to give us the illusion of choice, when in actual fact both parties (Labor & Liberal, Republican & Democrat, Tory & Conservative) are funded by the same corporations, which are controlled by the Federal Reserve. Meaning that two-party systems may have differing objectives but their principles are the same because they are slaves to the corporations that own them and fund them.

We live in a world where choice is an illusion and debt is close to mandatory. We will eventually lose paper money and paper currency and everything will operate strictly by a credit system, where we will have absolutely no choice but to go into debt. That is where we are headed; that is why there is so much emphasis on credit.

We do not live in a free world. We are slaves to the people behind the curtain who hide in plain sight.

 

[piratelady]

two income households... they are killing the economy.

I couldn't read the rest of what has been said by others, but I wanted to comment on this. Most families can't survive on one income alone, unless that income is rather large (which isn't the case for the majority). The cost of living is simply too high in most areas to survive on one income. Two income households is a necessity for most.