Our financial system is crumbling this week.

[ghostrunner]

Apparently the auto industry got a paltry $25 billion dollar "bailout" today, without much mention.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/flowchart/2 ... ysler.html

[TimeForGuinness]

Since most people don't have 20% down, alot of mortgages went with what's called a blended mortagage. Say you put 5% down, the first mortgage would be 80% and the second loan would be the 15% at a reduced rate, which was less than the 5-10% added on monthly for PMI.

But doesn't that defeat the entire purpose of needing PMI? Like i said, when we bought I don't even know if it was an option so we plunked down the 20%. I'm not faulting people for taking it, in some cases you would be foolish not to. I just think it's crazy to take two mortgages out on one house to work around the system.

If I could afford to put down 20%, I would...I could have stretched and put down 10-15%, but since the bank made the offer...I took it. I'd rather have some liquid cash around in case of emergencies. Plus, it was a no-brainer when comparing to PMI...which I couldn't write off.

I figured out what I "wanted" to afford with a house, rather than what the bank said I could afford. (BTW, the bank said I could afford twice the amount I wanted.)

I smiled and declined their offer.

I'm not one to buy a house that is 5-6 times my annual salary...I stuck between 2-3 times my salary...from 2 years earlier. It's worked out so far.

[arnie.k]

Apparently the auto industry got a paltry $25 billion dollar "bailout" today, without much mention.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/flowchart/2 ... ysler.html

i would be happy with just a few millions, and i'm really nice and all.

can i get a bailout?

[doe_boy]

This had me scratching my head.

http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8451

Yessir, them gu'mint fellers sure had their ducks in a row ahead of time.

Makes ya wonder.

[ghostrunner]

I have a great finance book written by Andrew Tobias, and I guess he has a blog. He quotes an article written by Eliot Spitzer before he had to resign, with a little input of his own.

http://www.andrewtobias.com/newcolumns/080924.html

His finance book is called "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need." Cheesy title, and he makes fun of it himself. But I highly recommend it for anyone. I guess he has Democratic leanings, but I never knew it from reading the book. He posted his opinon on the bailout a few day ago:

The government is doing the necessary thing. I think it will work. Calamity will be averted. Tough times will not. It will take years to climb out of the hole that’s been dug. The sun will come out tomorrow, along with some likely succession of inflation, recession, and stagflation, in what order and to what heights, depths, and angst I obviously don’t know. Meanwhile, the astounding updraft of technology will continue to improve most of our lives in many, resource-nonintensive ways. And if we’re smart, we’ll set people to work renewing our infrastructure and achieving energy independence.

I feel certain we will do better economically with Obama/Biden and the people who would run their Administration than with McCain/Palin.

[Popeye_Card]

Apparently the auto industry got a paltry $25 billion dollar "bailout" today, without much mention.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/flowchart/2 ... ysler.html

I guess Obama was too low with his $4 billion loan plan.

I don't like how loosely it appears to be worded in regards to focusing on higher fuel economy. IMO, if we as a country/government are planning to spend this much to bail out the auto industry, they better be doing full-scale changes. By that I mean 50% of all vehicles produced are Volt-type vehicles, Ford starts producing their 65 mpg diesels for the US, etc.

[Freed Roger]

I know "they" say this bailout is a necessity ...but I would kind of like skipping the bailout and watching how things shake out ?

sort of like throwing things into a circulating fan, not wise but interesting to watch.

Or blowing things up. or like tossing watermelons off a roof.

a good disaster can be fun every now and then , I've got lots of camping gear, and I was always intriqued by the concept of Hoovervilles. I heard St. Louis had one of the biggest ones, down by the river.

[Popeye_Card]

The thing that really sticks in my craw about this whole thing is that all of the executives are still going to get paid. If I'm giving them the bailout, I don't want to give them nothing, but I would calculate the average salary of each bank, and everyone above that amount gets paid the average. I think it's BS that you're paid a premium salary to make your company successful, and when it completely fails, who cares?--you're well compensated anyway.

Maybe that plan makes me a socialist, but so be it. When it comes to handouts, I don't like handing out money above and beyond what it takes for people to live comfortably.

[arnie.k]

The thing that really sticks in my craw about this whole thing is that all of the executives are still going to get paid. If I'm giving them the bailout, I don't want to give them nothing, but I would calculate the average salary of each bank, and everyone above that amount gets paid the average. I think it's BS that you're paid a premium salary to make your company successful, and when it completely fails, who cares?--you're well compensated anyway.

Maybe that plan makes me a socialist, but so be it. When it comes to handouts, I don't like handing out money above and beyond what it takes for people to live comfortably.

i seriously doubt not wanting to hand-out government money to people can make you a socialist.

[Popeye_Card]

The thing that really sticks in my craw about this whole thing is that all of the executives are still going to get paid. If I'm giving them the bailout, I don't want to give them nothing, but I would calculate the average salary of each bank, and everyone above that amount gets paid the average. I think it's BS that you're paid a premium salary to make your company successful, and when it completely fails, who cares?--you're well compensated anyway.

Maybe that plan makes me a socialist, but so be it. When it comes to handouts, I don't like handing out money above and beyond what it takes for people to live comfortably.

i seriously doubt not wanting to hand-out government money to people can make you a socialist.

I don't know. You're labeled a socialist if you think people making over $1 million a year can afford a much higher tax rate.