Economy thoughts anyone?

[LightBringer]

C'mon, what up everyone? I figure somebody would discuss the economy, Obama, Iran, etc. Lot's of things happening :).

I'm rather shocked at how the media is turning against Obama. I seen a quote from the media "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?" Just goes to show you that the media is a fukn disaster for information.

Is Israel really going to take out strategic nuclear sites in Iran this year?

Any good digs on the latest prediction of stores soon to be filing bankruptcy?

[|IB|NieN]

Yeah because we all expected Obama to fix everything in less than a month. I fucking hate the MSM.

The economy sucks and it's only going to get worse. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the bailout was a bullshit idea.

[LightBringer]

The bailout is a great idea, but it is going to the fkn crooks and thieves that got us in this fkn mess in the fkn 1st place. Bailout should go to me and you and a dog named boo. lol.

[=DBA=Ronin]

You can cut the red tape with a soup spoon on this and every other "package" before it. I think the gov't should write out a big spreadsheet and have every penny of this one accounted for and e-mail it to every e-mail address registered in the US (If Slock Mar can advertise viagra for $2 a bottle to everyone, why cant the gov't fill us in??).

The only part of this I am really interested in is to see how the deal with motgage interest rates pans out, and how much of this will go into transportation infrastructure. I have heard, but god forbid I could find a straight answer, that they are proposing to cut interest rates for EVERYONE down to as low as 4%. That would be incredible for us homeowners, as we could spend less throwing our money into interest and have more disposable income to waste on everything else (hence, so they say, stimulating the market). But, my guess is that this will go to ween the pieces of shit that started this whole mess and buy everyone out of foreclosure because they were STUPID enough to close on a variable rate. Honest working, tax paying, good samaritans like myself are going to be left on the wayside only to watch as another trillion dollars earmarks itself for higher taxes right around the time I am ready to retire. My 401k has already started to nose dive...I can't imagine much of it will be left when I need it. I really feel sorry for my 6 year old nephew, and everyones' kids who reads this...they are ultimately going to be the ones sacrificing for this "bail out". Sad part is, it will be so intertwined to the economic machine by the time they are old enough to figure things out for themselves, they won't even notice the difference.

Yeah, I did mention transportation infrastucture. THat is because here in Milwaukee, all we have is the paultry interstate system. For the last 20 years, the socialist empire that has ruled this area has done nothing more than debate alternate modes of transportation, but to this point and aside from the fact they have been sitting on a 90 million dollar federal transportation grant for 15 years, they are still decades away from some type of alternate means. There is an Amtrak station sure, but that only goes so far and doesn't help the poor shmucks who live 30 miles from downtown and are FORCED to drive. This metro is starving for some type of rail system, but the warm hands that are too afraid to pull the trigger might finally be motivated by everything that could possibly come from this "package" (i.e. all the jobs created to build a "system"...having the "system" finally running, etc).

So you might laugh and say, well, ffs, its just Milwaukee. A metro just short of 2 million...wtf does it need any sort of rapid-mass transit system (and you might laugh harder if you have ever been here, or live here). But understand that MKE is a hop skip and a jump from Chicago, and less than half a days drive from the Twin Cities. Between the MKE-Rockford-Janesville/Beliot-Chicago-Racine/Kenosha loop...you are looking at a MASSIVE megalopolis (bigger than it looks or appears). We are talking some 15 million people. Yet, our only means of going from A to B is at most an 8 lane freeway.

There are talks of MKE or Madison possibly hosting some events if Chicago wins its bid for the 2016 Summery Olympics. You really think Sven the supper vaulter from Sveden is going to take a fucking taxi from his hotel in CHI to the Koltschke Center on the upper east side of Milwaukee? Give me a break! They will laugh in our face!! But, I digress...ultimately it is not about the olympics...it is about creating an environment that is both efficient and attractive in order to draw in more people to help stimulate the local economy...the olympics is more or less a metaphor in the grand scheme. Bottom line is...I want to see some of this fucking money go towards something that is actually needed, and will HELP the economy not only in the short term, but in the long term for whence eveything turns around.

God damn...I;ve had one too many Makers Mark and I can't stop typing...I am in that drunken mode where thoughts are just racing through my mind and I can't type fast enough to get them all down. Sorry. I guess overall...the economy sucks....I still have a job...Odoyle RULES!!

[LightBringer]

drunk eh? well so are most of the senators passing the bailout bill right now. I see the bailout mainly taking care of the bad debt including bailing out state governments.

I read about tax credits when buying new homes and cars. That really could make people buy. I saw Mercury having 0% interest for 72 months. If that includes like an $8,000 rebate and no taxes. Damn, how could you pass that up?

[=DBA=Ronin]

There is a local car dealer here who has like 30 dealerships across the state. He is trying to push some type of voucher system be considered. You buy a car, and get a 5k voucher from the gov't, then the manufactur matches it. Not sure exactly what would get done with said voucher, and I doubt anyone would seriosly consider doing this, but it could be intersting to see what comes of it...if anything (which I doubt).

There is another dealership here, not as big as the one above, but has a number of places here and on the East coast. He has a promotion going on of a buy one...get one free. Basically, if you buy a new car, you get your pick of any other one (10K or less) complimentary. I'm told they jack up the prices of their used stock so you don't really end up with anything spectacular...but it created quite a buzz around here and I am sure got a lot of people to at least come in to his place and find out about it. Could be a pretty good deal for those looking to pick up a car for their teens'.

It does sound like they will be handing out some form of tax credits though for new car purchases. Which I hope includes both new and used, as I am starting to look for a new ride as soon as I get my raise in a couple of months. I won't be able to afford anything new more than likely however, so hopefully that will apply to used too.

[StAnkY]

well Obama has done some things i like and dislike already but i admire his roll up the sleeves and have his hands on it mentality. he has already leaned on his cronies to inject some of the good ideas that come from the moderates as well as the other side of the aisle. his administration has already flexed a little bit of muscle in foreign policy to show Iran they aren't going to be pussies just because they would prefer to negotiate a solution.
i think he is getting a crash course in the games played at that level. my sincere hope is he will be the one to say "stfu im in charge, we play by my rules"