| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| long time no see |
Posted - 06/02/2008 : 18:04:18
http://www.itv.com/TVGuide/default.html
ITV1 10:35PM-11:35PM
can also be watched Free Online (UK based only)
on the above link.
Jeff Randall (also featured on SkyNews)
Investigates how this nation got hooked on spending money
it doesn't have.
50,000 homes are being repossed
and more to follow.
Great Reporter
on this Special
one off docu.
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| 17 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| camelot |
Posted - 12/02/2008 : 06:55:51
Yes, it is time for a defensive position. If couples have dual income(s) it is an advantage when it comes to surviving a downturn in the economy. What I am seeing here is not reassuring. Many “Flips” (old house teardowns being replaced by new, more ‘high end’ housing) are stalled in mid construction. This is not only causing stress for the speculators that were financing the construction, but perhaps more importantly, it is causing reduced income as well for those that were employed by the builders…Primarily Mexican labourers here in the US, and from what I have heard, Polish and eastern Europeans in G.B. .
I have always worried what would happen to Immigrants (Illegal and legal) if the economy bottomed out. I guess we find out.
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| fartin1976 |
Posted - 11/02/2008 : 13:46:14
Bought my first place last summer, right at the top of the market it seems. Prices are falling where I live. Oh well, just have to ride it out. My partner should never lose her job so we should be alright..... |
| camelot |
Posted - 10/02/2008 : 08:09:44
quote:
Originally posted by Tombstone Blues
True, Fluffy, but we're talking mortgages here, not debts in general, and therein lies the problem.
Most people do not see a mortgage as a debt
If someone says "I'm 200 grand in debt" we'd be appalled, however if they have a mortgage to the same amount, the reaction is quite different.
True here in the USA as well, but many have taken on mortgages, with the lenders blessing, based on the fact that home prices are forever on the increase. Not so it appears now! Americans have been using the ever increasing real estate price gains to finance other things. Cars, travel, college costs, credit card debt, etc.,. with home equity loans. Now when the monthly payment for the equity loans increases based on a variable rate of interest (which has been tracking up until the recent US Fed Bank panic) many find that their piggy bank is not only empty, but their net worth has gone negative. They owe more than their property is worth. That means many people owe more than their house is worth on the current real estate market. If they sell, they are bankrupt!...if they don't , they have to make ever increasing payments.
And when interest rates fall, as they have here in the US during the last month, they do not reduce the payments for these home owners. Why not, you ask?? Because they are now BAD credit risks and “deserve" to be charged higher interest rates than those who have less debt. Add in decreased employment and reduced unemployment benefits as corporations try to cut losses by reducing payroll and you have the "perfect storm” of economic recession. The same could easily happen in England, and perhaps , it already has begun.
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| Fluffy Sheep |
Posted - 09/02/2008 : 20:42:58
Agreed, Tombstone. What I was getting at really was the way too many folks take on other debts as well as the mortgage, and then can`t make ends meet.
The mortgage is usually calculated as a percentage of income, and if folks aren`t paying off a mortgage they`re probably paying a similar percentage of their income in rent. It`s often the additional debt that folks get into that breaks them, the new car, the furniture, the new kitchen/bathroom fittings - all available on credit. That`s the stuff I mean by `don`t buy it if you can`t afford it`.
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| Tombstone Blues |
Posted - 09/02/2008 : 10:55:36
True, Fluffy, but we're talking mortgages here, not debts in general, and therein lies the problem.
Most people do not see a mortgage as a debt
If someone says "I'm 200 grand in debt" we'd be appalled, however if they have a mortgage to the same amount, the reaction is quite different.
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| Fluffy Sheep |
Posted - 09/02/2008 : 00:31:14
In other words, Camelot, if you can`t afford it don`t buy it!
My parents did not buy what they could not afford, and also used the word `NO` if I yearned for anything beyond their means, and it did me no harm at all. I grew up fairly resistant to advertising, and have raised my kids the same way. Both have had partners who were raised on credit, and those relationships failed.
Debt is debilitating, causes stress and depression, is destructive to relationships and families, and actually costs the nation a great deal in terms of mental health issues and social services support for families of debtors.
School Maths should be taught with this in mind, I feel, as soon as children are able to be prey to adverts, but then it might be seen as `politically incorrect` to do this properly as it could be construed that teachers are `criticising` their pupils` parents. |
| camelot |
Posted - 08/02/2008 : 04:03:36
"50,000 homes are being repossed
and more to follow."
Did you expect different??
"You are right behind the USA on the roller coaster ride to economic depression...DO NOT carry any credit card debt, DO NOT bet on real estate price gains (its over folks), and if you do have debt be sure to fix the rate of interest NOW. The USA Cheney/Bush administration has driven the economic car off the cliff with gigantic spending and big tax cuts...England may be able to avoid downdraft of the deflating US economy but it will be close..."
from:
http://livewire.forumco.com/topic~TOPIC_ID~762~SearchTerms~,economy.asp
Sorry for quoting myself but...it's true. |
| Anubis |
Posted - 07/02/2008 : 12:54:35
Similar problems everywhere for those residents moving from Council to Private ownership on the basis of the lies told them prior to the "ballot" .... this is NOT intended as a propaganda shot for George G ... but 'East London Advertiser' gives local MPs a chance to sound off about current concerns and this is what he chose, last week.
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| thedelboy |
Posted - 07/02/2008 : 08:05:28
it is doubtfull the banks will lose anything as they just up the motgage as and when they want,it is about time the government put a block on lenders ripping the piss out of the ordinary man in the street |
| long time no see |
Posted - 07/02/2008 : 08:00:42
Yes the Banks
as they go under will take many with them. |
| thedelboy |
Posted - 07/02/2008 : 06:49:06
the only people to profit are the banks mortgage rates are being put up in expectation of interest rates being cut by .25 percent.My son in Kent is mortgage free on the house he lives in but the house he rents out(to an unemployed family)is not I worry that he will end up in the puree over it |
| long time no see |
Posted - 06/02/2008 : 21:48:54
No. |
| Miriam Binder |
Posted - 06/02/2008 : 21:45:33
quote:
Originally posted by long time no see
Well this Reporter
does a good job.
At fanning the flames? |
| long time no see |
Posted - 06/02/2008 : 21:41:06
Well this Reporter
does a good job.
|
| Miriam Binder |
Posted - 06/02/2008 : 21:34:24
quote:
Originally posted by long time no see
Sure the Fire is Burning.
Daveb said it, the media is just falling over itself to keep the flames fanned. And the mindless mob just laps it all up. |
| long time no see |
Posted - 06/02/2008 : 21:30:58
Sure the Fire is Burning. |
| Daveb |
Posted - 06/02/2008 : 21:16:05
All part the hysterical, knee-jerk, lets all panic culture the press thrive on. This just adds fuel to the flames.
I am not saying the situation is good but the press turn a mild shortage or depression into total disruption.....and they love it because it makes more misery for others and news for themselves. |
