Another thought concerning the recent giveaway to "cash strapped Wall Street": A lot of banks and other mortgage holders have been very lenient to homeowners whose mortgage debt exceeds the fair market value of their homes. If the homeowners don't fall terribly behind on payments, the banks "work" with them, but this pseudo magnanimity will soon be wiped out as the government assumes more and more responsibility in covering these loans. The mortgagors will have Federal guarantees to cover the difference in the debt versus the value of these houses, so expect to see more heavy-handed foreclosures as the economy goes further into recession and more people go without full time employment.
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When Carolyn and I were at the camping area below Watauga Dam Sunday past, it was packed with campers of all types and sizes, which is very unusual for this time of year and the fact it wasn't a holiday. When the place is this crowded under normal conditions, there are several tent campers mixed in with the wheeled boxes. This time there were only a few tents to be seen. At our next stop, I spoke to a man whom lives in the area. He said that a big portion of these campers were folks without jobs whom had lost their homes. The government has restrictions on how long one can stay at any given park, so they move from park to park. Most—if not all—of these Federal recreation areas close completely in the winter months, so a large number of these unfortunates are looking at an even bleaker future.
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Tennessee's unemployment reserves—the money supplied by employer taxes to pay the unemployed—has fallen into the danger zone, yet the State recently cut the employers tax rate by more than thirty percent. If emergency measures aren't soon put in place, the jobless will have their only income source cut or eliminated, while newly unemployed workers won't get a dime. Any fix will fall on the shoulders of small employers like Carolyn, yet she hasn't had a lay-off in more than thirteen years
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In other earth shaking news, we had to have our water heater replaced today. Fortunately and due to my preponderance of manly wisdom at the time of purchase, we paid an extra $100 for one with a lifetime warranty. Today, it cost us $100 to get the old one removed and hauled away, and the new one hauled in and installed. If I live to be 150 years old, and I have to have it replaced every six years, I may break even!
2 comments:
We are in for a world of hurt. I think we are at the very beginning of seeing what this is going to do the "working man". I hope I am wrong. While Wall Street may seem to recover down the road the working people are just at the beginning of their financial crisis.
Yeah. The gov. always says good things will trickle down to the middle class, but it seems big hurts fall on us like a ton of political rhetorical bullshit.
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