Window Shopper

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Having just seen the breaking news that the price of oil is down UNDER $70 a barrel now, are the oil companies going to continue to give us the break we have needed from this greed that they continue to put on us? Honestly, I believe that they should have done this long before now. When the housing market went downhill, it would have been fantastic if some of the big oil companies had the compassion to drop their prices so that Americans could keep their homes. I have no doubt whatsoever that big oil contributed to many of the homes lost during the crunch on mortgages. Don’t get me wrong here. People should not have fallen for that snake oil salesman’s dream loan. But if big oil had one grain of compassion, they could have helped the economy and the American homeowners who were standing on the precipice with their mortgages.

Hopefully, big oil will get a clue since we have stayed away from the pumps, found other ways to cope. It sure does not hurt to let them know that we can deal with this and live without as much gas. I truly hope it hurt them in the right place, the wallet. They had no problems whatsoever hurting us there. In these perilous financial times, it is a breath of fresh air to see the prices of things coming down again. I did not think we would see that unless we had a full blown depression. And that still may occur.

Having said all that, I also saw today that retailers have plans to give big breaks on prices this holiday season. That is a fantastic thought too. We have been hit and hit hard in many places at once. It will be a relief to see lower prices especially during the Christmas buying season which has definitely started. All in all, it might just be a better time now. Well, except for the stock market which has fallen as of this writing. Who knows. It may bounce back at closing. The good news is all about the gas prices and goods prices. That will help us all.

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Now that the original bailout of the many companies that, admittedly, brought it on themselves has failed, what is next? That’s a little bit up in the air at the moment. Gas prices are falling which is good news. Wall Street came back today with over a 500 point regain after a disastrous day yesterday when the Dow fell almost 800 points. With all the advice flowing around all over the country and the way things are going at Wall Street, there may be some jobs in Manhattan available very soon. Try looking at CEO spots to start with. Those could be a tad shaky right now and they should be. Those people allowed their companies to become extremely vulnerable at a time when it was not the right thing to do. You would almost think there was some type of common knowledge about all this, a memo going around the companies.

Lenders who once were so liberal with their lending out are now locked down, nervous and stressed. Credit is not as available as it once was. Things are getting really tight here until the stress of the major crisis is over. No one really knows what is going to happen about all this. However, you need to protect yourself. Watch for deals that seem too good to be true. At this time, there will be many con artists out to get the last dime someone has. It is a very vulnerable time for so many people. Think before acting. Do not do anything financial without giving it a day or two to cool off first. These things have been good advice through good times and bad. Right now it is a bad time. Just do not do anything you will regret in a few weeks.

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The enormous greed of many companies is finally coming out and the companies are falling or being bailed out. While those same companies were so shaky, the CEOs and other top officials were taking and taking and taking multi millions of dollars as perks and other items they felt were theirs to have. What bothers me is that these people who are running the private companies obviously do not care about their own companies enough to stop the payments to themselves and help their company. The result is that the American public is going to pay and pay while the CEO gets to be in the lap of luxury. What is wrong with this picture?

Several of the top officers in the failing companies you have heard about recently in all the bailout talk were grabbing and grabbing. Their company is failing and they grab. Personally, I feel that each of these people are not worth the money that they are receiving. I do not for one moment think that even the top official in the company does enough to be paid multi millions of dollars. No one is that good. No one. These people get $30, $40, $60 million in pay, stocks and other perks. Where is the justice in that?

Now the bailout that the congress is working on is going to limit those same people to much less. That is so good. Why should they sit in beautiful surroundings while the rest of us struggle to exist when their own company is failing because of just such greed?

In the meanwhile, another bailout was happening at the same time but little media coverage occurred due to the massive bailout of the Wall Street greed companies. The Other bailout was for the Big Three auto makers who have also been having a rocky year. They, too, have been suffering due to the financial problems stemming yet again from greed. Does no one see this? The housing market is falling on hard times because of greed. Those lenders that are just about to fall on their own faces or already have, ended up this way due to ridiculous loans that could not work in the long run. Yet the greed of those who thought up this stupidity is the cause of the whole thing.

Gas prices are another reason for the Big Three problems. Greed again, this time coming out of the middle east…at least at first. OPEC has been playing us like the fiddle we are trying so hard to be. They cut production and raise it at their whim. We, here in the states, feel that each and every time. People in the 70s with a curious lack of foresight did nothing to help our situation though they knew about it even then. Heck, *I* knew about it then. How could they not know? Just as the engineers down in New Orleans did nothing about the levees that broke, people here could have done something to stop this madness long, long ago. But they did not. Now, big oil is working with that. Their greed is exceptionally obvious yet no one does a thing.

However, just as Wall Street is finally getting to see what the results of their greed is, big oil will soon follow along as each of the greediest companies on the face of the earth fall or get bailed out. Soon, there will be nothing left to bail them out when the public wakes up to the fact that, eventually, they….meaning *we* will be paying the bills on all this. Sure we will. Those of us who can hardly make it through to the next month on what we have, those of us who cannot make it from month to month, we will be paying the bills that the greedy companies are costing us though the bailouts. Just as there once was a revolt against double taxing and taxation without representation, there will be another revolt when the American public has had enough of greed and will be unwilling to pay another dime.

Wall Street, CEOs, Big Oil…..do not relax. The American people may sometimes be slow to act but we are here, we see what is happening and we are no longer willing to just sit back, pay out, live from paycheck to paycheck….and then pay more for some greedy CEO or company that gets millions of dollars to live large. The honeymoon is over.

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Despite the media coverage, the housing market still steadily declines and people are still losing their homes due to the way they got their mortgage loans a few years ago. The problem is that they should not have gotten the loans like that in the first place. Who knew?? The repercussions are going to be felt for a long time, I do believe. Even if the government steps in, so many have already lost their homes to foreclosure. It’s a shame that there could not have been someone there to say how it wasn’t a good idea to do that. That would have been someone who could see the future.

But now, with the housing market still shaky and the gas prices going up and up, it is definitely going to be a rocky road ahead for the United States regardless of who becomes President. There will be a lot of mopping up to do to fix this dilemma our country is currently in if, indeed, it can actually be fixed. Maybe not. And the truth is, there is no help coming from the middle east oil rich sheiks. They will placate us with a few barrels every now and then after our President begs for it but they are not interested in our well being. With gas prices going up, stands to reason that the goods and food will also rise in price. It already is. We have seen a huge rise in prices of all sorts of things in the last couple of months. And it is unlikely to change.

The future is dismal, that is for sure. Foreclosures will continue until congress gets a handle on that particular problem. See, the problem I have is that one foreclosure doesn’t rock anyone’s boat. And a few didn’t either. Plenty of people have to suffer the consequences before anyone takes action against all that. Yet, there are some who should not have bought a home in the first place. They could not afford it. Someone talked them into it. Others had their circumstances change due to the economy or whatever else. We need to have a halt to the bleeding. For those who are having foreclosure problems, it is time to seek help before the worst happens!

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This blog is about shopping. Lately, not everything has been about shopping in the normal sense. But it really has been if you look closely. Today, the post is going to be about trends in this country. That, too, is ultimately about shopping or the lack of it if you have no money. These days, many people have no “extra” money to spend on anything less than essentials.

I am very concerned which way this country is going. The housing market is bleeding out because of bad advice to homeowners on what types of loans to acquire. I realize that many of those people would not have homes were it not for the creative mortgages they got when they bought the house. The problem is that now that same creative mortgage is costing boatloads of money and most people are having the problem of not having the money to pay for it. Those lovely lending institutions that thought those creative mortgages were such a great deal for the people are now facing bankruptcy themselves.

Today is a good example of that. Bear Stearns was sold because they were getting so shaky that they would have gone under. The government helped to bail them out. The question here is: how often can the government do this before that hugemongus debt being carried by the government gets so big that even the government can’t handle it? How many more lending institutions and banks are on the chopping block in the near future because of bad judgment on the parts of the loan officers and the public who just have to have homes of their own?

Everyone who owns a car or truck is feeling the pinch of the prices of gas and diesel fuels. If you are not yet feeling it, wait for the prices in the stores to go up, up, up. They will if they have not already. Here in the backwaters of the state, we are definitely feeling the effects of that. Our local superstore (ha ha) has hiked many of the tags on goods and food just recently.

The local price of gas, while it may seem quite low compared to other areas, is quite high for those of us who are on fixed incomes, for those who have those low paying jobs that are the only thing available around here. For comparison, our lowest price of gas is $3.07 as of today. Yes, I know. Not as bad as yours. Please read the above problems here before you tell me how we have it so good. Most of the people who can even find a job around here get paid minimum wage and are part time. Live with that.

I am very concerned with the path our country is on. If we do not change that path, our very sovereignty may be at risk. At the moment, we are still a world power. Some day soon, we will not be. Why not? Because we are being attacked. Yes, attacked. From within and outside of our country. Attacked as in…the oil producers are not sending out as much oil as they could. There is a country that sends us poisoned items, things that are dangerous to us and our children, recalled items galore. What bothers me is that this is so blatant and the government will not shut them down!!! They should. We need to regather ourselves. We need to get a clue and fast or our country will be one of those that no one ever hears about anymore. Do you want that? I do not.

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Each year, people like the idea of getting a better car so they trade up. Is this a good idea? Sometimes. Sometimes it is not. When is the trade up a problem?

You want a new car. Great. You go to the dealership, shop wisely and get the car of your dreams. The payment might be a little high but you can handle it. Then, a year goes by. Maybe it’s two years. Now that dream car doesn’t look nearly as nice as the latest one so you want to trade up. You go into the dealer again, discuss trading up. The salesperson is delighted to help. You drive out with the newest car in the line. Not bad. You traded in your other car, financed the whole thing and it only added a little more onto your loan. The payment is only a little higher than it was before. You love doing this because you can have a new car to drive fairly easily each year.

What is wrong with this picture? For one thing, it is obvious that you have not yet paid off the first car. So, where does the balance go? It goes right onto the new loan making the loan much higher than the sticker price for the second car. People do this year after year. And get themselves into major debt doing it.

The problem here is that even though the person is getting a brand new car every one to two years, the balance from the previous car or cars is always right there in the deal, making the payments and the loans much, much bigger. And what happens after a few years of this? Massive debt and loans that cannot be paid back. Then comes the default on the loan, repossession. Your credit is now trashed. And all this is because you wanted a nicer ride. Come on.

Do the basic math. If the first car is not paid off and a new car is bought, the balance from the older car has to go somewhere. It goes on the new loan. Now the loan is much bigger than the new car’s worth. If you do this again, the worth of the car cannot possibly cover the security of the loan. If you default, you still have to pay off the balance of the loan. Now you are stuck in financial hell. Okay, you could give the car back. Nice but no cigar. You will still be liable for the balance of the loan you signed for. And you have nothing to drive.

So, what is the solution to the problem? You might just have to ride it out. But there is one thing that can be done but you have to decide what you want to do….have a nice ride or get out of debt. If you want to get out of debt, you can trade down. If you do that, the loan could be smaller, less in payments and even though you have a used car, your debt will be smaller and slightly easier to pay off. No, it isn’t going to fix the problem completely since you still have to pay the loan off but it might just give you a chance to pay it off instead of having massive car loan payments to make. It just might give you a little relief.

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The first thing you want to know is…what is zombie debt, right? And the second is…are you going to have that? Answering the first question..zombie debt is really old debt that you have forgotten about or is actually not yours in the first place. This is especially true of people who’s identities have been stolen. But it is also true of those who have old credit card debt, for instance. So, the answer to the second question is that if you have collectors after you and you have no idea why, that would be the problem.

What happens is: a bank will sell an old debt to the collectors for a very small amount. That gets it out of the bank’s hair, so to speak. Then, the collectors will get extremely aggressive in trying to collect the old debt. It is right here that you should know your rights concerning this situation. For instance, if seven years have passed, it is unlikely that they could actually make you pay the debt. You would want to ask for a printout of the debt owed. Then, when you receive that, you will want to send them a certified letter stating that you know your rights, to cease trying to collect. They should back off. If not, an attorney can advise you further.

However, when it gets settled with one company, often it gets sold to the next company which will start to aggressively pursue the debt again. This could get rather involved and be very costly to fight. So, you will want to get the information as soon as possible. With that, send the letter. And if all else fails, contact your attorney and sue each company that haunts you with the zombie debt.

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Money lenders and brokers, we need to talk. Looking for mortgage leads? You need a place like Modern Lend to help you in this endeavor. This site is a place for potential buyers looking to find that home loan for new construction, new mortgage, second mortgage, home equity lines of credit or home refinancing.

You can set custom filters for your leads. This will allow you to focus on the market and mortgage leads that are best suited to you. In addition, those people applying have selected you themselves after having read your profile and company stats. All participating lenders are given a free profile and ad from their company which is shown to the applicants. There are no setup fees, no security deposit, no broker fees, and no closing fees. And best of all, you are not competing with Modern Lend. They are not brokers.

Brokers and lenders, why not give them a try. If you do not, all you are losing are those valuable mortgage leads you have been looking for.

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It’s a couple of days before payday. There’s too much month at the end of the money! A bill showed up that you were not expecting. What now? How many times have you had that problem? That was a normal procedure for us a few years ago. My opinion of loans is this: if you need the money right now for emergencies or something is being shut off that you must have and a loan would see you though, provided you know you can pay it back on time, then it might be a good idea…for a short while.

See, even the loan companies do not want to see you get pulled under with payments. That is not in anyone’s best interests. However, on a short term basis, this is a good place to look for that small amount of money to see you though to the next paycheck. These payday loans are perfect for those who just need a couple of days or weeks to see them through the hard times. Be sure to check to see if your state is in the list of those that do not allow loans.

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