I'm so glad we've decided to take billions of dollars of our hard-earned tax money to bail out these heartless, greedy so-and-so's!!!

I called the bank today to see if we could skip a car payment this month. Things are quickly spiraling out of control financially in the Booky household. They refused because we'd already skipped one 7 months ago. They will only do so once a year. Never mind that we've been paying this loan ON TIME since we got it in 2006 and only asked for a deferment ONCE. Asking to speak with a manager was a further exercise in futility. I asked them how they would feel if we filed bankruptcy--then the would never get their money. The sweet lady on the other end of the phone then accused us of THREATENING them. Can you believe this??

I am so mad right now I could spit bullets and believe me, this has done NOTHING to help my hormonal situation. In fact, an hour after I got off the phone my period got heavier!!!

Then, try to deal with the utility companies! I found out they can still turn off your electric unless you have health issues or are below the poverty level. Now, that would be fun in Connecticut with the cold weather upon us. We have no fire place or wood stove to stay warm, so what's the alternative? Freezing to death? Nice world we live in.

Do I sound disgusted? You bet I am.

Ahhhh (Booky))))) Sorry....

My credit card company, which will remain nameless (Citibank LOL) double charged my card for something I purchased. When I got the statement I called them right away, they apologized and said they would reverse it. The NEXT month when it HAD NOT been reversed, I called again, this time I told them I wanted interest, the same rate I was paying, on that amount for the 55 days they owed me the money. She said "Oh ... we can't possibly do that!" Yeah, right... so when I persisted she said "well lady... get a lawyer!" and she hung up!

I too worry about the world we live in, Booky.

I've never had a problem with Citibank...Sometimes I wonder if it's who you get on the phone that makes the difference.

Well Citibank is the lastest to get a government bailout from the US government. Funny how crap runs downhill and we at the bottom of the river take the biggest hit!! How about a bailout for us?? Forgive US a TRILLION dollars worth of debt please!!! That is what the US Gov has put out so far in bailouts...ONE TRILLION DOLLARS!!! And where, pray tell, is that trillion bucks coming from??
$

I agree, Floats.

"Trickle down economics" has been tried and has failed over and over. Why? Frankly, those that have $$ hold on to their money and the government (and their crooked accountants!) finds them loopholes so they wind up not paying nearly as much taxes as they should.

If they would start at the bottom (read: Us!) we would certainly start putting money back into the economy. Those big screen TV's would flying off the shelves and new cars would be driven off the lots. Americans are consumers, because frankly, we live in consumer society. We're constantly being bombarded with advertisements on TV, radio, billboards, magazines.
While I don't particularly like living in a society that's built around the almighty dollar, this is the legacy we've been handed. Now, help us to get the resources so we can keep the economy healthy. (Not to mention some financial breathing room for us would be nice)

Floater: The answer to your question is: The money comes from the taxpayers. I'm hoping our new president is going to keep his promise of raising taxes for people who earn more than a quarter of a million dollars, and for cutting pork barrel gov't programs.

Book: I live in a state that went through a highly publicized bank failure about 20 years ago. All of our credit unions...ALL of them, failed. It was due the illegal practices of a few very greedy people, who went to jail for their crimes. Supposedly the credit unions were backed up by a state insurance fund, which turned out to be a complete scam. My aunt and uncle lost their house. At the time, my DH and I were newly married and didn't have much money saved, but the $500 we did have in the state employees credit union was gone. Once you go through something like this, you never quite recover.

I don't trust banks, credit companies, and most insurance companies. (And that is saying something, considering that I'm an insurance broker and contracted with about a half dozen giant companies.) I especially hate all the lovey-dovey crap they throw at us in their ad campaigns, where they profess to be all about family and children and 'helping dreams come true.' Visa is the worst; when I see an ad on tv, I push the 'mute' button.

Leanne: Are you going to follow up and do anything about citibank? I would; what happened to you was SO unfair. At the very least, try to get a supervisor on the phone and tell him/her what that horrible rep said to you. When I was 20 years old, I had a credit card stolen from me. The thief took out a cash advance for the maximum limit (using a fake drivers license...the bank teller didn't even check to see if the signatures matched, which they didn't.) I couldn't afford the minimum payments, but the credit company didn't care one bit. It ruined my FICO score for about 10 years. This was before the advent of computers and identity theft so I guess (make that: hope) these big corporations are more understanding now.

No, I let it go, but I paid off that card and closed my account. But I will never do business with them again, if they survive this.

I've lost all faith in banks and people who have anything to do with managing money or assets.

I got a real awakening a few years when I had to deal with a bank that had somehow leaked our address (my daughter's savings accounts) to people who had started a phony temp agency and were using our address as a legitimate address to cash checks. I tracked it down to a company that had paid one month's rent in cash, established itself as a temp agency, and then was writing phony checks (using our legit address) to cash checks. WhenI brought it to the bank's attention the person laughed at my concerns, but then I tracked it down to the address on the envelope of the temp agency. I wound up speaking to a lawyer in the fraud department (who believed me, of course), and I asked why the bank couldn't track this stuff down, and he said that's why they have his department. When I closed my daughter's accounts there I was complaining at the window about all this, and two tellers just laughed at me. I felt like writing and letter to the president and ask if the staff always laughed when accounts were being closed at their banks--was this a standard policy for them to laugh as customers walked out the door with their assets??

It was quite an eye-opener, believe me. Obviously someone from inside the bank had given our address to their criminal friends. It was scary for me, thinking how weak the banks are, and how bad the staff is.

Also, we have a safety deposit box at a bank--we only go in the morning, and the woman usually has liquor on her breath. She's an older woman, and once lost the keys to the vault, and I helped her find them. (she put them in her purse). Tight security, huh? We should move it, but it's a hassle to get another box.

And I love how the guy (I forget--Goldman or something) who got a $600 million bonus last year, but is "foregoing" one this year. Nice guy.

I'm pretty much disgusted with Wall street and the banks.

I think we'd all almost be better off bartering for goods, instead of using these fools!

Frisbee: Great post. You are so right on about trusting banks. Who are these people? What if one of them had a gambling problem, or owed money? They have access to all my personal info AND my money.

What kills me is the high pay these bank presidents and vice presidents make. And it seems every bank has a million vice presidents. I also resent having to pay MONEY to have them monitor my accounts for fraudelent activity. Seems that should be part of the service they normally provide.

Yes, I worked in an investment firm and there seemed to be a zillion senior vp's, regular vp's, and "assistant vp's"--how can you be an "assistant vp"?? It seems ridiculous!! These places are so caught up with titles and compensation it's crazy. They want so much money, and they take risks with our hard earned money! It makes me so mad because when I worked for a utility these wall street places would propose these financing plans that were tied to these different indexes, and I really had to spend a lot of time analyzing them. They would say that this will "save us money", but then I had to look at the downside, too. There have been many cities and towns that have done this and have lost money on these financing plans. These investment banks are the only ones who make out with money in the end. It really bothers me, the whole wall street mentality. They['re all about "deal making", which just puts millions into their pockets.

It's just like the IPO rage a few years ago--companies had NO revenue, yet these schmucks on wall street sold shares to these ridiculous start-ups, and so many went bust. Yet they sold people a bill of goods.

On the news the other day there was a woman who was being pressed about the $600 million bonus, and she was saying that it doesn't do any good to look back, we need to look forward. Doesn't anyone care that some guy got $600 million and now we (taxpaying schmucks) have to bail out these places?

I don't get it.

I told my husband I"d just like to STOP paying taxes. I think everyone should, until the government gets straightened out!

Last I heard, he was going to increase taxes on those making $120,000. per family or more. (Stay tuned - it may drop more soon - when he feels it is safe to do so.) Not going to help the economy much. May increase those who are without work - as I've heard said - one never gets a job from a poor person!

Zelma

Boy, do I agree with the sarcasism. Why should those who have caved to make bad loans to "social engineer" our society get "sweet heart" deals to escape bankruptcy. (There was pressure put on some of the banks to make bad loans to help certain groups - sort of an affirmative action thing, I believe. Some members of congress were involved.) And they keep flying around in private jets to get these handouts! Haven't stopped their fancy parties either!!! Seems like everyone has their handout now. Why are they protected from bankruptcy - we wouldn't be!

Want to talk about corruption? Here in my little ole state, we have 4 state legislators who just came back from an all expense paid trip to Las Vegas.

All expenses paid by our taxes, that is. The reason for this trip? They were doing 'research' on the gaming industry. The senior guy in the group didn't even run for re-election, so he won't be sitting in on any votes next year anyways. So they basically lied, took our hard earned tax dollars, and had themselves a good old time. Unbelievable.

I remember the IPO's and start ups of ten years ago very well. Short selling and day trading made a lot of very bad people wealthy. I was stupid and naive enough to listen to a guy I was dating and buy into this penny stock...Infotopia. Some of you may even remember their products...the Body by Jake line, the Medicus golf club...and the infamous "Turkey Saddle" which was a piece of cloth you snuck under your turkey so that you could just lift it out of the oven. Oh yeah, we were all gonna get rich....until one day a couple of us investors decided to drive to Pepperell, Mass and visit the 'company Headquarters.' It was an abandoned house. The president of the company made millions and is hiding in Tortola or the Grand Caymans somewhere...

The people I feel really badly for are those counting on their retirement investments to live on right now. My parents are one example. Their whole portfolio is down 50%.

Robin, I hear you about checking out these businesses and "corporate headquarters".

We have one tech business in our town that is in a house that is circa 1700 (I know because I like old houses and went to the open house years ago) and on her web site she has a picture or a high rise to give the illusion she's got this high tech, fancy address. In reality, the wiring barely worked in the house when I looked at it, the floors were all tilted, and nothing had been done since the Revolutionary War.

I got a call one day from a company that was selling this wonderful new software to people who had contacts in large companies and wanted me to spend some money for the "privilege" of selling this product (which was supposed to make me rich--he was talking $100,000 a year in revenue. Well, I played along on the phone, then for the heck of it I looked at the web site. Then I took a closer look at the web site which looked very poorly developed (surprising for a company that's pushing software--at least it you're going to try to scam people, put some effort into it). Then it had an address on it, so I just zillowed it for the heck of it to see where it was. It turns out "corporate headquarters" was a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo in a gated community in California. I guess the "team of programmers" he mentioned were all holed up in one of the bedrooms, I guess. I'm on the east coast, so maybe he figured I wouldn't be able to find this out? It took all of about 5 minutes to check him out (I'm glad Zillow is out there, although I do think it's somewhat of an invasion of privacy to have all this info out there).

I feel like Nancy Drew sometimes, sleuthing around, but it's all smoke and mirrors these days--there's nothing behind anything--IPO's from years ago, now it's these big banks that have no more money!