America's Economy, What got us here?

I know most people don't get into economics because it's boring to read so I put together a short video list for people to watch. I just want more people to be informed on the American economy. Maybe this short video list will spark interest in someone and they will dig deeper? I hope you enjoy the line up! LOL

Enron The Smartest Guys in the Room "Documentary"
http://www.enronmovie.com/

House of Cards "Documentary"
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1024219334&play=1

60 Minutes The Housing Collapse of 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kunB4SnAh4g

Peter Schiff Predicted this economic collapse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zodi9lB8AI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNVPKtVg4wk&feature=PlayList&p=EF1C4274521F1553&playnext=1&index=72

Austin,
This is a great post.. But we are seeing it every day here, people getting laid off left and right. Fears of Jobs not being there for us next year if the economy doesn't pick up. Its getting scary.

I know, Jim. We are too.
I think Austin's links are designed to show us WHY this happened...so we blame the right people.

I haven't looked at Austin's links, because I saw the segment on the housing crisis on 60 minutes when it aired. And my husband taped House Of Cards for me yesterday. But it IS an eye opener, for those who don't know the whole story...

tricksterpup said:

Austin,
This is a great post.. But we are seeing it every day here, people getting laid off left and right. Fears of Jobs not being there for us next year if the economy doesn't pick up. Its getting scary.

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And it's only going to get worse! I hope everyone is getting ready for it.

starsevol And my husband taped House Of Cards for me yesterday.

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That documentary does a great job explaining what a mortgage back security is and how it's packaged into a CDO and sold to the world. It's crazy to me that any "future" earnings of a company can be packaged into a CDO and sold on wall street.

I suggest renting the Enron documentary from the video store too. One of their "cooking the books" scams was reporting "future" earnings as profit. I guess they would have been ok if the just sold those "future" earnings.

My reptile business is going to make 5 million dollars next year. I'm going to get those earnings stamped AAA investment from a rating agency and package it into a CDO. Anyone want to buy a "Reptile" backed security?

I did see a documentary on Enron a coupla years back, but I don't remember the name of it.

Also, if you think the recession is bad...look into the new Lead Law.
This lead law will cause massive unemployment, and new product development for the 12 and under crowd will slow to a crawl.

When this new law starts taking effect, these will be called the "good old days".

It does seem like a recession is a bad time to be passing laws to kill whole industries, such as our own, and kids' toys, clothing, etc. I guess it is because lawmakers pass laws - that is what they are programmed to do.

kathylove said:

It does seem like a recession is a bad time to be passing laws to kill whole industries, such as our own, and kids' toys, clothing, etc. I guess it is because lawmakers pass laws - that is what they are programmed to do.

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Kathy, it's not only kids toys. It's also kids clothes and sporting equiptment, ANYTHING that a kid can come into contact with.

As some of you know, my husband and I own a bike shop. Lead testing costs between $15k to $20k an item. That means every brand of bicycle grip, horn, tire, handlebar....every model of bike itself. The bigger companies can afford to test most of their products, but the smaller "garage" type BMX companies have nowhere near the capitol for this. I can see virtually 90% of the higher-end BMX companies going out of business because of this law.

And that's not even addressing the problem that brake and shifter cables have lead ends. There is no other way to make them.

By next year businesses that have any product in their store that hasn't been tested and certified lead free will be expected to throw their brand-new inventory into their dumpsters, thereby filling up the landfills.

And any small business caught selling a product that is not certified lead-free will be fined $100k. One fine like that and my store is out of business....

Yes, I just became aware of this very recently. We sell a lot of toy snakes and other kids' reptile related toys at shows. So we will have to make sure they follow the rules, too.

I am sure it will make everything more expensive and less available. That should be a big boost to the economy! Sure don't know what they are thinking. We won't be able to sell pythons OR toys at the rate they are going. Maybe we can join the unemployment lines, too!

It just seems to be that the government is trying its hardest to make sure nothing is made in this country anymore.

Well, at least we have a year to prepare before the feds start cracking down...

starsevol said:

Kathy, it's not only kids toys. It's also kids clothes and sporting equiptment, ANYTHING that a kid can come into contact with.

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My wife and I use the kid resale shops heavily. I mean our daughter can wear something once and then she is too big for it. It is going to devistate our budget when we have to buy "new" items. We can get 5 or 6 outfits for $25 at the resale shop. $25 at Babies R Us will net you 1 to 2 items at most. That's a triple increase. This is going to put those in the mid to lower middle class in a world of hurt as if they are not hurting already!

starsevol said:

It just seems to be that the government is trying its hardest to make sure nothing is made in this country anymore.

Well, at least we have a year to prepare before the feds start cracking down...

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There may be a year before the feds start cracking down, but most of the resale shops in San Antonio are having massive inventory clearance sales right now. The scarcity factor is going to start very soon, not in a year.

starsevol said:

It just seems to be that the government is trying its hardest to make sure nothing is made in this country anymore.

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I think that is the heart of the problem. The axis of evil so to speak. The government is the PR managers for corp. America and Wall Street. For years they have been selling this idea that we have evolved to a higher economic beings and no longer need to produce things. We just need to buy cheap foreign products.

When I was a kid I was taught in Social Study's America's strength wasn't it's military, but how it payed for it's military. I still remember the US map with little barrels of oil, steal, cotton, factory's, corn, cows, ect. ect. I was taught that was our strength, the things we produced and sold abroad.

Now we sell our dept abroad, and call ourselves a service economy.

I also think at the heart of the problem is laziness. The american dream has always been, if I work hard enough I or my children can have a good life. Immigrants came to this country expecting to be on the bottom and they knew if they worked hard their children would not have to live like they did. Now things have changed to where we as Americans expect the good life to fall into our laps. I don't know if that's due to corporate American and their marketing departments telling us we should have it all, but that right there is also causing lots of trouble. If you work at McDonalds you are not entitled to a 300k house in a nice neighborhood.

hoho19 said:

If you work at McDonalds you are not entitled to a 300k house in a nice neighborhood.

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Even if the bank says you can have one!!! (Because they are lying!!)