Did they really say this?

[Willi]

George Soros: Financial system has disintegrated. Crisis more severe than Great Depression. Decline comparable to fall of Soviet Union.
Volcker: Cannot remember any time, even in the Great Depression, when things went down so fast and quite so uniformly around the world.
This is precisely what we’ve been saying all along. Now, to survive and profit in this crisis, you must not miss our free emergency briefing — “The 11 Laws of Bear Market Success.” But ...
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Dear Customer,

At Columbia University last Friday, legendary hedge fund manager George Soros shocked his audience, proclaiming ...

”We witnessed the collapse of the financial system. It was placed on life support, and it's still on life support. There's no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom.“

Soros went on to say that ...

• The crisis is actually more severe than the Great Depression ...
  
  
• It’s like watching the demise of the Soviet Union, and ...
• There is no prospect of a recovery any time soon.

Former Fed chief Paul Volcker — President Obama’s top economic advisor — laid his cards on the table as well — declaring that the U.S. economy may be deteriorating even faster and more broadly around the globe than it did during the Great Depression.
They’re right. There can be no question that this crisis is growing more destructive almost by the day ...
Or that this great bear market will continue to rage for many months — probably many years — to come.
The only question that remains is, “Do YOU have the tools and the confidence to keep your money growing?”

[Islandman]

Yes that's pretty much what they said.

The comparisons are valid but the implied suggestion that the end result will be similar is questionable I think.

[Islandman]

This is a new one. A credit card company paying its customers to clear thier balance and close thier accounts?

Looks like the only light them seeing at the end of the tunnel is a oncoming train!

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http://online.wsj.com

AmEx Encourages Cardholders to Leave


It used to be that credit-card companies lured customers with cash rewards. Now American Express Co. is paying to get rid of them. The card issuer is offering selected customers a $300 AmEx prepaid gift card if they pay off their balances and close their accounts.

The unusual move underscores how quickly conditions have deteriorated in the credit-card market. The current economic morass was provoked by spiking mortgage defaults. But as the economic crisis widens and unemployment climbs, there is growing concern that credit-card defaults will soar into the stratosphere as well.

"This is a huge paradigm shift," says Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com, a credit-card review Web site. He says he expects other large companies to follow suit with offers to entice consumers to pay off their balances, as card issuers cope with increasing defaults.

Selected members -- the company wouldn't disclose how many -- began receiving letters with the voluntary offer earlier this month, according to Molly Faust, an American Express spokeswoman. "It's a relatively small number of cardmembers who have sizeable balances and little spending and payment activity," she says.

AmEx declined to disclose the specific criteria used to determine who is eligible for the offer. However, Ms. Faust did say that it was offered only to retail credit-card holders, not corporate accounts. Customers who received the offer have until Feb. 28 to respond.

Each letter came with an RSVP code that, when submitted online, immediately cancels that member's card. Members have from March 1 to April 30 to pay off their balances and receive the prepaid card. During that time, the balance is subject to the same interest rates and fees that it would be if they chose to keep their card. If customers don't pay off their balance by April 30, they will not get the gift card and their accounts will still be closed, says Ms. Faust.

Closing a line of credit generally hurts customer credit scores, even if the customers do it themselves. As soon as eligible AmEx customers sign up for the offer, they lose all Membership Reward points accumulated while they were customers, Ms. Faust says. That means customers should use up their points before agreeing to the offer.

"The intention is to help cardholders lower their debt and encourage responsible management of their credit," says Ms. Faust. It's being promoted as a means for customers to "simplify their finances."

Consumer advocates see it another way. "It's a nice way of saying, 'We want you out and we want to entice you financially to get out,'" says Mr. Arnold of CardRatings.com. "It's not about them handing out $300 out of the kindness of their hearts."

AmEx is one of several credit-card issuers that have closed accounts and increased late fees and interest rates for cash advances in recent months. After converting into a bank-holding company late last year, AmEx received $3.4 billion from the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program in exchange for a stake in the company.

[Mosiah]

Mek dem gwey! Man a Yard is not worried one bit!

[Karl]

Mortgage Banks and Retail banks are also offering payments to pay-off home equity accounts. Tells me there is a need of injection of funds...and serious cash flow problem

[Hortical]

Mek dem gwey! Man a Yard is not worried one bit!

True, credit cards a yard nuh bout 30%, and people live fi now.

[Islandman]

The real danger I see developing is the growing trend where even people who are current on thier mortgage are walking away from the house because they have negative equity that probably will not get back above water for years.

I recently listened to a presentation fron an economist from Japan talking about thier real estate bubble/crisis in the 90s, and he said as bad as it was, they did not have that problem because if you walk away from the house the bank can still come after you for what you owe.

Not so in the good 'ol USA! I didn't know this until you mentioned it on the forum a few months ago.

If that starts to happen in really significant numbers, then just about all the major banks will be insolvent and the govt will own all of them.

[Hortical]

(1) A brethren bought his three bedroom house for $420,000 in 2006.
(2) Him call round fi refinance his mortgage in January 2009.
(3) Fi him house current market value is $300,000, but him owe $375,000.
(4) Him blood bitta and refinancing was a no go.

[Islandman]

So him have any plans for

5) mail the keys to the bank and walk off?

[Sickko]

Well as of today, I owe about US$12 on one card and 0.00 on the other one

[Karl]

No recovery in 2010!
Good time to buy real estate.

[Hortical]

(5) He has no plans right now and will chill.

Sidebar: His wife is a nurse and between him & her mi figure dem tek in at least $120,000.

[Willi]

You ever read this:

Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take on more and more expensive debt, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to the bankruptcy of all banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism."

- from the book "Das Kapital" by Karl Marx

[Me]

Karl you brave. After you same one claim there would be no drastic decline in Real Estate prices couple year ago.

[Karl]

Good post!!!

I wonder what communism meant to the writer?