Buffalo Boy's Blog
Giving You More Than Just My Two Cents
Recently in finance Category
Damn Credit Cards
Yesterday I was paying off bills and as I was paying one of my remaining credit cards I noticed the statement from another card online that should have been not just at a zero balance but closed.
It was a Chase Bank credit card and without me knowing or getting any prior knowledge they had closed the account on me last July. It was a card I was planning on keeping because of the cards I have left it had the lowest interest rate.
Well, since it was closed I wanted it paid off. I paid the remaining $400+ balance on the thing in December, zero balance right?
Wrong.
While looking at my statement noticed in February a mystery $7.46 balance showed up. Apparently this was interest from the average daily balance for the month of December that they conveniently forgot to charge me in January.
In addition there was a "minimum" interest fee of $1.00 added to it for February so the balance was $8.46. I know Im screaming about pennies but the point was this card was paid in full, they came up with some bullshit interest charge and kept the account in payment status.
If I hadn't noticed they probably would have nailed me for a late payment fee and the card would have ballooned out of control without any purchases.
So I called and originally they told me that there was nothing they could do which really got me pissed. So I asked for a manager and stated the facts, I paid off the balance in Decemenber, there was a zero balance, how do you get interest from nothing?
Only a credit card company could figure that one out. The manager eventually after about 15 minutes of going back and forth and me refusing to pay a cent of the charges agreed that it was wrong and they dismissed it.
I have essentially two cards and a store card remaining to pay off. Once those are gone Im credit free. If we don't have the cash I ain't buying.
How About a Liveable Wage
How would you like to be someone right now making minimum wage ($7.25 per hour is the federal rate) and be told that your state lawmakers are lowering your states minimum wage? That is exactly what is happening in Colorado this year. Apparently since the Consumer Price Index dropped then minimum wage drops with it.
Which begs the question, who can honestly live on $7.25 per hour, nevermind the $7.24 that the state minimum wage dropped to in Colorado. Those working those jobs have been told that their wage will go from $7.28 to $7.24 because $7.28 is too much to make in this booming economy we have. I think its about time we do what every other civilzed country does and implement an across the board LIVEABLE wage. $7.25 will not pay for rent, heat, food, transportation and healthcare costs for one person let alone a family of four. Because that wage is so low is exactly why we need handouts in this country. Minimum wage is exactly what it is, poverty and those who I have argued raising it with tell me that its only for teenagers working their way through high school and college...that would be false. There are millions of adults who are trying live on this as well, some having to raise families and try to better themselves. This is just another aspect of our economy, healthcare being the other, that needs to be addressed. If people make it, they will have it to spend, it will always come full circle and benefit more than hurt the economy as those against it would have you believe.Category: finance
Federal Budget/Deficit
I've been avoiding politics at the federal level lately because I think for all intensive purposes with the exception of the insanely ignorant, the majority of Americans see whats going on. Barack Obama stepped into a mess left by an inept administration that for its last 12 months in office did about as close to nothing as it possibly could.
So I have been watching and listening to the banter out there and its comedic really what is coming out of the republican side of things. They want to do literally nothing. The only thing that have done is bitch, but in terms of helping the economy, they want to spend not one penny to fix what their president left us.
Their latest proposal wanted to leave spending flat for the next 10 years, while we do what? Watch the economy tank? They want more tax cuts and less spending. That didn't seem to work under George W. who provided lots of tax cuts for the wealthy and over spent every step of the way.
Remember who started this bailout and stimulus thing too, it was George who started the TARP fund with the first half of the $700 billion. Giving all that money to the Wall Street bankers was okay back then, but since Obama created a budget that would work for average, middle class citizens of this country, forget it.
Mitch McConnell helped show his party's true colors today:
"The administration's budget simply taxes too much, spends too much and borrows too much at a moment when we can least afford it," said the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
My how out of touch he is. Check your pay checks this week, there should be a little extra in there for us all, what is that? Oh, its a tax cut for all of us making less than $250,000 a year. Who spent us into this mess? Your guy, W. by screwing up the invasion of Iraq and not knowing that you can not wage war against a tactic...Terrorism.
Yes, after Obama's budget is laid out we are $1.2 trillion in the hole this year, with in five years depending on who you talk to, its cut about in half. So, unlike George, he has us going in the right direction. You have to spend in order to fix. So a slightly higher figure this year should surprise no one.
Eight years was spent by the republicans screwing things up, finally, this last two weeks or so by the reaction of the markets things might be starting to trickle in the positive direction again, no thanks to the "no idea" republican party. It has everything to do with Barack Obama and the democrats willing to stick their necks out and spend a little to fix the broken mess left behind.
As this market corrects and the stimulus money keeps flowing, the republicans are going to have no choice eventually but to fall in line because what the democrats are doing is ultimately working and the American people are no longer listening to right wing blabber.
Let Them Drown
What's another $30 billion right? They already got $150 billion from George W. and Hank Paulson why not give them another $30 billion, hell make it an even $200 billion.
I know most people out there are outraged at the rate the government and the Federal Reserve is handing out cash in the billions and thats fine. I see it their way just as much as I see it the other way that letting them go under could be devastating too. The key word there is "could".
How bad is AIG in the hole if $150 billion just disappears in what five months? How much time will $30 more billion really buy them before they are coming back with hands outstretched for more? A month tops?
I know all the doomsayers out there preaching the end of life as we know it if AIG goes down but life as we know it is going to end if the US treasury goes bankrupt handing them $30 billion a month too. If they are hurt that bad maybe its time to let them sink and suffer what ever consequences follow. At this point they have been shot and run over twice with a car and they are on life support, they can't stay on the ventilator that is the taxpayer forever.
I look at it this way, how much worse could things get? Since September the DOW has shrunk by over 50%, has our GDP really shrunk that much for the DOW to go down that much? So I think that things in the stock market have over reacted. So is AIG really going to hurt things if we just let them do their thing?
They have assets to sell, its not like they can't sell off parts of the company. But at the rate things are going, the government can't keep handing it to them when they ask for it, it doesn't make sense. Someone else will step up and fill their void in the economy if they cease to exist and I don't think things will get that much worse for it. Stick a fork in 'em they're done.
Its About Time
Its about time our president stood up and said something about the bonuses, it should have been George W. Bush, instead Obama is the one up there. Less than two weeks into his presidency, Barack Obama has done more than George W. Bush has in the last two years combined. We finally have a president that is going to stand up to the coorporations on Wall Street that just stole $350 billion from the American Taxpayers and are looking for more. In the mean time, teachers in NYC are being laid off. Shameful:Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Lies, Lies, Lies
Donald Kohn the Vice Federal Reserve Chairman, answered to congress and one second gave one answer and then gave a totally different answer immediately after.
He was asked whether the taxpayers should know how the money from the inital bailout was spent and the types of lending that are going on. He agreed that we should know yet comes back and says that if we knew that information no one would take advantage of those loans and it would negatively affect those institutions.
$4000 from every man, woman and child was given out as quoted from the following video, gone and we have no idea what these clowns did with it, in part because there was no oversight written into the bill,
Bailout Plan Stunk From The Beginning
Back in September when this whole Wallstreet bailout came out, I called it. It should not have been done without government oversight. It probably shouldn't have been done period. Let AIG go down in flames, they did it to themselves. As it turns out, the money being used as part of this $700 billion dollar bailout is not being used the way it should have been.
It was supposed to free up the credit markets, help the banks to prevent people from foreclosing on their homes and help keep the over all health of the loan market somewhat stable.
That however, has not happened. Some executives at AIG are getting $3-4 million dollar bonuses. I want to work there. You get $3-4 million for running your business into the ground? Nice business! Sign me up.
Congress grilled Neel Kashkari who is the "interim assistant treasury secretary" said this about the bonuses:
"When asked if Treasury believed that level of executive compensation was appropriately curbed according to the stipulations in the bailout bill, Kashkari said that it seemed excessive, but he could not give an assessment of individual bonus levels."
Seemed excessive? A bonus of $3 million is excessive for an executive of any company much less a failing one. This is probably going to be the result of this failed economy. CEO salaries are going to come down. I don't think we are going to see Obama be the one redistributing the wealth, Americans as a whole are sick of seeing $3-4 milliong dollar bonuses paid out to CEOs who fail their companies. Hell, Americans question CEO salaries regardless of the health of the company.
Im impressed though. Congress is following up and they want answers and proof of where this money is going. Barney Frank, D. Mass. is the leader of the committee who is asking those questions and having become familiar with Barney and watching him on Real Time and on AM 1520, I can tell you that if there are answers to be had, he will get them. He's a firey bastard and I can only imagine his outrage.
I was even more impressed with Donald Manzullo R-Ill who threatened Kashkari with his job. Why shouldn't they threaten his job. There is no answer as to how effective this thing is, it was a $700 billion check to no where and its allowed the very financial institutions that were failing before, to fail for a little longer and the next time they fail, they aren't getting a cent.
This is so far just the first half of the bailout. There is still $350 billion to go that Henry Paulson has not asked for. I think its going to be a tough sell for congress to allow that money to leave the taxpayers hands. They should take that money off the table unless Paulson and the treasury come up with a plan that will inform everyone from the president to each and every single American citizen where that money is going and to whom, and then what it is to be specifically used for when it gets there. No freebie hand out after this. This next half comes with strings or let the economy hit rock bottom.
Buy GM and Chrysler
So, the auto industry wants all these billions of dollars and it seems like everyday they ask for a little bit more. What would be wrong with buying them outright?
They want some $30+ billion right now as it is. Their stock however is only worth $3 billion. So why should the taxpayers shell out $30 billion for something that is only worth $3 billion?
We shouldn't. Michael Moore on Larry King presents a great plan. Buy them. Buy GM and Chrysler. They want $34 billion but with assets they are only worth $35 billion. That way, when the feds buy them they can guarantee the workers who are the innocent ones in this, don't lose one more job.
Meanwhile, the feds can put in a viable business plan and put the company back out in the market place once they are re-organized.
One thing I do agree with, you cannot let this industry fall flat on its face. The job losses that would be incurred would be staggering.
Category: finance
Wall Street Mess Goes Back 20+ Years
This Wall Street mess goes back a lot further than most of us would like to know about. As far back as the mid 1980's the same coorporate insanity was taking place. This latest meltdown is the end of a process that started over 20+ years ago.
Author Michael Lewis writes about it in the above article and in his book "Liar's Poker" that tells about his time working and being hired in the mid-80's with absolutely no experience and being paid a six figure salary to play with other peoples money. He left after three years because he figured that the money train would end and people would be wiser to what was going on. Little did he know that he could have gotten away with so much more for 20 more years before the shit really hit the fan.The Great Robbery
The republicans continue to blame the unions for the financial meltdown we are having. This editorial by Brent Budowsky hits the nail on the head.
How can you blame unions for the mess when who is getting the majority of this bailout money? $7 trillion has been spent and most of it has gone right into the hands of the richest CEO's in America only to piss it away again. Detroit has already gotten $50 billion, AIG got two bailouts....Its "socialism for the rich" as Budowsky puts it. How can you blame hard working, average Americans who are just trying to pay their bills. When you don't have unions you work for a minimum wage that hasn't gone up nearly enough to keep pace with cost of living over the years. You get companies that ignore their employees healthcare needs and schedule employees for far longer hours than they should and don't provide workers with nearly enough sick and/or vacation time. As unions die so too do workers rights to healthcare, fair pay that adjusts for cost of living. Its pathetic how easy it has been for Republicans to blame the worker instead of blaming the CEOs and Wallstreet executives who really got us here.
