Topic: Dearest banks,

[gpw11]

Please fuck off and stop granting me credit I never asked for.  I appreciate that you like me and believe that the roughly $40,000 combined credit limit you have given me just isn't enough, but obviously is it because I'm nowhere near using all of it.  I don't mind you asking, but it kind of makes me suspicious when I just look at my statements and all of a sudden my available limit is higher.  Actually, at first it makes me get pumped because I think someone else is paying off the money I owe. 

Oh, and tell your friends the credit card companies that I do indeed mind them even fucking asking unless they learn to hang up the goddamn phone as soon as I say no. Chances are they aren't going to all of a sudden convince me with "But you'll save 2 cents a liter on gas!" or "But don't you ever fly anywhere?".

[Pugnate]

And that's just one of the reasons why the American economy is in trouble.

[scottws]

gpw, I just found out that there is a Canadian do-not-call list like we implemented here a few years ago.  Got an e-mail about it at work.

[Cobra951]

And that's just one of the reasons why the American economy is in trouble.

Yeah, but it's a big one.  Credit was too easy for too long, and if the choice is going in the hole or starving, or freezing, guess what people are going to do.  It doesn't even have to be that hard.  A refrigerator or car going bust will drive people into that hole, even if they understand that credit isn't free money.  Hell, it's still too easy, and the piper has finally come with his hand out.

Those companies make a ton of money off of the people they reel in with that sweet bait.  If you use $40,000 in credit, you may be struggling to pay little more than the interest every month, which means you will be indebted to them for life.  When you realize that, you can live with it, bargain with them on a sound repayment plan, force a sound repayment plan upon them through Chapter-13 bankruptcy, or if your situation is dire enough, get out from under all of it in one shot with Chapter 7.  So much of that is happening here along with the housing fiasco that financial institutions are driven past the brink. 

I imagine Canada has similar bankruptcy laws.  You guys don't still have ye olde English debtor's prisons, do you?

[Ghandi]

Those companies made a ton of money off of the people they reel in with that sweet bait. 

Fixed.

They screwed themselves over. Once people defaulted on their loans, the price of mortgage-backed securities plummeted, driving down their capital. Without capital they can't provide credit, so what do they do? Sell assets, including mortgage-backed securities. Rinse and repeat.

The most absurd thing is that we are handing over control of the crisis to a man (Paulson) who has been consistently wrong during the past year. The plan calls for $700 billion worth of taxpayers dollars to buy - guess what? - mortgage-backed securities, and he's the kicker - Paulson wants immunity from review “by any court of law or any administrative agency." Fucking absurd.