Need a math guy

Lee Harker

Lee Harker

Well-known member
I'm trying to fathom something and I can't wrap my brain around it. Just looked online and there is about 306 million US residents. If the government took the 700 BILLION bail out and just gave each of us an equal check....what would that check be?
 
Thanks, that's what I kept coming up with. Now, if the median price of a home that is now in foreclosure was 250,000.00, how many would 700 BILLION buy?
 
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be careful, another way they can look at this is .....that we each only need to come up with ...... to straighten this mess out.
 
feeling in the old gut that a plan formulated over the course of a TWO DAY weekend by a man who we know just about as much about as we know about one of the VP candidates, and to whom will be given CARTE BLANCH to spend the equivelant of TWO of the current Gulf Wars just "might not" be the solution....

Dam man...don't you know that he, and his plan, have the endorsement of the President...a man who's policies SHALL NOT BE QUESTIONED lest you be labled a Socialist--and un-Patriotic to boot?

Dude--turn on Fox..they said it was a GOOD PLAN so it has to be since, as we are aoften told by the Bushites, they are the only ones that always tell the total, unbiased, unslanted, truth.....

Steve
 
From what I heard, there are 1.5 million homes in foreclosure right now (~3% of all mortgages), at $250,000 each, that is $375,000,000,000 (if I did my math right).
So, $700 Billion would easily cover that.
BUT, the problem is that the banks & investment firms have all these mortgages tied up in "mortgage securities" that no one seems to completely understand. The people who issued these things cant even figure out how much $$ in houses & real estate they have tied up in them, how in the world will anyone ever agree on how much "We the People" should bail them out for????
 
I sure am shaking my head trying to figure out how all these so called investment pros got us into this mess?????? SOunds like they issued a lot of "mortgage backed securities" that they had no idea of the value, risk or impact if the market dropped.

And I sure wish I had sold my rental property a couple of years back when we had the post-Katrina bubble rising down here. That bubble burst when the rest of the country did and I "lost" $20,000 in value in 6 months. Going to take a while to get that back. Luckily the renter is paying the mortgage.

I can tell you this too: I don't feel a bit sorry for all those speculators that drove oil up that are now sitting with $140/brrl oil when the price has dropped back to $100.00!!!
 
a TRILLION.......one of those, "does that number really exist" numbers ..... one of those "there haven't been a TRILLION seconds since Jesus was lieing in the manger" numbers....

I'm witcha on the "specualtor" thing EXCEPT that as they sit in their spoiled mil all the Americans who retirement plans were along for the ride sure don't have the same plans "today" that they had last week.....they suffer and WE suffer.....

Meanwhile back at the homestead Grandma is beating off the Indians and the Prez is saying...."now don't dilute this bailout plan by tacking on something that eliminates the Golden Parachutes for all the CEO's that mis-managed this to a crisis stage"....

Sure Dubyah...thats fair....I'm good with bailing them out AND letting them become even more wealthy for their mis-management cause Lord knows you've never been wrong before and therefore can't be now....

Steve
 
Dubya's presidency was going great, right up until the Iraq invasion 5 years ago. So its been a little rough since then, give him a break!!!!!

I hate to admit I voted for him twice but then think about it, were our other options really all that great either?????????????
 
I don't think so.....

No other President has ever gotten a "bye" with the reason being "he was doing well until....".....Clinton was "crucified" by the Right when the dot.com bubble burst as his Presidency came to an end....not to mention he was accused of pandering to the Chinese and giving them the keys to the Country....

Well, here we are at the end of another Presidency, the Chinese have gilded that "key" under the current Presidency, and I'm in a worse position financially than I was when that "worthless piece of trash Clinton" was in office....and you want me to give the guy who's supposed to be "in charge" now a "break".....

Ummmmmmmmm NO!!!!

I will agree that the other option in both elections "sucked" even worse but that doesn't make it any easier to swallow the current situation.....but don't worry....in four years I promise to be trashing whoever is the President, (and given the situation now its not going to matter which one it is cause there isn't going to be a penny left over for whichever one wins to fund their CHANGES--buwhahahahahh--yeah like that was going to happen), at that time....thats assuming, of course I can afford the electricity to run my computer.....

Steve
 
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What gets me all riled up is that those of us that "did it right" have to pay for those that didn't and don't! I live in a smaller house than the mortgage companies said I could "afford", knowing at the time their math was flawed. I don't drive a brand new truck with an upside down note so that I could keep up with the folks down the street who are mortgaged up to their arses. I have no credit card debt for the same reason. BUT, those that did that and act that way get a free pass with significantly reduced mortgages or lifelines, and get to stay in keep their lifestyle at my (and your) expense.
 
through a seminar hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank last Friday, discussing the impact that the sub-prime mortgage issue has had on all facets of community development.

First speaker had some interesting charts and slides that showed the impact point in August of 2007. Anyone who had that data at their disposal, whether at the Fed, Treasury, etc., should have caused a massive low pressure front from their buttholes sucking in and been screaming from the rooftops.

I understand the human cost, but I don't understand why I am now going to shoulder the burden of bailing out those who screwed themselves and tried to get something for nothing. And I am going to carry that burden for the rest of my life, while the CEO's and fund managers walk away with hundreds of millions, sometimes BILLIONS. We KNOW that the CEO totally misstated the financial condition at Fannie Mae so that he could make his bonus targets, and yet he walks around not only a free man, not only a rich man, but an advisor to a Presidential candidate. His actions are fraudulent, and border on treason for the impact this has had on our country.

The friggin' inmates are running the asylum.

Laura and I bought a home at roughly half the price that the mortgage companies said we could afford. Maybe a third if we went the interest-only, floating-rate route. We pay extra every month. We kick in to the retirement plans and live within our means. Why are we now penalized, and none of the "victims" seem to suffer any consequences - it's almost as if I am supposed to feel ashamed that I am so productive and should be happy to support my unfortunate, victimized fellow Americans.

Two words, and the first is "horse".

If you bought into the two new cars, maxed out credit cards, 110% loan, floating-rate, interest-only (which I refer to as RENT, by the way) game, and you were willing to roll the dice, be prepared to pay if you're wrong. Las Vegas casinos don't give you your money back at the tables if you lose, and by God, none of us should pay your tab, either.

Matter of fact, I think the citizens of this country should demand the Fed seize the assets of these corporate officers first. How can someone be paid hundreds of millions to commit fraud and run multi-billion dollar companies into the ground?
 
Queezy is an everyday thing anyway for someone in the construction business. I was kinda getting at....there is NO way that simple defaults on mortgages caused this whole clusterfu(k. Like Carl said, maybe 350 billion and there is still a fricken house and real estate sitting there....not like the dollars were burned lighting ceegars. Somebody did a bunch of "fuzzy" math and cooked books to have gotten it this deep. I just don't think it's possible just with the foreclosures. I've been watching CNN, MSNBC, and FOX....FOX can't be singled out in your rant as all the "money" people on each network are saying the same thing. The political commentators from each are spinning their own toilet paper stained with grunt on who's fault it is. The buck definately stops at W but he should be kicking ass and taking names.It can't be that difficult for all these "experts" to trace paper trails down line and start making arrests. The bailout money better stay in the US or I forsee a Revolution. Let the ones from other countries that bought into the greed burn their gamble like the rest of us. Probably over simplified but seems the "experts" can't do more than that anywho.
 
happened, (hell I can barely balance my checkbook), but I "think" I understand that if those of us who lived within our means do not bail out those who did not is far worse, economically, (not that we have a say in the choice), than if we do......

No question we'll be the ones that suffer for the mistakes of others, and trust the fact that I blame the "mortgage industry" to a far greater degree than I do the idiots who over extended themselves, but that alternative appears to be frozen assests, no credit to even those that have the ability to pay the inflated rate, depression, bank lines with restrictions on withdrawal amounts, ruined retirement funds and hell....bread lines.....

My "fear" of the bailout is that we are looking at a plan cooked up in two short days by a guy who is virtually unknown anywhere but in the financial world, and who will be given "cart blanche" control of a TRILLION DOLLARS...and if he screws it up he's immune form not only prosecution but even investigation......

Add that to the non-inclusion of financial sanctions against the CEO's and other officers who are the root of this problem in the plan, not to mention the President stating outright that this bailout plan "must not be watered down" with add on's that would punish the guilty, and all I see is "more of the same"......

Meanwhile the economy continues its slide towards the abyss as Congress plans hearings and investigations and whines that "this might affect their recess".....

And to make matters worse...today, the lunatic President of Iran stated that "the problem is one of our making".....and he's right......

The entire situation is nuttier than rat shit in the Mr. Peanut factory and no one who can fix anything seems to care that the light is flickering....

Steve
 
due to the housing industry collapse due to the mortgage debacle....I'm right there with you since 90% of my customer base is "housing" related in one way or another.....in the "old days" I'd be sitting with 100 orders on the books in the fourth qtr.....today??? 5 and one of those is in danger of cancelling due to inability to get financing.....

Regarding your original comments I think looking at it from the standpoint of buying out the <3% of all mortgages is too simplistic....as I understand it you have to look at "not only" the 3% that are in foreclosure but the next 15% that are in danger of being foreclosed...then you have to add all of the "junk" bonds that the mortgage companies used to finance the loans, and then factor in all the money they hyave lost as their speculation in other market areas went sour on them......so, in the end, you have alot more than just those mortgages that are already "defaulted" to look at.....and you can't bail one out without bailing them all out or you become the little Dutch Boy running from hole to hole in the dike until the entire dike finally collapses around you......

Interestingly I asked a finance guy about the same thing that you mentioned about just protecting America Investors and letting the foriegn money stand on its own merit...sounded like a good thing to me till he pointed out that IF you take that approach then all that foriegn money says..."hmmmmmmmm the U.S. is no longer a safe place to invest" and starts pulling its money out of all sectors of the market....not just the unhealthy ones....when that happens no amount of Government shoreing up of the economy will stop its collapse......

Sucks for sure but like Pogo said....."we have seen the enemy...and it is US".....

Steve
 
We did it right too, no credit card debts, two cars paid off, kids college tuition almost paid off. On track to be totally debt free (including mortgage) within 10 years.
I hear a lot about feeling sorry for people in foreclosure. If they bought what they could afford & then their job got out-sourced or down-sized, then I can see bailing them out. But if they were stupid enough to buy huge houses they can't afford, screw 'em. And when the hell did a $250,000.00 house become entry level???????
 
We did it right too, no credit card debts, two cars paid off, kids college tuition almost paid off. On track to be totally debt free (including mortgage) within 10 years.
I hear a lot about feeling sorry for people in foreclosure. If they bought what they could afford & then their job got out-sourced or down-sized, then I can see bailing them out. But if they were stupid enough to buy huge houses they can't afford, screw 'em. And when the hell did a $250,000.00 house become entry level???????
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly.
 
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