How did this country end up in the crapper? (Interest rates)

[JD10367]

Not intending this to be a political discussion bound for the Shithole, so I'm not going to speak of either political party (although I'm sure it will come to that soon enough, and be whisked away to that section of the site).

A few years back--not 30, or 25 years, even, I'm talking maybe 5--we used to put some of our savings into CDs. A thousand here, two thousand there. The rates were around 5-6%.

Then, only a few years later--maybe 2 or 3 years back--the rates dropped drastically, to 2.5-3%. I decided it wasn't worth tying up the money, so I just put it in a savings account.

Well, today, I decided to check on CD rates for shits and giggles, because my wife had a fun day at the casino and won $1000. What do I find? CD rates of 0.25-0.75%. But wait! If you're a member of the bank, you get a whopping 1%!! And that was on a 3-year CD! Gee, let me run to lock up my thousand bucks for THREE YEARS just so I can earn a whopping TEN BUCKS!

What the **** has happened to this country? No wonder people don't save money! Why bother? You save money, by the time you save it the inflation rate has actually made it worth less than when you put it in there! Remember the days of being a kid, 30 or 40 years ago, when you'd get your little "passbook savings" account and get, say, 16% interest on your money?

So we have banks giving us no money back on our investment with them, so they don't have any of our money, so to make money they charge us 18% (or even more) on our credit cards. We're not saving any money, and we're paying exorbitant interest rates.

This country is so ****ed.

[FAX]

Although I agree with the sentiments expressed in Mr. Molitoth's post, it can be good in a way. For example, I raised money for the new business with convertible notes paying a 3% annual interest or convertible to stock. Raising seed capital at 3% is great for the company and they sold like handwarmers in Juneau.

I'm not sure why Roosevelt took away our gold certificates or why Johnson took away our silver coinage. Maybe somebody can explain that to me. It seems to me that your "money" should be backed by something other than "faith and trust" of a corrupt government that cannot control itself.

"But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." - Moses, after seeing and speaking with God,

FAX

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by Over-Head

Yes it is, and I would appreicate it greatly if you bunch down south would stop trying to drag us Canucks into a recession with ya !!

What the **** are you complaining about? We've all worked our asses off down here to ruin this country, so you can FINALLY have a Canadian Dollar that's on equal par. We've managed to crapify the U.S. Dollar so much that I can no longer make fun of my Canadian counterparts when they show up. I have to spend six weeks in Toronto this spring and I can no longer look forward to buying a cup of coffee and yelling, in Rude American, "That was only fifty cents U.S., hahahahaha!"

[BigRedChief]

Interest rates? The cause?

It'a a little more complicated than that. A lot of it has to do with our own system.

American company A can pay an American $50K for a job or pay a 3rd worlder $5K for the same work. They ship the job overseas and we give them a tax break for doing so. Thats in their company's best interest, not the USA. They can't compete otherwise the story goes.

We don't manufacture and export goods like 20-30 years ago. Those days are never coming back.

We reward risk and free enterprise. See the Wall street meltdown and us having to pay for that risky business.

We value wealth over contribution to society. We pay teachers, cops and fireman barely middle class wages.

Not saying this is a wrong system. It's produced the largest middle class ever in the history of the world. Just saying that there is always a ying/yang, a good side and bad side to everything. No system is perfect.

[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by FAX

Although I agree with the sentiments expressed in Mr. Molitoth's post, it can be good in a way. For example, I raised money for the new business with convertible notes paying a 3% annual interest or convertible to stock. Raising seed capital at 3% is great for the company and they sold like handwarmers in Juneau.

I'm not sure why Roosevelt took away our gold certificates or why Johnson took away our silver coinage. Maybe somebody can explain that to me. It seems to me that your "money" should be backed by something other than "faith and trust" of a corrupt government that cannot control itself.

"But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." - Moses, after seeing and speaking with God,

FAX

You nailed it Fax!!!

Jeffereson said something like "voting yourself $$" and Franklin replied to an inquisitive woman, "giving you a 'republic' IF you can keep it

Moral corruption on both sides of the aisle and within the fabric of our society are taking down our country very rapidly.

[KC Jones]

Economy is crap, credit system nearly collapsed. So, you set the bank lending rate to 0% in order to fuel lending and spending. Cd rates will climb in a few years when the lending rate climbs. Right now you can't really make money when you lend it out, so there's no real need to give people rates to encourage them to "save" the money the banks lend out. It's going to be a long, slow, and painful recovery, regardless of who is in office.

[Over-Head]

Originally Posted by JD10367

What the **** are you complaining about? We've all worked our asses off down here to ruin this country, so you can FINALLY have a Canadian Dollar that's on equal par. We've managed to crapify the U.S. Dollar so much that I can no longer make fun of my Canadian counterparts when they show up. I have to spend six weeks in Toronto this spring and I can no longer look forward to buying a cup of coffee and yelling, in Rude American, "That was only fifty cents U.S., hahahahaha!"

Dude, in the 90's I took an ass pounding on exchange rate operating in the USA as a long haul trucker. (1 of the main reasons I retired from it), all I can say in rude Canadian is .... Karm's a bitch.... eh!
1970 we took our first family trip to FL, it was great, our dollar was worth more than yours back then too.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Interest rates? The cause?

It'a a little more complicated than that. A lot of it has to do with our own system.

American company A can pay an American $50K for a job or pay a 3rd worlder $5K for the same work. They ship the job overseas and we give them a tax break for doing so. Thats in their company's best interest, not the USA. They can't compete otherwise the story goes.

We don't manufacture and export goods like 20-30 years ago. Those days are never coming back.

We reward risk and free enterprise. See the Wall street meltdown and us having to pay for that risky business.

We value wealth over contribution to society. We pay teachers, cops and fireman barely middle class wages.

Not saying this is a wrong system. It's produced the largest middle class ever in the history of the world. Just saying that there is always a ying/yang, a good side and bad side to everything. No system is perfect.

At a high level this is accurate, but from a practical standpoint, the economy started to go to hell. So the FED effectively lowered interest rates to 0 to promote economic growth (on the loan side, not the savings side). So banks offer cheap ass credit, but also don't pay anything for interest.

[RJ]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Interest rates? The cause?

It'a a little more complicated than that. A lot of it has to do with our own system.

American company A can pay an American $50K for a job or pay a 3rd worlder $5K for the same work. They ship the job overseas and we give them a tax break for doing so. Thats in their company's best interest, not the USA. They can't compete otherwise the story goes.

We don't manufacture and export goods like 20-30 years ago. Those days are never coming back.
We reward risk and free enterprise. See the Wall street meltdown and us having to pay for that risky business.

We value wealth over contribution to society. We pay teachers, cops and fireman barely middle class wages.

Not saying this is a wrong system. It's produced the largest middle class ever in the history of the world. Just saying that there is always a ying/yang, a good side and bad side to everything. No system is perfect.

I was surprised to learn the the US is still the world's largest manufacturing nation. Low margin items like electronics are being ceded to other nations but we're making more high margin goods like medical equipment.

[R8RFAN]

Originally Posted by RJ

I was surprised to learn the the US is still the world's largest manufacturing nation. Low margin items like electronics are being ceded to other nations but we're making more high margin goods like medical equipment.

China will buy a handful of our best selling products, copy it and manufacture it at slave labor rates then ship the shit back over here and people buy it.

Patents or anything does not matter there, the USA should refuse to let them import cloned crap.

[Buck]

How did this thread end up in the lounge? (DC)

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by R8ers

China will buy a handful of our best selling products, copy it and manufacture it at slave labor rates then ship the shit back over here and people buy it.

Patents or anything does not matter there, the USA should refuse to let them import cloned crap.

We could do that, but that may cause them to call in their marker on the debt they hold. If you think we're ****ed now..........

[FAX]

Originally Posted by Bwana

We could do that, but that may cause them to call in their marker on the debt they hold. If you think we're ****ed now..........

China's hammer is somewhat more forceful than that, sadly. They and their minions own an enormous amount of real estate in the US. If we piss them off too much, all the tenants at the Watergate would be homeless within a week.

FAX

[RJ]

Originally Posted by R8ers

China will buy a handful of our best selling products, copy it and manufacture it at slave labor rates then ship the shit back over here and people buy it.

Patents or anything does not matter there, the USA should refuse to let them import cloned crap.

I was also surprised to learn that China is 3rd largest for US exports and climbing fast, although obviously the deficit is huge. I guess if we keep buying their cheap crap, eventually the people there will be able to afford more of our pricier crap.

I agree about the cloning but it seems like that would be really hard to prove or enforce. I've learned to be very careful about buying golf clubs on line.

[R8RFAN]

Originally Posted by Bwana

We could do that, but that may cause them to call in their marker on the debt they hold. If you think we're ****ed now..........

What will they do if we don't have the money? Start a war and end the World? Thats what would happen...

They are not that stupid

[FAX]

Have you guys tried purchasing something that "wasn't" made in China, lately?

It's not easy.

FAX