counterpunch.org — By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS--Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran.Bush has put in place all the necessary measures for dictatorship in the form of "executive orders" that are triggered whenever Bush declares a national emergency. Recent statements by Homelan
Jul 21, 2007 View in Crawl 4
knomevolJul 22, 2007
my twelve years experience in corporate america, conversing with associates, i'd guesstimate that 80% of full-time employees who were married had a mortgage, and many considered this the greatest investment of their lives. great things could be done with the equity, and it would help assure a comfortable retirement. i would hazard that one person in fourteen actively or even occasionally traded. no numbers to back this up, it's my guess from my life experience - but then perhaps it's a matter of class and who has the money to throw at wallstreet.many who believe they are upperclass are actually engineering their lifestyle from loans, many times the collateral being the equity in their home. perhaps it was unwise. these are uncertain times.and borrowed money does not prosperity make. anyway, dugg you for the refreshingly civil conversation 8)
milliebubbaJul 22, 2007
Roberts WAS a Republican. By now, he may have switched parties. I certainly did, but I'm mad at the Democrats now, too.
Closed AccountJul 22, 2007
Wow! That'll achieve ... the best part of f**k all. How about getting thell hell off Digg and helping organise pro-Democracy, anti-Facsist rallies or some sort of massive civil disobedience movement, ooh, like not paying your unconstitutionally levied taxes. I'd help do it for you, but I'm not an American.Stop talking the talk and start walking the walk my friend.
Closed AccountJul 22, 2007
We can agree that when you are paying the same amount for a mortgage as you are for rent that owning is a better "investment". When you start to think of housing as an investment you might go above your means, using the "investment" logic as an excuse. Renting gives you the flexibility to move when you choose to. If you buy a house at the peak of the market and have to sell it a a year or two down the road, when the market isn't too hot, so that you can move elsewhere for employment you'll run into problems. People may be nervous about jumping into the market, for one, and whatever price you do get is less than what your mortgage was for. Since you've had your mortgage for only a few years at most, it's mostly not paid off. In that case you lose money. Right now, rental housing costs less than a mortgage is many if not most markets. Factor in all that maintenance and yard work you don't have to do and renting is a real bargain. If you have the discipline to live below your means and save what you can, you'll come out ahead of the homeowner. And people have been investing in the stock market passively en masse since the 1980s, with their IRAs and 401(k)s. If you know absolutely nothing about investing, I've seen at my company that they bring in financial advisors who'll talk about your 401(k) options and anything else you'd like to talk about during each open enrollment period. The best investment for such novices would be, in my book, to put the biggest chunk (at least half) of their tax deferred 401(k) contributions into a S&P index fund. Maybe we come from different Americas, over here the largest employers give most of the same benefits to the lowly janitor that the give to the CEO. Health benefits, a so called pension (30 cents per hour worked put into a company run account) and 401(k), discounts on local services, education reimbursement, free lunch, etc. We might have to just agree to disagree..
aadyssJul 23, 2007
Sorry, don't care about "outside the U.S."
aadyssJul 23, 2007
Naw, they will just find something else to hate or find another conspiracy theory. Most likely both.