New Constitutional Amendment:
Actors cannot be Presidents.
See below for how I conclude that Reaganomics ruined the American Family.
The economy was in the dumps when Reagan took over. The Reaganomics proponents proceeded to avoid a prolonged slump in the economy as follows:
Solution One: To the question "How do we get people to spend" was answered with an onslaught of invitations to consumers to use credit: Cards became easy to get. A dog qualified for a credit card.
Solution Two: When that started to slow down: Second Mortgages became the rage and easy to get.
Solution Three: When second mortgages slowed down: Creative Home Refinancing schemes to Make it easy for more people to get ATM Homes.
Solution Four: To keep this third economy fuel going: Let's keep raising the value of homes.
Solution Five: "The Ownership Society" - Everyone gets have an ATM Home. Party on!
The Result: Most had easy credit available to them and became accustomed to leaning on credit to thrive instead of doing financial planning and/or budgeting.
Another Solution to Reduce Government: The question: How can we relieve the burden on State and local budgets was answered by the Reagan administration by reducing the social safety net roles of state and local entities.
The most heartless was the withdrawal of federal funding which caused the closing all the safety net housing institutions for those who could not support themselves who were 'not a threat to themselves or society'. This huge population of disabled people where thrown out onto our streets as the first big wave of homeless in America and the expensive institutions simply locked their doors.
Heartless economics, my term, was tolerated by all I think because those fortunate enough to not be one of them didn't dare speak up. I could be wrong. But I remember when, all of sudden, the streets of Boston became full of homeless people who were obviously handicapped.
At the end of the 80's, the Savings and Loan scam spun the "fuel the economy ball" until it burst. Deregulation became the mantra to solve the illegality of S & L schemes. Today, the housing bubble is really the S&L on steroids.
Then the really greedy: Let's create Hedge Funds and trade debtor transactions, ie, Mortgage Backed Securities and Credit Backed Securities. This created a world wide gathering of the rich and powerful who became the owners of our debt. Won't they demand repayment?
Any thinking economist would have seen today's debt disaster as becoming inevitable. Where were those voices?
We are back to the economy of the late 1970s. Reagonomics and the ensuing deregulation of financial markets were band aids. Razzle Dazzle!
The 1970s slowed economy disease was never cured. Now, the cure will be painful. We will all have to learn to survive on our wages without the convenience of easy credit.
Lastly, housing prices, including rentals, have no choice but to trend downward because wages are too low and/or undependable for the majority of Americans to be able to pay high rent, food, fuel, car payments, day care, all while, at the same time, paying down their debt at 38% interenst. Eternal slaves to their debt. And when they die, will their children have to pay their debt. I would look for that legislation coming down the pike.
If housing prices don't become attached to wages, the rate of homelessness will become immoral. A cure for high housing rates could be to tax the landlords on their profits sufficiently, and they will become less greedy, guaranteed.
People have been reported as paying as much as $700/mo. for a room and bath in private homes. That is too high based on median wages.
If I were a credit card company, I would be sweating bullets. Yet, in my opinion, they have earned all the defaults. They gave credit without a confirmation of the debtors ability to pay the debt back and then aggrevate the problem by tacking on 38% interest and many fees. They deserve to go down. They were predatory. However, they are protected by the recent bankruptcy laws. If I lived in Delaware, I would beware. There are some being driven crazy by their dogged collection tactics.
THE BURNING QUESTIONS I HAVE ARR:
What plan do the worshippers of Reaganomics have to provide life-supporting means for the millions of Americans while they make the stringent transition to wage-based survival? Indebted Americans are at great risk.
Will we return to the turn-of-the-19th century cruel tactics:
Boarding houses, poor houses, orphanages for children whose parents can't prove their ability to care for them, debt prisons, child labor, and/or prison labor?
Who is answering this question: What do we do to help people survive?
Will traveling infrastructure work crews keep families together?
Isn't the family the real casualty as both mom and dad have to leave children at home while they work their 2, 3, and sometimes 4 jobs just to survive. Professionals are out of the home 60+ hours a week on average, right?
The family is the foundation of our country. If families are destroyed, how about America?
Feel free to use any of the ideas presented here in your new diary, if you do one, K?
Let's make it a Happy New Year. Let's help each other to do so.