Originally Posted by RTK

Oh, hi Chris, I know you through other forums, didn't recognize your avatar. I live by modesto just south of you a couple of hours or so. Gotta get together and fly sometime, believe i briefly met you at one of the fly ins near lodi.

LOL, It's NCAA tournament season... If VCU gets through the CAA tournament, they will get past the Final4 this year...

Yea, I think we met at the Huckfest in 2010... Met a lot of people that weekend...lol We'll definitely have to fly again sometime...

@ RTK........someone's outlook on things here has an awfully striking resemblence to a certain someone in the other forum, dont you think??? not the same person is it?

Originally Posted by SuperTrooper

The average American does not have the funds to jump in this market and you know it. The middle class of this country are what keeps America going. The rich are the ones who can afford to play in the markets. Without the middle class this country suffers. Today the middle class is the smallest it has been since the 1940's or 50's.

Now knowing the middle class has shrunk is it really any surprise that America is not doing as well either?

This countries biggest mistake was shipping manufacturing jobs overseas. Those jobs are what built this country and the middle class. Now those jobs are gone replaced with lower wage service jobs.

I agree with what you have said in regards to loosing jobs over seas-----Ross Perot warned us about this issue back in the 90's. The average middle class American can buy stock in the Oil Industry and participate in the dividends.

I'm far from rich.,.... and I own several companies... some of them oil.....



well.. a small portion of companies... :0

Ouch,, just saw a story on Fox about the CEO of A123 giving $4800 to the dems in '08,(not a big deal to me really) in addition to reporting how much $$ they've lost since getting that stimulus money,, doesn't look good for their stock which is already rock bottom going forward when you're in the news as a looser

Goldman Sachs PAC was the second largest contributor to President Obama's campaign in 2008. What we have spent in the last four years bailing out Wall Street concerns me more than what we spend on food stamps. Goldman got a real nice return on investment from the current administration.

The government should not be in the business of protecting people from the consequences of their mistakes. Especially very wealthy folks on Wall Street and guys who make batteries.

Always follow the money

After reading this thread I am going to buy LIFE or lithium-ion batteries next.

The question of whether or not gov't should be bailing out Wall Street is a good one -

but

US taxpayers didn't "spend" anything to bail out Wall Street - TARP provided loans and the gov't has made a nice profit on it.

Pete

Originally Posted by pcastine

The question of whether or not gov't should be bailing out Wall Street is a good one -

but

US taxpayers didn't "spend" anything to bail out Wall Street - TARP provided loans and the gov't has made a nice profit on it.

Pete

Yeah, right. The FED gives low to no interest loans to the banks who in turn buy treasuries that pay a couple of percent interest...free money for the banks. On the other side, the treasury has more money printed by the FED and sells most treasuries back to the FED (and some to banks and foreign governments) in what is termed "monetizing the debt." There is no "profit" in these actions. No real production or industry was created by this circle jerk of money handling. It's just a constant flow of money from the taxpayer to the those who run the banks and make the laws.

The final cost of TARP will be in the billions and has yet to be finalized.

The moral hazard of TARP is an even bigger concern. We have sent a signal to Wall Street that they can make risky, highly leveraged investments and if they fail the taxpayers will save them. Of course if they succeed then they just keep their enormous bonuses.

Nobody is too big to fail including a few European countries.

just the facts about TARP

In numerous polls, the public has voiced their displeasure at the much maligned bank bailout, but most don't know which president signed the controversial act into law. Only a third of Americans (34%) correctly say the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was enacted by the Bush administration. Nearly half (47%) incorrectly believe TARP was passed under President Obama. Another 19% admit they do not know which president signed the bank bailout into law. Notably, there is no partisan divide on the question. Just 36% of Republicans, 35% of independents and 34% of Democrats know that the government bailout of banks and financial institutions was signed into law by former President Bush.

and was continued by the current administration, GM is just one example

People lump it all in one big nightmare of Dept, TARP, the Auto Co loans, the Stimulus,, who can really keep track? They spend money they (we) don't have so fast it makes your head spin. Doesn't matter who you blame,, we'll all be paying it back for decades

You got it

I think we might just be going past decades and onto centuries. You know, kind of like how we went from billions to trillions of debt? Our gov is completely out of control.