Today, I did my part to help bail out the US economy.

[leftofthedial]

I accepted all seven "you've been pre-approved" credit card offers I received in the mail last week. Now I have over $150,000 to spend, which I plan to do before I have to pick up my daughter from school next Wednesday afternoon. And they are all at 0% interest! How do these banks do this, I wonder.

As of 10:00 this morning, I am in the process of buying a 4500 square foot house in a nice subdivision. It is a bargain at $725,000--priced to sell! It has six bedrooms and it's just me and my daughter every other weekend, but I'll find some way to use the space. She's gonna love the pool! That new credit will come in handy buying furniture.

I'm going out this afternoon shopping for one of the mega-SUV deals in the paper. What do you think? The Hummer 2 or the Escalade? I guess I'll test drive both of them. What the hell, maybe I'll get one of each--my daughter will be driving in a few years--there's some sort of tax break on them, I think, so they're practically free.

Can anybody tell me where to find good info about those big flat-screen TVs? There are so many different options! And all those acronyms! I'm confused, but I'll need at least 5 of these for the new house. (I'm so excited!)

Do all you bailout fans like me now?

[panader0]

1. I'd go with the Escalade

Those Hummers are prone to being blown up by IED's.

[leftofthedial]

2. I hadn't thought of that. You're right.

Two Escalades it is then.

[spinbaby]

12. Get a couple of them new hybrid Escalades

No reason you can't be green while you're consuming.

[onethatcares]

3. there are some great Chinese made flat screens at the present time

and if you can combine it with a Samsung or Onyko surround sound system, I'll bring over that Belgian Budweiser we're making now. :thumbsup:

[leftofthedial]

4. rockin!

how can I tell which ones are Chinese?

They won't kill my dog will they?

[onethatcares]

6. dog/shmog, just get some of those

melamine laced dog biscuits and she'll be fine.

Just look for the tvs with the old American names, they took those too.

(hey, just kiddin about the dog, I got one and wouldn't want any harm to come to her)

[leftofthedial]

9. I've been feeding him a gradually increasing dose of the poison dog biscuits

I figure it will boost his immunity.

[Chemical Bill]

18. The LCDs use less electricity than the plasmas.

That will be a contribution to cleaning up the environment.

Bill

[SmileyRose]

5. You guys are killing me

I'm sitting here with the cream cheese I just ate coming back up I'm laughing so hard.

[TexasObserver]

7. Credit undeserved for stuff you don't need. That's Patriotism!!

The notion of having the money before buying something is sooooo 20th century!

[leftofthedial]

11. I love Amurka!

:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:
:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:
:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:
:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:
:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[TexasObserver]

13. You must be! You have flags!!

I hate the constitution, but I love me some symbols!!

[onethatcares]

14. I love it more than you do though.

because I have a flag lapel pin. neener neener

[leftofthedial]

15. I wear a us flag thong

on special occasions

[CC]

8. I would guess there are a few that

did that. Then again you could of gone through what we did about two years ago and not been smart or stubborn enough to not do as many lenders told us we should do.
We went to refinance our original loan and our loan to add an addition because the interest rates on them were around 8% and we wanted a lower interest rate. We only wanted to refi what we still owed and no more. You would think were were trying to commit fraud or even murder when we talked to loan officers. We were told the house was worth at least 300,000 more than what we wanted to refi. How dare we not take all that equity out. We would tell them no and tell them we wanted a 15 year fixed rate. Did they care what we wanted, hell no. So we would say no thanks and leave. Then the phone calls started, trying to get us back in to borrow more money. They would play to greed and when that didn't work to fear. I would tell them not to call, and on the third call threaten to sue them for harassment. We did finally refinance with a bank that was small and honest. Got a 3.5% lower interest rate and am happy but never in a million years would I have imagined how much harder it would be to refi than to get the original loan because we wanted less money than they wanted to lend us.
It leaves me wondering how many people were talked into borrowing more than they originally wanted whether with the greed talks (You might want a bigger house, new car, tv, fix up your house to suit you, go on vacation, get that motorcycle you always wanted etc.) or the fear card (what if one of you get sick and need the extra cash, what if something breaks and you need the extra cash or you could put in it in savings in case one of you loses you job etc.) I'm betting a lot of uninformed people fell for the supposed experts advice forgetting they were no longer experts but sales reps.

[leftofthedial]

10. After my divorce a few years ago

I bought "down" into a townhome much smaller than my old house. After 30 years of marriage and working my ass off, I didn't have quite enough left to buy a place outright, but I did nearly, so now I have a mortgage that is only about a third of what rent would be on this place.

At first the realtor tried to lure me into big whopping expensive houses, but after a couple of them they settled into what I was looking for. When I found this place, the mortgage broker tried to get me into all sorts of funky subprime, deferred interest, ARM loans, but I wanted only a fixed 30-year.

I can see how many people would end up with a bad mortgage on a house they didn't need.

[Hekate]

16. That's scary. We are with a small local bank, and on my BIL's advice got a HELOC...

... a couple of years ago just in case we decided to do some fixing up. My husband's brother, a former banker, told us the best time to lock in that line of credit would be while everything is going peachy, that we don't have to actually take any money unless and until we want to. So we did, and paid the small fee involved, and we still have it in case we need it.

The thing is, our little bank would only approve us for a bit over half of the inflated worth of this house. That was fine with us then, and even more fine with us now that the entire economy has tanked and big banks have gone down the drain.

At one of our former "big banks" I remember the pre-Christmas season signs in the lobby urging people to refinance their homes to pay for presents and vacations. I thought then as I do now -- that would be lunacy. But lunacy is what the "big bank" was pushing, and pushing hard. The teller who took my deposit urged me to think it over.

Like you, we think that this was all a trap for the unwary consumer, like the stockbroker who promises to take your money and turn it into commissions.

Hekate

[flygal]

17. Rec.

you summed up my feelings on this whole thing too. My husband and I live well below our means and just sat back and watched people pile on the high end merchandise. I look at women working two jobs and still barely paying their minimum but carrying Fendi bags and shopping at Pottery Barn. :crazy:

Party's over people - put it to bed.

[OakCliffDem]

19. lol