Where is the US economy headed?

And it's going to take me 5+ years to pay off enough principle on my house to just break even (but that's what I'm doing).....it's going to take a long time for me to begin contributing to our economic recovery again.

Are you assuming no more loss of home value?? In most areas of the country we are still dropping, I think -12% from now is the best guess for where most of us end up.

Yeouch! Hope it works out for you guys.

SO glad I don't own a home, and live in a rent-controlled apartment...

Cycloptichorn

I think that there may be allot more to the picture than others are willing to consider!

It seems to me that there are many things that are interconnected with all of this!

Yeah, I am...and I know. I'll have to deal with that as it comes.

I think that you made a deal with the mafia so to speak. I like your moral belief that you seem to show as you want to hold your end of the agreement.

I do question if it is the right thing to do considering your circumstances!

I have much to loose when people like you do not hold up to your agreement but I was also at fault for allowing these mafia type of people to manage some of my savings!

You say that like you have a choice....dont employers look at credit reports on guys like you, and fire/dont hire if you have walked way from a loan?

Why? That's not even remotely related to his job.

Aren't you the guy that did everything but hang medals on the ones that shrugged once and walked away from those underwater mortgages.

Like THAT matters in America??!!

As I recall my argument was that now that the corporate class and wealthy have made a routine of walking away from obligations (multiple trips though bankruptcy, bailouts and other unsavory methods of not keeping their word) that it is abuse of the rest of the classes to expect them to honor their obligations with out exception. Those in power can do that, but the society will blow up if they do, so it is a bad idea.

I dont think this argument directly relates to maporsche, though we can feel his anger cant we.....

Hawkeey do take note that the congress at the request of the banks ETC made it harder and far more costly for a middle class person to declare bankruptcy.

We can not allow the peasants to have the same escape route as the ruling class enjoy and they would be defaulting on debts owe to us and that can not be permission.

Why then did you make that an issue of employment?

When you continue to make contradictory statements, it makes you look more stupid.

Are you daff? Employers, landlords and insurance companies all now routinely look at credit histories to decide who they want to do business with, on slim to none justification, it has nothing to do with me. Bankruptcy can not be used against you, Foreclosure can. If a financial manager (maporsche if I remember correctly) wants to work I think he has some problems doing so if he walks away from a mortgage.

I don't know your situation, but if you like your home and have no external reason to leave it, you will likely in the long term ride it out successfully. It may take six or seven years, but the housing market will recover. In some sense all property owners have been hurt badly by the collapse of the housing bubble.

The government used Fannie Mae & Freddy Mac to artificially attract capital to the housing market through the largely government-directed actions of these quasi government corporations, which borrowed money at reduced rates because of the implied Federal guarantee and used it to buy mortgages from primary lenders and then securitize them for sale to investors. Beginning with the Clinton Administration these corporations were also used as lucrative postings for loyal party assistants - Franklin Raines was the most notable example. He left the White House as political assistant to become president of Fannie Mae and accumulated about $65 million in bonuses during a four year tenure leading up to the crash. However, Barney Frank and Maxine Waters have assured us that he and their CRA legislation had nothing whatever to do with the housing bubble.

The next phase will hurt savers with cash & cash equivalent assets: they are already depreciating fast with our currently accelerating inflation and Fed induced zero interest rates. The effect is the same, it will just take take place more gradually with cash - that's how sovereign borrowers deal with excessive debt.

The process you experienced has also hurt more than the middle class. A few years ago I engaged an El Salvadorean immigrant who worked for a landscaping company to do once weekly maintenance on my lawn & garden: he had a set of private clients for whom he worked after his day job was done - a very impressive example of the hard work and ambition of many immigrants. It turns out that before we met he was induced to take out a 5% down CRA mortgage to buy an overpriced home in Oakland. He is now facing eviction proceedings and bankrupcy. Worse he was just about to start his own business and now can't get credit. (I'll lend him enough, unsecured, to get the business started as soon as the process is complete.)

No, I'm not daff; but you are! I worked in management positions for several companies, and it's against the law to fire based on non-job related financial issues.

The application form can ask if the potential employee has been convicted of any crime, but it must also make plain that unrelated past crimes will not affect their hire. It must be job related.

An employer who doesn't hire based on one's financial difficulties would eliminate almost all potential employees. It's also poor hiring practice to ask non-job related questions, because you can get sued.

Where do you draw the line?

Where did you earn your law degree?

Or better yet, where did you learn management skills?

I am glad I purchased my home back in 1993 and pay it all off by 2002.

I'm glad you both are glad...honestly.

I have a lot of friends around our age who are in the exact same boat as you. I hope you can work something out to make the next several years go okay. I do agree with George that you should eventually head back into the black on your property - but that could be a long time.

The only reason I'm not in this situation, is that I hate debt and can't see myself buying into a mortgage without putting a massive amount of money down first. I couldn't bring myself to do it when we were tempted to out here.

Cycloptichorn

CI, hawkeye is right here.

My company regularly screens credit reports for information and we do make hiring/firing decisions based on credit report data (not entirely mind you, but it does for sure happen).

All applicants are required to sign a disclosure releasing their credit report to my company and we do what we do with them.

When was the last time you applied for a position or hired an employee?