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credit card minimum payment double Your minimum payment is about to double. This is a double edged sword for everyone, and it is a hell of a gamble which means that something very desperate is going on. Our credit card debt is $24,500. I currently pay $450 a month which of course is just over the minimum payment. I know this. The goal is to hold tight for two more years until our cars are paid off then hit the debt hard over the following two years. That plan now has to change. Our credit card minimum payment is going up to $900/month. I haven't had a pay raise in 3 years, which is why I've only been able to make minimum payments. A large portion of Americans (between 25-33%) only make the minimum payment. Now they are going to double that, whatever it is. More monthly bills, means less disposable income and is basically political suicide for any party that attempts it. This can only mean one thing. The debt bubble is about to burst. We are about to enter a depression unprecedented in US history, which will have a global knock on effect. The only possible way to prevent that from happening is to reduce the amount of debt we, as a country, are carrying. How much is that? Well the Federal government is carrying $7.2 trillion. When you add consumer and corporate debt into the picture, the number is $40 trillion. That's $136,000 for every man, woman and child in America. elvisload, you're a republican. Since I can't afford gold membership right now, you'll have to leave a note, but please tell me - am I reading this wrong? Bush's goal over the past couple of years has been to inject money into the economy by tax reduction and less regulation. This is a 180 of gigantic proportions. I mean this would be a Democrat move wouldn't it? By that I mean I actually support the move because I understand why they're doing it, although there is not a lot of spin on it right now, and it seems to be coming in under the radar. I know it will hurt like fuck, but it will do us good in the long wrong. The Republican element I do see in it, and would have expected, is the tightening of bankruptcy laws, so it will be harder to get out from under this debt in the fall, even if you can't pay. This looks suspiciously like a 1-2 punch. The bankruptcy laws put forward first to stop people bailing on their debt when this second rule goes into effect. America, and Americans, owe an obscene amount of money to World banks. The war on Terror and the War in Iraq have distracted us from this issue, while at the same time increasing that debt. By this move, The administration has effectively doomed the GOP at the next election. Or have they? Those that get through this will find, four years from now, that their debt load is significantly reduced. How will people vote then? Will they forget the hard times of the next two years because things get better in the third year? That's the gamble. And it is a gamble because it could easily go the other way. If people cannot afford to buy things, then things don't get bought, so we need less people to make them and sell them, which means more people are made unemployed, so the already strapped members of their family who are still earning end up coughing up more money to help their relatives and before you know it, the economy stalls, then nose-dives, and we're back to the 'R' word. Now it gets nasty... People start leaving government jobs in droves for the private sector. Including the military. And that's A Bad Thing, because we actually have two situations on the back burner that will be moved to the foreground in the next year or so as troops start coming back from Iraq: Iran and North Korea. Our need to involve ourselves in Iran is debatable, but not North Korea. The leader in Pyongyang, Kim Jung Il, is crazier than an emu on Acid and is building a nice little nuclear arsenal for himself with missiles capable of hitting the West Coast and Hawaii. All the while thumbing his nose at the US and China. He needs to be stopped. And we can't stop him. That's the sad horrible truth. Because without a draft we will not be able to repopulate our military which is missing its recruiting goals month after month and which is in danger of being severely functional compromised. And nobody who wants to get re-elected is going to support a draft. If our sons and daughters choose to join the military, we can be proud of them and afraid for them. But if they are forced to fight against their will, we are back to Vietnam and an angry populace. Mark my words, the next few years. The next two years to be precise, are rapidly going to become the hardest we have faced in our history. And if one more thing goes wrong - if Taiwan calls for free elections or Bin Laden figures out how to make Wall Street glow in the dark, we are up shit creek with nothing but an extremely large monthly credit card bill. Catpewk, out.
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Name: Catpewk
Age: 43
Status: Separated
Kids: Yes
Cats: Yes
Fish: Yes
Dogs: No
Lemurs: No
Profession: Geek
Passion: Writer
Religion: In Progress
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