Sorry for my Greed

[itsrobert]

I have little money, little savings. I don't own a home. Just a wife and two kids I'm trying to support. I invested what little I had in stocks and I lost my shirt. I see people here that want to rub it in. Go ahead, if that what makes you feel better. Republicans aren't the only ones that want to kick you when your down. Go ahead. You all told me so, but I didn't listen. Rub it in.
The one thing in my favor, I don't owe too much on my car and credit cards, so that's something to be thankful for.

I guess I should of bought a house that I couldn't afforded instead.

[MadMaddie]

1. itsrobert the greed was not perpetuated by you or others like you

it was perpetuated by those billionaires who were already greedy.

You and your family - Middle America were told by this Administration and their Wall street cronies that by investing in the market it was a sure way to riches. What they didn't say was that the shell game they were playing was high stakes and it would eventually come to an end and only the super rich would survive.

Never apologize for trying to do the best for your family.

You will survive because that is what we the Middle class do. We make do and move on.

:grouphug:

[2speak]

2. Not sure there was sincerity in that post.

[cliffordu]

4. Not sure you know

what the fuck you're talking about.

[cliffordu]

3. You were robbed. If this country stood for what it was founded to stand for

you would be tarring and feathering the thieves even as we write here.

But we are too far gone. We are little more than sheep waiting to be shorn by the wealth class and their pimps in congress.

[Sherman A1]

5. Agreed

It's just all about the Robber Barons and their needs. The rest of us are S.O.L.

[cliffordu]

12. I'm thinking the threat of insurrection over this is exactly why they have that

Army division hanging around....

you know, the one with the non-lethal weapons....

Oh, yeah, and the 150,000 blackwater mercs.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Hang in there, this is in for the long run

and yes, I know exactly how you feel and those attacking are just insane

By the way... wanna bet they also have put money in the exchange? They just don't know it

[TahitiNut]

7. Why are you focusing your anger at those who've been warning "get out!" for 8 years?

The equities markets feed on "Greater Fools" to enrich those who own 80-90% of the stock. This 'con game' has been going on for a long, long time. The primary reason for the creation of massive pension funds over-invested in the stock market is to inflate the market price of stock. The MYTH is that it's invested in the business when the TRUTH is that less than 1% of the dollar volume EVER gets to the company itself, to pay workers or buy property, plant, or equipment. At the same time, people who buy stock at forever-increasing prices DEMAND more 'productivity' from labor while, at the same time, reducing their wages, laying them off, and shipping their jobs off-shore ... and then short-sightedly shopping at Wal*Mart and buying Chinese products.

WHY do you think BushcCo wants to funnel FICA (Social Security taxes) into the stock market instead of paying current retirees??? As those billions of dollars chase fewer and fewer decent values, the price of those stocks is artificially inflated. That inflation enriches those who collect dividends and speculate in the markets - it DOES NOT pay labor!

Yes ... there's a need for a 'secondary market' but it MUST be regulated to the point that 'owners' have a vested interest in the long-term health of the domestic enterprise (and the workers) and speculators are punished.


Newsflash: Stockbrokers get COMMISSIONS on stack trades, no matter who 'wins' or who 'loses.'
Newsflash: The pension funds and mutual funds serve as a "heat sink" for the more agile and predatory hedge funds and massive private 'players.' The 'small investor' is ROAD KILL on the driveways of the wealthy.

[WeDidIt]

8. I bought the house I could afford

I'm basically paying about 40% more than I was for renting an apartment at the time I bought my house.

I insisted on a 30 year fixed mortgage while the broker was pushing adjustable rate mortgages that would have had me paying less than my rent at the time.

I went with my gut on these things, and it played out the way I thought it would.

My regret, though, is that my retirement was a little too heavily invested in blue chips.

[Marrah_G]

9. The market will eventually turn around.

You've only really lost it if you sell now.

Sorry you are hurting.

:hug:

[Not the Only One]

10. Just don't act like you did anything other than gamble your money, like at a casino

You aren't greedy. You just thought that you could put money in the stock market and have guaranteed return on your investment. The market is just a glorified casino or dog track.

[TahitiNut]

11. ... and the "house" always takes its cut.

It's a rigged game.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. I'm just amazed at some of you

and you know exactly who you are

By the way, if you have any kind of pension, except military, put together in the last 25 years, guess what? You got money in the casino too

Jeebus age... like to kick people while they are down?

How progressive... not

But I guess I'd better get used to this eat the rich mentality that has infected this place... never mind most of the people you are attacking are FAR FROM RICH.

Progressive site, my ass... it is me, me, me as well

[tuckessee]

14. As the great William Claude Dukenfield said.....

"You can't cheat an honest man. Never give a sucker an even break or smarten up a chump."

[codjh9]

15. Yeah, I was so 'greedy' too - all I wanted was a house, retirement, and maybe some travel...

and I listened to all the financial 'experts' and advisors who said in innumerable articles and books that you HAD to be in the market or you'd never have enough to retire (because of low-interest-paying CDs and savings accounts). Thanks a lot, assholes!

[AlCzervik]

16. i don't know who you're referring to but we have lost a lot of our 401k value, just gone

and mine is actually worse then my husband's and his sucks! The few stocks we own that are unrelated to the 401k's are just laughable, one has lost half it's value and the other, almost 40%. We'll retire when we're dead, that's pretty much the plan.

[sakura]

17. Most of us don't have much choice as to where we've put our money.

I've "diversified" my 401K as much as I could, but I didn't have a great deal of choice about which company to use to manage it. Even with my "diversification" I've lost a lot. As I'm a good 20 (30?) years away from retiring, my hope is the market will eventually come back.

It's interesting to see how many people on this site are so willing to blame the victim. Yes, people have a responsibility to get the facts before investing. But I remember reading countless articles in mainstream newspapers and magazines urging people to buy stock and go for adjustable mortgages. If credible sources are telling people that it's a good idea to make these decisions, how is it fair to blame them for doing so? On top of that, many Americans work under the assumption that this is a country where businesses aren't allowed to screw us over. This isn't a naive assumption-- our country did work this way until Reagan began dismantling it. People have assumed that regulations were in place-- that their local bank wouldn't be offering ARMs if they weren't a good idea. My bank tried to talk us into an ARM-- they put on quite a convincing show. We didn't go for it, because I am not a very trusting person. (That's usually considered a character flaw!) Not every American is a policy wonk, and a good number of us weren't trained in high school or college or by our parents in how to manage investments. Many of us struggle to make sense of it all.

I don't have pity for the people who played the "Flip this House" game. That's a totally different story. But people who've invested in stocks, or made a bad decision in getting a mortgage have my condolences. This isn't supposed to be a country where you are totally on your own. We're supposed to be better than that.

ed for spelling