Tightening of Credit?
 

Has anyone had difficulty getting a car loan lately or have you had your credit card limit lowered?
The news media claims that credit has tightened a lot lately.
This is supposed to be the big, bad consequence of the subprime mortgage collapse that will cause another great depression.

Also has anyone bought gold lately?
I've been considering buying gold or silver.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

If you'd have bought gold a few weeks ago, you'd be fixed for life. Now, though, the price has zoomed up so much that it's probably topped out. Better to stock up on whiskey, cigarettes and ammo for your .45. ;)

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Ahhhh Yes.... Alcohol Tabacco and Firearms... government has a whole dept devoted to them... the finer things in life. They just go well together... dont they?? [8D] [sm=alcoholic.gif] [sm=violent053.gif]

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

I'm also buying a nice cabin in the mountains and learning all kinds of survival skills because the end times of the apocalypse is coming soon. Sell everything, buy gold, buy guns, whiskey, cigarettes. Your cash will be worthless soon. Head for the hills. Set up your perimeter defenses. And lock up your daughters. Soon the mushroom clouds will be rising and it's going to get bad. Only the strong and the cunning will survive. This is it folks. The end is near. That's what they tell me on the TV news and I trust them completely.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Oh! We better get explosives, too. They're always good in a pinch!

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Buy stock in Testors.....

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Best advice... keep it simple.:)

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

I just read on Wikipedia about the Great Depression. It's a fantastic article. Makes it very clear the reasons why the depression happened and how we got out of it.

Click to read Wikipedia article on Great Depression

Most of the things that caused the depression have also been happening in recent years! To put it in a nutshell, the expansion of money and easy credit caused a temporary boom in the 20's because people had money to buy stuff. The boom continued until people started getting scared that all this credit couldn't be paid back. Then the panic started, which resulted in a severe and rapid contraction of money and credit from the economy. When that happens it starts a vicious cycle of less spending for products causing more unemployment, which in turn causes less demand for products, and on and on. This resulted in over 25% unemployment. Another thing that reduced availability of money was the fact that the rich people got most of the money and they saved it, thus leaving the rest of the people with a lack of money to spend to keep the economy going.

The way we got out of the depression was to tax the upper class more and spend it on the working class, thus giving them money to spend to revive the economy.

So I guess that the people who say that we need credit to be available are right. We need to keep the money supply and credit flowing in order to keep the economy going. It enables businesses and individuals to keep spending money, thus keeping everyone employed.

The national debt is another form of easy credit spending which produces a temporary economic stimulus. It is many trillions of dollars now. It is another big bubble waiting to burst. When the debt grows so big that the U.S. government can't keep up with the payments on it anymore, I think that will be the mother of all busts and will dwarf the great depression, or something like that. This is supposed to happen by sometime between the years 2030 to 2040.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Oh another thing, I just read what is the best strategy to get rich during a depression or recession. Now I know exactly what I need to do. The article said that a great number of new millionaires were created during the great depression. Now as long as I prepare myself well, I can make out like a bandit.

RE: Tightening of Credit?
 

Huh? As I recall, the ONLY way the world got out of the Depression was a little economic boom now commonly called World War II. ;)