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Are we a big town now?
So, now that we officially have a payday loan in town, are we officially a big town? Or does it say something sinister about our regional economy, especially given that they are located in what is probably the highest-rent location in town?
5 March 2008
at 4:29 p.m.
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TheOnlyGreyghost (Anonymous) says…
It usually means that the buzzards smell death and are circling. Look where those places locate—you won't see them at Crown Center or the Plaza. They cluster where they smell poverty, the way flies cluster around roadkill.
They go where people are living on the edge and becoming desperate—and after 7 years of Dumbya's brilliant fiscal management, that means a LOT of areas where people formerly were holding their own.
I didn't know that one of those soulless, usurious jackals had opened up in Baldwin. Let's hope they have read the community wrong and things are not so desperate. It would be satisfying to see them go out of business.
6 March 2008
at 10:07 a.m.
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NanCrisp (Anonymous) says…
Grey Ghost beat me to it! There is nothing respectable about having a payday loanshark in your neighborhood.
7 March 2008
at 7:30 a.m.
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markdunn (Anonymous) says…
Damnit. There go my plans for opening a Pawn Shop.
7 March 2008
at 2:36 p.m.
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Torch (Anonymous) says…
Bush is a long way from Baldwin City Greyghost.
Local fiscal policy has done way more to hurt this town than our friends in DC.
G.W. isn't proposing putting the town in even more debt by issuing a school bond. You can look for those culprits right here.
7 March 2008
at 3:14 p.m.
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ibelieveinmapleleaf (Anonymous) says…
Wow. A thread that somehow seems like the old S.O. Excellent.
True enough about the bond issue, but I have to think the ever-rising fuel prices HAVE to be contributing to the actual or perceived problems with making the monthly nut for the average middle class family. My spouse and I with our combined incomes are probably doing fairly well compared to a lot of families in town, but even we don't feel particularly good about things right now.
I'll admit to being a worry wart about things economic, but something tells me we are right on the verge of a severe downturn for the nation as a whole. The Fed seems particularly trigger-happy with regards to lowering rates to address . That approach happens NOT to make the long-term investment community very confident about the future.
Perhaps someone has a more upbeat assessment of the near term?
7 March 2008
at 3:39 p.m.
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eeCrummins (Anonymous) says…
Here's a more upbeat assessment. The letters of “Baldwin City Kansas” can be rearranged to spell:
1.) A Sickly Swan Bandit
2.) A Wildcat Yanks Bins
3.) A Catkin Sways Blind
4.) A Salad By Twin Nicks
5.) Wind By A Slick Satan
or my favorite,
6.) A Bank Scats Windily
8 March 2008
at 2:50 p.m.
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TheOnlyGreyghost (Anonymous) says…
Yeah, keep harping on your one sour tune, Torch. The schools NEED more money. That's not the problem. As a wiser man than the one in the current White House once said, “It's the economy, stupid.”
Ibelieveinmapleleaf makes a good point about fuel costs. The housing market is in a shambles, personal bankruptcies continue to rise, and that obscene mess in Iraq continues to drain national resources and young lives.
But what do I know? Let's see what the Times had to say recently: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/bus…
You'd have to be a flat-out idiot to think that decisions made in Washington have no effect on small-town America—especially on the economic outlook of small-town America.
But, hey, Torch, if you think that being a “long way” away from the Oval Office insulates Baldwin from whatever Presidential decisions are made, then I guess we won't be treated to hearing you b**** about anything Barack or Hillary does during the next 8 years.
8 March 2008
at 7:18 p.m.
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TheOnlyGreyghost (Anonymous) says…
Here's a freebie for ya, Torch~ I'm sure you can 'splain how crippling the local schools (whose budgets are stretched thin like ours by the effects of 7 years of Georgeonomics) will turn the tide on this scenario: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/…
Or how Bush's being “a long way from Baldwin” makes us joyfully immune from these economic woes..
10 March 2008
at 9:35 a.m.
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greyghost (Anonymous) says…
Does anyone know if you can get a payday loan with your two most recent unemployment check stubs? Just curious.
18 March 2008
at 9:40 a.m.
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NanCrisp (Anonymous) says…
Probably the reason many people aren't sure whether or not to be concerned about the economy is that the wave hasn't rolled over them yet. And they aren't able to read the signs that it's a tsunami, not something we can all expect to ride out. Economics is complicated, and the bean counters know that most people don't understand much of it. They also understand very well that there is a large self-fulfilling factor, so they have to try to keep folks as upbeat as possible so the crumbling happens gradually instead of all at once. But, make no mistake, it's crumbling. Even we ignoramuses know that a 30-car pile-up is way more serious than a one-car accident. Here are a few financial wrecks in recent months:
Every day the dollar drops in the world market. This has been going on for quite a while now, and has a serious effect on the prices we pay for everything — including gasoline.
The falling dollar and the lack of secure investments available in the stock market make oil a very attractive place for foreigners to invest. Oil is priced in dollars, which have shrinking value, so foreign investors can buy a lot of oil with their euros and other strong currencies. That drives up the price on the futures market, which makes gasoline prices go sky high. Analysts are scratching their heads at the fact that market fundamentals are completely out of play here. Sounds familiar: they said the same thing about housing a few years ago.
As to housing, a number of large mortgage banks have had to be bailed out or bought out to survive. At least 10 major banks have each taken multiple billions of dollars in write-downs just in the last 6 months.
A large and very significant investment bank nearly collapsed last week. The Federal Reserve Bank put together a deal with another private investment bank to buy out the failing one — at $2 a share. That about equals a nine-car pile-up right there.
While spending $12 billion a week on the Iraq war, our goverment is now doling out funds to investment banks. This is unprecedented. It's being touted as a bold and progressive move. Where will this money come from? China?
At this time last year, we were being told that the subprime mortgage crisis probably would not affect other sectors of the U.S. economy, much less the world economy. Wrong. A few months ago we were told that consumers were confident, employers were confident. Wrong. In recent weeks we were told that the nation is not in recession. Wrong again. It's about time we stop living in denial and start taking the steps that are really going to turn things around, starting with getting out of a war that we can't afford to continue.