Common Ground - Because We're In This Together

Credit Card Rules to Change: Burley Men Will Punch All Companies, Customers in Face.

2008-12-18T13:29:00.000-08:00

Credit Cards will no longer be an incomprehensible maze of debt and numbers, or at least, that's what the intended government plan will be if allowed to come to fruition. In a gesture meant to ward off congressional action, Federal Regulators proposed new rules for credit card companies. A quick breakdown deals with keeping interest rates at a reasonable level.

"The rules, which take effect in July 2010, will allow credit card companies to raise interest rates only on new credit cards and future purchases or advances, rather than on current balances."

Here are the Rule Changes for those who want an in-depth look at our future ...

Wow! They can do that now? Holy shit!

But wait ... there's a downside, sort of, maybe, perhaps. But it all depends on how you view learning from history or not.

"But the changes also could make it more difficult for millions of people with bad credit to get what is known as a subprime card carrying higher interest rates, some experts say."

Well that's not fair at all! People who can't afford to pay off credit cards because they couldn't pay their old credit cards will not be able to get new credit cards? What a mockery of justice! After all, what has subprime credit ever done to hurt anyone?

I mean, besides hurt everyone?

And besides throwing our economy into totally fucked hyperdrive.

The Feds aren't the only people lowering interest...

2008-12-17T08:32:00.000-08:00

So here is another comic from us here at Common Ground. Enjoy.

Click to enlarge.

Things Cost almost 2 percent less! Cost for gas decreases as less people have to drive to work, their homes!

2008-12-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

So as the economy continues its epic implosion (explosion) there is a thin bright ray of good news piercing the otherwise bleak economic landscape. The consumer price index, which is a federal government synthesis of core goods and services, fell more than 1.7 percent.

And why?

"The overall slide in prices reflects the big drop in energy costs in recent months. After hitting a record at $147 per barrel in mid-July, crude oil has fallen by $100 per barrel since then, pushing down the price of gasoline from a record $4.11 per gallon in July to $1.34 in the most recent Energy Department survey."

So gas costs less. That sounds like good news. Not so! Says everyone who knows.

"Falling prices for goods and services might sound like a good thing for consumers, but a continued downward spiral can wreak economic havoc. During deflationary periods, companies earning less react by slowing production and cutting jobs, which causes consumers to scale back spending even more. The pattern is hard to stop because it feeds on itself."

And when was the last time deflation was a major problem? The Great Depression.

Happy free fall, fuckers.

Even More Free Money Will Not Help! Says Banker Who Has Taken And Will Gladly Take More Free Money!

2008-12-14T13:07:00.000-08:00

So now the federal government might lower the interest rate on the prime lending rate by a half a percentage point or more! Of course, since it is at 1 percent right now, that raises the prospect of … free money! At least, for banks, not for you guys or for me, that would just be wasteful.

Link below:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081214/ap_on_bi_ge/fed_interest_rates

Of course, here is the gist of the article from the Associated Press …

“Many economists predict the Fed will cut its rate in half — to just 0.50 percent. A few think the Fed could opt for an even more forceful action — lowering rates by a whopping three-quarters percentage point or more. If that larger cut occurs, it would be the lowest on records that track the monthly average of the targeted funds rate going back to 1954.”

Wow! That sounds like a motherfucking shit-ton worth of cuts! And something like that has got to help the economy, right?

“Even an aggressive rate reduction won't turn the economy around, analysts said.

"It is not so much going to give the economy a big push forward. It's more a case of trying to help the economy from being pushed further backward by all these negative events," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group.”

Awesome! So now we have the bankers telling us that borrowing money for free won’t help anyone. Which is a shame, but you don’t see this PNC Bank guy telling anyone not to do it right? After all, free money is free money (except for the bank bailout, which is somehow even free-er money than anyone ever thought possible.

And remember, this is from the bank that is using government funds to buy National City and lay off more than 4,000 people! I am so glad the free money is being put to good use and won't help anyone do anything! Even keep jobs! Yay, so happy!
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/24/news/companies/bank_stocks/index.htm

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1962895/

So to sum this all up.

FAIL!

First teenagers - then hipsters!

2008-12-12T13:50:00.001-08:00

In a story that I can only describe as the very least of my worries, it turns out the scions of the rich are no longer able to count on their parents for stipends, pilates lessons and advanced physics tutoring. The end is really near!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/nyregion/13teens.html?scp=1&sq=%22teenagers%20feel%20the%20crunch%22&st=cse

For those of you who are way to lazy to read an entire article by the New York Times, fuck you. But even so, I will quote some of the best hear for you right now…

“Jodi Hamilton began her senior year of high school in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., this fall on the usual prosperous footing. Her parents were providing a weekly allowance of $100 and paying for private Pilates classes, as well as a physics tutor who reported once a week to their 4,000-square-foot home.”

Indeed, life was a constant struggle to live off of 100 dollars a week. I can only imagine trying to scrimp as a high school senior– but after greedy corporate financiers scraped the pumpkin guts out of our rotten jack-o-lantern of an economy, the Hamiltons had to find way to scrape by …

“Pilates was dropped, along with takeout sushi dinners, and Jodi’s allowance, which covers lunch during the week, slipped to $60. Instead of having a tutor, Jodi has become a tutor, earning $150 a week through that and baby-sitting.”

OH NOES!!!! What will she do now? Her life is over I suppose.

And to top it all off, we have a veritable master in supply and demand tell us something that even the most brain-dead neuron-shitting paste-eater could have told us …

“Research shows that the bigger allowance you get from mom and dad,” explained Andrew M. Sum, director of Northeastern’s center, “the less likely you are to work.”

Awesome!

The End is not even close yet ...

2008-12-12T13:21:00.001-08:00

Click to enlarge...

So no one has any fucking idea when this whole mess is going to end. So the best thing to do now is to lie, lie, and lie some more.

No one understands what the fuck is going on ...

2008-12-12T13:13:00.000-08:00

I think we all need to take a step back and realize that no one actually knows what is going on anymore. It started with default credit swaps, which no one understands, and it morphed into a credit freeze, which no one understands, and has now become a convoluted series of payouts, lines of credit and bond backing that prove once and for all we are all totally full of shit.

Click to enlarge ...

This is only the beginning

2008-12-12T13:10:00.001-08:00

Lets be honest - it could get even worse ...

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Welcome to Common Ground

2008-12-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

So the first post on my new blog was supposed to be about how we can all come together and appreciate some of the more craptastic aspects of life - such as working too many jobs for too little money. But instead, it's going to be about just how fucked-to-death we might be in the near term, as all of our hopes and dreams are exploded into some sort of fiery shit rain.

Well, maybe not quite like that. But I am talking about the money everyone, and how everyone is pretty much out of money.

So I will continue to point out the things that bind us together through these economically recessive times, like unemployment, despair and ultimately - death.

Sit back and enjoy, because the fun is only beginning...