OT: Monday Rant

Sorry I just had to speak up and say something. I have been reading over all these companies and such seeking chapter 11 protection and about how the banks are being tight with the lending and all that other good stuff. Well as far as I can see it a lot of these companies brought it on theselves. A good case in point: WAL-MART another good case VALUE CITY.

A lot of these places were like oh lets do away with the layaway program and tell the general public we will help them out by getting them credit and all that jazz. If that is help then I dont want it.

Lets look at this more logically then these idiots they place in executive offices.

1. How many people are defaulting on credit? Seems like a lot to me.
2. If you offer the layaway option and the person renigs on the contract, the store is not out any merchandice and in most cases they did have a small return fee that had to paid on cancelled layaways so the store actually earned money and kept the merchandise.
3. Instead of offering layaway lets offer them more credit. HMM seems like a round and round we go solution to me.

These people in power really need to be knocked down. Maybe force them to live on what we 'Normal' people live on then it might give them some real perspective on living.

There are so many areas in which these people in power with blinders on could improve but they choose not to. They would rather look the other way, say it is not that bad, pretend it dont exist or do some other task. Just really jerks me around when everyone but these people can see the real problems.

Sorry just had to rant. Have a great day.

A Lay-away program is nothing more than a forced savings program for the customer. Nowdays, not many companines want to assume the extra hassle and accounting expenses for the small rewards. If Wal-Mart is getting out, you can bet it is because lay-aways are not making money for them.

If you need a savings program, go to your local credit union and open an account and set up an automatic withdrawal from your paycheck each payday. They will be pleased to have you, and you will earn a little interest on the money before you spend it.

Please don't lump WalMart in with the bankrupt banks. Last I heard, WalMart was making more money than ever, because they are getting customers that can no longer afford to go to the higher-priced stores. Please don't blame the banks -- they were doing fine until Sept 11, 2001. After that date, our smart congressional leaders said that the country needed some "stimulus" so they lowered the lending requirements and made it so that ANYONE could buy a house. It took only 7 years for that turkey buzzard to come home to roost.

Lack of personal savings is the main reason we are having a financial melt-down. Many have borrowed so much against their houses (for other purposes) that they owe more than their houses are worth. Credit card debt is also out of control. The national savings rate has been ZERO or even negative for a long time now. When people are not saving, they are living off of their capital, their homes in this case.

In the U.S, the People In Power know what is happening, but they can only do so much, and it will NOT BE ENOUGH THIS TIME. $700 BILLION BAIL-OUT - what a laugh. There is no $700 billion, the government does not have a big pot of money to save us all. That $700 billion is only "I.O.U"'s borrowed from the future. They can only print so much new money and create so much new government debt, before the wealthy people and foreign governments (who buy government bonds) will not accept any more of the worthless paper. It is very similar to events in the period 1929-1938 in the US. Most of the people who lived through those times are dead, so there were not enough left to shout "wolf at the door". We are doomed to repeat those events, and I am not looking forward to the hard times.

Government programs will not save us this time from runaway personal greed and poor spending habits. Only personal sacrifice can save us now. It is going to be a long hard road back, probably for the next 10 years. For the first time, some of you Boomers and Gen Xers will learn what it means to do without, because you don't have the cash to buy.

We old-timers have been through runaway inflation before. If there is something that you just can't do without for the next few years, you had better set aside some money to stock up now. You may not be able to buy it later, or it may take a bushel basket of $100 bills to get it.

I say, pay off your debts, save some money, stock up on canned goods, drinking water, firewood, and candles. You are going to need all the assets you can find in the next few years. May we all make it through, but I am afraid it may get down to survival of the fittest.

Lancie1 said:

We old-timers have been through runaway inflation before.

Click to expand...

I thought the problem was going to be deflation.
Everybody holding on to what cash they had because the future prices would be lower. Basically all nonessential purchases grinding to a halt. There are no easy answers to this mess.

Brian.

Lancie1 said:

Please don't blame the banks -- they were doing fine until Sept 11, 2001. After that date, our smart congressional leaders said that the country needed some "stimulus" so they lowered the lending requirements and made it so that ANYONE could buy a house. It took only 7 years for that turkey buzzard to come home to roost.

Click to expand...

While that's very true, it started well before Sept 11. Clinton's repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that allowed banks to enter into the securities business, started the sub-prime mess. That was in 1999. It was all part of 'legislative modernization' of the Community Reinvestment Act which pushed banks to lend money to non-attractive lenders. There were Four such 'modernizations' from 1992 to 1999 and a fifth one in 2005 that contributed to the lax lending requirements. It was not sept 11, 2001.

Hey Lancie, good reply but I don't completely agree with part of your 3rd paragraph.

Just because the requirements were lowered by the govt. doesn't absolve them of their resposibility to the shareholders.

They were not forced to take the risks but they did. It's spelled G R E E D.

Meanwhile the executives reaped HUGE salaries for their management "skills".

Many banks did not "over lend" and are still solvent.

As a US taxpayer, this is my money not congress's. I don't want to be in the banking, real estate or car business.

As bad as it may seem, some of these companies need to fail, reorganize, and become profitable again or disappear.

There will much pain just as there was so much pleasure.

Thx.

As a US taxpayer, this is my money not congress's. I don't want to be in the banking, real estate or car business.

Click to expand...

Don't worry, you won't own anything unless you buy stock in the companies. The "money" (really new debt issued through government bonds--to be repaid later by guess who?) is not being used that way--the banks are using the bail-out money to buy out their compeitors, a smart way to get cheap capital if you have the "right" political connections.

Folks, we are not going to survive this one in the same form. On the other side, things are going to be different (socialist economy).

They were not forced to take the risks but they did.

Click to expand...

You need to do some more research on this. Fannie and Freddie were "highly encouraged" to buy those type loans from banks. The only source of sub-prime loans was banks and mortgage companies. Once one of them did it, the others more of less had to follow the leader, in order to get any new loans. The source of the idea should be blamed, not the businesses who implemented what Congress dictated. True, those companies knew it would all fall in someday, but hey, there was an implied government guarantee, which in fact has proven to be valid. If you were a mortgage company looking to make a loan, and it had a guarantee by the highest authority in the land, and your competition down the street was doing it, then why not? Are you saying if you had been a President of one of these companies, that you would have refused to make sub-prime loans (and risked being fired for low performance)?

There are people in government who are working tirelessly to convince the citizens that it is not Congress's fault, but is only the greed of big business. I don't think so--our leaders screwed up by taking the apparent easy path, as they ALWAYS do. Don't be fooled.

It doesn't matter too much what caused it anyway. It has HAPPENED, but it is US who will suffer for our leaderships's poor decisions.

One thing I've never figured out is how the US could go on seemingly forever as a net importer of goods.

If I spend more money than I make in a relatively short period of time I'll go broke.

If I'm a company and my product costs more to produce then I can sell it for, I'll go broke.

The US has been spending more than it's producing for decades, and now, it's broke.

Economics 101 from a sparky.

allscott said:

One thing I've never figured out is how the US could go on seemingly forever as a net importer of goods.

Click to expand...

As a net exporter of knowledge, experience and information.

When Cisco Systems builds a router at its plant at China and that router then gets shipped to be installed on a corporate net in LA - it crosses US border and the customs check it as an imported good.

Now, if you look at a bigger picture...

Subject: Fw: Nationwide Store Closings, buy holiday gift cards CAREFULLY!
I just received this from a friend. I also heard consumer talk
show 'guru' Clark Howard say the other day that many of these chain
stores will be completely out of business by February, the result of our
declining economy and the recent Wall Street mess. He suggested that
giving/receiving holiday gift cards from most chain stores will be very
risky this year.

Subject: Nationwide Store Closings


Be very wary of gift certificates this Christmas. Just
in case you already have them, use those Gift Certificates immediately
or you may lose them! Levitz, and Bombay have already shut down.


STORE CLOSINGS AND LAYOFFS

Ann Taylor closing 117 stores nationwide. A company spokeswoman said the company hasn't revealed which stores will be shuttered. It will let the stores that will close this fiscal year know over the next month

Eddie Bauer to close more stores. Eddie Bauer has already closed 27 shops in the first quarter and plans to close up to two more outlet stores by the end of the year.

Cache closing stores. Women's retailer Cache announced that it is closing 20 to 23 stores this year.

Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines closing 150 stores nationwide. The owner of retailers Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug , Catherine's Plus Sizes will close about 150 under performing stores this year. The company hasn't provided a list of specific store closures and can't say when it will offer that info, spokeswoman Brooke Perry said today.

&nb sp ; Talbots, J. Jill closing stores. About a month ago, Talbot's announced that it will be shuttering all 78 of its kids and men's stores. Now the company says it will close another 22
under performing stores.. The 22 stores will be a mix of Talbot's women's and J. Jill , another chain it owns. The closures will occur this fiscal year, according to a company press release.

Gap Inc. closing 85 stores. In addition to its namesake chain, Gap also owns Old Navy and Banana Republic . The company said the closures - all planned for fiscal 2008 - will be weighted toward the Gap brand.

Foot Locker to close 140 stores. In the company press release and during its conference call with analysts today, it did not specify where the future store closures - all planned in fiscal 2008 - will be. The company could not be immediately reached for comment

Wickes is going out of business. Wickes Furniture is going out of business and closing all of its stores, Wickes, a 37-year-old retailer that targets middle-income customers, filed for
bankruptcy protection last month.

Zales, Piercing Pagoda closing stores. The owner of
Zales and Piercing Pagoda previously said it plans to close 82 stores by July 31. Today, it announced that it is closing another 23 under
performing stores. The company said it's not providing a list of specific store closures. Of the 105 locations planned for closure, 50 are kiosks and 55 are stores.
< BR> Disney Store, exact number of stores acquired will depend on negotiations with landlords.

Those subsidiaries of Children's Place filed for bankruptcy protection in late March.

Home Depot, Nearly 7+ months after its chief executive said there were no plans to cut the number of its core retail stores, The Home Depot Inc. announced Thursday that it is shuttering
15 of them amid a slumping U.S. economy and housing market. The move will affect 1,300< SPAN class=apple-style-span> employees. It is the first time the world's largest home improvement store chain has ever closed a flagship store for performance reasons. Its shares rose almost 5 percent. The Atlanta-based
company said the under performing U.S. stores being closed represents less than 1 percent
of its existing stores. They will be shuttered within the next two months.

CompUSA (CLOSED) clarifies details on store closings. Any extended warranties purchased for products through CompUSA will be honored by a third-party provider, Assurant Solutions. Gift cards, rain checks, and rebates purchased prior to December 12 can be redeemed at any time during the final sale. For those who have a gadget currently in for service with CompUSA, the repair will be completed and the gadget will be returned to owners.
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9834177-7html
<http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9834177-7.html

Circuit City - Up to 150 stores to be closed nationwide.

Macy's - 9 stores, so far

Movie Gallery - 160 stores as part of reorganization plan to exit bankruptcy. The video rental company plans to close 400 of 3,500 Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video stores in addition to
the 520 locations the video rental chain closed last fall.

Pep Boys - 33 stores
&n bsp;
Sprint Nextel - 125 retail locations. New Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse appears to have inherited a company bleeding subscribers by the thousands, and will now officially be dropping the ax on 4,000 employees and 125 retail locations. Amid the loss of 639,000 postpaid customers in the fourth quarter, Sprint will be cutting a total of 6.7% of its work force (following the 5,000 layoffs last year) and 8% of company-owned brick-and-mortar stores, while remaining mute on other rumors that it will consolidate its headquarters in Kansas . Sprint Nextel shares are down $2.89, or nearly 25%, at the time of this writing.

J. C. Penney, Lowe's and Office Depot have all annouced that they scaling back."

Ethan Allen Interiors: The company announced plans to close 12 of 300+ stores in an effort to cut costs.

Rich

Wilsons the Leather Experts - 158 stores

Pacific Sunwear will close its 154 Demo stores after a review of strategic alternatives for the urban-apparel brand. Seventy-four under performing Demo stores closed last May.

Sharper Image: The company recently filed for bankruptcy protection and announced that 90 of its 184 stores are closing. The retailer will still operate 94 stores to pay off debts, but 90 of thes e stores have performed poorly and also may close..

KB Toys posted a list of 356 stores that it is closing around the United States as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. To see the list of store closings, go to the KB Toys Information web site, and click on Press Information

Dillard's to Close More Stores. Dillard's Inc. said it will continue to focus on closing under performing stores, reducing expenses and improving its merchandise in 2008. At the company's
annual shareholder meeting, CEO William Dillard II said the company will close another six
under performing stores this year.

NOTE: It appears that American Express is underwriting many of the malls' own gift certificates -- you purchase at any mall's main office and then use them just as you would a credit card, at any of the stores in that mall. Additionally, they will replace, if misplaced, as long as you have recorded the certificate number safely somewhere else.

Here is a little food for thought.
Rich