Letter from the boss

[BigPapaVol]

Tell that to the financially ruined former small business owners in Harvest, AL.

why on earth else would the Subway go under? Bottom line is that for many of its patrons, fuel price evaporated disposable income to be spent on eating out and driving to restaurants. All restaurants were hammered by the fuel price and many drive to type destinations were also killed.

 

[UT IE 95]

why on earth else would the Subway go under? Bottom line is that for many of its patrons, fuel price evaporated disposable income to be spent on eating out and driving to restaurants. All restaurants were hammered by the fuel price and many drive to type destinations were also killed.

So when fuel plumetted that issue went away. Bottom line, as you pointed out in another thread, consumer confidence is gone. And that is driven from the top office in Washington down. People have been fed up with our leadership for quite some time.

 

[BigPapaVol]

So when fuel plumetted that issue went away. Bottom line, as you pointed out in another thread, consumer confidence is gone. And that is driven from the top office in Washington down. People have been fed up with our leadership for quite some time.

I don't think that plummeted consumer confidence like the dropping cash supplies in households, drying up of credit, housing values falling off the tabletop and market tanking. I think all of those and the constant "Great Depression" talk destroyed the psyche of the American spender.

Even my wife backed it down voluntarily after reading some news here and there. If you knew what a monumental shift that was, you'd understand. By the by, she likes Bush and thought he was a good leader.

 

[hndog609]

One, most likely not real. Two, I find it interesting the logic of his sentiment on bailing out the people that overspent. Who's to say this guy doesn't own a mortgage company with hundreds of employees? Who is to say he isn't a small-time custom builder? What about a construction company? A raw materials company for home building?

These people profited immensely during this boom of "people that lived beyond their means". Without them, he may not be in business or have nearly the operation it does now. Wouldn't that be a conflict?

it's interesting that you will find this same sentiment from business owners that profited from the exact reason that caused all this in the first place.

In my OP I stated I had no idea if this was an actual letter and I kind of doubt it myself. As to the rest of your post the questions themselves are valid but are still only questions. I believe the point of the "letter" is that someone who has put in the time and effort to personally start a successful business only to be viewed as "the bad evil rich guy" by many and jabbed in the arse by the govt can become tired of having both happen. Moreover, that it is exactly people like him that do in fact help stimulate the economy a heck of a lot more than sending out a check for a few 100 bucks to a buch of people on welfare.

Anyway, that's rather what I took as the "intent" of the "letter".

 

[hndog609]

I assume this was in response to my post. I'm not sure I follow except I'd be interested to hear how the housing crisis is the result of Barney Frank and the Dem Congress.

I have no doubt this is at least somewhat skewed but it does make the argument you wondered about in this post:

Understandably, banks didn't want to make loans that had a strong chance of going bad. They wanted to get rid of them. So ACORN spent tens of thousands of dollars lobbying Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy up subprime loans and sell them around the world as U.S. government securities. Also pressing Fannie and Freddie was Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, and the top Democrat in the House of Representatives on financial matters. Subprime loans rocketed from 2% of total mortgage loans in 2002 to 30% in 2006. Internal reports at Fannie warned that Fannie was getting in too deep with these risky loans, but top brass ignored the warning as Congressional Democrats led by Frank and Democratic Senator Dodd of Connecticut urged them to buy up more.
The demand for housing mushroomed with all the mortgage loan availability. In 2003 President Bush called Congress to rein in Fannie and Freddie, but Democrats led by Frank said everything was fine and no new regulation was needed. Senate Repubicans pushed legisation in 2004, 2005 and 2006, but again Democrats led by Barney Frank said all was peachy keen and no new regulation was needed. All told, Frank and fellow Democrats blocked reform efforts in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.