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Can We Survive the Next Financial Crisis?

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Re: Can We Survive the Next Financial Crisis?

#281

Post by zaarn »

gascan wrote: post #230
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly feel like it’s nuts that we don’t collectively fund healthcare, precisely because I don’t want to live in a world where I may be ruined by an illness and I am willing to pay to make sure others don’t have to live in that world. However I am specifically a proponent of voluntary collectives for things, as government forced cooperation seems suboptimal and fragile to me.

Aren't these two things mutually incompatible? How do you have universal healthcare that doesn't let anyone be bankrupted by their illness, where participation is also voluntary? And isn't voluntary collective healthcare just another way to describe private insurance companies, especially HMO's?

Well, with universal and mandatory healthcare you wouldn't be bankrupted by your illness since the insurance covers it. The population at large pays for the few that need the expensive treatments.

Re: Can We Survive the Next Financial Crisis?

#282

Post by busterarm »

lsc wrote: post #277
busterarm wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you know your history, it's the "middle class" that has directed just about every non-marxist revolution. I guess I should add the clarification that I think most folks who consider themselves middle-class and who are investing and saving money are actually working-class. If you don't own your residence outright or have the liquid assets to purchase it and still make investments, you are working-class. If you live…

>If you know your history, it's the "middle class" that has directed just about every non-marxist revolution. One can make a strong argument (even from marxist sources) that even the marxist revolutions were mostly directed by the middle class; most of the marxists call it the intelligentsia, but these were mostly educated men at a time when that meant more than it does now. (and even now, I think most people conside…

I completely agree with you, I just didn't want to trigger any socialists into a flamewar.

Re: Can We Survive the Next Financial Crisis?

#283

Post by [deleted] »

acconrad wrote: post #2

One of the few times Bettridge's Law of Headlines doesn't apply. "Survive" is an extreme word here, but I do see a big issue w/ index funds. Perhaps an unpopular opinion - but I believe index funds will be the next major bubble that cripples the financial system. It's one massive way to persist the same inequality status quo. You know what made Bezos so rich in spite of a company that doesn't make much accounting sen…

[deleted]

Re: Can We Survive the Next Financial Crisis?

#284

Post by icedchai »

betterunix2 wrote: post #248
icedchai wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure "most of the population" has at least seen advertisements for ETrade. Probably too complicated for them though. That's why they'll be working until 85 or eating cat food in retirement...

In case you are wondering why you're comment is being downvoted, the issue is not that investing is too complicated for most of the population, it's that most of the population lacks the money to invest in the first place. When you add up the cost of keeping yourself fed, clothed, and sheltered, along with the cost of kids, and maybe also a stay-at-home-spouse as a dependent, and deducting contributions to retirement…

Thanks, but I totally understand why it was being downvoted. I have seen and heard all of that before.

I am fairly convinced, based on the spending attitudes of many people I know, that even if they had extra money, they still would not invest. They would just spend it on a new 4K TV, new car, or a bigger house that they don't need. Most people seek immediate gratification.

Re: Can We Survive the Next Financial Crisis?

#285

Post by crazynick4 »

ajross wrote: post #209
crazynick4 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have an extreme health care incident, why pay the bill? Sure it would hurt your credit score not to, but if it's between that and tens/hundreds of thousands, I think it is worth it to take the hit for 7 years. I know health care workers who give this 'unofficial' advice to their patients and I've had friends and family members do the same thing - people who had no health insurance but still got health care and…

> people who had no health insurance but still got health care This is a harmful myth. It's possible to get emergency care under pretty much any conditions. Everything else isn't available. You can use this trick if you got hit by a truck or had a big infection. It doesn't work to get a hip replacement, or chemo, or post-stroke occupational therapy, or a prosthetic, or a pacemaker, or... That stuff requires insurance…

I was referring to 'extreme' health care incidents. I don't consider it fraud if a person has their back against the wall fighting for their life, and on top of that is dealing with a system that prefers surgery to stem cell injections because of the extra operating room hours that it can bill. Just my personal interpretation.

Re: Can We Survive the Next Financial Crisis?

#286

Post by marktangotango »

smidgeoncoup wrote: post #246
marktangotango wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very interesting indeed, have you written about this anywhere I can read more?

No - at the time I used forums (think creditboards or something like that and others) which have very helpful "armchair experts" that give excellent advice. Lots of form letters/response letters can be found and modified to suit your specifics. Many good strategies can be found and adapted down to the specific collection agency, etc. One of those things all the info is easily 'googled' and just gotta put in the hours…

This is f-cking gold man, I understand if you want to leave it all behind you, but there are millions of people suffering out there like you were. If you could write this up and monetize somehow, could be very lucrative and beneficial to a lot of people.

Re: Can We Survive the Next Financial Crisis?

#288

Post by headmelted »

iamaelephant wrote: post #173
headmelted wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"take the hit for 7 years" This is the advice I've heard given to people who are severely underwater on a mortgage, but the idea that you can get sick one time and be financially ruined is still astonishing to me. I guess everywhere has some legislation that is just bonkers, though. I only just recently found out from a friend that you can't legally walk away from a mortgage here (UK) without declaring bankruptcy lik…

Why is it bananas that you can't just walk away from a debt? The foreclosure system in USA is a significant part of what caused the mortgage crisis.

You should absolutely be able to walk away from a debt.

If I'm a bank, and you come to me for a $75k mortgage on a $100k house, the $25k down is my security. That should be the beginning and end of our transaction.

If you stop paying the mortgage, the bank gets the house. If the bank reasonably believed there was a chance of the house being worth less than the amount borrowed during the term, they shouldn't have made the deal.

It's a simple system that makes perfect sense. Holding people to account beyond the security, as they do in the UK, encourages predatory lending behaviours and is utterly unfair to the borrower.

Re: Can We Survive the Next Financial Crisis?

#289

Post by headmelted »

ACow_Adonis wrote: post #245
headmelted wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"take the hit for 7 years" This is the advice I've heard given to people who are severely underwater on a mortgage, but the idea that you can get sick one time and be financially ruined is still astonishing to me. I guess everywhere has some legislation that is just bonkers, though. I only just recently found out from a friend that you can't legally walk away from a mortgage here (UK) without declaring bankruptcy lik…

It's almost as though both you and the lender should think deeply, be conservative, and do your homework before taking out something as large as a mortgage!

Let's not pull at that thread.

I've tried to convince people for years that the biggest cause of the 2008 crash wasn't the banks, it was the rating agencies, but that's more complicated than people want to get with it.

It's a lot easier to just believe that "the system" is "rigged" and "out to get you".

In the UK, people should've known they couldn't repay their mortgage if they got in trouble, and it's why I continued renting until 2013.

In the US, I'd have happily bought a house with 0% down and no obligation if it goes against me.

Re: Can We Survive the Next Financial Crisis?

#290

Post by ajross »

crazynick4 wrote: post #285
ajross wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people who had no health insurance but still got health care This is a harmful myth. It's possible to get emergency care under pretty much any conditions. Everything else isn't available. You can use this trick if you got hit by a truck or had a big infection. It doesn't work to get a hip replacement, or chemo, or post-stroke occupational therapy, or a prosthetic, or a pacemaker, or... That stuff requires insurance…

I was referring to 'extreme' health care incidents. I don't consider it fraud if a person has their back against the wall fighting for their life, and on top of that is dealing with a system that prefers surgery to stem cell injections because of the extra operating room hours that it can bill. Just my personal interpretation.

And my point was that "extreme" health care incidents represent only a small part of treatments needed, and that people NEED INSURANCE, not to be told "it's OK, you can just not pay".

Your point about "fraud" is just a nitpick over a moral vs. legal definition of the term, and it too isn't helping anyone live a happy life.

Get. Insurance.

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