Depends on which one it was and if they were both standing by for the same flight.

Thank you, I'll be here all week, try the Biscoffs.

 

There, fixed it for you.

 

One word caused the financial meltdown... GREED!!! Many people had a hand in it. The banks, borrowers, and investors! The local governments were loving the higher values as property taxes soared and the money came flowing in. The banks were loaning money to anyone who had a heartbeat which was a huge risk. The idiots who took those loans and defaulted also are to blame. Everyone wanted to make a quick buck. I live near Sacramento and people from the Bay Area were buying up the houses here in droves. They would buy them and rent them out or turn around and sell them for a quick profit. That's part of the reason our home prices were so artificially inflated here. People were taking 2nd and 3rd mortgages out to pay for a bunch of toys. It was one big massive mess created by a bunch of greedy people looking to make a quick buck. Some innocent and responsible people got screwed, too. What about the young couple who buys their first house, just to see the value dump by more than 50% a couple years later? Then they see their neighborhood go to hell after all the houses around them are being foreclosed on. Or the responsible Delta pilot who gets displaced and can't move because he's upside down in his mortgage. Commuting's a choice... RIGHT!

 

Never mind...............

 

The growing wealth gap between Congress and constituents: By the numbers - The Week

 

I may be mistaken, but wasn't it under Clinton that Frank and Dodd drafted legislation requiring banks to make loans to people that the banks knew couldn't afford them. If the banks didn't make the loans, the banks couldn't get the federal approvals to expand.

 

Those settlements probably aren't what they appear to be for someone who hasn't dealt with the IRS.

A couple years ago my tax preparer didn't include one of my 1099s when he filed. I didn't notice it was missing either, since it was in the pile, just not on the form. IRS noticed it six months later, and the notice said I owed about $20,000. They put every deduction/expense in dispute. I really owed about $100, plus a little penalty.

Moral of the story, they send you a HUGE bill to get your attention. So when I settled for pennies on the dollar, I didn't get out of $19,850 in taxes, just fixed a small error. I suspect most of those "pennies on the dollar" stories are similar.

 

Call Curtis at DALPA. He's the man. One stop shopping.

 

Thanks for sharing that. I hope that's the case for most of those who use those services. Man, I don't envy you having to get a letter like that, even if it worked out pretty well in the end.

 

I know this is going to sound hardass in this day of undeserved self-affirmation, but none of the financial and investment misjudgment you've stated here caused the extreme home valuation rise...that was caused by the home buyer who agreed to buy their homes at prices that were almost doubling every two years when inflation was not. When buyers are willing to pay any price for something, a bubble will ensue.

Also, none of the financial and investment misjudgment you've stated caused home valuations to collapse. That was caused by people walking away from their contractual promises to pay those mortgages when home prices stopped doubling every two years. Mom and pop speculators were buying as many homes as their leverage would allow, betting that prices would continue to skyrocket. When the speculators walked away from their promises to pay, the bubble burst. Now we have websites devoted to teaching you how to walk away from a mortgage you can afford, but to free yourself from a home you've paid too much for. Its an outrageous example of what happens when too many of us lose our moral compass. And banks have noticed this missing moral compass. Thus loans have dried up. This should come as no surprise to anyone.

Carl