Laura Rowley Money & Happiness

Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, July 7, 2008, 3:23PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

Laura: In a past comment I slammed you for not incorporating greed in your thesis on how We got into this current mess. So clearly I am happy to see a well written, creative insight with such a theme. The next fifty years will be renamed "The American Dream Crunch" because that's exactly what this prolonged deleveraging and 'credit crunch' is exposing. Debt, manipulating money supply, inflation/deflation and controlling inventory and unemployment have been the keys to success for the past century. These same things will lead to the USA's long-term contraction in the next. We must prepare ourselves for reductions in our standards of living. I used to think economists like Milton Friedman (and even trader Jim Rogers now) were a little wacky with their "Abolish the Fed" calls. But I fully understand their logic now, as we are living the mistake they saw so long ago. We will not be able to inflate our way out of this one (its already here). And additional stimulative debt (government projects/spending) appears out of the question. Borrowing from ourselves (IOUs to SS and Medicare trusts) is bad press and overdone. The only solution left is quite painful--50% taxes and major cuts in all programs. But wait, maybe Congress will authorize the creation of a Governmental Off-Balance Sheet Vehicle--The Super Mega SIV--where all of our Treasury debt obligations 'wont count' on the USA balance sheet, and we can just start over with our borrowing spree.

Yahoo! Finance User - Friday, July 4, 2008, 3:50PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

Thank You Laura Rowley. Your article touches on an important but under-reported topic. Please give us more about how hard work and dedication to an employer, along with scrimping and saving, does not guarantee "the good life". We may need to be satisfied with (if we're lucky) living about the same lifestyle as our parents. It seems the class system is alive and well in America. Breaking through it is indeed rare. The American Dream may be just that: a dream!

Yahoo! Finance User - Friday, July 4, 2008, 11:42AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 1/5

Any good morality play would have the honest, hard-working man as the winner.

Patrick Maroey - Thursday, July 3, 2008, 4:41PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

Well written and true. I had to cry a tear or two.

THOMAS - Saturday, June 28, 2008, 1:05PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 3/5

As far as you go, you are correct. But I wish to add that you have chosen Easy Targets. How about an article which describes how the American Dream has always been bogus? I'm afraid you haven't examined privilege in its more complicated forms. The White position that it's MY Hard Work That Got Me Where I Am is the real text. A more self-serving, disingenuous text has never been swallowed by more people in one place. Get up the money, Ms. Rowley and write something less easy. Tom Williams

Robert B. - Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 7:13PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

A key player is TV, the BS amplification and sales-pitch delivery service we still stupidly believe in. And we park our kids in front of it, letting them be brainwashed by sophisticated psychological techniques for so much of their day, while they are so impressionable. We're the idiots.

Yahoo! Finance User - Sunday, June 22, 2008, 8:18PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

This article should be required third grade curriculum to study and understand

Michael - Saturday, June 21, 2008, 2:47PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

So true!

NA - Saturday, June 21, 2008, 10:18AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

Most brilliant article I have read from Laura Rowley. Better than her previous cliche on savings, investing in stock, etc. This article is insightful - from someone who have worked with those Ivy investment bankers with a gold watch and Donna Karan suit.

Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 9:49AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

Outstanding! I'm tired of hearing about Latte Factors, and penny pinching from the financial writers. By the way, my minivan is 9 years old, not 8... It was refreshing to hear some serious punches taken at the financial mess we are seeing. http://www.checkthebudget.com

Yahoo! Finance User - Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 8:03AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 1/5

theres no magic wand....put this article in the preschool section

Doreen - Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 2:56AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

All too true. But what's an honest person to do? There are no alternatives.

x - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 9:55PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

You know, I'm the guy who works in IT. My house is very modest, my car has a quarter million miles on it. I'm active in my church and in civic activities, and thank God, things at this moment are fairly stable. I'm sick of listening to the same fools who got us into this mess preach the gospel (lies) of the quick buck. They are the ones telling us of the new prosperity to come with globalization, but we hicks out here in dog patch are not seeing it.... all we are seeing is MILLIONS of our neighbors being cast out of the middle class. I'm sick of greed, I'm sick of listening to fools telling people that they understand what they don't know about. They were not even smart enough or conservative enough to act with discreation over MOUNTAINS of cash. I'm sick of the arrogance. I'm sick of going to the store and picking up EVERYTHING made in China. At the risk of sounding sacreligious WE are fools for not dethroning the three kings... 1. Our own miserable leadership, it's the worst I've ever seen it. Our president ignores our plight and feeds us platitudes, the congress (as usual) is paid for by powers beyond our control... 2. Our own indifference to the country's and our neighbors well-being, 3. Most of all, our own greed and stupidity.... expecting a constant 15% return on a 401k is STUPID... it's STUPID, STUPID, STUPID... and the expectations are driving healthy companies to sell off assets to meet expectations... ITS STUPID The next president is going to have to raise taxes, or slice deeply into the government's budget. A lot of the scum on Wall Street may eventually decide to walk out on this country (literally or figuratively)... they cannot be trusted. Our educational system is a joke, compared to the one I experienced. Our kids learn about endangered frogs, and not the math, science humanities, and reading they SHOULD be learning In my opinion, our colleges have turned into little more than technical vocational education centers and decadent, politically correct moral cesspools where the ethics and values of our ancestors are being urinated on. Our people have turned our backs on each other, buying what benefits "ME".... acting out what benefits me, treating others like expendable garbage. I see it, I hear I come home coated with it and have to wash it off.... I have no more optimism left for the 20-odd working years left before I get slotted in an old folks home someplace. I wish I could have lived entirely during the cold war... at least then we knew who the enemies were...

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 8:39PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

This is depressing, but sadly, so true. I rent, save, pay ludicrous amounts of taxes, and invest the little that's left over. In other words, I did everything right, and lived responsibly. But it looks like I'll be paying higher taxes so that "we can keep people in their homes"! What BS! Well I've learned my lesson. I plan to roll my dice in the next bubble. I either strike it rich, or the government will bail me out. Win-win for me, someone else can hold the bag!

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 7:05PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

Finally! Someone who actually acknowledges that there's blame to be had on all sides of the mortgage crisis equation. Greedy borrowers are just as culpable as the greedy lenders. And us poor fools who didn't fall for that nonsense are stuck holding the bag while they all skate off scot-free (though maybe with no more McMansion to live in).

Brian C - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 6:35PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 3/5

Wake up! Work smarter! Owning a home is not an investment! Wake up and smell the roses. They guy telling you the "American Dream" is for you is MAKING THE MOST. Don't play his/her game. Figure it out because in the future this is the way it is. Work for some one and they get rich. Work for your self and tell the guy what your "American Dream" is because you know you want not what he tells you!

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 5:51PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

Ah! The American Dream. Work hard. Go to college. Get an advanced degree. Get a bunch of debt. Work 60 hours a week for 20 years to pay off the debt. Accumulate a bunch of toys along the way. And then one day you collapse at your office from asymptomatic coronary artery disease and diabetes. No disrespect, Tim Russert. May you rest in peace. You were a good guy from what I could tell. But to the rest of the 1-Stars on this board, may you reap what you sow in this pump and dump scheme we call the American Dream. -- Livin' the life in Paris (an ex-pat)

Chris - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 5:03PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

Dear "Finance User:" So do you think what everyone else did was RIGHT?

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 3:46PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

I'm probably a little twisted, but it's kind of enjoyable to read stuff like this, all you people blaming others for everything. It tells me that all the complainers and folks strongly agreeing with this article planned poorly and probably are living beyond their means, borrowing money for everything including a house you can't really afford. If you had been planning your finances well, and living well below your means, not borrowing money to have everything now-now-now, you wouldn't care what the banker, broker, etc. did morally wrong, because it would have little or no effect on you. People have come to think the "American Dream" is not only a right, but a right RIGHT NOW, no waiting. Well, now you get to pay for falling for that, following what others do, agreeing to borrow money just because somebody offered it to you. And, now you want the govt to bail you out!! Ridiculous. I expect some angry responses letting me know how I'm wrong, let me have 'em!

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 3:45PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

Time has caught up with America, Big houses, SUVS, Ipods - a do nothing government - the republican right are briainless - Larry Kudlow believers. The dollar declines everyday. Education up thru college is terrible. With all this said America will be a better place to live in 20 to 30 years. China & India will go down the same path as USA except faster. Values character and fethics will win out over greedy CEOS and the likes Bush Cheney , Robert Nardelli, Angelo Mazzolo, etc. When America awakes the greedy better look out. Everybody gets what they deserve in the long run. Ethics will eventually win or this world will cease to exist,

No nickname here - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 1:40PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

I recently read a Federal Reserve Bank of Boston online newsletter with an article about a graph showing foreclosure rates over the past 10 years for prime and subprime mortgages. The foreclosure rate for prime rate customers was usually under 5 percent, but the foreclosure rate for subprime mortgage rate borrowers was usually near 15 percent, even back in 1997 and 1998. Lenders to subprime borrowers have always been thinking, "1 in 7 of this type borrower will fail. I don't know which one by name, but 1 in 7 will fail." Many subprime rate borrowers never realize that their high interest rate loan is partly due to the lender's expectation that one in seven will go into default. Many will not make any other sacrifices (saving money, buying U.S. Savings Bonds on a monthly basis, using "rabbit ear antenna TV" instead of a subscription to cable or satellite TV, or use other methods to not spend money) to have a "hurricane day fund". We live in a country where the average job tenure length for all wage and salary workers ages 35 to 44 has been 5.0 years or less for the past 10 years, and under 3 years for workers ages 25 to 34. My source is http://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.toc.htm . There are some people whose only consumer credit loans are the mortgage payment, auto loan, and education loan, but I think that they are in the minority.

Justine - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 10:55AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

Cute, funny and on point! If only I could have known, years ago when I bought my home...I would have bought more than I could afford, no doubt...and waited for the government to bail ME out! But, alas, it's not to be...in this land of idiocracy.

grambo - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 10:46AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 3/5

Clever piece. And a lot of truth within. As to the comments below: I find it ironic that many of those pointing bony fingers at capitalism ignore the fact that it was socialist tendencies that brought about the sub-prime fiasco. The notion that "everyone is entitled to own their own home" is, of course, absurd. But it was this path that got the housing market in such a (temporary) bind. Congress was, as y'all no doubt know, complicit in this .... and this may partly explain their eagerness to come up with various bail-out schemes. I say let the chips fall.

Karl - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 10:25AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

A fun read. Growbyluck has an interesting comment. How does the government "redistribute" wealth TO the rich FROM the poor?! Is that when the government takes less from them? What a load of idiocy! Why is it that people belive that socialism is the answer to America's problems? That would just bring everybody down to the lowest common denominator. I am a mid-40s guy with a good job and saving for retirement that should be enough to be comfortable in my old age, but the direction this country is headed scares me to death. The idea that some grand socialist expirement could come along and tell me the I have "too much" and "need" to pay for those who have not planned or saved so they can enjoy their old age, while I eat cat food is something I just can't stomach (pun intended).

Slugabug - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 9:37AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

"However, stripping out energy and food prices, which can swing widely from month to month, the "core" rate of inflation rose 0.2 percent in May, an improvement from the prior month's 0.4 percent increase." The American Dream can be achieved. All we have to do is stop eating and driving to work.

Alias - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 8:00AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

A little corny, yet very entertaining and sooooo very spot-on.

Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 12:22AM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 4/5

In the passed we townsfolk would tar and feather the "snake oil salesmen'. Now we look to the government for the morale deliverance. Right. Enjoyed the fairy tale recital, we "folks" need simplistic / parables in so to understand are sub-prime / arm economic plight. Real estate is predicated on the grater fool theory, with the dumbing down of are education system, no wonder we sheep are in line to be so well sheared. Wake-up smell the roses this is America well all have right to go for broke. I have a small business. The greed thinking is (was) world wide. I read where major European banks need to be bail-out do to American investment bankers (snakes) dubious mortgage backed securities and there rubber stamping securities raters (extra tar here please). We do need to look in the mirror, we stand in line for "ninja" loans to purchase homes. No income No assists No credit No down. Just move-in ! Wow an entitlment ?? Right. Or the emperor has no cloths after making his first monthly payment. These risky loans only help to hipper inflate the markit, as here in LA. Now the adjustment. No bail outs please. Be aware of the law of unintended circumstances. As the above for tales. In reality it is only a domicile and I appreciate the roof when it occasionally rains here.

Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, June 16, 2008, 9:30PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

One day the line "greed is good" may replace "In God we trust".

x - Monday, June 16, 2008, 9:01PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

I agree with shooter's comments 06-15-08 2:40pm Excellent satire. Unfortunately it sums up the situation quite well.

Yahoo! Finance User - Monday, June 16, 2008, 7:01PM ET  Report Abuse

• Overall: 5/5

vovka91, I'm a so-called liberal and I've tried to move out of America to Europe several times. It is a very difficult thing to do. It takes quite a bit of money to pay for the move, legal emigration issues, etc. I get so frustrated when I hear people in America say, "If you don't like it you can move to Europe." I have lived in Europe and was much happier with the mixed economy lifestyle than America's dog-eat-dog capitalist lifestyle. Much happier. Would you be willing to pay for my expenses for the first year until I get my feet set? If so, please let me know and I will send you my contact information. Thank you.