Now that we are at the tail end of the massive redistribution of America's wealth to the top earners, I thought I would toss in my perspective on it.
2002-2006 = Mortgage companies (and Realtors) go insane selling homes, by getting people to borrow money from their families and adjusting tax deductions upward. A failure cocktail. Adjustable rate mortgages rule..
2003-2008 = Banks buy up the mortgages and bundle them into "commodities". Which they sell shares for, to rich people at first (they get in at the bottom), then to pension plans and 401K managers next(not at the bottom). The late buyers inflate the prices, and the homes market rockets. The banks also hedge on these "commodities" going bust, selling that deal to the ultra rich.
2005 = I cash out my 401K and pay the tax of 13% on that.
2007-2008 = Big businesses start mass layoffs, allowing them to start saving cash, and their rich owners (mentioned above) sit back and watch. All the rich people see that the number of foreclosures are starting to rise (due to the unemployment they just created), so that triggers their sales in the "commodities" (they make a mint because all the 401K plans inflated the price). This tanks their value, and the value of the homes. This also pays off the Hedge Funds that hedged on the "commodities", and they make a mint from the banks. The 401K retirement plans don't even try to cash out their shares, and lose 40%-60% of their value. Yes, you were bent over the whole time. TAKING IT.
2009 = The banks that did all this in the first place, get bail outs from the very people they just fucked over, that would be YOU.
2009-2010 = The banks begin a mass foreclosure campaign (bit-o-controversy) so they can take back all the "assets" (homes they sold to people they knew couldn't afford them) and now wait till their value to appreciate, then flip them later for another profit. They also pocket any cash home owners have paid to date, free of charge.
Through every step of this debacle, the rich have harvested what little wealth there is, from the middle class and poor (your retirement and savings). No one has done shit to make it right. We have been played and no one did a thing to stop it. You can change that though.
Don't let the big banks do it to you
again. Get your money out of any retirement account of any kind, and put it into long term CDs. Get away from the big banks, and into Credit Unions or smaller local banks. Save some cash and pay off your credit cards, so you don't get screwed with fees (knuckle down and do it, I did).
Leave these greedy bastards to feed off each other, and not YOU. PEACE.
