Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Bankrupt Silicon Valley Crybabies - Try Living Within Your Means

Reading this post on WebGuild about "Down and Out in Silicon Valley" really pisses me off.

The author is trying to make me feel bad about someone making $12K/month ($144K/year) that's now grabbing grub at the food pantry and using food stamps.

Give me a fucking break, why the hell did you spend it all?

What part of "bank" didn't you understand?

Back in the 90's someone I used to work with was a multi-millionaire just from his stock options in one company.

What did he do?

You probably already guessed it, he bought a million dollar house, hundred thousand dollar cars, all of it on credit of course and kept the money in the stock market.

Ujita just arranged for a new food pantry in Los Gatos where the median income is $175,000 and where many home owners have been wiped out. Their mortgages have overtaken the value of their homes and a layoff quickly depletes theirs saving and soon they find themselves in soup kitchens.
Classic mistake, when you can afford to pay cash, pay cash and keep your ass debt free within reason and have some of those things called assets, which you can sell when the shit hits the fan and you need money.

Well, of course my friend lost it all when the dot-com bubble burst and was sitting there with massive payments needing to be made and millions gone in a flash, POOF!

So ask yourself, if you can't afford to pay cash for a new Cadillac Escalade but you could pay cash for a Buick, maybe you stick to a Buick budget, or perhaps get a used car a couple of years old at nearly half the price.

People are out of their fucking minds trying to impress people with bigger better faster newer cooler and then when it hits the fan expect everyone to feel sorry for their plight, loan them money, cut them slack, bummer dude.

For instance when I worked in the corporate world of Silicon Valley almost everyone on my team was driving Mercedes and Porches while I was driving a Ford or a Buick and pressuring me to get with the program and get a car that went with the status of the job.

Guess what, that's $50K price difference between what I paid for my car vs. theirs and my cash went into the bank while their cash depreciated every time they drove that car.

I'm not jealous, if driving that $100K car makes you think your dick is bigger or harder than mine, then enjoy your big fucking expensive car but don't expect sympathy from me when the economy blows a gasket and you have no money because you spent it all.

Wah fucking wah.

I'll admit I blew a wad on a 50" plasma TV but of course I could afford it just off the interest earned from the money I saved not buying the overpriced German car.

If you can't afford it, don't buy it and the next time the economy takes a dump you'll survive with something called "savings", one of those magical things banks help you accomplish if you don't fucking spend it all trying to impress your goddamn friends and family.

Nobody will be impressed when you're homeless.

3 comments:

Dudibob said...

Great post! Annoys me all these people that expect hand outs and expect to be better than other people because they have a bigger debt >:(

Mike said...

It really does no good to wag fingers as people who borrowed too much in the U.S. It's not their fault.

You can't expect a lion to be disciplined enough to just ignore a truckload of prime file mignon sauteed in vodka, mushrooms, carrots, and onions if you threw it at him can you? :-) The solution is to not throw him the meat in the first place!

If the Federal Reserve didn't interfere in the free market, then credit wouldn't of been so easy all these years. The cost of money, aka interest rates, used to be regulated by the free market. If the free market had been allowed to work then interest rates would of been MUCH higher and credit would of been MUCH harder to get. There would be much less chance of people getting in over their heads.

However, the Fed interfered in the free market for decades, keeping interest rates artificially low. To expect people to be voluntarily disciplined is unrealistic. Even the most well educated person can get into trouble with easy credit.

What is realistic is to retire the Federal Reserve, go back to a disciplined monetary system like the gold standard, shrink the Federal Government, and return to a real market driven economy instead of the failed socialist/centralized/capitalist hybrid we have now.

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/

RON PAUL - Audit the Federal Reserve!!! - HR 1207
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlmXUiEgNO8

Nick said...

To cut it short: There are people who buy things they don't need with money they don't have to impress people they don't like. Do we have to feel pity for them? I don't think so.