Sunday, December 09, 2007

Capitalism Finally Digs Himself in (2): Economic Slump in the US

Alphonse
 called me today in afternoon, returning my e-mail. I had written to him that I had to cancel my ticket to Boston and could not see him and that made him upset. He’s doing well and planning to buy a house next year and also a brand new car. It has been less than 2 years since he started a job in a small company but he thinks that it’s the time to enjoy life.
What he has in his mind and his plans and thoughts are all his. I learn what I need to. The important and interesting thing is the short version he delivered regarding what just happened in the US and affected Canada and the entire world. I’ve already written about that but not the cause, which is interesting. I have neither money nor a plan to buy a house. I don’t even think of buying an apartment. I actually did a few times but then changed my mind. I will never do think of that again unless I’m sure that it’s vital and I can mentally afford it, which means having a secure job.
Anyhow what happened in the US is there are two different, I think, major types of mortgage and that’s one with a fixed rate and the other one with a changeable rate. The second one was pushed up somehow by the US banks and that sent many people into a big trouble because having a certain salary, people would not be able to pay their monthly payment. So many claim bankruptcies and the bank got the house from them and put in the market, in an action type. That made the things even worse because the market is so slow as a result of high mortgage rate. The chain of events got to almost everything. Even the American dollar got so weak that you could get $1.1 of it for every single Canadian you earned. The dollar has returned to about where it was more than 2 months ago. It’s $0.98 for each American dollar. I don’t know how it happened but I know that many tried to take advantage of this slump by cross-border shopping and there was stupid news about the assholes who drive all the way to fucking Buffalo in NY or any other close-to-border city and town to spend their fucking easy-to-make money on stupid things like cloths, shoes and other types of shit. There were also news of people who drove all the way Texas and the other states to but a vehicle and the very good thing is those assholes cannot register the cars and drive them due to certain Canadian regulation. So this is what happens to a fucking consuming-capitalism society. People get screwed over and over and the funny thing is these assholes never learn from the stupid mistake the make because they like their American Way of Life!
I have to ask Alfa the current situation in the US. May be he knows what has happened and why the dollar went back to where it was before. I might go to the RBC branch in Georgia Street, in Downtown Vancouver and talk to one of the mortgage specialist of banker. Just to see what’s happening and also see the Downtown. I’ll write about that if I go.
(Photo: Measuring slump assist in determining the status of concrete but I wasn't talking about this type of slump!)

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