Butt... i don't have any debt.

I am not in the 0.01%, but everything that i own is mine. Paid for by me. Sure, when it came to my homes, i borrowed from banking institutions, but i used it as a means of leveraging myself into ownership. I paid it all back, and made some money from the increased equity. I then used these funds (plus funds from additional savings/investments) to buy-up into a better home/neighborhood. All the while, making sure that i could afford the payments, in case i lost my job, or had health problems. None of this was by chance, but by design.
I just recently sold my home (@ a +300% return on my initial investment) and bought down (from a 3K square foot home, to a 1200 square foot apartment.) I consider myself lucky that banking institutions exist. Sure, there's plenty of room for improvement in the banking sector, just like there's room for improvement on the public/people side of the equation. Learn to use what's available to you, and be smart about it!

Rant over!

And yes, we should go back to the gold standard.

Good vid, though, weren't it?

Thank you for that post...seriously. I swear to God sometimes I feel like one of the only people that think that way. Sure it's not easy and I'll be the first to admit I've been very fortunate with some breaks here and there to accomplish what I've done but I've also taken the steps you mentioned for the just in case scenarios. Still not 100% free and clear on my mortgage but it's been refinanced when it made sense to lower interest over time and the remainder is well below market value (even at today's market). Bad debt is more than the banks' fault and certainly shouldn't be my tab to pay unless it's my own bad debt.

Ok, off my soap box now

The problem is that way too many people refinanced. Mind you, this is a great tool, especially if you take money out (equity) to pay down higher % debt. It's best if you refi to a lower %, and don't take anything out from your equity.

However, many of those who refinanced during the boom, did so when housing prices were inflated, and used the monies to remodel, or to buy new cars, go on vacations, etc., and when the bubble burst, they found themselves upside down on the mortgage.

All of the refi's had a negative affect on all those MBS (Mortgage Back Securities) which are graded based on all sorts of criteria, the life of the loan being one of them, when you refi, the note becomes null and void, because a new note is written, this turmoil also went a long way to create some of the messes we are dealing with today.

It's premise is lacking, because it only addresses some of the issues, and totally skews many others. Global, as well as national/federal monetary funds are a necessary evil in this day and age, but what really scares me, is if the government were to fully take control of them.

The video was annoying, the narrator's monotone voice had me considering jumping out the window, and the freakin' guys Canadian accent only added to it!

He wants us to support politicians who support "debt-free money?"

WTF? There is always a strong default rate, which is why the banks, or capital venture (in general) reaps the rewards from all the risk taking, besides, where are these funds coming from? And who gets stuck holding the bag when these debt-free loans go south?

At least with the bank bailouts (which i opposed) there's an excellent chance of recouping the funds - because it's all secured debt, the government now owns part of that bank.

The first bailouts under Bush (TARP) are nearly paid off (much of it was paid off in 09), and in most cases, the government made money on it.

Mind you, some of the things he proposes in the video, are correct. I am totally against the printing of money (Quantitative Easing) - as i am of all the bank bailouts of late, i am a full supporter of the free market system, if an entity can't survive on it's own, then allow it to die, or, to be taken over. But this whole get rid of money (capital), and instead use gold, and silver and the standard. Well, that's nuts. Those are globally traded commodities, which are easier to manipulate than the Forex markets.

And the whole "don't borrow" (i.e., live within your means) is a given.

Exactly. We were able to lower out rate, cut the length of the loan and keep the same payment so win/win. (I don't believe in cashing out "equity" on something that fluctuates like home values)

Reminds me of car loans where all that negative just gets rolled into the next loan...ugh. Too many of my friends have fallen for that one

I think just saying "don't borrow" is a bit too simplified as you said. There are instances where borrowing makes sense and in some case, makes money. (ie - 0% car loans)

I have a problem with something that loses up to 20% of it's value, the moment you drive it off the lot. Especially luxury-type vehicles. I'm lucky that i could pretty much afford to buy any type of new vehicle, but i will always buy used. Because the automatic loss of value, as you sign the papers, and drive away, doesn't make economical sense to me.

As a matter of fact, the last vehicle that i purchased, was back in 08, it was an 07 model (with very little mileage, under warranty), i paid cash for it, then i refinanced my then mortgage (very low principal) and took equity out to cover the cost of the vehicle. It made sense, because my investment returns are higher than the mortgage interest, AND, i got to write some of the car off ( by osmosis) on my tax return (interest tax deduction.)

I agree with most of what the video is stating, however it starts off & ends with blaming the entire banking industry as a scam. I do agree with the abolishment of the Federal Reserve as the “Central” banking industry for our government to borrow capital from, but let’s focus the blame just there & not on the private banking industries that should be free to compete for the governments borrowing business.

It is the fault of our government for the creation of the Federal Reserve as our only means of borrowing, not the entire banking industry as a whole. This has been tried 2 other times before in history with the creation of the Bank of the United States & the 2nd bank of the United Sates. It wasn’t until our 7th president Andrew Jackson, a Democrat BTW, vetoed the charter for the continuation of the 2nd bank of the Untied States in which would, & did, promote our Federal government to turn to several private banking industries to borrow capital from in which would create competition amongst the banking industries i.e. the 2nd enumerated power;

Article I section 8:
“To borrow money on the credit of the United States;”

For 100 years our nation was doing just fine without a central banking industrial complex until Pres. Woodrow Wilson(D) created the Federal Reserve as our only means of borrowing capital.

I place all the blame not on the banking industry, but solely on the government for surrendering our liberties of free market capitalism to only one banking industry.

After all, a cop can be guilty of accepting a bribe, can they not?

These vids tell it most plainly for me...
Zeitgeist: The Fed pt 1
Watch all five segments and despair!