Mortgage Mess.... Its a Wonderful Life!!

We will leave the in depth analysis of the recent mortgage debacle to the experts. The simplified "Join The List Analysis" is as follows...

Big, fat corporations doing whatever they can to spur "growth".

Broker to fat, rich customer: "Hey Nigel, the market is slowing and we are not sure where to put your money to get the returns you want without too much risk. How about this mortgage backed security portfolio? Higher returns and no risk! Whaddya say?"

Too good to be true? It sure was.

Again.... we are not against Capitalism. We ARE against how capitalism creates this exponential need for unachievable growth.

In this case, huge mortgage companies started bundling every mortgage they could get their hands on and issuing underlying securities. When they ran out of mortgages to buy and bundle they created new mortgages as if out of thin air. Offering loans with teaser rates and no money down. They even doubled down on the mortgages that were already bundled. Then they still labled these newest issuances as low risk despite the fact that they were backed by cr*p.

Anybody surprised the house of cards fell down?

Hate to keep referencing movies, but good old George Bailey warned against this way back in 1946. I wish that we could do a better job of warding off the mean, old Mr. Potter in the real world.

Other People's Money

Here at Join The List, we are certainly not economists. One thing we do know is that with publicly traded companies, the need to create and expand growth is never ending. Shareholders are not satisfied with status quo, so these companies are forced to squeeze out more "growth". They need to create stock appreciation at any cost.

The benefit: Stock growth for shareholders (real money from stock growth is really only applicable for the wealthy) and lower costs for goods (hopefully).

The cost: Loss of jobs to technology, loss of jobs to outsourcing, loss of good jobs to be replaced by lower paying service sector jobs. Loss of benefits, potential risks to environment (ie. outsourcing of USA jobs at plants with environmental standards to places without). The list goes on and on....

Again, Join The List is not against Capitalism. All we are saying is that consumers can make more of an effort to support local, privately owned businesses. Just think of this next time you pass a quaint local coffeehouse to buy a venti mocha latte.

In recent years, the environmental movement has had quite a bit of success with this. Now advertisements for international conglomerates flaunt their great desire to be environmentally friendly. Yeah right! They would fill the Grand Canyon up to the rim w/ sand if it would mean another penny of profit on their financial statements. The point is that corporations could care less about the environment, but now are making efforts in order to please their customers.

And besides.... corporations have no soul. Even "hip" companies like Apple and Starbucks. Regardless of how they promote themselves.... profit is by FAR their greatest priority.

There is actually a great movie that describes the struggle between the major corporate world and financial systems vs. small business (with a shred of loyalty to workers) trying to survive. It is called Other People's Money. The movie is pretty hokey and Danny DeVito is NOT a convincing high powered executive, but it is still a pretty good flick. What ever happended to Penelope Anne Miller anyway?

Why do we elect....?

Not the hugest George Carlin fan. Find he can be cantankerous and way too radical for my tastes. But, the dude is funny. No question about that.

Saw one of his routines on TV years ago and it has always stuck with me. He asked, "Why do we elect these rich a**holes?" He furthered this by noting that "... they don't give a f*ck about you!"

He has a great point. Who has less interest and less to gain in your well being than some billionaire?

Join The List - Introduction

At Join The List, we aim to spread the idea that people wage far more political influence by where they spend their money than by who they vote for in any given election.

While Capitalism has proven to be the most effective economic system in modern times, it does have it's failings. We believe that these failings can be best controlled by effective consumer choices, rather than Government or political intervention.

What do we mean by "effective consumer choices"? That phrase varies according to different beliefs, but we do feel that great change can occur by a widespread consciensness that individual spending on a micro scale can have sweeping effects on a macro scale.

Virtually every aspect of life in Capitalism is run on the basis of money. In every case, cash takes precedence over values no matter how good or bad the intentions. This is obvious for consumer business, but is also relevant to most every government, industry or organization. Law, Medicine, Politics, Education and even Religion all bow to the power and influence of money.

In Democracy, we are often told that we as individuals have power through our vote to elect individuals into government/ political roles. In reality, we wage for more power with the money that we spend each day. We at Join The List hope to encourage people to make daily decisions when spending their money that will support their own beliefs and values.