Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !uspolitics@lemmy.world
7) No Hit-and-Run questions.
Please don't delete your post for no apparent reason. If you plan on deleting a question later, say so in the post, or if you feel that you have a good reason to remove it, message a mod beforehand. It's not fair to the ones who took their time to answer, and it's not in the spirit of the community.
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
The 2008 housing bubble and crash altered the trajectory of my dad's life completely. He went from having a thriving roofing business that had lasted since the 60's to having to make sure he eeked every single possible job out of the summer that he could until ten years later when his dementia set in and he couldn't work anymore (except for DoorDash, with my mom), because many people's spending power was permanently lowered and still hasn't recovered. This meant having to take less pay for jobs in some cases.
Other than its effects on my family, all I remember is doubling my retirement contributions, because stock prices were so low I was getting shares for a bargain. I've always lived frugally, so crashes don't hit me as hard as they hit a lot of people.
When things crashed in 2020, I invested heavily in oil stock, having learned that the airline industry suffers tremendously in an economic crash, and with the airline industry being the biggest consumer of fuel, oil stocks can be bought dirt cheap. (I got most of my shares at 90% down from their all time highs in March and April 2020)I sat on those shares for two years and they made me enough money I was able to pay off my student loans and put a sizable down payment on a condo. It wasn't fuck you money, but it was life changing.
I'm glad dad lived long enough to see what I was able to make of myself. He was proud and happy he was able to contribute to the life I've built.
I should add to this a little.
The 2008 crisis and how the government reacted is partly why I live frugally. Watching millions lose their homes and no one go to prison changed my whole outlook on life. I was a massive Obama supporter, and there was no meaningful support for Occupy Wall Street, and in fact, Obama's admin stood aside while NYPD ganged up and brutalized the protesters. I still hate Obama for bailing out Wall Street while so many lost their homes and livelihoods. All the big bankers who stole our money walked.
Essentially, I no longer have any hope for meaningful change as long as the Democrats and Republicans are in charge. My focus on saving and investing partly comes from a place where I fully expect Social Security to be gone when I hit retirement age, so I'm doing what I can to ensure I'm able to sustain myself.
Not defending the Obama administration here but wasn't the bailout legislation passed under the Bush Administration?
I understand this sentiment. As someone who didn't see wealth during their childhood, people get confused as I still travel by public transport instead of driving. I just assume that things can go sideways at any moment. Yes, it can seem like I'm a bit paranoid, but it's not illogical.
Thanks for sharing.
Yup.
My parents have been 'borrowing' my car for two years. I get around on a Segway e-scooter, which given the explosion in gas prices, has turned out to be a very lucky purchase.
Plan for the worst. Hope for the best. It's really the best way to navigate America these days.
TARP was enacted October of 2008, the year Obama was elected to office. Obama was not sworn in until 2009. The Dodd frank act in 2009 lowered the amount that TARP could push out.
No.
We're not giving Obama credit for token gestures here. He had a supermajority and could have enacted meaningful reforms, but he didn't.
Everyone involved in the subprime mortgage crisis walked and under Obama were still paying bonuses to themselves with taxpayer's money, all while the foreclosure crisis ravaged the American people.
I do not care that the crisis originated under Bush. I care that Obama knew how bad it was and allowed people to become impoverished further while Wall Street partied with our money.
For his faults, Biden accomplished a lot with a very small majority in the Senate and House.
Obama really wasted a huge opportunity to change the country with his huge majorities.
My reply was only about the bailout, nothing else you mentioned. I agree completely that these asshots shouldn’t have went free, and didn’t lose their fortunes they built off the backs of us.
I’m just not happy that the missinformation about Obama and the bailouts is still going strong this long after
Doesn't it feel dirty funneling capital to big oil?
It’s a casino and the chips have various evil words and symbols on them. Playing those chips does not change the symbols or words. If you’re the creator of those chips, fuck you, but us proles have to use what’s available.
Chipz knows their chips!
Nope.
I'm not in any position to create change on energy policy, and therefore, it's kind of dumb to project any sort of guilt for it onto myself.