People who tried to make a quick buck buying an overpriced house and trying to sell it 3 months later.

i got some:

1)american corporate greed..too much unregulated job outsourceing

2)wall street speculation games

I agree with Rvblue, greed is the root issue.

Were it not for greed, the housing would not have been overpriced to begin with.

There are all the "top earners", who take home high six figure salaries, and then there are the seven, and even eight figure earners.

When it comes down to supply and demand, if someone can afford a high price, someone will ask it.  When that someone pays it, it influences all the goods in that particular market.

The end result is what is called disparity.  Disparity is the difference in wealth between the "classes".  The amount of "wealth" is somewhat finite, but Wall St. has the ability to drive inflation by creating money with trading, and fluctuating prices.  Even someone as contorversial as Nostradamus wrote ot "invisible money".

The problem with unfettered, unregulated, unbridled capitalism is that is has placed at least eighty to ninety percent of the wealth, into the hands of ten percent of the population.  There were pay increases in the top twenty percent of the workers over the last twenty years, while the other eighty percent's earning capability stayed relatively stagnant.

Therefore, those with the power and influence to create an equitable and sustainable society did not, and the present conditions are the result.

i think i got another one:

3) people's addiction to credit cards...juggling them to the max..and the banks got you trapped....aaagh!

Especially with all that fine print, which most people don't have the legal expertise to understand.

That's the "ace in the hold", I'm afraid...

Great post worldweary2 that combination is definitely a hit or miss on any given day. For the most part capitalism has been good to us but in crisis like these it falls upon the little folks that suffer the most when things aren't quite going right.

Yeah I live in a self sustaining society living off of the land.

and yet you have a computer seems kinda strange for someone "off the grid"

Did you know theres more computers than people ? Kinda creepy if you ask me.

In fact I have a tiny computer inside my heart that keeps me alive. At what point do computers take over mainstream american society and theo nly free people are old farts living in log cabins?

Many reasons for the economy being in trouble.  As mentioned, greed is a major factor.  People trying to live above their means and banks pushing people into homes that they can't afford.  Spending above what a person can afford and the temptation to keep up with the neighbors.  The failure of the Auto companies  and with employees used to living on paychecks fat with overtime.  Wall Street and all of their abuses is disgusting.  The list goes on.....one more...Health care costs!!

theres over 6billion useable computers in the world?

comperters could never take over main stream american society, computers cant have pissing contests dont know about greed  have no backs to plunge knives into and dont have egos

Yaa...

It was definitely a more equatable world, before the term out-sourcing became so popular.

Monkey see, Monkey do, Monkey have, Monkey want...

How's that for alien, eh ,AdamO!

i could also mention:

4) global terrorism...everytime something happens , oil prices go up....

5) ourselves...for patronizing imported products...gotta bring back manufacturing to our mainland...we gotta start buying things made in the u.s.a.

6) government should focus more on job creation here in our country u.s.a.

They can't make enough money to have multi-million dollar salaries if they don't send jobs overseas, where labor is much cheaper.

They can't make enough money to have multi-million dollar salaries, if all appliances lasted twenty years.

They can't have their excesses, unless they wring the bottom end out for them.

They can't build an equitable, and sustainable society the way greed, and avarice are the norm.

I think I need gold and platinum tiles for my bathroom, and sauna too.  It'd only cost about three million dollars.  I think I left it in my other pants.

The basic answer is "Never take more than you give".

The world wouldn't be such a mess, if such a simple rule were followed.

Those who gain power, fear to lose it.  And, money is power.

Democrats!

Republicans!

Liberals!

Conservatives!

Gays!

Mexicans!

Chinese!

Communists!

Jews!

Muslims!

The story goes on and on. Greed is the problem. People doing unethical and unscrupulous things to make money.

worldweary2 said…

Those who gain power, fear to lose it.  And, money is power.

---

I think you mean, those who seek power fear to lose it. Some people gain power by accident and would rather not have it. :)

Alien?

What allien.

OMG!

Aliens!

Aliens are to blame!

It's a plot.

I'd better get my new tractor blades on, before the aliens get them...

Competition + Greed = Retail    == Wal-Mart

The dinosaurs!

If more of um died, there'd be more cheap oil available NOW...