I wonder if I can get help to buy a Toyota … probably not.

The light at the end of the tunnel is just a couple of photons now. We’re got a long way to go.

Back to subject of cars, in many areas a car is essential. It’s not essential in places like NYC, in fact over there it is a major headache. If you live in a small town – it depends. If you can walk/bike to work and stores or get there by public trasportation in a reasonable amount of time (and at a comparable cost) then a car is not essential. In most places in the US the car is indeed essential – you need it to get to work. And sometimes taking a loan is useful provided that you can afford it and that you plan to drive a car for a very very long time: if you live far from work, if you know nothing about cars, if you cannot afford a car that breaks on your way to work or time to spend in repair shops. I took a loan on my first new car in 1987 (paid half, financed half), and I’ve never regretted it. I repaid it a couple of years later. Incidentally, this was my first new car but my second car overall. My very first car was a used car and after I totalled it and calculated how much it cost me over 4 years I had it, it turned out I paid more than the cost of a new car. Since then I’ve been buying new cars for cash, but now I have a whole lot more money than I did back then.

As to buying American cars – it’s enough to compare the prices of 3 year old cars with new cars of different models to see how Hondas and Toyotas hold value so much better than American cars. When American companies learn to make cars that are as reliable as Japanese cars and hold their value as long, then we’ll talk.

@Yana: ” There is no such thing as good debt. Personally, I think financing a home is the worst debt ever, because you are banking on a future and income that is not in your hands, and you are overpaying tremendously over the typical 30 years – because you were taught that you were supposed to grasp that as your dream. ”
1. Not all debt is bad. There are business loans, for example, or any loans that one takes to make more money. Depending on where you work, your employer probably takes loans to expand, or even to manage timing of expenses and profit for day-to-day operations. Biomedical companies use loans to finance research of life-saving drugs.

2. When you are renting instead, you are paying money too. You cannot say how you “overpaid” over 30 years unless you also consider how much money you spent on rent over the same number of years. In fact, when the real estate is fairly valued, the amount of money you pay in rent is close to the amount you pay in mortgage (both principal and interest) and taxes for a similar place, especially if you can deduct all interest and taxes. When I bought my very first condo, I actually saved money compared to rent. Even if initially you are paying more, often after a few years you end up paying less for the place you own. Now, if the housing is overvalued than the cost of ownership is higher. In this case, it makes sense to wait. But you cannot make a blanket statement of how much you overpay for a house unless you consider what you would’ve spent on rent. Plus, if you lock in low interest rates you are hedging against inflation. With all of the government’s printing money and borrowing, the probability of high inflation and/or higher interest rates within a few years is extremely high. If you are renting – your rent will go up. If you have borrowed at low fixed interest rate, the inflation gradually reduces your payments to nothing.

A car is not always essential. Yes, in rural parts of the country it is but even in most small cities there is enough alternative transportation that it is not necessary. Even the town I live in, Population 70,000, where the bus doesn’t come very close to my home, I could get by with a bike either “locally” or get me to the closest public transportation point. It would take more effort on my part but would be much cheaper than buying a car.

Um…didn’t the last president do that too?”

Yes, he did. But his $400 billion wrongs plus Obama’s $10 trillion wrongs don’t make a right.

I was speaking of taxation issues, which is a financial issue. Buying American cars/cars made in America is a financial issue. Wondering if our children can afford to pay off the debt our country is incurring is a financial issue.

Yes, a bit of rhetoric interjected here and there, but all in all, financial topics are being discussed. We can still discuss things in our country, right?

With all due respect, perhaps we should just stick to finance issues and leave politics at the door or to some other blog.

I come here to read about finances, not about how much Republicans loathe Obama or how much Democrats hate Bush.

Not really. It was bad, but notice that the Bush deficits had been shrinking until the balance of power in Congress changed. And now the worst of the “Bush” deficits is being quadrupled.

As to the original question: I’m not optimistic. But we did survive Carter and FDR, we may be able to survive Obama.

The last time I watched his speech I was yelling at the TV b/c of his/his speechwriters’ poor and inaccurate example of his illustration to defend his reasoning in attempting to limit charitable deductions at a 28% tax rate. He cited his own situation, being in a 39.6% tax bracket as being unfair to Joe the bus driver, earning 40-50K per year, who only gets a value of 28 cents of his charitable contribution dollar (while P. Obama would earn 39.6 cents of his donated dollar.) First of all, Obama’s itemized deductions would be getting phased out, so he is not earning the full tax rate on ANY of his itemized deductions. Second, “Joe” wouldn’t necessarily be at a 28% tax rate either, esp. if contributing to a 401K, etc.

So if I’m going to give up my valuable free time, I’m certainly not going to listen to someone who can’t get the facts straight when speaking to an audience of millions. Maybe the sheeple are buying into the bull, but I’m not.

And when Obama says that people will continue to give to charities b/c they want to and not b/c of the tax deductions, he’s gravely mistaken. In turn, this will affect innumerable “points of light” in the community who are trying to help the vulnerable and needy.

Um…didn’t the last president do that too?