| Credit card use rampant
IN a sign of increasingly hard times, over half of Australians have admitted to using their credit cards to get them between pays and cover cash shortfalls, a survey reveals. But plastic users are being stung with fees and charges and they aren't happy about it. The survey of 1366 people conducted by NEWS.com.au and online polling firm Coredata found 54 per cent of people had used their credit card to get between pays after their cash ran out. The survey revealed over 90 per cent of respondents had at least one credit card with 36 per cent holding two. The survey was carried out between October 9 and 16. But Australians are not happy about surcharges on credit card payments, with the survey revealing many people are ditching plastic for cash payments to avoid such fees, which can be as high as 3 per cent of a transaction's value.
A financial system under siege
"If these items [promised benefits in Social Security, Medicare, Veterans Administration and other entitlement programs] are factored in, the total [debt] burden in present value dollars is estimated to be about $53 trillion. Stated differently, the estimated current total burden for every American is nearly $175,000; and every day that burden becomes larger." David Walker, comptroller general of the United States
"The economic forces driving the global saving-investment balance have been unfolding over the course of the past decade, so the steepness of the recent decline in long-term dollar yields and the associated distant forward rates suggests that something more may have been at work." --Alan Greenspan, former Fed Chairman, July 20, 2005
�The subprime black hole is appearing deeper, darker and scarier than they [the banks] thought.
Pelosi: 'Given His Dismal Record, President Bush in No Position to Lecture Congress About Fiscal Responsibility'
Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in response to a speech in Indiana this afternoon by President Bush in which he compared Congress to "a teenager with a new credit card." Below the Speaker's statement is a fact sheet comparing the President and Congress' fiscal records. "If President Bush applied for a credit card, any bank in America would turn him down as a bad credit risk. He has put more foreign debt on the nation's credit card than all previous Presidents combined - saddling our children and grandchildren with $3.3 trillion in new debt. "At the same time, President Bush has compiled one of the worst records of job creation since the Great Depression while American families saw their incomes drop by $2,500. "Given his dismal record of maxing out America's credit card, the President is no position to lecture Congress about fiscal responsibility or economic policy.
Corzine Willing To Lose Re-Election To Fix N.J.'s Financial Woes
New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Thursday said he's willing to risk losing re-election by increasing highway tolls to try to resolve state fiscal woes. The governor didn't detail how much he wants tolls to increase, but said he plans to present a formal plan in January as part of his State of the State address. Speaking at a League of Municipalities convention, Corzine, as he has throughout the year, detailed fiscal woes he claims bar the state from investing in key needs. .
|
