March 3, 2010

Footnotes For The "Unsustainable" Series


Footnotes
1 This was a surprisingly common occurrence throughout the post dot-com economic recovery, even at the height of the housing/credit bubble.  It seemed to be a tacit admission that economic fundamentals were weaker than GDP growth implied. 


2 http://www.boston.com/news/specials/debt/


3 Many military personnel are paid relatively low wages in return for housing and other necessities.  Military bases are “vulnerable” because of incomes, nothing more.


4 Note that it is not individuals selling personal information for profit, it’s corporations selling and profiting from other people’s information


5 An illustrative example of this can be found here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/233773


6 Even today, banks and data mining companies are reluctant to disclose breaches of security, so it is likely that instances of identity theft are vastly understated.


7 https://www.websteronline.com/personal/products-services/loans-credit/webster-bank-platinum-visa-credit-card.html  Clicking on the “Terms and Conditions” link directs you to http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webcgi/webserve.cgi?card=CLF2&mkid=67WX&partner_dir_name=webster_bank_flex&option=&page_type=appterms.  At the bottom of this page you’ll find “© 2010 JPMorgan Chase & Co.”


8 The phrase “credit limit” is misleading.  Although a credit limit is indeed a ceiling on the amount a customer can borrow, a credit limit plays no part in how large a balance can grow.


9 Suzy Orman did this while simultaneously advising us to open a home equity line of credit “in case you lose your job.”


10 This type of activity was once known as “extortion.”


11 See “The Phantom $400” by Prof. Elizabeth Warren, Journal of Bankruptcy Law And Practice, Vol. 13, No.2 (2004)


12 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/magazine/10FOB-wwln-t.html?em


13  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35148862/ns/business-real_estate/


14 The CARD Act, which goes into effect in February 2010, is supposed to rectify this problem in the credit card world, but it is yet to be seen how closely the credit card companies will follow the statute since they have a tendency to “interpret” federal law as loosely as they can.


15 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35512038/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

16 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/business/economy/21unemployed.html?pagewanted=2&hp

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