[Summit] Running amuck without housing

Tue Sep 29 19:19:13 UTC 2009

I greatly appreciate all of Elianna's comments!

It is indeed a problem when greed takes over to 
the extent that reasonable compensation for work
and products has morphed to create a gaping hole 
where affordable necessities used to be.

It's not being an "old fogey", either, to note the
lack of real choice in markets today.  Call me  "old
fogey #2" for feeling the lack, not only of true variety
in stores today, but of healthy, natural, real food.
As for the toothpaste and other products, in my work
as Director of Toxics Information Project (TIP), I am
faced every day with information about the toxic chemicals
in most of them. Sadly, my small efforts to pass this 
along are dwarfed by the millions of dollars of 
advertising designed to brainwash the public into 
thinking what is being sold is what they want and need.

Blessings,

Liberty G

--- On Tue, 9/29/09, Breslers <breslerfamily at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Breslers <breslerfamily at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Summit] Running amuck without housing
> To: "Summit Neighborhood" <Summit at sna.providence.ri.us>
> Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 8:26 AM
> Yup. When I was involved in housing issues,
> in the 70s and 80s, the real estate lobby was the 2nd
> largest in this country (after the medical lobby)
> I'm not against business/profit, but it seems the
> option of certain basic necessities, no frills, needs to be
> available outside that loop.
> 
> 
> It seems the wars over super market shelving are getting
> nasty also, difficult for any one wanting to buy less
> "popular" products. (The product has to RENT shelf
> space now- so they want to get their money's worth of
> sales or forget it!!)  Have you noticed, for instance, that
> the tooth paste & mouth wash shelves are basicly umpteem
> (artificial) flavors of the the same two brands now, and
> most other choice is gone?
> 
> And that for many foods/ingredients, only large sizes make
> the someone enough money to bother with inventory, so you
> have to buy more than you need, or even fits on your
> shelves...
> 
> Oh boy  I sound like an old fogey.
> 
> There ARE a lot of great new things, but it doesn't
> make these changes not a problem.
> 
> Elianna
> 
> On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 12:05 PM,
> Greg Gerritt <gerritt at mindspring.com>
> wrote:
> 
> Andy is right on.  We have a
> policy to inflate housing prices, not create housing that
> people can actually afford.  Mostly becasue the bankers can
> buy congress.  greg gerritt
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> 
> >From: Andrew Nosal <andy at mapcenter.com>
> 
> >Sent: Sep 28, 2009 9:37 AM
> 
> >To: Summit Neighborhood <summit at sna.providence.ri.us>
> 
> >Subject: [Summit] Running amuck without housing
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
> >> All those housing purchases made by people who
> could ultimately not
> 
> >> afford them, drove up housing prices.
> 
> >
> 
> >Even well meaning people have absorbed the above
> bit of propaganda
> 
> >that brilliantly directs blame on the victims!  OK.
> The victim's own
> 
> >greed is an essential ingredient of any successful Con
> Game but please
> 
> >remember who were the con men  and who were the
> victims here.  Pay
> 
> >attention to which parties were,  and remain,
> comfortable and
> 
> >powerful, and which went from loserdom to a brief spell
> of illusory
> 
> >luck, and back to loserdom.
> 
> >
> 
> >Even All Things Considered never examines the
> assumption that it will
> 
> >be good news when housing prices start going up again.
>  Why is it is
> 
> >better that  millions of houses be boarded up,
> abandoned and destroyed
> 
> >to clear the oversupply of houses and keep prices up,
> instead of
> 
> >getting them back on the market and letting their
> prices drop to
> 
> >levels where people can afford to live in them?  - To
> protect the
> 
> >collateral behind any mortgages that still may be paid
> off.
> 
> >
> 
> >It is no accident that everyone thinks that Housing
> Policy today is
> 
> >chaotic and ineffective.  It is best to keep quiet
> about the real goal
> 
> >of Housing Policy, which is being effectively pursued.
>  It is to
> 
> >protect the financial empires built on collecting
> interest on loans
> 
> >made on overpriced housing - - NOT to  get roofs
>  over people's heads.
> 
> >
> 
> >
> 
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> 
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> 
> 
> 
> 
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