Soup, Salad and Bread

I feel like I've been running through the poppy fields with Dorothy and Toto. I'm so tired.

It's the snow, again, and it's making me crazy. I've abandoned my office to sit next to the fire. I wish I could blink my eyes, have a fabulous soup on the stove for dinner, with a winter salad of walnuts, cranberries, mixed greens and a nice balsamic vinaigrette. Loaf of freshly baked sourdough bread and a nice, thick Irish butter.

That would require going outside in the cold and snow. Blah.

Lately, I've been panicked about money, panicked about the economy, panicked about whether or not my son will manage to bring his grades up enough to get a new cell phone or if we'll have to have yet another battle.

Watching the snow fall, again, I realize that my community is broke and more snow means more broke. I'm glad the plow guys and gals made their money this year but in a year of empty local coffers, it's hard to take. More programs will be cut from the school. More teachers let go. It's hitting hard in my affluent suburb- the effects on urban and rural schools will be devastating.

Jobless numbers have soared to record highs and a friend in the investment field told me today to look at the chart- the Dow's next resting level will be 4,000. That's a long way down still to go. My dream of soup and salad seem frivolous. "Nearly one in seven homeowners is underwater, owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth."

And my son wants a new iPhone even if he gets C's and D's.

I read an article this weekend that discussed how kids of this generation will grow up, how the economic turmoil will effect them. I'm looking at my own and so far, they seem to not notice a great deal of the changes. I'm careful to talk about the economy in serious but not scary terms.

An eight year old does not need to worry yet about the debt being piled onto his head by his government.

I point out empty stores, places that have closed recently. They nod their heads but I'm not sure any of it gets in. I am reminded that my mother grew up in the Great Depression and often told stories about the poverty, the difficulties. Later in life, she admitted that her father, a candy salesman, actually did very well. Her family never went hungry. She was, however, at a friend's house once where they served squirrel stew. She took one bite and threw up all over the table.

Still, the stories and the reality seared into her being. The article spoke of children of that era wanting simple jobs, with life long guarantees. Gold watches and 40 years service at the same company. She never understood when I would leave a job to take another.

I'm a contractor, I'd explain. I'm not suppose to stay in one place long.

Seriously, I never thought I would work for a single company nor do I want my children to do that- I want them to experience several different careers. I want them to explore.

Will that be what they want? Will this economy turn around in time for them to remember little of the shuttered businesses and people losing their homes? Or will we sink lower, to the point where even if they get through unscathed, as their grandmother did, the stories will carve out their reality?

Nothing a little soup, salad and bread wouldn't help. It's about comfort, controlling what I can, finding a peace in simple things. A fire. The daily newspaper delivered- at least for now.

And trying to not move too far forward because the unknown ends up like the poppy field- overwhelming and exhausting.

Even with a thin veil of snow.

Banks Gone Wild

I've had it. Maybe it's my inner Republican coming out in full force but this whole bailout business is getting to me.

Yesterday, the NYTimes reported that AIG is still sucking wind and needs, oh, another 60 billion or so. Not to mention the US will end up owning about 40% of Citibank- not sure that's such a good investment.

The good news? It seems the death penalty is too costly, and many states are considering an end to it.

But reading just now about how Northern Trust, a bank who received 1.6 billion, and laying off 450 employees, had a party.

Sorry, they had a PARTY. As reported by TMZ, Gift bags from Tiffany's, sponsorship of a PGA gold tournament, fancy hotels, Sheryl Crow live for a private concert along with the band Chicago (I guess that was a tip of the hat to the recession)- millions spent.

I'm sure all the out of work employees enjoy chewing on that irony.

I have to wonder- why isn't this on the front page of the NYTimes? If they can report on Kansas giving up the death penalty based on cost, why aren't they working on the incredible bullshit going on with the bailout money given to banks?

I don't know about you all but I think handing over billions means there has to be some serious accountability. I want to know where every damn dollar is going. I want to read a business plan that shows they are capable of making change and if they are not? Boot them all. Hire new people.

Companies fail when they are poorly run. Handing money over to poorly run companies is not going to make them better. It will only prolong the pain.

Like I said, it's probably just my inner republican jumping out, but I am sick of reading about these abuses.

Another Wait

Today we will wait for another vote on the (gift package) bailout of Wall Street. Yesterday, Warren Buffett called it an "economic Pearl Harbor." Today, the French Prime Minister said the world is "on edge of abyss."

You have to love the French. Always more beautiful in their language.

I don't see the far left or the far right, an odd team in this debate, thinking a few tax cut perks are enough to vote for this. God knows what kind of pork spending is being bandied about in those halls to twist arms. I think I fear more those promises than the actual bill.

We shall see.

Fasten Your Seatbelts

Lehman Brothers fails and Merrill Lynch becomes part of Bank of America, which soon will be called, The Only Bank IN America, and the Federal Reserve "loosens" guidelines on loans to banks clearly not having learned any lessons through the subprime crisis, I have to wonder: How are we different than China?

I sincerely believe in fifty years, people will look back at the rise of the middle Class in China and the demise of it in America and see parallels so simple it'll be taught in elementary schools.

Are our working standards oh so much better than China's? I would argue, considering the level of wealth in this country, no. While very serious human rights abuses happen in China, especially in rural areas, I look to our own middle class and see people working 50, 60 hours a week at jobs once touted as "9 to 5."

We have one bank. "Private" corporations get to do whatever they want as long as they pay the government it's piece of the action, also known as lobbyists. People in positions of power do well. People blocked from access to that power remain stuck in the previous century's economic opportunities.

We'll look so ridiculous in the history books, banging out Patriot Act chests saying "But we have FREEDOM."

We aren't free. Our electoral system is a joke and it's not a huge conspiracy that voters in Michigan will be under scrutiny as the Republican party are planning to man the polls with lists of people in foreclosed homes, requiring an additional proof of residency for them. They are doing it out in the open, in front of the media.

Back to the landowners only days, I guess. Don't want any dissidents in the voting lines.

Oh, wait, only the Chinese have dissidents. We have crazy, irresponsible people who are imagining a fiscal crisis in this country.

Why do I have a feeling the kind of vote caging in Michigan is going to happen across the nation? That we will all be called again to stand behind the American Flag in unity rather than contest another stolen election, as we were admonished to do in 2000?

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman, Merrill, and AIG running around like a crackhead begging for money and the only one fool enough to give it is the Federal Reserve.

Fasten yourself belts, folks. There is more to come.

Step Right Up, Folks, and Win a Fabulous Prize

In these economically trying times do we need a man who says- and I quote- “The issue of economics I’ve never understood as well as I should.”

I’m sorry, he’s been in the Senate for over 20 years, and gosh, never took the time to learn the issue of ECONOMICS?

Perhaps that’s why he got in so much trouble with the Keating Five Savings and Loan scandal that almost brought the country to it’s knees. John McCain was quick to turn his public shame into campaign finance reform.

Right?

Well, yes except for that cute blond, Viki Iseman, he went to extreme lengths for, so much so his staff was freaked out and tried to separate them.

Hopefully not at the hip because that’s not an image any of us need to go to sleep with tonight.

While the mainstream news media went gaga over the idea that McCain was getting more than free peanuts on the aircraft loaned to him by Iseman’s boss, they missed a more important point.

Even after all the “shame” he wrote about in his 2002 memoir, “Worth Fighting For,” he was willing to go that extra mile into questionable ethics when it came to that perky blonde.

“A champion of deregulation, Mr. McCain wrote letters in 1998 and 1999 to the Federal Communications Commission urging it to uphold marketing agreements allowing a television company to control two stations in the same city, a crucial issue for Glencairn Ltd., one of Ms. Iseman’s clients.”

So... Johnny does what Johnny damn well wants to do? I wonder if he called her a cunt?

In the meantime, Americans are considering voting for a man who openly admits he doesn’t know much about economics during a time when we are in desperate need of sound economic leadership. Not only does he not know about economics, the Keating Five Scandal drove American Savings and Loans the bring of disaster.

That’s Mom and Pop in the Midwest going to save their fifty bucks they have extra from their paychecks.

Johnny? Well, he does have that wife with a few hundred million. Not only that, his district re-elected him even after the Senate Ethics criticized McCain for questionable conduct.

Now we’re going to give him the responsibility of the nation? Because he said he was sorry and then, went and did it again?

Would you rehire an accountant who cheated you out of money? Would you go back to a bank that lost your money once, apologized, then lost it again?

The bottom line- and I wish Americans would really start watching the real economic line, not the bullshit Republicans pull out to promote more tax cuts for the rich- is we can’t afford to have this man in charge.

Personally, this is one thing Bush is a beacon of wisdom for- "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.

McCain's promises are no more than a carnival barker's call. Step right up, folks, and win a fabulous prize...

And we'll all end up with empty pockets at the end of the night.

Vacation Week

Did I mention this is vacation week for the kids? That's why we were at the Red Sox in the middle of the day yesterday, although I have been known to take one or two of them out of school to go.

In this city, you take your kid out for the Sox, everyone nods their head and encourages you to have a great time. Take your kid out a day early to get out of town before the vacation rush? You get the long look and admonishment that school is far more important than avoiding being stuck on the Mass Pike for 18 hours.

Today, I had arranged for a bunch of appointments- dentist, doctor- all stuff that needs to be done that I'd rather not take them out of school to do. While Ben was in one appointment, Jake and I scoured the South End for a good slice of pizza.



We found one.

The sun was out and we wandered around, going from stoop to stoop, sitting in the sun. At one point, he wanted to ride on my shoulders and I have to admit, I can't heave him up there anymore. Not only is it the clean lift of 70 pounds of squirmy boy up over my head, it's the 70 pounds sitting there.

He's too big and I am starting to accept there are things I can no longer physically do anymore.

I haven't had a chance to read all the blogs, newspapers, yet today. I did glance at the Wall Street Journal earlier to read that even after a 79% pay cut, the CEO of Countryside still made 10.8 million bucks.

Then sold his company to Bank of America because it was going in the toilet.

Nice, huh?

The War, however, made it's way to the front pages of the NYTimes, WSJ, and Boston Globe. While some moron who oversees a company that extended credit to high risk applicants all in the name of profit at any cost makes 10.8 million (did I mention the 121 Million in exercised stock options, too?), we are still at war.

Ben Bernanke can cut interest rates as much as he wants, as often as he can, and as long as we are still at war spending 12 Billion dollars a month it will make no difference.

It's the war, people. We can't afford it. Just like those folks who signed mortgages who could never pay the ballooning interest rate with their salaries, we cannot afford this war.

People are worried the fighting between Clinton and Obama is damaging the Democrats ability to win the election in November. One look at the war that Johnny Prozac McCain wants to keep going for 100 years and I know there is no way he will win.

No way.

Our economy is tanking, we are spending money faster than we can print it, and the War continues to spiral out of control. We have to look at the reality of the budget sheet the same way we do the VISA bill when it comes in the mail.

Even on school vacation week.

McCain on Economics

I'm not advocating for Ron Paul. Everytime I see his name I think of Ru Paul. Who I would vote for.




Someone needs to explain the effect of his 100 year war in Iraq.