BAIL OUT: Round ???

Unbelievable...specifically though I am going to focus on the banks;

The latest articles has BOA and Citi screaming for more funds. BOA is said to "need $34 billion of capital to withstand a deep economic downturn", yet "has already received $45 billion of government help"...Tough Shit!

Yes, this has struck a cord with me and for a long time I debated not writing about my current situation but the time has come...

TIMELINE
2004-Purchased a beautiful 2BD/2BA condo on an 80/20 loan from Wells Fargo
2005-Refinanced with a 'douche bag' loan shark (husband of my wife former employee) that slipped in an Interest only loan unannounced to me. Yes I trusted a mutual friend and banker...stupid I know I'll learn!
2006-Attempted to sell the condo after an inflated market drove our price up to nearly double what we paid. Awesome until....the market dropped quicker than we could drop our price
2007-Decided to rent our property
2008-REAL ESTATE takes the ultimate plunge and equally sized condos quickly are being placed in foreclosure or bankruptcy in our complex for half of what we paid

DO THE MATH: Yes you read correctly...hypothetically lets say we paid $100 for our house, which inflated to $200 and is now priced with foreclosures and bankruptcy at $50. Your starting to see my frustration with the banks.

The banks created loans for people who couldn't afford homes, and so more people with more loans = more money for the banks. Now the government is throwing money at the banks to help them stay afloat = more money for banks...meanwhile people foreclose and go bankrupt driving current real estate prices through the floor. We are seeing the next problem with banks now too stingy to loan or refinance people, even the responsible people, to hopefully avoid more foreclosure or bankruptcy's. Well, their cry for more money is not being heard by me...let them fail! Many of us will still be in the same situation either way regarding our loan headaches...heck, we may even be better off when they go under!

Illegal Immigrants gain Sympathy

If something is illegal it is wrong, so if we fix the problem you would think that is a good thing right?

Not the case for Maricopa County-AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio or his regement at "Tent City". His sting operation that captured more than 16,000 illegal immigrants over 18 months of which 20% of which were convicted felons, is now being accused that they're practices violate the civil rights of illegal aliens...huh?

Sherrif Joe is a little unorthadox, but this may just be a ploy to bring people's political agendas into the equation!

My Stock is Worth...

If you bothered trying to answer this question you probably have lost hair, weight, and are hooked on some antidepressant drugs. In addition to the added weight of decreased home values and an unstable job market, you may be belly up on the floor. Fear not though I have solutions for all...OK maybe not hair loss one as you know I struggle in this area (but you can call my cousin to get that fixed)

However did you know that antidepressants cause weight gain, decrease your sex drive, and can make you feel lazy and stupid? Gee that sounds like fun, yet this market rakes in over $15 Billion annually so obviously there's a demand for it somewhere. My alternative solution to save you money and increase your health is to instead try exercising, taking more vitamin B, and use a natural supplement like St. John's wort. It takes more work than popping a pill and isn't 100% effective, but neither is 32% success rate of drugs.

When the day is done...

...we should breathe a sigh of relief. Ok maybe relief is a bad word depending on your candidates result, but how nice will it be not to be bombarded with mudslinging ads on the TV and radio, the barrage of emails in your inbox, or the late night political party phone calls asking for your vote. I will be relieved of that if nothing else.

Reflections on the 2008 Presidential Campaign:

Do as I say, not as I do -or- Do as I do, not as
I say: Three instances resonate in my mind as we look back at the political campaigning of 2008;

Moral Mistake#1: The promise from both candidates to "take the high road" clearly was left in the quick sand 18+ months ago. Negative campaigning has sent a message that lying is ok, and it could even be equated to lying to your employer (in this case the American people).

Moral Mistake #2: "Greed" has driven an over spending economy (referring to the financial crisis we experienced this year). Very true, but then how is spending over $1 Billion on campaigning not greedy? (Yes I know the money was donated and not paid for by the American taxpayer like the Bailout Plan of $700 Billion is). Somehow I don't think our children, nor many adults see that difference...it still shows that spending in excess is acceptable.

Moral Mistake #3: More the media's fault than any was the constant reminder in the division of sex and ethnicity in this election. Cue the marching band for segregation! We should be more united, but this only seems to divide us more.

As a parent I tend to over think these things more than most people, probably sometimes to a fault...I guess I just care.

Accountability has many names...

See if you recognize my top 3 socially irresponsible individuals associated with the recent financial debacles on Wall Street:

1. James A. Johnson
2. Phil Gramm
3. Franklin Raines

So what if I told you there was a common thread that tied Countrywide Financial Corporation, Fannie Mae, Lehman Brothers, and AIG together...surprised? You shouldn't be too much because in the world of finance they "were" all big players. But, what if you could tie a name(s) to all that, thus holding someone and not just a company accountable...justice right? Well not so fast, but James A. Johnson made my list at #1.

James A. Johnson currently works for the merchant bank and private equity fund management company called Perseus LLC, which also employs Richard C. Holbrooke who has ties with AIG. Prior to this Jim held numerous executive positions at Fannie Mae, and prior to that Lehman Bros. So what right...coincidences that all this is happening now and perhaps was unavoidable considering the downward spiral of our economy. Not exactly...through severe mismanagement, manipulation, excessive sub-prime lending, and an "estimated $16 Billion in misstated earnings" left Freddie and Fannie is disarray, yet still monopolizing the housing industry (Investors Daily). That's how it affected you, but you can always get a good judge of character by looking at their personal life, and for this we look at his ties with Countrywide;

Through a group internally known as "Friends of Angelo", a reference to Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo (who also made my top 10 list), Jim cashed in on some serious mortgage deals. To date records indicate he received some $7 million in loans under market value for homes in Washington's Dupont Circle, Palm Desert, Idaho, and some personal home equity loans. This trend was continued with #3 on my list; Franklin Raines, who also managed to take full advantage of his professional role at Fannie Mae by securing even better interest rates and more money up. That is until his forced resignation in 2004 from Fannie Mae after "its regulator found it had violated accounting rules in an effort to conceal fluctuations in profit and hadn't maintained adequate risk controls" (Simpson&Hagerty). He's only #3 and not higher on the list because he followed suite from Jim's lead, and there's a better #2 out there...his name is Phil Gramm.

Senator of Texas, Phil Gramm, has been credited with leading "the charge in 1999 to repeal a Depression-era banking regulation law" (Lerer). This lack of regulating credit derivatives was etched in stone through the "Commodities Future Modernization Act of 2000, which specifically exempted new derivative markets from government oversight" (Leonard). In short, it would "protect financial institutions from over regulation"(Corn). The bottom line though is that through these steps to deregulate it ended up lining his pockets directly (his role with UBS), or indirectly (his wife working for Enron).

Do you see the root of the problem through all these details...GREED. Regardless that James Johnson and Franklin Raines have strong ties to the Democrats, or Sen. Phil Gramm's ties to the Republicans...they are all greedy scum! So where do we go from here if everyone in power is getting free handouts and leaving you on the back burner to bail out problems they leave behind????

Oil turns to Gold

On the annoucement of Record Oil Profits today, I thought we'd look at what countries our money is going to;

Top 10 (accounts for 88% of US consumption):

1. Canada (1.840 million barrels per day)


2. Saudi Arabia (1.579 million barrels per day)


3. Mexico (1.116 million barrels per day)


4. Venezuela (1.030 million barrels per day)


5. Nigeria (0.851 million barrels per day)


6. Iraq (0.583 million barrels per day)


7. Angola (0.464 million barrels per day)


8. Algeria (0.440 million barrels per day)


9. Brazil (0.318 million barrels per day)


10. Kuwait (0.263 million barrels per day)

I am sure you notice a few countries that jump out as known (past, present, or future) threats to the U.S.; so what do we do about it? We can continue to fund countries that hate us; or we can look internally on how to put money into our own economy. Ideas???

*Special thanks to my brother Paul for stimulus on this topic

Money "Not" Well Spent

Well if you recall my former post about Political Headaches you will remember my disgust with the campaign spending getting out of control. Now that Hilary has dropped out (surprise) I was going to write about it too but CELESTE KATZ of the DAILY NEWS said it best with this laundry list of how $212 million could have been better spent.

Damn, that's a lot of coin!

Rationing

This day in history (1942) is known as the day in which the United States placed an official restriction as to how much each individual person could purchase in a number of different goods areas . So why did this come about? It came about after we entered into WWII and the Japanese had strategically taking control of the Dutch East Indies. Perhaps the most dramatic impact this had was that it rationed the amount of gasoline you could purchase, maxing most drivers out at 4 gallons per week, and a maximum national speed limit was set at 35. Yep, that picture below is for real and the funniest thing about it all was that it was due to a fear of the loss of rubber...not gasoline!

I guess that probably wasn't so bad because for the 3 years that went on, we probably gained back a little of our ozone...but that's a whole new debate.

Bike to Work!

It's only fitting that we have seen gas prices blast through the roof this week, which also happens to be "Bike to Work Week". Thought this picture was fitting...



With oil price above $125 per barrel we shouldn't expect prices to drop anytime soon. Oh and by the way stamps went up to $.42. This is why I am so glad I work less than 5 miles from home....ahh!

Reading between the Lines

Well, believe it or not the Democratic race is still going. Why? Despite recommendations for Hillary to throw in the towel, her stubbornness or competitiveness pushes it on. Would you have thrown in the towel if you were her? Consider these facts before answering...

1. Obama has 1,846.5 delegates to 1,696 for Clinton in The Associated Press tally. It takes 2,025 delegates to win the nomination in Denver this summer.
2. Clinton disclosed that she had loaned her campaign an additional $6.4 million in recent weeks; her original loan was for $5 million.
3. Your husbands friends support your competition. Just look at these three Bill Clinton chums/cabinet members who now back Obama; Greg Craig, Anthony Lake, Robert Reich
4. The irony of her comment this past week about betting on the filly Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby (the only female in the group of males), and while the horse finished second she collapsed breaking two ankles only to be euthanized, and then considering the winner was Big Brown...odd?

So would you still be in? It is getting to the point where she is hurting her party, yet she doesn't seem to care. Why? Ponder this theory by one of my friends...

1st - In 1870, the 15th Amendment was ratified which gave all males over 21, regardless of race or color, the right to vote. The problem was that a segregated America at the time did not enforce this so then the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which essentially followed the 15th Amendment but provided the power to be enforced. This is typically viewed as the first time all African Americans were allowed to vote.
2nd - The first movement of women voting rights dated back to the 1820's with some small state successes, but no national recognition. That is until in 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified and it gave women the right to vote.
3rd - In addition in the 40's and 50's society had painted the image of the happy stay at home housewife doing everything for the family and their husband (FYI..that job is 10 times more difficult than what you do). Even today there are still reports that women are paid less than men for performing the same job.

The theory concludes that Hillary continues to fight because our founders and society has viewed women as the lowest possible ranking individual. Which then begs the question that despite her obstacles is she pushing on to prove a rank of race and/or gender? (I'm not touching that one with a 9 1/2 foot pole.)

Thoughts???

From insanity to humor...2 days

So to bring you up to speed on my United lost luggage issue, I now have my bag. What a nightmare of events to get me to the actual point of getting it though. Through this process I spoke with five baggage claim agents (located in India via the phone), all of which ran through the same scripted garbage with me, and then to top it off the moron behind the counter in MKE clearly echoed the same dumbfoundedness of his colleagues on the phone. Clearly United has serious customer service training issues...correction, no customer service!
---In the great words of Clark Griswold I'd like to tell United "what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit they are. Hallelujah. Holy shit. Where's the Tylenol?"---

Now that I have my luggage back I truly do have to laugh at the ignorance and stupidity of one of the world's largest airlines...no wonder they are looking to merge with any other airline willing Perhaps this is what the discussion went like at corporate...

March Madness

With the 2008 Brackets out in full circulation, Vegas can finally breathe a sigh of relief after ending the Super Bowl with a major upset. Now is the time when the house wins, or does it???

Here is a few quick facts to consider when completing you brackets:
1. Since the beginning of the seeding process, only 9 teams have entered the tournament ranked #1 in at least 1 poll and gone on to win the tournament (only 6 more are added to that total before the seeding system in place today).

2. A #1 seed has never lost in the first round to a #16 seed, yet two #8 seeds have reached the championship game, one of which one (Villanova-85).

3. In 1993 Arizona was seeded #2 and was one of only four seeds ever to be beaten by a #15 seed (Santa Clara), but not to be plagued by that label they came back and in 1997 as a #4 seed and beat three #1 seeds (Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina) to win the overall title!

Generally speaking though, since the current seeding system began in 1985 the percentages are that the higher the rank the better the odds;
#1 seed has beaten the #16 seed 100% of the time
#2 seed has beaten the #15 seed 96% of the time
#3 seed has beaten the #14 seed 84% of the time
#4 seed has beaten the #13 seed 80% of the time
#5 seed has beaten the #12 seed 68% of the time
#6 seed has beaten the #11 seed 68% of the time
#7 seed has beaten the #10 seed 62% of the time
#8 seed has beaten the #9 seed 46% of the time (this being the exception)

Good Luck, have fun and drink lots!!!

Paycheck to Paycheck

No matter how much you make or how little you make, you will use the phrase "paycheck to paycheck." So why does it seem so different as compared to nearly 30 years ago when my parents were raising a family of 3 on a modest middle class wage? The answer, still boggles many of my social circles today...but let's look at a few of the facts we have uncovered:

First of all, the late 70's provided a time when a average salary of $40,000 could get you into a nice home. For example, in the Midwest, in a nice suburb outside the city limits you could get a 2000 sqft. home with 4 bd. 2 ba for around $100,000. Today that same house with some updates will now command a price tag of up near $300,000 (and that's conservative). Yep...that is where we are today. Now instead of jumping 30's ahead, lets go 30's back into the late 1940's. Now granted a house of these proportions were few and far between but the standard Craftsmen Cape Cod style homes were around $50,000. So let's summarize;

• 1948-$50,000
• 1978-$100,000
• 2008-$300,000

does this make sense to anyone...please explain!

Next, in 1980 my parents never had a computer and therefore had no internet. No computers means that they didn't do online shopping($xxx/mos.), and would not have had a monthly internet service($60/mos) either. I am going to go out on a limb and say that this saved them about $1500 annually (not including the overall investment of a computer).

Another is the constant need for things. I like things they make me go fast, feel cool, look good...so what's wrong with that. For some of us nothing is wrong with it, but it teeters a fine line called GREED! Greed tends to lead us into battles of financial mayhem. Let's take the example of a name brand item, say purses, or to be more fair to both sexes we'll look at clothing. Suddenly the Levis at the local department store for $20 is not good enough we need the $150+ designer jeans. If we look at that example that would mean that we spend 87% more than what our mom and dad spent on an item. That is an extreme example, however the next time you go and purchase an item think about that percentage, or even 50%...I'd be willing to bet your spending thousand more that your parents did.

Lastly, another item we had discussed was how the format of companies has changed. By this I mean retirement benefits, health benefits, and general care for their employees. This may have not been as instrumental in the financial arena, depending on which companies you are comparing. However, the security and the stability a good job provides seems limited in today's world!

Personally I think all of these have affected me in form or another, not to mention many others that will need to wait for another post. You get the jist about the financial woes of living paycheck to paycheck. I've got to be honest though I am one lucky SOB to be living the life I am ...so God bless!!!