Burn Baby Burn

I have been silent on the Bush - "Hey I Wrecked the Economy with my Lack of Leadership, but damn I have a nice White Cape Bail Out!" dog and pony show - but I think the tumble in the market reflects a number of things. Let's examine them, shall we! (see serious news story here...)

1. The stock market is not the economy. The stock market is both more important than the actual economy and simultaneously less so.

The market or actually Markets in all fairness - are a place to exchange stock. Stock is paper ownership in a company with limited control. Control of the company is on a percentage basis and trust me the company set it up SO THEY HAVE the MAJORITY share - THEREFORE CONTROL.

The market is like a being of its own. It is fed on rumor, speculation - investing in stock is always about speculation. Sometimes the market trend leads the economy and somethimes they lag or are reflective.

The market can be going like gangbusters and the economy can be for shit. Or the market can be doing lousy and the economy can be booming.

At the moment - well they are both for shit.

2. House of Cards.

For the most part the entire banking and brokerage industry is a house of cards. The problem is THEY need us little guys. We bring in our paychecks and then the BANK gleefully plays fast and loose with our money. Same with the brokerage houses.

The problem is - the Banks and Brokerages have been playing fast and loose with each other and making bad loans and bad choices and well it is a big knot which cannot be easily untied and FRANKLY the simpleton we call our President and his addled HENCHMAN cooked up a plan that was a GREAT sound bite but fundamentally flawed. (I think while we are letting people hang we should add the entire government machine - bloated and needs a house cleaning - an overhaul maybe.)

I normally am loathed to agree with anything the far right has to say but I was excited when House Republicans stood up and defeated this BILL the 1st time (I will explain why later...)

Had the SEC and NASD and Banking Regulators been enforcing the rules on the books already some of this might have been mitigated. But when those agencies are stock full of ex-bankers and ex-brokers and they are now policing their buddies - well it is a bit like the FOX guarding the HEN HOUSE is it not?

3. One Man's Collapse is Another Man's Break

I think we can say that the Great Depression was horrible for people. People lost their homes and their life savings and their security - not to mention terrible job loses. I am not saying that we need to experience that again.

HOWEVER - I think that instead of giving Wall Street another dime - the Government should do its job and protect the people. Give me my tax money back. Make it easier for me - while I weather the storm. Freeze credit. We can all live without a new car. Ease the crunch by having a borrowing holiday.

I would not give those greedy rat bastards on Wall Street a piece of chewed gum - let alone billions of dollars. They fucked up - they should pay. They should lose their big houses and big bonus and their golden parachutes.

After the market collapse in 1929 and a period of terrible austerity for most Americans - we had a period of enormous economic expansion. Granted a War helped - but I would argue that when the chips fall - SOMEONE picks them up.

The government should not bail out companies they should protect citizens and they should enforce the rules we have and they should stop accepting corporate campaign dollars and they should throw these cheats and frauds in jail and lose the key.

Maybe if we went after White Collar Criminals the same way we did drug dealers (who by the way run a CASH business... mmmm) people might make better business decisions.

4. Capitalism is organic - kinda like the Hunting Lion

Would you step in front of a hungry Lion about to take down a gazelle. Yeah, me neither. Capitalism is alot like that. It is ugly in its raw organic form. I would argue that of any economic system it is the most organic in that it follows the laws of nature. Survival of the fittest and all of that - BUT it works.

What does not work is all this intervention and rule breaking and all of that. We either have a free market or we do not. We either want a capitalist state or we do not. We either let the cards fall where they may or we reward bad behavior and encourage it to be repeated.

Our economy is built almost completely on NOW NOW NOW and more credit and more credit.

The House Republicans actually asked some of these questions and I applaud that (regardless of their reasons.) The entire mess is a mess of our own gerrymandering and frankly no bail out is going to solve the root of the problem. The problem is cultural and systemic and deep and goes back about 4 generations. We are a culture of greedy Me-First - Gimme, Gimme, Gimme - people - who have lost site of important things - like honor, dignity, community, and compassion.

So I ask you - What really is that House of Cards?

Blog...

I decided to shake things up again. Change the template and all that and well - opps! That messed up my label cloud, so I had to spend sometime recoding and the like, but all is well now. I may be adding some new widgets in the next few days.

I am not sure why I decided I needed to change things up - but I did and well... now it is done.

Food for thought...

I am scared of food and I am hungry... After the bout of itchies, I pared back on my list of safe foods, getting back to basics and once again being a bit fearful of food.

I have said this before but food for me is now scary. It used to be exciting and I loved trying new things and new combinations of things and I loved to experiment. Now I feel like a food Nazi. I ask a million questions, I read every label and all the fine print. If a food has more than 5 ingredients I generally assume it will have something I cannot eat and skip it completely. My source of good choices - Whole Foods has eliminated some of my favorites - for reasons I cannot understand. Their replacement choices - either not within my guidelines or tasteless.

I am afraid of eating out, unless I have been there before. I used to be open to trying new places and now I am less so.

I went to bed kinda hungry last night becasue my stomach was giving troubles and I felt unsettled and frankly nothing sounded good and I am tired of the same 10 things. Part of this is the fact that the kitchen is a mess and well cooking is basically out of the question and the other part is my mind cannot get over the fact that the rash and the stomach upset came from something I ate and well I am still not 100% sure what it was.

I remember when I went on this eating plan, that I struggled and I feel like I am back there again. I am taking baby steps into the scary world of food. Leaving no stone unturned and well apple slices really are the best bet - and the healthy choice, albeit not exciting.

So we are heading out to dinner, somewhere we go often and a kitchen that I trust and all I can do is be thoughtful in my choices and be hopeful that my trust is not misplaced.

Intellectually I know that my reaction the last time and any in the future are likely to be fierce, given that I am so careful - but still it is scary and it does make every meal a bit more of an adventure than I would care it to be. I am lucky my reactions are not classic allergic reactions - no shock and no swelling of the throat - or at least they have not been - but then one never knows.

What I do know is that I am really hungry...

What IS she saying....

Ok I listen to this 3 times and WHAT EXACTLY IS SHE SAYING... I am scared really really scared.

But HEY this little sound bite did ONE great thing for me - Made me scared enough to go get an OBAMA/BIDEN yard sign!

Going...

I have had a great summer, a challenging summer, a complicated summer, a busy summer. Any of those statements is true - the reality is I have had a great challenging complicated busy summer.

True on many levels. As a mom of 2 busy kiddos - busy and great.

As a business owner - challenging and complicated.

As an artist - busy and great and challenging.

As a woman - all of the above and then some.

Sometimes I get lost in the process of my life. I am surrounded by needy (I do not mean this negatively) folks. L and E need me. My mother has and is undergoing 2 great life changes - moving (done - check - yipee) and she is coping with the fact that here time on this earth has a reasonably finite end. Cancer is curable - hers is not.

I am coping with that also. As her daughter....

I also tend to put everyone else first. I have gotten lost. What do I want exactly? Where am I going. What are my goals. I want my business to do well, but that is a slow process. I have been very focused on setting it up - creating a frame work, building some creditability and now the 4th quarter I am starting to pursue projects once again.

I have thrown my hat into the ring to step out of my previous professional role and try something new - leveraging many of the skills I had from my previous position(s) in a new and different way. It would be a contract position and I like the idea of a short term position - a great way to test something out and add something to my resume.

I also like the idea of versatility. I like the idea of economic flexibility. I crave options.

I have also taken a HUGE step and am going to finish my MBA. I can do it in less than a year. A series of 10 6 week classes - taken one at time and online. Perfect for me. No babysitting required.

There has been a series of events which have pushed me to break out of my holding pattern and finally take back the helm of my own ship. I am the Capitian and the Mistress of my Destiny and it is up to me to LIVE my life.

My best friend said it best...

"And I quote....from YOUR BLOG: "Life is really short. I mean really short. When great moments come along - Live them, because once they pass you by - they are gone forever."

Why only live the great moments....aren't all moments meant to be lived to their fullest?! I'm just saying, take your own advice and make all the moments worth living however you need to do so. "

It was the kick in the pants I really needed. I had been sulky and struggling and feeling cornered a bit and overwhelmed too I guess. And yet it is an easy choice - live life or pretend to live life. Develop a plan and execute it or not...

While I think I will be one busy girl over the next 12 months... I feel very positive about it. It is what I need to do get to the NEXT chapter in my life.