This Is It - Get Used To It

So the housing market bubble broke and the stock market crashed. Now folks are waiting for things to get back to where they were. I'm afraid that isn't likely - at least in the near future and here is why. For whatever reason, the markets were out of control. Housing prices were way higher than they should have been and the same is true for prices on Wall Street. Both markets are going through a correction, but that doesn't mean that prices will go back to those unreal high points. Rather a correction means that prices will drop to where they SHOULD be.

People who are waiting for the stock market to go over 10,000 are basically waiting for the market to get out of control again. In reality, the market will make adjustments and find a new level of "normal" - the correct level.

And don't expect your house price to reach $400k again when clearly that price was false. Now your house is maybe worth $250k and that is the new "normal" price. To expect more is to expect a new out of control market. If you bought that house at $400k then I'm afraid you way overpaid and you will not likely get that money back for a long time.

We must look at the economy realistically. The prices of the past were not real. The terribly low prices we now have are probably not real either. Sometime soon (hopefully) the markets will find their new "normal" and we will all have to adjust to that.

I Wish You Well.

Our company, like so many others right now, just layed off a whole lot of folks - just in time for the Holidays. It has been a very scary couple of weeks as groups of terminations came through not knowing if mine was next. Thankfully I survived this round - but many I know did not. My heart goes out to them and I wish them all the best of luck finding new careers.

Price Drops?!

Well I honestly never thought it would happen, but today I saw a gas sign where all the numbers started with a 1. Of course my previous posts always suggested that there was no shortage (yet) causing the massive price increases and I guess this proves me correct.

But many folks are taking note that although gas prices are thankfully dropping, the cost of other goods like food are not. Prices have gone up sharply in recent months and blamed on fuel costs for transporting goods. Stores of all sorts must be seeing huge profits now as transportation costs go down. They need to pass the savings on to consumers just as fast as they raised the prices.

I think price drops to match lower transportation costs is unlikely due to greed. But, I was wrong about gas prices dropping - lets hope we see price drops elsewhere too.

Words That Irritate Me

There are several words or phrases that irritate me for some unknown reason:

• "Reach Out" as in contact the person and see if you can get more information.
• "Synergy" It seems whenever this word is used - there isn't any.
• "Brick and Mortar" as in a physical store or building. Isn't physical a shorter word?

I guess I'm a minimalist. I'd rather "call" someone than "reach out" to them. Forgive me if I choose to use the shorter words.

Things That Should Always Be Free

There is no free lunch. But in my opinion some things should be free.

• Air for tires - especially bike tires (why does the cost keep going up?)
• Tap water - wherever it is available. Even if bottled water is sold there.
• Towels in bathrooms. I refuse to support the bathroom attendant occupation - nothing personal to those in the business.
• Advice - directing guests in your hotel is just good customer service.
• Toilets - if you have to take a crap and have no money for the pay toilet - what do they expect you to do?

Do Unto Yourselves As You Do Unto Us

When a person doesn't manage their money correctly, they may overdraw their bank account. At that point the bank not only demands that you deposit money to make up the difference, they also charge a large overdraft fee - something I've never quite understood. If you didn't have enough money to begin with, why do they think you can suddenly come up with more?

Well now it is the bank's turn. Seems many of them have "overdrawn" their systems by investing in bad mortgages and other questionable business practices. If the banking theory of penalties works for them - it should work for us too. They need to come up with the money they owe NOW. And they need to pay a penalty for overextending themselves.

What is happening instead is that the banks want us to bail them out! They actually want the tax payers to give them money so they can continue to be in business. Can you imagine what the bank's response would be if you asked them to "give" you money to cover your overdrafts? That is the same response we need to give them.

Let the banks fail. The taxpayer's money can be used to bail out the good people who would lose their money because of the failure - not the bank itself. So simple.

Electoral College - Still a Bad Idea

The election is finally over and the winner is clear - this time. Depending on which tally you look at it was either a landslide (as viewed from the Electoral College) or fairly close (as viewed by the popular vote). In my opinion the electoral college system is a very bad and dangerous way of counting an election. As witnessed in this election, it can swing the votes for an entire state in a way the popular vote doesn't resemble at all. We need to end this system before we have another mess like 2000.

Change

The result of the election is incredible - and it has little to do with the historic nature of it. I truly believe that Barack Obama is a good and honest man. He is an eloquent speaker and believes in the power of the people. He has the ability to gather support from huge crowds. President Elect Obama has a vision of the future. He understands the many challenges we face. He will listen as well as decide. I truly believe he has the power to heal the international wounds created in the last eight years. I have great hope that he will accomplish much of what he promised. I look forward with great anticipation to his term(s) as President.

But be warned - I am not a "stand by your man" type of person as were many who supported President Bush. The promise of this new President is great, but he must earn the respect of the American people. I have no doubt he will do just that. I wish he could start today.

Change has come to America.

Official 2nd Class Citizen

Yesterday we witnessed an historic election as the people overwhelmingly elected the first African American President. I was so elated by this wonderful event I almost forgot that other blatant discrimination was voted in the very same day. Florida and California joined the ranks of many states that wrote discrimination against homosexuals into their constitution. And Alabama banned adoption by homosexuals -already the law in Florida.

How is it that we can finally break the racial barrier while clinging to other discrimination? Homosexual people are in every country, every state, every town and in a whole lot of families, yet we continue to be the most hated of all people in every corner of the world by the very act of our birth. How is it that lawmakers and some judges do not consider this unfair, especially when the argument against these rights are based on religious beliefs? Where is the separation of Church and State?

We cannot expect the rights of a minority to be protected by the majority. Would slavery have been voted away? Would women have been given the right to vote by popular vote of the men who already had that right? An issue of discrimination should never be voted on.

Equal rights for all people should be so easy. Why is it so hard?

Other countries have broken the racial barrier long before the USA when it comes to their countries leaders. Some even have equal marriage rights for homosexuals. But I can't think of one that has an openly gay President or Head of State. I wonder if it will every happen in my lifetime.

The Future Is So Bright - I Gotta Wear Shades!

Projected winner - Barack Obama!

Sick and Tired

This has been a very exciting election year - but I'm way over it by now. Especially since I already voted for our next great President - President Obama!

But I do have just one request: Whoever wins on November 4th - can they please start on November 5th? I don't think we can wait until January!

The Other Bubbles

We have several other bubbles out there similar to the housing market that are just waiting to burst. Some should be burst on purpose in my opinion. Several examples I can think of off the top of my head:

Health Care Costs
Insurance Premiums and deductables (including medical, home owners, malpractice etc.)
Higher Education

All of these industries are way over priced and their high costs are causing pressure on the market in general. When there is no clear justification for extreme prices then eventually something gives and a correction occurs. Some if these industries are feeding on each other the same way the housing market was feeding off of lenders. A good example is medical costs and insurance. Each keeps raising because the other will support it - and a bubble occurs.

When insurance companies won't pay the high medical costs - the bubble will burst.
When students can't get student loans to cover the high cost of education - the bubble will burst.

Anybody got a pin?

Leave Well Enough Alone

Here is what I think we should do with regard to the troubles on Wall Street:

absolutely nothing.

The market - and economics in general - is a very fragile and volatile balancing act. It doesn't take much to set off the balance - greed and corruption will tip it in a hurry. But once it gets out of balance I think it is best to let it correct itself, even if it hurts a bit. If we tinker with it by putting more money in banks or whatever the plan is, we might actually cause more damage.

I don't think any one person can totally understand the market and it comes down to a guessing game. We should leave alone things we do not totally understand. But I'm not an economist so that is just my opinion.

The Undeniable God

Perhaps one day we will be able to scientifically prove the origin of the universe back to a tiny speck of dust that somehow blew up to create all things we know today. Even so, where did that speck of dust come from?

We The People

Here is something you won't hear me say too often - the Republican concept on the economy is not bad - the problem is it just doesn't work.

I'm talking about the concept that if you support business, the money will flow to the people who work for those companies. It really should work - but it doesn't for one simple reason. Greed. Those at the top, who make the rules and decisions, take a lions share of the profits while the rest of the company barely survive. But that is not the whole problem. Businesses exist because people need money to live. But for some reason, business has taken on a life of its own, with corporations growing and growing - never giving money back to the people for whom it should support. Corporations should be designed to generate money for the people who work there - not only to keep growing. In my opinion, every business, especially a public company, should reward every employee with a pre-determined percentage of the profits in addition to their actual wage. Can you imagine the motivation to succeed if you knew your bonus grows with the profits? This is a concept that cannot work in a totally free market because greed will always keep money from flowing back to the people.

Its people, people. Business exists for the people - not the other way around.

How Old Is Your Soul?

I ran across an interesting on-line profile the other day. The man described himself as having "an old soul who is tired". This man was only in his 20s.

As a person who is interested in many views of creation, life and the afterlife - I found this to be a very intriguing idea. If we explore the possibility that our souls live on after our bodies die, this young old man may have said something very profound. To me it would explain a lot. Why is it that some children under 10 years old are able to play extremely complicated piano concertos? Why do some very young people seem wise beyond their years? Why do some older folks seem like they should have more wisdom for their age? Perhaps it is the age of the soul and not the age of the person that really counts.

For me personally it may explain some other things - like why I have a very strong sense that I am supposed to be doing something really important, but I don't know what that is. This has bothered me for a long time now. I don't feel that my soul is either young or old - more like a middle aged soul with a lot of life left but that I have already learned a lot. I do feel like I've been here before and I experience a lot of that DejaVu feeling - more than other people do I think.

It is a very interesting concept that wise old soul presented to me.

Game, Set, Match

A great political observer, Gary Shandling, said on Real Time with Bill Mahr exactly what I have considered true for a long time now. The terrorists won.

The buildings struck on that fateful September 11th were not chosen because they were easy to hit. They were chosen for their symbolism. The terrorists had 3 goals in mind that day:

1. Kill lots of Americans to instill fear because the fearful will always over react. (thus the planes and buildings with large populations)
2. Set the wheels in motion to bring down the American economy (thus the World Trade Center)
3. Reduce the strength of our military (thus the Pentagon and possibly the Capitol if the other plane had succeeded)

This carefully calculated plan needed one more very important ingredient - the correct people running the country to react (or rather over react) in such a way as to complete the goals started on 9/11. They must have known they had the perfect ingredient with the Bush Administration. I doubt even Bin Laden realized how perfect it would all unfold.

1. An overacting Administration would help increase the total number of American casualties by starting wars they didn't know how to fight (Iraq was a super double bonus)
2. By over reacting and starting those wars costing Trillions, the country would eventually fall into financial ruin (witnessed this month on Wall Street - and it ain't over yet)
3. Our military is over extended to the point were we are now unable to defend ourselves for another attack. (Would Russia be acting this way if they still felt America was a super power?)

Yes, I hate to say it but I believe we feel into a giant, well planned, trap. Now, how do we get out? Its time we acted smarter than terrorists. Lets vote for the right President - one that doesn't keep the policies that the terrorists want us to follow.

The Rich Still Are (Again, Still)

Thank goodness the American tax payers were able to save Dick Cheney's investment portfolio!

Seriously folks - nobody wants to see the market crash. But I have to admit that if such a terrible thing were to happen, finally, it would be the rich that would pay the price. Those that have nothing still wouldn't. Look how quickly we came up with 800 billion dollars (!!!!) to save the rich. Again I mention Katrina and how years later many of the poor still don't have real homes.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of the banking industry failures - most mere mortals couldn't possibly understand this complicated mess. But one thing is for sure - the rich will save the day - for the rich. And Joe Six Pack will pick up the bill. Its like your wealthy boss taking you out to an extremely expensive lunch and then making you pay the tab.

Look Up

Solar energy can be turned back on as soon as the storm has passed and the sky clears. We have the technology to make solar energy as common as automobiles, it just needs to be made affordable. The money for energy independence can be used to fund oil exploration OR to fine tune solar and other forms of renewable energy. We heard the Republicans answer loud and clear at the convention "Drill!, Drill!, Drill!".

That is the wrong answer.

Bush Defect-ors

I've been watching the Republican National Convention because I like to hear both sides of the story. I'm amazed at how differently they see the world as opposed to the way Democrats see it. But that's not the point of this article. What I find most interesting about the convention is that so many of the speakers have said that the country is on the wrong track (something Dems do agree with) and that John McCain is the man to save the day. But these are the same people who voted for President Bush twice and vehemently supported him through all his bad policies and judgements. Now (NOW?!) they are saying , well, maybe he wasn't right on a lot of things after all. Here is a little secret I'd like to share with the Republican party: You do not need to "stand by your man" when you KNOW he is leading the country on the wrong path. You do not need to vote for your candidate again when you KNOW he will continue the bad policies you already witnessed in the first term. Partisan politics is not the American way - or at least it shouldn't be. We must all vote for the best person for the job - even if they might be on the other ticket. I live by this rule.

John McCain is a good man - but I do believe that Obama has a better plan for the future of America. I hope some Republicans will see this too and vote accordingly. That said, I'm thankful that we do not have any bad candidates this election. President Bush should never have had a 2nd term but either of these candidates can do the job and do it well.