Take A Deep Breath And Try To Relax
by Ahansen -
August. Typically a month when we Americans take our annual two-week recess from the day-to-day in order to be miserable and harried in a slightly different setting. Some of us hit the road, some the hammock, some hit the bottle –or any combination thereof. All too often, our two weeks off translates into a disquieting meditation upon of the backlog that awaits us when we return to work.
In an ideal world, vacation is a time to recharge and reconnect. But for many vacationers, this August carries a foreboding that we may soon be experiencing “vacation” as a permanent way of life—only this time without the paycheck - or even bus fare home.
The threat of being down-sized in favor of someone’s idiot girlfriend or brother-in-law hangs heavy. For the self-employed, mounting competition for dwindling markets is the stuff of nightmares.
And while senior executives may continue to draw outrageous bonuses, where’s the fun if you have to worry about confronting a lynch mob of angry townsfolk every time you fire up the Ferrari?
After enduring 25 years of Sugar DaddyAmerica’s profligacy, the sweet, loyal marketplace we’ve all grown to love and trust has finally lost its forbearance and thrown a full-blown hissy fit. In the aftermath of all the shrieking and hair-pulling, it’s kicked over the dinner table, smashed the crockery, and flounced out of the house leaving us with spaghetti sauce dripping down the walls and red wine stains all over the carpets. (Or maybe it just dynamited the place in disgust– I’m lost in my metaphor here….)
Bondholders are being stiffed, shareholders are left holding shares of –nothing, and all of us are watching in some measure of glee and/or horror as what is left demonetizes into the ether. Those TARP funds alone just diluted our country’s net worth by 10%.–and they’re just getting started.
Then there’s the coming commercial real estate, credit card, and Alt A mortgage defaults, coupled with a retiring generation of freaked-out, bankrupt Baby Boomers all expecting Medicare and Social Security benefits. Oh, and let us not forget the debt service to China et al who loaned us the money to pay for this monstrous bubble in the first place.
Indeed, one might argue that inflating our country’s way out of an unmanageable foreign trade deficit was cynical genius on the part of Cheney, Paulson, Wolfowitz and Associates. Perhaps they had the best interests of our country at heart after all!
Now the FED’s newest pet administration is attempting to let the air out of this debt balloon slowly in order to effect an orderly and controlled collapse rather than an economic Big Bang. Arguably, it’s working. So far, there have been no runs on the banks, and none of our foreign creditors has invaded to take back the cruddy houses they financed in the Inland Empire and San Joaquin Valley.
The end result- however the hot air dissipates- will likely be the same. At some point we, the FB’s of the global marketplace, will have to confront the icky disparity between what we think we are worth and what the rest of the planet thinks we are worth. Like the “homemoaners” we take such delight in disparaging here every day, we’re stuck trying to unload an over-priced McCrapshack that no one wants to buy– while the banks are about to foreclose and send Ben out to change the door locks.
So as we take our pitiful summer vacations, trying to relax in this temporary lull before the weed whacker hits the dog pile this winter, the question arises, “How do we cope with what one wag on this board dubbed the ‘Awesome Depression’?’”
(Because it’s not just Great, this time it’s gonna be AWESOME!)
NO REST FOR THE WEARY?
For what appears to be a fair number of HBB’ers, the transition from consumer to idler has already come. More than one of us has written of turning extended unemployment into an ideologically satisfying lifestyle. For these adaptable souls, there is a great deal of satisfaction to be had in refusing to participate in the maddening CF all around us–enough, even, to compensate for missing all the cake decorating shows on cable TV, or that morning tub of crappafrappo.
For the perverse, (that would be us,) watching the carnage unfold from the sidelines offers a cheap and ready source of amusement. New cars un-purchased, housing rented or shared instead of mortgaged, bank accounts closed and credit cards canceled, these are our contributions to the national equation. We’re pretty smug about it, too.
Into the life of all true slackers comes that moment of epiphany when the humiliation of no longer being a participant becomes a matter of personal pride. And that, I think, is the intersection of aspiration with financial reality the PTB have looted our great-grandkids’ future to circumvent.
Why?
“Greed” is too simplistic an answer. These guys aren’t stupid. And that quaver in Bernanke’s voice isn’t a prop.
So, is our semi-democratic system of government, this cumbersome inelegantly seasoned stew of socialism, cronyism, capitalism, communism, and whatever other ism suits our bugaboo du jour, worth saving? It’s pretty obvious that as a nation, were going deeper and deeper into systemic economic crisis. It’s also pretty obvious that most of us here have a different vision of how the situation should be remedied than what our elected representatives have set into motion in this past year.
So let us assume you are sitting there on your porch swing enjoying your iced beverage when some MIB comes up to you and says, “Dr. Bernanke has resigned and moved to Grand Cayman. Mr. Geithner is having some, um, personal issues and wants to spend more time with his family. Congress is terrified and hasn’t a clue now that all their big contributors are bankrupt. Lacking any further ideas, we took a quick straw poll and YOU, faithful HBB reader, have been selected to help the President guide our country out of this dreadful mess.
So what do you do?
Will we really be happy in a society with no taxation, no fiat currency, no reliable infrastructure, no one to quiet the barking dogs or quench the cook fires in the neighbor’s front yard?
Are we ethically remiss if we allow the government IE: those self-same annoying neighbors, to subsidize OUR housing, OUR food, OUR health, safety, and OUR retirement when we can no longer do so for ourselves? Doesn’t that make us in some way beholden to them? Does that not require us to cut their vile antithetical politics some slack? Yikes.
Last week, one of HBB’s more consistently strident and divisive members posted a lovely, conciliatory essay on the nature of political activism and social responsibility. It was late at night when I read it, so I may have imagined the whole thing, but I was astounded to find myself agreeing with this person almost word for word. The jist of the post was: It’s not the content so much as the intent; the rest is simply negotiation. It’s called “politics.”
Incorporating everyone’s voice into the national dialog is a messy, thankless task. Our elected government, flawed as it is, and as overrun with imbeciles, is at least an attempt to reconcile anarchy with totalitarianism. Some of us run for office, some of us organize our respective communities into noisy voices that must be heard, and some of us simply blog on. My point is that everyone who posts here cares about what happens to our country—maybe even our planet. And we’re all trying to make a useful contribution to our community of choice. The trick, I think, is in keeping our frustrations measured, and our discourse civil. August is here, time to stop and vacate.
Have a beer!
Pax.
Like the “homemoaners” we take such delight in disparaging here every day, we’re stuck trying to unload an over-priced McCrapshack that no one wants to buy– while the banks are about to foreclose and send Ben out to change the door locks.
Ben, you wouldn’t change the locks on me? Would you?
“Have a beer!”
I’ll pass. For me the gym at 5 am is the better choice. I take my aggression out on the weights and shamming the 20, 30 and 40 yr olds (most of them). Nonetheless, sometimes stupid does raise it’s ugly head and I overdo it and pay the price. Last week a leg press machine had 12 45lb weights on it so I just had to do it, got three reps out and didn’t quite walk the same for a week but still not bad for a 69 yr old man.
Why not have the best of both worlds? I usually end my workout with a nice cold one. Hasn’t hurt me any. 61 and still going strong. In fact, in two weeks I’m going to run the annual four-miler. (And celebrate after the race with a nice cold one!)
That brewer’s yeast is good for you! And it’s a heck of a lot tastier in liquid form.
At 50, its good to read such inspiration. I’m swimming 6 to ten miles per week and lifting weights on alternate days. Gym opens at 4:30 a.m. and I’m there waiting at the door before opening time.
And some evenings I have beer at Hermosa Beach Pier. Other evenings I have more a taste for red wine.
You don’t need to be an ascetic, Ron. Ascetics eventually die, too.
I played two sets of doubles tennis, each going to a tiebreaker, in the hot sun late this morning. Tomorrow and Thursday I will play the same amount or even more. But later this afternoon we’re going out on the boat with friends to partake of our choice of adult beverages and tasty (meaning bad for you) Hors D’oeuvres and snacks.
Sorry to give the wrong impression but since it was early in the day my comment was I’ll pass early in the am. Had some great wine this past weekend from Tobin James (Paso Robles) called ‘5′ (it is a mix of five different wines. Going to go online and order a case if I can get it.
Deja Vu - When the owner and winemaker of Tobin James was just learning his craft 20+ yrs ago at Eberle Winery, he left a batch of Zin fermenting a bit too long. . The result was called, ‘ Brain Dead’ and it was 18% alcohol.What a blast. My grey cells still haven’t recovered !
See for example Jim Fixx.
See for example Jack La Lane
A friend and I used to do a “biathalon” twice a week - a walk on Town Lake and a swim in Barton Springs. On Fridays we did a “triathalon” - a walk, a swim, then Margaritas and Mexican food at Jalisco Bar. Sweet!
Yeah, well I was at Safeway this morning and ran a 50 meter dash straight to the bakery counter - in just under 7 seconds.
I’m gonna jog up the stairs when it’s time to flip my tater tots. Then get a beer.
The “Greenbelt” walk through downtown Boise is great. They cleaned up the Boise River in the 1960’s and put a pedestrian path along both banks. Right now it’s on about a 20 mile stretch but plans are for it to extend the whole 50 miles between Lucky Peak reservoir above town and where the Boise River joins the Snake River at the Oregon border.
The walk through downtown Boise passes not just one but two brew pubs at strategic locations…..
If you walk 6 miles you can have two pints at differing venues.
hmmm…I’ll be out there again next month. what are the brewpubs? Is one Bittercreek downtown?
No, the Bittercreek is too far off the path since it’s right downtown. I was talking about the Ram http://www.theram.com/
and the Tablerock Brew Pub http://tablerockbrewpub.com/ .
The last few weeks up here in Washington’s Columbia Basin have been really warm. I have a 24-mile loop that I ride almost daily on my Serotta Legend TR, and the early evening summer rides are a real treat; start at 19:40-hrs with 98-degrees-F, and return at roughly 21:00-hrs with 86-degrees-F. Cool off with 1-liter of Bend, Oregon’s Black Butte Porter dark beer!
I’ll pass.
I won’t!
“shamming” does this have anything to do with ’sham-wow’ ?
LOL He’s shamming the 20 year olds! Must be nice.
I am perfectly calm. I want to be employed. I DREAM of being unemployed. I have gone over the layoff scene many times; I will be so cool “oh, that’s quite all right, I understand…call me next year if you need help…” I expected it years ago, but it never came.
Mr. Bernanke, is that you?
Hey Obama fans guess what, his nose is getting longer, and you can get 79 weeks of unemployment.Let’s cheer for gov health care.
“where’s the fun if you have to worry about confronting a lynch mob of angry townsfolk every time you fire up the Ferrari?”
I don’t think we’re there yet, but this is the closest we’ve come in my lifetime.
“The threat of being down-sized in favor of someone’s idiot girlfriend or brother-in-law hangs heavy. For the self-employed, mounting competition for dwindling markets is the stuff of nightmares.”
How timely. I *never* do spec work (free) in the ad/music business, but for the first time ever I got a call from a friend (true friend, not a “business friend”) this morning and he wants me to score 5min video for a pitch. He *needs* this gig.
He “owns” and is behind… another strange twist, eh?
“where’s the fun if you have to worry about confronting a lynch mob of angry townsfolk every time you fire up the Ferrari?”
Did you guys see the Youtube vidoe of Sen. Arlenen Spector and Kathleen Sebelius (Secretary) getting booed (spelling?) and jeered at a health care rally in Philly ? Interesting.
Organized/funded by lobbying firms backed by Dick Armey, so it wasn’t exactly from their hearts. If it was, it would be interesting.
It aint, it is smoke and mirrors and sadly for them they are thinking they are making a difference.
watch for lots of this happening all over the states. Instead of working to make things happen, the people are hoodwinked again by LOBBYING firms. Still stealing money from baby.
Can a nation of couch potatoes riot? When? When the cable gets shut off? Would free cable maintain public order? I think it would. Universal free cable, including movie channels, could keep any party in power and the peeps in ‘their’ houses, for years.
and the support FOR obamacare is as pure as the driven snow…no special interest there.
At least that’s a bailout you can feel good about, Muggy!
“where’s the fun if you have to worry about confronting a lynch mob of angry townsfolk every time you fire up the Ferrari?”
I agree, I think we are getting much closer. More and more people are starting to figure out that those investment bankers may not have earned those outrageous bonuses. When taxes go up and inflation rears its ugly head they may start to put 2 and 2 together.
And if the public ever figures out that the reason they had to pay $4/gallon for gas last year was because of the likes of Andrew Hall, he may have to take his $100 million bonus and flee Connecticut to his castle in Germany and start rebuilding those castle walls.
All of a sudden, there’s no talk in the MSM about bonuses, and the huge AIG payouts got no press after the initial request to pay them. Everything’s a giant cover up, as the wealthy elitists steal every last dime they can- at the expense of common man.
Have to say…I was one of those “vacationers” just this weekend and very much enjoyed the “uncrowded” beaches, the restaurants with no waiting and the local amusement park where we got our moneys worth with no lines..
Even was able to book a inexpensive hotel 2 blocks from the beach with breakfast provided…
Seems this year, like myself, many have learned to discover getaways that are within a day’s driving(although we have been doing this for the past couple of years. The same my parents did for me.)..
Not saying we are not experiencing a downturn in business we just have never lived up to the top..so a adjustment downward wasn’t that hard…although I have to say in my community we are seeing much less “Lawn care” guys this summer in here and more “self lawn care”(the sames ones who laughed when my husband bought the mower 3 summers ago), less people headed out of town on planes, and more people enjoying their homes on weekends..also less luxury vehicles on the road..
When I was growing up, lawn care was one of those chores that kids were expected to do. It was right down there with vacuuming the house, taking out the trash, and doing the laundry.
Yes, we loathed it. But we did it. We had no choice.
My dad would pay me a nickel for a dandylion pulled up completely including the entire root. Even a tiny circle of white at the bottom of the tap root (indicating that part had been left in the ground) was disqualifying. I pulled a lot of weeds and earned very few nickels. Some of them had roots 10 inches long or more and still didn’t qualify.
Mom was a little easier. If I could figure out a way for her to be the judge, she would let a giant handful of slightly damaged roots sub for a real one, but it had to be obvious that you were still trying for the perfect pull. A pile of leaves and stems with flowers didn’t get you anything.
And I wonder why I ended up something of a perfectionist.
Hey Polly. When I was about seven or eight years old, my mother offered to pay me one penny for every ten rocks I picked out of what was to be the front yard of our new house. After a couple of hours of piling rocks to the side of the lot alone, I corralled my siblings and a few of the of neighborhood kids, and offered to pay them one penny for every twenty rocks they brought me.
With a half-dozen of us working together, we cleared the lot in one day. When I went to my mother and told her I needed ten dollars for the work, (quite a sum for a child back in the 1950’s,) she demanded that I count them all (again,) and put them in piles of 100. Which I did–and again asked by my ten dollars.
When I had proved to her that we had indeed gathered the 10,000 rocks, she told me she would pay me a dime for every thousand.
Now understand, I had my subcontractors standing around waiting for me to give them their day’s pay, and they weren’t looking all that pleased, but my mother held fast telling me that it was too much money to give a child, she didn’t realize there were so many rocks bla bla bla. I never got them to help me out again, although I ended up babysitting the bloody lot of them for the next ten years–also without pay.
And I wonder why I ended up despising totalitarian fascists.
A nineteen-fifties Tomasina Sawyer!
ahansen, I still salute your enterprising nature, even if your mother stiffed you (shame on her)!
Sub’ing out the job at a lower rate was brilliant! What an awesome story—thanks for sharing!
I like your story better. Taught the other kids a good lesson on the risks of subcontrcting, too.
Ahansen….What a special gal !!
Cute, Polly.
We had 3 apple trees in our front yard. The kids had to pick up all the apples that fell to the ground. That job sucked. Lots of times we had to kick the apples to get the bees off of them. But, it was all part of earning allowance!
we too had three apple trees in the front yard. I usually combined picking up apples, mowing the lawn, and spreading fertilizer into one step:
mowing the lawn with apples still lying on it….
Hear, hear! I come from a large family so we rotated through the household chores (dusting, vacuuming, trash patrol, bathroom cleaning, weed pulling, dishes, laundry patrol) but the older boys got the paying jobs: lawn mowing and snow shoveling. Heck, us boys got good enough to get paying customers around the block. That cash kept me in balsa wood and model airplane fuel during the summer.
Nowadays my boys couldn’t get that kind of work. There’s no snow in SoCal and the clapped-out pickup brigade has a lock on the local lawn care biz. I am going to ask my landlord to drop the lawn service for a rent reduction when the lease is up. I’d rather pay my boys to do the work…
A kid in my hometown laundered his drug dealing money through a lawn mowing business. His mother was convinced that he made enough mowing lawns to buy:
a riding lawn mower
a sports car (when he was old enough)
a sail boat
and a few other expensive toys.
She was pretty stupid, but the kid was fairly smart. As far as we knew, he didn’t sample his own merchandise. And he sure had her fooled.
I’m guessing that he’s now on Wall St, right?
Hey Slim,
At a young age I was required to do all those same sort of things including dishes, picking up the house, dust, vacuum, make my bed every morning, laundry, take out the trash. From about 5th grade on I got the gigs that would give me an allowance like split & stack wood, mow & edge, and so on. Not much of an allowance and it got docked if I slacked or forgot an agreed upon task. We had the simplest of tools also. Splitting mall, wedge, and axe (no power splitter EVER). No dryer so clothes had to be hung on the line. Push mower and hand clippers (although it was a small lawn).
Anyway, not that I’m playing the “I used to walk 5 miles in the snow to school” card, but standards have changed. My girlfriend has 3 kids and they can’t even remember to clear their own dish from the table when finished eating. If you catch ‘em and ask them to help for 30 seconds cleaning up they either give you a dirty look and plunk their plate and glass in the sink, lie and say they are not done eating, or pitch a fit. They expect to be paid for any chore including the simple ones like taking out the trash.
Oh well, maybe I’m just getting old.
“My girlfriend has 3 kids and they can’t even…”
rob, have you considered that you might be dating the wrong woman? If she can’t teach her kids to be responsible and help out a bit, she (and possibly you along with her) will likely be in a world of hurt down the road a ways…
Father is out of the picture physically and financially. She works full time to support herself and all three children. Tries to do it all herself, but gets overwhelmed. Won’t accept much, if any, help from me. Her mother was an alcoholic and didn’t teach her many of the skills needed to be an effective parent. It’s hard to imagine being in her shoes.
Good for you for being supportive, Rob. Being a single mother has got to be one of the toughest jobs out there. She probably appreciates just having a shoulder to lean on, every now and then.
How I earned allowance of $5.00 mo.
The Entire lawn, hedges etc. 5 acres.
My sister and I did all the yard work, and we never got an allowance. Our folks came from farm country, didn’t believe in the concept of “allowance” and felt that it was our responsibility to chip in on behalf of the family. We only got cash on birthdays or by redeeming soda bottles.
When I was growing up, lawn care was one of those chores that kids were expected to do.
That’s one of the things I did to make money in the 70’s, typically $5-6 per lawn. Apparently that’s beneath the children in California in the 21st century. Lawn work doesn’t have to be done by illegals.
I lived in a family with 4 younger sisters and myself on a not-so-big income. We didn’t really have the cash for any reasonable allowance (hell, we barely had the cash for school lunches).
I earned my “allowance” with little debbie’s. I’d take my 1.00 lunch money and buy a box of them, then at lunch time I’d swap one little debbie package (2 rolls) for other more fortunate kid’s lunch money. I used the money to buy a brand-new Nintendo.
Speaking of rough chores I bet I have ya’all beat :).
We had a septic tank, and with 5 kids and 2 adult’s (sometimes 3, don’t ask), it had completely flooded the leech line and wouldn’t properly hold water (leading to the not-so-fun house full of backed up month-old poo). We couldn’t afford to have the septic guy come out and pump every week or two, and the system needed a -long- time to dry out and be ready to accept more poo-water, so we did the next best thing.
As I was the oldest (and the only boy) my parent’s designated me the poop water kid, and every day I would go out into the back yard and -slowly- unscrew the blowoff pipe cap (about a 3 inch piece of capped off pipe that came from the septic and stood a bit above ground). If I unscrewed it JUST ENOUGH, the cap would stay on and it would slowly trickle poo water down a carefully dug (by me) open sewage trench into a small wash behind the trailer. If I turned that cap just 1 turn too far, it would shoot the rest of the pressurized contents of that pipe 6 feet into the air and all over me. To alleviate the smell, I helped my dad route the washing machine and bathtub out to the same trench (they were also flooding the septic thanks to massive amounts of laundry and bathwater). We had tree’s and plants all along that trench growing like -crazy-.
Never got paid a dime for it, and I can’t even tell you how many times I ended up standing there covered head-to-toe in yesterday’s excrement. We we’re here in the US, in a neighborhood not unlike any other, with an open sewage trench right out of a third-world-country. At the time it just seemed normal, today I look back and cringe.
There isn’t any advice to give Obama to get out of this mess. Goldman Sachs has everything lined up just the way they want it including the President. I’m not trying to sound like a conspiracy nut, but this awesome depression was brought about by their manipulation and until we kill the beast, they’ll continue to bleed us dry. The question is, what’s the next bubble they have set for us?
“The question is, what’s the next bubble they have set for us?”
Cap and trade baby ! We’re all going to get rich trading carbon credits ! Oh but wait, GS already made big PRIVATE investments in the CC trading houses that will make the next bubble possible. The big bets have already been made on Carbon Credit trading, how many of use will be suckered into this next get GS richer scheme ?
You nailed it, Mo.
Yep!
The best part about Cap and Trade will be twofold:
1) It will destroy EVERYONE financially. We wise renters were able to avoid the worst of the Housing Bubble by not buying a stupidly overpriced dump. We won’t be able to avoid buying gas, heating fuel, food, or any of the other things that will be jacked up in price by Cap and Trade.
2) The “Carbon Credits” are totally made-up nothingness. Unlike houses, which can fall apart and thus have their real value decline over time, Carbon Credits are utter BS. This lets the banks play “pretend” and leverage their worthless Carbon Credits a zillion to 1 and nobody can really prove these “assets” are worthless since they are worth whatever the bank says they are.
This will be a Double Plus Good Depression!
Who suggested Creature from Jekyll Island-’Griffin’? video of author explaining the FED.
2 yrs old and critical.
So what do you do?
Right now the scariest is facing the fact of very lowered expectations. I may never get a job as good or fun as in the past, or the chance to make unlimited OT like during the OJ trial.
I may never get the chance to expose people to all the good music i am finding and not just zydeco music, because bar club owners are scared to death that next month they wont be able to make the rent and will have to close up, so lets play it safe with Lady gaga, and T pain
I almost feel sorry for the girl yesterday who wanted to sue her college for her tuition back. So many jobs available that shouldn’t require you spend that kind of money to get a piece of paper except we keep the damm union rules and bar set so low to winnow out the “free thinkers”… Most jobs today should only require lots of common sense which i see very little of today.
What we really need is another space program, a Vision for the future lets send men to mars…
If you had a podcast, I’d sign up in a heartbeat. Heck, you could even become the male equivalent of Anji Bee of Chillcast fame.
NYCdj- You should focus on bars that are doing terrible/ about to close. Ask them what they have to lose by trying your type of music. If you could bring some peeps into a once empty bar, you might find yourself a regular gig. Also, I assume there are cajun bars/restaurants in NYC. Can’t you get in there?
I may never get a job as good or fun as in the past, or the chance to make unlimited OT like during the OJ trial.
I had this attitude since the year 2000. This decade has been too good for me. So I lived well below my means, squirreled away lots of money and anticipated (since 2000) that I will have to go back to my way of living in the 1990s.
This way I never had great expectations. Instead of taking a terrifying fall onto hard ground, I will take a swan dive fall onto the gentle cushion I created.
It’s Good to Be King… if just for one day. ahansan, I told you before, you are a beautiful lady, (Queen). Thank you for an outstanding post. It is so perfect, I cannot put it to words.
(Blushing.) Aw shucks, ATE. Merci. Glad you enjoyed it.
It was a very eloquent and enjoyable read, ahansen. I thank you for sharing your time and talent with this blog.
THE RECESSION IS OVER!
Why am I reminded of a certain president standing under a banner that said “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?
You know, your post gave me an idea. I was going to photoshop up a pic of Obama standing in front of the NYSE with a mission accomplished banner hanging above it.. but while searching for source pics I came across this. (probably NSFW although not full-frontal nudity)
I’m too traumatized to continue now.
I think your idea is better.
hmm.. someone explain that to me.. my left brain is asleep. or is it the right..
Obama has ridden in on his (candy-crapping?) unicorn to slay the Wall Street bear. His unicorn holds the bear in place by inserting his horn (phallic symbolism of Obama’s populist people power) into bear’s nose. Obama climbs on top to administer socialist coup de grace. I would like to have this painted on my van.
Gee, alpha, I kinda feel a little icky-poo after reading that.
But, you meant well.
ok.. the bear got me.. i thought it was the symbol of Russia. Ain’t wall street’s icon a charging bull?
oops… and now i see it was more or less explained in the page’s url.
-nude-obama-on-a-unicorn-defeats-wall-street-bear-
Unless you do your van as a progression from W/Dick and then to now, it won’t make sense.
I explicated it further, but I don’t think it passed the censors. May appear after prime time is over.
How can I get a copy of the new Obama (joker) poster ? Help me HBBers.
Yeah palmy, plus what model/year van is it?
Eeewwww!
That’s really weird. Not because of the nudity, but because it looks like an HBB’er painted that.
Seriously…The Candy-Crapping Unicorn??? I thought FPSS “trademarked” that?
I like it!
Into the life of all true slackers comes that moment of epiphany when the humiliation of no longer being a participant becomes a matter of personal pride.
I really don’t view it this way. I left a six-figure job to take a frugal retirement before the crash hit in 2006. Some of my friends are still scandalized - I get comments like “but if you went back to work full-time (i.e. 50-60 hour workweeks) you could afford a new Porsche every year or so!”
I just tell them that not HAVING to work is the greatest of all luxuries.
Time is man’s greatest luxury. Solitude, a woman’s.
Tell that to my girlfriend. She won’t give me a moments peace.
Tell that to my girlfriend. She won’t give me a moments peace. If you don’t give her enough time, she’ll give you plenty of solitude.
Occupational hazard of Speedo models?
but will she give you a moment’s piece? (rim shot)
Nice!
Alpha, I knew SOMEBODY would come through on that rejoinder….
I would guess that most men want time, a woman, and solitude.
so do serial killers
This is why I love this blog so much
I come here, as nowhere else, to get my bearings in a world that so often doesnt make sense.
You are an inspiration to me. That you could, against all odds, survive a severe mauling by a juvenile black bear and live to tell about is an absolute testament to your fortitude. That you have managed to keep your sense of humor through that event and the financial mauling now occurring in the larger world is just astounding.
You give me faith in humanity and for that I am profoundly gratefull.
My expertise is state and local government not the federal kind, but after one public employee pension enhancement too many, the last straw, I wrote a post on “preparing for institutional collapse.”
At this point the question isn’t should our institutions be saved, but can they be, or is it impossible to dislodge those who control them? One possibility is a collapse, with new institutions replacing the old.
WT:
I don’t think the institutions are wrong its the way they hire so many mediocre people and leave the good employees out to dry. That has to be changed in all of America.
We can’t afford to hire dumb people anymore . Lets face it WT what is so wrong with government actually working for the people, and guv programs that actually work and help people and be cost efficient?
At first I thought the cash for clunkers was a good idea, but man what waste…why isnt Al Gore all over this boondoggle? destroying the engines and crushing reusable parts when we get fines for not separating our garbage properly? who should we hit upside their head with a 2by4?
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or is it impossible to dislodge those who control them? One possibility is a collapse, with new institutions replacing the old.
“At first I thought the cash for clunkers was a good idea”
Never was a good idea. It was just a bail out of the auto industry and had nothing to do with going green other than moving tax payer dollars around. Now they want to extend it till Labor Day. They are still under the assumption that they just need a little spark to get the economy started and that things will pick up in the 4th quarter and continue on it’s merry way. It’s not going to happen! These clowns just don’t see the big picture.
Instead of my co supvs finding out the real talents among its employees, it promotes the koolaid drinkers/suck ups and nothing really improves. Continual waste of $/talent.
Things will have to get a lot worse before the average idiot is complelled to get off his ass and starts caring of what’s going on in the world. Chances are that by that time some eloquent demagogue will harness the outrage for his own sinister ambitions.
I wonder when the feces will hit the fan. The market rallies ‘cos things are getting worse at a slower pace. Now that’s something to cheer about.
The US will be fine as long as we can:
a. Borrow money from suckers
b. Print money and buy our own treasuries without the rest of the world finding out about it.
However, some of our main creditors are “concerned” about our ability and willingness to repay our debt with “fair” dollars. Sooner or later some very unpleasant truth will be forced upon us. We as a nation have been living beyond our means and don’t have the economic strength to make good on our promises and obligations. Our creditors know it, you know it, I know it and the Lord knows it. Amen!
Amen!
Things will have to get a lot worse before the average idiot is complelled to get off his ass and starts caring of what’s going on in the world. Chances are that by that time some eloquent demagogue will harness the outrage for his own sinister ambitions.
My biggest concern is that the significant economic problems will eventually pale in comparison to non-economic problems. One can look to the 1930’s for some of the various possibilities.
“For the self-employed, mounting competition for dwindling markets is the stuff of nightmares.”
I hear the market is good for self-employed individuals specialized in vacant home preservation.
But Prof, you are presupposing the average would-be entrepreneur is as astute as our Benster….
OR as physically FIT………not a job for a Fatman…not saying I am but not svelte either.
“I hear the market is good for self-employed individuals specialized in vacant home preservation.”
The market is actually saturated. If my memory serves me well, Ben actually gets 1 job out of every 20 bids presented. Contractors, with no houses to build or remodel, are rushing in.
So far, there have been no runs on the banks, and none of our foreign creditors has invaded to take back the cruddy houses they financed in the Inland Empire and San Joaquin Valley.
Which foreigner in their right mind would want to come and live in the crapholes known as the IE or SJV?
Well, someone who lives in a desperately poor area of India or China would find it paradise. Also some Mexicans and Central Americans. Then again, maybe not.
(Because it’s not just Great, this time it’s gonna be AWESOME!)
Reminds me of the joke about the furniture store known as Sofa King, whose motto was “It’s not just good, it’s Sofa King Good!”
Caution: The above will go right over your head unless you actually verbalize the motto.
Repeat these 2 lines as fast as you can 3 times in a row.
I am sofa kind.
We Todd did.
“Mr. Geithner is having some, um, personal issues and wants to spend more time with his family.”
Better he should be on his knees in a Chinese prison.
I am one of the transitioners. I am at mile 650 and week six of my floating adventure. I entered my transition about five years ago, but kept working because it was fun and paid well. That chapter is closing. I’ve bascially been ready for the “Awsome Depression” for quite some time. I have very few worries connected to the end of the perma growth economy or the Empire of the US.
I do care what happens to the country and the greater globe, but I expect my contributions to that end will be very localized and unnoticable.
Thanks for the thoughtful words Ahansen.
Hi, Skye! You’d promised to keep us updated on your Grand Adventure…whereabouts are you these days? Have you run into any scary weather yet?
I’ve just crossed the border back into the US from backwater Quebec. Huddled into a marina because the wind is kicking up a lot of white horses. I found the French Canadians in gereral a very friendly bunch, with the exception of owners of large expensive fast boats.
In Ontario, the bubble houses were everywhere along the water. It didn’t seem so in Quebec. I didn’t even see any bubble housing in Quebec until St. Jean on the Richelieu. I anchored to swim at the national park beach in Oka, other side of Montreal. Beautiful mile long sandy beach. Surprised to find that the custom there is to swim naked. Oh well, when in Oka…..
Yesterday I landed at Ft. Lennox Quebec, where England built a grand fort to keep out the Yanks after 1812. It was deserted, so I took it back for the night. Had to leave before the tour boat came to use its dock though.
The water is clean and clear here, so it was laundry day. Five gallon bucket, courtesy of the ladies at the deli. Red rubber plunger $1.79. Rinse in the mesh bag over the rail. Drying line is the rail. Life is good.
Not exciting economic insight, but it is life. I’ve been pretty much media free, which has been good for me.
Jealousy is an emotion I am thinking of feeling strongly right now.
Sailingggggggggg. How fun. Have a great time and keep us filled in on all the fun.
Any Canadian pirates?
Did you sugar a decoy can of gas like I suggested?
Actually yes. I was boarded by pirates just south of Ottowa in the wealthy suburb of minotec (sp?). Drunken teens in the middle of the night. They were unable to enter the cabin and so stole the only portable thing of value on deck, which was three five gallon gas cans for the generator. They cut me loose from the dock and then ran for it as I was waking. Kind of alarming being cast off in the river above a dam.
I spent several hours with the constable making a report and all. He was very embarrased and insisted on taking me to Canadian Tire to get replacement gas cans. Nice fellow. He bemoaned the morality of the local brats, and the sorry condition of adults not being able to defend themselves in his society. I told him that if I had awakened just a moment earlier, there would have been a shot or two from my flare gun into the posteriors of the fleeing. He couldn’t hold back laughing. The flare gun is one weapon the do-gooders haven’t thought of taking away.
In Ottowa I tied to the city wall and had absolutely no problem.
Flare guns and their legal status makes me bust out laughing.
They basically are an all-plastic 12 gauge pistol that shoots 12 gauge flares into the air.
US Coast Guard says “possession of a flare gun on boats of a certain size is mandatory”.
US BATF says “possession of an all-plastic gun is a felony”.
alpha, I did not sugar the gas. I’d surely fall into my own trap in that scenario. Instead, I found a less conspicuous place to store it.
Sugar doesn’t work anyway.. there are only one or two commonly available things that will work. The military did extensive testing in WW2 for sabotaging gasoline engines in enemy vehicles.. they wrote a chapter in one of those white military handbooks with the results of hundreds of experiments… they tried sulfuric acid.. finely powdered abrasives.. sugar of course.. exotic chemicals. All kinds of stuff.
French Canadians, unlike other Canadians, like you MORE when they find out you’re American, and not ‘Anglo-Canadian’.
I had one nice Quebec Seperatist explain to me how the French made our US revolution a success. He was the one who told me to try the beach, LOL.
I learned in Canada that the US had very little to do with victory in WW2, other than to ferry the Canadians to the fighting. (Which they of course won.)
I enjoy reading your updates Blue Skye…
“And that quaver in Bernanke’s voice isn’t a prop.”
Maybe it is.
http://www.counterpunch.org/
“It means the revered professor Bernanke figured out a way to circumvent Congress and dump more than a trillion dollars into the stock market by laundering the money through the big banks and other failing financial institutions.”
My impression is that this fed policy satisfies Congress; the last thing anyone in Congress wants to do right now is cast a yea vote for more bail-out money from the taxpayers. Gentle Ben’s method is only understood by sophisticated folks.
“Oh, and let us not forget the debt service to China et al who loaned us the money to pay for this monstrous bubble in the first place.”
Not to mention financing endless wars and military actions. Not going to end well.
Edward Griffin’s video _Creature from Jekyll Island.
42 min of enlightenment.
Were the slackers right all along? They saw up close the hypocrisy and self-servingness as the ‘aquarius’ generation become a bunch of yuppie/Trump wannabees. They bowed out early and mocked the whole $hitstem. They were the original perma-bears. Isn’t being happy with what you’ve got, as opposed to busting your hump to buy a bigger bimmer, the epitome of slackerhood? They were right all along! (Disclaimer- I’m a slacker king from back in the day! “Born in the summer of love, and I thank the lord above…”)
Say it once, say it loud, I’m a slacker, and I’m Proud!
As one of your many contemporaries, I wholeheartedly agree.
I must, however, give the credit to my old man. In WW II he saw the cruelty and hyprocrisy up close and imparted to me a natural distrust of authority and power. He’s what made it easy to see through the illusion of the past few decades.
And unlike our sitting president, my old man did not change his name to avoid harassment and ridicule - even when serving this nation in WW II as a gangly kid from Chicago’s south side with an unmistakably German surname.
+ 1 Alpha…
I’ve raised two sons who are artists in college. Better happy than rich I always told ‘em, and tried to teach them the psychology necessary to navigate this strange American culture of ours. Which is creativity-killing and relaxation-stifling.
There is a slow motion collapse of many systems in our culture but for now, the corporations have the best gov’t they can buy and we get the dregs. I’m most concerned about the rise of authoritarianism and the militarization of police forces, the alphabet soup of NSA type agencies, etc. This trend seems obvious.
My brother in Maine digs clams for a living. He has no electricity and does have an outhouse. No mortgage. Privacy. Time. He also lives alone. He asked me what he needed to do to weather this Awesome Depression. “You’re doing it already,” I told him. Make up a bed for me in your workshop, you may have to take me in.”
militarization of police forces ??
Yep…Just look at how they respond…Recently, a reckless teenage kid here tried to out run the cops in his car…They finally caught and surrounded him with the 9mm’s drawn…Kid put the car in reverse and backed into the cop car…5 officers then unloaded their mag’s into this kid…Maybe just shoot out the tires and wait him out ?? No, don’t get the same “rush” you get when you get to kill, plus, you get that administration leave with pay for several weeks or months…
“YOU, faithful HBB reader, have been selected to help the President guide our country out of this dreadful mess. So what do you do?”
Have the president start by leveling with the American people about the depth of the problems. Fire most of his economic team. Hold accountable those that created this mess (real investigations and prison terms). Lay out a vision of a new, more sustainable economy and a road map to get there. Develop and implement a plan to pay down or write down the massive public and private debt. Restructure government and public programs at all levels to mesh with the new economic realities. Sharply reduced the size and scope of the military.
I have no problem with a cooking fire in my neighbor’s front yard. In fact, I’d welcome that sort of thing.
I went hiking in the Sierra Nevada last week from Agnew Meadows to Thousand Island Lake and back. My buddy and I did 25.5 miles in 2.5 days. All the way, we spoke of frugality and the added health benefits. He barely drives his car anymore now that he’s retired. He’ll ride his bike 10 miles in the city for a sale on vegetables and fruits. I picked up some valuable lessons on frugality and that certainly seems to be what we as a nation are returning to right now. The MSM still thinks the party is on, but the common people are definitely getting it now. My father was a Depression child and my mother received one orange for Christmas growing up in Burnaby, British Columbia. I was always taught to stretch a dollar. That might just come in handy now.
Nice critical article on Buffet
reuters.com/article/reutersComService4/idUSTRE5735JC20090804