Due To Technical Difficulties...

...Post Delayed.

Rose-Colored Glasses

Today I did not pay much attention to anything. Somehow, the market went up 200 points on the news that the Federal Reserve would keep pumping money into the financial markets because the several trillion dollars that they have already put in still has not eased the liquidity crisis and the house passed the newly proposed $819,000,000,000 stimulus plan; more money above and beyond the $700,000,000,000 plan passed last September and the additional trillions that have been injected by the Treasury Department under its own programs. So the answer still is to throw even more money at the problem.

Maybe the GOP is right, maybe this is too much debt to take on despite the state of the economy. It is ironic that the GOP presided over the run-up of federal debt during the last 8 years and now they are the ones crying that the debt is too high to spend any more dollars to help boost the economy. I don't know, it is all going in circles and no one is guilty; all the corruption was on the fence but was it all really illegal? Now the enriched have enough money to convince us that they should be allowed to keep the money, no matter how ill-gotten; as long as you have enough of it, money talks.

Speaking of money, I have now spent way too many hours, probably to the detriment of myself, trying to find a good deal on hotels for my trip next week. So far I am fairly satisfied with my flight plans and rental vehicle costs. I have reserved a hotel but I'm not 100% convinced; I am surprised that in this economy hotel rates are still so high and they charge for every additional amenity; in many cases after paying an exorbitant room rate, you still have to pay for internet, breakfast, parking, beach chairs and towels and other resort fees. Excuse me but aren't those fees included in that exorbitant room rate? Then again, the last time I went on vacation was years ago so I must not have kept up with the inflation.

Years ago you would call a travel agent and that would be that. Now, there are so many internet sites to check, it is impossible to feel comfortable with your choices. I checked all the sites, I'm sure I did not miss any: AAA, American Express, Hotels.com, Kayak, Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline (except I did not want to bid and end up with someplace I really didn't want), Trip Advisor for all the reviews, Yahoo Travel, Away.com and numerous others. I am compelled to check daily to see if there is a better deal.

Nevertheless, it does seem that there must be enough people going on vacation to justify these room rates and charges. Some people must still have some cash lying around somewhere. Or maybe we're all doing the same thing, escaping now before the real crash and burn.

When Life Gives You Lemons

It is always sad to hear about employment despair beyond the ordinary; today a man killed himself, his wife and 5 children apparently because he and his wife had lost their jobs. It is always hard to fathom why someone would bring themselves to such a horrible conclusion after a hard-fought life and so many children. The collapse of the economy has created a death spiral for many, from the uber-rich to the little man; the collateral damage continues to increase creating tragic circumstances for some.

Economic sustainability is major driving force behind our very existence; that which drives us to materialism and spending beyond our means and ultimately greed and on the downside can drive us into debt, deception, degradation and/or despondency and associated tragic consequences. Yet, we are supposed to adhere to the creed, when life gives us lemons, make lemonade, but positive thinking does not solve everything for everybody. As the job losses mount, there will be more collateral damage; this is unfortunate. The fall from grace in a modern world is no longer secret; it is broadcast by any outlet that can get its hands on the video if it is newsworthy and sometimes even if it is not.

It is so easy to forget to be happy for being alive; everyday life can be quite overwhelming at times, leading us down the wrong road before we see the miracles or tragedies that remind us to treasure the little things. Unfortunately we forget the same just as quickly and we are back out shouting at the poor sod who is driving 55mph when we want to go 70mph even though he/she is obeying the law. Daily the world strips us of our compassion but we diligently continue to go on because we want to find out how we turn out; will we succeed to be the people we want to be?

I used to have a co-worker who was a part-time minister and he sent a daily email with a scripture-based lesson that always concluded with the refrain, "let go and let god." I always found that refrain fascinating in its simplicity though I, myself, cannot reach that type of purity; I steadfastly attempt to exercise too much control, against the better wishes of the believers. We are supposed to be thanking god for each meal and for each day we arise and yet sadness, despair and the lack of hope can quickly overtake our very beings when our economic condition is threatened.

It is the end of the world and it is not the end of the world; our stock portfolios and retirement plans are half full and we have to believe the market will rise and if it does not, then what? Making lemonade though sweet, delicious and refreshing may not be enough for some of us.

Seventy Two Thousand at One Blow

Today the job losses were brutal; Caterpillar, Pfizer, Sprint Nextel, Home Depot, Texas Instruments, ING and others announced 72,000 job cuts today, 207,000 jobs so far this year in 27 days. True to form the market rose a little because job cuts are presumed to bolster a company's bottom line by cutting costs.

However, I beg to differ, one or two companies announcing job cuts may be a good economic play, many companies announcing terrific layoffs in one day does not point to a good economic boost in my mind. When consumer spending is 70% of GDP, this adds a large number of consumers to the list who will not be buying or utilizing services not to mention the ripple effect of all the domestic service providers and assistants who also experience a reduction in livelihood because their services are no longer needed and who, in turn, will stop buying as well.

Anytime a city or town suffers from tourism losses due to a natural disaster or similar detriment, the economic cost is always tallied but when job losses are announced, the market only looks at the individual company's bottom-line and not the economic cost of those layoffs. The companies announcing losses are not isolated to certain industries, they represent the corporate spectrum which is never a good sign.

The market also improved today because sales of existing homes went up some 6%; this is not good news when most of those homes that were sold were foreclosures snapped up at bottom feeder prices; is this really good for your neighborhood? What happened to all those people who lost those homes?

It is odd but I still don't feel like the gravity of our economic reality on Long Island. The news is coming from school via my children, about where everyone is going for February break. Even I, as I have previously stated, am going to go away for a few days at the end of next week. I pulled the trigger and booked the flights and reserved the car though I am still undecided on hotel.

I am still questioning my motivation because I don't want to view it as a foolish, last hurrah, or as a foolish expense. I must be able to come up with a good reason for why I choose to spend this money at this time. And, I need to stop wasting my days searching travel sites for good deals so I can get back to the number one task at hand - looking for a job!

Long Island Jobs Report: There Are None

Today, Newsday reported data released from the New York Department of Labor:

"Long Island lost 21,600 private-sector jobs in the 12-month period ended in December, compared with a year ago, marking the weakest local job market in 16 years."

This I know because I am one of those people. Out of my circle of co-workers who were laid off, it appears that only one has found a job thus far and it requires a daily commute from Suffolk County to NYC. I know that the job outlook is bleak because I face it everyday; each job search for positions on the Island yields a shorter list of opportunities. Positions that have aging posting dates are generally dead requisitions that haven't been pulled by the job sites.

Now the untouchable companies like Microsoft are announcing layoffs, 5000 positions will be cut over the next 18 months, says Microsoft. However, it was under-reported that 1400 of those positions were cut today. As more and more companies join the list, we just watch the bleeding.

The Newsday article went on to describe the current unemployment rate of 5.8% on Long Island as the highest in 14 years. It was 5.2% as recently as November of 2008 and 3.8% in December 2007. The shocking economic fall of 2008 may have been minimized and delayed by the trillions injected into corporate institutions by the government and its entities and yet these bailouts were accompanied by unprecedented job losses, a continued credit squeeze and lack and capital. It is difficult to comprehend how much collateral damage that is still out there.

We still want to believe that things are going to get better but no amount of Presidential honeymoon can detract me from the realities. Now the government is poised to throw another 1 trillion at the "economic problem" except for this time it is supposed to create jobs. Now many are complaining that this is not nearly enough money.

We have been told to completely ignore the spiraling national debt; it is better to increase it by trillions so that we all survive yet I have not heard any other solutions. Maybe we lived too high on the hog too long; maybe we all cannot survive. We still need the unvarnished truth. Maybe we'll get it soon. Like they say, the truth shall set us free.

Another Oath; Another Dollar

It seems that yesterday's oath was not good enough and neither was yesterday's stock market. Today, Obama called over Chief Justice John Roberts to redo the ceremonial oath of office just in case yesterday's flubbed inauguration day oath was challenged as incomplete. Though the Constitution explicitly states that the President assumes office at noon irregardless of an oath; President Obama, being the consititutional scholar, just wanted to be sure that all was truly legit. Today, the market decided that the disastrous 300+ drop yesterday had to be done over as well and rebounded with an almost 300 point rise. So all is well with the world now folks!

Actually, it is difficult to read any financial news these days because behind the numbers are some truly startling realities; the amount of jobs being shed on a daily basis is stratospherically increasing. Usually, Wall Street cheers when their are layoffs, it means a company is shoring up its balance sheet by cutting costs; human capital is the most expensive cost of any enterprise. At what point does Wall Street stop cheering a layoff as being good for business? When everybody loses their job?

President Barack Obama

I watched every minute of it. Well almost. After 9 hours of inaugural coverage, I petered out after 2 hours of the parade. I am excited for America but I still remain lucid; our reality is not pretty and our hopes are high. May we be satisfied with what we accomplish over the next 4 years.

Reflections on Dr. MLK, Jr. Day

Today I listened to Dr. Martin Luther King's most famous "dream" speech rebroadcast on CNN this morning. My youngest asked me what we were going to do for Martin Luther King Day and I really didn't have a plan. Just then, my mother called telling me about the broadcast and an impromptu celebration/discussion was underway. Why didn't I have a plan? I should celebrate the history of black America and how, on the eve of Barack Obama's inauguration, King's dream has been realized to some extent. Certainly there are still deep reverberations of racial injustice and inequality throughout America, one only has to look at the electoral map to get an idea of where those areas are; areas that I definitely would not want to move to. Tomorrow, America will inaugurate its first black President and we can all rejoice that steps are being made in the right direciton.

The evidence of Dr. King's speech that speaks most clearly to me when it comes to the election of Barack Obama is the part about being judged by the content of one's character and not by the color of one's skin. This is the part that I hope is applied to myself and my family when we go out into the world and execute all that we are capable of. Every race has those who achieve and those who do not achieve. Sadly, all races have an underclass that is unable or unwilling to capitalize on all that is right with America. The difference is that the black race, despite their heritage or birth including recent immigrants, Caribbean, African, European and others are overburdened by the characters and behaviors associated with those in the black underclass and not by the characters and behaviors associated with those who are achieve.

This is the part that I hope will change with Obama; the notion that all black people act and behave a certain way when those of us who have been struggling and achieving all of these years were marginalized. All Americans have the ability to achieve; some will and some won't but at least, I hope, people of the various black racial groups will finally be judged on their merit as we have judged Obama.

Don't Cry for Me Argentina

At 8:03pm I tuned into President Bush's farewell address to the nation so I was already a little late. Thankfully, the station that the TV was already on was broadcasting the address allowing me the true benefits of my trusty TIVO; I could rewind to the beginning. Unfortunately, there were so many interruptions, children, telephone, chaos and the like that I must have rewound 20 times for it was well after 9pm that I finally heard the last word.

I must admit that at least half of those rewinds were me realizing I had just tuned out yet again and I had to focus my attention. I pretty much have had this trouble for every one of Bush's speeches - staying fully engaged - maybe because there is no sense of emotion or gravitas; nothing to reach out and draw you in. These speeches are read with a blank expression and bad phrasing; speeches that quickly decend into the iconic Charlie Brown teacher drone.

This speech, in particular, lost me almost immediately as it became evident that he would focus, yet again, on 9/11 and the Iraq war and how he had kept his promise to keep America safe. The premise was, we may not have agreed with all of his actions but look how well things turned out; there will be a lasting legacy of democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, a goodwill of freedom throughout the world and let's not forget the absence of another terrorist attack on American soil. We are supposed to accept what he says, expect little and cut him some slack because he has no choice but to find and trot out whatever successes he deems to have merit. He did his job and we should be grateful.

There was a brief mention of these being difficult economic times and that his stopgap measures - I assume that he is referring to the Congressionally approved TARP funds in conjunction with Federal Reserve Funds and Treasury Funds - have been successful in minimizing the impact of the economic collapse. I must interject that today Citigroup's financial services model will be torn asunder to survive, even after receiving $42,000,000,000 in federal funding and some $300,000,000,000 in asset guarantees; AIG just continues to quietly ask for more funds through its now direct pipeline to the Treasury despite the $150,000,000,000 in federal funding already received; and Bank of America needs another $20,000,000,000 in federal funding on top of the $25,000,000,000 it has already received and requires up to $120,000,000,000 in asset guarantees if it is to complete its purchase of Merrill Lynch. We should give the TARP that familiar slogan "the gift that keeps on giving" now that the Senate has agreed to release the remaining $350,000,000,000.

All we can hope for is that it is well spent and documented but somehow I think not, but miracles can happen - today a US Airways jet "expertly" crash-landed into the Hudson River shortly after take-off when it "collided" with a flock of birds who apparently were sucked into the engines disabling them; everyone survived. Hallelujah! My husband flew down to Orlando this week for his company's convention on US Airways. I hope this pilot is at the helm of his plane. Certainly as I prepare to take that vacation I was wailing about yesterday, where I intend to include air travel for myself, because I have not been on a plane since 2001 and for my children, one of whom has never flown and the other who last flew as a toddler, I will not take this as any sign whatsoever.

However, I have already practically talked myself out of going anywhere. Maybe there are too many travel websites and too many reviews; should I spend thousands of dollars for a few days and nights for an overpriced room and food? The more I think about it is the more it becomes a bad idea. I tried to pitch some US-based destinations to my husband today but his immediate sticker shock only added to our usual discourse; I will start to talk myself out of it and he will let me. Rest assured, it happens in reverse too.

The reality is that our biggest excitement is the possiblity of refinancing our mortgage as the rates descend to 4% - we have a pretty good rate already so we need it to be in the low 4s for us to benefit. I have, however, promised my children a vacation and we will have one, regardless. Although, after hearing my complaints about costs and charges, my eldest will be happy to go anywhere as long as there is a semblance of a vacation that includes a hotel with a heated pool; might not have to go too far at all.

Bush, on the other hand, will go back to Texas to his new digs, moderately priced at $2,000,000 for a man with family cash, and find those 20% of believers who will donate to his library. Doesn't the phrase "Bush Presidential Library" seem like an oxymoron? Be nice now- it is almost over.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Today, while the market was tanking and nothing but more bad news hit the airwaves, I searched travel sites online until my eyes rolled up into my head. Come hell or high water, we are going on vacation; modest, of course, but vacation nonetheless. It seems that my school district has a Thursday and Friday off during the first weeks of February before the February President's week vacation. Why do school districts still have this much vacation time off when most parents have to go to work? It seems it is a ploy just to drag out those 180 actual school days so it appears that the children are in school for more time than they really are.

After speaking to some other mothers, it turns out that I am not the only one eyeing those 2 days as a convenient 4 day 3 night time period to have a shorter and therefore much cheaper vacation and also avoid the crowds and hassle of going away during the over-hyped, over-inflated February break with the entire school-aged American population to boot. As usual, "just about everybody is going to Florida," this I hear from my children every year around this time, "why can't we go on vacation?" Poor children, they were not put here to understand the greater cause of sacrifice at such a young age.

We always had hope that we would go away some time but every time we found an airfare and multiplied it by 4, we changed our mind; saving for the greater good or paying down more on a debt was always a better use of those funds. However, despite the perilous financial condition of the country and ourselves, we are going to go, finally. We are simply fed up with our austerity budget and still stinging from the fact that while everyone was living large over the last few years, we never got to take that ride. And now, when we hoped to see an improvement in our particular condition, we are now seriously challenged by the financial viability of the corporations we work for.

We were so glad to return to the corporate world and get off the small business merry-go-round of long hard hours for little pay, if any, we swore we would never complain about our jobs again and we didn't. Now my job is gone and my husband's hangs on a thread; his company riddled by so much debt, large though they may be, that they still have not made a profit this entire decade. Ridiculous.

Of course, we emphasize deeply with our fellow small-business owners and we treat them with the utmost respect because we truly know how it is. You have to struggle for 2 years on your own before most lending institutions and creditors will even loan you any money and then they all, including the SBA, still tie all of that debt to your personal name when they do finally say yes. That was the surprising thing about the SBA, in particular, it is set up to loan money to small business, guaranteed by the government, but the loan is still tied to the individual borrower and not the business entity. There is no easy way of getting out of this debt, the government will repay the bank if you default but then the government will come after you to recover those funds by any means necessary - complete federal rights to garnish your paycheck, hijack your tax refund or simply sue you. So much for a government guarantee.

The media keeps reporting that small businesses are the engine of the economy but so far I haven't heard of any plans to help relieve small business owners, most of whom have extended themselves on home equity loans and credit cards to survive. We did it and it is not very pretty. Nevertheless, we acted responsibly, we were resolute and vowed not to let our new extreme debt condition bring us down; we acknowledged that it would take years to pay off the business debt and that would have a futher consequence of setting our financial lives back so far that we are still hesitant to sum up the damage.

However, witnessing all of this bailing out of the profligate - homeowners who had overextended themselves in dwellings that they couldn't afford and businesses who simply had no common sense to save for a rainy day - it is difficult for us to champion the bailouts when we strived so hard to be responsible and it seems our counterparts did not. And so we will go on vacation, short but sweet, somewhere close and not too expensive, before my severance runs out and before our patience runs out. People who work hard are supposed to take a break and yet so far we have not.

We realize it will never be a good time to go away but we should take the opportunity now while we are both still receiving a paycheck. Now if I can just get past the prices which are still, in my opinion, way too high...

Where the Jobs Are

Maybe it is time for me to look for a government job - the only entity seemingly creating jobs in this economic reality - since jobs in the private sector have literally dried up. A job posting may come up in a search but the reality is that most of those companies have hiring freezes. I am finding that there are job listings in Melville and in New York City and I would love to apply for them. However, as a mother of preteens living in Suffolk County with a spouse who already works in the city, someone has to work closer to home; that would be me.

Though I love living out here in Suffolk County, I have come to realize that it is difficult for both parents to work when there is no support system; we came out here with no connections whatsoever, no family nor friends, with only the desire to find a decent home and community to raise the children. This we have found but at the same time, it has not been easy for me to break into this nice, though provincial, community and unfortunately, as my husband never fails to remind me, I am so far from ordinary, it is imprinted on my forehead. Since I spent my first 5 years out here raising the children it was fine living in my little bubble until I needed to go back to work.

Initially, we thought that the solution for working and raising the family was to own our own business; no more NYC commute for my husband and since our little one was of school age, a willing and able partner in myself. But, we picked the wrong franchise and found ourselves in debt up to our eyeballs, I went back to work to pay the debt, that was reason #1, 2, 3, & 4; no TARP funds over here just good old-fashioned work hour by hour to pay down that debt. Our due diligence was working and we could almost taste some freedom until I got laid off; we had been on an austerity budget for so many years, we just wanted to be done with that debt. Alas, I worked long enough to make a small dent on the debt but not long enough to qualify for unemployment as it turns out.

It seems I do not have the true understanding of the system to benefit. I follow all the rules and I swear I would just like to have a break just once. We scrimped on everything to have money saved to go into business and since everything went south, we are scrimping even further to free ourselves from the accumulated debt of the business. I suppose this is why I am a little leary of the Obama stimulus plan; a plan that calls for massive deficit spending to stimulate the economy so it can create jobs.

I find it odd that the only way to save America is for the taxpayer to fund job creation for the taxpayer. I know it worked before and the way I describe the economics is simplistic but if you think long and hard about it, it really doesn't make any sense. Why can't the debt reduction principles that are practiced everywhere by individuals and business - to bring expenditures in line with revenue - be practiced by government? The government certainly had no trouble at all increasing expenditures all of these past years when times were seemingly good. New York state increased its budget from $70,000,000,000 to $121,000,000,000 in the last ten years. Even government budgets have to experience some kind of correction like the markets, don't they?

We need to stop thinking differently when it comes to government, it is not free money, it is our tax dollars. If we don't wrestle the costs, we cannot wrestle our taxes. In the meantime, I'll be ogling one of those newly created government jobs.

Big, Bad, Presidents

Today, Bush had what has been dubbed his last Press Conference. Clearly, it was going to be another unapologetic gabfest and Bush did not disappoint. It is interesting that the only part that really stood out for me was the use of the word "misunderestimate." What? Headache. That's not a word. Little did I know that last week, it was voted the #1 "Bushism" of all time by a little known group of language monitors based in Texas.

Bush stomped through his Presidency with swaggering decidedness and nicknames and whatever suited him and his co-commander Cheney, so it is interesting to watch his retreat; he has, in total, stepped back to allow the new President-elect to take the reins. Is this the true acknowledgment of his failure? He will never say although it was cited that he used the word 'disappointment' over a dozen times during the Press Conference.

And, in true fashion, as if to underscore the message of who was truly in charge, big bad President Obama had Bush issue one last entreaty; ask Congress to release the remaining $350,000,000,000 in TARP funds. This way Bush will take the heat if Congress balks and Obama does not have to get his hands too dirty in his first month out by having a political battle with his own Democratically-led Congress. Aye yi yi. Is it true what they say, "the more things change, the more they stay the same?" And it seems that things may very well stay the same considering the number of Clintonites nominated for the cabinet. What will happen when they all close ranks and undermine Obama when it comes to Hillary's travails in the middle east, for example?

Whatever the case, I am still excited about the inauguration; I am still excited about Obama. At least he tells us on a regular basis that things are not going to be good economically and acknowledges that if better ideas surface about how to help the economy, he is glad to hear them. He understands that the economists are baffled right now about what to do; this is a global economy we are dealing with now - there is no historical precedent. Bush would decide his position and stick with it regardless of the outcome. Oh, that is how he ran his Presidency and look what happened. And to make matters worse, he didn't even bother to learn English along the way.

Countdown to the "d" word

President Obama said today that any economic stimulus package must be broad in scope and swiftly executed if we have any chance of staving off the coming economic crisis. Well, he may not be technically President yet, but he has already taken over Capitol Hill two weeks early. As it turns out, though we are 1 year into this recession as proclaimed by the Economic Board, we are actually much closer to the beginning of the crisis than we realize. We are not turning any corner any soon; we are not on our way out of it, we are still on our way in.

All of the Government's efforts to avert a disaster have only delayed it. When the final numbers of 2008 start to roll out momentarily, they will be worse than we thought and the worst is yet to come. It appears that a depression is imminent and the truth is that all of the Government action thus far was not to minimize a recession to keep it mild and/or shorter, it was an attempt to derail a depression and unfortunately that train is still barreling towards us like bullet. Furthermore, all that money that the taxpayers funneled into the financial markets went onto the books of the same greedy folk who helped us into ruin and all they cared about was helping themselves.

The economy needs another helping of funds, even more than it did the first time; a fact that was accurately predicted by many and now the makers of that plan have fallen into sudden obscurity. Have we heard anything from Paulson or Bernanke this year? Not a peep. This awakening will be oh so very, very rude. We are already in a depression; let's see how long it will take for the media to pop out the "d" word.

Maybe we'll get some truth back into the system. I would rather know exactly what I'm dealing with instead of being lulled into a false sense of security that things are better than they really are; that is a damning position to be in; planning for the wrong situation completely. The have been telling us to plan for the worse and hope for the best when in truth we need to plan for disaster and hope for the worst; full survival mode is required.

NY Governor Says State of the State is Perilous

Governor Paterson minced no words in his first State of the State address, "My fellow New Yorkers: Let me come straight to the point - the state of our state is perilous."

These are sobering times and Paterson has kept up the forceful tone of fiscal crisis since he assumed the Governorship last March. It is nice to know that he wants to take action and find solutions for New York's now projected 2009 budget deficit of $13,700,000,000 and counting. Much of the solutions for closing the gap include the now infamous group of 88 small-time revenue-generating fees and taxes that include additional taxes on soft drinks and beer and higher fees for DMV services and the like.

I have to read deeper into his speech but it does not seem like he is targeting as much of the union-based labor services that he should. He may want to bypass the "good fight" but he is the only one who can push for these changes. The State Legislators and Unions have already chimed in about changing any Union-related status-quo agenda items that would affect their world, most notably the education and civil service sectors. Maybe New Yorkers need to organize a new union of taxpayers that aren't going to take it anymore.

Paterson does propose a cap on property taxes but the taxes are already too high; among the highest in the nation. Freezing them now is not enough, the threshold of affordability has already been breached and there are other pressing issues like the need for more social services like healthcare and unemployment tapping on the taxpayer's door.

There isn't a government budget that is not suffering, most of all the federal budget. President-elect Obama states that there will be no pork in his stimulus package. Governor Paterson seems to have this same idea, "Many people assume that the only way to build that future is to spend more. I disagree. I believe we can rebuild our economy, improve our health care and education systems, and make the transition to clean energy — not by spending more, but by spending more effectively."

Across America, elected officials have been given the mandate to cut frivolous spending but media reports show that these officials all sound like morons and seem unable or willing to adhere to any meaningful bottom line. How is that possible? It is like a nation-wide Peter Principle at work. At the end of the day, individuals have to learn to live within their means; the consequences are swift otherwise. How do we get government to do so when in the back of our minds, we unwittingly hold the option open that just in case we ever become the beneficiaries of some government spoils, we would certainly want them available for us? Really, the biggest ads in the newspaper are those advertising seminars divulging how they can help us benefit from the original $700 billion dollar stimulus package. Heck yeah, I want a piece of that.

Congressional Drama - C-Span Never Had It So Good

Who needs a reality TV show when we have the heights of Congressional drama to entertain? Ever since the drama with McCain and the bailout and Paulson and Bernanke and the rest of that daisy chain, it has been one ridiculous showcase of ineptitude, self-importance and arrogance culminating in what we thought was the peak of foolishness with the song and dance required of the Big 3 auto executives.

Now we have the Senate refusing to seat an appointed Senator because they believe that a Governor facing indictment on corruption charges should be stripped of his ability to nominate a replacement. What happened to innocent until proven guilty and why does the appointee have to seek legal counsel to ascertain his rights as the appointee of such a despicable but still unindicted Governor? He appointed me so I am the man and now give me my office and my seat. How about that? The Senate embraces their new President-elect, who just happened to be the only sitting black Senator, while refusing to allow the black man who has been appointed to replace him because they don't like the potentially criminal actions of the Governor who appointed him. What a mess. I have to look into this further because I really believe I must be missing something here; what laws did Blagojevich break exactly and on what authority does the Senate have to refuse an appointee?

As if this wasn't enough we still have the matter to settle of who will be the Senator from Minnesota. 62 days of nastiness and sore-losership later, Al Franken has been declared the winner by some 250 votes but the loser, incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman is still fighting. Oh well, at least the House is moving forward and has held the election for Speaker, too bad they re-elected Nancy Pelosi. I am still trying to figure out what she has done to be an effective leader. It's nice that she is a woman and all but I see no stunning accomplishment here. Again, I could be missing something. Probably that last person left from the Clinton years who has not been nominated for some postion in Obama's cabinet.

Not to be rude but is there really not enough "qualified" persons out there to serve in the upper eschelons of Government such that so many Senators and Governors have to be dragged out of their elected positions leaving states like New York scrambling to appoint a Congressional seat-filler and actually having to consider the likes of Caroline Kennedy as a possible Senator for sheer reason of being a member of a politcal dynasty. Oh what's to worry we already did that with the Bushes. If not her, I've seen the name Chelsea Clinton thrown up there as a potential replacement for her mother. Yeah yeah. 6 degrees of separation, who do I know? hmm.

Next up will be the confirmation hearings of Obama's cabinet. I am laughing already, I have no reason to believe that they will go smoothly at all especially with the undercurrent of culpability rising; already Bill Richardson has dropped out. Sanjay Gupta better start burying those skeletons in his closet if he has any hopes of making it to Surgeon General. Look, if you can go from Chief of Staff to head of the CIA, oh Leon we hardly knew you, then anything is possible.

Good Luck to all of us in 2009 because we sure are going to need it!

The holidays went so fast, I barely remember what happened. I know we partied a little like it was 1999 perhaps because deep down we knew that 2009 was going to require a lot of work, literally and figuratively. We will have to be frugal and sensible in order to make it through this year but we have to be careful not to become emotionally encumbered by the requirements. I will be seeking employment in an environment moving toward more unemployment, not less, though job creation is high on the new President's list, there are a heck of a lot more people out of work or underemployed than the numbers let on.

The only thing that I can think about right now is how to position myself for employment while the events of the world swirl around us like dust in a centrifuge. We are awaiting the inauguration of our new President while our current President withers in true farcical lame duck fashion; I mean really, does anyone really think the term "lame duck" should be lived out so utterly and completely lame? I think not. I feel embarrassed for Bush even after all that he has done to undermine my very existence but one would have to be a cold, unfeeling soul to let this kind of pathos exist without some kind of compassionate relevance even though he is the one who blindly got us all into this mess in the first place; amidst the calling out of failing policy is Israel boldly bombing the heck out of Gaza because they can since no one is in charge in the United States. Oh Barney Frank was right with his bit about Obama's statement regarding having one President at a time. Look it up. Anyhow, perhaps, now, we should no longer give Israel discounted weapons and their $10,000,000,000 in aid...not!

I couldn't, of course, finish this post without kudos to Blagojevich, who must possess metal bowling balls to carry on his outlandish proclamations without even a hint of irony. My goodness, he is a present-day Bush appearing worse on the outset; he doesn't have the staff to finesse his b.s. into hammer-clodding policy; after all he is only a Governor. But, what the heck, declarations speak louder than words though he is not the decider, he is the muddler, not rich enough to make statements that matter without a piece of the action. George Bush has the cake to say and do what he wants because he will get paid down the road when no one is looking because he does not need the money now. Oh well.

To that end or this end or someone's end or the end of something - careful, don't get into innuendo - I have re-framed my job-search into something a lot more encompassing in scope, I will aspire to find an opportunity where I can make money rather than just looking for a job; give my creative mind a problem that may have a better solution than the keywords and simplistic searches I am supposed to employ to find a job opportunity which, unfortunately, is drying up and sadly, disappearing on a daily basis. And I didn't even mention the recent meeting of our leading economists who unintentionally quipped that they weren't sure about what to do about our current economic situation and they were currently throwing the equivalent of the kitchen sink at the situation hoping something would stick. Eek!

Good luck to all of us in 2009 because we sure are going to need it!