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.