The Tacky Index by Rob Long

That's the thing about the National Review. They really hit the mark once in a while. That's what Rob Long did in his article on credit card companies.

It seems that credit card companies have started looking not just at an ability to pay, payment history, employment - all those tangible things - and have started looking at whether you are shopping at cheaper haberdasheries and doughnut shops. Because if you are (and who is not) you are now part of a new class of consumer: pre-deadbeat.

Yes, that's right. You, by glancing at panicked headlines and your 401K statement and reacting rationally, are a deadbeat in the making. Why else would you start scrimping? Why else question those $200 haircuts? You must be on the downward slide! Quick! Let's reduce the credit limit on his cards! Ha!

Mr. Long refers to the credit card prayer we have all done: please let it go through.

Leisure Lad and myself went cash-based four years ago. I found myself apologizing to dentists and mechanics, saying "I am one of those weird people who only gets things done when she has the money. I'll call you."

The cash-based lifestyle is kind of freeing. My entertainment is YouTube, Netflix, gardening and writing. I really don't need anything other than survival money. We don't have a t.v. anymore and we don't need one. We don't have cable and I must say that our quality of life has improved a lot since we got rid of it.

I used to have antiques shipped over from China all over my house. I made money on most of them when I sold them. Once, in a carpet store on Connecticut Avenue, I bought a huge armoire they had in the store for twenty years. It was magnificent. All inlaid wood, hand-carved, antique beveled glass, it was six hundred pounds of ego. Leisure Lad described it as obnoxious because it took up a lot of space and everyone always made such a fuss over it. "I hate the thing, but I have to admit, whenever a woman comes over she gushes over how wonderful it is."

I sold it. It did mean a lot to me to have my antiques admired by visitors. True. But in the end I would rather have the cash. When push comes to shove, that's what you find out: the person with the finest furniture does not win.

Join the Bailout Protest on Saturday!!

NO BANKER LEFT BEHIND !!

FedUpUSA and tickerforum.org members are organizing a protest of the No Banker Left Behind legislation being rammed through Congress.

When: Saturday, Sept. 27 - 9am til 6pm Where: Washington, DC at or near the Capitol steps Who: Everyone who can get there, PLEASE HELP!

Fight the Downturn Yourself

Buy American. Buy local. Cut up credit cards. Plant a garden to grow some of your own food.

If everyone in America decided to only buy American, it would be a large, focused economic power that we really need right now.

FIGHT for energy independence.

Throw eggs at investment bankers. I've been promising a lot lately to my readers, but this last one I think is the kicker. We need to find those greedy bastards and ATTACK!! No deadly force, just a few ruined suits and the sounds of breaking egg shells. If I think for a moment, I could come up with some way the egg throwing could be deeply symbolic. Ah, well.

Glenn Beck Needs to be Fired

My previous post didn't go far enough. It's time to stop pampering these disconnected, right-wing nut jobs on television.

Glenn Beck needs to be fired. He calls for cutting money for the poor, elderly and the disabled during this financial crisis to get a hold on U.S. Government debts. When he calls for reduced government spending, it's the elderly and disabled that need to be cut. Yes, indeed. Let's throw our elderly and disabled citizens into the jaws of the marketplace. Click on the title to this post for the video footage.

He's lost all credibility. He is nakedly supporting the right-wing crazies whose incompetence got us in this living nightmare. And he is opposing the social safety net for everyone in America, including him.

I'm going to come up with a plan and get back to you on it.

Stay tuned.

Glenn Beck and the Right-Wing Idea Machine Respond to Financial Crisis Blame

You're not going to believe this. This one will go down in history.

Glenn Beck calls for cutting money for the poor, elderly and the disabled, during this financial crisis, to get a hold on U.S. Government debts. When he calls for reduced government spending, it's the elderly and disabled that need to be cut. Yes, indeed. Let's throw our elderly and disabled citizens into the jaws of the marketplace. How clever! Maybe we can roast them and feed them to each other as well. Think of the cost efficiency! Great timing.

Not the thieves of Wall Street. Not the Republican "the marketplace can do it better" types. Not the lying mortgage holders. Not the "get rid of regulation" fiends. He blames the elderly, poor and disabled for our government debt.

Underlying these distinctly Republican arguments is the belief that none of these guys will ever need help one day themselves.

Hey! I've got an even better idea! Let's make it so. Let's not cap the income of incompetent CEOs to that of the U.S. President. Let's take everything they own. And let's include every talking head jerk who has called for reduced government regulations, too. And let's go back in history to include previous CEOs and Board members.

Or maybe we should just shoot them.

Our Katrina Leadership

Our President has finally come out and addressed the nation with a few, vague words intended to comfort a shell-shocked nation. Nothing specific, of course. No acknowledgement of the pain and fear the nation is experiencing.

In fact, it took the howling of the press to even get the President to admit that he needed to say anything at all about the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

What it shows is the Bush Presidency is just as disconnected and dysfunctional as it was during Katrina. And just as unable to act in times of crisis, let alone think, communicate and articulate a plan.

And let's not forget the ringing endorsement of the SEC chair, similar to his support for Brownie of FEMA during Katrina.

This entire episode demonstrates the Bush Presidency's inability to lead or think. Does anyone else remember how dazed and confused Bush was in the immediate aftermath of September 11th? Or am I the only one in America?

Eating Cheap - The Essentials

Stocking up on the essentials is important right now.

Get:

Oil
Dried beans
Several gallons of safe drinking water
Dry soup
Pasta
Rice
High fiber cereal
Dry milk
Canned foods - fruit and vegetable

This is what Inflation is Made Of

I understand that there needs to be a coordinated effort across many central banks to steady this credit crisis. The move they have made to work together is great. Really.

But the side effect will be serious inflation. That's a whole lot of cash to be pumping into the world economy. The entire world is going to feel it.

The fallout from the world inflation is developing nations are not going to buy into the idea of globalization in the future. Nations are going to insist on their own food supplies being grown in their own countryside.

Further, we as a nation should be embarrassed that these socialist countries that we mock all the time are having to bail us out of our own foolishness and greed.

Economics Explained with Cows

ECONOMICS EXPLAINED WITH COWS

SOCIALISM

You have two cows.

You give one to your neighbour.

COMMUNISM

You have two cows.

The State takes both and gives you some milk.

FASCISM

You have two cows.

The State takes both and sells you some milk.

NAZISM

You have two cows.

The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRACY

You have two cows.

The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and then throws the

milk away.

CAPITALISM

You have two cows.

You sell one and buy a bull.

Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.

You sell them and retire on the income.

SURREALISM

You have two giraffes.

The government requires you to take harmonica lessons

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.

Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why your cow has dropped dead.

ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM

You have two cows.

You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of

credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a

debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get

four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows.

The milk rights for six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a

Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who

sells the rights to seven cows back to your listed company.

The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on

one more.

You sell one cow to buy a new President of the United States, leaving

you with ten cows.

No balance sheet is provided with the release.

The public then buys your bull.

You don't need money to start a dog walking business. Buy The Dog Walker's Handbook

THE ANDERSEN MODEL

You have two cows.

You shred them.

A FRENCH CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads because you want

three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow but

produce twenty times the milk.

You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market

it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and

milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.

You decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You count them and learn you have five cows.

You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.

You count them again and learn you have two cows.

You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION

You have 5,000 cows. None of them belong to you, but you get to charge the

owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You have 300 people milking them.

You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.

You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation, and run him over with a

tank in a large open square area.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION

You have two cows.

Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION

Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.

You tell them that you have none.

No-one believes you, so they bomb the hell out of you and invade your

country.

You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a Democracy.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION

You have two cows.

The one on the left looks very attractive.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.

Business seems pretty good.

You close the office and go for a few beers to celebrate

Anna Politkovskaya

So who in their right mind will put their money in Russia now? Like it wasn't bad enough when the Russian editor of Forbes magazine was gunned down and left to bleed to death in an elevator.

Anna's death will not be in vain. Her personal sacrifice moved many people, including Econo-Girl.

What U.S. companies are invested in Russia now? Which have a financial interest in the success of the current regime? Let's find out. Then let's harass them. We shouldn't stay quiet on this topic. Big business flourishes in the U.S. because of people like us. We don't riot, for the most part, we pay taxes, we are stable. It our stability that big business stands on. They need it. All over the world, the U.S. dollar and equities are seen as safe havens for wealth. So let's use that. Let's make a vow to shake up Mother Russia.