The Collapse of American Communism
and the Marginalization of the Nomenklatura While Republicans rail against Socialism - a watered down version of the truly evil nemesis of Capitalism, Communism, the truth is that politics and...
View ArticleJobs?!?! - America's Vanished Industrial Base
I have an Industrial Engineering degree. Rensselaer Polytechnic Insitute titled it 'Management Engineering' but its core was still math and science intensive - a good enough base to take a P.E. exam...
View ArticleAs the West gets Drier, Water Levels Drop
Though residents of NYC burbs, our family spends vacations in the American West. Our casual observations about water levels is being confirmed with hard data - frightening data. There's a great book on...
View ArticleWalking away from 6 and 7 figure deposits
While many people are worried about STAYING in their $100,000 and $200,000 houses, the current financial melt-down has led to others at the high end of the Real Estate market to walk away from deposits...
View ArticleNEXT time, the Republic is gone for good.
The following diary - http://www.dailykos.com/... started me thinking. Truth is that we WERE saved from a dictatorship by the poor choice of an inept and ultimately unwilling figurehead. George W....
View ArticleDrug Use in the US - any solutions?
This is an outgrowth of another current diary http://www.dailykos.com/... However instead of focusing on the border issues and 'stopping' drugs, I want to try and spark a discussion on the broader...
View ArticleReviving a Corpse
The current mess we find ourselves in was CAUSED by the existing financial system - which believes ANYTHING (even pure merde) can be somehow securitized and sold. The same people that helped develop -...
View ArticleThe luxury of affording health care
I'm prompted to write this after taking my 17 year old to have a wisdom tooth extracted tody. We don't have dental insurance (does anyone now?) though the dentist would charge MORE if we did. You get...
View ArticleSNL said it.... "Jack Squat"
A half hour in and nothing on this so....... The opening skit had Obama addressing the nation downplaying accusations of Socialism and Fascism - noting that that can't be true because "Look at what...
View ArticleThe future of the $US dims.....
It seems that our deal with the Arabs and others having oil priced in $US may be coming to an end. The only thing that's given the $US value since the demise of Bretton-Woods was its role as the...
View ArticleA view from the burbs......
Life in the suburbs of Rob and Laura Petrie - the upper middle class burbs of Westchester outside NYC - is showing a lot more signs of stress. The housing market - which stayed stable for far longer...
View ArticleMeanwhile - in the financial world.......
While everyone here focuses on political races - thinking that politics really matters and government actually runs things and represents 'the people' things are happening that should have everyone...
View Article"Made in China"
"Globalization" has meant the unending pursuit of the cheapest possible labor. This is nothing new. We saw it here in the US as factories moved from the unionized north to the cheaper south. They...
View ArticleFinancial Industry Pay # 52 on national GDP list
The Wall Street Journal headline today was Banks Set for Record Pay Top 38 Firms on Pace to Award $145 Billion for '09, Up 18% WSJ Study Finds http://online.wsj.com/... A few clips: The growth reflects...
View Article"Indoctrinating" or just plain failing to teach - or both?
There's a piece in the National Review that - to me - makes it appallingly clear why current conservatives just don't 'get it.' They are so stuck in their own interpretation of reality that they will...
View ArticleNew Banking Scam?
We've been conservative and more than responsible when it comes to our personal finances. Keep debt low, pay off on time or ahead of time. We waited a long time and bought our house at the low point...
View ArticleJOBS - Then and Now.......
I read an interesting comment on the differences between our government reponse to unemployment in the Great Depression and its response now. It provides food for thought. Paraphrased - In the 1930's...
View Article"Get Out Of Bail" Gift Card for the Foreclosure Scandal?
Seems like Obama has the power to do something that will make it far easier for the foreclosure fraud folks to avoid accountability - or NOT make it easier for these folks. Courtesy of "Zero Hedge":...
View ArticleWant a GREAT 'Investment'?
There's more than a few things really, really wrong with our financial system - and our government's way of dealing with 'money'. The 'right wing nutjobs' DO have a point in saying we can't keep...
View ArticleDeath by a thousand fees
A friend in securities law recently made an interesting point. Banks and Wall Street have changed their business model so that they have become 'fee-based' enterprises. It used to be that your local...
View ArticleWall St. Claw Back - not what you'd think
Seems that Lehman Bros is 'clawing back' bonuses paid to brokers. http://www.marketwatch.com/... BANKRUPT Wall Street firm Lehman Bros is looking to 'claw back' sign on bonuses paid to new hires....
View ArticleIncome Statistics
I have a good friend who works in Securities law. He doesn't deem to be very happy with his life but seems trapped - with kids in college, an expensive divorce and much of his assets tied up in his...
View ArticleThe Tea Party's Fourth Crusade
History is full of examples of people inspired by great ideas who believe they are 'doing the right thing' - where the end result turns out to be anything but what was intended. Indeed some of these...
View ArticleAn Economy cannot be based on CONSUMPTION
I am finding that some financial blogs have a far more informative and enlightening perspective of late than political blogs. Here there is often a mem that Obama and the Democrats can do no wrong...
View ArticleAccountabilty
I was stuck by the diversity of causes and messages I've seen over the past week - in person and in photos and videos. There have been some compelling messages - and many far too many that are...
View ArticleSome income statistics
This is an outtake and expansion of a comment made elsewhere - deserving of attention on its own. A few handy statistics for the debate on 'top tax rates' and income inequality and a redux of an old...
View ArticleBreaking Points -Painful Cultural Shift
Stumbled across this on a financial blog: http://www.alt-market.com/... Breaking Points: Recognizing The Signs Of Painful Cultural Shift by Brandon Smith on Alt-market.com I don't agree completely...
View ArticleA Letter from Goldman Sachs Concerning OWS
The item below was received in an e-mail from a friend in the financial industry - showing that there is still a sense of humor in some of those complicit in the destruction our - the world's -...
View ArticleStudent Loans - a Freudian Slip?
From: http://www.zerohedge.com/... "Vince Sampson, president, Education Finance Council, said during a panel at the IMN ABS East Conference in Miami Monday that lenders are no longer pushing loans to...
View ArticleDrug $$ - part of the 1% and far more
The link below is to an article worth reading - written by a former member of the first Bush Adminstration (don't hold that against her) Narco-Dollars for Dummies "How the Money Works" in the Illicit...
View ArticleWhere's the MF Global coverage here?
The MF Global meltdown is on a par with Lehman Brothers with the effects just beginning to be seen - another example of all that is wrong (and unchanged) in our financial system - but no meaningful...
View Article"Showing You the Money - all of it"
A great graphic from Zerohedge. A load of information on 'money' - enough info to keep you busy for a while. http://xkcd.com/... Not much of a diary here but the chart is worth more notice. Original...
View ArticleCorzine Ordered Funds Transferred
Bloomberg and others are reporting that Corzine ordered customer funds transferred http://www.bloomberg.com/... This is being widely mentioned on financial blogs and even the local 11pm news here in...
View ArticleOwning a toolbox - and using it.
I just finished reading through the Sunday NY Times - late in the evening, after a full day working, doing exactly what the article I just finished said we as Americans DON'T do anymore....
View ArticleThe Broken Social Contract
I’m 60. A baby-boomer who grew up in the late 1950’ and 1960’s. It was arguably the ‘best’ of times for the American worker. A decent wage was more the norm than not. Benefits had become more...
View ArticlePerpetual Economic Insecurity
It seems that the new ‘norm’ for most people is economic insecurity. Nobody I know feels secure in their job, no matter what level they are at, no matter how long their service.The old social contract...
View ArticleI'm watching a company die.....
I’m watching a company die. The name may carry on but all that made that company is dead. It may have carried on a little after its founder died but all that company once was is now buried with...
View Article100 CEOs Have More Saved Up for Retirement Than 41 Percent of U.S. Families...
From:www.theatlantic.com/…“……..courtesy of the Center for Effective Government, a nonprofit, and the Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank, here is another: Together, 100 American CEOs have more...
View Articlewe’re running out of time.......
I came across the quotes below on a financial blog :"Most of them became wealthy by being well connected and crooked. And they are creating a society in which they can commit hugely damaging economic...
View ArticleHow much time do we have? Is already it too late?
I’ve not bothered to write anything for a while now. I really don’t see the point. Having been outraged by Nixon in my youth I left my blue collar family’s ‘aspirational’ Republican roots behind...
View ArticleHow to kill a company - a follow-up.
I’m watching a company die. The name may carry on but all that made that company is dead. It may have carried on a little after its founder died but all that company once was is now buried with him.I...
View ArticleChanges - for the worse
I graduated college 40 years ago with an engineering degree. My GPA was mediocre — I was working for much of the time I was in school. Nonetheless I started at $21,000 a year. A friend was an...
View ArticleI hope I'm Wrong
I’m puzzled over the outrage expressed over Trump’s behavior. He’s a mediocre businessman who fell into the Presidency. I’m convinced he was simply trying to garner free publicity for the ’Trump...
View ArticleSupport EPA Workers
The EPA has been getting hammered by the Trump Administration. There ARE people working there that want to do their jobs. Political appointees seem to have a very different idea of what the agency...
View ArticleDonald Trump State Park
I’ve driven by the sign on the Taconic State Parkway countless times and in the recesses of my mind wondered just what it was all about. It turns out ‘not much.’The Guardian has a story about this...
View ArticleMore Tax Shennigans.....
A few days ago I wrote a brief diary on Donald Trump State Park in Yorktown NY. Bought for $2.75 million with plans to develop the property into a golf course, there were pollution problems so Trump...
View Article"Brain Fog" - COVID cognitive impairment
The Guardian has an informative article on some of the effects of COVIDwww.theguardian.com/…It is worth reading the whole article. In briefest summary it reports that a significant number of COVID...
View ArticleWatch "The Loudest Voice"
This series leaves Netflix on the 31st. It provides a chilling portrait of Roger Ailes and his role in running FOX News as a publicity machine for right wing America.It’s worth the viewing time to...
View ArticleRegarding 'Voter Fraud'
The huge difference between polls and results surfaced again in this election. It wasn’t so long ago that polls were pretty accurate and differences between polls and election results came down to...
View ArticleHome Alone Eviction Notice
Sent along from UK relatives — haven’t seen it herexxYouTube Video
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