[Rant ON]
The more I think about this, the madder I get.
I for one am getting utterly sick and tired of hearing the financial media / "investing for the common guy" websites and the 401k management companies like Fidelity all urging us to "ride it out" with respect to the recent Utterly Bad Times in teh Market. We're looking at a disastrous paradigm shift happening in the financial sector right before our very eyes, complete with color commentary . . . and almost the whole industry is saying "Don't panic! Things will improve! Keep your investments where they are!"
Guys, I hate to break it to you, but I'm no longer going to heed your advice. I've taken a goddam blood bath in "the market" making safe, conservative investment choices, following the best conventional advice. You know what? The world on which that advice was predicated vanished sometime this summer and it is not coming back. I have ZERO confidence that this system of legalized financial rapine of the middle class they call a retirement savings program will ever recover, and for some -- like the 55 year olds in their last ten years of working -- it is is already far too late. The sharks in pinstripes told us not to count on Social Security to be there for us, while all the while these criminals were fucking each and every one of us over. Effective immediately, I am moving my retirement savings to a nice safe credit union, like this one. No longer will I particpate in this system until or unless the incoming Obama Administration completely fumigates Wall Street. Literally. As in "with nerve gas." I want to see these thieves HUNG for their crimes, alongside every deregulator, "free" marketeer, "free" trader and war criminal in that cartel of evil known as "the Bush Administration."
I do not expect government intervention in this mess; I DEMAND it. And President-elect Obama, Goddess bless you, I hope you deliver after you are sworn to our service in this Nation's highest office.
[RANT Off|
Showing posts with label econ-o-babble. Show all posts
Showing posts with label econ-o-babble. Show all posts
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
And people think we Pagans are crazy, right?
From the "You can't make This Stuff Up" Department:
Did you know that some Christian dingbat has dubbed today the “Day of Prayer for the World’s Economies?” Well here they are, at the Wall Street bull statue thing, praying to Jesus for money. The dingbat has explained, “We are going to intercede at the site of the statue of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will be the ‘Lion’s Market,’ or God’s control over the economic systems.” Don’t they know that God taking over the economic systems would be SOCIALISM from SPACE? Also: God will be very mad that they are worshiping a bronze idol here, since his second commandment PROHIBITS THAT, duh?
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Money and Music
There is lots and lots of scary financial and business news out there. I've been reading about folks who have lost a decade or more of market value gains from their 401ks, folks my age who looked upon accounts they established in their early working lives that have started to implode.
I started the race rather late, and right at the time when, to paraphrase Ambassador Kosh from Babylon 5: "The avalanche has already started; it is too late for the pebbles to vote."
I've done everything I can do to retrench; all I can hope to do is to ride out the storm.
On a related note: with all those bank failures out there, I am telling anyone that will listen that moving one's funds to a good credit union might be a good idea. The bigger banks like BofA, Welles Fargo andWaaahMooo are, IMHO, about as safe as an unshielded kilogram of Cobalt 60 in your codpiece.
On an unrelated note that has little or nothing to do with doomsday scenarios or radioisotopes in an uncomfortable proximity to your family jewels: Seanan McGuire is coming out with a new CD of filk music goodness, Red Roses and Dead Things. Seanan is an awesome songwriter, a poet, comic strip artist and author. You owe it to yourself and to future generations (those not roasted by that hot lump of Co-60 in your shorts) to hie yourself over to her website and preorder a copy.
----------------
Now playing: Seanan McGuire - Vampire Slayer Blues
via FoxyTunes
I started the race rather late, and right at the time when, to paraphrase Ambassador Kosh from Babylon 5: "The avalanche has already started; it is too late for the pebbles to vote."
I've done everything I can do to retrench; all I can hope to do is to ride out the storm.
On a related note: with all those bank failures out there, I am telling anyone that will listen that moving one's funds to a good credit union might be a good idea. The bigger banks like BofA, Welles Fargo and
On an unrelated note that has little or nothing to do with doomsday scenarios or radioisotopes in an uncomfortable proximity to your family jewels: Seanan McGuire is coming out with a new CD of filk music goodness, Red Roses and Dead Things. Seanan is an awesome songwriter, a poet, comic strip artist and author. You owe it to yourself and to future generations (those not roasted by that hot lump of Co-60 in your shorts) to hie yourself over to her website and preorder a copy.
----------------
Now playing: Seanan McGuire - Vampire Slayer Blues
via FoxyTunes
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Consensual Reality and the US Economy: Is it time to Hit The Big Red Panic Button?
Best Quote I've seen about the latest financial news:
"Talk to the Invisible Hand, Wall Street!" -- US Government to Lehman Bros request for a bailout.
About fscking time somebody realized that there isn't enough money in the entire world to pay for all the funny money crap, with all these bailouts and nationalizations (Franny Mae / Freddy Mac -- where the fsck fo they get those strange names?). As a result, a lot of people are going to take in the shorts. Hard.
I'm one of those folks who has suffered loss because the market's suckage, or more accurately, would if I sold the shares in my 401k today. Yep, it's all market values, what can you sell it for right now. My losses are all on paper, though. I haven't lost a home to forclosure or a job to layoffs.
In the end, the market is all about trust, agreement, consensual reality and magickal thinking. Money exists because we say it does, markets exist because we will them into existence to meet needs and agree on the details.
Now, of course, that belief is being undermined. The Guvmint has tried to counter that loss of faith through bailouts . . . but the days of bailouts are coming to an end. They have to. Every bucket has a bottom.
"Talk to the Invisible Hand, Wall Street!" -- US Government to Lehman Bros request for a bailout.
About fscking time somebody realized that there isn't enough money in the entire world to pay for all the funny money crap, with all these bailouts and nationalizations (Franny Mae / Freddy Mac -- where the fsck fo they get those strange names?). As a result, a lot of people are going to take in the shorts. Hard.
I'm one of those folks who has suffered loss because the market's suckage, or more accurately, would if I sold the shares in my 401k today. Yep, it's all market values, what can you sell it for right now. My losses are all on paper, though. I haven't lost a home to forclosure or a job to layoffs.
In the end, the market is all about trust, agreement, consensual reality and magickal thinking. Money exists because we say it does, markets exist because we will them into existence to meet needs and agree on the details.
Now, of course, that belief is being undermined. The Guvmint has tried to counter that loss of faith through bailouts . . . but the days of bailouts are coming to an end. They have to. Every bucket has a bottom.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
SotR 2008-08-20
Overview:
Two-plus years ago, I wrote down a series of goals. I was in the hospital at that time and I saw just how badly I was running my life. I reviewed those goals two months ago . . . and I'd made very little progress toward any of them.
After that review, I made up my mind that every couple of weeks, I need to spend the time in meditation on the many personal foibles and weaknesses I need to work on and what to do about them. This is entirely an internal process. Part of this process is spurred by my inching ever-closer to the age of fifty. Part of the spur is that there are things that have been part of my life for several years that simply need to no longer be a part of my life.
The most important single personal foible / weakness: I am sick and tired of dealing with the consequences of the open wounds on my legs. I'd like to be able to swim for the first time in five years . . . to go to the doctor once every three months, not every couple of weeks . . . to be free of wound odors. I'm almost there; maybe a couple more months and I'll be swimming.
To that end, I've made some adjustments: limiting my sodium consumption (diet soda mostly), drinking LOTS more ice water, elevating my legs, getting a full night's sleep, eating more salads and less meat, playing a lot less WoW and cutting caffeine intake by 75%. All of these things help the wounds heal faster.
The "reward goal" I set here is to remain wound free for a year.
My next series of adjustments is financial. So far, I've started my 410(k) at work and started researching the various funds in the plan with an eye toward understanding how they fit into a coordinated plan to make me enough money for my old age. Once I turn 55, I can accelerate my donations, since at my age the lever called "the time value of money" is a little short. My next adjustment is to finally get my oversize ass onto a realistic budget. I found some great Mac software that is NOT published by Intuit and used that to set up a budget that includes putting some cash into savings that is NOT my 401(k). I want a cushion against emergencies.
The "reward goal" here is to have $5k in a savings account for a year. Since I did not envision having the 401(k) then, I'll include 50% of that account (after all, Apple is matching my contributions!) toward the goal. I started the 401(k) a year ago or so, and as of today "my share" is around $1k.
My last "reward goal" is to lose 100 lbs and keep it off for a year. I have not done much in this area; a soon as the legs are healed, I'll be directing my efforts toward weight loss.
One year with all three goals met . . . the reward is a trip to GenCon.
I'm also working on a few other goals, namely work-related ones like "break the career stasis I've been in for three years." My manager says I'm heading in the right direction.
----------------
Listening to: Echo's Children - No Quarter
via FoxyTunes
Two-plus years ago, I wrote down a series of goals. I was in the hospital at that time and I saw just how badly I was running my life. I reviewed those goals two months ago . . . and I'd made very little progress toward any of them.
After that review, I made up my mind that every couple of weeks, I need to spend the time in meditation on the many personal foibles and weaknesses I need to work on and what to do about them. This is entirely an internal process. Part of this process is spurred by my inching ever-closer to the age of fifty. Part of the spur is that there are things that have been part of my life for several years that simply need to no longer be a part of my life.
The most important single personal foible / weakness: I am sick and tired of dealing with the consequences of the open wounds on my legs. I'd like to be able to swim for the first time in five years . . . to go to the doctor once every three months, not every couple of weeks . . . to be free of wound odors. I'm almost there; maybe a couple more months and I'll be swimming.
To that end, I've made some adjustments: limiting my sodium consumption (diet soda mostly), drinking LOTS more ice water, elevating my legs, getting a full night's sleep, eating more salads and less meat, playing a lot less WoW and cutting caffeine intake by 75%. All of these things help the wounds heal faster.
The "reward goal" I set here is to remain wound free for a year.
My next series of adjustments is financial. So far, I've started my 410(k) at work and started researching the various funds in the plan with an eye toward understanding how they fit into a coordinated plan to make me enough money for my old age. Once I turn 55, I can accelerate my donations, since at my age the lever called "the time value of money" is a little short. My next adjustment is to finally get my oversize ass onto a realistic budget. I found some great Mac software that is NOT published by Intuit and used that to set up a budget that includes putting some cash into savings that is NOT my 401(k). I want a cushion against emergencies.
The "reward goal" here is to have $5k in a savings account for a year. Since I did not envision having the 401(k) then, I'll include 50% of that account (after all, Apple is matching my contributions!) toward the goal. I started the 401(k) a year ago or so, and as of today "my share" is around $1k.
My last "reward goal" is to lose 100 lbs and keep it off for a year. I have not done much in this area; a soon as the legs are healed, I'll be directing my efforts toward weight loss.
One year with all three goals met . . . the reward is a trip to GenCon.
I'm also working on a few other goals, namely work-related ones like "break the career stasis I've been in for three years." My manager says I'm heading in the right direction.
----------------
Listening to: Echo's Children - No Quarter
via FoxyTunes
Friday, April 18, 2008
Mediots, NIGYYSOB and America's future
The best illustration of the reason I don't watch or even own a TV set anymore: The ABC Democratic debate the other night.
I saw the coverage of the debate, and the consensus of the port side of the blogosphere is clear: The debate was little more than an exercise is what my freshman English teacher and Transactional Analysis fan, Mr. Davajohn, used to call "the game of NIGYYSOB" (Now, I've Got You, You SOB!).
*sigh*
OK, this country has BIG problems at the moment: an endless war, recession, inflation, income inequality and stagnation, the environment, the betrayal of our professed values with the rest of the world, the assaults on the Constitution, etc, etc etc... and for fifty plus minutes the two Democrats were compelled to debate minutia like flag pins and bowling. Gotcha, NIGYYSOB!
Why, OH WHY, cannot the so-called mainstream media treat Americans like adults? I remember a time, early in my life, when the media did just that. I was born too late for the McCarthy hearings, and I was in my early teens when media revelations brought down two presidents (Johnson, over the Vietnam, war and Nixon over Watergate). The media treated the American people like adults, even if the pols did not.
I saw the coverage of the debate, and the consensus of the port side of the blogosphere is clear: The debate was little more than an exercise is what my freshman English teacher and Transactional Analysis fan, Mr. Davajohn, used to call "the game of NIGYYSOB" (Now, I've Got You, You SOB!).
*sigh*
OK, this country has BIG problems at the moment: an endless war, recession, inflation, income inequality and stagnation, the environment, the betrayal of our professed values with the rest of the world, the assaults on the Constitution, etc, etc etc... and for fifty plus minutes the two Democrats were compelled to debate minutia like flag pins and bowling. Gotcha, NIGYYSOB!
Why, OH WHY, cannot the so-called mainstream media treat Americans like adults? I remember a time, early in my life, when the media did just that. I was born too late for the McCarthy hearings, and I was in my early teens when media revelations brought down two presidents (Johnson, over the Vietnam, war and Nixon over Watergate). The media treated the American people like adults, even if the pols did not.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
That scraping sound you are hearing . . .
. . . are the deck chairs being rearranged on the SS Titanic
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