This evening I received a letter and a hefty check in the amount of 3,950
from the Maxonic Monitoring and Research Services, the name on the check was: Kimberly Clark: P.O. Box 59022
Knoxville, TN 37950-9002 and made out to me with my home address. Which I must have signed up for a work at home position for one of these advertising sites, but whether it was a phishing site is unknown to me tonight. I am still trying to get over the shock of almost being scammed.
was so excited, and over-whelmed, my first thought was, "this has to be a scam." However, as a new business owner and in need of making more income, to cover the cost. I have to admit, I was already prepared to drive to the bank in the morning to deposit the check. Thankfully, there is the internet, with all of this information available to unsuspecting customers.
I am an intelligent person working on a graduate degree, I own a business and I didn't think I was that "naive" until this evening.
If I can be fooled even for twenty minutes, I can understand why so many other people would fall for it. When you are trying to get a head, its easy to let hope drive a person in the wrong direction sometimes.
What I don't understand about people who spend so much of their seemingly intelligent minds and time trying to gain money from people who probably have less then them, is why don't they use their computer knowledge and obvious skill for business, even if it is the wrong type of business to secure an honest line of work.
it makes me so angry.
I work over sixty hours a week trying to get my first business off of the ground, I have not saw a paycheck in about two years, and then I receive this enormous check in the mail and think,
"its a bout time, I get something for all of my hard work." Only to learn, its another person in cyber space trying to turn a buck at the expensive of hard working individuals who really need ever penny they can get.
My glasses broke recently, so I've been using a magnifying glass to get my work done, even without the profits, and the very long hours behind my desk, I would never, ever, ever try to take from another person.
I don't see why these people are so adamant in stealing, have they no conscious what so ever? Err. really irritate me.
This is my second bout with scam this year, which is why I am so aggravated. The first was a person claiming to be my son, who I have not saw in over ten years. that was the worst scam ever, and I only hope no other person has to be subjected to that type of crime, it took a lot from me, more then any amount of income could cost to replace. They took my hope, my sprit and
ultimately, my trust in people.
Thieves, I have but one tip for you, and one only.
STOP IT---we don't deserve this, and you should want more for yourself. Have some pride, use your skills for some good, it may take you longer, and you may get a lot less but I guarantee, that when you do things the right way, your life changes. You become a better person, it doesn't matter how much you got, or how little, its your worth that counts, your individual worth as a person.
just want to add my support for the interchangeable crockpot that a previous commenter talked about. I bought one a few months ago and it is absolutely worth having the three different sizes for the different recipes. Can't wait to try it out with the great crockpot link you gave!
I'm worried about a lot of the items you list. The one I'm not worried about is the "bankers laughing up their sleeves." Believe me: Those guys are terrified, not amused.
I hope you're right... but my fear lies in the second part of what we don't know, and that is the cost.
Credit Default Swaps have been sliced diced, sold and resold so many times that they have lost their identity. Indeed, it has been reported that some banks have bought and sold (meaning insured and reinsured) the same securities three times. The accounting is so obscure, that teams of auditors have been unable to unravel a small portion of one hedge fund's trades, after working for three months.
The commonly accepted explanation of Derivative "Notional" Value, is always accompanied by a disclaimer that this does not represent an actual value. In fact, until the SEC "experts" were unable to develop an accounting value, most people, including most traders.. believed that "notional value" was more of a measure of trading volume.
In order to try to sort out the current debt, several attempts have been made by the banks and brokers themselves, to accept some kind of "fuzzy" value, inorder to develop some liquidity. In fact, the very reason that they were unable to do this, even in extremis.. is an indication that any so-called solution with an injection of arbitrary liquidity will probably be doomed to failure. Open ended debt (via CDS's) may end up with a cost, many times the proferred 700 Billion. Try this for details... http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24380944-643,00.html
(A pretty good and simple explanation)
The US has laws regarding bankruptcy. Somehow, this has been ignored. "Too big to fail" is not part of the laws.
"The second, much bigger, reason is that the US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, in collusion with the US Congress, is about to commit an act of blatant treason.
Instead of doing the right thing, which would have been to place the system in administratrion (bankruptcy reorganisation), he has decided to make the United States itself bankrupt.
The bankers are laughing up their sleeves.
What Paulson has announced is this: he will establish a Federal agency to buy up what will amount to trillions of dollars of bad debt. The debt will become the liability of the US taxpayer. The bankers will get off scot free. The US will also insure investors in US money-market funds, which have seen significant withdrawals in recent days.
The idea is that, in a reflection of the Resolution Trust Corporation, the debt will be warehoused so that it can get the chance “for much of it to recover a portion of its value.”
But make no mistake, as far as the financial system is concerned, this will achieve nothing, other than delay the inevitable once again.
The real benefit for Paulson’s controllers, is that long held goal of the financial elites - the end of the United States, and that pesky Constitution.
What about us, here in the UK? For us, there’s the small matter of the spectre of hyperinflation which will make Weimar Germany pale into insignificance. "
I don't know what will happen, but my current sense of this terrible problem is that we are just delaying the inevitable, and in a matter of less than a week, making a mistake that could reduce our great nation to the stature of a banana republic.
Even the most optimistic pronouncement from the most optimistic member of government has a strong hedge of uncertainty. That is not encouraging.
Unfortunately all we can do is stand by and watch. ..and wonder if the people that we elected know what they are doing.
If this world keeps going the way it is..the majority of us will be eating out of garbage cans..the economic models are only set up to allow wealthy people to enjoy life, eat healthy and "live"..the rest of us..well..do the best you can and don't bother us "the wealthy" ..that's the mentality...think about it..
This site is brilliant (although I'm not sure if some of these plants grow in Australia) but I am curious as to why every 'edible weeds/plants' site leaves out clover. It has a lovely fresh and crisp taste when added to sandwiches or salads. It also grows in abundance during certain seasons, and is actually quite sweet. It also contains vitamin E.
A long time ago, there was a billboard in Seattle that said essentially the same thing. Boeing was in trouble and jobs were being lost left and right. Then Microsoft came in and resurrected Seattle. That was when Microsoft was an up and coming company but now it is stable and actually shrinking in some areas.
I think it will take some innovation to bring stability back the US and unfortunately the social climate is against progress. This just does not bode well for our futures IMO.
Oh, and I am an American who agrees with Maia. That is why I am looking at emigrating. Give me higher taxes and a nanny state any day over corporate bailouts for rich people.
Even most of the people who are pushing for this bailout agree with the general idea that companies who make bad investments ought to lose their money. And, as you say, when some businesses fail, that leaves a spot for some other business to succeed. (And, when a family gets foreclosed on, that leaves a house that the bank will sell cheap to some renter who didn't buy a house he couldn't afford.)
Speaking as a renter who didn't buy a house he couldn't afford, I have to admit to a certain inclination to let things go that direction. If houses peal off another 15% or 20%, prices will be about where I think they're a good value.
However, we have a vivid example of what happens when you chose that strategy. Andrew Mellon, Hoover's secretary of the treasury, is famous for proposing exactly that strategy for dealing with the collapse of the 1929 asset bubble:
Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate.... That will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people.
As we saw in the 1930s, when that strategy goes badly, it goes very badly indeed.
So, I have no doubt that Congress will authorize the Treasury to buy hundreds of billions of dollars of iffy paper. (They'll probably throw in a bunch of other stuff, too--maybe some protections for homeowners, maybe an equity stake in the businesses that we bail out, almost certainly some new regulation.) There are two things I don't know:
I don't know if it'll help. Maybe the economy will just grind down anyway. Maybe all this borrowing will make debt that carries the "full faith and credit" of the US government look as iffy as the mortgage-backed paper we're buying. If the government started having trouble borrowing and had to actually tax people to get the money to pay for all this, that'd be a crushing burden for the economy all by itself.
I don't know how much it will cost. A lot of the iffy paper that the government is going to buy will eventually have some value. Not everyone who took out a mortgage in the past five years is going to default, and even most defaults will leave behind a house that's worth something (if not enough to cover the mortgage in full). Some of this paper has already been marked down to 70, 50, even 30 cents on the dollar. If the Treasury can buy it at those prices, it might well make enough money to pay off the debt it's taking on.
None of this is good. But, as harmful as it is, as risky as it is--and as easy to make fun of as it is--it doesn't seem as risky as the alternative. Because we know where that can lead.
Thanks, Myscha and everyone else who's joined this discussion. I'd like to get as many price comparisons from various areas of the country as we can...
Interesting that so many of you commented on the price of milk. Ours here in Maine, maybe in the entire NE area, is regulated... I'll have to check this out.
Aside from Hannaford and Shaw's, and yes, we do have a fairly new Whole Foods here in Maine, but I'd LOVE to have a Trader Joe's. HINT, HINT, corporate headquarters!
This is funny. LOL. But I don't think you and other posters truly understand the magnitude of today's problems and the effect letting all these huge companies fail would have on your job and your money. This is so much worse than what we had post-internet bubble.
Buying your troubled assets isn't going to prevent the complete collapse of our financial system. Also some of these "troubled assets" can actually have some value and may end up bringing some money - depending on the purchase price.
Also, where do you think FDIC money to pay off depositors comes from? And what would happen if FDIC reserves would not be enough? You still end up paying one way or another.
Incidentally, even if you don't work in banking industry your job may be affected by these companies failing. For example, my company is in computer business, not in finances. But some of our customers are among those failing financial institutions. Even if my company has been doing fine so far, it would be overly optimistic for me to think it wouldn't be affected. How many other companies are in this situation?
Also, we don't really know if all of these assets will be junk and all of this ends up to be wasted money. For example, when the government bailed out Chrysler in 1980 in exchange for then-worthless options, the taxpayers ended up making money when Chrysler rebounded and the options the government got from the deal skyrocketed.
No one can "rationally" explain this situation. It's not rational as Phil clearly stated (I think).
Fat Cats got fatter, with the concurrence of a broken Federal Government. The legislation put in place after the "Great" [sic] Depression", to avoid this kind of a problem, was systematically torn down by 40,000 lobbyists, 300 million dollars in gifts to 535 congressmen and the most incredible incompetence and criminality of the SEC and many, many other regulatory bodies.
Washington has become the new Sodom and Gomorrah. Money floats around like snowflakes in a blizzard. "Honest Politicos" is the ultimate oxymoron. So now it's broke, the answer is to pay off the folks who caused the problem. If you'd like to know the reason for the final nails in the coffin, you'll have to spend about two hours in google, doing your own research on "credit derivative swaps", because you won't find a simple explanation anywhere. Once you have an idea of how these pieces fit the puzzle, then you'll understand why 1.4 quadrillion dollars of notional value is is the piece that will make any solution impossible.
The answer is the same as it was in 2003... Let them FAIL!
If the Government had obeyed it's own laws, the problem would have been solved then. If the government stayed out of it now, we'd all hurt... but we could have come through it with just a few scars.
Now that we've been deceived and lied to again, it's over.
We've been "sold down the river"... which means we're slaves.
The sad thing is it is really that bad :-( I was so angry when I read the comments that when some wanted to add stipulations into the program about helping homeowners keep their houses that comments were made by the opposinig that it would be too expensive?!?!??!?! What in the name of g-- is too expensive after you are spending $700 billion dollars of (our) taxpayer money!?!?! Please give me a royal break on this one. This is just Paulson helping his stupid old friends.
When my Daughter turned 5, she had a little group of friends. Four of them.
We invited JUST those 4 friends to her party. They all came.
Luckily, it was just after New Years, so I clearanced shopped at Walmart. And boy was there GREAT selection!
I ended up getting the coolest party favors (NOT ONE SINGLE THING FROM THE PARTY SECTION!! I absolutely HATE the stupid toys and prizes from the party section! They are cheap, useless, and get thrown away in a day! Why bother??)
I got Princess soap/body wash kits discounted to .72 cents each, a nail polish gift set, which I gave every girl 2 colors each from it, some discounted frames that were under a dollar each, and a few other things.
Because everything was sooooo cheap, I did go a little nuts, but it was part of a game for the party.
Since GIRLS love to shop, I set up a "store" for them.
I got discounted gift bags (snowflake themed, but cheap!) and used my Daughter's fake money, gave everyone some, brought her cash register down, and let them "shop" from the dining room table, where all the prizes were laid out.
I told them they could all take ONE of everything.
They each went along, shopping and picking stuff out, which is what girls do best, right? LOL!!
They wrung up their purchases with their fake money (My Son was the cashier) and we wrote their names on the bags, and played more games. They LOVED it.
After the party, I got told by all the parents, that they couldn't believe the gift bags I gave the girls. They were AWESOME!
Having such cheap stuff, and having only 5 girls total, made it easy.
They played "freeze dance" a few times, duck duck goose, etc....had cake, (set up as a tea party.) and when the parents came, they all said "Mom! I had FUN!"
Sucess.
My Daughter loved it, the kids loved it, and I think I spent about around $100.
I did NOT decorate, except for a few balloons thrown around.
And let me tell you....kids do NOT even notice if the place is decorated, or not.
I have NEVER decorated beyond balloons, and no one has ever CARED a bit!
The money wasted on decorations, is unbelieveable to me!!
The same with fancy themed/character plates, napkins, cups....
No thank you!!!
Kids don't care what they eat from! They just care WHAT they're eating!!
And my house is small, but we still manage to have GREAT parties here. No expensive, impersonal party packages at kid's places for us.
This is fun and easy to do.... BUT I finally figured out that I did not have discriminating enough taste buds! Since I could not taste the difference between what I roasted and the roasted beans I bought at the store it made no sense roasting them myself. The cost was also more for me to roast my own beans (no easy access to green beans other than mail order.)
So... been there done that and went back to buying our beans already roasted.
I use to volunteer at a local food pantry and we used to get the mini bottles of shampoo/conditioner and bars of soap. Our clients seemed to really like receiving them, we'd put a big handful in a zip lock along with their usual bar of soap and Suave shampoo.
For my Son's 8th birthday, I was tired out from birthdays (cheap ones, but still tired out!)
So I told him to pick up to four of his bestest friends, for a sleepover. Before the sleepover, we would all go to Giggleberry Fair. (a huge 8 story indoor playground, plus a discovery play room, and a tiny game/token section. LOVE that place.)
So he picked some friends, I printed out invitations that were just a letter, with our plans for the evening and night, reassuring every parent (because Giggleberry Fair is 45 minutes away!) and waited for the calls.
They all called, which was nice, and they all could go.
A few weren't sleeping over, but that was fine for me!!
I had the party on a Friday night, because Giggleberry Fair is half priced admission on Friday nights. (savings!!$$)
As soon as everyone arrived, we opened gifts (I just HATE it when people don't open their gifts AT the party!!!) and left!
We packed everyone in the van, stopped on the way at Wendy's drive thru, got everyone two items from the DOLLAR menu, gave them a drink that I PACKED in the car, they ate on the way, and I listened to them party and talk "cool guy talk" all the way there, full of excitement.
They had a BLAST, all night, we got them all drinks, that they refilled all night. (we brought a marker, so they wrote their names on their cups and saved them all night. We don't mess around, saving money!! And the kids didn't care one speck!)
Tired, worn out, and having a great time reliving the night's excitement, we came home, the two kids left, and the rest slept on the living room floor after having a birthday cupcake and a drink. (no birthday cake cost! Just cheap cupcakes!)
They put a movie in, and joked around, then fell asleep.
Next morning, I made pancakes with chocolate pieces cooked into them, and parents arrived.
The BEST birthday he ever had.
The whole thing was probably $75, no mess, no "entertaining", and NO birthday "package prices". Ick!
Although I am not an expert in economists (by any stretch of the imagination), I have to think that this bailout goes against my idea of capitalism.
You did (and always do) a great job of breaking down complicated ideas. I was wondering if you (or any Wisebread blogger) could break down the rationale behind this bail-out. I have read a lot about it, and on Meet the Press this morning, Paulson was either talking over my head or not answering questions. I understand that they believe that if these massive corporations would cause a ripple effect on other companies, but I don't understand how (in a capitalistic economy) we can save these companies? I thought the cream rises to the top? I thought that when one business fails, a better business rises? I really want to understand THEIR logic behind why we could not let them fail. Could you please explain?
Thanks everyone for comments and more birthday ideas.
I remember doing a version of the fly-swatter/balloon game with residents of an assisted living facility (during a scout service project). The adults loved it more than the kids!
I am nowhere hands-on creative as you are sylrayj (great ideas and great way to recycle) which might be why the parties with a bunch of kids turned out better (typically) than the ones with just a few kids-- the kids could come up with better ideas to play than I could.
Like you ATLCheap, I have had events where just a couple of the many invited guests showed so it was tricky to figure out what to do; my youngest just loves a crowd but I could see how things could get out of hand (maybe the big parties could be saved for the ones at an outdoor venue). And, now that you mention it, I have heard of parents having their children invite just one or two guests for a special day/evening out, making the planning much easier and the celebration (happily) memorable.
Yes snail mail works. It's the only way to go when dealing with bad business. There is a great website to help called www.complaintsmailed.com
This evening I received a letter and a hefty check in the amount of 3,950
from the Maxonic Monitoring and Research Services, the name on the check was: Kimberly Clark: P.O. Box 59022
Knoxville, TN 37950-9002 and made out to me with my home address. Which I must have signed up for a work at home position for one of these advertising sites, but whether it was a phishing site is unknown to me tonight. I am still trying to get over the shock of almost being scammed.
was so excited, and over-whelmed, my first thought was, "this has to be a scam." However, as a new business owner and in need of making more income, to cover the cost. I have to admit, I was already prepared to drive to the bank in the morning to deposit the check. Thankfully, there is the internet, with all of this information available to unsuspecting customers.
I am an intelligent person working on a graduate degree, I own a business and I didn't think I was that "naive" until this evening.
If I can be fooled even for twenty minutes, I can understand why so many other people would fall for it. When you are trying to get a head, its easy to let hope drive a person in the wrong direction sometimes.
What I don't understand about people who spend so much of their seemingly intelligent minds and time trying to gain money from people who probably have less then them, is why don't they use their computer knowledge and obvious skill for business, even if it is the wrong type of business to secure an honest line of work.
it makes me so angry.
I work over sixty hours a week trying to get my first business off of the ground, I have not saw a paycheck in about two years, and then I receive this enormous check in the mail and think,
"its a bout time, I get something for all of my hard work." Only to learn, its another person in cyber space trying to turn a buck at the expensive of hard working individuals who really need ever penny they can get.
My glasses broke recently, so I've been using a magnifying glass to get my work done, even without the profits, and the very long hours behind my desk, I would never, ever, ever try to take from another person.
I don't see why these people are so adamant in stealing, have they no conscious what so ever? Err. really irritate me.
This is my second bout with scam this year, which is why I am so aggravated. The first was a person claiming to be my son, who I have not saw in over ten years. that was the worst scam ever, and I only hope no other person has to be subjected to that type of crime, it took a lot from me, more then any amount of income could cost to replace. They took my hope, my sprit and
ultimately, my trust in people.
Thieves, I have but one tip for you, and one only.
STOP IT---we don't deserve this, and you should want more for yourself. Have some pride, use your skills for some good, it may take you longer, and you may get a lot less but I guarantee, that when you do things the right way, your life changes. You become a better person, it doesn't matter how much you got, or how little, its your worth that counts, your individual worth as a person.
It cannot be measured with a dollar sign.
--Sincerely,
Katina M. Woodruff
Owner of
One Stop Write Shop
http://www.onestopwriteshop.com
Publish Writing, Community for Writers, Contest
just want to add my support for the interchangeable crockpot that a previous commenter talked about. I bought one a few months ago and it is absolutely worth having the three different sizes for the different recipes. Can't wait to try it out with the great crockpot link you gave!
I'm worried about a lot of the items you list. The one I'm not worried about is the "bankers laughing up their sleeves." Believe me: Those guys are terrified, not amused.
I never knew about the "samples" industry before ! Thanks for educating me on something my family can use.
Philip..
I hope you're right... but my fear lies in the second part of what we don't know, and that is the cost.
Credit Default Swaps have been sliced diced, sold and resold so many times that they have lost their identity. Indeed, it has been reported that some banks have bought and sold (meaning insured and reinsured) the same securities three times. The accounting is so obscure, that teams of auditors have been unable to unravel a small portion of one hedge fund's trades, after working for three months.
The commonly accepted explanation of Derivative "Notional" Value, is always accompanied by a disclaimer that this does not represent an actual value. In fact, until the SEC "experts" were unable to develop an accounting value, most people, including most traders.. believed that "notional value" was more of a measure of trading volume.
In order to try to sort out the current debt, several attempts have been made by the banks and brokers themselves, to accept some kind of "fuzzy" value, inorder to develop some liquidity. In fact, the very reason that they were unable to do this, even in extremis.. is an indication that any so-called solution with an injection of arbitrary liquidity will probably be doomed to failure. Open ended debt (via CDS's) may end up with a cost, many times the proferred 700 Billion. Try this for details... http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24380944-643,00.html
(A pretty good and simple explanation)
The US has laws regarding bankruptcy. Somehow, this has been ignored. "Too big to fail" is not part of the laws.
Here's an ercerpt from
http://kwitsach-hadera.livejournal.com/
...............................................................
"The second, much bigger, reason is that the US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, in collusion with the US Congress, is about to commit an act of blatant treason.
Instead of doing the right thing, which would have been to place the system in administratrion (bankruptcy reorganisation), he has decided to make the United States itself bankrupt.
The bankers are laughing up their sleeves.
What Paulson has announced is this: he will establish a Federal agency to buy up what will amount to trillions of dollars of bad debt. The debt will become the liability of the US taxpayer. The bankers will get off scot free. The US will also insure investors in US money-market funds, which have seen significant withdrawals in recent days.
The idea is that, in a reflection of the Resolution Trust Corporation, the debt will be warehoused so that it can get the chance “for much of it to recover a portion of its value.”
But make no mistake, as far as the financial system is concerned, this will achieve nothing, other than delay the inevitable once again.
The real benefit for Paulson’s controllers, is that long held goal of the financial elites - the end of the United States, and that pesky Constitution.
What about us, here in the UK? For us, there’s the small matter of the spectre of hyperinflation which will make Weimar Germany pale into insignificance. "
..............................................................................
I don't know what will happen, but my current sense of this terrible problem is that we are just delaying the inevitable, and in a matter of less than a week, making a mistake that could reduce our great nation to the stature of a banana republic.
Even the most optimistic pronouncement from the most optimistic member of government has a strong hedge of uncertainty. That is not encouraging.
Unfortunately all we can do is stand by and watch. ..and wonder if the people that we elected know what they are doing.
.....................................................................
my opinion only
So a novice like me couldn't possibly screw it up?
If this world keeps going the way it is..the majority of us will be eating out of garbage cans..the economic models are only set up to allow wealthy people to enjoy life, eat healthy and "live"..the rest of us..well..do the best you can and don't bother us "the wealthy" ..that's the mentality...think about it..
This site is brilliant (although I'm not sure if some of these plants grow in Australia) but I am curious as to why every 'edible weeds/plants' site leaves out clover. It has a lovely fresh and crisp taste when added to sandwiches or salads. It also grows in abundance during certain seasons, and is actually quite sweet. It also contains vitamin E.
A long time ago, there was a billboard in Seattle that said essentially the same thing. Boeing was in trouble and jobs were being lost left and right. Then Microsoft came in and resurrected Seattle. That was when Microsoft was an up and coming company but now it is stable and actually shrinking in some areas.
I think it will take some innovation to bring stability back the US and unfortunately the social climate is against progress. This just does not bode well for our futures IMO.
Oh, and I am an American who agrees with Maia. That is why I am looking at emigrating. Give me higher taxes and a nanny state any day over corporate bailouts for rich people.
@ kav122:
Even most of the people who are pushing for this bailout agree with the general idea that companies who make bad investments ought to lose their money. And, as you say, when some businesses fail, that leaves a spot for some other business to succeed. (And, when a family gets foreclosed on, that leaves a house that the bank will sell cheap to some renter who didn't buy a house he couldn't afford.)
Speaking as a renter who didn't buy a house he couldn't afford, I have to admit to a certain inclination to let things go that direction. If houses peal off another 15% or 20%, prices will be about where I think they're a good value.
However, we have a vivid example of what happens when you chose that strategy. Andrew Mellon, Hoover's secretary of the treasury, is famous for proposing exactly that strategy for dealing with the collapse of the 1929 asset bubble:
As we saw in the 1930s, when that strategy goes badly, it goes very badly indeed.
So, I have no doubt that Congress will authorize the Treasury to buy hundreds of billions of dollars of iffy paper. (They'll probably throw in a bunch of other stuff, too--maybe some protections for homeowners, maybe an equity stake in the businesses that we bail out, almost certainly some new regulation.) There are two things I don't know:
None of this is good. But, as harmful as it is, as risky as it is--and as easy to make fun of as it is--it doesn't seem as risky as the alternative. Because we know where that can lead.
Thanks, Myscha and everyone else who's joined this discussion. I'd like to get as many price comparisons from various areas of the country as we can...
Interesting that so many of you commented on the price of milk. Ours here in Maine, maybe in the entire NE area, is regulated... I'll have to check this out.
Thanks Again!
Aside from Hannaford and Shaw's, and yes, we do have a fairly new Whole Foods here in Maine, but I'd LOVE to have a Trader Joe's. HINT, HINT, corporate headquarters!
Long read... only for anyone interested in knowing what's going on.
http://henryckliu.com/page169.html
my opinion only
This is funny. LOL. But I don't think you and other posters truly understand the magnitude of today's problems and the effect letting all these huge companies fail would have on your job and your money. This is so much worse than what we had post-internet bubble.
Buying your troubled assets isn't going to prevent the complete collapse of our financial system. Also some of these "troubled assets" can actually have some value and may end up bringing some money - depending on the purchase price.
Also, where do you think FDIC money to pay off depositors comes from? And what would happen if FDIC reserves would not be enough? You still end up paying one way or another.
Incidentally, even if you don't work in banking industry your job may be affected by these companies failing. For example, my company is in computer business, not in finances. But some of our customers are among those failing financial institutions. Even if my company has been doing fine so far, it would be overly optimistic for me to think it wouldn't be affected. How many other companies are in this situation?
Also, we don't really know if all of these assets will be junk and all of this ends up to be wasted money. For example, when the government bailed out Chrysler in 1980 in exchange for then-worthless options, the taxpayers ended up making money when Chrysler rebounded and the options the government got from the deal skyrocketed.
One thing we have plenty of in America... ignorance.
No one can "rationally" explain this situation. It's not rational as Phil clearly stated (I think).
Fat Cats got fatter, with the concurrence of a broken Federal Government. The legislation put in place after the "Great" [sic] Depression", to avoid this kind of a problem, was systematically torn down by 40,000 lobbyists, 300 million dollars in gifts to 535 congressmen and the most incredible incompetence and criminality of the SEC and many, many other regulatory bodies.
Washington has become the new Sodom and Gomorrah. Money floats around like snowflakes in a blizzard. "Honest Politicos" is the ultimate oxymoron. So now it's broke, the answer is to pay off the folks who caused the problem. If you'd like to know the reason for the final nails in the coffin, you'll have to spend about two hours in google, doing your own research on "credit derivative swaps", because you won't find a simple explanation anywhere. Once you have an idea of how these pieces fit the puzzle, then you'll understand why 1.4 quadrillion dollars of notional value is is the piece that will make any solution impossible.
The answer is the same as it was in 2003... Let them FAIL!
If the Government had obeyed it's own laws, the problem would have been solved then. If the government stayed out of it now, we'd all hurt... but we could have come through it with just a few scars.
Now that we've been deceived and lied to again, it's over.
We've been "sold down the river"... which means we're slaves.
...sigh
my opinion only
The sad thing is it is really that bad :-( I was so angry when I read the comments that when some wanted to add stipulations into the program about helping homeowners keep their houses that comments were made by the opposinig that it would be too expensive?!?!??!?! What in the name of g-- is too expensive after you are spending $700 billion dollars of (our) taxpayer money!?!?! Please give me a royal break on this one. This is just Paulson helping his stupid old friends.
When my Daughter turned 5, she had a little group of friends. Four of them.
We invited JUST those 4 friends to her party. They all came.
Luckily, it was just after New Years, so I clearanced shopped at Walmart. And boy was there GREAT selection!
I ended up getting the coolest party favors (NOT ONE SINGLE THING FROM THE PARTY SECTION!! I absolutely HATE the stupid toys and prizes from the party section! They are cheap, useless, and get thrown away in a day! Why bother??)
I got Princess soap/body wash kits discounted to .72 cents each, a nail polish gift set, which I gave every girl 2 colors each from it, some discounted frames that were under a dollar each, and a few other things.
Because everything was sooooo cheap, I did go a little nuts, but it was part of a game for the party.
Since GIRLS love to shop, I set up a "store" for them.
I got discounted gift bags (snowflake themed, but cheap!) and used my Daughter's fake money, gave everyone some, brought her cash register down, and let them "shop" from the dining room table, where all the prizes were laid out.
I told them they could all take ONE of everything.
They each went along, shopping and picking stuff out, which is what girls do best, right? LOL!!
They wrung up their purchases with their fake money (My Son was the cashier) and we wrote their names on the bags, and played more games. They LOVED it.
After the party, I got told by all the parents, that they couldn't believe the gift bags I gave the girls. They were AWESOME!
Having such cheap stuff, and having only 5 girls total, made it easy.
They played "freeze dance" a few times, duck duck goose, etc....had cake, (set up as a tea party.) and when the parents came, they all said "Mom! I had FUN!"
Sucess.
My Daughter loved it, the kids loved it, and I think I spent about around $100.
I did NOT decorate, except for a few balloons thrown around.
And let me tell you....kids do NOT even notice if the place is decorated, or not.
I have NEVER decorated beyond balloons, and no one has ever CARED a bit!
The money wasted on decorations, is unbelieveable to me!!
The same with fancy themed/character plates, napkins, cups....
No thank you!!!
Kids don't care what they eat from! They just care WHAT they're eating!!
And my house is small, but we still manage to have GREAT parties here. No expensive, impersonal party packages at kid's places for us.
This is fun and easy to do.... BUT I finally figured out that I did not have discriminating enough taste buds! Since I could not taste the difference between what I roasted and the roasted beans I bought at the store it made no sense roasting them myself. The cost was also more for me to roast my own beans (no easy access to green beans other than mail order.)
So... been there done that and went back to buying our beans already roasted.
I use to volunteer at a local food pantry and we used to get the mini bottles of shampoo/conditioner and bars of soap. Our clients seemed to really like receiving them, we'd put a big handful in a zip lock along with their usual bar of soap and Suave shampoo.
For my Son's 8th birthday, I was tired out from birthdays (cheap ones, but still tired out!)
So I told him to pick up to four of his bestest friends, for a sleepover. Before the sleepover, we would all go to Giggleberry Fair. (a huge 8 story indoor playground, plus a discovery play room, and a tiny game/token section. LOVE that place.)
So he picked some friends, I printed out invitations that were just a letter, with our plans for the evening and night, reassuring every parent (because Giggleberry Fair is 45 minutes away!) and waited for the calls.
They all called, which was nice, and they all could go.
A few weren't sleeping over, but that was fine for me!!
I had the party on a Friday night, because Giggleberry Fair is half priced admission on Friday nights. (savings!!$$)
As soon as everyone arrived, we opened gifts (I just HATE it when people don't open their gifts AT the party!!!) and left!
We packed everyone in the van, stopped on the way at Wendy's drive thru, got everyone two items from the DOLLAR menu, gave them a drink that I PACKED in the car, they ate on the way, and I listened to them party and talk "cool guy talk" all the way there, full of excitement.
They had a BLAST, all night, we got them all drinks, that they refilled all night. (we brought a marker, so they wrote their names on their cups and saved them all night. We don't mess around, saving money!! And the kids didn't care one speck!)
Tired, worn out, and having a great time reliving the night's excitement, we came home, the two kids left, and the rest slept on the living room floor after having a birthday cupcake and a drink. (no birthday cake cost! Just cheap cupcakes!)
They put a movie in, and joked around, then fell asleep.
Next morning, I made pancakes with chocolate pieces cooked into them, and parents arrived.
The BEST birthday he ever had.
The whole thing was probably $75, no mess, no "entertaining", and NO birthday "package prices". Ick!
sorry, I meant "not an expert in the economy"
too funny.
Although I am not an expert in economists (by any stretch of the imagination), I have to think that this bailout goes against my idea of capitalism.
You did (and always do) a great job of breaking down complicated ideas. I was wondering if you (or any Wisebread blogger) could break down the rationale behind this bail-out. I have read a lot about it, and on Meet the Press this morning, Paulson was either talking over my head or not answering questions. I understand that they believe that if these massive corporations would cause a ripple effect on other companies, but I don't understand how (in a capitalistic economy) we can save these companies? I thought the cream rises to the top? I thought that when one business fails, a better business rises? I really want to understand THEIR logic behind why we could not let them fail. Could you please explain?
Thanks everyone for comments and more birthday ideas.
I remember doing a version of the fly-swatter/balloon game with residents of an assisted living facility (during a scout service project). The adults loved it more than the kids!
I am nowhere hands-on creative as you are sylrayj (great ideas and great way to recycle) which might be why the parties with a bunch of kids turned out better (typically) than the ones with just a few kids-- the kids could come up with better ideas to play than I could.
Like you ATLCheap, I have had events where just a couple of the many invited guests showed so it was tricky to figure out what to do; my youngest just loves a crowd but I could see how things could get out of hand (maybe the big parties could be saved for the ones at an outdoor venue). And, now that you mention it, I have heard of parents having their children invite just one or two guests for a special day/evening out, making the planning much easier and the celebration (happily) memorable.