Shambles

Today's Clouds: altocumulus stratiformis progressively invading the entire sky. Dark, dreary and damp.

700 billion and no strings attached!

Balancing my checkbook and sticking to a budget is time consuming and challenging especially when one is unemployed. But thinking about the state of America’s financial debacle is mind-boggling and makes me want to puke.

I can’t get my head around 700 billion never mind the trillions of dollars of debt we have incurred. It is staggering and we will undoubtedly feel the effects of this for years to come. This has to be the official beginning of our decline as the world’s financial power. We know that each and every American woman, man and child is in debt of upwards of $20,000 each, and now add that to your personal debt. It's sickening.

There are many things I would like to see done with tax dollars and this isn’t one of them. For one thing, why not help out foreclosed homeowners? What about trickling up some of that revenue? That would help people remain in their homes AND the banks get their money. What about that? I know it’s wishful thinking and I’m sure there are critics out there that would call this a “socialist” idea but what the hell. Isn't bailing out Wall St. socialism of a different kind; help business but not help people. It's that “trickle down” theory (wealth is produced from the top down) that has persevered since Reagan and that HAS NOT worked for the middle class or working people only the top 1% of wealth in the country.

For a decade American corporations have been abandoning American workers for cheap labor and huge tax breaks to leave the country and produce goods overseas. In turn, American’s are encouraged to spend their hard earned money “shopping” for cheap goods in order to keep our “consumer” based economy running. Remember after September 11^th - the president encouraged us all to “go shopping”. How ridiculous! American’s haven’t been saving money they’ve been max-ing out their credit cards and watching their interest rates rise as it becomes more difficult to pay off their debt. The credit card companies are laughing all the way to the bank because they’ve got the law makers in their pockets changing the laws that protect consumers and making millions of dollars bilking Americans in the form of interest rates and late fees.

And speaking of the credit card...

Secret History of the Credit Card

Everyone must see this! It will open your eyes to how credit cards really work. You’ll think twice about using your credit card after you see it.

“In "Secret History of the Credit Card," Frontline and The New York Times join forces to investigate an industry few Americans fully understand. In this one-hour report, correspondent Lowell Bergman uncovers the techniques used by the industry to earn record profits and get consumers to take on more debt.”

You can watch the full version of the compelling documentary online by following this link.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/view/