don’t have to live like a refugee

Honey, it don't make no difference to me baby
Everybody has to fight to be free, 

you see
You don't have to live like a refugee
(Don't have to live like a refugee)
Now baby you don't have to live like a refugee

living in a box with my neighbor in my childhood backyard

Change is always just around the corner and we don't know which way to turn to avoid it. It's better to just accept it.   Better but not always easier.

My CD player was cranking out this Tom Petty tune on my way to grocery store today. I realized something. I replayed it a few times. 

I reinterpret much of the music from my past against events of my present.   Maybe this is common.  I don’t know.

The current business environment is not treating me too kindly lately. But I don’t have to live like a corporate refugee. 

Also -

I’m NOT going to revel in my abandon.

(Yes I do realize there are real refugees in many places around our world.  I don't think Tom Petty was doing a comparison to real refugees when he wrote this in 1980.  I'm not either.)

Ken Burns PBS series #5

credit: National Park Service Historic Photograph Collection

Today there are some similarities with the time period covered by the fifth episode of the PBS series The National Parks: America's Best Idea by Ken Burn.  The depression of 1930's has been compared to today's economic woes.  There are plenty of differences but we are in a period of higher unemployment.  The National Park Service played a job creation role in the great depression.  

FDR created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933.

My dad and his younger brother joined the CCC in the late 1930's.  Both of them still in their teens.  I wish I knew more about their adventures in the CCC's.  They have both passed on now.  From the stories, I believe they were at camps in Washington state.

Episode 5 spends some time with a few personal stories of past CCC members.  It was run like the military and from the pictures I've found on the web, it looked like hard work.

From the PBS site about this episode:

"In all, more than 3 million men found work with the Civilian Conservation Corps during the course of the Depression. Members of the CCC were responsible for building more than 97,000 miles of fire roads in national forests, combating soil erosion on 84 million acres of farmland, and planting 3 billion trees."

 Millions of men - billions of trees  -  all in less than a decade.

From just the little I know, I say GOOD JOB !

driveby downsizing scary

Just this week I learned of two more friends hit by driveby downsizing. Scary times.

Things better turn around soon or we will be looking like this poor guy below.
I found this funny postcard at jafagirls.
I need to send these to my green friends.

Share a smile

Sesame St. Main St. Wall St. Brawl St.

What street?

"Stand in the place where you live" (REM song)

It all does get too confusing, all too often.

Sesame St. was in the news last week because it too has been hit by this economic crisis. Here's a headline from the examiner web site:

Can you tell me how to get to the Sesame Street unemployment office?

I suggest that maybe they rent space in Oscar's trash can since more people will be on the street.



Last Thursday night I heard of another street - Brawl Street.

I watch CNBC and the Daily Show, so this battle/interview was hyped for a few days. Jon Stewart grilled Jim Cramer for CNBC's coverage of the economic crisis. Jon threw some good serious questions at Jim. You can watch the whole interview at the Daily show site.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Intro - Brawl Street: Get Ready to Buy Low! And Sell Die

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Another explainer of confusion is Uncle Jay. I found this "Uncle Jay Explains the News" show awhile back and I get a laugh from it everytime.



Oh don't forget -
"Your feet are going to be on the ground"

more economy opinion

More noise to add to this economic mess - everyone has an opinion.

Here's the one I posted.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

economical diversion have fun

Sick of this economy crisis, the news of bailouts, yet another investor fraud, and stocks crashing?

You don't need to be depressed in a depression do you?

How about indoor duck hunting?

I caught this on MSNBC a day ago. Looks like Interactive Toy Concepts might have a winner with this.

I have a FlyTech Dragon that is similar. But my living room needs to be bigger to get a good flight with it. Of course it works outside if it's a really calm day.

A better idea than this infrared shooter would be just to shoot it down with a nerf gun. I'll need to give that a try.

Of course if you lost your house you might not have an indoor available for hunting or much of anything else. But if it hasn't gotten that bad yet, this toy will at least provide a diversion to all this crappy news.

Hey Mr Banker read the paper

In today's Chicago Tribune, David Greising, writes:

"... that bankers at Northern Trust would fly in hundreds of clients to the Los Angeles golf tournament that bears its name, wine them, dine them, house them and serenade them with the likes of Sheryl Crow, no less.

Blaming bankers for acting that way is like blaming a dog for chasing a cat. What's new here, though, is the taxpayer money they have received.... "

Ok, some bankers might not read the newspaper or the blogs but come on are you living in a penthouse so high in the sky you can't hear the complaints???

With the loud outcry about the bankers' bailout and wasting our money, I'm surprised there are still some bankers that just don't get it.

Thanks to Chicago Tribune for putting this on the top of the business section (should be front page article).

Hey you bankers -- don't go breaking my TARP!

Money for nothin'

....Now that aint workin thats the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys aint dumb...



I am invested in the stock market. I believe stocks provide the best rewards - but hey it's tough to convince anyone these days (well actually today 2/24/09 was a good day) that the market will return to some upward direction. I do not have financial training other than some general economic classes and life experiences.

But I do read.

This recent book by James Grant, titled "Mr. Market Miscalculates, the bubble years and beyond," caught my eye. The book is a collection of James Grant's newsletters during the dot com bubble and the housing crisis. It's a "best of" type collection.

Just reading the housing crisis chapter reveals some answers to how this mess was created. Here's some titles from the book:

• Chapter 6 Mortgage Science Projects
• Find the Risk
• Inside the Mortgage Machine
• Wheezing CDO Machine

Here's a quote from the book (from the March 9, 2007 newsletter):

"First came the mortgage, then the mortgage-backed security and finally - what's this about America in decline? - the collateralized debt obligation....
Pure and simple, CDOs are stacks of debts..."

He tells us that in 2006 $769 billion of CDOs were created. Wall Street created mortgage mills to feed the production of CDOs.

The book gave me a better understanding of these CDOs but it's NOT important to completely understand them because even the bankers didn't. They just knew they could sell them like drugs to Europe and Asia.

Money for nothin'

hmm, I wonder if the bankers got their "chicks for free?"

Grilled TARP CEO's

Do you watch CSPAN?

Even a news junkie needs their eyes propped open for that channel. But they get some good material.

You may have watched some CSPAN on Jon Stewart's Daily Show but didn't know it.

Well, here's an idea for improving a CSPAN clip - add your own audio track. Before the digital youtube era that was done by muting the TV and playing the stereo.

Here's the Bank CEO's in front of Congress.

Please CEO - don't go breaking my TARP

up and down comes and goes

No one would have thought of this back in 06.

Wall Street was flying then not sinking.

Back then (Dec. 2006) I posted about these 6 figure bonuses on Wall Street. That right - $100,000 plus average bonuses. Go back take a look.

Recently with the stock market tanking multiple times a week, most are worried about their job not the amount of a bonus. If you watch it, you'll notice the last few minutes of the market is negative almost everyday.

(There's always money to be made somehow?), somebody thought of a way to make some money commemorating the demise of some Wall Street institutions. They are selling a wall street coffin for your favorite failed company. It even comes with shredded money.

This is where I heard about it. CNBC

everyday is a winding road

Everyday is a winding road
I get a little bit closer
Every day is a faded sign
I get a little bit closer to feeling fine -- Sheryl Crow

Looks like I have another sharp turn coming up quick. My contract job is coming to an end.

No problem - it's not like we are in a recession or anything - yeah right.

Any ideas? Please share your thoughts.

It sure would be nice to find something fun like being a music critic or maybe in today's connected broadband world - a youtube critic. The thing is everyone gets to play youtube critic. I probably should stay away from youtube or I'll find myself there for hours.

Oh here's a favorite line from another Sheryl Crow song:

It's not having what you want
It's wanting what you've got

bull money

Looks like many of the wall street workers (not to be confused with other street workers) are having a very GOOD year. The average bonus this year will be $137,580. I wonder if any of these firms need some help? I could do some stock guessing if they needed it.

Over at Goldman Sachs the average bonus is even higher. How about $621,906 ? - heck you could divide that by 10 and that would still be a huge bonus.

After this year, I am finding myself on this end of the bull.