Archive for January, 2008

Charlie Wilson’s Little War

January 8, 2008 at 11:05 pm · Filed under del.icio.us tags ·Tagged , , ,

Heck of a discussion over on the Alternet, revolving around conspiracy, licit and illicict, and around the facts of the story, the filming of the story, and the hopes and fears of the author of this post, Chalmers Johnson, who writes regularly at Tomdispatch.com.   One thing came to me after I had read the post and comments and had even commented myself, and that was that any thinking person who goes to this film will come away thinking.  Thinking about the way bad people can have good intentions go wrong.  Thinking about the connections between the church and the state.   Thinking about the purchasable attention span of our politicians.  Thinking that if this is the way it has been working then things have got to change.  Thinking like The Graduate did back then when his father’s friend said, “Plastic”.   Hanks, Roberts, Hoffman, and especially Nichols have had their say and it made me laugh at how sad it all is.

My hope is that the film’s growing popularity is because word of mouth is telling people that what they saw underneathe the story was the real deal – the Charlie Wilson at the end of the story, who knows what he has done, and is stunned by the enormity of the coming side effects of his “just getting guns so they could shoot down the helicopters.”

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If it looks like Schroeder’s cat . . .

January 7, 2008 at 11:40 pm · Filed under del.icio.us tags, frugality ·Tagged , ,

then that’s what I think I’ve got, maybe.  See I mentioned that the other Saturday, T. and I signed up at our local Y.  On the surface of it, after we got home, we both discovered that we had doubts about the  cost.  But now that I think about it, the cost is actually part of a descending chart for them and an ascending one for me.  At $3 a visit, that’s what it costs guests, every visit past 9, it now costs the Y $3 that they could have gotten if I went occasionally during a month.  By the time I reach 18 visits a month, I’ll have doubled my money.  But just like with Schroeder’s cat, I don’t think I’ll ever reach a point where a visit costs me nothing. 

Actually, though there may be some uncertainty about the outcome of this adventure, instead of proof of an sighting of S.C., I think I’ll call this one an Errant Stooze.  Errant because our intention was to Stooze by taking the “free” sign-in fee but it turned out it wasn’t free, we still owed $52 a month for both of our memberships.  So things went off until we discovered the hidden cost benefit of descending charges per visit, then we saw the Stooze that had been hidden by our uneducated intial opinion.  Errant but still a Stooze more than a cat in a box or not . . .

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Am I ready to be frugal because it is patriotic?

January 7, 2008 at 4:30 pm · Filed under del.icio.us tags ·Tagged , , , , ,

After watching the two debates on ABC, it strikes me that both Democants and Repugnants seem sure that in order for our next President to succeed we the American people are going to have to make sacrifices.   The frugal kind.  Not so I as an individual will learn to spend less and earn more but we as a whole country.  It looks like we are going to be asked to:  Cut our use of private transportation for the good it will do the country and the world.  Build and buy locally first and globally second for the way it will repair our economy.  Spend more on the science of energy and expect more effective results to achieive a healthy environment.  Become savers instead of borrowers to help create a more valuable dollar.   And to help balance the budget by doing more voluntarily, communally, and with a constant thought for tomorrow. 

It may be that both sides are beginning to see that for the U.S. it really does need all of us  involved to enter into the real war – The one against ourselves, our selfish selves.  We really do have the ability to do this.  Our parents parents did it in the Second World War but there they were fighting together against a common enemy. 

Here today the Repugnants think the enemy needs to be confronted outside the country first and possibly last.  They seem terrifyied by the possibility that another 9/11 is just around the corner.  In fact, one commentator asked the candidates on the Democant side what they would do in the event of a nuclear strike against the US.  I imagine so that the viewers could see how the Democants would respond when the Repugs come after them in the general election with the same question. 

The Democants see the enemy as within the country in the guise of poor healthcare, deficient schools, tax loopholes for the rich and corporate, and an overweening and overfunded military complex.  Well maybe that lasts one is mine, but you see my point. 

They have two different enemies in mind.

In personal finance we have learned, are learning, and will continue to do so (as long as there is still an internet) that managing money frugally means living with enough and enjoying the process.  The question is, is the American consumer/voter able to be convinced that living on less is really the only way to win the real war?  And will the Demos and Repugs be able to come together after this election and make it happen?

For more fun, check these out:

http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/08/pf/sinking_dollar.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2007110916

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/opinion/16dowd.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

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Truth in spending

January 6, 2008 at 4:23 pm · Filed under del.icio.us tags ·Tagged , ,

So at 8 AM on a rainy Saturday morning, T. and I are off to our local Y to take advantage of their free for a year, one time only, membership offer.  T. wants to be able to work out with our son and his fiance who are members and I want to get a workout because I haven’t been dancing enough.  But that’s another story.   

Meanwhile, we pull up to the parking area with the full intention of having to wait in the rain because after all the FREE offer is too good to pass up.  Of course, we should have known better.   We are both after all in the retail sales business but still when we sat down at the table with the smiling-faced, eager awaiting volunteer, who actually works at the club,  we were quick to notice that the rule of TANSTAAFL always applies.  There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.  As it turns out, the free offer was for the “signing fee” not the yearly membership that was $52 a month which now that we were sitting down and in the process of signing up for was more than I wanted to spend but it was too late to back out and study the matter.  The volunteer was after all smiling, and T. and I did want to start working out again so . . .

I do have to wonder though what advice J.D. or Trent would have given to resolve this situation. 

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Myth or Knot. . .

January 5, 2008 at 4:07 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , ,

She says, after slight pause, “I didn’t like the war stuff, the fighting, too loud, too much slamming things around.”  I  think “Wait, I thought that was what made it so much different and better than …” but I say, “You mean . . .?”

“Well, it was different than those Lord of the Rings movies, and the …”

“and the Daniel Potter films.”   I finish for her.  This all happens as we’re riding home from seeing the Golden Compass.  Neither of us have actually been able to make it through either of those other two film series but we have talked often about why this is, so we both can finish each other’s sentence on this subject.  The techies that control the film world these days are not good story tellers, they are however great game designers.  Boring.

On the other hand, going to the movies again after a long self-imposed hiatus, let me see how things have changed by staying the same.  Ticket prices were up.  And now, our favorite theater group, Ultra Star, has a new rewards card system to replace the old see 8 movies, get one free card.  NOW you have to see 8 movies to win the card and then you have see 40 movies at $8 a pop to win your free movie.  Wow, what a reward for someone.

This is another one of those things I was thinking about the other day.  Why, with the technology we now have, are the costs of tickets to movies still going up?   Popcorn inside the theater the other day, $5.25 for a small bag.  It must be true, the beast that makes up the movie going public, the one that goes to horror flicks, and chick flicks, and movies designed for kids, is voracious and at the same time curiously forgiving.  It will pay to watch video games made into movies, comic books made into movies, remakes, franchises, endless tedious trash paraded as the picture of the year.  While, the entertainers and the movie makers rake in the millions to keep the cycle turning.

“Lets watch Monk when we get home.” she says.

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The Opinion of others . . .

January 5, 2008 at 12:24 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , ,

wins the day in Iowa.  Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee make a fascinating pair.   One hopes they can stay true to the people they now appear to represent.  Meanwhile, amidst the rising food/fuel/insurance/entertainment costs of living that normally hold us in thrall, we can look at this coming election and enjoy each side for its achievements.  The Repugnants wanted Christian Conservatism and that’s what they got.  The Democants asked for  a chance to stand up for Liberal and Progressive beliefs and guess what, that’s what they got.  I actually like both of these guys though I still worry about the secret agendas or rather split agendas that both may have that filter their decisions through religious or racial screens. 

I think Huckabee is too Christian for my own good.  And by that I mean, he will make decisions for me for my own good whether I want him to or not, just like Bush has.  Huckabee is more intelligent in his speech but I see the same insane stubborn christianity behind his eyes. 

Obama has spoken of using whatever and whomever it takes to work on our common concerns.  Mention of Schwarzenegger in his cabinet, a definite time line for ending the war, and an agenda for meeting with our friends and enemies on the international front speaks to a mind that wants change and peace.

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Stoozing . . .

January 4, 2008 at 2:27 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , ,

I believe I’ve mentioned several times over the last few months a money-making technique my partner T. discovered during the process of running our small business.   Two years ago, with all our credit cards paid off and no bills in sight, T. received one of those continuous credit card offers we all get these days that offered her to borrow up to her credit limit of $27,000 for a full year at 0%.  She was already tiering her CDs so she knew immediately that here was an opportunity to make some money if she played her cards right (ha ha).  And off she went.  So far she’s used this strategy to fund construction work on our rentals, by borrowing it and then loaning it to our real estate business at a modest interest rate;  to money market and CD it, by shopping for the highest rates to fit the correct tier; and by loaning it again to our other business to fund construction of a concession stand and buy storage.

And now she’s discovered, thanks to a post from Gary at Think-CreditCards.com, that there is a whole Stoozing.comworld just waiting down the blogoshere hallway.  And she’s been in up and back down that hallway to yell at me “Come see this” ever since.  I tell her its just an appearance of our old friend Serendipity and try to go back to writing this.

Anyway, just a little looking at both sites, tells me that there is definitely a community of Stoozers with a forum, and stoozing calculators, and competitions for best Stoozer, and of course the ubiquitous 0% credit card offers.  (As soon as I saw the latter knew that T. and I needed to talk more about this venture.  Luckily, Gary’s Think-CreditCards site was an immediate help in this regard since it is actually a web site designed to link you up and help you out with a range of financial insight and information about the how and why of Stoozing the credit card market . . . 

In the article on business credit cards, for example, I was reminded about being wary of giving your personal SS# to back up the card amount.   The real Snoozer remembers to only accept an offer that is willing to use the company’s EIN since one of the side effects of this particular strategy that you are trying to achieve is that it will raise your company’s credit score while separating your personal finances from any possible calamity.  It is a nice point and the succinct way it was presented fit snugly into a neat less is more feel to the whole site.

See you tomorrow for more adventures with the Errant Stoozer.  Oh yeah, I meant to mention that this seems to be mainly an English phenomenon for now.

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It doesn’t have to be this way, does it?

January 1, 2008 at 1:16 pm · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged

My wife and I were talking the other day about money and how we use it.  She said something like “What in the world do people spend their money on if they make a million a year?  House payments, car payments, clothes, jewels, vacations, …?  I mean, if you made a million a year wouldn’t that just about pay for anything you’d need or want?  So why do people need more than that, aren’t there people who like CEOs who get 50 or 60 million a year?  What do they spend it all on?”

I couldn’t help remembering a story by Dorothy Parker about two young shopgirls who spend their lunch hour daydreaming about being rich as they walk along New York’s Park Avenue.  “What would you buy if you had $10,000 says one?”  The other replies by pointing at something on display inside one of the posh store windows.  As they walk they take turns playing the game.   One day they decide for some reason to go in a Tiffany store and actually try something on.   Within minutes they are back on the street and walking in a sort of stunned silence.  Finally, one of them says, “What would you buy if you had a million dollars?”

And so it goes.

I don’t really know how to answer my wife’s question.  Why do people need so much more money these days?  Why, as we become more and more proficient at providing everything anyone could need to survive, do we keep looking for more things to own and symbols to display that show who we are and what we are worth?  Why are the beings that live in future of Star Trek so capable of living free of that concern while we who have had the benefit of the insights provided by this and other science fiction futures stay still stuck in a consumer driven economy?

It doesn’t have to be this way does it? 

  

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