If Walls Could Talk

If Walls Could Talk, What Would They Say To You?

#1 I'm new and empty, fill me up with stuff and memories.

#2 I'm still pretty new but my owners are in foreclosure now.

#3 I'm still pretty new and my owners are in foreclosure but they left town and took the washer, dryer, stove, fridge, and all the light fixtures with them.

#4 I'm still pretty new and my owners are in foreclosure but I'm not lonely. Lots of folks are coming in and checking me out. Now if the banks would just give out loans, maybe I would get a new owner to love and cherish me.

#5 I'm still pretty new and my owners are in foreclosure now but too bad they couldn't hold out till Obama passed this housing stimulus package then they might have stayed with me here. I wonder what is going to happen now.

Studying the Congressional Bailout

Studying the congressional bailout has Jack and I hanging by our thumbs. You need to be a tax lawyer to fully understand what they are proposing in each house of congress and what they will finally work out as a compromise between the two houses. In the meantime the American citizen keeps sucking up the damage that the economy is doing to his personal finances.

For instance, who qualifies for the first time buyers of homes $15,000 tax credit write off? Could you qualify if you bought in 2008? And is the deadline to qualify a home purchased by the end of June of 2009? Beats me. And this is just one small legal detail in this ginormous bailout package.

Well, I guess the stimulus is creating jobs for lawyers if not for blue color workers who are looking for new jobs now that all kinds of manufacturing and construction jobs have been lost in the past year.

In my next life I'm going to be a lawyer.

Gas May Be Low But.............

A gallon of gas may be lower this January than it was in October but if you don't have a job or you think you might lose your job or you might get cut to just part time you are not going to be cruising down the roads or rivers on your sports equipment. I guess the big folks are selling their yachts while the little folks are selling their motorcycles. I learned via the media yesterday that Harley Davidson is now going to close plants and layoff workers across the nation.

When will the economy turn around? I don't know and I don't think the economy experts know. One economic guru said that the economy will turn around when people start consuming freely again. Well, I don't think I see that in the too distant future. When you stop consuming you realize that you can live and be content with what you already have as long as you have some basic needs met like food, shelter and a shirt on your back.

But of course this is a wake up call for this nation. How do you stimulate the economy when you are not consuming mindlessly? Well, public works project may be the answer. I know for a fact that our decaying bridges and roads sure need a face lift and even an expansion of highways in large metro areas. I say that it is time to build roads and bridges in America instead of in Iraq where they get blown up soon after they are built and where the graft and corruption in the construction industry is much, much worse than in the U.S. Obama are you listening to Joann and Jack?

I think the whole country and everyone in it needs to do more volunteering and less consuming. Giving instead of getting. And everyone from the president on down needs to learn to live within a budget and budget for less this year than last year. If schools need to cut academic programs and sporting events then maybe Congress needs to cut mindless travel expenses at the tax payers expense. Maybe even Air Force One and that new presidential automobile needs to take less mindless trips. Oh, and I wonder how many miles to the gallon that presidential automobile gets? Anybody know? Do you think fifteen? And does the president need to go off to Camp David via helicopter every weekend? I think it would set a great example to close down Camp David in this financial crisis.

What's In and Out This Year

Second and third homes are out this year. Campers and mobile homes are out this year. Victory gardens are in this year.

Going to the library to get reading material is in. So is recycled books from garage sales and flea markets.

Playing with the kids at home is in. Stopping in the video amusement stores and playing is out. I think Chuckie Cheese is out for most ordinary folks.

Disposable diapers for little folks are still in. So are Depends for the old big folks.

Discounts for seniors is in. Remember the days when things are 15 per cent cheaper: Tueday, Rosses; Wednesday Fair Center movie theater in Fairfax County; Thurday, Harris Teater grocery stores.

More discounts for seniors is in: free Tuesday and Friday basketball games for seniors in Northern Virginia.

Buying jewelry is out. Selling jewelry is in. In the D.C. and Northern Virginia area these jewelry appraisal parties are the new in party. Come to the party with your old high school ring and your aunt's broken gold screwback earrings and sell them for cash.

Pawn shops are in now.

Doing your own taxes in in. Going to a tax preparer is out.

Getting an IOU for your tax return from the state of California is now in thanks to Arnold.

Dollar stores are everywhere now. Garfinkles, Woodies and Hechts have bit the dust. Wallmart is still in and seems to be here to stay with all its Chinese made goods but even they are seeing a slow down. Goodby Linens and Things, Circuit City and Talbots Fine Clothes. Goodby Ann Taylor. Hello to good used clothing stores like the White Elephants in Middleburg and Warrenton where the hunt set crowd sells its used merchandise. Hello Cosco Discount Warehouse where everything is good and cheaper. Goodby to department stores in old malls.

Small organic food operations are in this year.

Learning to sew is in this year.

Cloth handbags are in this year because they are lighter on your shoulder and on your pocketbook.

Small local weddings are in this year. Matching attendent dresses are out. Just wear a dress in a certain color palette of the bride's choice.

Preserving wedding dresses is out. Selling wedding dresses is in.

Buying brand new prom dresses and homecoming dresses is out. Buying recycled prom dresses and homecoming dresses from dress exchanges is in.

Learning to change your own oil for your car is in this year.

Doing your own housecleaning is in this year. Believe me if you do it, your house will be neater and more organized than if you have a maid do it. She doesn't know what to do with all your junk so she just cleans around it. When the floors are cleaned but the house is cluttered with junk and papers it doesn't even look clean.

Mowing your own lawn and taking care of your own flowerbeds is in this year. You will get some exercise and feel better once those endorphins begin to flow with the exercise.

Eating healthy and light is in this year.

Eating breakfast at home is in this year.

Walking and walking some more is in this year.

Going to the health club to exercise is out. Going to use all that exercise and weight equipment in your own basement is in. Having exercise parties and yoga parties in the neighborhood is in.

Knitting sweaters and scarves is in. Buying sweaters at 40 per cent off is out.

Letting the teens ride the school bus is in this year. They don't need to drive a car to get to that after school job at the mall because the stores at the mall are closing.

Prayer and church is in. When you get knocked down to your knees in these trying economic times stay there and pray before you try to get up. And remember that many people in the world would love to have the shirt/coat you just gave to the Goodwill Store or the food you put in the garbage this week.

What else is in and out this year? Have I covered it well? Let me know if you have some ideas as to what is in or out.

Economic History Lesson In Old Tractor

I shot these photos of the rusted out American tractor last week at Cox's Farms. It made me think of the economic history of the American economy. First, America started out as an agrarian society so a farm photo is fitting. Second, American ingenuity made America a great manufacturing nation so an American made tractor is fitting also. At one time almost everything for American and world use was made in America. Not so now.

Third, for better or for worse the agrarian south which also included much of the west lost the Civil War partly because it couldn't compete with the manufacturing in the north eastern corner of the nation (New England plus New York and Pennsylvania).

Fourth, until the advent of commercial air travel most food was grown on the farm for farmers and for the folks in the farm villages around the farms. My dad who was born in 1903 as a child could remember only eating oranges for Christmas and never ever having orange juice in the refrigerator. Well, for one thing when he was growing up there were no refrigerators in the farmhouses because there was no electricity on the farms! FDR and the New Deal brought electricity to the farmer. But now we don't really know the origin of all the food we purchase at the store and few folks have a real garden today.

Then we had the post World War II era when America was the darling of the world partly because of its rescue of many nations from terrorism around the world during World War II and our economy was growing and growing and everyone wanted to see the USA in Chevrolet. But as we got closer and closer to the end of the 20'th century things became more complex. For one "how you going to keep them down on the farm after they have seen Paree (Paris)."

The big question for every boy back then was are you going to go to college or trade school or are you going to farm with your dad while working in a local food processing plant or some other type of factory.

And that leads us to today when we have a highly educated society with college degrees and post college instruction but we too are finding it difficult to find work that pays more than minimum wage. The motto today is if you have a job, keep it even if you don't like it much. But when well educated and hardworking people lose their jobs for what they see as no fault of their own making but the fault of world governments manipulating the marketplace there is tremendous built up anger.

Some direct their anger at the Middle East and the OPEC nations because of the oil price explosion. Others direct their anger at China and Japan and Vietnam for taking needed manufacturing jobs away from the U.S. Others blame India for taking service industries jobs for all their call waiting programs to service companies right here in the U.S. Others want to blame the poor folks who got loans for houses financed by Fannie and Freddie for leading to the housing crunch which led to the mortgage funding crunch which led to the Wall St. crunch which led to the worldwide financial crunch.

So when I look at that tractor I think that green vine growing thru the tractor must symbolizes all the anger we have in America right now. Left, right, Democrat, Republican, religious, irreligious, urban, suburban, rural farmer, the rich class, the poor class, the huge middle class, everyone is fighting mad and will "damm well tell you so at the drop of a hat!"

I find myself biting my tongue a lot these days. I don't like anger and I don't like being around angry people so I try to watch what I say for fear of hurting someone else's economic mindset or for fear of getting yelled at!

What I really want to do is pour some pesticide on that green vine! But after that I don't know what to do. Should we try to take the rust off the old tractor too since it symbolizes not only our economic history but our economic future. Do we need to get some rope and tie this tractor to something to pull it out and into the tractor repair shop by having these economic bailouts of President Bush and Secretary of the Treasury Paulsen. Or is that a futile big economic mistake.

I tell you your guess is as good as mine. I'm willing to state my ideas on the subject and I'm willing to listen to yours because let's face it we are all in this muddy field right now. But let's just keep the talk civil and on topic and not personal. I hate hearing folks back up their point of view by saying things like well, if he had a brain he would think like me, act like me and vote like me. We all may be in this muddy field but we all have a little different take on the situation depending on where we are standing in the field economically and what we are perceiving thru our vision.

Let's talk as Joan Rivers would say but let's keep it civil. And I would love comments from people from other countries. I wonder how they perceive America now that we are in this financial crisis.

My husband just read this post and Jack wanted to add his two or three cents to this post. First, Mr. Accountant Jack reminded me that you need to remember the past mistakes without pointing fingers at folks, so that you don't repeat those same financial mistakes. Blame the actions, not the persons on both sides of the pasture who share some responsibility for this crisis of confidence. Second, how do you buy American stock Joann. Take our Honda, some parts are American made and the cars are assembled in Marysville, Ohio but the Honda Corporation headquarters is in Japan.

Third, Joann, you garden so you should know that you use a pesticide to kill bugs on a vine and you use herbicide to kill a vine.

So then I had to reply to my husband by using my grandson's favorite word: uh-ohh!

News Flash!

Everyone needs to stroll to the left to DragonQuilter's blog and see how folks go to the races in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Here they do it in the old grand style with a few modern touches for personal delight. Let's do the stroll.