I FINALLY Understand Economics

I'm pretty smart, but frankly there are a few things in the world I don't understand. Economics is one of them. I struggled through Econ 110 in college, which, for the record, I took for fun. Don't ask. It's the rare day I understand any decisions the Fed makes and their recent decision to do some "quantitative easing" by buying $900 BILLION worth of bonds to kick start some economic growth definitely has me scratching my head as my eyes glaze over.

So imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this fantastic video explaining the whole process. Not only is it educational, it's funny too!



Enjoy! And if you read LMS via email, click here to visit the site and watch the video.

People Are Genuinely Good

For all the bad news in the world and the times that even I get a bit cynical, stories like the rescue of Streetwise really renew my faith in mankind.

You'll recall that last week I wrote about the possible demise of Streetwise. The whole thing just saddened me because I believe that Streetwise is a perfect example of the old adage "you can give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day or you can teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime."

As the Tribune story states, Streetwise needed $75,000, but $190,000 was donated in a week! More than double. Given the economic times we're living in, that says something. If you think about it, this is a bigger deal than many fundraisers. None of the people who donated money to save Streetwise received anything tangible for their good deeds. No golf outings. No Cubs tickets. No gift baskets. Streetwise put out a call and enough people took action by donating anywhere between $3 and $35,000 to save the paper.

Yes, people are genuinely good. There is no doubt about it.

Could This Be The End of Streetwise?

Are you familiar with Streetwise?

Streetwise is a local newspaper that is written and sold by homeless people in Chicago. What I love about it is that it helps people help themselves. The 200 vendors purchase the weekly paper for 75 cents per issue and then turn around and sell it for $2. They pocket the difference. Of course, they have to have a city permit to do this. And for its part, Streetwise provides job training and helps people get on their feet. Earning money by working helps give people a sense of worth and it's helped thousands of people get off the streets.

When I'm in the city, I always buy Streetwise and I feel good about helping the vendor.

I first encountered Streetwise in the fall of 1992, when I lived in Chicago as part of the Urban Studies off-campus program in college. At the time, Streetwise cost $1 and came out monthly. Even though it only came out monthly, I usually bought it a couple of times a week from different vendors because I loved how it directly helped people help themselves. Even when I moved back to Lake Forest to finish college and then moved to Washington DC after graduation, every time I would return to Chicago, I would take some extra cash to buy Streetwise.

So it greatly saddens me today to learn that Streetwise may be going under. Sure, there are other newspapers in Chicago - the Tribune, Sun-Times, and the Reader, to name just a few - but in my opinion, Streetwise was never really about the content in the paper itself anyway. It has always been about getting people off the streets, giving them job skills, helping them build a track record of holding a job, learning to budget, and ultimately becoming self-sufficient. The paper was just the vehicle to do that.

There's talk of help coming from the Chicago City Council, all the TV stations have been running stories in hopes that the public will rise to the occasion and grant money will arrive. I hope this happens. Streetwise is the perfect program to receive help.

Here's the Chicago Tribune story from earlier today. Click here to watch the video.

No more free lunches

The story below made my blood boil this morning. (The comments almost made my head explode, I can't begin to address the ignorance of the commenters and I won't include their comments because you can follow the story link and read them for yourself.) I understand that school districts are facing financial difficulties. Property values are down, so property taxes are down. Because most school districts are financed through property taxes, they're not getting the same amount of tax dollars. Of course, when schools don't have enough money, they must make cuts and that often means the quality suffers. When school quality suffers, people don't want to move into a neighborhood, depressing property values even more. It's a horrible cycle.

I also understand that schools can't simply be in the business of giving everyone free lunches all the time without reimbursement from somewhere. Sure there is the National School Lunch Program, but to get your child qualified for free or reduced lunches is incredibly difficult. In my own school district, a family of 4 cannot have an income of more than $755 per week. That's for a family of 4. That's not much money, especially in the Chicago area. Even if you do meet the income requirement, there is an application process. And you may not get an instant answer.

Dave and I were on the free lunch program for a year or so in junior high. I remember being worried that everyone knew. Every month, I had to go to the principal's office and ask for a new free lunch card that I used in the cafeteria. I dreaded those trips. They were humiliating. I worried that other kids in the office for other reasons would hear me ask for my free lunch card. But at least I was never singled out with cheese sandwiches. I always got to eat what my friends were eating. I felt ashamed and stressed about the situation as it was, but being further singled out would have put me over the edge. I've never forgotten those difficult times in my life and part of me is still ashamed. Heck, I can feel my anxiety rise now as I worry about what my friends who don't know about this will think when they read my blog.

It's never the fault of a child that he or she doesn't have lunch money repeatedly. Sure, every kid forgets his or her lunch money once in awhile, but the article below isn't talking about those kids. It's talking about kids who don't have the money because their parents don't pay the bill. I may be going out on a limb here, but their parents aren't paying because they don't have the money either.

There must be a better solution to the problem of parents not paying the school lunch tab than cheese sandwiches and humiliating children. When I was a member of the Arlington Heights Junior Woman's Club, I chaired a garage sale fundraiser we did and got to choose the charitable recipient. I spoke to the local high school district and learned that they had a number of kids in each school who weren't quite "poor enough" to qualify for the free lunch program, but couldn't afford lunches or who throughout the year had other financial emergencies and needed a little help with the cost of books or going on a field trip. I successfully lobbied our club to give the money we raised (approximately $1600) to the school district to help these kids who would otherwise fall through the cracks.

I'd encourage school districts to reach out to area churches, Lions Clubs, Rotary, Women's Clubs, etc. for some help in this area. There is simply no reason for a child to be additionally punished for being poor. Isn't just knowing your parents don't have any money punishment enough?

No more free lunches: Schools get tough on deadbeats
Associated Press, Daily Herald, February 25, 2009

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A cold cheese sandwich, fruit and a milk carton might not seem like much of a meal -- but that's what's on the menu for students in New Mexico's largest school district without their lunch money.

Faced with mounting unpaid lunch charges in the economic downturn, Albuquerque Public Schools last month instituted a "cheese sandwich policy," serving the alternative meals to children whose parents fail to pick up their lunch tab.

Such policies have become a necessity for schools seeking to keep budgets in the black while ensuring children don't go hungry. School districts including those in Chula Vista, Calif., Hillsborough County, Fla., and Lynnwood, Wash., have also taken to serving cheese sandwiches to lunch debtors.

Critics argue the cold meals are a form of punishment for children whose parents can't afford to pay.

"We've heard stories from moms coming in saying their child was pulled out of the lunch line and given a cheese sandwich," said Nancy Pope, director of the New Mexico Collaborative to End Hunger. "One woman said her daughter never wants to go back to school."

Some Albuquerque parents have tearfully pleaded with school board members to stop singling out their children because they're poor, while others have flooded talk radio shows thanking the district for imposing a policy that commands parental responsibility.

Second-grader Danessa Vigil said she will never eat sliced cheese again. She had to eat cheese sandwiches because her mother couldn't afford to give her lunch money while her application for free lunch was being processed.

"Every time I eat it, it makes me feel like I want to throw up," the 7-year-old said.

Her mother, Darlene Vigil, said there are days she can't spare lunch money for her two daughters.

"Some parents don't have even $1 sometimes," the 27-year-old single mother said. "If they do, it's for something else, like milk at home. There are some families that just don't have it and that's the reason they're not paying."

The School Nutrition Association recently surveyed nutrition directors from 38 states and found more than half of school districts have seen an increase in the number of students charging meals, while 79 percent saw an increase in the number of free lunches served over the last year.

In New Mexico, nearly 204,000 low-income students -- about three-fifths of public school students -- received free or reduced-price lunches at the beginning of the school year, according to the state Public Education Department.

"What you are seeing is families struggling and having a really hard time, and school districts are struggling as well," said Crystal FitzSimons of the national Food Research and Action Center.

In Albuquerque, unpaid lunch charges hovered around $55,000 in 2006. That jumped to $130,000 at the end of the 2007-08 school year. It was $140,000 through the first five months of this school year.

Charges were on pace to reach $300,000 by the end of the year. Mary Swift, director of Albuquerque's food and nutrition services, said her department had no way to absorb that debt as it had in the past.

"We can't use any federal lunch program money to pay what they call bad debt. It has to come out of the general budget and of course that takes it from some other department," Swift said.

With the new policy, the school district has collected just over $50,000 from parents since the beginning of the year. It also identified 2,000 students eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches, and more children in the lunch program means more federal dollars for the district.

School officials said the policy was under consideration for some time and parents were notified last fall. Families with unpaid charges are reminded with an automated phone call each night and notes are sent home with children once a week.

Swift added that the cheese sandwiches -- about 80 of the 46,000 meals the district serves daily -- can be considered a "courtesy meal," rather than an alternate meal.

Some districts, she noted, don't allow children without money to eat anything.

Albuquerque Public Schools "has historically gone above and beyond as far as treating children with dignity and respect and trying to do what's best with for the child and I think this is just another example," Swift said.

It's Time To Do The Patriotic Thing

These are certainly tough times all around. You don't need me telling you that. I, for one, have champagne taste, but live on a Kool-aid budget. Times are tough.

But I didn't realize quite how tough things were until I saw the following article in the Tribune today. I had no idea the banks were suffering so much. And it's our fault. We each need to take responsibility for our part in the suffering of the banks. We created this mess and only we can fix it.

So I implore you to get out there and bounce some checks! As George Bush told us all after September 11th, it's our patriotic duty to spend money. If it was patriotic then, well, then by God, it's even more so now when no one has any.

Now, embattled banks taking hit in service fees
By Becky Yerak |Tribune reporter
11:08 AM CST, January 27, 2009

First, banks had to worry about bad loans taking a bite out of their interest income.

Now, consumers are pulling back on their use of ATMs, and they're not writing as many checks, so fewer require overdrafts.

So some financial institutions are seeing dwindling levels of what's known in the industry as "non-interest income," which includes ATM, overdraft and other customer service fees.

An example: Amcore Financial Inc. last week reported that non-interest income was $16.9 million, off 7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 and down 16 percent from the third quarter of 2008.

One chief reason: "Service charges have declined as customers started to curtail spending during the quarter," Judith Sutfin, chief financial officer of the Rockford-based bank, said in a conference call.

Specifically, Amcore's revenue related to ATM fees and overdraft charges were down.

Fifth Third saw its deposit service charges fall in the fourth quarter, citing a falloff on lower transaction volumes and debit card usage.

"The economy is very weak, not just in credit, but where consumer spending is important, such as deposit service charges," Fifth Third Chief Executive Kevin Kabat said last week.

At TCF Bank, total fees and other revenue was $474.1 million for 2008, down 3 percent from 2007.

TCF is seeing growth in the number of checking accounts, but "due to the economy people are doing fewer transactions," said CEO William Cooper.

"They're buying fewer things, they're writing fewer checks, and their debit card transactions are smaller," he said last week in an earnings conference call. "So even though our base is growing, fee income has been pretty flat again because of the economy and higher unemployment and basically the fear factor."

The volume of transactions involving checks and debit cards is down – the "first time in my career that it's down," Cooper said. "People are simply buying less."

It has been a trend for six to nine months but has been worsening by the quarter, he said.

An analyst asked whether consumers might be getting more sensitive to overdraft fees.

"It doesn't seem to be a change in being more prudent about non-sufficient fund fees or anything like that," Cooper replied. "It more of just they're spending less so they have fewer incidents" involving bounced checks and their subsequent fees.

TCF's ATM revenue for 2008 was $32.6 million, down 8 percent from 2007, due to continued declines in fees charged to TCF customers for use of non-TCF ATM machines as TCF offers more no-fee checking products.

byerak@tribune.com

Why is Congress so Classist?

I simply do not understand. Congress had no problem handing Wall Street $700 BILLION with no questions asked just 2 months ago. They didn't make Wall Street CEOs work for $1.00. They didn't make Wall Street employees forgo bonuses or benefits or take cuts in salary. They let AIG have their spa weekends on my dime (hey Uncle Sam, I'd like a massage too!).

Yet the Big 3, which employs hundreds of thousands Americans directly and probably a couple million Americans in ancillary industries, can't get a measly $34 billion LOAN? The Big 3 asked for less than 5% of what Wall Street got handed to them on a silver platter and Congress refuses to give it to them.

Until a few minutes ago, Congress seemed to be willing to give them about $15 billion (less than 1/2 of what they asked for), but that seems to have just fallen apart thanks to some asshole GOPers. If they'd been able to reach an agreement to give the American automobile industry a loan, there were going to be all kinds of stipulations - CEOs working for $1, employees receive huge salary and benefits cuts, and more.

Call me crazy, but this feels very classist to me. Wall Street is white collar while the Big 3 is blue collar. Just one more example of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer under George W. Bush. Why are we so willing to save Wall Street, but not Main Street?

Update 10:47pm: I'm watching CNN and they're reporting about how AIG is giving "retention payments" to employees earning between $160,000 - $3 million and the payments are up to $1 million! Now you may be wondering what these "retention payments" are. Well, they're BONUSES. And yet Congress is letting the Big 3 die. Nice. I don't think I've ever been so ashamed of my government and I've got a lot to be embarrassed by given that I live in Illinois.

I Need Your Advice

I've considered writing to Dear Abby, but I think my readers are at least as smart and will respond faster.

Let me preface this by saying that my across the street neighbor, an elected official, constantly snow blows their snow into the street, which is against village code and I've had conversations about this matter with them before. Additionally, I do not want to cause problems in my neighborhood. I appreciate that keeping peace amongst the neighbors is good for everyone.

Saturday morning, as I was shoveling my driveway after the latest 3 inches of snow, my neighbor came out and snow blowed the snow from the apron of his drive into the street for the second time that day. Directly in front of me. So I walked across the street to have a polite conversation. Here's how it went.

Me: Hi! Would you mind not snow blowing your snow into the street?

Neighbor: Why?

Me: Well because it creates a dangerous situation for you, your wife, me, and any one driving down the street with black ice and because it's against Village Code.

Neighbor: The Village will be out to salt the street.

Me: Maybe and maybe not. It's been all over the news that the cost of salt has almost quadrupled this year and towns are cutting back on their salting. Plus, with the recession, the towns do not have the money to act as aggressively as they have in the past because they aren't collecting as much in taxes. So it would be great if you could toss your snow onto the parkway, like the rest of us do.

Neighbor: It's not dangerous! Are you looking to cause problems? Why are you over here just creating something to complain about? GO AWAY!

Clearly, my neighbor dislikes me, but I honestly have no idea why. I also have no idea why he thinks he can speak to me this way. I was polite and never once raised my voice to him. His wife is an elected official and he is a former fireman in this town. They must both know how dangerous black ice can be.

After this conversation, I came in and called the Public Works department and asked them to come have a conversation with my neighbor. They were sympathetic, agreed that it creates a dangerous situation and that it's against Village Code, but they have no enforcement power and will not come over.

I was also told that the Village doesn't enforce this code violation. WHAT? This is a public safety issue and should be taken seriously by the Village. Furthermore, in a time of economic difficulties for my town, when the Trustees are looking at cutting services in order to balance the budget, this could be a gold mine. If there are 10 snows this winter and 1000 people (out of almost 80,000) violate the Code each time and receive a $25 each time, that's $250,000 into the village coffers. Not only does that entirely cover the cost of the person writing the tickets, but it would easily generate over $150,000 in revenue (assuming that they paid the ticket writer $100,000).

Why do people have so little regard for their neighbors, common courtesy, and public safety?

Any suggestions you have for how I can get my neighbor to cooperate would be greatly appreciated.

It IS About The Economy, Stupid.

Okay, maybe that's kind of a snarky title for a post about President-elect Barack Obama's Weekly Radio Address, but it fits, so I'm using it.

This week's address is all about the economy and how President-elect Obama will work to fix it. He's got some exciting ideas for job creation.

Anyone Remember When You Opened a Bank Account And Got A Free Toaster?

Well, times have changed . . .

Thanks AMERICAblog!

State of the Union

As I've discussed quite a few times, I am a huge fan of Freecycle. I give things away and get cool stuff I can use too. In fact, I'm going to pick up my mom's Christmas present in a few minutes from a Freecycler!

Yesterday, while out and about, I received two coupons that I just won't use. Normally I don't put coupons on Freecycle, but these were $5 coupons and that's real money.

As I started to throw them out last night, I thought I'd stick them on Freecycle and see if anyone wanted them.

Within 5 minutes (and this was at 11:00pm), I had multiple requests for each coupon.

What does it say about the economy that so many people are searching the net at 11pm for coupons?

This Day in History: October 9, 2007

One year ago TODAY, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit closed at its all-time high - 14,164.53.

Today, the Dow Jones closed at 8,579.19.

For you math whizzes out there, that's 39.4% LESS THAN it's all time high, which again was exactly 1 year ago today.

I'd like to thank you, George Bush! I'd offer a toast to you, but I can't afford champagne.



Just for fun, here are the lyrics.

Let's Talk About the Keating 5

As you probably know, John McCain was intimately involved in the Keating 5 scandal of 1989. This scandal, of course, was a large part of the Savings & Loan Crisis in the late 80s and early 90s that rocked our economy.

Do we really want to trust this man with our economy now?



For more information on the Keating 5 and McCain's involvement, visit Keating Economics: John McCain and the Making of a Financial Crisis.

VP Debate Redux

I don't have a lot of time today (it's my College Reunion!), but I wanted to share my thoughts on the VP Debate last night.

Overall, Sarah Palin performed slightly better than I expected. She mostly formed coherent sentences, but she was clearly scripted and had done a solid job memorizing answers, which I believe explains her statement to Joe Bident and Gwen Ifill that she wouldn't be answering the way they'd like or in response to her questions.

That statement was obnoxious. One of the jobs of all candidates in any debate is to answer the questions that are asked. They are asked for a reason and are not "gotcha questions." As President or Vice President, a large portion of the job is about depth of knowledge and being able to think on your feet. I understand that Presidents have vast staffs to advise them, but without understanding the issues and the world more at more than just a soundbite level, a President risks becoming a puppet.

Senator Biden was respectful of Sarah Palin. He called her "Governor" all night, never once referring to her as "Sarah." He also never talked down to her, when it would have been easy to do so. I was a little worried that he might come off as condescending, but he treated her as an equal all night. She, on the other hand, talked down to him on a number of occasions. Remember her "Say it ain't Joe" statement? That was beyond the pale. She often felt the need to attempt to school him, which came off as condescending and disrespectful.

I'm worried about her refusal to look to the past for lessons or for causes of problems. Specifically, she did this global warming and the problems of the last 8 years. Imagine going to your doctor and saying, "Doctor, I'm in pain" and she simply says, "take 2 pain pills and you'll be fine" without attempting to find out the cause of your pain. Maybe you have appendicitis. Pain pills are not going to fix that. And neither will tossing random "solutions" at global warming or the economy or the war.

With regards to her "Joe Six Pack/Hockey Mom" persona and folksy way of speaking, we've tried that before. It's called the George W. Bush Administration. People say that her gaffes and lack of depth of knowledge about issues makes her like them. Well that's super. If you're electing the PTA President or Homecoming Queen. Unfortunately, that's not what this is all about. Is it too much to ask that our leaders have a well-rounded education on the issues and are better than just the guy I want to go drinking with? I know a number of people I'd enjoy having a few beers with, but I wouldn't let them baby-sit my cats, much less run the country.

I could go on, but I'm off to my College Reunion. I'll try to post some pics later tonight or tomorrow morning.

I'm Just Wondering . . .

John McCain has run his entire campaign on being a maverick and getting rid of earmarks. Does anyone need to hear that sorry bear DNA joke again - was it a paternity or criminal issue? He has repeatedly said that he will not sign any bills with earmarks and we will know their names.

No. More. Earmarks. Nada. None. Not ever.

Okay, that's cool.

But then tonight, he went and voted in favor of the Senate's bailout bill, estimated to cost $850 billion, an increase of $150 billion over the $700 billion bailout plan that failed in the House on Monday.

The extra $150 billion wasn't 3 days worth of inflation. As a matter of fact, that extra $150 billion is made up of "add ons" or "sweetners," which sound a lot like code words for "earmarks" or "pork" to me.*

So I'm wondering why John McCain, who is so vehemently opposed to these sorts of things would vote for a bill that includes $150 billion worth of them?

*Please don't misunderstand me, I'm in favor of parity for mental health insurance coverage, extending tax credits for solar energy (yeah for Dave and his business!), and increasing the FDIC insurance amount to $250,000, among other things. (link)

Monday Morning Light Reading aka $700 Billion Bailout Plan

Because I'm sure you're looking for a little light reading for your commute this morning, here's the $700 BILLION Rescue Plan straight from the House Committee on Financial Services website.

Here's the full 110 page Bailout Plan aka "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008’’.

Here's the 1 page Cliff Notes version aka "Summary of the 'Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008."

And from The Swamp, here's their explanation.

You're welcome.

Zero

From last night's debate comes a new Barack Obama ad. This is brilliant.


Dan Seals prostitutes porn

Obama-McCain Debate Thoughts

So I was kind of thinking tonight since John McCain has suspended his campaign. To catch you up: He's "invited" Barack to join him by suspending his campaign until the bailout plan is done. McCain has also said he's not going to participate in the debate on Friday unless the bailout is done.

Well, that's nice. John McCain, who has admitted the economy isn't exactly his strong suit, has decided the economy is suddenly his area of expertise. Lovely.

But what about the economy of Oxford, Mississippi (the home of Ole Miss where Friday's debate will be held)? Let me tell you about it. And I happen to know a little about this area because my mom's entire family is from Batesville, Mississippi, just down the road from Oxford (about 30 minutes away) and Ole Miss was on my college short list (I still thank God I dodged that bullet not because Ole Miss is a bad school, it's not. I'm grateful I stayed away from my family.). That area of Mississippi is very rural and in 2000, the median household income in Oxford was $20,526 with 31% of the Oxford population living below the poverty level.

According to Ole Miss officials, they've spent $5.5 million preparing for and putting on this debate. They've closed of streets, built the whole set and more. Cancelling the debate would be devestating to Ole Miss. And they don't think they can easily just reschedule, which is McCain's suggestion.

Now it's my belief that this debate should happen. I agree with Obama that it's important for Americans to hear from their leaders. But if McCain can't be bothered to show up, well that's his choice. I'd be happy with Obama talking to us for an hour with McCain's empty chair just sitting there.

BUT both John McCain and Barack Obama are senators and maybe they should be doing the jobs they were hired to do. And maybe that means going back to DC and working on this whole mess. (Again, I'm not sure I really believe either of them would be more than an unnecessary distraction, but I'm trying to see the other side here). And if that's the case, then maybe their debate should be postponed.

McCain has suggested that this Friday's debate be moved to Thursday, October 2nd. Does that sound familiar for any reason? That's right! It's currently the date of the vice presidential debate at the Washington University in St. Louis. And McCain says we can just reschedule the VP debate later at Ole Miss.

That sucks as an idea. What the heck is he thinking?

Here's my idea:

Barack Obama should call McCain's bluff. He should say, "John, I've heard your proposal to reschedule our debate until October 2nd because of the economic crisis. I'm concerned about this economic crisis too. But I'm ALSO concerned about the economy in Oxford, Mississippi. [then toss out some facts about the economy and the costs to Ole Miss.] So here's what I propose: we'll be happy to move the debate to October 2nd IF the vice presidential debate can be this Friday, September 26th. I don't want Oxford to be out $5.5 million. Joe's happy and ready to step in at a moment's notice because that's the job of the vice president."

Obviously Sarah Palin can't be ready by Friday and so John McCain would say no and look like a gigantic ass.

Win-win for us.

Do You Freecycle?

There's a website I use frequently called Arlington Heights Free E-Recyclers, a spin off from Freecycle (don't ask me why it's not Freecycle, I don't really understand - or care - the reasons).

In case you're unfamiliar with the e-recycling or freecycling concept, the idea is that we all have things we need to get rid of, one man's trash is another man's treasure, and we want to stop filling landfills. Everything must be given for free with no strings attached. I have gotten rid of things I don't need or want (I still can't believe anyone wanted that tacky-ass light-up sea turtle yard ornament my cousin Alan gave me for Christmas one year) and I've also gotten some wonderful things including plants for my growing garden.

A few months ago, I received a $50 gift certificate to a very nice (and pricey) local restaurant that expires next week. I've been unable to use it and while I would love to dine at this restaurant, I just can't justify spending the money, even if I can save $50. The restaurant gave it to me as a thank you when I did an event at their restaurant in April or May, so it's not like anyone spent money on this certificate. Believe me, if anyone bought me a $50 gift certificate, I would have used it.

Just because I'm not going to use it doesn't mean it should go to waste, however.

So about 10:20 this morning I placed my gift certificate on Arlington Heights Free E-Recyclers. Ten minutes later, I had no fewer than 25 responses. By 11:00, the number had hit 50. And each one came with a sob story. Seriously. The stories were sad. It was heartbreaking to have to chose just one.

I really wish I could have helped everyone, but it was nice to have made one person's day just a little bit brighter.

Greed & Irresponsibility - Your Action Is Needed NOW

I received the email from the Obama campaign last night. I strongly urge you to follow the links and sign the petition. We can't let this bailout plan go through with a blank check, mega bonuses for Wall Street CEOs, no oversight and nothing for the middle class.

Barack is 100% correct on this.

-----------------------

Little Merry Sunshine --

The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has created a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression.

Congress and the President are debating a bailout of our financial institutions with a price tag of $700 billion or more in taxpayer dollars. We cannot underestimate our responsibility in taking such an enormous step.

Whatever shape our recovery plan takes, it must be guided by core principles of fairness, balance, and responsibility to one another.

Please sign on to show your support for an economic recovery plan based on the following:

• No Golden Parachutes -- Taxpayer dollars should not be used to reward the irresponsible Wall Street executives who helmed this disaster.


• Main Street, Not Just Wall Street -- Any bailout plan must include a payback strategy for taxpayers who are footing the bill and aid to innocent homeowners who are facing foreclosure.

• Bipartisan Oversight -- The staggering amount of taxpayer money involved demands a bipartisan board to ensure accountability and oversight.

Show your support and encourage your friends and family to join you:

http://my.barackobama.com/ourplan

The failed economic policies and the same corrupt culture that led us into this mess will not help get us out of it. We need to get to work immediately on reforming the broken government -- and the broken politics -- that allowed this crisis to happen in the first place.

And we have to understand that a recovery package is just the beginning. We have a plan that will guarantee our long-term prosperity -- including tax cuts for 95 percent of families, an economic stimulus package that creates millions of new jobs and leads us towards energy independence, and health care that is affordable to every American.

It won't be easy. The kind of change we're looking for never is.

But if we work together and stand by these principles, we can get through this crisis and emerge a stronger nation.

Thank you,

Barack

Barack Obama Is Clearly Having Fun

I gotta say, Barack looks like he's having fun here just wiping the floor with McCain.



Everyone say it with me now, "Are you better off today than you were 8 years ago?"

Vote Obama.