This Shit Has Got To Stop

Did you read about the shopper that was trampled to death by the crowds breaking through the Wal-Mart door in New York. Evidently there was a crush (literally) of people trying to get $300 laptops.

It reminds me more of a shark feeding frenzy than a human activity. Or should I say what a civilized human activity should be like. Capitalism has created monsters and I am so happy I was swimming yesterday in a small eddy at a holiday market in Angel Fire.

Christmas as celebrated in the United States is a creation of department stores to increase sales during a normal slow time in their economic cycle. It certainly worked. Now shrines to capitalism like Wal-Mart make the lion's share of their yearly sales between Black Friday (very appropriate color given the shopper's death) and Boxing Day or the day after Christmas when large crowds descend for the 50% off holiday merchandise and returns of unwanted gifts.

Evidently not everyone upon realization of the recession we are in re-evaluated what was important about the holidays. No, this is not one of those religious blogs, and if it were it definitely would not be a Fundamentalist Christian blog. But a great many world religions do have a major "holy day" around this time of year going back beyond Stone Henge no doubt. And before the United States department stores capitalized on it this time of year was seen as a time for spiritual renewal, bonding with those closest to you, examining of our lives and dedication to better ourselves, and standing in awe that after the shortest day of the year when the sun seemed to stand still the daylight increased. None of that translates into whether you get one of the limited availability $300 laptops - or die trying.

You do know that sharks often die in feeding frenzies? Once they all gather and devour the original batch of food they often go for one of their own accidentally or on purpose. Sharks are survivors but they have not developed an elevating culture that we have been able to discern. I have my doubts right now about Americans. And quite frankly I think we need a depression to re-think our values.

In the 60's when I was into shaking off my parents' conspicuous consumption I hadn't a clue what capitalism would get to be about. I would like to apologize to them now, wherever they are. A new car every two years because the ash trays were dirty sounds oh, so reasoned in lite of dying for a Game Boy.

The local weekly paper has a question of the week feature and yesterday it was my turn to be asked I guess in the great rotation of things. The question was, "What are you looking forward to most this holiday season?" My answer was being with my sister, her husband, and my best friend down in Cedar Crest for a few stolen days. Simple joys.

Citibank Bailout like Electing Mafia Don President?

I am not a fan of credit card companies. And frankly one of those I dislike the most is Citibank. And we are rescuing these robber barons?

I had been playing credit card roulette before my head injury. That is where you roll over your balance to the lowest interest rate whenever an offer shows up in your mail box. I had even developed a spread sheet to keep track of when the "introduction rate" would go up.

I had excellent credit and balance limits I figured I would never max out. I could have bought a Hummer and a vacation home with credit cards and not come close. Then the accident that altered my life. When I got conscious I realized my credit card companies were tripling my interest rate and charging me $25 to $35 late fees. I wrote all of them and explained my head injury and I would soon be back on top of things. They doubled my interest rate again.

Taking Oprah's advice I called them all and asked if they could lower my rate for six months to allow me to get a handle on things. Now mind you at that time I was not late on a single card. But two or three things had begun to transpired in the credit card business: make up for the low rates by changing high penalties for a single minute late, and shorten the day between mailing the statement and when it is due.

This last little trick since I live in a rural area and only get mail three days a week was deadly. I frequently got statements after the due date. So I switched to on line billing and payments. It was Citibank that developed this little ploy that you could not pay on line without a penalty within three days of the due date; they needed processing time. Or you could avoid the $30 penalty by paying them $10 for fast processing. Mind you I sat there one day with two windows open - one to their website and one to my bank and watched the money vanish from my account the minute I authorized payment.

Listening to my friend last night they evidently have not gotten better. Citibank just raised her interest from 10 to 24 percent because she called and asked about an auto loan. That is all it takes. Just have someone run a credit check on you. I give prospective renters the option to get a credit report for me to save them the predatory practices of credit card companies.

Some leaders of the congress have been trying to get a consumer bill of rights to restrict the activities of the credit card companies after Bush deregulated all banks. I say if we are going to give Citibank money they have to clean up their act. If they are going to stick to their same game plan I say let them fail.

Remembering the WPA

My family camped for vacations. Dad wanted to get away from his high pressure job and the telephone (no cell phones in those days) and so we took to the highways and byways of the mountain west and camped.

He often would point out that this trail or that camp ground had been built by labor during the depression when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt developed the WPA to put people standing in bread lines back to work.

The Blue Ridge Parkway that runs along the Appalachians in the eastern part of the United States is a great example of what the WPA accomplished. Not only did it put people living in that area to work but to this day the parkway allows an economic flow that has preserved the native crafts and culture of that area. The art trail we are setting up her in New Mexico is modeled after one set up by benefit of this parkway built over 70 years ago. Its stone bridges and retaining walls and restored mills and waterways are beautiful and lasting.

Here in the mountain west the WPA worked on many parks creating trails and overlooks that made their beauties more accessable to the public. The closest example to me is the Wild Rivers Park at the junction of the Red River and the Rio Grande. A system of trails allows visitors to hike down switchbacks to the bottom of the Rio Grande gorge some 600 feet below the scenic overlooks at the top. Remote campsites at the bottom allow hikers to over-night away from the maddening crowds. A group of volunteers goes out every spring to do trail maintenance but the original WPA work has lasted.

Today because of Bush cutbacks the National Park Service originally created by the giving of land by Rockefeller and other railroad magnants is suffering. Facilities are in need of repair to the point that on my recent roadtrips with my sister we have chosen to stay at state parks which are better funded.

The Bush administration has chosen to focus on foreign countries and exporting of jobs and resourses away from the United States. Our national parks are crumbling, our infrastructure is deteriorating, and the economy was built on a tissue of lies that is now going up in flames. President elect Obama proposes to rescue our economy by returning the US governments focus back to our own shores.

“We’ll be working out the details in the weeks ahead,” Mr. Obama said about his economic stimulus package, “but it will be a two-year, nationwide effort to jumpstart job creation in America and lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy. We’ll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels, fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead.”

It looks to be the modern version of Roosevelt's WPA. I certainly hope the effects of it last as long as the Blue Ridge Parkway. And that generations to come look back and point at the accomplishments yet to be achieved by this new era.

A Modest Proposal

I used to work for an international construction firm that had a long standing relationship renovating auto factories for one of the big three in the country. One of the plants I worked on in our capacity as construction managers had been converted to make tanks during WWII, and another had made bombers in the same period.

So why is it we should just give money to Ford and GM? Why not take the same amount of money and have them re-tool a couple of their plants to make railroad cars and engines? And the company that makes their bucket seats could make comfortable passenger car seats. The stamping plants for engine parts could make train wheels or retool to make rails. This makes so much sense on so many levels government probably will not even consider it.

Level one is that big business always bemoans welfare to the poor. Don't they always say, "let them get jobs." Well, I think that applies to the big three. Can't sell cars because the poor are not working because we are in a recession then don't make cars. Make trains.

Due to the fuel crisis and our need to be more green and less dependent upon foreign oil more freight companies have been piggybacking their trailers between major cities rather than trucking them. As I reported in an early blog this has caused some issue with trains because of aging track and cars. We need more capacity to ship more stuff.

Our reliance on airplanes for travel is also silly. Planes really waste fuel. And the contrails from the number of planes in the skies at anyone time are believed to be increasing the effects of global warming. More of us need to take trains for those between town jaunts to visit Aunt Helen. And if the SUV could come with us on a specially built train car we would not need a rental car at our destination. Fifty cars riding on a train are not burning fuel wastefully and contributing to greenhouse gases like the same 50 cars on the interstate.

Transporting cars on trains for long distance travel also reduces wear and tear on our aging interstate system until much needed repairs of the infrastructure can be effected. Maybe we can use out-of-work United Auto Workers who will not compromise on their benefit packages. (Does this sound like CEO's and golden parachutes?)

So no bailout money for auto companies without a plan for them to produce something we can use. Let's make trains.

The Consumer Trap

Let me begin by saying a word about the photo I picked. It is a trapdoor spider and my original thought upon Googling the image was to get one lurking in its trap. There are lots of those. But this one was so pretty. And in a way that illustrates my point better.

We, as consumers, were enticed into spending way too much with tarted up merchandise we were made to believe we needed. A friend of mine with a good and secure job in government said he had gone from buying things he did not need to buying things he did not even want. I figured we were in trouble when the big box stores switched from selling us new linens and clothes and things to selling containers to put them into or storage systems to make those containers look so good in our closets. Products never got better. They just got bigger or brighter or with some new feature we really did not need. But we were sold on the fact that they were necessary for our peace of mind and standing in our community.

And wasn't it so easy to get those new necessities with the tarted up credit cards that you can even put your picture on and donate to your favorite charity every time you swipe it thought those oh, so easy to use card readers. Using cash or writing a check was viewed as slowing progress down. Everyone behind you and the clerk waiting on you expressed their discontent.

I fell into that trap seven years ago after my head injury. I literally could not write a check. Nor could I really keep track of all those complicated credit card statements or notice when they had raised my low entry rate to astronomical heights. Because of being out of work and medical expenses and credit card fees I became one of the last to declare bankruptcy before Bush toughened up the laws in 2005 that was suppose to end personal bankruptcy.

So I read this morning the New York Times' series the The Debt Trap with great interest. Bankruptcies are up. They jumped nearly eight percent in October. "Filings totaled 108,595, surpassing 100,000 for the first time since a law that made it more difficult — and often twice as expensive — to file for bankruptcy took effect in 2005. That translated to an average of 4,936 bankruptcies filed each business day last month, up nearly 34 percent from October 2007."

Banks are not lending money so easily anymore. As banks have pulled back on lending consumers have been finding it more difficult, and in many cases impossible, to use credit cards, refinance their home mortgages or fall back on their home equity lines to get them through a rough period. New credit card offers with lower interest and even zero after roll over of another card debt are slim and far between. And some homeowners have already maxed out their equity in their homes to get out of credit card balances.

Remember when you could get your home refinanced for 125% of its value? Or when if you wanted a home refinance or home improvement loan the estimator sent out to value you house stayed in the driveway so he got the address right and filled in the value number the bank wanted for the loan? We all though home values were going to continue to rise. My father, whose parents rode out the Great Depression, told me to never borrow more than 70% of what my home was worth and only believe 80% of what I was told it was worth and don't buy what you cannot afford.

But even those that stick by those rules can get caught when they lose their jobs, or have a major medical crisis that results in the loss of a job and escalating medical debt. If the United States is bailing out those companies that set the trap why are they not helping those that fell into it. The first group is being investigated for felonies by the FBI. The second group is being thrown out of their homes.

Consumer confidence at an all time low

I went shopping last Friday. I drove over to Taos because the price of gas was down and I needed some things not available in my local area. I did try the local stores first and had been working on a list for a couple of weeks. I used to dash over to Taos almost weekly. It is where the Wal-Mart is.

I stopped going to Wal-Mart during the poisoned Chinese pet food debacle. I found Wal-Mart re-price coding some of the pulled lots and putting them back on the shelves. And I never by non-freezing windshied wiper fluid there since the stuff froze all over my windshied while driving through Pueblo during a snow storm. But Wal-Mart did have my printer ink, and security envelopes for the two bills I have to pay with real checks and not on line. I went to Albertson's for the pet food. Sorry, I will not forgive Wal-Mart for my dead cat.

Wal-Mart seems to be about the only company in America showing a profit this year. Grocery stores are flat. But the electronic stores and the finer stores are really hurting. Even with lower prices consumers are buying just the necessities.

My list was just the necessities and still it exceeded my budgeted amount. Seems that gas prices may have gone down but products have not followed suit yet. One of the necessities I had to get was windshield wiper blades. I went to Auto Zone because they have a brand I prefer (yeah, Wal-Mart may have had them cheaper but we are back to that confidence thing).

Snow was heading into my area so I changed out the old blades for the new winter ones the next morning, turned on the wipers to see if they were on correctly. Next morning as the snow is starting I had to run into the local village five miles away and the plastic clip holding on one blade broke. Pieces of plastic flew across my field of vision. I dashed into the local auto store and got another blade at $2 more expensive than the one I got in Taos but what can you do?

I really feel that this consumer drop in spending is not just about money. It is about paying higher and higher prices for lower quality stuff, and in some cases poison. And why are we paying such high prices? Fuel costs? Or is it because of golden parachutes and CEO bonuses? The whole focus on the economy and the bailout has made the American consumer more aware of what is behind the price of that piece of plastic that broke and sent the new windshield wiper flying. I can remember when those clips were metal. And when they were made in the United States.

Even if I had the money, at the moment, to buy the non-essentials I sincerely doubt I would. I feel like I am buying crap and being ripped off so some CEO can get his billion dollar bonus. What Christmas shopping I do will be at a local arts fair this Thanksgiving. Nothing from a department store or a big box store. Definitely nothing from Wal-Mart. Oh, the envelopes seem to be okay, but I think I will order the printer's ink from HP by Internet next time I need some and just save the trip over the mountain.

We Can Think Again

A funny thing happened on the way to the presidential election. I rediscovered my love for reading essays and editorials.

When I lived in Washington, DC and worked for a US Senator I read the Washington Post and New York Times editorials every morning. It was part of the job description. Morning coffee generally included lively discussions about one or more op-ed pieces.

Since those heady days within the workings of power there has been a dumbing down of America. Even President Bill Clinton hid his brains behind Arkansas folksy talk and stories about hogs. GW Bush and his current White House cabinet openly scorns expertise and avoids words with multiple syllables (not that GW can pronounce them).

But there is a new age as Nicholas D. Kristof writes in his New York Times op-ed piece: Obama and the War on Brains. Seems our new President-elect is an "...open, out of the closet intellectual" complete with favorite philosophers and poets. John F. Kennedy was our last president to be openly intellectual. President Bush, adopted anti-intellectualism as administration policy, and supported No Child Left Behind which merely tests memorized knowledge not your use of it. NO THINKING. Studies show that fully 1/5th of our school children believe the sun orbits the earth. And Sarah Palin thought Africa was a country and not a continent.

Our new President to be thinks. Which all leads me to wonder what Bush and Obama talked about in the White House Oval office for an hour yesterday. Obama talks in paragraphs rather than sound bytes as Kristoff points out in his op-ed piece. Bush frequently does not finish sentences, and is inclined to give you a three word sentence rather than any serious analysis of the situation.

Kristof mentions several White House intellectuals of the past and that it does not necessarily make them good presidents. But thinking people are happier in the company of knowledge and expertise and we are going to need a lot of both to think us out of the mess GW got us into. President Kennedy surrounded himself with the best and brightest and was open to new thought. As Obama puts together his staff, advisors, and cabinet it looks as if he intends to do the same. With the best and brightest in touch with out new leader we have a chance of solving our problems.

During his transition to power I am thrilled that I can come out of the closet about my intellectualism. To quote Kristof again, "An intellectual is a person interested in ideas and comfortable with complexity. Intellectuals read the classics, even when no one is looking, because they appreciate the lessons of Sophocles and Shakespeare that the world abounds in uncertainties and contradictions."

My favorite philosopher is Jean-Paul Sartre. My favorite poets are a rather long list with John Keats and Walt Whitman and e. e. cummings toward the top. Oh, and I now daily read op-ed pieces from the NYT's on the internet every morning. And a growing list of blogs by bloggers who think. I don't even have to get out of the house and go to the news stand which is good since I live a long way from one.