Me, me, me! and “Greed is Good”?

Don’t pretend to be a financial expert. Just read the news. This is a moment in history and it comes with both risk and opportunity. For financial traders on Wall Street, there is risk. What happens if my investments falter? How much will I lose? How can I protect myself? For the rest of us, there is simple common sense and good neighborliness. How can we work together? How can I help you?

To the company that would add another fee or surcharge to preserve profits?  Cut it out. You don’t need it and we cannot afford it. To that person who can offer a helping hand? Good for you. We are in this together.

Aw, Come on now…

OK, so tomatoes from someplace or other made 1,000 people sick with Salmonella. Where? Not sure, but what’s a big Mac or a taco without them? And now? In their continuing search for food demons, the pointy finger of suspicion is turning to — are you ready? — Jalapenos. What? Jalepenos?  Really? What’s next, Popsicles?

Take it to the bank…

At last count, the Democratic national convention was running about $11 million short of the $40.6 million needed to stage the event. Candidates and their staffs eat, travel and party like rich people while normal Americans stay at home and worry about keeping warm next winter.  The campaign for the White House has consumed is consuming and will consume huge quantities of money. Question: So when, exactly, did politics get to be all about spending money instead of solving problems and running the country?

Hardly any at all…

Stumble around and find a website. I found one the other day claiming the benefits of exercise. Follow these steps to 100 pushups… etc. Not a bad idea probably but then I noticed they site also sells logowear, t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, caps and buttons. That’s OK too. But whoever built the site decided to stamp “Made in the USA on the products. Well, on three of the products. In all, the web site has 26 items for sale. Three stamped “Made in the USA. Now that IS sad, don’t you think?

The true colors of Republican…

Desperation showing so soon,  Senator John McCain has put a veteran of President Bush’s 2004 campaign in charge of day-to-day operations.  A guy named  Steve Schmidt — who worked closely with Karl Rove — is now runnoing things at Mr. McCain’s headquarters, the New York Times reports. The move of Mr. Schmidt is the latest sign of increasing influence of veterans of Mr. Rove’s shop in the McCain operation.

They were winners eight years ago. And we are the losers. These are the guys behind the guys who brought us gasoline and oil prices, who let Big Oil pocket billions are our expense and who gave us a devalued dollar and a war in Iraq.  That’s some track record. And they want to keep it going?

Just double it…

Have you called your oil man lately? In the Northeast, few if any oil companies are offering fixed price plans because they don’t have any idea what the price of home heating oil will be in the fall and winter. “People are trying to figure out what they are going to do,” the nice lady said. How much money to put aside? “Whatever you spent last year, plan on doubling it,” she replied. It’s difficult to know how most people are is going to be able to do that.

John McCain’s good deal…

Here we go. We get to keep the war until it’s won. We get to drill for oil in protected areas. We get to build more nuclear power plants and generate more radioactive waste. Hello. He’s John McCain and he’s a Republican. It’s a good thing. Running against this guy,  Barack Obama should be able to raise enough campaign money to retire the national debt AND become president. Where do we send the checks?

This week’s specials…

So it seems if John McCain gets to be president we get to keep George’s war until we “win” the thing, hand over Iraqi oil to a coalition of big oil companies, go a-drilling off shore and, oh, yes, build 45 new nuclear power plants? Did we miss something here? Has someone solved the nuclear waste problem while we were out? Well, that’s pretty clear, at least. Isn’t that something to which we can all look forward?

Remember the song…

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam…. from Monty Python

Today’s version from Barack Obama, “Change, Change, Change, Change…”

OK, it IS the economy, stupid. More American than you know are in big trouble here. Barack Obama has one chance to get this right on the road to the White House. Hope he does.

Otherwise, “change” will most certainly come to mean, “Hey, buddy. Can you spare a dime?”

Read the news…

It’s good that the New York Times keeps its fingers on the pulse of America.  Today, we can learn that gasoline at $4 a gallon has a real bad impact on low-wage rural folks.  What took them so long? One day they may figure out that’s where food comes from. After you put the cash in the tank, you don’t go out to eat or rent a movie or buy a new shirt. You don’t buy a new car. Those dollars are long gone.

Dick and George have really done it this time, setting speculators and oil-producing country free to slam all of us with petroleum.  You do not need a PHD to figure out how to hurt America. What is Barack Obma going to do about this? We need some answers — now.