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Dibs and Dabs
Author's note: This originally started off as a poem, and I decided that it made for a better blog entry. Again, a pretty expressive and opinionated rant. Should such views offend you, I ask that you continue no further. As always, folks, it's just my stuff. Take from it what you need, and leave the rest. Many thanks.
Sit on a bench downtown in any major city - you will see the true face of America.
Walk the streets in most towns - you will see the country that our government tries so hard to cover up.
Dilapidation. The poor standing on street corners holding signs - whilst everyone in their shiny SUVs drives on past.
Walk down Wall Street - you'll see corporate America.
Narcoleptic suits, with empty gazes, and equally empty souls trudging towards their work - only so everyone other than them will profit.
See the single mother (or father) with two jobs, and two kids. The other parent is worthless, and they're trying their hardest to pave a good future for their children - and losing... it's becoming more commonplace, and more the norm than one would think.
And it's just getting worse. Prices and hyper-inflation, met with the decreased value, call it a recession, call it what it truly is (stagflation), I call it "we're fucked." Everyone is paying the cost. Those who have done the right things, and are continuing to do the correct things are given no incentive.
At the turn of the year, you were able to find an account with between 4-5% interest. CDs were holding massive percentages. Nowadays, you're lucky if you can get 2% on a 6-9 month CD, and there are no interest-bearing accounts over 3.5% that can be trusted. Case in point - I just opened up a CD, and the lowest commitment time that I could agree to just to get 3% was 13 months.
Was reading a buddy's blog the other day that had a good quote from Jay Leno. I'll paraphrase it here: 'With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?' - Now. As some of you know, I'm Agnostic, therefore, the christian god, and it's concept is somewhat of an interest to me, but not something I necessarily agree with. I had gotten into the truly philosophical discussion with someone the other day about whether we are in the 'end times.' With all the natural disasters (China, Burma, etc) it's really making me wonder, while the other little cynical morbid witch that sits on my other shoulder reminds me that THIS is hell - these times, right here. There's no place to go to, we are already there - and I can only hope that things 'end' or that it gets better from here.
Narcolepsy = chronic neurological disorder caused by the brain's inability to regulate sleep-wake cycles normally.
CD = Certificate of Deposit. An account that earns interest over a set term.
Sit on a bench downtown in any major city - you will see the true face of America.
Walk the streets in most towns - you will see the country that our government tries so hard to cover up.
Dilapidation. The poor standing on street corners holding signs - whilst everyone in their shiny SUVs drives on past.
Walk down Wall Street - you'll see corporate America.
Narcoleptic suits, with empty gazes, and equally empty souls trudging towards their work - only so everyone other than them will profit.
See the single mother (or father) with two jobs, and two kids. The other parent is worthless, and they're trying their hardest to pave a good future for their children - and losing... it's becoming more commonplace, and more the norm than one would think.
And it's just getting worse. Prices and hyper-inflation, met with the decreased value, call it a recession, call it what it truly is (stagflation), I call it "we're fucked." Everyone is paying the cost. Those who have done the right things, and are continuing to do the correct things are given no incentive.
At the turn of the year, you were able to find an account with between 4-5% interest. CDs were holding massive percentages. Nowadays, you're lucky if you can get 2% on a 6-9 month CD, and there are no interest-bearing accounts over 3.5% that can be trusted. Case in point - I just opened up a CD, and the lowest commitment time that I could agree to just to get 3% was 13 months.
Was reading a buddy's blog the other day that had a good quote from Jay Leno. I'll paraphrase it here: 'With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?' - Now. As some of you know, I'm Agnostic, therefore, the christian god, and it's concept is somewhat of an interest to me, but not something I necessarily agree with. I had gotten into the truly philosophical discussion with someone the other day about whether we are in the 'end times.' With all the natural disasters (China, Burma, etc) it's really making me wonder, while the other little cynical morbid witch that sits on my other shoulder reminds me that THIS is hell - these times, right here. There's no place to go to, we are already there - and I can only hope that things 'end' or that it gets better from here.
Narcolepsy = chronic neurological disorder caused by the brain's inability to regulate sleep-wake cycles normally.
CD = Certificate of Deposit. An account that earns interest over a set term.