Mockery of Media

Ah, the news media, just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse I introduce News personality Bill O’Reilly. Normally I don’t waste a thought on Fox News because giving mental focus to the brainless is a pointless exercise. I try not to even give Fox News attention in their attempts at fear mongering and revolution building. It is how you handle a bully; you ignore them and they will go away. Unless you are Bill O’Reilly and then he will hunt you down and threaten you until you see things his way.

A young female blogger had the great audacity to challenge Bill O’Reilly in her blog and how did Mister O’Reilly react? Not by clarifying or standing behind his show or his word, no he had his producer stalk the woman and threaten her to take back her words. This actually, thankfully promoted UPS to withdraw their sponsorship of the show. It’s bad enough when the media is twisting truths and distorting the facts, but how bad can it be when the media stalks people who disagree with their stories. Let me define this for all those who live their lives by the dictionary. This is fascism (Fascist movements oppose any ideology or political system that gives direct political power to people as individuals through elected representatives rather than as a collective nation or race). Terrorizing people not to speak out against you resembles tactics used by the Gestapo. Should we tolerate this behavior by our press and media? And if all these media folks value freedom of speech, then they absolutely must accept the freedom of speech to those who challenge their ideology.

And today the Bill O’Reilly’s publicity spin has begun. Apparently the Internet empire of Yahoo supports O’Reilly’s fascist tactics by giving him today’s headline story and his new campaign to boycott movies made by Sean Penn. You see, according to Bill O’Reilly Sean Penn does not deserve a voice to speak his mind or express a difference of opinion. He is only one of the greatest actors of our time, why allow him to think and express himself? Sean Penn and the rest of us must succumb to Bill O’Reilly’s ideology, or else we pay the consequences.

The one thing for all to remember, to make the effort speaking or writing their mind, someone will always disagree. Often time it is not the disagreement that matters it is the quality of the argument. If you can debate your ideological opponent with respect great things can occur, but if you need to express your view point with aggression or condescension you are only proving your own points show no merit.

Anarchy of Ideas

This blog may meander a bit in meaning as I am trying to wade through the vast amount of expressed ideas. Over the past couple months in regards to our government, the media and the internet I have found a vast number of people expressing their points of view and boasting their expertise to others. In a way I find this comical with so many experts and so many ideas, but no one is listening or respecting another. Free speech is great but is it possible to go too far?

I have been questioning corporations, the government, and the media and in some cases even fellow citizens, but honestly I have to say many in positions of power frighten me. Many in government are speaking in terms of treason and evoking citizens into a revolution against the government. We have heard such talk from Governor Palin and others, but the person who strikes me the most severe is Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. See below.

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I understand the fear of change, but just because there are different ideas for progress doesn’t mean they are going to destroy the fabric of our lives. Change is good, regardless of how frightening it can be. I honestly to not think fear of change should be a reason for treasonous banter.

Now look, honestly I was not a happy camper during the last eight years of the Bush administration, but never have I or anyone I know spoke of overthrowing the government, although at times I threatened refuge in Canada. My question is in a democracy when the majority has voted and the current administration has a very high approval rating how does promoting revolution make any sense? If you honor democracy, even though your party lost, how can you deny the very fundamentals of the process? I apologize to all those out there who voted for McCain and the Republican party, but get this-you get another chance in four years. I am not a person who gets caught up in watching television, but I found myself addicted to the Showtime hit, The Tudors. And I asked myself, how would King Henry the VIII handle those who disagree and promoted revolution? In watching a rerun of season one, the show made mention that even imagining the king dead is treason. Yikes! Thankfully for all of us, we have won our independence over the British monarchy, but my question remains; should treasonous talk be allowed, or should it be tolerated because we have free speech? Doesn’t that strike you as frightening? When does this talk become destructive to the nation? Perhaps, if we value free speech, those in promote treason and revolution need to hear our free speech-Stop the fear mongering.

But once again I believe we need to not only hold those accountable who speak irresponsibility, we have to monitor ourselves. With twittering and blogging becoming an obsession to say exactly what is on our minds at any time without the consideration for another is dangerous. There is a deep desire in everyone to express their expertise and ideas, but we can’t lose sight of the respect of others, or else we will find ourselves with anarchy of ideas.

Hey Media, Perhaps the President isn't that into you

Ah, the poor mass media is feeling like the girl who doesn’t get asked to dance as President Obama is taking his “press” conference to the American people. Personally, here’s my take for what it’s worth. With the media today, how can you possibly trust the news is being presented honestly? So if you have a message to the people, and you don’t trust the messenger, go direct; cut out the middle man. In the age of the internet and social networking, the media needs to be careful or they can find themselves completely irrelevant. If your message can be broadcast direct with little to no cost, without having someone twist or distort, why go through the media? Going through the media today, is like trying to communicate with your fellow employees through the company gossip.

As mentioned previously, I have personally witnessed three different versions of the same story on the different news networks. Who do you believe? Do you believe the one that affiliates with your personal political party? Do you watch and trust the one with the best graphics and special effects, or the star personalities? And how as a nation can we unite to solve today’s issues, if we have to sort through media crap. Someone once said to me, who had a family member in the military, “You would be shocked what our government is actually doing in the world?” This was in 1988, you can imagine what our government has done in the past couple decades. Meaning, the American people are pretty much left in the dark in regards to the news.

Today, in regards to the Tuesday’s presidential press conference, CNN Ed Henry set the example of what I believe of what is wrong in journalism. The challenge was why did it take President Obama so quick to react to the AIG bonus? The quick retort from President Obama, “I like to understand a situation before I speak.” Wow, what a concept; thinking before you speak. But of course to save face Ed Henry and CNN promoted as a gaffe. What I’d like to point out, the media and the news is looking for headlines, quick bites and gaffes to broadcast and spin. They’re not looking for answers, they want the scoop and they want to paint in a headline. They want entertainment and they are to improve their ratings.

So today, the unprecedented Presidential internet press conference, President Obama addressed Americans direct questions, that weren’t spun by news reporters to support their political or corporate agenda. It was refreshing and now Americans can say we truly have a voice in our nation. And if people in the media were smart, they may wise up and start having some accountability in their reporting.

Our Nation and the Square Deal

What happened? America has come so far yet at some point, we have gone so far astray. It is insane to me what is happening in our corporations, our government and our media. Many are quoting the constitution and the wise words of our forefathers, but everyone is doing so to twist some sordid agenda. Greed is obscene in our corporations, our politicians are promoting agendas for power and the media, and well many in the media are just flat out lying. If to truly call ourselves patriots shouldn’t we be honoring exactly what our forefathers intended and not trying to rewrite history?

Once again, as I have been struggling to find meaning to blog. Today I found inspiration in Teddy Roosevelt and one of his quotes in regards to the “Square Deal.”

"Let the watchwords of all our people be the old familiar watchwords of honesty, decency, fair-dealing, and commonsense."... "We must treat each man on his worth and merits as a man. We must see that each is given a square deal, because he is entitled to no more and should receive no less.""The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us."

It is amazing to me the words of Teddy Roosevelt, president at the beginning of the Twentieth Century resonate the wisest and strikes the heart of nation’s issues today. When have we lost our sense of decency, fair-dealing and commonsense? In all facets that govern, finance or broadcast to the American people, we are falling seriously short of this ideal. It has come a time when we can’t take any man’s word for certainty, our government, corporations or media.

The last sentence strikes me the most in regards to our nation’s welfare. Welfare, a word that strikes discord in the minds of a many Americans. Welfare today is considered a bad word, but it was something promoted by a republican President. How have we become a nation that does not care for the welfare of a fellow American. We invest so much in the charities that we forget that basic charity begins at home, in our neighborhood and our country at large. There is a saying, you are only as strong as your weakest link. Well, it seems America has a lot of weak links. And there is another saying, strength in numbers. The American people have the numbers.

Here is my square deal. We are a democracy and Americans have control over all above facets that govern, finance and broadcast. In regards to the Edward R. Murrow speech I have referred to time and time again, perhaps Americans have become too complacent and allowed our government, corporations and media to “rough ride” all over us. But remember, this is OUR country, we do have the power to hold those who take advantage of their positions accountable for their actions and words. It is the voices of the American people that must resound louder than all who have access to a microphone. And remember, it isn’t always the loudest man who is the wisest. Sometimes the quiet man who says nothing, but listens is the wisest man.

Money, Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged

One of my biggest gripes especially today is the judgment of the finances of others. Many judge the rich, and many judge the poor. Honestly, in my life time I had friends who made significantly less salary, but were much better with their money and those friends who made more money but were financial knuckleheads. I for one, never judged another’s handling of their finances. It was and is their business and none of mine. But in today’s economic climate many find pride in their finances, handling of credit , savings and blah, blah, blah and use as a s sense of pride to criticize others who struggle. This pride does no one any good.

One of the reasons I don’t judge is because I don’t see money being a human quality. I don’t judge someone by the money they have in the bank, I judge them by the quality of their character. Money is a piece of paper that signifies a monetary value, but it doesn’t suggest how you earned that money. I’m sure many feel the same but we get caught up in the stereotypes; rich people are greedy and poor people are lazy when neither have to be true. Some rich people are very lazy and some poor people work very hard for their money, therefore impossible to judge.
It is impossible to judge another on the finances and money without knowing anything about them. Rule number one, living expenses differ immensely from one part of the country to another. Living in Topeka, Kansas costs significantly less than New York City, therefore it is impossible to place judgment without knowing where they live. Secondly, you can’t judge another without knowing all their bills, mortgages, credit card bills, school loans, hospital bills and the list continues.

I think this has greater impact with what is happening in the country, as there seems to be budding class struggle. I have read one man’s judgment on a family who doesn’t have any credit cards and lives truly on what they earn. I have read articles where reporters blame average American’s for the credit crisis and well, no one can help blame the corporate managers at AIG.

So many quick to promote values, values of having money, the value of not having mone. Perhaps we simply have too much value for money. Maybe we should shift our value to people and understand that we are all different, have different goals, desires and dreams for living. Just bear in mind, judging another person is in itself an unbecoming characteristic, judge not lest ye be judged.

Media Does Matter - Reliable Sources?

As I was drinking my morning coffee blog ideas flowed through my mind, but when I opened my email I read an update from the group, “Media Matters,” a source that provides the facts that were miss-reported and untwists broadcasted lies. It does by providing the entire transcript of a television broadcast. For people in the media who miss use their profession to promote their agendas, this can be highly disconcerting to see your propaganda in writing. Many hope to inspire people to their cause by emotion and to bypass truths. When the television is turned off who really cares what was said? They only care emotion was stirred. This is the danger of our news media today. They are not promoting fact, they are promoting emotion.

What prompted my blog today was a Media Matters email on CNN Tucker Carlson and his never-ending grudge of Jon Stewart. You see it was Jon Stewart who went on Crossfire and challenged Carlson and Paul Begalia for being a “danger to America.” Shortly after Stewart’s appearance, the s how was cancelled. Jon Stewart definitely hit a nerve with CNN.

Here is where it gets interesting and the reason for my blog. Apparently since the interview with Jim Cramer, Stewart has been taking punches from CNBC Executive Jeffery Zucker. He has been discredited as being a comedian and should not be taken seriously. Sad, the executive of CNBC needs to say this in defense of his network, but hey-to each his own. Being that Stewart is now apparently ripe for the picking, little Tucker Carlson decides to step up and take aim for what happened four years ago on Crossfire. Basically Tucker had a grudge against Stewart all this time, but didn’t have the balls to say anything until Zucker made his criticism.

The twist of this comes when Tucker Carlson is distorting the facts of the Stewart/Cramer interview on the show Reliable Sources. Tucker, dude, you falsely promoted a truth on a show called Reliable Sources. How can you be reliable if you don't tell the truth. I understand, a comedian gave you a lesson in journalism, but instead of blaming the comedian, perhaps you should try to be a better reporter. Here is how many deal with criticism. They don’t take it to better themselves or at least look in the mirror to see how they can do better, they decide to take aim and lash back at the critic.

Here’s the point of what is wrong with the news media today. If you spend most of your energies telling stories and promoting your agenda instead of the fact and the truth at some point you will become unreliable and just flat out wrong. It is human nature to have an opinion and to hold a certain ideology and it is human nature to want to promote thoughts, but that becomes a dangerous deal when our ideologies are challenged and we end up having to lie and be deceitful in order to make our position seem credible. If you have to lie and distort the fact to present your ideology, perhaps it is not the facts in questions, perhaps it is you.

News Media - The Man in the Arena

Oh, oh, oh, Olbermann! Yes! Yes! Yes! There is reason Keith Olbermann is on cable news, mothers cover your daughter’s eyes and cover your son’s ears, Keith Olberman is about to give a special comment! Man is that hot. Why is he so sexy? It is because he is delivering the news and he is giving it to us straight, gloves off, not pulling any punches and honestly looks a little spent afterward. Now that is what I call news. As Edward R. Murrow would deliver a special comment with controlled excellence, Keith Olbermann is hell on wheels going down a ski jump. Awesome.

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I have been having difficulty writing this blog and the topic may beyond my reach as I try to pull, Teddy Roosevelt, Edward R. Murrow, Keith Olbermann and Jon Stewart into once beacon of example. It comes from men who have spoken out against injustice and the main in a fierce, no holds bar approach. After my blog on CNN, I was greeted the next morning by a bit of Karma and it came in the form of a quote from Teddy Roosevelt with the basic premise, who are we to criticize the man in the arena, but also how do we voice our dissenting opinions without insult?

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

"Citizenship in a Republic,"

Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Jon Stewart made mention after his interview with Jim Cramer, “I hope that was as uncomfortable you, as it was for me.” Debate and dissent is rarely ever comfortable and enjoyable, especially for those involved, but then where would humanity be without debate and dissent. Americans would be still living under British rule, slavery might still exist and women may still not be able to vote. Anchorman, comedian, President of the United States or plumber it is our right as Americans to voice our opinions. If news pundit and talking heads can “guess” at the news and other voices just flat out lie and distort the facts to promote their agenda, than so should a comedian press a hard case in an interview and an anchorman can make a special comment.

But I think it goes a little deeper in many forms which could prove a subject for an entire book, let alone a blog. We have incredible access to criticize opinions and worst we can do so anonymously. We can criticize someone’s opinions and even make it personal if we can’t comment intellectually and we can do this from the safety of our keyboard without even giving our true identity. (And credit cards companies promote the fear of identity theft). What if someone steals your identity and uses it to insult another on the internet? Ah, that’s something you probably haven’t thought.

With so many twittering in 140 word bite or many getting their news from a headline or sound bite what content and truth are we really absorbing? This is why I get so excited when someone speaks and speaks brilliantly. And not only are they speaking brilliant they have the courage to not only use their real name, but do on television and voice their opinions that may be unpopular or provoke retaliation.

I believe there must be a place for dissent and protest whether it is editorial or satire. Without being challenged we can never grow, improve and innovate. How can we have healthy debate and discussion in our country if there is an overwhelming lack of respect for opposing viewpoints and ideologies? How can we watch the news when pundits are “guessing” on what will happen or what is going on behind closed doors? How can we go on, if we have immunity to the truth and to facts? It is vitally important today we have the facts and the American public is immersed in honesty and fact, if not we should succumb to the corruption and continue our lives in the minds and ideologies of others.

Credit Card Coporations - A Monopoly on our Lives

Perhaps it is me, but I have never been one to just do something to fit in. If the “in” thing to do was jump off the Golden Gate Bridge and everyone in the world was jumping off the bridge because hum, let’s say it would help their credit score-I still wouldn’t do it. And maybe it is just me, but when I think about the credit industry and the credit score I just absolutely find it ridiculous and honestly want no part of it. You see, there are two ways to go about it, you can be, do and act like everyone else, or you can think for yourself. Unfortunately, I always think for myself, and that’s where my problems arise.

Ah that little, lovely credit score that defines our lives. Okay, so here’s the deal, follow me closely. In order to have a good credit score, we must have a credit card, in which creditors for the most part have “at their discretion,” the ability to change fees, interest rates, billing cycles, credit limits and the ability to close our account. We as consumers need to take their services and play by their rules in hopes they do not change any of the rules and regulations. So, the credit card companies have the ability to mess with our credit, in which we must have to have a good credit score. And if our score lowers, guess what…credit card companies can raise our interest rates and thus making more money off of us consumers. This is a monopoly on our individual financial destines. Get it-if we are good and pay with cash or checks and don’t play with their credit cards and by their rules, we cannot buy a house or a car and perhaps not get a job. You see, we must take their services to survive in this country and that is a monopoly on our lives. Do we as Americans honestly want to live our lives like this?

This is also goes back to my blog on regulation. The food industry has been regulating itself and many were getting sick and dying from E.coli. The credit score system is regulated by credit corporations, so you know all the benefits will go toward corporations, not the people. Many are going into debt with little means to recover. One has a better chance of surviving E.coli than credit card debt. What does that say about our culture?

Now yes, it is still the responsibility of consumers to understand the fine print, to teach the newly anointed credit users, but don’t you think credit card corporations regulating the credit scores is a little incestuous? Can you see how this could possibly be unfair and exploitative toward consumers. I understand the need for a credit score system in order to ensure consumers can afford the loans…but perhaps we need a neutral party monitoring credit score to keep fair. Well this is just the ramblings of a free, out-of-the box thinking delinquent.

CNN - A Search for Ratings

Being a news junkie, the one thing I like to do is watch the news reported on one channel and then I switch to another to see what angle they choose to take the same story. It is quite an enlightening exercise because you will see firsthand the bias on every news “entertainment” channel. CNN their entertainment news cannot be any softer. I mean, they are the soft, whipped vanilla ice cream in a waffle cone that disintegrates while eating and what you’re left with is a sticky mess. FOX is tutti-frutti in a Styrofoam cup that will never bio-degrade and we will be stuck with forever and then my favorite, MSNBC, hard quadruple chocolate in a sugar cone with sprinkles! YUMMY MSNBC!

As Jon Stewart continues to attack CNBC, and every night there is a FOX/MSNBC slug fest, poor CNN is left with no one to dance. They are the ugly girl at that dance who stands by the wall alone and perhaps at times they lift their skirt to get attention. CNN’s latest tactics is taking their show on the road to show American economic woes and unemployment misery; however they still somehow seemed to miss their mark completely. Having Anderson Cooper stand outside the Staple Center in LA, is not news it’s entertainment and the show honestly was less illuminating of the American unemployment plight. They might as well stayed home, and saved money by not sending off their star personality and camera crews of on a cross country reporting festival. They all probably flew first class, had an expensive dinner to celebrate their new grand rating agenda, while the people standing in unemployment lines struggled to put food on the table. Perhaps Anderson Cooper could have sprinkled scraps of food from his pockets for the people standing in line. Now that would have been news.

But my other disappointing comment on CNN came from Keith Olbermann on MSNBC when he reported on John King’s interview with Dick Cheney. I had such high hopes for John King. He was the guy to give us the “State of our Nation,” but as far as I know Dick Cheney is no longer in office so how can he really have any clue as to the State of our Nation. Dick Cheney lacked intelligence when Vice President, now CNN is interviewing him for foreign affairs. Yikes! But what is even worse is the growing news about indictments for War Crimes in regards to the treatment of prisoners. Under Canadian Law, George Bush committed war crimes and he will most likely be welcomed with massive protests when he goes for a visit. But in his “State of the Nation” interview with Cheney, John King didn’t bring up anything about these allocations, true or not. He just sat there and let Cheney do his mumbling. How can you call this a news interview when you don’t challenge a guy on potential war crimes allegations? Is CNN that numb to the truth?

Now, many would probably say-this is cable news. Yes, and it is mostly for entertainment, but the problem is they promote themselves as a viable, honest, unbiased, raw, intelligent reporting. This is false advertising and many people are taken in thinking what CNN is broadcasting is worthwhile and informative, when it is a joke. I understand they need to compete with FOX, MSNBC and now even the Daily Show and Bill Maher for viewers, but the FOX Network has their conservative audience, MSNBC as their liberal audience and well the Daily Show and Bill Maher are comedians. It is really a sad commentary of the reporting at CNN when Jon Stewart goes on Crossfire and gives them a lesson on journalism. So CNN boasts unbiased news. Good call CNN, but the problem is the great pains they are taking to be unbiased, they are missing out of the truth and the hard line stories and that’s okay, just don’t call yourselves news. Hard, balanced, fair, raw reporting doesn’t need lightening effects, dancing girls, juggling bears and a chorus of Hello Dolly, we just need the facts please. And if you honestly need America to decide on the facts of the story, then perhaps you are in the wrong career.

Economy and Free Market Regulation

Over the past couple months we have heard about the policies of great American presidents, Lincoln, Kennedy and FDR, but the one I feel needs to be reintroduced is the president who spoke softly and carried a very big stick. He was a Rough Rider and a touch crime fighter. I remember hearing a story of Teddy Roosevelt in history class. He worked to rid New York City of corruption, so in order to get him out of the city they promoted him to Governor, but his battle with corruption continued onto the State of New York, so in order to get him out of the state they encouraged him to run for president. Bottom line, Teddy Roosevelt was causing too much havoc with corporate corruption, so they got rid of him and hoped he would find something else to do. I’m not sure this story is true, but it is a great characterization for our 26th President of the United States.

It was Teddy Roosevelt that instituted the Food and Drug Administration after the outcry from Upton Sinclair’s book, “In the Jungle” that exposed the conditions of the nation’s meat industry. Yes, surprise, surprise the food industry was selling sausages containing feces, rats, mice and even human body parts to the American people. It was Teddy Roosevelt who put a stop this practice and he placed regulations on the food industry. The food industry cried and I hate to write a pun, but foul. They were upset they would lose profit if the industry had to be regulated. But it was Teddy Roosevelt and the government’s job to serve and protect the American people, and in this case their job was to protect the food supply.

During the Bush administration restrictions and regulations of the food industry was relaxed and food inspection was privatized. (see one relevant article) This rang like songs of beautiful sirens to corporate America. Privatization and free market is the answer to everything and thus our food industry starting monitoring itself to save money…and of course they were to pass the extra savings off to consumers (right). In that time, the United States has had a record number of E.coli and salmonella outbreaks, from spinach, cat food, baby food, beef and most notably peanuts where corporate/privatized inspectors gave the peanut manufacturers an “A-“. Good job, peanut manufacturers.

I truly have no problem with the corporate world or capitalism. However, like a child needs adult supervision, so do our CEOs. They one thing I must say is the number one priority of a corporation is to make a profit and sometimes that profit is at the expense of the American public. And my challenge to American is do we what to be a nation governed by the corporate world, when their sole interest is making profit off consumers? I honestly can’t see that as very smart, because Americans will always be exploited. We see that today with the food industry, the credit industry and tomorrow I’ll tell you about the health insurance industry. Without a government to serve and protect, we can count ourselves pretty much screwed.

We are very fortunate to live in a country where we can elect our public officials, but it is our responsibility to make sure they do what we elected them to do and not take heed and even money from lobbyists to promote their agendas. And that takes me back to my favorite George Bernard Shaw quote,

“Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.”

Economy in Crisis - Wealth is Work

There were so many amazing points raised in the Jon Stewart interview with Jim Cramer, but I thought the most profound was Jon Stewart’s quote, “When are Americans going to realize wealth is work?” This was stated in contrast to the short market trading of stocks to make fast money at the expense of hard working American’s 401k. I am so incredibly grateful Stewart bought up this point and I can imagine Jon Stewart would be thankful I was watching on television because I would have jumped into his lap and given him a wet, slobbery kiss.

I believe that not only it has become an American dream to acquire fast money, but more so an American crisis. The desire to make a lot of money without working for it is an American crisis. I made mention in a previous blog that the German people have a 33 billion dollar surplus of exports with a smaller population in comparison to the United States. What can one deduct from that statistic? Well perhaps for one-work ethic .

Now the last thing I want to do is criticize the American labor force, because there are many very hard working men and women who deserve our gratitude, but the problem is as a nation we have come to honor, admire and glamorize those who have made a lot of money quickly. Our labor force is struggling financially, having a hard time paying their debts, yet these are the people who are keeping the wheels of this nation turning, while others are encouraged to make fast money at the expense of other’s pensions.

Yesterday, I sent a letter to the editor of the Boston Globe in response to an article about struggling with credit corporations and credit scores. The example they chose to use, was showing the loan hardship of a person with a score of 706. That is a fairly good score, why is that news? Why is the news today reporting struggles of people with good jobs and good credit scores? What about our American labor force; teachers, nurses, manufacturers and those of the blue collar work force? These people do not earn a big salary. Let me put this into perspective. The average salary of a high school teacher is around $45,000 a year. Personally, as a fashion designer I was making $80,000 a year and that is the low end of the scale. Even though I spent twenty years in the fashion industry, I will be the first to admit that job is much less important than teaching our nation’s children and look at the salary discrepancy. Now imagine being a teacher making $45,000 a year and supporting a family, two children and a spouse in today’s economy. Unless you are a frugal money mastermind it is hard not to go into debt.

This takes me back to Jon Stewart’s point of wealth is work? How far have we strayed from the good old fashion American work ethic to earning a fast buck with nothing to show for it? And to realize that foreigners are doing most of our American labor, while we enjoy spinning the stock market and making money off quick and easy scams and then we have the audacity to sit back and scratch our head and wonder what happened to our economy, or to blame those who are making $45,000 a year and struggling to feed their families. This I say is the American crisis, more so then the financial market crisis. Personally, I think what is best for our nation’s economy is for Americans to roll up our sleeves and get a little dirty.

Crredit Card Companies pushing the benefits of Credit

It is no doubt I have a lot to say about the economy and corporations, especially credit card corporations. There have been a lot of uncomplimentary things said about banks, lenders and creditors and as one person said, “Many of these companies hire a fleet of publicists to keep the good name of their businesses.” Just think how unsavory their business when they must hire a staff of publicists to promote their good name. Sounds fishy, huh?

So it was reading through the home page of MSN.com and their articles on credit cards. Now, I’m not going to debate the benefits of credit cards. Credit Corporations can hire plenty of people to do that. And honestly, most people know credit cards are good for people who can afford them and they are good for people who know how to work them. For anyone who uses credit cards because their salary simply can’t cover life’s bills-credit cards suck! And that I say is the majority of Americans especially since salaries have not risen with the cost of living. Many simply want to turn their heads away from that fact.

There was one such article that said and I quote, “Not using credit cards can be harsh and expensive.” It wasn’t so much the content of the article, but who wrote the article. The writer of this particular article was an employee of Experian, you know the people who bought you freecreditreport.com which is not really free. They are offering you something you are already legally obliged. This seems just typical and a bit exploiting that someone who works in the credit card industry is promoting credit cards. This is like the IRS selling the benefit of paying taxes or a gambling bookie selling the odds of gambling. To me it just seems a bit incestuous. Now granted they may have some expert advice, but that advice is geared to selling us credit cards and the wondrous benefits thereof. I personally have a hard time respecting that.

But more so in watching the news last night, I learned banks, lenders and creditors to pay millions of dollars to our government to buy deregulation and to remove any aid to consumers. So how am I to take seriously anyone’s advice who works in the financial industry when their end goal is to make money off consumers? Experian and the credit score system that keeps the American consumer prison to the credit system. You get it, to have good credit, you have to have a credit card, but who does that really benefit? You got it – it benefits credit card companies.

I have experienced a time in my life in which I was debt free and let me tell you it was nothing close to “harsh”. It was the most liberating time of my life, although unfortunately I fell victim again. And expensive, how can not using a credit card be expensive because with every purchase with a credit card, you are paying more money.

Export, Import Game - The Gold Medal Goes To...

I know the suspense is killing you, so I’ll tell you up front. The gold medal goes to Germany!

So what is a single girl to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon, why research international economic statistics. I spent the afternoon researching everything from national wealth, health care and quality of life and even the export/import ratios. And below I have list the export, import top three performers in 2008. I found in my research some very fascinating information. Ah those rascally Germans

Top 3 Exporters
Germany -$1.53 Trillion dollars 82 million people, per capita exports of around $18,650 USD
China -$1.465 Trillion Dollars 1.33 billion people, per-capita exports of only $1,100 USD
US-$1.377 Trillion Dollars 303 million people, capita exports of around $4,545USD

Top 3 Importers
US- $2.19 Trillion (American imports about 82 billion dollars MORE than we export)
Germany-$1.202 Trillion (German exports 33 billion dollars more then they import)
China -$1.156 Trillion (China exports 30 billion dollars more than they import)

I am not even going to mention that Germany (with a smaller population than the US and China) is out exporting us, the most notable statistic is the 33 billion dollar surplus for the Germans. On the flip side, with a bigger population, the US exports less, but imports more. In the export, import game with have an 82 billion dollar deficit. Curious, this figure might help our 10 trillion dollar deficit. We as a nation are over spending what we earn. And this I say to the many who want to blame the people with credit card debt for the problem with the economy. As an entire nation, we are importing more then we export.

I go back to the “Quality of Life” statistic on Health Care. 60% of Americans are dissatisfied with our current health care system. We top all other industrialized nation with the statistic. Germany was not on the list and I can only deduct Germans are happy with their health care system. But despite health care, what do the Germans get for their taxes; high standard, affordable (if not free) college education for all young people in Germany. This bodes well for the Germans as they will continue to advance in innovation, ingenuity well into the future, reaping more and more financial rewards. They get clean, safe reliable public transportation, although Germans love to speed along the Autobahn in fast moving Porsches and most notably, in a statistic that came out last year of the top 12 cities in the world to live, 4 of those cities were in Germany (non were in the United States). The best American city was Honolulu that ranked 25th. Curiously, Germany doesn’t rank as high in wealth, but ranks much higher in standard of living.

The moral of this story and the reason for the research is to demonstrate the difference of Cultural Values. We in the United States place more value on individual wealth and materialism, than we do for our infant mortality rate. Let me put this bluntly to make my point. Many in this country care more for making money then we do for infant mortality. But the even greater ironic twist is the Germans have at least the same if not more consumer spending power than Americans. After all their taxes, they have more disposable cash in their pockets and do not have to stress about the health care of their family, their children’s education or even walking down the street. The moral is for us Americans to decide what do we value; personal wealth or each other? It is now a chance for us to truly define our national identity.

Stock Market Woes vs. Quality of Life

I’m not a financial expert, nor do I really care for the stock market. More and more we are hearing tales of many brokers and CEO’s who have not been playing by the rules, thus decline of the economy and thus the reason we the tax payer are paying for their corruption and greed. I don’t want the markets to crash, but I think we need to be honest about the problems we face in this country.

With President Obama’s budget on deck that promotes a great deal of change, many of those challenging the bill are stock brokers, investors, CEO’s and well rich people. I really don’t know how they think they can convince the 95% of the population that the additional taxes on the top 5% is going to hurt the country. Yes, they are promoting taxing the rich will hurt the poor. If you believe that, I believe there still swamp land in Florida. I’d just like to add here, President Obama’s current approval ratings, 68% favorable, 19% not favorable, with 47% of the 68% (Highly favorable).

Now several financial “experts” and talking economic pundit heads report news of the budget with such severe bias. They are blaming President Obama’s budget for the stock market slide. But maybe consumers are losing confidence in the stock market by grand scandals of investors and brokers. How many investors today worry their broker is like Bernie Madoff or Allen Stanford? Hey, I know why people may not be investing; corporate CEO’s and brokers have mismanaged their businesses buried deep in corruption. Perhaps why investors lost confidence is bankers and brokers miss used consumer money. Perhaps consumers lost confidence in businesses, and have a greater confidence in the direction Obama wants to take this country. Perhaps it is not the budget in which people are losing confidence, but they are losing confidence in corporations, banks and lenders.

I am not a an economic “expert” but they were all in agreement that curing the health care crisis in this country will not help the economy. Health insurance is grossly expensive-thank you insurance companies and insurance salesman, you make a lot of money of us folks. This health insurance is a burden for people and it is a burden for business which is why American business takes manufacturing overseas to countries with “Nationalized” health care and they hire foreign labor and they don’t have to pay health insurance.

his is how revising the health care system can help the economy. Okay, stay with me here…If companies do not carry the burden of supplying health care for its employees, business can bring back manufacturing and jobs back to America. More manufacturing will create more jobs, giving consumers more money to spend and invest which will help the stock market. Yippee!!!!

But for all these financial experts fearing the changes in our health care system, I will post 2008 Global health care statistics and quality of life. What you will see is America does not rank to well in quality of life. We may be richest nation in the world, but our quality of life is ranks less than most free market, industrialized nation. So I say to all who are concerned, do you care we have one of the highest infant mortality rates in the free, industrialized world? Are we as a nation satisfied with the below? And are CEO’s, financial experts, TV News anchors and politicians content of the below stats?

Life Expectancy (years):

Men Women
Japan 76.2 82.5
France 72.9 81.3
Switzerland 74.1 81.3
Netherlands 73.7 80.5
Sweden 74.2 80.4
Canada 73.4 80.3
Norway 73.1 79.7
Germany 72.6 79.2
Finland 70.7 78.8
United States 71.6 78.6
United Kingdom 72.7 78.2
Denmark 72.2 77.9

Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births):

United States 10.4
United Kingdom 9.4
Germany 8.5
Denmark 8.1
Canada 7.9
Norway 7.9
Netherlands 7.8
Switzerland 6.8
Finland 5.9
Sweden 5.9
Japan 5.0

Death rate of 1-to-4 year olds (per community of 200,000 per year):

United States 101.5
Japan 92.2
Norway 90.2
Denmark 85.1
France 84.9
United Kingdom 82.2
Canada 82.1
Netherlands 80.3
Germany 77.6
Switzerland 72.5
Sweden 64.7
Finland 53.3

Death rate of 15-to-24 year olds (per community of 200,000 per year):

United States 203
Switzerland 175
Canada 161
France 156
Finland 154
Norway 128
Germany 122
Denmark 120
United Kingdom 114
Sweden 109
Japan 96
Netherlands 90

Premature Death (years of life lost before the age of 64 per 100 people):

United States 5.8 years
Denmark 4.9
Finland 4.8
Canada 4.5
Germany 4.5
United Kingdom 4.4
Norway 4.3
Switzerland 4.1
Netherlands 4.0
Sweden 3.8
Japan 3.3


Percent of people who believe their health care system needs fundamental change:

United States 60%
Sweden 58
United Kingdom 52
Japan 47
Netherlands 46
France 42
Canada 38

WAMU Hypocrisy

This is an update to my ongoing WAMU saga, so get the violins strumming. These are the days of my life. When I last wrote, I made mention that WAMU had me between a rock and hard place and really did not care for my debt or my unemployment, this being after WAMU almost went bankrupt and had to be bought out by Chase. I wrote a letter to WAMU similar to that of a lover scorned, telling them I have contacted my Senators on their callous efforts to help me with my debt. This prompted several phone calls from sweet-talking Customer Relations ladies. I was not to be taken in. I’ve been there before, you question a lover’s faithfulness and what do they do, they swallow you up in kindness with the hint of condescension, “Don’t you trust me?”

I didn’t take their phone calls. I was forthright in what I wanted, a lower interest rate making it possible for me to pay down my debt. So finally it happened, I received a letter from Washington Mutual and they stated this goes against their policies, but they will make an exception for me and lower my default rate. Lower my default rate, do they think I’m stupid? That just means that if am late for a payment they won’t spank me as hard with a penalized fee. This has nothing to do with the interest rate that I continue to pay and not the principle of my debt. It is the obscene interest rate I want lowered so I many have a change to pay down my debt. Thanks Washington Mutual for nothing!

But they didn’t do this without a little dig at a consumer. They reminded me I have a high default rate because back in 2002 (7 years ago) I missed a payment. So bad little consumer and they spanked me on the butt. However, since 2002 I have continually received letters from WAMU increasing my credit limit (without my authorization, or approval) because I was such a good costumer. Well heck, If I’m just a good costumer-lower my interest rate so I have an opportunity to pay down my principle, but you see, this goes against everything this creditors stand for. They want us in their debt.

Unfortunately, I am not in the position to barter with WAMU at this time, but rest assured when the time comes, I will no longer be a WAMU customer. Many will blame me for my debt in which I do take responsibility, but the point is they are making it near impossible for me to pay off despite being a good customer for seven years. What aggravates me is these credit corporations act so coy and condescending, yet have the nerve to advertise how much they care for the consumer. Right!

Fear and Loathing of Socialism-Individual Liberities

Ah, there is just so much I have to say, I think I will divide this blog into several. For today’s blog, I want to focus on Rush Limbaugh’s speech at the CPAC Convention (or as Keith Olbermann refers to him “The Comedian”). Rush Limbaugh cited, “What is so strange about being honest and saying, I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation? Why would I want that to succeed?" Individual liberties, you say Rush? Okay, let’s talk individual liberty.

When I was younger I remember a woman who had Hodgkin’s disease. Since she could not get medical coverage for her “condition”, she was forced to place a jar at cashier stands at restaurants and stores hoping people would offer their change. Now just recently I heard a “patriotic” American declare he did not want to pay for another American’s healthcare, but let me tell you something that jar at the cashier stand was always full. Many good Americans gave to another in need and to me that is patriotism. Sharing benefits and wealth is patriotism. I do believe MOST Americans have the heart and feel the civic duty to help another in need. This was evidently true during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Where our government failed, the American people were to open not only their wallets but their homes as well.
Today many are going bankrupt because they cannot afford the health insurance for their illness. Today people are being declined health care because they have pre-existing conditions. Families are going into debt because they cannot handle the premiums and deductibles of insurance companies. Small businesses are going out of business because they can’t afford the health care insurance. Corporations are moving American industry overseas and providing labor to other countries with socialized medicine (Canada). Why are we losing American jobs? Big corporations do not want to pay for our health care, so they provide labor to the countries that do. So, I ask you. Does that sound like big business cares for Americans?

Today, many families lie awake at night worrying how they are going to send their children to college. Many students today are graduating with thousands of dollars of debt, without even getting their first job. They are starting out their adult lives in debt. We are losing our competitive edge in the world because our standard of education is falling and many students drop out because they cannot afford to attend. How can we compete in a global market when we cannot afford to send our children to college?

What Rush Limbaugh/Comedian wants is what is good for “him” and promoting the fear of lost individual liberties. Today our individual liberties are at the hand of the corporations, not at the hand of the government. We lose individual liberty when we can’t afford health care. We lose individual liberty when we can’t compete in getting a good education and we lose individual liberty when we graduate all ready deep in debt. We lose individual liberties when credit companies, “at their discretion” can change our loan terms that keep consumers in debt. We lose individual liberties when bank CEO run their companies into the ground and we the American taxpayer need to bail them out, only for them to buy corporate jets. We lose individual liberties when CEO’s mismanaged their businesses and lay off workers and we lose individual liberties when we must stand in unemployment lines. We lose individual liberties when corporate sponsors invest in media mouths and politicians who do not have the best intentions for the average American, but only want to reap more wealth for them. What Rush Limbaugh doesn’t realize is we have already lost many of our individual liberties at the hands of big business.

It is only with these individual liberties that we can pursue our individual dreams and give us the ability to be more creative and innovative. How can we do this when we are in debt? How can we do this when we are stressed about health insurance? To me anyone who doesn’t want to share the benefits with fellow Americans and who doesn’t want to lend a hand to help fellow Americans are not patriotic Americans. True patriotic Americans care for all Americans, not just themselves and those of like minds.