The airwaves and coaxial wires were over flowing with politics last night, President Obama spoke, Democrats clapped and Republicans sent wax statues of the Senators from the Grand Old Party that lived up to the party's colorful nickname.

In an unsurprising ruling today the Supreme Court over turned the 20 year old laws on Corporate campaign contributions and parts of McCain-Feingold reform because companies couldn't give enough money.

This court is a faith based group, still pushing the unbridled free markets with nothing holding the… Read full post »

There was a small story in our local paper that had the headline "Teens are Smoking more Pot".

 You can read a national version of the story here ; http://tinyurl.com/y8l3wkt 

 It seemed like another set back in our hugely funded war on drugs right, kids who had always had to… Read full post »

On Monday the Cricks along West Run Road ran sudsy from the wash water that overwhelmed the drainage system in the pubic housing plan better known as the projects, or “The Proj” among the school aged.

Having heard my Mother singing,

“This is the… Read full post »

One thing missing from the health care debate is the position of the "Founding Fathers" on the issue, although the conservative position on many things is based on the original intent of the framers of the document that is the final say on our laws.

 Gun owners have famously and successfully… Read full post »

After watching a listening to the debates and town hall coverage it is clear that the conservative and liberal divide have common interest for a very interesting reason. 

 No matter if you listen to Rush or John the odds are that you are fat, eat a poor diet and don't exercise… Read full post »

This is not a new topic for me but there are some new facts available so a revisiting to the idea of using the bail out money to forgive all student loans.

 The first stimulus package is for the amount of $787 Billion, as of July 1 there was about $150… Read full post »

Dick Cheney had a "safety room" built under the VP mansion after 9/11, we were lucky to learn this, only the latest in a never ending stream of comments from the current VP, Joey Biden from my home state. 

Cheney would never have told us that he used our money to… Read full post »

There has been no shortage of suggestions concerning the problems in our financial system, unfortunately most of them have come from Bankers and Economists.

These are people who are important because the banking system is the US is so large that it no longer provides a… Read full post »

Life is a grind we like to say when the times are tough and things aren't going our way,

The metaphore is an obvious one that shows up again and again, things wear you down, people are abrasive,

We are all Atlas's, tempted to shrug off the weight of the world… Read full post »

How we went from “Run, Greenspan, Run” to “Financial System Redux”

The financial downturn has been around so long now that we have to squint to remember the good times, fast rising technology company stock begat skyrocketing home prices which begat the worst economic downturn… Read full post »

The saying that became the title of this post is something that has tweaked my interest over the years, mainly due to the amount of lies that you hear and tell in the course of your life, at every age. We all tell lies, and will continue to tell… Read full post »

As an individual that never had extra money, finding myself with 7 figures worth of assets in 1998 was a major shift in thinking. Financial planning up to that point involved figuring out if the gas bill or credit cards would be paid late.

But with the new… Read full post »

The economic news seems to pelt us in the face every day, it is like we moved to an alternate reality Seattle before the invention of the umbrella. Superlatives have been used for so many months now that we are numbed to them, companies that have existed throughout last… Read full post »

It is a great feeling to see the budget actually include everything we need to spend as a nation in one place instead of the shell game that the last administration played since the 2003. It is also great to the see the shift towards more logic driven policy funding,… Read full post »

With all of the talk about the wall street bail-out centering around the topic of "valuing" the toxic assets held by the banks the meaning of the words, toxic and assets, appear to require a closer look.

 Why anyone would value a toxic asset at all is the first question that… Read full post »

This is my second post on the idea of asking the government to forgive all student loans as part if the stimulus spending, the first post dealt mainly with the logical reasons, and there will be more of that in this post.

The main purpose for the second… Read full post »

In all of the talk of bailouts and forgiveness there is one group that provides a great opportunity to both stimulate the economy and help rectify some ethical transgressions of the corrupt and inept banking system of the last 20 years.

Why not use $100 Billion of the… Read full post »

The largest shift that is going to have to take place for the 21rst century to be the one that changes mankind's current trajectory has to be a new definition of wealth. As long as we align our feelings of self worth and personal value with what we own, or want… Read full post »

A recent column in the NYT by Tom Friedman declared that the time to save the two state solution in the middle east is now, and that if action isn't taken soon the opportunity will go away. 

 Hamas in Gaza and the Settlers in the West Bank are the  catalysts of this… Read full post »

There are plenty of ways to think of sustainability, focusing on energy, food and housing are some of the things that I've been involved with in the past.

 The temptation is to to focus in one area, like transportation, and go out and buy a Prius. (Mine is a 2004) You… Read full post »

In full disclosure I am not a education expert, a teacher, or even a school board member. Heck, I wasn't even much of a student, even though I managed to scrape together an engineering degree.

That was 35 years ago and it has served me well, although being more of a… Read full post »