Beside the financial crisis there seem to be other bad things that just pop up in clusters. Maybe it has to do with everyone being tense, but these things don't seem related.
My father-in-law, who I have mentioned here before, is 95 and has really been a tough old bird for many years. But now his body and mind are slipping away. It is taking a long time and is tough to watch. He fell and is in the hospital, but he isn't sure if he is in jail or visiting one of his old customers. When the nurse asked him what year it was he answered 1980, which was the last year he worked.
A good friend of ours is back taking chemo-therapy for a re-occurrence of her cancer. It is very difficult to know how well she will do. Then today, my son told me that one of his friends who had moved away and started a new life in a far-off land was shot and killed in a robbery.
We don't live in Baghdad or Mumbai but there are times when it feels like the world is crumbling around me. My wife gets upset, as well she should. I think I have developed too much of a clinical detachment. I have a circle of about six people, and if anything happened to them I would be rocked to the core, but beyond that, I can feel bad, but I have learned to just kind of shrug and go on.
It could be from working with so many people, and getting to care about them, at least to a point, and still realizing that in many cases, their lives are not going to improve that much.
Or it could be that I'm just really not that nice a guy.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Back at it.
The historic week has ended. I am envigrrated for a better world, but right now I have to deal with the one we have. That means that today I got up and went back to the office.
The misery business, as my father-in-law always called it, is booming. Financial pressure puts pressure on relationships; stress is everywhere. People are struggling, people are angry, people are sad. That's OK, that's what I have to deal with.
I'll tell you what's tough. It dealing with the narcissists. When people are in a difficult situation, or have difficulties in their heads, or are just difficult, that's fine. But when someone feels that all the troubles have been heaped upon them, and then they just sit there and complain that no one is lifting them off fast enough, that is when the job seems difficult and taxing.
Understanding your problems is helpful. Explaining is helpful.
Blaming is not.
Hey, don't blame me, I'm just the therapist.
The misery business, as my father-in-law always called it, is booming. Financial pressure puts pressure on relationships; stress is everywhere. People are struggling, people are angry, people are sad. That's OK, that's what I have to deal with.
I'll tell you what's tough. It dealing with the narcissists. When people are in a difficult situation, or have difficulties in their heads, or are just difficult, that's fine. But when someone feels that all the troubles have been heaped upon them, and then they just sit there and complain that no one is lifting them off fast enough, that is when the job seems difficult and taxing.
Understanding your problems is helpful. Explaining is helpful.
Blaming is not.
Hey, don't blame me, I'm just the therapist.
Friday, November 07, 2008
Obama and Psychotherapy
If Mr. Obama can get people together and try to make significant changes in our society, then some of my clients can make the sustained effort necessary to get their lives going in the right direction. His administration can set the tone that we are working together to make things better.
"But," some of my clients will say in one form or another, "my life is difficult, I was dealt a bad hand, my father left when I was young, my mother was a starry-eyed hippie." Obviously, that can no longer be a lasting cause of bad behavior. Now that there is insight, change should follow. These clients may not have a totally devoted grandmother who will last with them until the very threshold of their greatest achievement, but they do have me. I am here, and I am attentive, and I will be at least until their insurance coverage runs out, and with the new parity bill that could be a long time.
So, let's use this as a time of transformation for all of us. Let us pay attention to each other, help each other along and begin to move in a good direction. But, also, let's raise the expectations of each of us, and we will all benefit.
"But," some of my clients will say in one form or another, "my life is difficult, I was dealt a bad hand, my father left when I was young, my mother was a starry-eyed hippie." Obviously, that can no longer be a lasting cause of bad behavior. Now that there is insight, change should follow. These clients may not have a totally devoted grandmother who will last with them until the very threshold of their greatest achievement, but they do have me. I am here, and I am attentive, and I will be at least until their insurance coverage runs out, and with the new parity bill that could be a long time.
So, let's use this as a time of transformation for all of us. Let us pay attention to each other, help each other along and begin to move in a good direction. But, also, let's raise the expectations of each of us, and we will all benefit.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
YES!
I will admit that on Sunday I was very confident, but by Tuesday morning I could see a way that the election could be lost.
I sat with friends and family, trying to be friendly without telling everyone just to shut-up and pay attention. When PA was declared fairly quickly I began to relax. An hour later when Ohio was given to Obama I knew, like everyone else, that it was really going to happen. All the TV people seemed to know it all along.
For the first time in eight years I felt hopeful. I drove to work this morning and I did not cringe every time I heard the news. I felt I did not have to be embarrassed about how the people in my government were screwing up the economy, science, world trade, war, energy, the environment, health-care, health,and human relations.
Basically, I have some confidence that the people who will be running this country, while they certainly won't be perfect, and they certainly will be politicians, will at least be smart. They will understand that the world is complex. That it does not just consist of good-guys and bad-guys, and that the problems we have to deal with are difficult. I think they will have a better understanding that even if someone disagrees with them that doesn't make them terrible or stupid (although sometimes they are).
That's all I want, to feel that we have good people who are trying. For eight years I have felt we have had an administration and even a Congress who were stuck in their own mud and couldn't see passed their mind-set, and couldn't understand what they were seeing, and didn't try to understand it.
Now, we will have to wait and see. but I certainly do buy what Mr. Obama is selling, which is hope.
That is really a great deal of what I do in my own work. Get my clients to believe that their lives can be better. I know how necessary that is if any change is to occur.
I sat with friends and family, trying to be friendly without telling everyone just to shut-up and pay attention. When PA was declared fairly quickly I began to relax. An hour later when Ohio was given to Obama I knew, like everyone else, that it was really going to happen. All the TV people seemed to know it all along.
For the first time in eight years I felt hopeful. I drove to work this morning and I did not cringe every time I heard the news. I felt I did not have to be embarrassed about how the people in my government were screwing up the economy, science, world trade, war, energy, the environment, health-care, health,and human relations.
Basically, I have some confidence that the people who will be running this country, while they certainly won't be perfect, and they certainly will be politicians, will at least be smart. They will understand that the world is complex. That it does not just consist of good-guys and bad-guys, and that the problems we have to deal with are difficult. I think they will have a better understanding that even if someone disagrees with them that doesn't make them terrible or stupid (although sometimes they are).
That's all I want, to feel that we have good people who are trying. For eight years I have felt we have had an administration and even a Congress who were stuck in their own mud and couldn't see passed their mind-set, and couldn't understand what they were seeing, and didn't try to understand it.
Now, we will have to wait and see. but I certainly do buy what Mr. Obama is selling, which is hope.
That is really a great deal of what I do in my own work. Get my clients to believe that their lives can be better. I know how necessary that is if any change is to occur.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Finally
It's funny about time, but if you don't do anything the world keeps turning and eventually, things come to pass.
This election has been going on for almost two years. I have really been pretty actively following it since last January. What with the wars never ending, the financial ups and downs and downs and downs, the current idiot President who has allowed the Justice Department, the Energy Department and the FDA to all become inept and corrupt, I have always felt that this is a crucial election.
Now, finally, I have seen my last client before I vote. I have encouraged all my clients to vote, but I don't get into politics unless they start. The election has really aroused more interest than even the Red Sox this year, and that was not the case four years ago. Four years ago many more local folks were intensely involved with the Sox, and their own local Senator was running for President. Now they seem to have awakened.
What happens next is completely unknown. The world is in a great mess, to a large degree because of how this country has been run for the last eight years. It will take years to clean it up. But at least, if the election goes well, the tone of national and international relations can change dramatically. The world will look at America differently, and we could be a bit different with each other.
But that has not happened yet. I am working tomorrow and then I will be watching every channel. Mostly I will be watching Florida. For me, that is the first major indication. Maybe I won't have to stay up until two in the morning.
This election has been going on for almost two years. I have really been pretty actively following it since last January. What with the wars never ending, the financial ups and downs and downs and downs, the current idiot President who has allowed the Justice Department, the Energy Department and the FDA to all become inept and corrupt, I have always felt that this is a crucial election.
Now, finally, I have seen my last client before I vote. I have encouraged all my clients to vote, but I don't get into politics unless they start. The election has really aroused more interest than even the Red Sox this year, and that was not the case four years ago. Four years ago many more local folks were intensely involved with the Sox, and their own local Senator was running for President. Now they seem to have awakened.
What happens next is completely unknown. The world is in a great mess, to a large degree because of how this country has been run for the last eight years. It will take years to clean it up. But at least, if the election goes well, the tone of national and international relations can change dramatically. The world will look at America differently, and we could be a bit different with each other.
But that has not happened yet. I am working tomorrow and then I will be watching every channel. Mostly I will be watching Florida. For me, that is the first major indication. Maybe I won't have to stay up until two in the morning.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
six days away
The election is coming, so they say. Mr. Obama has been running for 21 months. Mr. McCain has been running, on and off, for eight years. The decisions, soon to be made by millions of Americans, some of whom have already completed the task, is less than a week away.
In many ways people have to decide if they want to protect themselves, their won interests and their own money, or they want o feel that they are a part of a larger society in which each of us has some relationship, and some important interactions with each other.
This economic melt-down is, to a large degree, the result of people not looking at, and not caring about, the consequences their actions may have upon the welfare of others. They trusted that their attempts to make money were basically honest, and although the things they did were risky, they didn't look, understand, or ever think about how inter-related we all are. There was all this talk about some kind of "invisible hand" running through free markets, and that would make everything balance, and determine a real and fair value of things.
Obviously, there were many flaws in that kind of thinking, just as their are flaws in "trickle-down economics."
America is a land of opportunity, but it can also be a very harsh place for those who slip and fall, or for those who never had the chance to stand up in the first place.
Should we look around and care about each other, even if it is at some cost to ourselves? Or, if we each do the best we can for ourselves, will things work out as they should?
To some extent, the people will decide.
In many ways people have to decide if they want to protect themselves, their won interests and their own money, or they want o feel that they are a part of a larger society in which each of us has some relationship, and some important interactions with each other.
This economic melt-down is, to a large degree, the result of people not looking at, and not caring about, the consequences their actions may have upon the welfare of others. They trusted that their attempts to make money were basically honest, and although the things they did were risky, they didn't look, understand, or ever think about how inter-related we all are. There was all this talk about some kind of "invisible hand" running through free markets, and that would make everything balance, and determine a real and fair value of things.
Obviously, there were many flaws in that kind of thinking, just as their are flaws in "trickle-down economics."
America is a land of opportunity, but it can also be a very harsh place for those who slip and fall, or for those who never had the chance to stand up in the first place.
Should we look around and care about each other, even if it is at some cost to ourselves? Or, if we each do the best we can for ourselves, will things work out as they should?
To some extent, the people will decide.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
The leaves, and times, are changing
Today was one of those days that they put in movies about New England. The was HD clear after the night's rain, the sky was a perfect autumn blue. The temperature was actually warmer than it should be, but no one complained. Here in Southern N. E. the leaves are at their peak, and because of the right amount of rain and temperature changes this is a good year for color. There are reds, yellows, orange, brown and even purple mixed against some still green. My neighborhood has big old trees, maple, oak, beech and pine, with occasional sassafras, walnut, tulip and even willow. The trees reach way up into the blue, each with it's own vibrant color.
As we walked we met other neighbors walking. We talked of the coming election, which seems like it will never come. Everyone in this small city is of the same mind on the election. We talk of the economy, and joke about keeping our jobs for another decade. Who really wanted to retire anyway? Some of these folks had real jobs and made real money. Some of them have retired. In some ways the great stock market crash represents huge changes in numbers, but no real change in the current lifestyle. But everyone knows that things a are different, and we will not be as plush as we had planned.
One friend, who does business in Europe said that the bad times have hit there hard now. The world blames the credit crazy U.S. for giving and then selling so many bad loans. But everybody bought them and tried to get rich. Now everyone is getting poor. Some much poorer than others.
For us older folks, there is some sense that we have been through some of this. We are not old enough to have been part of the depression of the 30s, but old enough to know that bubbles burst.
It just seems that the bubbles build and burst at a much faster rate now. People seem to be waiting around for the next one to begin. The idea of a slow, steady rise in the economy, based on real products and real work has not really taken hold yet.
Maybe new, "Green Energy" will sweep us up in a new wave of progress and everyone can ride that train back to wealth and consumption.
Or maybe not. Perhaps we will all be poor for a while, and stay home, have conversations and get to know each other.
But that's just an old man talking. Most of us will run around and keep in touch through text messages:
"Pizza?"
"2 late"
"OU812"
As we walked we met other neighbors walking. We talked of the coming election, which seems like it will never come. Everyone in this small city is of the same mind on the election. We talk of the economy, and joke about keeping our jobs for another decade. Who really wanted to retire anyway? Some of these folks had real jobs and made real money. Some of them have retired. In some ways the great stock market crash represents huge changes in numbers, but no real change in the current lifestyle. But everyone knows that things a are different, and we will not be as plush as we had planned.
One friend, who does business in Europe said that the bad times have hit there hard now. The world blames the credit crazy U.S. for giving and then selling so many bad loans. But everybody bought them and tried to get rich. Now everyone is getting poor. Some much poorer than others.
For us older folks, there is some sense that we have been through some of this. We are not old enough to have been part of the depression of the 30s, but old enough to know that bubbles burst.
It just seems that the bubbles build and burst at a much faster rate now. People seem to be waiting around for the next one to begin. The idea of a slow, steady rise in the economy, based on real products and real work has not really taken hold yet.
Maybe new, "Green Energy" will sweep us up in a new wave of progress and everyone can ride that train back to wealth and consumption.
Or maybe not. Perhaps we will all be poor for a while, and stay home, have conversations and get to know each other.
But that's just an old man talking. Most of us will run around and keep in touch through text messages:
"Pizza?"
"2 late"
"OU812"
Friday, October 24, 2008
all fall down
I was away from blogging for almost a month. Why? Because there was too much else going on. Just one thing after another that needed to be taken care of. When I was done with all that my brain didn't have too many creative neurons firing. I went to bed.
I had to pay the bills for my practice, the bills for the house, and now the bills for my fading father-in-law. The car needed to be taken care of, so did my wife's car, not that I can do the work, but I had to drive it up and back. The house is being worked on and one day two guys were standing on the scaffold and staring right in on my desk.
Mr new doctor seems to question everything about my health. I have taken more tests than ever before, and I'm OK, just poorer. One wonders about why our health care is so expensive. "Just want to be sure." I wonder if it is my health, his pocket, or the lawyers he is really worried about.
I had to see my clients, see my kids and listen to my father-in-law not make sense and my wife get upset about it. I don't make much sense and she doesn't seem to care.
I took time to watch the leaves change color.
I did a bit to keep Obama moving in the right direction.
BUT, my life is a breeze compared to what I hear in my office, and usually my clients are not the ones who are the most lost, disorganized and overwhelmed, but they have to deal with people who are. A's mother is on cocaine and three months behind in her rent. B's brother is locked in a room and won't come out. C's sister came to live with her because her house has mold. Now she hasn't paid any rent, hasn't cleaned the room and disappears every weekend without any explanation. D's daughter has been suspened from school for fighting, three times.
This doesn't count all the illness that are impossible to deal with, Parkinson's Huntington's, ALS. These are the kinds of things tahat just suck life out of a whole family.
I hear about so many houses that haven't been cleaned in months, so many bills hat haven't been paid that people stop trying, so many lawns that haven't been mowed, so many roofs that haven't been fixed. Things are falling down.
It seems to me, and I've been doing this a while, that the pace of life, the price of life, and demands of keeping up have increased, partly because of technology, to the point where people can't keep up, and are dropping out.
Even without this financial mess, I think it's worse than it was, but maybe I'm just getting old.
I had to pay the bills for my practice, the bills for the house, and now the bills for my fading father-in-law. The car needed to be taken care of, so did my wife's car, not that I can do the work, but I had to drive it up and back. The house is being worked on and one day two guys were standing on the scaffold and staring right in on my desk.
Mr new doctor seems to question everything about my health. I have taken more tests than ever before, and I'm OK, just poorer. One wonders about why our health care is so expensive. "Just want to be sure." I wonder if it is my health, his pocket, or the lawyers he is really worried about.
I had to see my clients, see my kids and listen to my father-in-law not make sense and my wife get upset about it. I don't make much sense and she doesn't seem to care.
I took time to watch the leaves change color.
I did a bit to keep Obama moving in the right direction.
BUT, my life is a breeze compared to what I hear in my office, and usually my clients are not the ones who are the most lost, disorganized and overwhelmed, but they have to deal with people who are. A's mother is on cocaine and three months behind in her rent. B's brother is locked in a room and won't come out. C's sister came to live with her because her house has mold. Now she hasn't paid any rent, hasn't cleaned the room and disappears every weekend without any explanation. D's daughter has been suspened from school for fighting, three times.
This doesn't count all the illness that are impossible to deal with, Parkinson's Huntington's, ALS. These are the kinds of things tahat just suck life out of a whole family.
I hear about so many houses that haven't been cleaned in months, so many bills hat haven't been paid that people stop trying, so many lawns that haven't been mowed, so many roofs that haven't been fixed. Things are falling down.
It seems to me, and I've been doing this a while, that the pace of life, the price of life, and demands of keeping up have increased, partly because of technology, to the point where people can't keep up, and are dropping out.
Even without this financial mess, I think it's worse than it was, but maybe I'm just getting old.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Been so Long
Look at that. I just looked at the date of my last post and it was almost a month ago. I would have said maybe two weeks. It's amazing how life gets filled up with all kinds of stuff. I had even told myself that it would be good for my brain to keep writing often, but so much for my brain.
I have spent time having parts of my body poked and measured and scoped. Despite all their best efforts, and they really seem to be trying, they haven't found anything wrong with me yet. That's what you get for going to see a doctor.
I have also been doing what I said and trying to help the Obama campaign. The actual work I do has not been that meaningful. He has not yet called me to help do his mental health policy, although he should. I will lobby for that after I see that he wins.
I hope you noticed that the Mental Health Parity bill got stuck into the Huge Economic Recovery Package. It will be a slight help, although insurance companies will find ways around it. They didn't designate $770 million for mental health. They should have, as clearly everyone involved with this mess is nuts.
For me, the trouble mainly goes back to Reagan. It was he and his conservative crowd that decided that the purpose of America was to give everyone the opportunity to get rich. That was the only purpose. How anyone made money, how much it destroyed other people, other countries or the other values and fabric of our own society were not questions anyone even considered.
Also, those conservatives were the ones who began to target liberals as having useless tax and spend policies. While those criticisms were on target in some respects, what those people put in place were spend and spend policies. It has been the conservatives, and G W Bush more than anyone in history, who just spend money and build huge deficits. They created a climate of unregulated greed and here we are.
So, I am holding on to hope for the next couple of weeks. There are about 35% of the people would vote for the Republicans even if Sarah Palin herself were running. It does seem that for now, the independents and the often undecided voters have had enough of war, bad health care, a crappy economy, and watching this country fall into chaos and decline.
Even my most moribund clients are taking notice in this election. Only the ones who are chronically bitter and angry seem to be for McCain.
I have spent time having parts of my body poked and measured and scoped. Despite all their best efforts, and they really seem to be trying, they haven't found anything wrong with me yet. That's what you get for going to see a doctor.
I have also been doing what I said and trying to help the Obama campaign. The actual work I do has not been that meaningful. He has not yet called me to help do his mental health policy, although he should. I will lobby for that after I see that he wins.
I hope you noticed that the Mental Health Parity bill got stuck into the Huge Economic Recovery Package. It will be a slight help, although insurance companies will find ways around it. They didn't designate $770 million for mental health. They should have, as clearly everyone involved with this mess is nuts.
For me, the trouble mainly goes back to Reagan. It was he and his conservative crowd that decided that the purpose of America was to give everyone the opportunity to get rich. That was the only purpose. How anyone made money, how much it destroyed other people, other countries or the other values and fabric of our own society were not questions anyone even considered.
Also, those conservatives were the ones who began to target liberals as having useless tax and spend policies. While those criticisms were on target in some respects, what those people put in place were spend and spend policies. It has been the conservatives, and G W Bush more than anyone in history, who just spend money and build huge deficits. They created a climate of unregulated greed and here we are.
So, I am holding on to hope for the next couple of weeks. There are about 35% of the people would vote for the Republicans even if Sarah Palin herself were running. It does seem that for now, the independents and the often undecided voters have had enough of war, bad health care, a crappy economy, and watching this country fall into chaos and decline.
Even my most moribund clients are taking notice in this election. Only the ones who are chronically bitter and angry seem to be for McCain.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Great Theater
Wow!
All of this is better, and more unexpected and unpredictable than any TV show. Unfortunately, so many people seem to view this election as if it was "American Idol."
You have to have some kind of admiration for John McCain. You never know what he will do next, and you never quite know what he is thinking. While this may be great for a self proclaimed "maverick," it is really terrifying to think of a President acting that way. A little stability in a time of crisis could be helpful.
He "suspended" his campaign to run to Washington, as if anyone could suspend a Presidential campaign five weeks before the election. Did he mean that no one should pay attention to what he was doing? I don't think that was what he meant. I think what he meant was: watch me act like I'm concerned, but I rally don't quite know what I'm doing. He also may have been trying to find a way to eliminate the vice-presidential debate, before Sarah tells the world that she knows all about foreign policy because Putin flies over her house.
A good thing is that even many of my clients, many of whom don't pay much attention to who is running their country, are paying attention now. I also think that as Obama continues to be on TV all the time, in ads, in debates, inginterviews, people will begin to see him as Obama, the Liberal Democrat, but much less as Obama, the Black guy. He is just becoming familiar, and that is a good thing for this county.
Unfortunately, Palin is not doing the same for women. She is fulfilling the stereotype of the not too swift beauty-pageant lady, who wants to bring peace to the world but whose talent is baton twirling.
Obama survived the debate about foreign policy, which is supposed to be McCain's strength. It is impressive that McCain has been to all these countries and knows all these people, but his stace seems to be ready to go to war with them all. He doesn't seem to see that going to war hasn't been too successful over the last fifty years.
Obama's lead is building, but who knows, one explosion, a TV appearance by Satan on David Letterman, or Tina Fey coming out in support of McCain, and everything could swing the other way very quickly.
All of this is better, and more unexpected and unpredictable than any TV show. Unfortunately, so many people seem to view this election as if it was "American Idol."
You have to have some kind of admiration for John McCain. You never know what he will do next, and you never quite know what he is thinking. While this may be great for a self proclaimed "maverick," it is really terrifying to think of a President acting that way. A little stability in a time of crisis could be helpful.
He "suspended" his campaign to run to Washington, as if anyone could suspend a Presidential campaign five weeks before the election. Did he mean that no one should pay attention to what he was doing? I don't think that was what he meant. I think what he meant was: watch me act like I'm concerned, but I rally don't quite know what I'm doing. He also may have been trying to find a way to eliminate the vice-presidential debate, before Sarah tells the world that she knows all about foreign policy because Putin flies over her house.
A good thing is that even many of my clients, many of whom don't pay much attention to who is running their country, are paying attention now. I also think that as Obama continues to be on TV all the time, in ads, in debates, inginterviews, people will begin to see him as Obama, the Liberal Democrat, but much less as Obama, the Black guy. He is just becoming familiar, and that is a good thing for this county.
Unfortunately, Palin is not doing the same for women. She is fulfilling the stereotype of the not too swift beauty-pageant lady, who wants to bring peace to the world but whose talent is baton twirling.
Obama survived the debate about foreign policy, which is supposed to be McCain's strength. It is impressive that McCain has been to all these countries and knows all these people, but his stace seems to be ready to go to war with them all. He doesn't seem to see that going to war hasn't been too successful over the last fifty years.
Obama's lead is building, but who knows, one explosion, a TV appearance by Satan on David Letterman, or Tina Fey coming out in support of McCain, and everything could swing the other way very quickly.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
More Obama stuff
So, as I said, I am doing work for Obama. Today, since I live in a very blue state, I was called people in battleground states to see if they could do some work in theri neighborhood. I leaned a few things.
First, most people don't answer their phones, even if they have cell-phones. I think my wife is the last person who believes that if the phone rings you are supposed to answer it.
Second, i seems that so many people in America are moving and struggling. So many phones are disconnected, and so many people who signed up only two months ago are already someplace else.
There was some genuine enthusiasm, so it seems some people are paying attention.
I can't remember an election that has gotten this slimy this early. It seems that McCain will say anything he feels will be effective, but without any attention to truth. I guess he feels that Bush did it to him, so he can do it to Obama. "The Straight-Talk Express" seems to be completely derailed as he and Sarah have no contact with the press. They don't want to be accountable to anyone. Even the ladies on "The View" called him a liar, and he had nothing really to say.
It's sad, because there is so much at stake. For him to suddenly become a fiscal watch-dog, when he himself was censured by Congress during the last banking crisis is as ridiculous as it gets.
But that's they way things are going.
Also, That web-site that was posted as a response to my last post was interesting and worth checking out.
First, most people don't answer their phones, even if they have cell-phones. I think my wife is the last person who believes that if the phone rings you are supposed to answer it.
Second, i seems that so many people in America are moving and struggling. So many phones are disconnected, and so many people who signed up only two months ago are already someplace else.
There was some genuine enthusiasm, so it seems some people are paying attention.
I can't remember an election that has gotten this slimy this early. It seems that McCain will say anything he feels will be effective, but without any attention to truth. I guess he feels that Bush did it to him, so he can do it to Obama. "The Straight-Talk Express" seems to be completely derailed as he and Sarah have no contact with the press. They don't want to be accountable to anyone. Even the ladies on "The View" called him a liar, and he had nothing really to say.
It's sad, because there is so much at stake. For him to suddenly become a fiscal watch-dog, when he himself was censured by Congress during the last banking crisis is as ridiculous as it gets.
But that's they way things are going.
Also, That web-site that was posted as a response to my last post was interesting and worth checking out.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Should have seen it coming
About three years ago, looking back from what we know now, I should have known that the financial world was about to implode. At that time I was seeing the usual sixty different people in a month. What I realized even then was that about ten of the people I saw, who had been not doing too well professionally, were suddenly taking exams to become mortgage brokers. Even those who couldn't pass the exams were sell mortgages for their sleazy brother-in-law or cousin. The cousin was often the guy who sold mortgages, and to add to his profit margin, sold cocaine.
I had one woman who had a few relationship problems, but she was selling both real-estate and mortgages, and she was making many, many dollars. She worked constantly, looked stylish, networked with everyone, and knew everyone. Everyone thought they could be just like her.
Well, they couldn't.
But they all sold mortgages to their aunts and uncles and ner'-do-well brothers. They all seemed to have some sense that these people couldn't afford the payments. Many of the people taking the mortgages were taking money out of the houses they had owned for years, believing that the equity in the house would just continue to rise at 20% a year. Often they used the money to pay off the credit card debt they had gotten by buying SUVs, and the trips that came with them.
The banks were encouraging people to use the credit cards, and would sent new ones to people as soon as the old one was max-ed out. The mortgage companies were selling on the basis of low-rates that the Fed had dropped to get the economy going after the stock market bubble burst, without regard to creating a bubble in housing.
Then the bubble popped. Surprise!
It was completely unregulated. What made it worse was the brilliant investment bankers who devised "credit default swaps" and were leveraging derivatives on those at 30- 1.
Then the families who wanted it all now, and was encouraged to put it all on credit, was faced with the reality that they owned much more than they had in assets, and that they now had negative equity in their houses. It was over for everyone.
Now, John McCain wants to tell you he will reform all this, by stopping the greed of the "Fat Cats." Well those "Fat Cats" are the are Republicans he is counting on to finance is campaign. He forgets to tell you that. That's why he wants to keep the Bush tax cuts. That way they get to keep their money.
That's called getting tough.
I had one woman who had a few relationship problems, but she was selling both real-estate and mortgages, and she was making many, many dollars. She worked constantly, looked stylish, networked with everyone, and knew everyone. Everyone thought they could be just like her.
Well, they couldn't.
But they all sold mortgages to their aunts and uncles and ner'-do-well brothers. They all seemed to have some sense that these people couldn't afford the payments. Many of the people taking the mortgages were taking money out of the houses they had owned for years, believing that the equity in the house would just continue to rise at 20% a year. Often they used the money to pay off the credit card debt they had gotten by buying SUVs, and the trips that came with them.
The banks were encouraging people to use the credit cards, and would sent new ones to people as soon as the old one was max-ed out. The mortgage companies were selling on the basis of low-rates that the Fed had dropped to get the economy going after the stock market bubble burst, without regard to creating a bubble in housing.
Then the bubble popped. Surprise!
It was completely unregulated. What made it worse was the brilliant investment bankers who devised "credit default swaps" and were leveraging derivatives on those at 30- 1.
Then the families who wanted it all now, and was encouraged to put it all on credit, was faced with the reality that they owned much more than they had in assets, and that they now had negative equity in their houses. It was over for everyone.
Now, John McCain wants to tell you he will reform all this, by stopping the greed of the "Fat Cats." Well those "Fat Cats" are the are Republicans he is counting on to finance is campaign. He forgets to tell you that. That's why he wants to keep the Bush tax cuts. That way they get to keep their money.
That's called getting tough.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
It's OK (almost)
Well football is on. And football and HD TV were made for each other. We are here in America, watching football, drinking a beer, and everything is just fine.
It's easy to forget that we are fighting two wars, one for no reason, and one we are losing. It's easy not to think how today we had to pay taxes and so much of that money is going to to bombs and corruption.
It's easy to forget that houses are being foreclosed at a record rate, that unemployment is rising rapidly, that we are being fleeced by oil companies. It is these same companies that will make more money when we "drill, drill drill" and it won't make the price of gas cheaper.
It's easy to forget that the Justice Department is corrupt and run out of a religious/political office. It's easy not to look at the department of the interior that takes bribes and has sex with people from these same oil companies.
Mr. McCain says he wants to go to Washington and make changes. He doesn't say that he will change any of this. He won't stop the war that spends a couple of billion of my money each month. He won't change the people in these corrupt departments because they are all the same Republicans that are paying for his campaign. He won't change health care and make it affordable or efficient. He will go to Washington and change the face of the man in the White House. Everything else will be the same.
But, hey, football is on. My team is winning so everything must be right with America. Let's not bother with politics. That way we can act stupid, be happy and poor, and probably lose more of our sons and daughters in wars for the oil companies.
But that's a small price to pay for HDTV.
It's easy to forget that we are fighting two wars, one for no reason, and one we are losing. It's easy not to think how today we had to pay taxes and so much of that money is going to to bombs and corruption.
It's easy to forget that houses are being foreclosed at a record rate, that unemployment is rising rapidly, that we are being fleeced by oil companies. It is these same companies that will make more money when we "drill, drill drill" and it won't make the price of gas cheaper.
It's easy to forget that the Justice Department is corrupt and run out of a religious/political office. It's easy not to look at the department of the interior that takes bribes and has sex with people from these same oil companies.
Mr. McCain says he wants to go to Washington and make changes. He doesn't say that he will change any of this. He won't stop the war that spends a couple of billion of my money each month. He won't change the people in these corrupt departments because they are all the same Republicans that are paying for his campaign. He won't change health care and make it affordable or efficient. He will go to Washington and change the face of the man in the White House. Everything else will be the same.
But, hey, football is on. My team is winning so everything must be right with America. Let's not bother with politics. That way we can act stupid, be happy and poor, and probably lose more of our sons and daughters in wars for the oil companies.
But that's a small price to pay for HDTV.
Monday, September 08, 2008
more discussion
It seems that, among others, we have a "Right-Wing-Radio-Republican" in our midst. There are hordes of people who have been out there for over twenty years now who have decided that the best way to enter into a political discussion is to scream, slander, debase, and just throw all kinds of hyperbolic charges at the opposition. It's the "all Democrats are dangerous," and "Liberalism is a disease" type of argument that only leads to greater divisions in the country. Everyone says they are against it untle they realize that it takes only 270 electoral votes to win.
But, as we can see from the last two Presidential elections, it works. Perhaps a lie is still a lie no matter how many times you say it, but then how many people still believe that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with 911?
Now we have McCain leading the cheers for Ms. Palin, as if she has become the next American Idol. Her qualifications seem about the same, cute, popular, and can give a good scripted come-back. Ms. Palin may be strong enough to be Vice-President, but she seems to be a kept hot-house flower who is not allowed to speak for herself without a card to read.
Once again, it's great theater. How many times can we run the 9/11 movie?
Obama must be amazed that McCain can flip from being the "experience" guy to being the "new change guy" just because he says so. Who has time to really see if it means anything when you really are worrying about making the next mortgage payment?
Oh, and on health-care. That's the field I work in. Everyday I see how intrusive, wasteful, inefficient, insensitive and expensive our "free-market" system is. It is designed to make people money (even me) much more than to keep people healthy.
But, as we can see from the last two Presidential elections, it works. Perhaps a lie is still a lie no matter how many times you say it, but then how many people still believe that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with 911?
Now we have McCain leading the cheers for Ms. Palin, as if she has become the next American Idol. Her qualifications seem about the same, cute, popular, and can give a good scripted come-back. Ms. Palin may be strong enough to be Vice-President, but she seems to be a kept hot-house flower who is not allowed to speak for herself without a card to read.
Once again, it's great theater. How many times can we run the 9/11 movie?
Obama must be amazed that McCain can flip from being the "experience" guy to being the "new change guy" just because he says so. Who has time to really see if it means anything when you really are worrying about making the next mortgage payment?
Oh, and on health-care. That's the field I work in. Everyday I see how intrusive, wasteful, inefficient, insensitive and expensive our "free-market" system is. It is designed to make people money (even me) much more than to keep people healthy.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
discussion?
Well, we are beginning to get some reactions here. I can't quite call it a discussion when some of the folks seem pretty much off the wall. That often seems to be the way political discussions go these days. I don't know where the raping and killing part comes in. Are people really still that afraid of Black people?
Amanda -- please register and vote, even if it means using a couple of stamps. If I knew where you were I'd forward some to you.
One thing the Republicans are very skilled at is creating symbols. They have been running on the same issues for decades, but they really don't talk about issues. They get people to feel for patriotism, safety and loyalty -- and even when what they actually do is really harmful to the nation they still are able to get people to feel that it is more American somehow, to be that way.
McCain is now running ads that trash his own policies and his own party, and then he blames it on Obama. If McCain wins the only thing that is going to change is the face of the man in the White House, but he poses as St. Patrick, and about to drive all the snakes away.
I really do think that Obama wants to create more of a caring society atmosphere in this country than anything we have seen since FDR. McCain is a true believer in American Individualism -- which ends up beong every person for himself, which then results in those who have more power and influence taking advantage of that and depriving others of their opportunities. Something like good health care really takes the kind of cooperation that this country has not been good at.
Amanda -- please register and vote, even if it means using a couple of stamps. If I knew where you were I'd forward some to you.
One thing the Republicans are very skilled at is creating symbols. They have been running on the same issues for decades, but they really don't talk about issues. They get people to feel for patriotism, safety and loyalty -- and even when what they actually do is really harmful to the nation they still are able to get people to feel that it is more American somehow, to be that way.
McCain is now running ads that trash his own policies and his own party, and then he blames it on Obama. If McCain wins the only thing that is going to change is the face of the man in the White House, but he poses as St. Patrick, and about to drive all the snakes away.
I really do think that Obama wants to create more of a caring society atmosphere in this country than anything we have seen since FDR. McCain is a true believer in American Individualism -- which ends up beong every person for himself, which then results in those who have more power and influence taking advantage of that and depriving others of their opportunities. Something like good health care really takes the kind of cooperation that this country has not been good at.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Reactions to the Republicans
The Republicans are meeting now and I am watching it on TV.
I have two immediate reactions. NOTE: I am very biased.
1. The Republicans seem to glorify war. The short movie about the Navy Seal who died was moving, and really tragic. This really gallant young man died in a war that didn't need to be fought. He saved his comrades while fighting people who really offered no threat to this county. No one mentions that. The Republican honor soldiers as if they are fighting for the Republican Party, which, sadly, in some ways they were.
2. The Republican convention is always full of white people. This time they can't even find a few Black faces to put the cameras on. This time the convention is not only all white people, it is all old white people, probably all rich old white people. anyone from outside the country who looks in must feel that the USA is a homogeneous nation of war loving white people.
A large part of it is.
And, as Joe Lieberman says, John McCain is not your average Republican. That is true. He is much more often irrational, impulsive, and a man more comfortable in the world of forty years ago.
Just my thoughts. Feel free to react.
I have two immediate reactions. NOTE: I am very biased.
1. The Republicans seem to glorify war. The short movie about the Navy Seal who died was moving, and really tragic. This really gallant young man died in a war that didn't need to be fought. He saved his comrades while fighting people who really offered no threat to this county. No one mentions that. The Republican honor soldiers as if they are fighting for the Republican Party, which, sadly, in some ways they were.
2. The Republican convention is always full of white people. This time they can't even find a few Black faces to put the cameras on. This time the convention is not only all white people, it is all old white people, probably all rich old white people. anyone from outside the country who looks in must feel that the USA is a homogeneous nation of war loving white people.
A large part of it is.
And, as Joe Lieberman says, John McCain is not your average Republican. That is true. He is much more often irrational, impulsive, and a man more comfortable in the world of forty years ago.
Just my thoughts. Feel free to react.
Juno in Juneaux?
I'm sure I'm not the first to make that bad pun, but I guess it has to be said. Of course, the daughter of the VP nominee is keeping her child, not looking for a more adult home like the kid in the movie. That's fine with me. I can certainly respect that decision.
What I am having a great deal of difficulty accepting is John McCain's decision. I think that Mrs. Palin and her entire family seem like a fine, likable, fun bunch of people. They read the Bible and they like to hunt, fish, drink and screw. There is nothing at all wrong with that.
BUT, it doesn't qualify her to be Vice-President of the United States! I have many friends who like to hunt, fish, drink and screw. I like them a lot and we have some really good times, but I'm not voting for them.
She basically may be very smart and a quick-study, but she has NO real experience running things. She has just taken an interest in foreign police in 2007 when her kid went off to war. Comparing her lack of experience to Obama's is like comparing someone in their first month of Single A ball to the Major League Rookie of the Year. They are several leagues apart.
Being a devout Christian does not count as a qualification, especially when you really have not managed to stick closely to those beliefs. Yes, we are all fallen, especially me, but that doesn't qualify me to be a heart-beat away from taking over if the oldest candidate ever skips three heart-beats in a row.
I don't blame her at all. She is probably a great woman, but I think it certainly shows how impulsive and manipulative John McCain can be, and I can't trust someone like that to run the country.
But, he doesn't want to fix health care, or make mortgage companies accountable, or relieve the middle class tax burden, and he does want to spend billions more on wars, and on looking for oil -- and she wants to keep drilling for oil everywhere too, that's one things she knows about. If that's your idea of change, then it's clear why they need to bring God into the picture.
Love,
Tx
What I am having a great deal of difficulty accepting is John McCain's decision. I think that Mrs. Palin and her entire family seem like a fine, likable, fun bunch of people. They read the Bible and they like to hunt, fish, drink and screw. There is nothing at all wrong with that.
BUT, it doesn't qualify her to be Vice-President of the United States! I have many friends who like to hunt, fish, drink and screw. I like them a lot and we have some really good times, but I'm not voting for them.
She basically may be very smart and a quick-study, but she has NO real experience running things. She has just taken an interest in foreign police in 2007 when her kid went off to war. Comparing her lack of experience to Obama's is like comparing someone in their first month of Single A ball to the Major League Rookie of the Year. They are several leagues apart.
Being a devout Christian does not count as a qualification, especially when you really have not managed to stick closely to those beliefs. Yes, we are all fallen, especially me, but that doesn't qualify me to be a heart-beat away from taking over if the oldest candidate ever skips three heart-beats in a row.
I don't blame her at all. She is probably a great woman, but I think it certainly shows how impulsive and manipulative John McCain can be, and I can't trust someone like that to run the country.
But, he doesn't want to fix health care, or make mortgage companies accountable, or relieve the middle class tax burden, and he does want to spend billions more on wars, and on looking for oil -- and she wants to keep drilling for oil everywhere too, that's one things she knows about. If that's your idea of change, then it's clear why they need to bring God into the picture.
Love,
Tx
Sunday, August 31, 2008
What is important
Well you guys are correct. The goodness of life lies in the details, especially in the friends and family.
But, there is also the importance of pushing for your beliefs and causes, and that is what I will be doing over the next few weeks.
I feel that this country is at a very crucial, historic and vital crossroads. This election could be more important that any election since 1860. The two candidates hold very different views of how our government should work, what our country's role in the world should be, and what the basic values of this country will be.
While I do not feel that Mr. Obama is the great savior, I do feel that his message and the direction he wants to lead us in is so much more positive and helpful that Mr. McCain.
I know there are thousands of political blogs, and I will be writing about politics more than usual, but I will also be visiting many of the other blogs out there and hoping to draw people into a discussion about what kind of country they want to live in.
I am doing this for my own mental health, for my children's future, in order to help my clients find easier ways to have health care, get an education and stay out of debt.
This is important. Maybe we can all work together to get it done.
But, there is also the importance of pushing for your beliefs and causes, and that is what I will be doing over the next few weeks.
I feel that this country is at a very crucial, historic and vital crossroads. This election could be more important that any election since 1860. The two candidates hold very different views of how our government should work, what our country's role in the world should be, and what the basic values of this country will be.
While I do not feel that Mr. Obama is the great savior, I do feel that his message and the direction he wants to lead us in is so much more positive and helpful that Mr. McCain.
I know there are thousands of political blogs, and I will be writing about politics more than usual, but I will also be visiting many of the other blogs out there and hoping to draw people into a discussion about what kind of country they want to live in.
I am doing this for my own mental health, for my children's future, in order to help my clients find easier ways to have health care, get an education and stay out of debt.
This is important. Maybe we can all work together to get it done.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Sarah Palin
Although I am neither a woman nor and African American I sent the following letter off to The Globe today.
When Thurgood Marshall died and left the vacancy on the Supreme
Court President G. H. W. Bush must have felt the pressure to fill the
chair with an African American. He did so by finding a man who was
certainly an African American but not one who would bring the
perspective of that segment of our society on to the court. Quite the
opposite, he has shown himself to be opposed to many of positions of
most African Americans on many significant issues. But, even at his
nomination hearings Judge Thomas felt he was being attacked because he
was Black.
Now, John McCain has selected a woman as his running mate. And
yes, she is undeniably a true woman, and she certainly does represent a
portion of the population of women. But her views do not represent
those who have fought for decades for women's rights, for equality, for
power, and respect. She is a conservative Christian who is
anti-abortion, anti-gay, and whose major qualification to be
vice=president is that, as a woman, she can somewhat look like Hillary.
This seems to be a cynical and manipulative choice., and an attack on
feminist women the way Clarence Thomas has been an anathema to African
Americans.
OR, stated more simply:
Clarence Thomas is to Thurgood Marshall
as
Sarah Polin is to Hillary Clinton
When Thurgood Marshall died and left the vacancy on the Supreme
Court President G. H. W. Bush must have felt the pressure to fill the
chair with an African American. He did so by finding a man who was
certainly an African American but not one who would bring the
perspective of that segment of our society on to the court. Quite the
opposite, he has shown himself to be opposed to many of positions of
most African Americans on many significant issues. But, even at his
nomination hearings Judge Thomas felt he was being attacked because he
was Black.
Now, John McCain has selected a woman as his running mate. And
yes, she is undeniably a true woman, and she certainly does represent a
portion of the population of women. But her views do not represent
those who have fought for decades for women's rights, for equality, for
power, and respect. She is a conservative Christian who is
anti-abortion, anti-gay, and whose major qualification to be
vice=president is that, as a woman, she can somewhat look like Hillary.
This seems to be a cynical and manipulative choice., and an attack on
feminist women the way Clarence Thomas has been an anathema to African
Americans.
OR, stated more simply:
Clarence Thomas is to Thurgood Marshall
as
Sarah Polin is to Hillary Clinton
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Re-emerging
Now the summer is beginning to fade. I have been away from everything for a while. We have been wandering around down here,taking time off. It was something I needed to do more than I realized. The last few months, with the back pain, with other vague but unrealized health worries, had put the focus on me much more than ever before.
With that comes the awareness that at my age sickness can lead to crumbling, can lead to being wiped off this planet. Isaac Hayes was just slightly older than me. Gene Upshaw was my age, so were abut twenty per-cent of the people on the obituary pages. It all kind of spooked me out. Me who is supposed to be so full of perspective and so calming.
I spent so much time thinking about thinking that it all kind of got to be a bit too much. I couldn't think about it any more. Who I was, what I was doing, what I want to be, how I want to spend the rest of my time, what is really important to me, all these things kept swirling through my head burning a deep hole but leaving no answers.
So we came down here, as we do every year. I thought I could use the time to get away, and maybe I could figure things out. Maybe something clear would emerge.
So far I've spent time hanging out with friends and doing things that take up time. Even golf. It's been very beautiful. The weather, the sea, the rolling green, the blue sky, the golden sun. The time has been easy, fun and even sociable.
Yet, there remains the vague feeling of something not yet accomplished. I have not yet mastered the art of just taking care of myself. Making deals and keeping myself entertained somehow just never seems to be enough. I'm not sure why.
Must be something my mother did or said. Maybe it was my father.
Still, I'm not sure what it is that I am expecting.
So today, after almost two weeks away, I am beginning to schedule appointments for next week. For the first time is six weeks I don't feel afraid of it. I am even just beginning to look forward to seeing everyone -- well almost everyone -- again.
Yet, I have decided that I need to re-allocate my time, find out what is missing, and what it is I expect to do, not just return to what has always been done and keep the ball rolling down the same familiar hill.
As I have said here many times, change is difficult. Even for me. Hopefully, this blog will help hold me accountable.
With that comes the awareness that at my age sickness can lead to crumbling, can lead to being wiped off this planet. Isaac Hayes was just slightly older than me. Gene Upshaw was my age, so were abut twenty per-cent of the people on the obituary pages. It all kind of spooked me out. Me who is supposed to be so full of perspective and so calming.
I spent so much time thinking about thinking that it all kind of got to be a bit too much. I couldn't think about it any more. Who I was, what I was doing, what I want to be, how I want to spend the rest of my time, what is really important to me, all these things kept swirling through my head burning a deep hole but leaving no answers.
So we came down here, as we do every year. I thought I could use the time to get away, and maybe I could figure things out. Maybe something clear would emerge.
So far I've spent time hanging out with friends and doing things that take up time. Even golf. It's been very beautiful. The weather, the sea, the rolling green, the blue sky, the golden sun. The time has been easy, fun and even sociable.
Yet, there remains the vague feeling of something not yet accomplished. I have not yet mastered the art of just taking care of myself. Making deals and keeping myself entertained somehow just never seems to be enough. I'm not sure why.
Must be something my mother did or said. Maybe it was my father.
Still, I'm not sure what it is that I am expecting.
So today, after almost two weeks away, I am beginning to schedule appointments for next week. For the first time is six weeks I don't feel afraid of it. I am even just beginning to look forward to seeing everyone -- well almost everyone -- again.
Yet, I have decided that I need to re-allocate my time, find out what is missing, and what it is I expect to do, not just return to what has always been done and keep the ball rolling down the same familiar hill.
As I have said here many times, change is difficult. Even for me. Hopefully, this blog will help hold me accountable.
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