Heads In Dark Places

How is it possible, with all the connectedness of todays world, that the financial wizards of Washington  (and the great state of California) can’t quite get a grip on the plight of the normal person in the neighborhood? Even allowing for a very broad interpretation of normal, the wizards still think that they are on a completely different planet than I am. How about, instead of giving the big guys, who spent years working very hard to establish this mess, $25 billion, or $800 billion, or $0.10, we give each adult United States Citizen a paltry $1,000,000? Sounds crazy, right? Socialism you say. How can it be less crazy, or less socialistic, than giving the big 3, banks, creditcard companies, etc. so much of our money? If we passed out the $1million to all the adults, there would be an instant financial boost to the economy. Mortgages would get paid, shoppping would be done, savings put aside, cars bought, credit card bills paid, all, I think, very quickly. That would put an enormous amount of money into the system right away. By the way, this line of thinking came from a credit guy at an auto dealer I was speaking with. It is at least as good an idea as providing taxpayer welfare for all the financial firms that worked so hard to steal everything they could from everyone they could before the inevitable crash occured. Could you use the million? I could. Toto could probably find Kansas again, too. Happy Thanksgiving.

Still waiting:bail out

The Big 3 jet setters flew into Washington, D.C., wanting money from you and me. I don’t actually have a private jet to fly anywhere on, but I’d still like a bailout from the congress. Most amazingly, the big 3 CEO’s can’t quite conceive of the disconnect between private jets and begging for more money. The public outrage is only surpassed by the increduality of the entire scene. United Airlines filed chapter 11, turned things around, and came out stronger and better. If the congress were to bother to ask us about it, I’m willing to bet that GM et al would be directed straight to the chapter 11 counter. Perhaps there would then be a pretty good buying opportunity for at least 3 private jets. Maybe I could pick one up with the bailout money I’m hoping that I get. Toto, where’s Kansas?

education and finance, who knew?

Over at eduskeptic is an interesting post on school finance. Alice in Wonderland is cited. On a happier note, the big 3 auto makers want us to bail them out too. If I wanted to bail them out, I’d buy a car. Of course, I don’t think I buy a domestic one, as I prefer cars that work, for a long time, without much shop time involved. My biggest question right now is: when am I going to get a big bucks bail out?

Time for–what exactly?

I have been hearing all kinds of advice lately regarding the financial condition of things lately. Not surprisingly, there are divergent views. One holds that it is time to buy what you can, as the prices are down. Good bargins are to had all over: houses, cars, electronics, stocks. Another is exactly the opposite. Save your money–in cash–, be very cautious about buying anything, stay away from stocks, be very frugal, your job may be next to go. It should be obvious that everyone needs to take stock of their own postion, judge what they are willing to risk, and act accordingly. Listening to all of the pundits from tv land will most likely cause a psychotic break of some kind. It should also be somewhat obvious that this mess will take a bit of time to turn around, especially consdering that it continues to be unraveling and fluid. Interesting times. Any good advice out there in blogland?

Not so bad

November 12th, 2008

“One of the issues that keeps popping up in the national media is how badly our school system is, how it is failing, how it doesn’t compete well with those in the rest of the known world. We are told by various pundits that China and India are blowing right past us, that the systems in Japan and Europe put us to shame. I tend to read those stories, as I am a teacher and always curious about what the writer has to say. Nowhere in these writings do I find anyone comparing the actual school systems with what we do in the United States. The most common statement seems to be that we don’t spend enough time in school, and that it isn’t rigorous enough. The age of starting school, the length and composition of the school day and school year, the classroom conditions, and the actual make up of the school systems aren’t addressed. It appears to be easier, and perhaps more saleable, to follow the line that we aren’t doing enough.  I will stop with this question: if we are the educational laggards that some make us out to be, how come the United States has more Noble prizes than anyone else on the planet?” Eduskeptic wrote this the other day, and I reprint it with permission. I often wonder how we tend to blindly accept the supposed bad news without applying the same critical approach we have when buying a head of lettuce.

No lessons learned

The financial meltdown has produced at least one probable truth: the financial people have learned nothing. A real estate writer last week posited that, at $345,000, the average house price has probably bottomed out. Really? In order to buy such a house, one must make at least $150,000, just to barely be able to buy the house and eat on a semi-regular basis. Quick, count how many of your friends have a $150,000 pay check per year. Right. Looks like the bottom is still far away. It could be, though, that the people who brought us the meltdown really do think that we are all as stupid as can possibly be.

economy and education

If you are in California, and have any interest in education, it is just possible that you have heard that our economy is in the tank. Our legislators, while very tentatively acknowledging that we are in deep doodoo with our finances, are already posturing relative to fixing this stinky situation. Seems as though they, collectively, are getting in position to blame somebody else for not putting a workable soultion on the table. Arnold the Govenator wants to float some cuts with some new taxes. The hue and cry among the elected is like some scream from Alice in Wonderland. Arnold the G. has targeted education for a couple of billion dollars worth of cuts. I’m pretty sure that every school district in the state is hoping that won’t happen, and planning for what to do when it does. Perhaps some of the very large districts have programs, staff, properties, they will be able to cut without too much pain (if, and it is a big if, they start with administration prior to lopping off the teaching staff). Small districts, in general, don’t have much, if any, cushion left. About the only thing left to be tossed overboard are library aides (which closes the libraries), computer aides (which closes the computer labs), classroom aides, and 20:1 in Kindergarten through third grade. Even doing all of these may not be enough to balance the budget for the requisite 3 years. About the only education group to benefit from such drastic measures will be the homeschool folks. It is, again, a very interesting problem that we in education are faced with. I personally don’t see much on the horizon right now that will bring this current financial mess under control. I’ll keep teaching, as will my colleagues, with whatever we are handed, as we always do. If any of the reading populace has comments on this issue, please do comment. Maybe we’ll figure out some better way to cope with it.

tight times, good deals, smart shopping, good writing

Considering that the financial health of everyone I know is a bit more tenuous these days, being able to shop well (not my forte, actually) seems like a good thing to do. I stumbled across a site yesterday that may give hope to anyone in need of good, name brand shopping at good prices. Go to www.meilily.com and read on!  Is it really possible to get good jeans for less than $15 at a national, upscale store?  Apparently. The young woman who writes at meilily certainly has. Not only that, but the writing is quite good as well.The economy being what it is, any tips for savings should be passed on.

back from the brink

It’s been a bit since I’ve written anything for my blog. I had a bit of a cancer issue and it’s taken a while to get back to being able to find the time to do this. I am a survivor! I’d love to hear from other survivors out there. With all that is going on in the US right now, perhaps some good stories from those who have made it back from the brink would be uplifting. To those who didn’t make it: my heart goes out to you and your families.