On My I-Pod

I'm so weird. On my iPod I have ...

• All 7 Harry Potter books
• The Best of Linda Ronstadt
• SHeDaisy
• Shakira
• Michael Jackson (the Thriller Album...not his pussy later work)
• Acappella
• Kings of Leon (hubby got me onto these guys)
• Macy Gray
• The Judds (brings back so many memories!)
• Out of Eden
• Toby Keith
• And Games...PacMan, Tetris, Monopoly, and Mahjong
  

What? Don't judge me.

We're Trapped

There's only one way out of Western Washington right now and it is North to Canada. Unless you want to fly from Seattle to Portland.

Flooding is INSANE right now. Hubby got called in for a 12 hour overtime shift today - 6 a to 6 p - to do traffic control on the closed stretch of I-5. Water is still rising - they say 1 1/2 feet per hour.

Thankfully our town is up on a large hill so we're good...except for some minor urban flooding. I'm glad, though, not to be driving to work this morning since even up towards Seattle and Tacoma there is flooding on the freeway.

The rain should end soon, thankfully, although I must admit I love storms. I don't love when people's homes get destroyed though.

Please send your prayers for those affected.

The Alarm Scared Him Away

A lady gets on her treadmill. It's dark outside and her windows have no shades, so the "bad guys" lurking outside can see right inside. She's jammin' with her iPod (or whatever) in and all of a sudden the bad guys kick the front door in.

*** ALARM *** ALARM *** ALARM ***

The phone rings ... oh thank God ... it's Brink's calling to make sure she's okay.

But don't worry ... the alarm scared the bad guys off. And Brink's will send the authorities who will be there in what? Ten minutes?

My barf-o-meter was up high on this one. How does she know the bad guys got scared off? Maybe the bad guys knew that it would take time for the cops to get there.

You know how she should have reacted? Run for her gun. That's a lot better protection than any stupid alarm or cops 10 minutes away (screw ten minutes...2 minutes away).

And yes, I watch too much TV.

So, Should We Save or Spend?

Another interesting article (subscription required) in the Wall Street Journal about Americans becoming thriftier as the economy gets worse (or they perceive it to get worse).

It basically says that the economy will suffer worse because Americans are starting to save more.

Uh Huh. And how is it a bad thing to save more and spend less?

Usually, frugality is good for individuals and for the economy. Savings serve as a reservoir of capital that can be used to finance investment, which helps raise a nation's standard of living. But in a recession, increased saving -- or its flip side, decreased spending -- can exacerbate the economy's woes. It's what economists call the "paradox of thrift."

U.S. household debt, which has been growing steadily since the Federal Reserve began tracking it in 1952, declined for the first time in the third quarter of 2008. In the same quarter, U.S. consumer spending growth declined for the first time in 17 years.

That has resulted in a rise in the personal saving rate, which the government calculates as the difference between earnings and expenditures. In recent years, as Americans spent more than they earned, the personal saving rate dipped below zero. Economists now expect the rate to rebound to 3% to 5%, or even higher, in 2009, among the sharpest reversals since World War II. Goldman Sachs last week predicted the 2009 saving rate could be as high as 6% to 10%.

As savings increase, economists say, spending is likely to contract further. They expect gross domestic product to decline at an annualized rate of at least 5% in the fourth quarter, the biggest drop in a quarter-century.

"The idea that the American family will quickly spend us out of this recession is a fantasy. It won't happen," said Elizabeth Warren, a professor of law at Harvard University who last month was named chair of the Congressional oversight panel tasked with overseeing the distribution of the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program funds.

I understand the argument that spending will helps us out of the recession - but how about the argument that we don't need to spend frivolously. Maybe families don't need three cars, a boat, and four wheelers.

My spending has gone down but not significantly. I save all year to buy Christmas gifts and spent most of our gifts fund...that is what it is for. We plan to take a few days in April to celebrate my hubby's 40th birthday - the cabins are at a minimum $200 a night. I bought two Wii games after Christmas. All unnecessary spending but not spending that I see as detrimental to our overall budget.

Could things get tight? Heck yes. If I lose my job I certainly won't be spending money on video games.

But our savings has increased as well. I just paid off my car - WOOHOO! And that extra money each month will go into our various savings accounts. I don't see that as a bad thing. Sure, I could take that $400 a month and spend it in the "economy" but that would not create more security for my family in the long run (though hubby would argue that ammo does increase security and he'd love to spend that money on ammo each month!).

The article focused on a couple of families who made decisions many of us made in the last decade. Refinancing to pay for home improvements, with the belief that the house would continue to increase in value, is something we did at least twice (I think maybe three times). But the bank never let us take out more than the home was worth at the time, limiting us to 90% of the value. And we used that money each time to make a home improvement and pay off other debt.

I also always cautioned my hubby that we need to be careful because home values don't always go up (look at me...I made a prediction! LOL). Thank goodness I'm more cautious than some others. I never looked at our house as a piggy bank for 'stuff'.

I have no idea if our house has dropped a ton in value ... I'd rather not think about it. We're not going anywhere soon so we're still investing in our home. We just installed new floors in the living room and hallway.

Pretty, right? The dogs seem to like it.

So we're still doing our part to stimulate the economy. Just not on "crap" we don't need.

If You Hide They Will Find You

Hamas has used the tactic of hiding behind civilians and civilian locations (schools, hospitals, mosques) for a long time now, and it has worked somewhat well. After all, if Israel hits a school, as they did today, Hamas can lament and their propoganda machines can send out angry press releases with the shocking news that Israel is killing children.

The reality is that Hamas was firing on Israel FROM the damn schools. The damn U.N. schools. I guess the U.N. workers were just turning their heads and not paying attention when the rockets were launched, eh?

Well, after all, the U.N. does provide transport for Hamas fighters. So nice of them.

I say good for Israel. We all know what Hamas is doing and that it is exactly for this kind of propaganda.

Did you know that Hamas gunmen gunned down so called "collaborators" - 35 people were killed on the off chance that they were cooperating with Israel or Fatah. These are such lovely people. But did we hear a word about it in the press? Of course not. [source: Michael Oren of Israel on the Michael Medved show today...he mentioned it was in the Israeli press but I haven't searched on it.]

When Hamas kills Palestineans it's not news worthy. When Israel defends itself and civilians are killed as a result, the Israelies are Nazis.

Hero in Hollywood

John Voight is one of my favorite actors (love him in National Treasure) and he makes me love him even more with his conservatism and support of Israel. God Bless him!



And pray that You Tube does not take down this video as they have other pro-Israel videos. Useful idiots for sure.

Hat Tip: Can You Be Part of My Life? A good friend of Israel and a wonderful blog. :)

But We Need MORE Regulations

Because the ones we have apparently can't find fraud when it stares them in the face. From the Wall Street Journal (subscription required I think)...

Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC was examined at least eight times in 16 years by the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators, who often came armed with suspicions.

Really? Well, if the government was investigating there is just no way that he should have gotten away with this, right?

After all, the government is there to fix things and keep us safe ... right?

Thank goodness the government is in charge of social security. We will all be fine.

Here's to more government intervention.