Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Bailout Bust

The more I think about it the more I am against this bailout. Maybe that is the point, maybe that is why there are some solid holdouts in Congress.

Sure as shit I don't want the price of my house to fall any further and we could all use the credit markets staying open so we can relocate homes, buy cars and go about our lives.

I doubt that the worst case scenerios are really going to last as long as they say. I'm also starting to think that perhaps it is time to let the Markets of the western world correct themselves. Time for a gas consuming society to see the windfalls of its decisions. See I think this goes back to the Bush administrations decision to ignore the Kyoto Protocol.

Where would we be now if are economy had been allowed a natural slow down while we shifted to smarter fuels and ramped up education in science and engineering eight years ago? How much better off would we be? Eight years is enough time for a new college student to come out on the other side with a masters in engineering. It is enough time to create stronger science teachers, once sophmores in highschool themselves, now two years into an evolved curriculum for middleschoolers. I think eight years is enough time to go to war and yet find ourselves in a place where we don't need to invested in the interestes of the Arab states.

Eight years for our economy to evole, for our cars to become cleaner and greener, our housing to become more efficient. Time we could have slowed the outrageuos growth, the bubble.

Now the goverment is really overinvested in proping up a imaginary ecomony, based on feelings and perception rather than real hard core value. With our consuming ways, larger homes, larger cars we are a weaker nation. We've got toys but we haven't invested properly in brains and progress.

I hate to say it but I totally agree with Ron Paul on this. We should let this play out, let the market fix itself. We need to let supply and demand regulate the markets.

Lets hope we see fewer ads for perscription drugs and more ads for seeds and soil. Lets hope we see fewer ads for flat screen TVs and More ads for advancing our educations. Fewer ads for the next reality show and more ads for greener lightbulbs and solar panels. No more ads for Mc Cain, how about ads for town meetings and action committees. More sidewalks and bycicles, less gastric bypass surgeries.

Also let me say I think we definately need to let the financial institutions that became profiteer, dealing in non-reality fail. They could probably save themselve if they cut the five top paying positions in their companies completely. Let those buggers loose their second and third homes before stripping the average of tax benefits and programs for years to come.

See also http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1845209,00.html?cnn=yes

Monday, September 22, 2008

Could the Goverment Take an Interest in Housing Prices?


This morning I read a saucy article about the United States of France online at Time Magazine. It got me thinking about another angle to the looming mortgage, banking, and finacial crisis facing our country. (Why is everyone so suprised by the way. This was thouroughly predicted and reported on by NPR four years ago.)

As the title of my blog would suggest, could the sudden vested interests of the Federal goverment into the debts of major financial institutions cause those number crunchers in WashingtonDC to reconsider the free market of home buying. Could home prices fall under new legislative considerations and be held back or cranked back by a goverment unwilling to over see so many $300 thousand plus loans issued in so many regions of the country.

Will residents of Los Angelos, California or Rockville, Maryland see home prices held down and let the renters of the world finally by in. I suppose it is possible. Of course right now the powers that be will probably declare that we are all free to buy and sell homes as we choose for what we choose. The bottom line however is that in less than a decade regulators in govermant and official at banks will have swapped chairs enough times that none of the will be sure who to route for. With the taste of financial colapse still lingering on their tougues mortgages will start to control the markets. Don't believe me, call a realtor and ask how business is going these days. The likely answer will be lousy, lousy because even though there are buyers, no one will issue mortgages these days, and the local house prices don't mean squat if no one is buying.

Think your house is worth $400,000 after a nice renovation? Think you bought a house in a solid community, with a easy commute, good schools, nice parks, and a high number of police residents coupled with extremely low crime? Sure you did, and you made a smart move, but you won't be able to upgrade or retire right now. The fantasy that you house can get roughly three times its value over ten years ago is gonna be a rough pill to swallow.

Current home owners, especially recent home purchasers are going to suffer. New home buyers, if they can scrape together a down payment and loan stand to benefit enormously from this market. Of course few have been able to find two quarters to rub together in my circle.

Another thought for us all to chew on is how does the increasing financial pressure effect families with stay at home moms? I guess I'll chop that one up next time.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Very Early Miscarriage

I'm going to be frank and perhaps graphic. Don't read this if you are a squirmer, I'm not there to stop you.

I had a very early miscarriage yesterday. So early I feel a bit mixed about telling others, and that is a real shame. Surely not knowing you have something when you loose it should make it fairly easy to get over, but I'm a bit more complicated then that. Now that I know I have lost a pregancy I have already decided it was my fault because I drank to much caffiene. I am again doubting my bodies abilities while simultaneously telling myself nature knows best. In a word it is complicated.

I have searched all over the net to find confirmation that it was a lost pregnancy. There is very little information out there, perhaps because it is more common than we know and very private.

My loss passed while I slept one day into what I thought was a slightly off beginning to a normal menstrual cycle. I woke up, went to the bathroom and while wiping discovered an object the size of a small grape. No other clots were present, just this lone, perfectly formed round thing with something that looked like egg white attached to one end. I am very sure this was not "just a clot" by it's shear size and shape. The substance on the end of it I assume was the meager beginnings of an amniotic sac.

I can't find pictures to support what I know, but I can find charts. On top of passing this obeject my "period" stopped. I now feel some cramping, but am experiencing no bleeding. Again this confirms for me that this was a very early miscarriage and not a period. I imagine this did not even manage to attach itself.

I am writing about it to share my experience and add to the information pool on "very early" miscarriages.

I am experiencing a sense of loss, though I am not devastated. We have been trying to concieve for about four months now so I am dissapointed. I suppose I should simply feel encouraged that I lost this pregnacy very early, before I got attached to the idea of a pregnancy and child. Also it is nice to know my husband and I can concieve, and I will just have to trust that God thought it wasn't the right time or space for that particular pregnancy.

UPDATE: After discussing the circumstances of my pressumed miscarriage with my midwife (OBGYN) I have learned that without a pathology work up on what I passed that it could not be confirmed. However she did say that from everything I described it was most likely a very early miscarriage, and that it most likely did not implant very well in the first place. Mark asked me if I wanted to name it. I haven't decide yet. One thing I can say is that I'm not feeling too romantic and that in my mind we are going to stop "trying" for a couple of months. I need a break from the stress I have been putting on myself to make this happen.

Friday, September 05, 2008

Nothing at all says it all


I haven't written in a millenium.

I have so much running around in my head that I want to say about molestation and family secrets and ceserean sections and finances and for the life of me I can't muster the guts to be really honest with every one.

My mind is preoccupied with extra pounds, triglycerides, tropical storms, hurricanes, financial doom of loved ones, personal financial doom, conception, a feverish child, weedy gardens, caffeine consumption, pap smear results, and the difficult decision to put down my dog.

Having written nothing for so long is surely a sign of how I have managed to belittle myself into a corner and deny an outlet, and that says it all. Perhaps from my creative corner, full of personal trials, I will come out barking screaming mad with honesty and viciousness.

Don't blame yourselves for my insanity - I think I've done this all on my own. Wait, how arrogant would that be; taking credit for all the ills in the world. I remember reading more than once that Grandiosity went hand in hand with Depression.