Tag: economy
Blogging Boomers Carnival #116: From 401(K)s to Folk Art
Welcome to the 116th Carnival of Boomer Blogs. This crew has been a joy and a great resource for as long as I've been privileged to be part of it, and this week is no exception. Given the economy and all, let's start with John Agno of So Baby Boomer. John, always wise, warns us this week that early withdrawals from Individual Retirement Accounts and 401 (K) plans are a "No, No!" because they trigger taxes and penalties that can really add up. Good advice, no?
While we're on serious "boomer interest" topics, we'll move to Wesley Hein at LifeTwo. This week he's writing about HBO's multi-part documentary on Alzheimer's Disease. The underlying message is that Alzheimer's can no longer be ignored. I've actually seem some excerpts and would concur.
That health issue is part of what makes Janet Wendy at Gen Plus "mad as hell" and she's not going to take it anymore…maybe.
On another side of the economy, let's talk business. Andrea Sternberg at The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur asks: "With Twitter you can have conversations with a large number of people, but do these twitter conversations convert to actual sales? That question haunts many small business Twitter users and is the main thing", Andrea says, "holding others back from giving Twitter a try." You'll find her answer to this dilemma in her post Make Money with Twitter – Is It Possible?
Also on the business end of things: do you ever feel like a loser? The Midlife Crisis Queen did often after she lost her job. This is how she dealt with it.
One of our founders and leaders, Rhea Becker, reports from Boston on The Gemini Web "I can't read my favorite magazines any longer without eyeglasses. I think they're using smaller type. Or maybe it's just me."
On a cheerier note, the Glam Gals (style experts for women over 40) ask, "Have you heard the true story of the woman who overcame having diabetes, while losing 100 pounds and then entered the Mrs. Idaho pageant?" This is a must-read and inspiration story, they tell us. Find out more from FabulousAfter40.com.
Oh – and do you remember watching Art Linkletter? Dina at This Marriage Thing, who loved the show Kids Say the Darndest Things shares some newly discovered gems about marriage "out of the mouths of babes."
Feeling artsy? During her recent travels in the Florida Keys (who wouldn't love that?) Barbara Weibel at Hole in the Donut discovered Stanley Papio, whom some consider an important folk artist, while others insist he was nothing more than a welder with a yard full of junk. Stop by and contribute to the conversation!
In the same vein, Ann at Contemporary Retirement has a video clip of some amazing sand art, crated by Ilana Yahav using just her fingers, some sand and a glass table.
One more travel contribution from Nancy Mahegan at Vaboomer. Ever want to sell everything and retire on a beach in Mexico? Read about real people who did at Vaboomer.com,
Finally, my own contribution is a tribute to an old friend, long-time New York Times Book Review Children's Book Editor Eden Ross Lipson. If you have children you've probably made use of her classic NY Times Guide to the Best Books for Children. She was something special.
Blogging Boomers #108: the Economy Hits Home
The very wise John Agno of So Baby Boomer suggested at all the Carnivalistas write about the economy this week and so we have. For a Boomer perspective that, of course, mirrors what everyone is feeling, this is the place to go. It turns out we're a pretty wise bunch, writing about everything from the "alternative economy" to keeping things less stressful at home to dealing with the market. John ha a good idea and Carnival posts rose to the occasion.
No Good News
I keep telling myself that nobody's sick and nobody's dead. But I am completely afflicted by Economy Angst. I don't want to be. I want to be positive and hopeful but damn! I keep telling myself to turn off Morning Joe before they go the European/Asian markets report and watch Angel on TNT instead. Pretty pitiful.
Anyway, I'll be back with a real post soon.
Oh and this photo has nothing to do with anything. It's a peaceful beach on the Jersey Shore and nicer to look at than the headlines.
Remember That Old Saying “Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it?” Well, Look at Our Economy and Believe
OK here's my question. Did you go to high school? Didn't they teach us all that one of the major causes of the Great Depression was leveraging, buying "on margins": buying stock for a percentage and paying off the rest from sale of the stock at a higher rate, until price slides caused the crash? AND didn't they teach us that we had rules and regulations now that would prevent such a thing from ever happening again? And that our government kept an eye on all that sort of investment? And that we were safe?
So what happened? Wasn't the SEC supposed to regulate speculation? Weren't banks, like stock investments, supposed to be monitored? Weren't bank boards supposed to monitor housing loans? How did we land here again?
I wish I understood better the deregulation that I know has been implemented over time. I know that some of the housing regulatory let-up was designed to make it easier for less affluent Americans to buy homes and ended up making many of these same people vulnerable to predatory lenders. I know that some people simply bought homes they couldn't afford, and banks let them do it. I know that there have been stories about this for years, yet it continued.
I know that regulation has been substantially lifted from our entire market system. I know that our crisis is infecting other countries and taking the global economy with it. That the American consumer has kept our economy strong for years and that now, as consumers lock up their money and cancel their credit cards, that vital tool is fading.
As a US website, America.gov, explained in December:
Goods and services purchased by Americans make up
one-fifth of the global economy, but the third quarter of 2008 saw the
largest drop in consumer spending since 1980.As the financial-market turbulence prompts U.S. households to cut back spending, economies around the globe feel repercussions.
Even after all this time, it's so hard to think about this – about how clear it is now that the deregulation and even the push for an arguably necessary but overdone easing of credit for housing purchases, how between politics and greed, banks lent to many who had no business entering into the debt that has rendered them homeless now. And that doesn't even begin to consider the careless greed of much of the financial community.
Nothing new here.
But I'll bet I'm not the only one whose anger continues to grow, whose frustration continues to grow, whose sadness overpowers. The futures of my honorable, hard-working children and their friends, and the younger ones who come after, are rendered fragile and discouraging. The future of the ideas and principles that were the Obama campaign are endangered by debt and the need to rescue the economy. The debts of the Bush years have eliminated alternatives. And as usual, when politics gets ugly and institutions become careless, the future of those who most rely on government support or protection, the weakest and less established among us, are hurt the most.
If I were my friends PunditMom Joanne or Jill, at Writes Like She Talks, I would have lots of policy citations to back all this up. But this is a piece built more of mourning than reporting. Some days recently, as I think about all this, I can literally feel myself in my seat in AP American History reading about the Great Depression and the checks put into place to prevent its recurrence. I can literally feel myself listening to my parents describe their lives in the 1930's and the permanent scars those years left. And in some ways, I can't believe it, can't believe that carelessness and greed and ignorance and an arrogance beyond describing has threatened us with those times once again.
Money, Madoff, Seniors and Struggles
NO this is not the lazy way out – sending you to another blog. Ronni Bennett is a highly visible, highly regarded "elder blogger" and has formed a large, vital community around her blog Time Goes By. A retired CBS News producer, she moved from Manhattan to Maine for a more affordable standard of living and she's got her fingers on many pulses. Today, she writes about the already tragic costs of the economic crisis for "the rest of us" – those not losing fortunes because of Bernard Madoff but just losing ground.
I think the Madoff story is worth the attention it's getting, not just or even mainly because of the damage it did to high-end investors but because someone of such stature (Head of NASDAQ) would – and could- do such things – and that he got away with it for so long. It's institutionally mind-blowing. As I wandered the web reading stories for this post, I discovered more reasons, too. It did disproportionate damage to Jews and Jewish charities – and Madoff was Jewish. Another "how could he?" Non-profits around the world, literally, are devastated; an example of the non-profit chaos generated by Mr. Madoff's activity.
Even so, Ronni's point about the focus on the big stuff when there are so many stories, especially at this time of year, is worth taking a look at. She's right about that; we need to see more profiles of those people who "work hard and play by the rules" and are struggling to figure out how to survive. They're our neighbors – and, in many cases, they're us.
Obama’s Economic Team, Yeah They’re Good But I’m Excited about Melody!
I started writing about this as the announcement was made and got called away. Now I discover that my friend and very wise colleague PunditMom has basically said everything I would have said – so go read her evaluation.
I still want, though, to share my sense of this remarkable woman. It's very exciting. Melody Barnes, now a top adviser to President-Elect Obama, is one of the most impressive, decent and unpretentious people I've worked with in Washington or anywhere else. She's smart, she's interesting, always open, funny and committed. She is a wonderful choice. Since she's been working with the transition for some time it's no surprise, but it still says a lot that she's there. Here's a interview with her that will give you an idea of her thinking and of the way she responds; calm, orderly, thoughtful and usually, wise.
Not much detail, I know. My own experiences with her were peripheral and intermittent but this I know: her presence in the Administration is yet another piece of evidence supporting what I wrote yesterday. The values, outlook and core of this Administration offer more and more hope that they're bringing smart, capable and "no drama*" people with them as they take over in these very difficult times.
*Yeah, yeah I know but Larry Summers is just one guy.
OUR TOUGH ECONOMY: OK, I ADMIT IT, IT SCARES ME
I don't know about you but I'm really getting scared. Although we've gone from a two-wage-earner family to one student and one consultant whose income is unpredictable, that's not the issue. It's the sense of vulnerability that just won't quit. I wake up and see overseas markets sinking each day and knowing that ours will follow, listen to layoff numbers of a size that I don't think I've imagined, much less seen before, remember the hard time all my high school classmates went through during the big steel strikes, and worry.
Bill Clinton used to talk all the time about Americans who "work hard and play by the rules." Well guess who's getting hosed now? A good friend of mine, a widow, has lost 50% of her 401K and she's in her early 60s so there isn't all that much time to recoup before she starts to need it. For many, medical expenses as they aged were supposed to be cushioned by savings; now each expense is a real economic violation. Friends in service businesses like dog walking, the guy who cuts my hair and relies on mall walk-in business that's not appearing, all the small, non-urgent elements that are the underpinnings of an economy — they're rickety and that's scary. Forget about the auto industry – that's almost too big to get your head around. But a young mother running a pet care business so she has more time for her family, a deli owner, a home childcare center, an occupational therapist or piano teacher or online yarn entrepreneur — a new college grad with no job prospects, an independent consultant like me — we're vulnerable.
My anger at George Bush and the past eight years has grown geometrically in the midst of all this. Remember the ant and the grasshopper? Well Bush, who ran as a sturdy, sensible ant, has squandered all the reserve that might have helped us weather parts of this crisis. He's put us so far in debt that we are a bad example and object of rage, disappointment and distrust. In yet another element of the disdain in which we're held, our profligate, self-indulgent conduct of both war and economic policy has left us in tatters with not nearly enough resources to take care of ourselves without enormous pain and sacrifice. I've been out of work. I've been in debt. We've climbed back from two separate crises, one of our own making, one not, and moved ourselves to a place where we have a little equilibrium. That's a vulnerable asset, and we're going to have to struggle to protect it. But we're so much luckier than others.
If you're trying to get out of the heady debt so many Americans were seduced into, there's no room for a layoff or slowdown. If you need a job to keep your Green Card, if you need holiday work to pay for SATs and college applications, if you're retired and fear for your savings, if you need summer jobs to stay off the streets, if your kids need extra educational intervention, this mess is going to land on you. And that's only if it doesn't get so bad that the photo at the top of this post is a reality once again.
Clearly I'm not the only one thinking about the Great Depression. This TIME cover, which will certainly be a classic, evokes a famous photo of FDR in its picture of President-Elect Obama. "The New New Deal" it says. Hoping, pleading almost, that the inspiring, calm and competent Roosevelt will be channeled in this new President, along with a great portion of Abraham Lincoln. Clearly, the evocation of presidential icons from both parties reflects the comprehension of the scope and magnitude of the issues we face – and the urgency surrounding them. Just as clearly, I'm not the only one who's worried. AND I keep adding to this as news breaks – now the Dow is below 8,000. I think I just need to shut up and post.
KEEPING OUR EYES ON THE PRIZE: HEALTH CARE, EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC SECURITY: THIS IS A LIFE OR DEATH ELECTION
It’s fun to write about politics; this blog has always been about many things but has pretty much been all politics all the time for the past three months. Even so, once in a while all that handicapping and general outrage and idealism and hope crashes smack into the basic realities of what’s at stake here.
For example, just this month:
- I had a medical test which costs money, (and which not all insurance companies cover,) that found and dealt with something that was not important today but, if not detected, could someday have been way more important than I even want to think about.
- A friend I really admire was diagnosed with Lupus – costly and complicated to treat.
- Another friend’s child was born a month premature, miles away from home during a vacation. After some very scary post-delivery bleeding, she and her baby are fine now. Their health insurance guaranteed easy access to capable, coordinated care.
- A story appeared, in various forms in several papers, reporting "Many Cancer Patients Forgo Health Care Due to Soaring Cost of Medication" and including these other facts:
"25 percent of families with a cancer patient spent their lifetime savings for the treatment. The same survey said 10% of these families had to forego some basic needs like food, heat and housing" and
"20% of Americans have big problems paying their medical bills."
- Another, in newspapers and Scientific American, reported that "the United States has slipped from 24th to 29th in infant mortality rates in developed countries," meaning that 28 "first world" countries are doing better than we are in keeping newborn infants alive.
This is the reality in our country today. And that’s just one issue in just one month. The same is true for education, climate change and our basic civil rights. And that doesn’t count Iraq, Guantanamo, candidates who want to ban books, threatened legal access to contraception and other women’s rights issues, the growing income gap and the current terrifying economic crises.
I know you know this. As my rabbi likes to say, "I’m talking to myself here" but as we monitor polls and the endless talk show and newscast chatter, we need to remember. As I was awakened by a very lovely nurse offering me cranberry juice, with a view of colorful fall leaves on the trees outside the window of a clean, well-lit recovery room, the first thing that came into my mind was how lucky I was to be there. This election is about winners and losers and parties in control, yes. But even more, this time, it’s life and death.
Oh, and if you want to get upset about the campaign itself anyway, try this.
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE WOMAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN: SARAH PALIN IS THIS ELECTION’S WIZARD OF OZ
This is an argument for a change of focus. As I began to write it all I could think about was the Wizard of Oz, the fake behind the curtain who had everyone believing he could save them all. When he finally presented gifts to all but Dorothy, it sounded horrifyingly like the tactics of the current "wizard," nominee Palin, and her boss. I am as angry and uneasy as anyone over the nomination of Sarah
Palin but I think it’s time to stop now.
This morning I heard Paul
Begala say on MSNBC that every day McCain isn’t talking about the
economy, he wins. That he can’t win ON the economy so if he keeps
distracting the voters and the press he will be better off – a premise
supported by the current poll numbers. Begala also kept comparing
Palin to the "shiny object in the water" on a fishing line that makes a
fish take the bait. I think he’s right.
The issues of this
election are, as we all know, so enormous and scary that it may be
easier to keep focusing on the governor, but that will not win the
election. We need to help remind people of the real issues – the
devastating effects of the sub-prime crisis and it’s sequel, investment bank failure so evident in the past few
days, the state of the economy generally, our sinking competitiveness
in education and the tragic decline of many of our schools, the
attempts by the Right to place (with hat tip to Auntie Mame)"braces on
our brains" and of course, Iraq, Afghanistan, healthcare, energy and
infrastructure.
We’re in a mess. It wasn’t caused by pigs or
lipstick or tanning beds or even community organizers — it was caused
by the people currently in office who want four more years and are
Orwell-ing us into giving it to them. This community has enormous
impact and knows how to raise a ruckus (If you don’t think so, mosey on
over to the League of Maternal Justice!) Let’s get some message
discipline here, leave Sarah to others and push the issues. We’re
going to kick ourselves if we don’t.
A version of this post appears on Blogher.com.