The temptation of bolstering another Bill Gates in Bezo bothers me. Do we really need to set ourselves back over $300 to help what seems to be an F-O-O- (Friend of Oprah) with a product that had bombed based upon bucks? The show attempts to simultaneously encourage and discourage debt with temptation after temptation. I thought that Oprah's mantra was against debt? This product has a price tag made for Malibu, but not for Main Street.
We all want to see the economy improve. However, many of us in the urbs, that is, not living in the suburbs find this message of economic seduction, a disappointment. This Gadget episode is too opulent for our bank accounts; affordable cheap gadgets, not Visa and Mastercard gadgets is what should be promoted. The Kindle can wait unless we are in Oprah's Audience.
Many of us don't face foreclosure because we forgo the tempting tangibles. We are fond of travel, but must avoid getting United much of the time. Of course, choices must be made, and splurges occur. We feel that the opulent array of items generating on talk shows and shopping network screens disappoint us! Where are the personal interest stories? Why are we stocked with escape? Where are the stories where those with disabilities overcome? Where is the philanthropy? This sort of discount is really a temptation for those who make $250 to $500Gs per year. Most of us don't earn a hundred, yet our politicians do. The system is out of sync, when you have to have money to get political privilege. Is it the Jesse Jackson Juniors' that 'make the break' and garner the grail in Government?
I am a professional who works with foreigners who are disenfranchised too often by the minority of Americans too lazy to work in a job that reasonably pays. The laziness comes from the average Joe the Plumber who hires foreigners to do their bidding without penalty. The DHS lacks the funds from Congress and ignores that Joe. If wages are not paid, the unpaid worker fears complaining against one Joe or another who may threaten to deport his workers while seeking that almighty $250G gross per year. Those Joes are the ones who grasp at the Kindles. We are the ones who settle for used paperbacks. We work within the law; our license obligates us.
We are just as disappointed with those who may misrepresent their assets to bankers to secure questionable loans that bungle the banking machine. Those who can crank out keen algorithms and repackage financial disasters to questioning consortiums suck up even more. Yet, many of us don't have $50Gs, let alone $10Gs, due to challenged discretion and ethical choices. If the mortgage is paid, then the roof remains over our heads, and all is good. With that mantra which we have, we have other priorities. Perhaps, we may splurge. Everyone must occasionally take the anxiety and hurt off us due to the clients or customers that assume that we are financially better off. Does it affect savings and force us to forego the family trip to Trinidad, perhaps!
Well, we are free from most, but not all of the debt. We may be self-employed, but there is security. We know that the next president, Demo or Repo, will not bring us much salvation, just jargon. We are genuinely happy that the next president should be from an ethnic or racial group that has lacked political power in America. Nevertheless, we know that THE ECONOMY IS US, not Obama. Whether we lay brick or defend the legally challenged, we are the economy. As the economy goes through its throws, some of us are strangely doing better, but not best. We knew are limits and never overextended ourselves to the extremes.
That is, some of us held off on the kitchen remodeling and settled for a redone bathroom. We watched Oprah, but avoided overhanging debt. We tried to stay away from the Tru's and settled for more spaghetti. We did what we had to do and have nothing but disgust for those who extended themselves well beyond their means. Now, some merely ask for us to subsidize their craving for kindles, HDTVs, and mortgages that they were never able to pay for.
The uniting thread to all of this blabber is that some of us look at Bezo's Kindle, the banks, and the borrowers. We feel a sense of security for our own decisions and restraint. We harbor no worries, but the desire for reason and personal responsibility in our economy. We want Milton Freedman to rise from the dead and tell our Government to leave things alone. We want justice and will pay tax when we must, even if we must be penalized for forgoing priorities.
If the Government needs money, then Congress should not be shy to ask for more taxes. We want the Government take on its responsibilities or absolve itself of some power. We recall the presidential phrase, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." We are not fearful of the future, since the FDIC need only cover the less than $10,000 in our accounts, if anything. We appreciate restraint, but know that the deadly sins can doom those in any century with greed not gratitude. Some of us are just happy to be alive!
My Kindle order can wait; I would rather pay for the kindling wood to light our fireplace and experience the joys of the moment this season. Some of us hope for justice and find little solace in a $700 Billion dollar socialistic handout to the F-O-Gs' [Friends of George] on Wall Street. We loath the AIG Bailout for executives; there are those who used extremely poor business judgment and dropped a lifetime of earnings for most in a one weekend romp in California luxury.
The drop in the market gives us no delight, but we have no stock. Some of us recall when 2000 on Dow Jones average was a record two decades ago. The market fluttered in the hundreds for decades on Dow before it eclipsed into the thousands. We dabbled in stocks, dreamed, but dumped years ago. We were shocked when the Glass Stiegel Act was repealed by Bill Clinton; the justification for that move is malignant and menacing. We knew that new stocks may carry questionable 'come ons' from interconnected entities with conflicts of interest. We felt that those who were in the know were already on board including Martha.
Again, new gadgets are nice, including Kindle, but a disappointment when they come with such a high price tag even after a fifty dollar price drops. Our real income remains stagnant, but our reality remains realistic. I hope that you focus on why there are mortgage challenges; it takes two to tango, that is, negligent bankers and questionable consumers. I hope that you deter foreigners from being the scapegoats of our nation, since we should prize those who want to live the puritan ethic and work. Perhaps, we need to look at realistic issues that are overlooked, rather than the temptations, but than again, you can argue that we can dream, can't we. And I suppose that Bezo has, as well. We await the Kindle to come down to an affordable alternative. Oprah, fifty dollars just won't do it!
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