Puddles of Troubles

So, so far 2009 is turning out to be a blogging bust. Good thing I didn't put it on my New Year's resolutions list. Here's a list of some of the pressing issues on my mind lately:

1 - HAIRCUTS
Over Christmas, the LG took a pair of VERY large scissors to his already freshly cut hair. We call it the Quentin Tarantino do. Here is a progression, but the conundrum is what to do with it now. As you can see by the date of this post, he has survived for a month, but there are days I feel like taking the clippers to it, but so far I just can't bring myself to do it.

BEFORE


MOM HAIRCUT


2 YEAR OLD QUENTIN TARANTINO DO


2 - BANKS
In an effort to exploit the weaknesses of our financial system for our own gain (not an easy task these days), the BK opened an account with Washington Mutual (WaMu) with $1. In return for opening an account, about 6 weeks later we received a $75 gift card (this could go a long way in explaining their poor thinking and bankruptcy, but what do I know). Receiving the gift card happened to coincide with the news that they were going under so the BK told me I better start spending it as quickly as possible just in case. I think I got through $60 of it when final news of WaMu's demise hit. Unfortunately, as the BK predicted, this was the end of our $75 line of credit. Okay, so far so good, we still made $60 on a $1 investment. My irritation in getting ripped off on that extra $15 was minute until I received a TAX FORM in the mail that requires me to pay taxes on the full $75 - which means that WaMu also wrote off the full amount which I didn't receive. I'm sure my dad can find a lawsuit in there somewhere, but I am just content to whine about it for now.


3 - JOB SECURITY
My family relies solely for the time being on the employer of my husband who happens to be the Bank of America. Before you worry, don't, he is still employed. However, I have a couple of beefs about what has been going on in terms of bailouts and mergers and corporate greed. First, good riddance to John Thain. For those of you who don't know who he is, click here. In a nutshell, he is the Merrill Lynch CEO who, in the middle of a merger that his company was pretty dishonest about in terms of their actual balance sheet, he remodeled his office for $1.2 million. Second, and on a related note, is my irritation with all government interference to this point in the financial sector. Bank of America would have withdrawn from the merger under normal market conditions when it learned the truth about how much trouble Merrill Lynch was actually in, but the Government (Henry Paulson and cronies) pressed Ken Lewis (Bank of America CEO) to stick with it citing the pandemonium it would create in the markets. So, now BOA is taking a lot of criticism (as evidenced by their stock prices which are at 17 year lows) for taking government bailouts which, in essence, were granted because they bailed the government out of another sticky mess. I, for one, think this whole bailout mess is a joke. So far, the money has been spent lining the pockets of people like John Thain, and driving down stock prices of banks which are already suffering. I'm ticked, but I'm also very grateful that my husband is still employed in an industry that is clearly in puddles of troubles. Best of luck to us all.