what to do...??

What can I say? For a few weeks now, I've struggled with thoughts that we could be entering a real dark period in our nation's history. Stock market crash, foreclosures, recession or worse. I heard yesterday about a married couple that I know through a friend who have decided to walk away from the payments on one of their two houses. It will only affect one of the spouse's credit, so as long as they stay married, they'll be alright, right? I wonder if other people are planning the same strategy. Yes, in case you were wondering, the husband is/was a real estate broker, part-time bartender, part-time writer. The wife works for a title company.
I've had these thoughts myself about my house. If the shit hit the fan, would I continue to pay the $1,200 per month that is going towards interest so that some bank can continue to stay afloat and my credit intact? I know there is some personal responsibility involved, but I think a lot of people will do what this couple is planning. It's going to lead to chaos. Our nation's individualist culture is rearing its ugly head. we have a generation that feels entitled to rising home values and easy money. It's going to get ugly.
But I've decided to approach this whole moment in history with a different take. Sure, things could get bad - banks could no longer have money to disperse, credit cards could stop working - but it would be bad for everybody. What are people going to do? Starve? I think not.
I will stick it out as long as i can, five years if necessary, but if I get laid off, what then? I will likely walk away, join the military or something. It could be liberating...
What will happen to all these houses sitting empty in the High Desert of Central Oregon? They will sit empty, become havens for meth addicts, lower housing values for all. It's not a pretty picture and doesn't offer any hope that the market will eventually rebound.

economic malaise

Not much time - maybe 3 mins at most since I've gotta drive to Bend for my sister's b-day lunch - but have to post on Mort Zuckerman's comments last night on the McGlaughlin Group (sp?). The editor of U.S. News and World Report predicted that we are entering what will be the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression. All signs are bad, he said, including the downturn in the housing market, the credit crisis, personal debt, and government debt. It kinda freaked me out. I also watched the Charlie Rose show on PBS as I try to do every Friday night. Not as much said by the economists interviewed on that show, but I can't help but wonder how Morgan Stanley's economist, who must have been behind the company's $5 billion bailout from China, really felt about the nation's economic future. And who is really behind this tax break to stimulate spending by Americans? GW Bush visited the Middle East last week, and bam!, the Americans get a tax break and are encouraged to increase spending. Where does that money come from, you ask? Those who we owe know that we can't be allowed to go into an economic malaise. Otherwise, their investments will be lost. Let's get the real scoop on who is making decisions for this country. It's not Americans any longer. It's the rest of the world.

Alright dear reader (s?). It's time for another post. I have been lurking in the shadows, trying to maintain a perfect life. But I realize that my life needs some journalistic outpouring once in awhile! Not the strait-laced reporter's version either. I am ready for adventure with the keyboard. I want to take it and let it take me as far as I can go. who knows what the hell that means though, eh?

My first letter of intent goes out to those people who still think media is an honest business. I mean really now. Do you know who you're talking to here? It's the bug behind the leafy green vegetable that knaws against the back of your mind when you sleep. It's the irate, irresponsible media person who can't get enough because he doesn't get enough.

It's easy to be new at something. The hard part is being the old hand. It's hard because you have a taste for it and it eats away at your very being until you can't sleep and can't rest either. Even in yoga class, you're a wreck.

It's the color purple on a field of green. It stands out in a kind of beautiful way, but only because it's old. There's nothing getting in the way of it getting somewhere except itself. Its own decisions mar any kind of consistency that would help it get ahead. There's nowhere to go.

The future is kinda scary, if you didn't know.

We have for so long lived in the ever present fear of this happening, and now that it's about to happen, the fear grows greater. Will that lead to some kind of peace when it does happen? Or will there be some kind of reckoning to be faced? I fear the latter.

Just some rambling thoughts from a high, low and chemically altered newspaperman.

I can't help but feel on this eve of the Iowa caucuses that we are living in a kind of sham of electoral politics. This is no way to elect a president, I have to think. But then again, it's the only way. please jesus, guide the Hawkeye state to make a wise decision.

elections

Just one more day until the Iowa caucuses, and I'm wondering if the candidate has already been designated. I like John Edwards and Barack Obama. I am anti-Hillary. The Republicans make me sick. I almost wish we could dissolve the Republican party and have a national election for President between the Democratic candidates. I would not be so nervous about it.

Mitt Romney is so diabolically manufactured and trying to be Reagan, it makes me sick!

I used to sorta like Huckabee, but c'mon, the guy believes in Evolution! That God created man and woman came from man's rib.

Barack Obama is my number one, but I fear that Americans won't vote for him.... I could be wrong. Edwards I have always thought was a phony, but he's starting to appeal to me. Hillary is just plain evil, and her husband is not much better.

Who would do best for the country? Probably Hillary, because we need someone who's not going to take shit from nobody. I kinda think the others might. So I'm conflicted obviously. I'm not ready to vote yet, and neither is America until we know these people a little bit more.