If access to the internet were only a hobby, then two outages in two days would be a minor inconvenience, but if your livelihood is based upon being connected to the internet; it is whole different story.  In our case, I use the internet to stay connected to this site and a few others and my wife uses it to run an online business.  When there is not access to the internet there is no way to conduct her business.

What is up with so-called “customer service” anyway?  Whatever happened to the old adage “the customer is always right”?  Why is it anymore that if, as a customer, you have a complaint or a situation which causes hardship or danger you are treated like someone trying to rip off the company?  I believe the “me first” mentality has fully crept into the everyday business realm.

We live in the country and our electricity is provided by a rural electrical cooperative.  For years we enjoyed lower rates than those in the city and received a check each year of excess profits.  Then last year the rates jumped dramatically for the first time in years due to the dramatic rise in energy prices.  Our response was to move out of the second story of our home so as to not run the upstairs air conditioner and embark on a series of measures to make sure we used far less electricity than before.  The result was we paid the same even after the huge increase due to decreased consumption.

Three months ago we were notified of another huge price increase that went into effect last month.  We turned the thermostat further down during cold snaps and the A/C higher.  We unplugged unused items and turned off more lights than we turned on.  In January we had the thermostat set at 70 degrees and by March it was down to 64 degrees.  There were some mighty cold mornings in this big house.  The A/C is set at 80 degrees.  There are going to be some mighty warm and muggy days in this place.

Yesterday we received the first bill with the new rate increases.  We had cut our consumption almost in half from one year ago and our bill was $15 more.  It is truly a pity that something like electricity has become something only the rich can afford.

Everywhere I go I see banks and hear commercials for lending companies touting their 4.25% interest rates on mortgages.  Every time I look into refinancing our mortgage to tap into these incredible rates I am met with the same answer MOST people get—“oh we are sorry but you don’t qualify for that rate, but we could get you a 7% rate”.  It is common knowledge that the lenders are so scared they are only giving these low interest loans to people how succeed in jumping through every possible hoop on earth.

I went into town yesterday to mail a bunch of packages.  Once again I was reminded of the 2 cent increase in stamps going into effect on the 11^th.  Less service, but pay more seems to be the way everyone is dealing with the current economic downturn.  Driving by the gas stations I saw the price for a gallon of gas had jumped 25 cents in one day.  Hmmm, if every business in America raised their prices that much overnight, wouldn’t it pretty well destroy the country?

I have no leverage with the electric company, the Post Office, the mortgage company or gasoline stations.  They are going to keep raising rates and prices to compensate for lack of demand for their services or market conditions.  But, when it comes to a phone/DSL company being unable to keep a line up for 24 hours, my patience runs out.  Besides, this is the same company that took almost a month to get service back for thousands of customers a little south of us last winter after an ice storm downed lines all over the place.  Hey what do you know, the restored the service!

It is daily getting harder and harder to stay afloat in this country.  The more one tries to conserve, cut back and be frugal, it does little good as others keep raising prices and rates at the same time.  One step forward and two steps back seems to be the name of the game now days.

Isn’t it a bit curious how in the current United States Senate, there are already two “caretakers” and soon to be three who stand little or no chance of even running again in two years, let alone getting elected? Isn’t it curious that at this crucial time in history one seat is vacant due to voting irregularities, one supposed Independent will be guaranteed to be anything but wholly Democratic in order to retain status and the new President’s opponent in November may end up siding with him more than his own party?

The United States Senate needs to be disbanded and start over. The insane politics which rule that chamber have finally caught up with it. Why is it that if a House member dies or gets booted out, a special election is called to fill the seat, but not in the Senate? Why is it that state governors are allowed to pick and choose whomever they want to fill a seat until the next election? Doesn’t this throw open the door to crimes such as went on in Illinois or childish shenanigans currently happening in New York? Doesn’t this yield convenient deals being made to guarantee a particular candidate wins in the future such as in Delaware?

Filling seats in the United States Senate at the whim of the Governor of a state is an amendment that needs to be proposed and enacted. No good thing can ever come from taking away the vote of the people for their elected officials. I realize that if the President leaves office, just as in most states if the Governor does; there are laws of succession which guarantee no new election is held until the next cycle. Is this a good law or could it not end up in the ruin of our country or a state?

When the Vice President was forced to resign back in 1973, President Nixon was allowed to pick a new Vice President. Of course he chose Gerald Ford who was at that time the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. A year later, Nixon was for forced to resign and instead of there being provisions to elect a new President, an unelected Vice President ascended to the Presidency.

If this were not bad enough, the new President then had to chose a new Vice President which ended up being—Nelson Rockefeller. How a man such as that made it to be Vice President is a tribute to the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 which does not allow for a new election for a President.

Lest we ever forget, two attempts were made on President Ford’s life in September of 1975. “Squeaky” Fromme’s gun misfired on September 5^th in Sacramento and Sara Moore’s shot missed in San Francisco on the 22^nd. Only a naïve fool would not see what was planned. Ford was a “stand in” to be removed so that the country could be run by a Rockefeller. Amazingly, two attempts to accomplish this failed within two and one half weeks.

On March 30, 1981 newly elected President Ronald Reagan was shot in Washington. Amazingly he lived only because the bullet missed its intended target by a fraction of an inch. Coincidentally, the Vice President was a young George Bush who had been highly involved in all sorts of Illuminati activities for years. Mr. Bush was almost nominated to be Vice President by Gerald Ford instead of Mr. Rockefeller.

As it all turned out, the plans of those who have plotted the takeover of the United States since its beginning happened through the electoral process in November. To make sure the agenda will breeze through Congress, the deck is now stacked with unqualified “yes men and women” in the Senate who will rubber stamp every program which will force this country into submission.

In due time all sorts of attempts will be made to amend the United States Constitution to make it more “living” and thus more accommodating to minorities and to eliminate sections contrary to future plans. No attempts will be made to amend it or to eliminate flaws which allow for no Presidential elections outside the four year cycle due to the 1947 act, nor to quit having Governors appoint Senators. This is truly a tragedy for this once great nation.

I understand that we are not to be in debt, so I am not sharing the following with you wanting to be scolded for being in debt. What things are is what things are, and some of us for various reasons got ourselves into situations that necessitated taking on debt and now we are getting ready to pay dearly for it.

Sparing you the details, for they are not important, let me simply say that the following are the facts:

1. We have never been late on any obligation for twenty years.

2. We live in a home that when re-financed in May of 2007 had, at the time, a full one third equity position. In other words, there was deliberately room left for unexpected expenses in the future.

3. We have 7 credit cards with balances on them and another 5 with zero balances.

4. Our income and expenses are the same as they have been for many years.

5. NOTHING has happened, on our end, to alter our situation in the past year and one half.

With these facts in mind, let me tell you what is going on. We have three credit cards that all go through the biggest bank in America. We have had these cards for between three and ten years. At times they have had balances approaching their limits and at other times balances of zero. NEVER has there been a late payment, over credit fee or any other negative. At present, all three carry balances which are at or below 50% of the credit lines.

Last week we received notices with the bills that as of December, the interest rates on all three cards were going from 6.99%, which they have been at for years, to 18.99%. As if this was not shock enough, we were informed the credit lines on all three cards were being frozen at current levels. Although we were able to “opt out” of the rise in interest rates by guaranteeing we would never use the cards again, we effectively were shut down by a bank we had up until a month ago, EXCELLENT relations with.

Yesterday the exact same thing happened with another bank we have two cards with. In both cases the so-called justification for the action was the bank did not like our “debt to income ratio”. Hello, it is the same as it has been for months. Before I had a chance to take all this personally, I did some research and found out what is going on which pertains to any of you carrying credit card balances.

A very trustworthy source, whom I trust completely wrote in an article yesterday that all the major banks and financing institutions are in the process of dealing with 2 trillion dollars in bad credit card debts. To handle this, they are systematically going through their clientele and doing exactly what they did to us with all but the very best customers on their books. In other words, they are cutting their losses by assuming anyone not making $500,000 per year is going to default on their credit card bills and thus they are freezing lines of credit and charging outlandish interest rates.

This has been going on for months and months with those in deep financial trouble, the difference is that now it is spreading to the “common folk” like my wife and I. The banks are bleeding money faster than Uncle Sam can give it to them. Look at the stocks of all the major banks and they are nearing the point of being worthless. No amount of money poured into the banks is going to help, for they are slowing slaughtering the very people who could have made them money via mortgages, loans and credit cards.

We recently found out that the same home which we had one third equity in 18 months ago now mysteriously has basically no equity. How on God’s green earth can a home lose 30% of its supposed value in 18 months? At the current rate, we will be “upside down” within six months. Oh how the vultures are circling as they make their plans to snatch this attractive property and acreage out from under us. All we can do is pray and do the best we can. These matters are way bigger than we are.

Don’t be surprised if any outstanding lines of credit you have get frozen soon. Don’t be surprised if the assumed equity you think you have in your home suddenly evaporates into thin air and you find yourself owing more than someone says your house is worth. Don’t be surprised if the reward you get for paying your bills on time, not being extravagant and trying to save money via retirement accounts is having to file for bankruptcy along with 50 states, thousands of cities and in due time, the United States of America.

Yes, that is where this is all heading. Sooner or later the government’s funny money will not be worth the paper it is printed on and no matter how much of it you make or save, it will not be able to help you. Those who sit back thinking they are safe and secure, will see sudden destruction come upon them. Those who thought they had enough in savings to carry them through their retirement years will be trying to survive on Social Security checks alone. Those who thought they had money to burn will find that money has all been burned up.

America’s chickens HAVE come home to roost in the sense that gross mistakes made due to greed are destroying the very financial foundation of this country. All logical measures which could really help the common person are laughed at and rejected outright. Instead, more and more money is thrown to the hungry ravenous wolves which represent the corrupt financial institutions of this world. They will never be satisfied until they have gobbled up every dollar from every soul in America. God help us.

It certainly appears to me that all across society, we are hearing more and more screams from “big kids” who spent years and years being spoiled rotten by the system they now abhor. We all knew, or maybe we were one ourselves, a spoiled kid. This kid was usually an only child whose parents made more money than most and since they did not have a big family to spend it on; they gave little Johnny everything and anything he wanted to be happy.

A child growing up getting everything he wants, becomes an adult who demands nothing less. In our society, we have seen generation after generation rise up with no sense of stewardship and no understanding of what it takes to do without. Even today, as parents scramble to find enough money to pay the bills; the kids throw tantrums, demanding newer computer games and better toys. Even when parents try to say no, they usually crumble under the withering barrage of objections from kids who have never heard that word before.

We are surrounded by children ranging in age from 1 to 65 who never were told “NO, you can’t have that”. Kids have been given everything they think they need and everything they know they want for years. Whether junk food, cell phones, skateboards, baggy shorts or computerized games; all these “toys” have been dropped in the laps of kids for decades.

Parents who have tried to buy the love and respect of their kids by bombarding them with “things” have found these kids to be anything but loyal as they grow older. In fact, many times the kids rebel against this blatant form of bribery. On therapist’s couches across America there are stories told daily by delinquent kids who only wanted love and attention and not all the “things” they were given.

Nothing replaces the time a parent spends with their child. No amount of money and no amount of things can compensate for the time a child craves to spend with their parents. When mom and dad are too busy enjoying their lives to spend time with Junior; they usually wake up one day to a call that Junior either is in jail or killed himself. This is the sad reality of American families these days.

Kids need to be taught they cannot have everything they want. Kids need to be given quality time with their parents instead of shipping them to the mall or their friends houses to get them out of the parent’s hair. Kids need to be given responsibilities and when carried out, given an allowance. It is truly amazing how many kids are simply given money for doing absolutely nothing.

Activities such as television, movies and the such should be regulated and only available after homework is done. Activities such as athletics, drama and dance should be viewed as rewards and not as an equal part of life as breathing. Where in the world did the idea come from that every kid has to be involved with every sport taking up hours of time in practice and games year round? Where did the notion come from that a kid MUST play soccer, baseball, football, basketball along with having a major part in every school play and play a musical instrument to boot?

Is it any wonder that the country if full of families who have no clue how to function as a family? The very concept of a family has degenerated into people coming and going all the time and perhaps on major holidays they actually may all be together. Long gone are the evenings when families would sit around the table and play archaic games such as Monopoly or Clue. Such ideas of family activities today would be viewed upon as punishment by most kids and even many adults.

See, the adults don’t want to give up their favorite television shows or their poker nights or other adult activities; and the kids don’t want to give up their cell phones, e-mails, games and other time wasters. What remains is a bunch of stubborn people who are too selfish to give up what they want to benefit the other. What is truly sad is that the adults don’t have what it takes to put down their foot and simply say: “This is the way it is going to be”. Such words, even if they were said, would be met with a roomful of rolling eyes and “yea sure”.

What we are facing at the current time in this country is a crisis brought about by years and years of neglect and lack of supervision on the account of companies who violated principle after principle of good business practice. Whether they were not taught to do things right, or the greed built by always having what you want when you want it; either way, the result is an economic disaster of unprecedented parallels.

The “sins of the fathers” have been manifesting themselves ever more clearly through the events which have crushed this country in 2008. Unless and until American families get back to living according to the principles set forth in God’s Word instead of the ways of the world, this country would continue to spiral downward throughout the coming generations. Parents waiting on the government, schools or even their church to take over the raising and training of their children are perfect fools. Any parent who willingly relinquishes their responsibility of raising their family right, is a parent unfit to even have a family.

Whether due to being spoiled, neglected or being bribed; there are many “bad kids” who are now running corporations, managing huge financial institutions and are responsible for the horrible mess dragging down this country. Few parents think about the long term repercussions of the way in which they raise their kids. They simply do what is convenient at the present and “hope for the best” when the kids grow up. But what happens when they never do grow up? Look around and you will see.

Let me be brutally honest here. I have a list of physical ailments and corresponding medications and therapies needed to deal with them that is a mile long. With situations ranging from heart failure and coronary artery disease to diabetes to numerous herniated discs in my neck and back to kidney failure to liver problems along with skin issues; I have little choice but to try and survive on my paltry $600 disability I receive monthly from Social Security.

My life is spent going to one doctor, therapist or procedure after another. My money is spent on various drugs needed to somewhat keep all the various conditions under control along with the co-pays and deductibles for all the visits and drugs. Just yesterday I say 4 doctors in one day and spent $100 in co-pays alone. My wife also had a physical problem yesterday which resulted in her seeing the doctor. The final bill for co-pays alone came to $125. She made $130 working over 8 hours yesterday.

Now granted, yesterday was somewhat unusual since I had two doctor visits that only come up every three months, but when an entire day’s earnings are used up just visiting doctors—Houston, we have a problem. Due to the treatment regimen needed to deal with my back and neck problems, I must see the Chiropractor/therapist/medical doctor three times per week for the next few weeks. This is a $100 per week commitment. To get the prescriptions filled to relieve pain and speed the healing process cost another $50. The gas to make the drives cost another $60.

We recently had to make the yearly decision as to taking the high or low option on insurance through my wife’s employer. The basic difference came down to whether the insurance would pay 70% (low option) or 80% (high option) and whether co-pays would be $35 (low option) or $30 (high option) for doctor’s visits. The difference in price for high vs. low was an incredible $45 per week. In other words it was going to take $45 more per week to get insurance to pay 10% more of the bills.

We, as usual, chose the low option with a $40 medical re-imbursement option. Even choosing this package, the cost per week is $85. Some would say that is a small price to pay to have decent insurance; I would say that we are thankful to have the coverage, but…

If I had to go in the hospital for any of my various maladies, I would be responsible for a $300 per day co-pay and then insurance would only pay 70% of the cost of all things done while in the hospital. A one week stay in the hospital would cost a staggering $3,000 or more probably. Needless to say, I avoid any trips to the hospital like the plague.

I put off getting a bridge put in my mouth for a year. This is the third of four needed bridges. Since insurance only pays a fraction of the cost, I was left to pay the rest. Last week, an astounding $4,500 was charged to my Care Credit account to pay for a major bridge, a crown and other needed work. Last year a similar bridge “only” cost about $3,500 which was slowly being paid off. I am now maxed out on this account so I can only pray for no more emergencies.

I had to get the truckload of mail order prescriptions filled last week. The bill was just under $500. Trying to find the means to pay all these bills along with everything else is frustrating and a lesson in how people end up hopelessly in debt. Even if there were no other obligations, staying on top of numerous and varied medical conditions ends up eating all available funds plus more. Yes, things like Care Credit help with Dental and Veterinary bills (a staggering sum to care for our sick dog which recently passed away), and hospitals will set up payment plans at times for big bills. But they also want you to cash in retirement accounts and drain savings plans also.

Everyone talks about the reason people like my wife and I are in the dire straits we are in financially is due to our irresponsibility concerning finances. They say because I am lazy and won’t go find a job and insist on being sick all the time we are in the mess we are in. Here is my question to those who blame me for all our woes. Should I, as Jimmy Stewart tried to do in “It’s a Wonderful Life” go jump off a bridge and at least end the constant draw on finances my ailments bring? Should I hope to get killed in an accident on the Interstate so my wife can collect from a couple of accidental death insurance policies I have? Am I to try, at almost 56 years of age to find work knowing I cannot faithfully show up and do the job?

One of the doctors I was at yesterday was in a foul mood. I was ten minutes late due the previous doctor talking on the phone for fifteen minutes with his financial broker. The doctor in the foul mood spent all of five minutes with me and was obviously upset for I was his last patient before leaving at 10:30 in morning. I could hear him complaining as the nurse did the pre-work about patients not respecting the doctor’s valuable time. I should have walked out then and there. How many times have I waited for hours on a doctor hopelessly behind schedule.

If I could survive without medical care, I would. If I could survive without prescription drugs, I would. If I could guarantee an employer I could and would show up daily to work and do the job without being in a drug fog, excruciating pain or having to leave to go to doctor visits three times per week, I would. Since I can’t, what else can I do but what I do?

I hate being a physical liability to not only my wife but society. Should I move to Oregon and ask to end this life? Am I to sit in front of stores with a can asking for alms? Am I to ignore all my medical conditions and let them slowly kill me? I wish those who quickly condemn some of us for the situations we are in would honestly look at what got us in them instead of blasting us with their self righteous and pompous sermons about responsibility.

]]> http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/the-staggering-cost-of-receiving-medical-treatment-is-it-worth-it/feed/ 1 mercyman53 http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/2008/10/24/follow-up-to-sleep-apena-post-2nd-opinions-sometimes-are-fantastic/ http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/2008/10/24/follow-up-to-sleep-apena-post-2nd-opinions-sometimes-are-fantastic/#comments Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:44:58 +0000 mercyman53 http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/?p=73 ]]>

So I go to another sleep doctor today for a second opinion regarding my sleep apnea. Boy am I glad I did. It has been a long time since I enjoyed going to a doctor of any type, but today was actually fun. The office was wild and the doctor looked like he stepped out of a old television series. What counts is the end result, and it is 500 times better than I could have dreamed.

As it turns out, this doctor helped develop sleep labs and has an independent lab with the most sterling reputation in the area. He personally has trained the personnel at other labs, including the one I had my study at. He is currently the medical director of the sleep lab he founded.

I told him that I didn’t want to become addicted to “klonopin” as a way to relax to handle wearing a CPAP or BIPAP mask. He didn’t blame me. I told him the previous doctor had said I had the worst study results he had ever seen. Today’s doctor said, “he must not have seen too many”.

After looking over my study results he said I was only moderately severe and most of my episodes were “obstructive” apneas in the supine position. On my side, I had only a few episodes and they were more “central apnea”. He looked at the results of the study again and then stated that he thought it would be a waste of time and insurance money to repeat the test or to do it to “desensitize” me so I could handle the CPAP mask. He had a better solution.

He suggested my wife sew a pocket on the back of my sleep shirt with a way to close the pocket. I am to get a tennis ball and put in the pocket each night. Each time during the night when my body wants to roll over from the side to the back, it would feel the tennis ball and roll back on the side. He said this type of training lasts a short time and the habit of sleeping on ones back is broken.

That was it. That was the extent of treatment recommended by someone who was a pioneer in the field of sleep apnea. No CPAP machines, no threats of impending death if I didn’t get hooked on tranquilizers to handle a mask and no wearing political buttons on his white doctor’s coat either. Just good and sound medical advice.

The lesson I learned through all this is that sometimes it is a very good thing to seek out a second opinion on medical matters. Sometimes it is vital to seek out a second opinion. I know of people where it is a matter of life and death to get a second opinion. I have had close friends die of cancer that was not treated soon enough because of the lax attitude of their family doctor. I have had close friends endure painful treatment for diseases they never had due to mistakes being made reading test results.

If anyone reading this has obstructive sleep apnea that is far worse sleeping on your back vs. your side; I urge you to try the tennis ball approach to train the body to stay off its back. If it means being set free from the bondage of a CPAP machine, it would be worth a try. Of course if the apnea is “central” in nature, all the tennis balls at Wimbledon wouldn’t help. Good luck and good night.

The amount of money Americans spend to be entertained is staggering, to say the least. Tonight my wife and I watched a recorded episode of one of our favorite television shows; “Are you smarter than a 5^th Grader”. In this episode, a gentleman won $500,000 for answering correctly 10 elementary school questions. I am genuinely glad to see a “certified genius” win half a million dollars answering questions asked of kids in first through fifth grade. The problem I have is that $500,000 represents more money than my father and mother made in their entire working lives, combined.

I like Jeff Foxworthy, who is the host of the Fifth Graders show. His “salary” for each episode is $150,000. William Peterson makes $500,000 for each CSI episode. Are these people really so good that they should make these sums of money for the sole purpose of entertainment? Is it right that Jeff Foxworthy makes more in two episodes of a game show than the President of United States makes in a year?

Judge Judy makes 30 million dollars a year to pass judgment on cases no different than heard every day in small claims court. Simon Cowell makes 45 million dollars a year to be a judge and critic on “American Idol”. Poor Katie Couric makes “only” 15 million dollars a year to give the news a few nights per week. Oprah Winfrey makes around 260 million dollars per year from her broadcasting and publishing empires.

The average salary for an NFL player is 1.4 million dollars per year. That is quite a bit of money to pay a 300 pound guy to wear a funny uniform and hit other guys. The average salary for an NHL (hockey) player is 1.8 million dollars per year. That is a huge amount of money to pay a guy to “skate”. The average salary for a Major League Baseball player is 2.7 million dollars. At least these guys have to work every day for over 8 months to earn their money. The average salary for an NBA (basketball) player is 4.9 million dollars. That is an incredible amount of money to pay a guy to “dribble”.

Tiger Woods won 10 million dollars for winning a golf tournament. That’s right, 10 million dollars to hit a little white ball into a hole. Since when did hitting balls and people become so lucrative? It became lucrative when Americans with far too much money to spend on good causes started wasting it on worthless entertainment. These athletes make this money because Americans are willing to pay their salary to watch them “play”.

Let us assume Brad Pitt makes 20 million dollars per year (he probably makes far more than that). For the average American, a $275,000 house would be a huge investment that would entail obtaining a 30 year mortgage at over $2,000 per month. For Brad, that same house would seem to cost only $412.50. The new car that costs all of us $20,000 would seem to cost $30 to Brad. That new $2,000 computer would seem like $3 to Brad. A nice meal at a decent restaurant that costs us $40 would seem like 6 cents to Brad and the average $10 meal like 2 cents.

Entertainers are allowed to make what they make because we pay their “salaries”. America’s love affair with celebrity status along with its unquenchable thirst for sports of all kinds has led to a leak of monumental proportions when it comes to reality and honesty of compensation. Those who contribute the least are paid the most and vice a versa.

There are a little over 2 million nurses in America. The base salary for a new nurse is $39,000 per year on average. After 3 years it “climbs” to $47,000. How important are nurses compared to basketball players? Should basketball players really make over 100 times what nurses make per year? How many lives have basketball players saved or helped make comfortable?

The average pay for a police officer is $45,000 per year. A detective may make up to $54,000 per year on average. Should a game show host make 3 times more for an hour show than a police officer makes in a year putting his life on line daily? Should a television judge make 700 times more per year than the average police officer on the street? Something is terribly wrong with this picture.

The average pay for a school teacher is $47,600 per year. Granted, a teacher works only 9 months per year, but their job is perhaps the toughest one on earth. Is it right that the teacher who slaves away in a rundown inner city “hellhole” school should make only 1/ 5460^th what Oprah pulls in per year?

Is Oprah 5460 times more important than your average teacher? Is Judge Judy 700 times more important than your average police officer? Is the average NBA player 100 times more important than your average nurse? Isn’t it interesting that the vast majority of teachers, police officers and nurses rarely complain about their salaries? They do what they do for the love of what they are doing and knowing they are “making a difference” in our world. Athletes and entertainers are notorious for complaining about not making enough for what they do

The next time you turn on your television, go to the movies or attend a professional sporting event; think about how much money is being thrown away to provide you with a few minutes or hours of entertainment. While numerous small charities dry up on the vine for lack of funding, people seem to have no shortage of extra money to throw in the trash can of “Entertainment Tonight”.

I am not a fan of big government. I do not believe the government should be intruding upon people’s lives, but rather working to make our lives better and to protect our country from those wanting to destroy it. Government should work for the citizens of this country and not the other way around.

If the American people knew the details of why the 700 billion plan to take the “toxic” bad mortgages and loans off the books of banks, perhaps there would be more support for the plan on Main Street. But, the only thing told the masses is that there is a huge problem that is threatening to cause a depression. Such vague language is not conducive to universal support of a huge outlay of resources.

In 1928, President Herbert Hoover had this to say about the state of the American economy and what to look forward to: “We in America are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us.” A year after making this statement, the Stock Market crashed and the country entered 15 years of economic depression with more poverty than at any time in the country’s history.

Even after the Stock Market crash, people such as J.D. Rockefeller said: “These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone. Prosperity has always returned and will again.” Although he was right in the sense that prosperity did return, by the time it did, he would have been 108 years old.

Many years ago my wife and I invested what little money we had in a very conservative mutual fund account. We later each opened a Roth IRA. In the year 2008, we have seen the mutual fund drop so much that we have succeeded in losing almost 10% of the money initially invested. Not only have we lost all the money market made over the “good years”, our “investment” is now losing money. Our Roth IRA’s which were designed to grow and give us money later in life hover at 5% over the initial amount invested.

An investment is supposed to grow. When money is invested, especially in retirement accounts, the entire purpose was to see growth over an extended period of time so as to be able to provide security upon retirement. When that money does not grow, it produces a problem. When the investment shrinks; that produces a major problem.

A gentleman I have known for many years loves to gamble. He and his wife go to the riverboat casino every week. He takes pride in winning more than he loses (or so he says). Last week I was at his business and he was bragging about how he made $11,500 the previous Friday when the Market went up almost 500 points. He loves to buy and sell stocks all day. When leaving I congratulated his wife on their windfall, with a sour expression she asked, “did he tell you how much he lost the day before?” As it turned out, he had lost $15,000.

Our home, which is in the country in what used to be a rapidly growing county west of St. Louis, was appraised at a certain value in September of 2007. By June of 2008 when we were trying to see if we could even think of selling the house to move, the appraised value of the house had dropped almost 30% since the previous September. In fact, the value of the home was less than what we paid for it in 2004. Oh, by the way, we did $50,000 of improvements to the home before we moved in.

We, like so many other Americans, have lost all our financial leverage. We cannot re-finance our mortgage due to its supposed drop in value. To sell our investments would be pure folly, for we would be selling at a loss. Where does that leave us when emergencies come up?

Recently our well went out, our roof sprung a leak we had to replace one of our vehicles and we had to pay to get our hay cut, baled and stored in the barn to sell all winter. Out of desperation we had no choice but to charge our normal expenses to use the cash to pay for these emergencies. We were good stewards, in that we had invested our money wisely (we were told). But, when the cards were laid on the table, we lost.

The politicians in Washington need to quit playing games with us and just come out and spill the details of how bad things are and how bad they are going to get. There is no profit in speaking in vague generalities about the situation. Tell us what is happening and what to expect. Then we can decide what to do with whatever we have left that hasn’t already been flushed down the toilet of this ongoing economic downturn.

You know, if I knew today the value of my mutual fund investment was going to drop another 20% in the next six months, I would probably call my broker today and sell. Why keep it and take more losses. That is the very reason nobody is telling us the truth about how bad things really are. They don’t want everyone to sell all their assets and cause the economy to crash and burn. The way it looks, it is going to do that anyway, so why not sit us as a nation down and tell us the truth. I would much rather “the truth be told” than to find out later all that was told was a lie.

]]> http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/its-not-just-the-wall-street-bleeding-to-death-financially-me-too/feed/ 0 mercyman53 http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/the-big-deal-is-nothing-but-the-biggest-loser-shoved-on-america-in-years/ http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/the-big-deal-is-nothing-but-the-biggest-loser-shoved-on-america-in-years/#comments Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:30:18 +0000 mercyman53 http://blessings2you.wordpress.com/?p=15 ]]>

Anyone celebrating the looming “deal” in Washington must either be a stock broker or a banker. Sure everybody who is anybody in American politics was there sitting around the big table to supposedly hash out deal that would pass both houses of Congress. Nice looking picture (with Barak front and center as usual), trouble is; the deal solves nothing.

Do these pampered phonies really think the masses in the country; number one—give a hoot about what they are doing, and number two—believe what they are doing will help anyone but the rich? The vast majority of Americans will continue going about their business paying little attention to what President Bush, Sen. Obama, Sen. McCain, Speaker Pelosi, Sen. Reid, Sen. Todd, Rep. Frank or anyone else in attendance says or thinks.

Nothing is going to interfere with Billy’s soccer game this evening or the premiere of everyone’s favorite shows on television. Nothing anyone says or does in Washington is going to make a bit of difference to most people on Main Street in America. The prevailing opinion is this is all for Wall Street firms and those in the process of being foreclosed on their mortgage. Why should I pay $10,000 to bail out some Wall Street business that was run by crooks and thieves?

I am sure that by this evening or at the latest tomorrow, there will be countless picture ops with President Bush squarely in the middle as the savior of the nation’s economy. I am also sure that he will be flanked by Sens. McCain and Obama since one or the other of them will take over this mess in January. Smiles will abound as Rep. “Barney” Frank will claim credit for finding a few billion dollars to bail out all the gays in America losing their homes. Sen. Todd will arrogantly look down on the world and proclaim that he alone was responsible for saving the country.

Both Presidential candidates will scurry to the nearest camera to smile into it while proclaiming that somehow their presence at the meeting brought about its success. Through it all, the real power players, the Secretary of the Treasury and the head of the Federal Reserve will sit joking in the corner watching as the kids have their day. Rome will continue to burn just has it has been for years. Nothing in this ridiculous intrusion into our freedoms will change a thing. In fact, it looks like a brilliant ploy to enhance the credibility of the status quo.

Fools; that is what those stupid enough to buy into this propaganda trick are. This great bail out of 2008 is not going to do anything but allow the scumbags who live in and control Washington to keep ruining this country for another few years. This whole spectacle is utterly and completely disgusting.

So I go to the Sleep Doctor today to go over the results of a sleep study done earlier in the month. He proceeds to tell me it is the worst case of sleep apnea he has ever seen. In the three hours of deep sleep I had that night, I quit breathing 167 times. He said I had all the different kinds of apnea known to medical science.

This is nothing new to me. I had sleep studies done in 1997 and 2000 which both showed the same results. Both times attempts were made to fit me with a CPAP mask and I “freaked out” due to longstanding claustrophobia. Both of the previous times I was told I had to overcome the phobia or face certain premature death.

Due to a dramatic increase in physical problems over the past year, my cardiologist suggested I have another sleep study done. Thus the reason for the current test. If you have never endured a sleep study, consider yourself blessed. Electrical leads are placed all over your head and jaws and forehead and EKG leads are on the chest. Somehow you are supposed to sleep with enough wires attached to your head to cause Frankenstein to run in fear.

My main problem is that periodically when I sleep, my brain forgets to tell the lungs to breath. This is extremely troubling since breathing is supposed to be an involuntary activity. We do not sit around all day telling ourselves to breath. We just do it and never think about it unless we have a cold or other disease. It is very disconcerting to think that while sleeping, my brain ‘forgets” to send a message to the lungs to breath.

When we stop breathing, the body goes into panic state. Hormones are released which cause the heart to beat rapidly so the body saves itself. This is what shocks the lungs into breathing. The problem is the damage to the whole body repeated episodes of apnea have when repeated night after night. It is no wonder that I fight edema (fluid retention), loss of kidney function and inability to lose weight even on a very restricted diet. These, along with various heart problems, are classic symptoms of bad sleep apnea.

Now that I know how bad my situation is, I must wait a month until the next available opening in the sleep lab to repeat the study as the techs there try to fit me with various masks. To combat panic, I will have to take a heavy dose of a nerve relaxing medication. Oh boy, I look forward to that night with great anticipation.

I understand that I must do what needs to be done to compensate for this problem in my body. As much as I don’t want to endure the night of fittings and the hassle of sleeping with a machine helping me breath each night; I understand the consequences and accept that I must at least try to do what has been suggested. It is a bitter pill to swallow, but sometimes that is just the way life goes.

I sat with my elderly mother in a sleep doctor’s office a few years ago. She had had a sleep study done and it evidently was as bad as mine. She too could not handle the CPAP mask. The sleep doctor told her in no uncertain terms that either she figured out a way to handle the CPAP or she would die within a year or two. She did try the CPAP as much as she could handle. She died a little under two years from the time she saw the sleep doctor.

Since I don ‘t want to go through what my mom did, I must resign myself to doing what I have no desire to do and that is learn to sleep using the CPAP. Due to sinus problems I cannot handle the nice new nasal CPAP devices. This is too bad for they are much easier to deal with. Oh well, there are worse things to deal with in life.

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