The more things change ...

An interesting story today on the BBC about "banksters", a word which combines "banker" and "gangster".

In 1928, Professor William Z. Ripley of Harvard condemned the practices of Wall Street at that time. He called them "prestidigitation, double-shuffling, honey-fugling, hornswoggling and skullduggery".

He tried to warn then-President Coolidge, but the President was an insider on Wall Street, making money using some of the very practices Ripley was citing. The result was the crash of 1929 and a decade of depression. A depression, by the way, made much worse and much longer by the Socialistic programs of Franklin Roosevelt.

Alas, the situation is remarkably similar today. And we now have a President who will take a slim victory in the polls as a "mandate" to do things far above and beyond what Roosevelt ever dreamed of. I hope you have comfortable shoes. You'll need them when you're standing next to me in the soup line.

Read the BBC story here. There's an interesting twist at the end.

Gotta Love Ted!

(stolen unashamedly from the Forwarded Funnies website, which means it's going around the net ... you've possibly already seen it.)

Gotta Love Ted


Ted Nugent, rock star and avid bow hunter from Michigan, was being interviewed by a French journalist, an animal rights activist.

The discussion came around to deer hunting.

The journalist asked, 'What do you think is the last thought in the head of a deer before you shoot him? Is it, 'Are you my friend?' or is it 'Are you the one who killed my brother?'

Nugent replied, 'Deer aren't capable of that kind of thinking. All they care about is, what am I going to eat next, who am I going to screw next, and can I run fast enough to get away. They are very much like the French.'

The interview ended.

Forwarded Funnies: Gotta Love Ted

You're changing your oil too often!

The old "rule" about changing your oil every three months or 3,000 miles is just that ... OLD. Most cars and light trucks can easily go 7,500 to 10,000 miles on an oil change. The state of California just completed a two-year, three-million-mile study on Oil Change Intervals which proves that. You can read about it at The 3000 mile myth site.

If you're lucky, you're driving a vehicle which has an oil life monitor. These devices are available on most newer GM vehicles, many Chrysler products and some imports. They calculate the oil life based on the actual use of the vehicle. It's not necessary to change the oil until a message appears on your dashboard that it's time. On the two vehicles I own which are so equipped, the oil change intervals run 12,000 to 15,000 miles!

The simple truth is that both engines and oil have improved dramatically in the last forty years. Changing oil too often is expensive, unnecessary, and (perhaps worst) really, really bad for our environment.

(Please consult your vehicle's documentation for recommended oil change intervals. Some particularly harsh environments or rough uses will require more frequent changes, but 75-90 percent of drivers will fit into the recommendations for normal use.)

Random Quotes

Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.
--Hub McCann in the movie "Secondhand Lions"

In the old days, people worried that computers would take over the world. We have now come to a point where computers are intelligent enough to realize that they don't want to.
--Randy Cassingham, thisistrue.com

The Unretired

Business Week magazine, in the December 15, 2008 issue (page 46), has an article on The Unretired. These are people who retired, but due to the economic downturn are now hurting financially, and in many cases going back to work.

A couple of quotes, just a few paragraphs apart, stood out to me:

These aren't just the spendthrifts or sloppy planners you would expect to run into trouble in retirement ... many are people who did everything they were supposed to do -- working for decades and regularly socking money away.

Peter Fay, like many of The Unretired, feels angry and betrayed. The 63-year-old built up a $1 million retirement account as an executive at companies including Chiquita Brands International and then at his own high-end flooring company in Scottsdale, Ariz. But with all his money in stocks, he's lost 50% of that this year, at the same time that his house has tumbled in value. He's drawing down his savings and applying for jobs at Lowe's, Home Depot, and Costco. "All the systems we grew up trusting during all those years of work -- you save your money, you trust in the government -- are no longer valid," he says.

Did you catch that? "all his money in stocks" This is doing "what they were supposed to do?" I know of NO reputable financial planner or advisor who would recommend a retiree (or near-retiree) have all his money in stocks, even in the heady days of the market of the last few years.

Quite the opposite. He (and/or his financial advisors) were apparently driven by pure greed. If history can't teach people that greed is ultimately bad for them, nothing will, I suppose.

Grammar

Grammar is important, but it's not the hallmark of great writing. Rather, it's a tool to help us express ourselves and understand others.
It's what separates "Let's eat children!" from "Let's eat, children!"

--Martha Brockenbrough
Errors that Aren't: 12 Grammar Rules You Can Toss Out the Window

Why they call us a "right-to-work" state

Section 12 of Article 15 of the Constitution of the State of Kansas:

Membership or nonmembership in labor organizations.
No person shall be denied the opportunity to obtain or retain employment because of membership or nonmembership in any labor organization, nor shall the state or any subdivision thereof, or any individual, corporation, or any kind of association enter into any agreement, written or oral, which excludes any person from employment or continuation of employment because of membership or nonmembership in any labor organization.