Bail Out Main Street

I think I am in the majority when I say I am fed up (no pun intended) with the government giving handouts to failing businesses. All this printing of money we don't have will eventually bite us in the ass when it comes to the value of the dollar. I understand that FNMA and FHLMC (I refuse to call them by their better known pseudo-acronyms) had to be helped out or else the global economy might collapse, and it makes sense for the government to help them since they were federally spawned out of the Great Depression. Now it seems any large company that had a bad year can ask for an 11-figure cookie, then ask for a glass of milk when it doesn't satiate them.

Many people are asking “How did this happen?” The short answer is ‘greed.’ Don’t get me wrong, greed is the fuel that capitalism runs on, but when greed and short sightedness bump uglies, then you get debacles like our current mortgage crisis. Here’s how it happened. The price of homes was rising on a mathematical J-curve for no reason other than people kept paying successively ridiculous prices.
Q: How were people able to do this? A: Sub-prime lending.
Basically, it was a case of one-upsmanship. In order to generate short-term revenue and entice investors, one lender would decide to give a particular loan that no one would have considered 10 years ago. Brokers from other companies would complain they were losing all their business to the company doing the crazy loan. So, all the other lenders were forced to offer the same crazy loan to ever more unqualified borrowers. This went back and forth until Cletis the slack-jawed yokel, with no job and a credit score of 43 was signing a $450,000, 50-year loan with variable interest and yearly balloon payments. Then, to everyone’s surprise, foreclosure rates went through the roof and nobody got paid. Come on, no one saw the glass ceiling? Really?!
Let’s do the numbers, shall we? In 2008, the U.S. government approved over $900 billion dollars to shore up failing lenders. Now the money is going towards enraging things like securing the salaries and bonuses of CEOs running these floundering companies.
Here’s one idea: There are approximately 112 million households in the U.S. and roughly 69% of them are homeowners. That means that instead of flushing billions down the toilet, the government could have given each homeowner ~$11,700 to use toward their mortgage and avoid foreclosure. This money could be given as a handout or as a loan with a very low interest rate (0 – 5%) on a sliding scale based on income. People would not be allowed to spend it on anything other than their mortgage and people without homes could be given a similar amount to put towards a down payment or in a down payment savings account depending on their credit. This way, foreclosures would stop and the lenders would still get the money and everyone would benefit. Maybe I’m naïve, but tell me that wouldn’t bolster the economy.

Fitness tip of the week: Thanksgiving

For those of you already at your ideal weight and/or body shape, go ahead and gorge yourself for one day-you’ve earned it.
As for those of us working toward weight loss goals, we must avoid the following on Thursday:

• Butter: Corn tastes great without it, as do rolls and mashed potatoes (which probably have some mixed in already).
• Gravy: It is horrible for you-nothing but sodium and fat. Think about what happens to gravy when is sits too long and then think about that happening in your body.
• Candied yams: Too much sugar.
• Turkey skin: Pure fat-peel it off.
• Sweets: You may have one small slice of pie. Just pick your favorite and be done. Don’t sample them all.

Have a Happy Turkey Day!

My current stats: 226 #, 29.8 %

Body by Mii

This is a personal post. If you have seen me in the last year or two, you have noticed that I have become rather pudgy. Back in May of this year I actually broke the deuce-and-a-half mark (251 lbs)!- Ouch. Well, at that point I finally admitted that I had officially “let myself go” and something must be done about it.

Back in July my lovely and supportive wife bought me a late father’s day present of a Nintendo Wii Fit™. If you haven’t heard of this, it is an interactive balance board to be used with the Nintendo gaming system. A virtual trainer guides you through yoga poses, strength training, balance games, and aerobic activities. It is very cool, and I would highly recommend it for families or individuals to get you off the couch. The first thing you do after plugging in your Wii Fit is to make a Mii. A Mii is a virtual representation of yourself where you pick your eye shape, hair color, etc. One caveat though, it does not let you stay the slender virtual self you programmed in if you are actually a fatty. You see, the board is also a scale and it will know if you lied about your physique. I had to stand there powerless as the little Lindsay Mii blew up like a balloon. - I thought the Japanese were supposed to be polite!
Since then, I have been working out on my lunch breaks and with the Wii at home and have lost about 19 lbs. I was pleasantly surprised when the Wii told me I was no longer 'obese', merely 'overweight'. Of course muscle weighs more than fat, so one should never just go by weight to measure progress; body fat percentage is a much better indicator.
I decided to swallow my pride and put this embarrassing info out on the web for all to see, which will force me to either stay on track or become a shut-in. So, here’s the breakdown:

• I started at 251 lbs and 34.5% body fat (I got this from a digital scale, not the Wii).
• I am now 232 lbs and 30.4% fat (I am 6' 1", by the way).

I am far from my goals, but it is an encouraging start. Ideally, I would like to be back to my post-Alaska/wedding day weight of 190 lbs, but I will be happy with my high-school football playing weight of 205 lbs (I was the smallest guy on the line). If anyone out there needs my moral support for a similar goal, please feel free to contact me by blog, email, or phone (depending on how well you know me, of course). Despite my appearance, I do know something about nutrition, physical fitness, and weight training, thanks to classes taken in college. So, if you know next to nothing about these subjects and need help setting up a program, I may be of assistance.

*By the way Reena, I am very impressed that you lost all your baby weight and have managed to stay fit-‘cuz you were huge that first time around. Seriously, you are a great role model to us fatties.

charity: water

The water that most of us drink every day is safe and we don't have to give it a second thought, but the next time you take a drink from your tap think about the fact that 1 out of 6 people (that's over a billion) do not have access to clean drinking water. Many of the world’s life-threatening diseases could be reined in of everyone had clean water. The mortality rates in Africa would drop significantly and young women and children could become educated instead of spending the daylight hours journeying miles through dangerous territory for unsanitary water.
If you can, please donate $20 dollars or more to charity: water. It is an upstanding organization that is drilling wells in Africa and has plans to drill many more if properly financed. You can also buy merchandise that just says ‘charity:’ or ‘water.’ The shirts will make a great X-mas present for your favorite charity-case or hydrophile. I'm getting a set for myself and the wife (I'm the water-lover, so guess what that makes Cindy-jk).
The charity's overhead is paid by sponsors so 100% of every dollar you give will go toward establishing and maintaining water wells for impoverished people. Please visit: http://www.charitywater.org/ and encourage others to do the same this holiday season. I'm planning on passing out free water bottles at my work with something similar to what I've just written.
Every little bit helps a lot.

Obama on the $5 dollar bill!

I was chatting with a co-worker about the election and she said she was happy America chose Obama, but said "I'm just afraid they're going to kill him." They being ignorant hate-filled racists. In the wake of JFK and his brother, this has probably crossed all our minds at some point over the last 2 years. Bobby Kennedy was a brilliant strategist and he may have gone down as one of the greatest presidents ever, but his fate does not have to be revisited. Barack has had secret service protection ever since there was a hint of his running for President (that's right, we're on a first name basis now). A potential assassination attempt is not something to focus on; we all need to be positive as we enter this new era. I was actually encouraged by the recent foiling of a group of neo-Nazis that had a plan to kill Obama and several other politicians. According to officials, the plan was ill-conceived and never could have succeeded. That made me realize that evil is dumb. People that hate others for no other reason than the color of their skin are not bright enough to even get close to the President of the United States in this day and age. I'm guessing that the secret service have learned a few things over the last 40 years and we should not give our President's safety a second thought.

I am so excited about the international response to our election. Europe was throwing parties and even Iran congratulated Obama. I think he will be able to heal many rifts in this world and start some positive dialogues. We may soon be able to travel abroad and not pretend the be Canadian, eh?

Lincoln has his face on a bill and a coin. I propose that after his 2 terms, we give the five to Obama.

Fear and Loathing in Los Angeles

Okay, I just have one point to make about the gay marriage ban and then I will leave it for the courts to decide. In the 1940's there was a ballot measure banning mixed race marriages (anti-miscegenation law) in California. The measure was passed by a 95% vote. I imagine that most of these voters were conservatives who thought the idea of a black man together with a white woman was disgusting and immoral-sound familiar? The courts later struck down this law. Maybe today's conservatives should take a step back and realize that a legal contract (marriage) between two consenting adults will not affect them or their children and that it is really none of their business.

Inspri(red)

Okay, maybe I was a little optimistic on the popular vote (52%-I forgot about the Greenies and the Libbys), but I was damn close on the electoral vote. Assuming that we get N. Carolina, that's 364 electoral votes. I really thought we could get Montana and N. Dakota, and Missouri was a squeaker-oh well. It was the most one-sided victory since LBJ.
You da' man Barack!
Kudos to John McCain for his inspiring and gracious concession speech.
Let the healing begin.

P.S. -BHO is my new BFF. I received this exclusive email yesterday.

Lindsay -- I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history. And I don't want you to forget how we did it. You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change. I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next. But I want to be very clear about one thing... All of this happened because of you. Thank you,
Barack

Election Results - Predictions

I know you are maybe tired of my ranting about the election, but of course that is the only thing on my mind today. I too am weary of this long, drawn-out process, but I am digging deep and forcing myself to stay excited through tomorrow night. Cindy said she was getting nervous about the outcome last night, so I am going to attempt to allay her fears. Now, despite McCain's delusions, this election is wrapped up and I'm going to have the audacity to tell you by how much Obama is going to win:

Obama will get 54% of the popular vote and 370 (out of 538) electoral votes. This, ladies and gentlemen, will be a clear mandate from the American people (not like that fake mandate of Bush's 4 years ago).

What am I basing this on? I think that every contest that is close will go to the Democrats because when it comes down to it, more undecided voters will conclude they have no choice but to hope for a better tomorrow and vote Obama because the alternative is stagnation. A McCain-Palin administration would get nothing done because our 'donkey' congress would fight them every step of the way. That means the current George Bush 'keep digging when you're in a hole' policies will remain in place.

Also, I think we are going to have a record turnout of 18-25 year-olds voting democratic, and many of them are not being included in the polls we are seeing. Watching the country slowly turn blue on the election maps gives me goosebumps.

http://www.pollster.com/

http://www.slate.com/id/2195956/

http://news.yahoo.com/election/2008/dashboard

CO and NV were battleground states-they now favor Obama. McCain's home state of AZ is no longer a GOP lock. Even UT, where a month ago 64% were voting for McCain, now only 54% want McCain (I'm so proud). Their 5 electoral votes will end up going for the Republicans, as will AK's 3 votes. But, even if you are a democrat living in a red state (or vice versa), go out and vote so that we can send a message that we care about the process and want a voice. Tomorrow, we need much more than half of Americans to provide their opinion on this historic day.