Shadow of a man……
Posted by: Rich in Economics, Notes from Gadget, On the road, Photo of the Day, airstream
In a hat.
Several years ago while figuring out why I was so sick I felt like the after image of myself. Or, like a shadow of myself. But I haven’t felt that way in a long time. Good to feel like me again.
But this morning I was checking out my accepted photos at Dreamstime, and one of the accepted shots was titled by the Dreamstime crew as “Shadow of a Man in a hat.“ That shadow was mine, and I just got a kick out of the title. I know, I get a kick out of strange things.
So far I’ve uploaded 29 shots from the Anza-Borrego trip to Dreamstime. And the acceptance ratio for that series of photos worked out to be 79.3%! Wow, that’s really good. At least, I think it is and I’m pretty excited. Several Panoramics were accepted, many cool Palm Canyon shots, and of course some slot canyon photos too.
The rest of my photos have to wait. Many have people in them, and I’m waiting on Model Releases before I can submit them. So, more A-B shots will get some additional exposure, and friends will be part of the Dreamstime experience. Pretty cool!
Today’s economic nightmares….
Alright, I’m shifting gears now. If you don’t want to know about economics, and you don’t want to scare yourself any further, you’re not alone. Go check out my latest podcast, see some happy images, watch some shaky video, and listen to a few tunes. Skip the rest of this post.
For the rest of you…..well, it’s nice to know what’s coming, isn’t it?
Apparently the Fed is going to take on $200bn in mortgage securities. Oh good, we’re saved. Oh wait….where are they getting that money? Are we printing more? Are we causing more inflation? Are we taking away people’s fear of risk? See, people risk money loaning it out for stocks, home loans, bonds, etc. On the upside everybody is super happy, and they wrap themselves up in capitalism. On the down side, when their RISK goes the wrong way they’re socialists, and they want the government to fix it for them.
Now, it doesn’t matter to me if you’re a capitalist or socialist. But wouldn’t it be nice if we picked a path and stayed on it? I’m getting sea sick readjusting to what America wants. Upside, stay out of my business. Downside, I’d like the Feds in my living room helping my family along. Ugh.
Just keep in mind…..we’ll all be paying for this one, through taxes, inflation, and the erosion of our savings. Mad about your 401K’s going down already? Inflation erodes them too….. Hey, let’s drop interest rates some more.
Speaking of 401K’s…..
By the way, this is why I’m really wound up this morning. Folks borrowed against their perceived equity gains in their homes, thought Netscape made them billionaires, etc. Now we have the next phase…..
Have you heard about the 401K Debit card??? Seriously, you can draw against your 401K today, and we’ve got a wonderful piece of plastic that can help you out. And no, there’s more than one article on this new financial device.
What kind of commercial could we create for this new card?
Feeling squeezed financially? Did your Dot Com portfolio tank a few years ago? Have you maxed out your housing ATM? Can’t find an Adjustable Rate Mortage any longer due this silly credit crisis? Credit card balances nearing the national debt levels (fat chance)? Well, there’s good news! You can access your last retirement funds quickly and easily……
Yeah, I think that works as a commercial…..
Entries (RSS)
Must. Spend. Money…
Must. Keep. Economy. Going…
(and they’re making it so easy!!!)
Wait a minute - aren’t we already borrowing against the future with Social Security? Hmm. Let me think about that…. We’ve already mortgaged our homes, our cars, our children’s futures, why not our 401(k)s?
have you read the article in the l.a. times, march 11, where UCLA experts say there isn’t a recession?
http://tinyurl.com/ysqfa7
Rowan,
Thanks for the link. I understand what’s being said. Slow growth, but not negative growth. And it takes several quarters of negative growth to call it a recession.
If you ask anyone in Japan about 0 growth they’ll have a ton to say. Japan had more than a decade of no growth, real interest rates at 0%, and a massive bust in their own real estate markets.
What the article left out was the current massive inflation (economists don’t count food, energy, etc…..you know, the stuff you need to live), so the erosion of purchasing power is completely ignored.
The article is “technically” correct. But the assumptions made for a technically correct conclusion normally exist somewhere outside the bounds of reality.
i was flabbergasted as i read the article, which is why i wanted to share it with you and others. gotta love how things get spun.
I figured Rowan.
Look, economics is a fun sport. I’m a recovering economist, and there’s no 12 step program for economists in this town, which is why I’m writing about it more and more. Slipping off the wagon as it were.
What I can tell you is economists are correct with each statement (see, I’m correct making that statement). Even if the statement is total bunk, they’re correct. You need to know the assumptions they make prior to creating their models. With those assumptions in place, they’re correct. Unfortunately, those assumptions never reflect reality (part of the reason I left economics).
For instance if you remove food, energy, clothes from inflation models and only include tech items and hedonic modeling techniques, there’s no inflation, only deflation. Unfortunately, we cannot eat micro chips (although the word chips is in there….and I like chips), but assuming away many products yields no inflation. So all is ok.
If I assume away my food, medication, gas costs, then I’m doing really well. I keep telling myself I’m doing well until I reach a register in any store. But I have to remind myself those things don’t count………..
Yeah, well i have news for them. when i get to the cash register i know it counts! ;p