New York Renovator

I don’t know what it is with me, lol. I’ve been on a “political and economic” rag for a while. Honestly, the economy STINKS, people! Stupid government policies and manipulations (and corporate welfare and corporate tax breaks) are really hurting the average home owner. Here in New York, it’s hit us hard. So I flipped when I saw this headline at my local online newspaper:

State Legislature Passes $1B in Cuts

Wooohoo! Now, $1 billion is a lot of money to us, but not to New York State, which has a budget of $122 billion this year. Nonetheless, I think it is the first time in a very long time (what is it, 100 years now?!) that New York has passed spending cuts! Of course, they are going to cut “services” and “programs,” but not necessarily salaries. Oh well. At least it’s a start. Now, if they’d only lower the stinking taxes…

This is interesting: a documentary is coming out– tomorrow!– with a limited release, about our present economy, recession woes, and the national debt. It’s titled I.O.U.S.A.. Bigwigs like Warren Buffet, William Niskanen of the Cato Institute; Bill Novelli of AARP; Pete Peterson of The Blackstone Group; and Dave Walker former U.S. Comptroller General are among the talking heads in the documentary. The movie is produced by Fathom and Roadside Attractions. Looks amazing! The nearest theatre location for me is in Syracuse, so I may have to miss it– but how I wish I could go! I’d love to know more about the national debt and the housing market crisis. Truly, I’d like to know why the government is grossly MISHANDLING our economy, our industries, and our nation’s financial system.

It’s a one-night special showing, scheduled for Thursday, August 21, 8pm Eastern Standard Time. Tickets are reasonable, between $11.50 and $20, depending on your location (of course New York State will be the most expensive). Yet I’m very sorry I’m going to miss it, but maybe they’ll have another release sometime, I hope! If you can make it, I recommend it– looks outstanding! Check here for available theatres in the United States. There’s also a way to search by zip code for a location nearest you.

I’d love to see what the “financial experts” have to say about what’s going on in this country. Will it be an Alex-Jones-ish, Michael Moorie-ish expose of deception, pocket padding, and global fascism? That’s what I’d really like to know! If YOU see it, be sure to send me a note and tell me how it was!

…fake it for real, would you?

A latest “news story” at MSNBC is about that “credit report” guy. I just want to go on the record to say that I HATE THOSE COMMERCIALS. Especially the one where’s he’s playing guitar dressed up as a pirate. You see, in the ad, he’s blaming himself for his identity theft– he may have been careless and all these horrible things have happened and now he has to work 3+ jobs to make ends meet and pay off the crooks. What irks me is that very, very rarely are we consumers “careless” about our identity information. Most of the time, it is the banks, restaurants, credit card companies, and other sloppy database mining companies that “lose” our information. I am so tried of hearing how it is MY fault that my bank account numbers and credit card numbers have been stolen (it’s happened to me twice already), when it has been the 100% fault of the database miners and credit card companies. GR!

But what’s silly about the ads is that the ads are for an identity theft company and their own singer is using a fake identity. All the stuff he sings about didn’t happen. And, according to Bob Sullivan of the New York Times, the ads are done by FreeCreditReport.com– which is backed by Experian, a major credit bureau. Argh! I hate stuff like this because it’s like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. If we want our information protected, shredding our papers just isn’t going to cut it. And it’s pretty obvious that the bansk and credit card companies are not going to help– they are still sending out all our information to their database miners, even to India! In order for us to be protected, I think we have to basically “insure” ourselves, like what Lifelock offers. They will insure any breaches of your finances up to a million dollars. And they will do all the nasty, painful dirty work and legwork if your data is stolen. I have had to do all that paperwork twice now, and it is well worth the $10 a month to make sure someone else does it, should it happen again. I like Lifelock. Take it from someone who knows– the banking companies are NOT looking out for you, but Lifelock WILL.

Interesting news from Bloomberg this morning: the second-largest U.S. securities firm is tightening the home-equity belt.

Morgan Stanley, the second-biggest U.S. securities firm, told thousands of clients this week that they won’t be allowed to withdraw money on their home-equity credit lines, said a person familiar with the situation.

Most of the clients had properties that have lost value, according to the person, who declined to be identified because the information isn’t public. The New York-based investment bank will review home-equity lines of credit, or HELOCs, monthly from now on, the person said yesterday.

I’ve never liked the idea of a home-equity line of credit. It’s risky for investors and it is incredibly risky for home-owners. It’s far too easy to spend into the indebted obscurity of a black hole. I would never, never, never get a line of credit for this house– it would gobble up every dollar and then demand blood. It is essential to have a budget and stick to it.

But this move by Morgan Stanley sends shivers up my spine. They are being secretive about their losses, but speculative estimates are upwards into the billions, most of which is unrecoverable.

The president and his cronies can toss flower petals all day, and say that the economy is “good” or “recovering.” But when you see the biggest and riskiest of banks and firms closing their doors and shutting down lending systems, it evokes bells and whistles that things are going down for a while. I’m as optimistic as any one, but it would be plain dumb to pretend that nothing is wrong and to keep spending, spending, spending like drunken sailors. Why oh why is our government the first to create the problem and the last to fix it?

I’m surprised! I took the opportunity to take that Bills IQ test that I have seen on a few blogs recently. I scored an 80%, which was a shocker to me. I am deeply in debt (see what old houses do to you?!), but probably the reason I scored so high is that I am well aware that I am deeply in debt, lol. I do have some equity built up on the house– when we bought the house, they only way to go was up, lol! But high taxation and the high cost of living in New York State has reduced our investment, so we are in need of some kind of debt consolidation or debt help program or plan.

The quiz is very easy, and very quick. Try it yourself, you may be surprised. I learned that although I am frugal, I do need to work more toward savings. I’ve put all my apples into the house (equity) and my children. Once we reduce our debt, we will really be doing well. I think most New Yorkers are suffering terribly from the lousy economy up here, and are in severe need of debt relief.

Well, try out the quiz, see how you rate!

For homeschoolers, “back to school” never really arrives. We school all year ’round! We Mecombers do try to follow a schedule of summers off, but the kids do still work on projects, take field trips, and learn how to use new software products (like Adobe and media editing programs). So I am always on the prowl for good deals, especially good software deals from reliable companies. I am very pleased with the grea prices and quality service from CostCaptain.com. CostCaptain is a Microsoft Authorized Education Reseller- no pirated or cheapo versions from them! They sell brand-new Office 2007 Suite, Corel software products, Vista upgrades, Quickbooks, Microsoft Money (an excellent tool for teaching kids how to manage finances), McAfee, and more. Best of all, their prices are at academic discounts and include homeschools! CostCaptain.com is the perfect way to get back to school with Microsoft Office 2007! Since my kids are always writing reports and making projects, Office is indispensable to us.

Plus, they have gift certificates, which are a great way to get the grandparents involved! My son has had his eye on Adobe Photoshop for a while… wink wink!

If you need academic software, CostCaptain.com is the place to go!