I had a friend say to me the other day that for the past year or so she has had this impending sense of doom. I know, I have upper friends :) I said, "That's funny, because this past year has been nothing but doom for me, and I'm actually beginning to feel like things are on the up and up. I feel like I'm on the verge of something big (but I couldn't go into detail because it's too soon)." She said, "Kim, something just feels off." I said, "How so?" She said, "I feel like this country is going to see a huge depression--far far worse than the first one. I feel like we are going to have a huge problem with decent drinking water. I feel like we are going to run out of energy resources. I feel like the only thing that will be worth anything is enough ammunition to fight off desperate men." I said, "You are like the sixth person in a month to say this or something similar to me." She said, "Kim, I know it may seem crazy, but my husband is even on board."
She proceeded to tell me how her husband is stockpiling weapons, food and water in their basement.
I am not a conspiracy theorist by any means. I am, however, certainly trying to look at life more realistically after 2007.
I have a very very smart cousin who stockpiles the same sorts of things as my friend's husband in his own basement, and you would never guess this cousin of mine is a conspiracy theorist or strange in the least. He is brilliant, and most people around here agree. He goes so far as to buy and hoard bars of gold in his basement.
As mentioned in a previous post, I entered into the life of a very old rancher with a 7th grade education last week. At the end of our interview he said some very interesting things: "Young lady, look at the price of wheat. We don't sell much overseas anymore. Something doesn't add up if you ask me. I think anyone can put a pencil to paper and make things seem a certain way, but mark my words, there is something terribly wrong with the economy. Very wrong." He went on to tell me that I should make sure my children know Chinese someday because so much of our debt is to them (very true). He also proceeded to tell me that he is glad he will be gone when the fit hits the shan, because the economy is going to go belly up.
This kind of talk is nothing new to me. My dad has been saying this for some time to me. In fact, my father has given a few local economic talks where he's had several folks from the community come and listen and ask questions. In other words, my dad is not stupid if he can rally up people to listen to him talk at local hang outs, and I wished I would have listened to him about a few more things earlier in life. So now's my chance I suppose. I refuse to live my life in fear. REFUSE. BUT, I do not think ignorance is bliss. I think ignorance is ignorance, and boils down to stupidity. I have to look at what has recently happened to Bear Stearns and go, "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...something is seriously strange here." Like Dad says, "Talk is cheap, but it takes money to buy whisky." Ok, I think I'm really getting it: "Talk is cheap, but it takes money to buy whisky is kind of the same thing as Anyone can put a pencil to paper..."
According to an AP article, just four days after Bear Stearns Chief Executive Alan Schwartz assured Wall Street that his company was not in trouble, he was forced on Sunday to sell the investment bank to competitor JPMorgan Chase for a bargain-basement price of $2 a share, or $236.2 million. I have listed some experts from the article with my inserts in caps:
"This is going to go down in very historic terms," said Peter Dunay, chief investment strategist for New York-based Meridian Equity Partners. "This is about credit being overextended, and how bad it is for major financial institutions and for individuals. This is why we're probably heading into a recession." (NO KIDDING?! THANK YOU CAPTAIN OBVIOUS).
JPMorgan Chase & Co. said it will guarantee all business — such as trading and investment banking — until Bear Stearns' shareholders approve the deal, which is expected to be completed during the second quarter. The acquisition includes Bear Stearns' midtown Manhattan headquarters. (RIGHT, AND HOW LONG BEFORE YOU GO BELLY UP? ANYONE CAN PUT A PENCIL TO A SHEET OF PAPER, EH?)
JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Michael Cavanagh did not say what would happen to Bear Stearns' 14,000 employees worldwide or whether the 85-year-old Bear Stearns name would live on after surviving the Great Depression, two World Wars and a slew of recessions. He told analysts and investors on a conference call that JPMorgan was most interested in buying Bear Stearns' prime brokerage business, which completes trades for big investors such as hedge funds. (DOES THE FACT THAT THIS COMPANY HAS BEEN AROUND FOR THIS LONG AND SURVIVED ALL IT HAS MAKE THE FACT THAT IT IS NOW GOING BELLY UP A LITTLE ODD FOR ANYBODY ELSE?? THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM...)
At almost the same time as the deal for control of Bear Stearns was announced, the Federal Reserve said it approved a cut in its lending rate to banks to 3.25 percent from 3.50 percent and created another lending facility for big investment banks. The central bank's official meeting is on Tuesday. Before the emergency move to lower the discount rate, which is the rate at which banks lend each other money, the Fed was widely expected to again cut its headline rate by as much as a full point to 2 percent.(I WALKED INTO MY BANK LAST WEEK AND ONE OF THE INVESTOR LADIES WAS SHAKING HER HEAD SAYING,"I HAVE NEVER SEEN RATES LIKE THIS." MAYBE THERE'S A REASON? AND THEY STILL ARE GOING DOWN?)
"Having taking Bear Stearns out of the problem category, and the strong action by the Federal Reserve, we would anticipate the market will behave quite differently on Monday than it was Thursday or Friday," Cavanagh said. (BUT SERIOUSLY, FOR HOW LONG?)
This all may seem a little strange, but I just think it's good to think. I think if people would just think for a good ten minutes a day, we would see a different kind of world. OK, maybe that is too optimistic, but I certainly think it doesn't hurt to think! I see people around me no matter where I am that live their lives being busy and get absolutely nothing done (nothing that matters in the end). I see people my age with the nicest cars and homes (that they cannot furnish mind you) because no one wants to save--everyone wants instant gratification. I see little girls looking up to Paris Hilton instead of parents shutting the TV off and encouraging their kids to read or self-entertain or actually encourage them to work on character and things that last instead of how many times they can say "bitchin" in one run-on sentence. Basically what I am saying is that Americans need to rise and shine and smell the cow pooh in the air, if you will. I think we need to get busy and stop being a people that can't handle truth--where everything looks pretty on the surface and yet is rotting from underneath. Anyone can take a pencil to a piece of paper translates to "things can seem one way on the surface, but in reality, these things could be just the opposite."
They could be. And really, I think they are. Let's look at an excerpt from the article again.
"This is about credit being overextended, and how bad it is for major financial institutions and for individuals. This is why we're probably heading into a recession."
Can you tell I'm in a mood? Wink. I can't help it. I've just seen too much lately. I've seen the eyes of an old man that thought it more important to have a career than any family and is now old and crippled and LONELY! His eyes said it before he actually said it, "Kim, focus your time on what matters. Your money, your health, your career could be over in an instant. What lasts? Concentrate on that for a 'bit and then set your mind and hand to doing it. Just because everyone else is living life a certain way on the surface, doesn't mean that they are walking in truth." I've seen the eyes of a woman who has terminal cancer and two young babies. They said the same thing. I saw the eyes of my mother. Her eyes said the same thing. I see the eyes of my father and then him saying, "The only thing that is certain is that change will come. Life is uncertain, Kim. Build it on the things that last....or things of truth."
I guess this all has me thinking on truth. I don't want to believe how the powers that be tell me to because sometimes (maybe without even knowing), they are painting a pretty picture that is not really the truth. The truth is the truth, no matter how pretty it is. No matter how hard it is to accept. The truth: the economic standing of this country is UNSTABLE. The truth: the things of God are really all that last. The truth: we can be busy and in all actuality get nothing accomplished. The truth: it is better to save and buy than borrow. The truth: relationships are the only thing to keep one from being lonely at age 90. The truth: Paris Hilton is a poor example for our children. The truth: change is inevitable. You know what I mean? There is truth, we just have to think on it a little more and then decide to set our hands to it.
I really only intended on talking about Bear Stearns in this blog. Ha. I must be woman. :)
Furthermore, I usually only share this kind of thinking with very very close friends of mine because I have feared people thinking me strange before. But I don't care now. I am strange to most (especially here I think), and I guess I like it that way. It keeps all of the cookie-cutter (AKA people that don't think!!) people out of my life :)
Peace.
