Main Street? Wall Street? No, Ventura Blvd.!!

“I feel like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Who are these guys that just keep coming?”
—Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr.

This is a great article from the WSJ discussing California's impact on the crisis at hand.

"California doesn't have a Wall Street problem. Wall Street has a California problem," says Christopher Thornberg

I remember when I was living in LA in 2005, the height of the housing boom, and everyone was acting like there was free money everywhere. People who didn't own houses were in deep depression that they had missed out on winning the lottery, and people who did own their homes were taking out equity, as much as they could. They were paying of credit card debts, a good idea, and buying boats, a bad idea.

I was at an event for Texas Exes and a girl behind me in line told me how she was planning on living without paying the super high California rent, a plan she recommended that I also follow. You get your parents to give you a downpayment on a three unit home. Then you use the rental payments as your income to pay for the place and to qualify for the loan. If you do this with an interest only loan you can make the numbers work. Of course, property values in California are never going to go down, they are only going to continue to rise at exponential rates as they have for the past five year. So the fact that you are only paying off the interest isn't as important as the fact that soon your units will be worth three times as much. If you get a job and can start paying off the principal at any point in the future, you will still be a winner. The girl who told me this plan did not have a job, and her boyfriend was also looking for work because they had both just graduated.

Seriously, who gives a loan to someone just out of school with no income. Lots of banks did. And they deserve to fail.

Living next to all this free money that other people were getting was really hard for me. It was really unfair. Now all those people are being foreclosed on. They spent their house on a boat or credit cards. How irresponsible are Americans!

No one likes to see people on the street. And many of these people were living hand to mouth before they got free houses, so its hard to hear about them going back to that position. I think that its worth keeping in mind that these heartbreaking stories of homelessness are really stories of poverty. These are people who weren't doing that well before someone gave them a loan that they couldn't afford. They probably couldn't make rent every month.

There is a lot of data floating around about personal and public finances right now. This is an article about how much it sucks to be evicted from your home.

"Forty-four percent of employees live paycheck to paycheck, according to a survey conducted by MetLife in late 2007, and 48 percent of American households have less than $5,000 in liquid assets according to Edward Wolff, an economist specializing in the study of poverty and income distribution at New York University. "

And, the average American holds a couple grand in credit card debt. It seems like protecting people from eviction is just moving deck chairs on the Titanic. Americans as indivuals have serious financial troubles. It's hard to believe that most of these people who took out terrible loans had the financial savvy to even understand what they were doing given this data. They were used by predatory lenders. And those lenders profited while completely screwing up the housing market. In effect, denying homes to people who could afford them.

I would really like to see banks punished. The money is frozen and they are hurting, but seriously they aren't hurting enough. By giving out all that free credit, banks increased ticket prices on all of the homes in California. The same number of qualified buyers existed, and those buyers were all forced into a market with people spending Monopoly money. Those are the people you feel bad for. The ones who got a lot less house for their money and are now upside down on their loans because of attacks on housing prices. They are also the ones least likely to get any help. They have jobs and can continue to pay their responsibly financed mortgages, but they probably won't see that money back soon, maybe ever. That person could have been me!

Saving some for later

Today I was feeling a little congested and my nose was a bit stuffy. So, like the lady that I am, I excused myself to the restroom to blow my nose.

My day continued with a hour of Physics tutoring. It made me hungry to think so hard, so I ate a sandwich.

Later, back in the lady's room using the facilities, I noticed a big yellow thing hanging off my nose.

In shock, disgust and humiliation I relived the time between then and blowing my nose. I had spent an hour talking one on one with someone and the whole time something was hanging out of my nose. How gross!

I wiped away the offending matter, only to discover that it was, in fact, not a booger, but a benign bit of egg salad. The day was relived, again, this time without shame, for the egg salad had been on my face for only a few minutes.

What a relief!

Now that is not what you would expect to say after finding you had lunch on your face for half an hour. Think about that next time you save a little for later. At least its not a booger, and at least it wasn't there all day.

You can't choose your family...

In the past I've expressed my appreciation for Heroes here. And I stand behind all of it; its a well executed ensemble that makes it fun to watch tv.

What I am really impressed by, however, is the marketing. Ads for Heroes are more fun than complete shows. "Save the cheerleader. Save the world." What was that all about? The whole show was summed up by one line. Thanks to The Superbowl, everyone in America knew that line. Most couldn't say what it meant, even those who watched the show weren't that certain. We all knew who the cheerleader was, but what did she have to do with saving the world? You didn't need to know to enjoy the drama of it all. It was a powerful ad.

And this new ad campaign is just as riveting. It reminds me of a story that Peggy told me recently. The gist was: people get their political tendencies from their parents, just like their religion. So when you wouldn't expect someone to change their religion, why do you think you can talk them out of their politics.

The answer is:
You can't choose your family. But you can choose a side.

I love Halloween, and I love you, too, Brooklyn

Halloween is Martha Stewart's favorite holiday. I understand why; it involves lots of crafts and not much family. You get to fully enjoy the cuteness of other people's children (and, if you live in New York, other people's dogs) in the best possible way. They look cute and they like you. 'Cause you give them what they want: candy. Sure, too much sugar causes kids to go crazy hyper and for their teeth to rot out. But, like our current government, you think solely of the benefits, to you, at the moment. You can enjoy the instant gratification of happy kids without the taking responsibility for the sugar crash, or cleanup. And for a marginally higher up front cost, you can be the best person in the neighborhood by for handing out full sized Snickers. The best person ever, really.

I love costumes and fall and candy. So I, too, love halloween. Is it my favorite? Well, it certainly is right now. October is like the anti-February. Everything is great and the air is crisp and there are good veggies at the market and there are so many things to be happy about. February just sucks. Ask anyone. That's why they had to make it the shortest month.

So, besides (above) awesome and of over the top political pumpkin my neighbor put out, what is so great bout Brooklyn right now?

1) Someone has "vandalized" the restrooms at the Brooklyn Public Library with an 8 1/2 by 11" sticker of the Bill of Rights. How great is that! Something you actually should know there for you to read. Just because everyone I know is a lawyer, sometimes I actually get caught looking dumb when I don't know which right goes with which number. Most people don't know that crap. Unless you live in Brooklyn, and use the restroom at the library, conveniently located on the edge of the park.

(The library is beautiful and totally worth stopping by if you find yourself in the 11215)

2) This week my roommate lost a necklace from Tiffany. She was understandably upset and went on Craigslist to post a "lost" on the lost and found only to find that someone had already posted a "found" of her necklace. Someone found her jewelery in it's little Tiffany bag on our subway platform and went to the trouble to post it and return it. Lauren said, "I love Craigslist. I love Brooklyn. I love New York. I love life." Isn't that just the best.

Ahh BK

Bar on 5th Ave. (5th ave. Brooklyn, people. Brooklyn! Not what you're thinking)

Debate special

Obama cocktail: $5
McCain: $7

So I ask: "Do you really want to know what is in the McCain."

Kmart Layaway

Are you kidding me! Are things really that bad!

This makes me so sad

topical comics

This is how I play baseball. Ahh, baseball. I do love Shea and I do love Enron Field. I also love to knit.

thingsiboughtthatilove.com just really disappointed me

thingsiboughtthatilove.com has just gone password protected. It is now a blog by invitation only.

What up Mindy! What up?

First you get your blog URL published in multiple news-sources, and if that's not an invitation and advertisement to readership then I don't know what is. Then, you stop writing for several months. I figured, "Hey, the writer's strike ended so maybe she has real work to do. I can be patient. I can." But, now, you have password protected your material.

What is up? That is all I can say. What is up?

I haven't felt this upset about something like this since they cancelled Veronica Mars. With V. Mars, sure, I saw it coming. The story was petering out; there were talks of Kristen Bell getting other gigs; actors who played minor characters were seen on other shows. Still, I was just living for new episodes, and watching the DVD of old ones too much, just too much. The story picked up and it looked like they might be able to take it somewhere. There was hope. And, then, with one double episode finale, it was gone, replace by The Pussycat Dolls. All that hope had just been wishful thinking.

This is just as bad. Just as bad. I have been waiting; I read the back log; I gave J. Crew another look. I know that blogs get abandoned all the time. People get bored with the concept or just bored with all that typing. It looked like maybe shoes would be the last entry. I was preparing myself, giving up. But, still, maybe she just was too busy to write. Maybe she just didn't have time to shop. Maybe she would come back, when we need her most, when the economy had gone to shit and there was a heightened need to be shopping vicariously. Shopping vicariously with someone in one of the two recession proof American industries. (Ahh, now a blog about what a Mafiosa liked to buy, that's an idea. But, no, a Hollywood shopper is just as fun, and probably better written. Probably. You hear that, that's how upset I am. I won't even concede that a murdered wouldn't write as well as you, Mindy. A murderer from New Jersey.)

And just in time for the stock market to drop below 8,000 for the first time in five years, she's back. It looks like there might be more blurbs on great products that could change your life. Just not for me. No things for me. Ugg. Seriously, ugg. I can only sit here and think wistfully of the great new products and silhouettes that I'm missing.

Times are tough

I went to Target today to buy a bunch of colorful index cards and markers, because if I'm gonna be spending this much time making and learning from flashcards, they better as hell look good.

At checkout I paid with a credit card and at signing the little machine asked me if I wanted to accept the signature or "also pay with other method."

Really! I asked the checkout technician if people often paid with multiple credit cards. They do. That's how hard times are out here. A fill up takes 3 cards because of the $50 limit, but soap and toilet paper take two cards because you are wayyy over extended. Ouch.

Yummy Yummy

Fall produce is just one of the season's many charms. I love summer berries, but by the end of summer aren't you ready for apples and root veggies and squash?

The cold weather asks for warm foods, for heavy cream and butter. This is how you get fat. So instead of grabbing for a pound cake or calling out for curry (yum!), go for some greens. Kundalinis believe that the reason we get sick in the winter is that we eat too many sweets made with white sugar and not enough green stuff. So many people pound the vitamin C and ecanacia at the first sign of a cold. But, really, tough green foods have just as many vitamins and the combo may be more effective. I have no real data to back this up. But it definitely tastes better and warms you up, too. Its just like a nice nap blanket for your tummy.

While making this dish of peas and lettuce on her television show, Nagella Lawson waxed orgastic about the joys of staring into a bowl of green on a cloudy winter day. I can't agree more. I have been staring into a bowl of chard with garlic and red pepper flakes, a la Alice Waters, for the past two weeks.

Then, I'll make a dish of squash and red bell peppers on the side, because the bell peppers have been great this fall and doesn't it just add the right amount of color. I'm thinking of how Obama tried to make every meal at the DNC have one each of five colors. He took some heat for that. But, once again, the man is a leader, and a leader looking to take us in the right direction.

This weeks Dining In/Dining Out has a great little ditty about the intersection of growing seasons for chard and peppers. I love chard. I hope to make this recipe this week.

I hear that after the hurricane my father really relished trashing the chard that I had bought and left in his fridge. Well, that's fine, but I think that this casserole might make him a chard convert. It looks really yummy and really rich. So, one of you gentle readers out there should make this casserole and take it over to him and tell him that its a broccoli casserole. He will eat it and love it and talk about how underrated broccoli is. This is one of my favorite of my father's rants. He is completely right; broccoli tempura is fantastic, cream of broccoli soup rocks, and broccoli stir fry is also a lovely little surprise. After this rant, tell him that it was chard all along.

New Haircut, Again, uhh.

"You just keep thinkin' Butch, that's what you're good at"

Paul Newman.

I've been feeling pretty sad about Paul Newman; he made some great movies, and was also a genuinely good person. His smiling face was an ever-present part of my childhood, staring out of the salad dressing. Discovering that he was also a movie star was like realizing that my parents have really important jobs that have nothing to do with me.

The first Paul Newman movie I watched was The Color of Money. It was back when Tom Cruise was a hottie. I watched it with my grandmother, who just kept talking about Newman. He was getting up in years when that movie was filmed, but he still looked great.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of my all time favorite movies. It has everything you could ask for in a movie. Its just perfect.

Earlier this week I surprised myself my starting to cry while reading an obituary in the food section. It detailed Newman's contributions to organic connivence foods and to American farmers. (Newman's Own was the first microwave popcorn on the market to not contain trans fats.) The Newman's Own foundation has contributed over 250 millions dollars to charitable funds. The brand helped change the way out supermarket isles look, turning the clock back on overprocessed foods. He is like an Alice Waters whose audience doesn't live in Berkeley and already be environmentalist foodies.

This photo is part of the tribute in Entertainment Weekly. The first thing I thought was: "Look at Los Angeles. Look at those undeveloped mountains. Look at that clean beach." Earlier this summer I wrote about Robert Redford mourning environmental changes in Los Angeles and Austin. I thought about how sad it must have been to watch the negative changes at the beach and in the air. I'm sad that Paul Newman died, and I'm sad that Los Angeles, which was once so perfect, is approaching unlivable. I bet Robert Redford is, too.

Last week, I saw that Newman's Own now sells chardonnay. I might walk down to the store and pick some up to go with my organic popcorn and another screening of Butch.

Its not so bad

With all the excitement about the stock market, things might be looking down right now. But, did you know that NASA witnessed snow on Mars. Ahh, Yeah! Snow on Mars. They actually saw it snowing. None of this, "well, we have found trace elements suggesting water." We're done with that old run around.

Human knowledge is so vast and is still growing so fast. Way to go, NASA. You're not just a cold war relic. You, even more than Michael Phelps, are a source for national pride at a time when we really need some. NASA is evidence that Americans are willing to put forth resources for the advancement of human knowledge, that we aren't selfish and greedy and illeducated. And this shows that we really aren't that bad at science and math.

Can you imagine! Snowing on Mars, on the red planet whose terrain like the desert in New Mexico. What a great time to be alive.