You may not know, the iconic Dali work of melting clocks is actually titled The Persistence of Memory. This is the first I’ve seen this famous work parodied, and a nice political cartoon resulting. A bit more cerebral than the “Occupy Black Friday” images. I hope your Turkey day was a success, and your shopping, if you ventured out yesterday, fruitful.
This year, we’re having Thanksgiving at my Mother-in-Law’s place. A 55+ community with a restaurant right in the building. I’m told that while turkey is a menu item, it’s just one of many choices, so as my way of protesting, I am not going to eat turkey tomorrow. What am I protesting? I don’t know, I’ll get back to you with that. What are my demands? I am certain I have just one demand and I will demand it once it’s been formulated. I’m thinking it will be big, I may demand world peace, or an end to hunger. Maybe that’s not thinking big enough, maybe I’ll go right to the Big Guy ™ and demand He stop with the earthquakes, tornadoes, and flooding. I know, He promised never the flood the entire planet again, but these little floods seem to circumvent that promise, to those flooded, it may as well be the world, to them, it seems that way.
Joe, (that’s me, talking to myself, poetic license) have you lost your mind? This is a load of nonsense, you been hitting the eggnog a bit early?
I wish. Actually I’ve been trying to understand the demands of those who are part of Occupy Wall Street. I know they’re upset with the 1%. As my friend and fellow blogger Kay Bell wrote, Who’s in the top 1 percent of earners, it takes about $350K adjusted gross income to be in this elite group. And I’m pretty sure their are Doctors, Lawyers, and other professionals whose lives are far from Wall Street yet they are in this group. Is 1% the point, or are they really protesting the $1 million a year income folk who are mostly on Wall Street? I’m not so sure of that, as I read an article in the National Review, What the Wall Street Protesters Want, in which the protesters ask “Why does a municipal worker make $30,000 a year when Matt Damon and Johnny Depp manage to extort $20 million for a month’s work……” Huh? When did Matt Damon become a symbol of Wall Street gone crazy? Put that way, it appears OWS is questioning the very nature of compensation. One can ask what makes anyone worth their salary, why do teachers make $X but (fill in your favorite profession) make $Y? Actors, Singers, Sport figures, all successful ones are in the spotlight and make the big bucks, should we applaud them or protest this?
In a “communique” nearly two months ago, a list of demand was offered;
I’ll accept their use of “one demand” as a rhetorical device, and just look at the content of this list. In hindsight, the demands of my introduction were pretty reasonable compared to these. Ironically, I’m ok with most of these goals, who doesn’t wish to end poverty for instance? But to end wealth inequality seems the antithesis of both capitalism and democracy. Just for laughs, let’s say I agree with this goal. How would it be implemented? Would everyone earn the average, and there be no distinction between the pay of a fast food worker and a brain surgeon? How would the economy absorb the loss of those high end earners? Would all businesses catering to the wealthy simply cease? Or are they protesting (again) the million dollar incomes, and want to tighten the range of income, not actually bring it to parity? End joblessness? Hasn’t that been the goal since Bush destroyed the economy left office?
The truth is, I don’t know what they really want. And since I have no idea how to solve these major issues, I doubt any of these protesters do either. When they figure it out, I hope they let us know. Happy Thanksgiving.
At Frugal Dad, Jason answers a reader’s question Should I Withdraw from My Roth IRA to Pay Off Debt? One comment really answered this question best, in my opinion – What’s the interest rate on the debt? And, by the number of comments there, it’s clear most questions don’t have just one best answer. It all depends.
At One Money Design – Easy Crockpot Meals: Save Time and Money. I don’t yet own a crock pot, but I’ve been thinking about it. Jane said she never cared for crock pot food, but I just attribute it to the fact that her mom’s cooking isn’t very good no matter how she prepares dinner. (Disclaimer – I love my mother in law, her cooking, not so much. I’m happy to cook for her any day.)Â I like the idea of being able to cook something and not having to stand right there in the case of the stovetop, or really not wanting to leave a hot oven alone. Turns out these are pretty cheap, so if I make a few meals and decide it’s not for us, it’s not a big loss. But if it’s used now and then, it might open the door to some new recipes.
One Frugal Girl tells us This is Why the Post Office is Going Out of Business. Hmm, and I thought it was because of the internet and online bill pay. I suppose it all adds up.
At My Personal Finance Journey, What is Your Opinion of the Occupy Wall Street Protester Eviction in New York City? I learned that the park is a “Privately Owned Public Space” which has some interesting repercussions. It’s not subject to the curfew laws of publicly owned parks, in fact it’s required to be open 24 hours a day. I’d imagine however, that as a privately owned area, protests of this kind can be banned. On the other hand, I’m in favor of free speech, I just wish I knew what they were trying to say, there is still no clear message that I can discern.
After my post about The Poor Millionaire, it was interesting to read Dinks Finance Is More Money Always Better? Kristina’s view appears to be close to mine, that there are trade-offs between the money and the other parts of your life. For many, workweeks over 40 hours simply aren’t worth that extra money.
And to wrap up another great week of reading, The Digerati Life’s 14 Staycation Ideas & Ways To Save Money With Local Travel. Not every vacation has to mean hopping a plane to some exotic destination. Here are 14 great alternatives to that expensive trip.
Will the Republicans have a viable candidate? If so, will that candidate have a platform that appeals to at least other Republicans? Right now, things aren’t looking so good for either side. Given the unemployment rate and current polling numbers, the election is theirs to lose. And they might just do that.
It wasn’t long ago that the price of copper started rise to the level where a pound of pennies (about 145) cost more than their face value to produce. The last year a 95% copper penny was made was 1982, just under 17 billion pennies minted that year. Since then, pennies have been made of zinc with a plating of copper less than 1% of the penny’s weight. By the way, if you want to try to tell the difference between a current penny or a pre-1982 cent, just drop it on the table, the copper cent has a slight ring, but the zinc just a mild thud. Still, with the price of zinc rising as well, there are efforts to stop producing the penny and just rounding purchases. We’ll see if the penny leaves our change purses one day.
But, that’s all an introduction. It seems now the dollar bill is now at risk. Earlier this year, the GAO (Government Accountability Office) produced a report concluding that by removing the dollar bill from circulation and forcing the distribution of the dollar coin, the government can save nearly $5.5 billion over 30 years or $184 million dollars per year net present benefit. When we look at the Federal Budget of $3.7 trillion dollars (That’s 3,700 billions) this savings might seem small. But, to quote Senator Everett Dirksen, ““A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” In this case, let’s kill the paper and start to look for other ways to save a couple hundred million dollars, soon, we’ll be talking real money.
How would 4 dollar coins feel in your pocket? I often find the quarters adding up, and pulled eight out of my pocket last night. They weighed 45 grams, just a bit more than 5 dollar coins weigh. So, to keep my pockets from ripping, I’d probably be just a bit more careful to spend the change when I spend cash and don’t charge a small item. What would you miss more, the penny, or the dollar bill? I do have one proposal. If we get rid of George’s bill, let’s keep minting his image on the coin, at least for some fraction of coins per year. And then just mint as many as it takes to keep the cashiers happy.
