The banks have come up with another brilliant idea to keep the money rolling in. Now that Congress is moving to limit the penalties on riskier borrowers, banks are looking to shoot themselves in the foot and are thinking of "reviving annual fees, curtailing cash-back and other rewards programs and charging interest immediately on a purchase instead of allowing a grace period of weeks," for customers who "who routinely pay off their credit card balances have been enjoying the equivalent of a free ride."
What a brilliant idea. Kill your business because you're having a temper tantrum. Give me a break. If you're going to bluff, at least make it a believable bluff. The banks make a ton of money from every little credit card purchase, something like 1 - 3% of each purchase. Even cash buyers pay for that in increased prices. They are not going to kill their golden goose by chasing away their good customers.
Do they really want consumers acting like they did in the past and, instead of using a credit card for everything, do what our parents did, and pay cash or write checks for everything with the added bonus of saying bye bye EZPass, online shopping and anything else people use credit cards for (debit card use online is not something I plan to do -- too much risk if something goes wrong)? I don't think so.
The banks and Wall St argue that their moves in bringing more money to the economy over the last few decades helped the US more then it harmed it. That includes loosening consumer credit. And while that may be true don't think they did it for charitable means. They made money hand over fist. They don't really want consumers to spend less and, through reduced consumer spending, bring the economy and their businesses down. They're just trying to scare Congress into letting them to continue to charge usury rates that should embarrass them.
The banks haven't learned their lessons and think the party should continue. They are not content to make a good living, they want to make a fabulous living. Call their bluff and tell them their interest rates on the money they've borrowed from us has just jumped and see what happens. And, if that doesn't work, raise the ante. With the increase in electronic payments credit cards are almost a default currency. Have the Treasury Department announce that they will now be distributing electronic currency cards that anybody can use in lieu of paper money, with the action the merchants give to the credit card companies going to the US Treasury instead. Maybe then the credit card companies will remove the gun they pointed to their heads and start being realistic.
There will always be a need for credit and a dollar to be made by banks. They will just have to lower their standards of what is an acceptable risk and what is a reasonable profit. And part of that will be not expecting money for their luxuries to come from extending credit and charging usary rates on high credit limits to those who can least afford it, settling instead for the hum drum small percentages they make from each merchant sale.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Will the GOP really become as relevant as the Whigs
You know times are tough for the GOP when the "liberal" NY Times feels the need to lecture them on how to defeat the Democrats. Well somebody needs to tell the GOP they better do something before they become as relevant as the Whigs. I'm over 40, married with children, white, have a family income in the 6 figures and am generally conservative -- smack in the middle of their demographic. Yet I'd be considered a flaming liberal by the party today because my views are moderate and would not find myself welcome in their tent.
Forget the negative attitude that current "leaders," such as Dick Cheney, offer in lieu of the optimistic attitudes of leaders such as Ronald Reagan. It's more then that. They seem to not want anybody who doesn't believe in no taxes, no gay marriage, no abortion, no regulations and no to schools not allowing Jesus in the classroom. Forget anything in the middle, such as a live and let live attitude on gay marriage and the necessity of some taxes and regulations to help us maintain our freedom, unless it is for weapons to bomb people we don't like to keep our military manufacturers employed. While I don't think government can solve everything, I see a place for it and sometimes think it needs to be more active then other times. Less active in the people's individual life choices, more active in keeping the country strong as a whole so I may remain free, even if it costs me a few extra dollars. For that, I feel unwelcome.
I think that some taxes are a necessary evil, as they pay for services that keep me more free. For example, paying taxes for school, welfare, police, fire etc is a lot cheaper then paying for those on my own and improve society as a whole. It benefits me if some government money is spent on stopping swine flu (or the next medical disaster) before it spreads and knocks out my employees or my children. It benefits me if my taxes educate my workforce so I don't have to (aside from basic training any new employee needs). It benefits all of us if our children can become contributing members of society, not just yes men or women to a foreign overlord because they have not been taught the skills needed for living in the 21st century. yet, according to some, raising taxes to pay down our debt and invest on potential domestic energy and manufacturing plants that may help us stay free and independent will enslave us, as if being forced to make policy decisions based on the wants of a foreign government who holds our debt will not. Personally, if I'm going to be forced to pay for something I disagree with, I'd rather it because a majority of my fellow citizens disagree with me and not because a foreign entity held a gun to my head.
Same with government regulations: I tend to think that my meat won't kill me because the government sent some regulators out and not because the free market works so well and I am incredibly pissed that a lack of government oversight let a few do so much damage to the economy that even innocent bystanders got taken down in the cross fire. I also don't think it is government's role to be involved with anything regarding the sex life of consenting adults, especially when they start enforcing their religious views on all. And I also don't like big deficits, at least when times were good. I can see a budget deficit in recession times, such as 2008 and 2009, when the government is trying to kick start the economy, but there is no reason to pile on debt when times are good and there is enough money available to pay for the government's costs (or at least come reasonably close).
There used to be Republicans (Reagan democrats) who felt as I did. A live and let live attitude for adults not bothering anyone, a pay as you go standard and a business atmosphere that allowed for savvy people to prosper without harming the economy as a whole. These days I see that on the Democratic side of the aisle (with the book still being out on pay as you go, I'll withhold judgment on that until the recession ends). The GOP is allowing a few hard cores to chase away those who could help it succeed in the 21st century. And unless we want another generation of one party rule, we will all be poorer for it.
Forget the negative attitude that current "leaders," such as Dick Cheney, offer in lieu of the optimistic attitudes of leaders such as Ronald Reagan. It's more then that. They seem to not want anybody who doesn't believe in no taxes, no gay marriage, no abortion, no regulations and no to schools not allowing Jesus in the classroom. Forget anything in the middle, such as a live and let live attitude on gay marriage and the necessity of some taxes and regulations to help us maintain our freedom, unless it is for weapons to bomb people we don't like to keep our military manufacturers employed. While I don't think government can solve everything, I see a place for it and sometimes think it needs to be more active then other times. Less active in the people's individual life choices, more active in keeping the country strong as a whole so I may remain free, even if it costs me a few extra dollars. For that, I feel unwelcome.
I think that some taxes are a necessary evil, as they pay for services that keep me more free. For example, paying taxes for school, welfare, police, fire etc is a lot cheaper then paying for those on my own and improve society as a whole. It benefits me if some government money is spent on stopping swine flu (or the next medical disaster) before it spreads and knocks out my employees or my children. It benefits me if my taxes educate my workforce so I don't have to (aside from basic training any new employee needs). It benefits all of us if our children can become contributing members of society, not just yes men or women to a foreign overlord because they have not been taught the skills needed for living in the 21st century. yet, according to some, raising taxes to pay down our debt and invest on potential domestic energy and manufacturing plants that may help us stay free and independent will enslave us, as if being forced to make policy decisions based on the wants of a foreign government who holds our debt will not. Personally, if I'm going to be forced to pay for something I disagree with, I'd rather it because a majority of my fellow citizens disagree with me and not because a foreign entity held a gun to my head.
Same with government regulations: I tend to think that my meat won't kill me because the government sent some regulators out and not because the free market works so well and I am incredibly pissed that a lack of government oversight let a few do so much damage to the economy that even innocent bystanders got taken down in the cross fire. I also don't think it is government's role to be involved with anything regarding the sex life of consenting adults, especially when they start enforcing their religious views on all. And I also don't like big deficits, at least when times were good. I can see a budget deficit in recession times, such as 2008 and 2009, when the government is trying to kick start the economy, but there is no reason to pile on debt when times are good and there is enough money available to pay for the government's costs (or at least come reasonably close).
There used to be Republicans (Reagan democrats) who felt as I did. A live and let live attitude for adults not bothering anyone, a pay as you go standard and a business atmosphere that allowed for savvy people to prosper without harming the economy as a whole. These days I see that on the Democratic side of the aisle (with the book still being out on pay as you go, I'll withhold judgment on that until the recession ends). The GOP is allowing a few hard cores to chase away those who could help it succeed in the 21st century. And unless we want another generation of one party rule, we will all be poorer for it.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Car free living? Not in my country
Though gas prices are down from their $4 a gallon high of last year, they have been starting to creep up lately and the idea of making neighborhoods car free or walkable is back in the news. Both articles mention that neighborhoods need to be designed to be pedestrian friendly and while I agree that design is key, but there needs to be a willingness too. The town has to do more then pay lip service, they need to want to be walkable.
We live in a development with sidewalks and near mass transit, school and the library. We also have several lovely parks a mile or so from our home. Yet we are constantly using our cars. Even though we want to walk or use transit, we find ourselves driving, especially if we have our children with us.
Walking to the stores and library from our home requires crossing a major 4 lane road with traffic lights. Though we live about 2-300 yards from the crossing as the crow flies, the sidewalks take a more circulatory path and require a 20 min walk. No biggie, but not so much fun when lugging books or groceries home. This road is about half the width of Queens Boulevard of death yet may be more dangerous as drivers, especially on the weekend, don't look for pedestrians, even those crossing in the crosswalk with a traffic light. One day, about a month after our son was born, and not too long removed from living in Brooklyn, we decided to walk to the library. When we got home there were several calls on our answering machine from my mother-in-law and one of her friends, complaining we did something no good parent should do -- cross the road in the crosswalk with the light. At the time I thought they over reacted, but after crossing that road, in the crosswalk and with a light, for the last 9 years coming home from NJ Transit and seeing drivers not paying attention, I can see their point.
One of the other things we looked for when buying our home was walkability to mass transit and thus we bought a house that gives me a less then 10 minute walk to the bus stop to NYC outside our development. What I didn't count on was the difficulty walking back from the bus stop in the evening. See the stop 10 min from our house is on that 4 lane road I mentioned above. The bus from the city stops directly across the road from the stop to the city. There isn't a crosswalk at the stop and the road is a divided road (grass median) with 55 MPH traffic, making crossing the street both dangerous and illegal. Fortunately there is a light about 200 feet up the road at the next stop. Unfortunately, there is no sidewalk along the road there making walking home from the stop challenging, especially as drivers, hoping to avoid traffic backed up for the light, drive on the shoulder where pedestrians walk. Adding sidewalks or a crosswalk (there is another development across the highway from us that haves the same problem in reverse) is laughed at, but not paying for police to ticket jaywalkers with nowhere to go. So that leaves the stop with the round about path (which is a no go for the development across the road as they don't have a way to walk there). After doing that a few times late in the evening when you're tired or cold, you either learn to pray that the drivers are paying attention when you get off at the closer stops or you add your name to the park and ride lists (well behind the telecommuting times, our town has plenty of monthly spots that stay empty but almost no daily parking for the commuters who go in only once or twice a week).
Finally, we live 2 blocks from our son's school, yet he is bused. While this may make sense in the newer parts of town, we live in an older part with a neighborhood school built right in the middle of our development of almost 1,000 homes. No matter. The children are not allowed to walk to school here anymore. They must be supervised at all times, either on the bus or organized before care in the school itself. Walking or biking to school with your friends, and then hanging out in the school yard until the bell rings is a no no.
And the parks I mentioned, well the roads that go them don't always have sidewalks along them (depends what, if anything is developed alongside) or even shoulders in some places, making walking or biking to them, especially with our children, less then desirable.
So in conclusion, while I and my neighbors live in a neighborhood with sidewalks, close to school (well grades 1-5 anyway), stores and mass transit, we have to use our cars more then we would otherwise due to the rest of those in the community not willing to live in a walking community. The feet are willing, but the community's mindset is weak.
We live in a development with sidewalks and near mass transit, school and the library. We also have several lovely parks a mile or so from our home. Yet we are constantly using our cars. Even though we want to walk or use transit, we find ourselves driving, especially if we have our children with us.
Walking to the stores and library from our home requires crossing a major 4 lane road with traffic lights. Though we live about 2-300 yards from the crossing as the crow flies, the sidewalks take a more circulatory path and require a 20 min walk. No biggie, but not so much fun when lugging books or groceries home. This road is about half the width of Queens Boulevard of death yet may be more dangerous as drivers, especially on the weekend, don't look for pedestrians, even those crossing in the crosswalk with a traffic light. One day, about a month after our son was born, and not too long removed from living in Brooklyn, we decided to walk to the library. When we got home there were several calls on our answering machine from my mother-in-law and one of her friends, complaining we did something no good parent should do -- cross the road in the crosswalk with the light. At the time I thought they over reacted, but after crossing that road, in the crosswalk and with a light, for the last 9 years coming home from NJ Transit and seeing drivers not paying attention, I can see their point.
One of the other things we looked for when buying our home was walkability to mass transit and thus we bought a house that gives me a less then 10 minute walk to the bus stop to NYC outside our development. What I didn't count on was the difficulty walking back from the bus stop in the evening. See the stop 10 min from our house is on that 4 lane road I mentioned above. The bus from the city stops directly across the road from the stop to the city. There isn't a crosswalk at the stop and the road is a divided road (grass median) with 55 MPH traffic, making crossing the street both dangerous and illegal. Fortunately there is a light about 200 feet up the road at the next stop. Unfortunately, there is no sidewalk along the road there making walking home from the stop challenging, especially as drivers, hoping to avoid traffic backed up for the light, drive on the shoulder where pedestrians walk. Adding sidewalks or a crosswalk (there is another development across the highway from us that haves the same problem in reverse) is laughed at, but not paying for police to ticket jaywalkers with nowhere to go. So that leaves the stop with the round about path (which is a no go for the development across the road as they don't have a way to walk there). After doing that a few times late in the evening when you're tired or cold, you either learn to pray that the drivers are paying attention when you get off at the closer stops or you add your name to the park and ride lists (well behind the telecommuting times, our town has plenty of monthly spots that stay empty but almost no daily parking for the commuters who go in only once or twice a week).
Finally, we live 2 blocks from our son's school, yet he is bused. While this may make sense in the newer parts of town, we live in an older part with a neighborhood school built right in the middle of our development of almost 1,000 homes. No matter. The children are not allowed to walk to school here anymore. They must be supervised at all times, either on the bus or organized before care in the school itself. Walking or biking to school with your friends, and then hanging out in the school yard until the bell rings is a no no.
And the parks I mentioned, well the roads that go them don't always have sidewalks along them (depends what, if anything is developed alongside) or even shoulders in some places, making walking or biking to them, especially with our children, less then desirable.
So in conclusion, while I and my neighbors live in a neighborhood with sidewalks, close to school (well grades 1-5 anyway), stores and mass transit, we have to use our cars more then we would otherwise due to the rest of those in the community not willing to live in a walking community. The feet are willing, but the community's mindset is weak.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Throwing good money after bad
Chrysler says they will not pay the US back the money we loaned to keep them alive, instead ghiving us some equity in their company. Oh joy. I didn't mind the government propping up the auto companies and banks to prevent their collapse from taking the rest of the economy with it but when will enough be enough? Sooner or later we'll need to stop throwing good money after bad and let the market take care of the weaker links like it should.
Some of it is already happening as talent and high performers have started bailing out of the bigger financial firms or banks for smaller ones. Once that is well underway, perhaps then it will be time for the plug to be pulled on those larger firms and we should let the chips fall where they may (I just hope the US is high up on the secured creditor list). The auto makers are a bit trickier as they will take many other manufacturers and small businesses if they go down too fast. Sooner or later we'll have to decide if $7B is worth the price to keep Chrysler around or to tell Chrysler we're selling our equity for whatever we can get (which, if all goes well, might be more then $7B at the end of the day).
Some of it is already happening as talent and high performers have started bailing out of the bigger financial firms or banks for smaller ones. Once that is well underway, perhaps then it will be time for the plug to be pulled on those larger firms and we should let the chips fall where they may (I just hope the US is high up on the secured creditor list). The auto makers are a bit trickier as they will take many other manufacturers and small businesses if they go down too fast. Sooner or later we'll have to decide if $7B is worth the price to keep Chrysler around or to tell Chrysler we're selling our equity for whatever we can get (which, if all goes well, might be more then $7B at the end of the day).
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Baseball, apple pie and a bank loan
Dennis Hamill, a columnist I generally like, wrote an interesting piece on how the average Brooklyn families are being squeezed out of going to Mets games at the new, expensive CitiField. Of course he has to take a dig at the yuppies for pricing out the old Brooklyn.So, before I offer my 2 cents on baseball, let me say this: Enough with the negative yuppie sentiments.
A lot of us "yuppies" are the children or grandchildren of the candy store owner who "tawked like dat," born and raised in Brooklyn (or surrounding boroughs and suburbs) and wanted to stay home. Sorry if going to school to make enough money to stay in the New York City area hurts your sensibilities, but that is life these days. Youshow me all the great paying blue collar jobs left in this city for the average person to go. Heck, show me all those greats across America. They don't exist, at least in numbers that they used to and, even if we weren't busy outsourcing everything overseas, those blue collar jobs wouldn't exist like they did back then due to automation. Knowledge is power and if that makes me yuppie scum, so be it.
And New York City, while always a great place, was not the best place to live in the later portion of the 20th century.I had a lot of fun growing up in the outter boroughs in the 1970s and 80s, but I don't miss the budget cuts that closed schools and libraries, let parks and subways fall apart and let police protection decrease so much that we stopped being surprised that the car was broken into or one of our bikes were stolen. And though many of us who grew up in the city during the lean days are priced out today (yes, even us yuppies), that is the price of progress. For every yuppie who pays $1M for a walkup in Park Slope, there is a long time resident weho makes out like a bandit (my mother included, who got 4x the price my parents paid 35 years earlier forour home).
That said, no way will I be taking my children to baseball games as much as my dad took my brothers and me. The cheapest tickets (those $11 tix are on weeknights, not a great time to go with small children), excluding parking (or mass transit) for our family of 4 will set us back about $100 (much more if I aimed for the mid level seats). Not a lot, but I can think of a lot more to do with that money then see a baseball game. With today's prices, my children will be lucky if I take them to one game a season. The stories my mother tells of walking over to Ebbets Field almost every afternoon after school to see the Dodgers will seem quite alien to her grand-children.
Back when I was a teen, it was not uncommon for my friends and I to run over to Shea at the spur of the moment on a Friday night to see the Mets for $5 (assuming they weren't sold out, they were pretty good then). Even with inflation making those $5 seats probably closer to $10 in today's money, the cheapest seats at Citifield are still twice that for a Fri night game. And again, forget about the better seats which we also used to buy tickets for. Some of my best baseball memories come from those games. All that started with the games my dad took us to when we were young. Sadly, I will not be doing the same, choosing instead to see minor league games. Though I am trying to raise my son as a Mets fan, the closest minor league teams belong to the Yankees and the Phillies. Ugh.
A lot of us "yuppies" are the children or grandchildren of the candy store owner who "tawked like dat," born and raised in Brooklyn (or surrounding boroughs and suburbs) and wanted to stay home. Sorry if going to school to make enough money to stay in the New York City area hurts your sensibilities, but that is life these days. Youshow me all the great paying blue collar jobs left in this city for the average person to go. Heck, show me all those greats across America. They don't exist, at least in numbers that they used to and, even if we weren't busy outsourcing everything overseas, those blue collar jobs wouldn't exist like they did back then due to automation. Knowledge is power and if that makes me yuppie scum, so be it.
And New York City, while always a great place, was not the best place to live in the later portion of the 20th century.I had a lot of fun growing up in the outter boroughs in the 1970s and 80s, but I don't miss the budget cuts that closed schools and libraries, let parks and subways fall apart and let police protection decrease so much that we stopped being surprised that the car was broken into or one of our bikes were stolen. And though many of us who grew up in the city during the lean days are priced out today (yes, even us yuppies), that is the price of progress. For every yuppie who pays $1M for a walkup in Park Slope, there is a long time resident weho makes out like a bandit (my mother included, who got 4x the price my parents paid 35 years earlier forour home).
That said, no way will I be taking my children to baseball games as much as my dad took my brothers and me. The cheapest tickets (those $11 tix are on weeknights, not a great time to go with small children), excluding parking (or mass transit) for our family of 4 will set us back about $100 (much more if I aimed for the mid level seats). Not a lot, but I can think of a lot more to do with that money then see a baseball game. With today's prices, my children will be lucky if I take them to one game a season. The stories my mother tells of walking over to Ebbets Field almost every afternoon after school to see the Dodgers will seem quite alien to her grand-children.
Back when I was a teen, it was not uncommon for my friends and I to run over to Shea at the spur of the moment on a Friday night to see the Mets for $5 (assuming they weren't sold out, they were pretty good then). Even with inflation making those $5 seats probably closer to $10 in today's money, the cheapest seats at Citifield are still twice that for a Fri night game. And again, forget about the better seats which we also used to buy tickets for. Some of my best baseball memories come from those games. All that started with the games my dad took us to when we were young. Sadly, I will not be doing the same, choosing instead to see minor league games. Though I am trying to raise my son as a Mets fan, the closest minor league teams belong to the Yankees and the Phillies. Ugh.
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