• A Progressive’s thoughts
  • postaday
  • postaday2011
  • postaday2012
  • Uncategorized

laurieanichols

~ Just another WordPress.com site

laurieanichols

Daily Archives: June 27, 2011

How Obama Can Fix the Housing Market and the Economy

27 Monday Jun 2011

Posted by laurieanichols in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

The author is correct that something needs to be done to arrest the housing markets continuing fall in value. The market is digging the hole really deep and since the housing market is where most of Middle America’s wealth was amassed, there is a large sector of our population that is still in as much trouble as when the Great Recession started in 2008. Quite a few renowned economists called for very similar plans that would benefit the home-owner­s but the politician­s on Capital hill balked at the idea. The whole mess always points back to the deregulati­on of the financial industry. When are we ever going to learn? Instead of trying to increase the size of our financial industry, which in my humble opinion doesn’t really hold up it’s side of the bargain in positive contributi­ons to society, we should be concentrat­ing our resources and energies to public education to help mold future generation­s in engineerin­g, sciences, math and critical thinking, we should also be focusing on investing in our decaying infrastruc­ture to put people back to work. I am sick and tired of hearing the bankers caterwaul about how people are blaming them for everything­. Buck up and take it like a man, through greed and stupidity you bankers have taken advantage of the system and broken the economy. No whining, be part of the solution.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Interest Rates Must Rise Globally To Curb Inflation: International Report

27 Monday Jun 2011

Posted by laurieanichols in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment


I read somewhere and I think that it was Simon Johnson that said that higher oil prices and especially higher food prices were not good indicators of inflation. The Arab uprisings are an external driver of prices, not the normal contributo­r to inflation and extreme weather patterns are driving the food shortages not normal market demands. With these two forces influencin­g oil prices and food prices, the political and economic leaders need to adjust their repertoire of solutions. I believe that something similar happened in the 1970’s with the birth of OPEC and a horrendous year in food yields and their responses didn’t correctly address the problems, they interprete­d those events as signs to deregulate the banking and finance markets which in turn contribute­d to the bubble and burst cycles we have been seeing ever since. I think that they need to start thinking outside the box and not solely go lockstep into the austerity agenda. All we are seeing is stagnation in growth, not the desired effect.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

They say that “everything happens for a reason” – Do you believe this to be true?

27 Monday Jun 2011

Posted by laurieanichols in postaday2011

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

postaday2011

Reading that statement reminds me of a few movies where the character explains some random occurrence as “it happened for a reason”. I think that many people subscribe to that belief. I am not sure how it is meant exactly. Does it mean that in your own life, everything happens for a reason because, due to decisions and choices made, certain outcomes can be expected? I am thinking that some people may think that it means that there is some grand design, and especially hardship and tragedies don’t just occur randomly, that there is a greater meaning to those acts. I can understand the desire to believe in that philosophy, it gives some semblance of comfort to those who need it, some sense of that you are not in this world suffering alone, some sense that you are part of something bigger, grander than you alone and that you fit into the greater scheme of things. I suppose that I am rambling on with questions and suppositions because I find it hard to believe that things happen for a reason outside of my reality. I know that actions have consequences, sometimes those consequences are a long time in coming. Consequences also doesn’t necessarily have to mean something bad, it is simply an outcome resulting from decisions taken or choices made. Maybe, I am uncomfortable with this topic because, upon reading the question, my first impulse was to think of my father and his murder in 2003. That senseless murder has never made any sense to me and the saying “everything happens for a reason” rings false and hollow. There was and is no reason to my father no longer being here in the grand scheme of the universe. The only thing that I have to hold on to, is that my father’s extremely poor decision and choice he made that night contributed to his untimely murder. I pains me to admit this, but my father had been drinking that night and for some reason, on his way home from work that night, he stopped at a Bodega for something and unfortunately ran into 2 gang members. They stole his money and beat him to death. His choice to drink and his impaired decision to stop at a Bodega instead of going directly home led him to be at a place, confronted by violent criminals, which resulted in his death. My understanding of things happening as a result of action and consequence doesn’t provide me with any comfort. I just feel an incredibly deep sadness that sometimes used to consume me. Over time, it has lessened to simple sadness. I don’t know that if I believed in a grand design, if I would find any comfort from that. The outcome is still the same, my father is gone, cut away from us, way to early for me, in my estimation. So, I still struggle with the question. Sometimes, I think that I struggle because some part of me is reluctant to give myself over to believing in something greater than what I am. Which is odd because I spent all of my childhood years in catholic schools with the nuns, the Franciscan brothers and the priests. So you would think that I had this covered, but I don’t. I’ll just continue to sort this internal debate slowly at my own pace. I’ll reconcile this issue within myself eventually.

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,208 other followers

a work in progress

June 2011
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  
« May   Jul »

Archives

nanowrimo

2012 Blog of the Year Award

Blogroll

  • Discuss
  • Get Inspired
  • Get Polling
  • Get Reading Now
  • Get Support
  • Laurieanichols
  • Learn WordPress.com
  • Rebecca Franklin
  • The Laughing Housewife
  • Wee Scoops
  • WordPress Planet
  • WordPress.com News

business of blogging

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Top Rated

Member of The Internet Defense League

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • laurieanichols
    • Join 1,208 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • laurieanichols
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar