Recently in consumerism Category

I imagine that, like myself, most people are watching the progress of this huge bailout request by Paulson and Bernanke that is creating a huge debate right now. Judging by what I personally am reading, the common thread appears to be that people are not reacting favorably to the idea.

I've read quite a few articles from quite a few sources today.

The common responses tend to be:

• People don't believe the taxpayers should be responsible for the failures that brought us to this point.
• People object to writing a "blank check" for one person to cash and spend as he sees fit without oversight or responsibility.
• People believe the money will, in a sense, reward the behavior that caused this trouble.
• People believe the money is only going to help the wealthiest people and shaft those who are struggling.

How most of this whole, big, huge, ginormous problem came to be is outlined in this illuminating article at Kiplingers. It's a great read and I learned quite a bit I didn't already know.

The one thing about this whole mess that really bugs me is when I read comments that are really negative towards the home-buyers facing the whole mess of foreclosure. For example, when I read something like:

It's people buying houses they couldn't afford in the first place that got us into this mess.

Well, who does? Most people don't do that. And I find it difficult to believe that the vast majority of people did do that. That's not saying that no one does, but still . . . How many people buy homes expecting they will be laid off? How many people buy homes expecting they or someone they love will suffer a debilitating illness?

Personally, I'm not in favor of the bailout. I don't understand why the companies in danger were allowed to get so large that their failure would also mean the collapse of our economic system without some kind of government intervention at the taxpayer's expense.

Anyway, just my two cents for the day. Feel free to chip in your's . . .

Tuesday my wife sends me an IM at work, "I think the coffee machine is dead, I think." I remembered that it had been leaking over the weekend, so I IM her back that it probably is and we should start looking for a new one. We both like to have espresso drinks every now and then, so I consider looking at combination machines that will do both coffee and espresso. I find one on Amazon and IM her with the link. However, I remember seeing that JcPenney was having a sale on kitchen stuff. Over Christmas we had purchased a cookware set for roughly half off the regular price of almost $400. It's a nice set and so far it has been great stuff. So I head over to JcPenney's website.

The only thing really on the agenda today was my son's soccer game at 2:30. After taking my wife to work this morning the kids and I went back to bed and I slept until roughly 9:30. I woke up with a dreadful headache that I still haven't really shaken . . . even after multiple doses of Advil and Excedrin. It's a little more bearable, and I think it might be fading.

It's always this way for me at the beginning of spring. Sometimes I wish I lived some place where the weather was a little more consistent. Call me crazy, but I really do like the rainy days that we have had the last few days. Often I think I'd probably like it somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. But then San Diego has an incredible climate that I would probably appreciate just as well.

Perhaps some day . . . Getting back to the point . . . My wife called and asked me stop and get her some new pens. She bought a bunch of them ( she loses them faster than the weather changes here ) the other day and upon trying to use them at work she found she did not like them. We had to make a little stop after the game to get some cat food and with Office Depot right next door to Petco I figured I could knock it out no problem. Strolling past the laptops on my way to the pens, one of them reached out to me, grabbed me right square by the eyeballs and pulled me in. I ended up walking out with a Sony Vaio. It's a nice laptop.

I'm wondering what my wife is going to say as I sit here typing out this post. I'm trying to come up with a perfectly reasonable explanation for my lapse in frugality. Very rarely do I make these kinds of purchases. Part of my plan is to say the blinding pain in my head had an adverse effect on my ability to fight off impulsive behavior. Think it will work? If I don't post by tomorrow night I've been bound and gagged and thrown in the storage closet in the garage.

Someone please come help me get out.