A Rare Saturday Blog!

I've read that things are darkest just before the dawn, and it looks like dawn is coming! I had a phone interview yesterday with a company in DC that does contract work for FEMA. I've gone almost 6 months without a nibble, and now I've had 3 in 2 days. I know, don't count your chickens before they hatch, but just the interest changes your attitude...

I also have a chance to earn money next week pet-sitting for some friends. A friend of mine started a pet-sitting venture and she needs someone to cover this area, and so I'm possibly pet-sitting next week.

The week after that, my friend Lynn is going on vacation and needs someone to take her place at work. She's the office/project manager for a granite company. I won't be doing much, answering phones and maybe some paperwork, but I'll be making money. I've also threatened to automate the office, so it could be a good learning experience. I will at least learn a little about granite and possibly kitchen remodeling! Miss Edee lives nearby, so maybe I'll get to visit with my favorite guitar playing cross dresser.

Some Political Observations
Maybe you figured this out before I did, but I've realized that Dekalb county, the City of Atlanta and Georgia state is run by money-grubbing, morally challenged politicians. Duh, you may say. What got me to this point is several things: The City of Atlanta has had to cut services and jobs in order to meet their budget obligations. Lots of localities are having to do this, but Atlanta's problems aren't new. Shirley Franklin has had a very tough time dealing with what Bill Campbell and other mayors left her, and, frankly (love the cliche!) I think she's done a great job. She had to address the decaying infastructure and raise taxes. But the City Council wouldn't let her raise taxes again, so she had to cut services. She closed two (I think) fire stations, froze any vacant positions and cut some police funds. I think she did this to get the city council to realize they have to raise taxes, but I want to know what has the city council done? They would rather see the citizens of Atlanta suffer with less services than cut their staff and perks? Don't they work for the citizens? What have they done to help the situation? I'm sure their budgets can be cut: cell phone allocation, staff size, postage budget, just to name a few.

Then there's Dekalb county. I read a letter to the editor pleading for a comprehensive building plan for the county, where the developers are forced to widen roads and fix the infastructure in areas where they're building. Nothing like this exists now, and I've seen 15 townhouses go up on a 2 lane road with no widening or traffic control. Dekalb and Gwinett county have some of the highest percentage of septic tanks in the country. I assumed it was because we have so much granite in our ground it's easier and cheaper to use a septic tank. I think it's just cheaper, the developers don't have to run sewer lines. Now, if the county forces the developers to do all this, the cost of housing will go up. But the market will set limits on the price of homes in a certain area. The developers can't build $700,000 homes in a blue collar neighborhood and expect them to sell. If the county lets them continue at the rate they're going now, the homes maybe cheap, but the county can levy a tax on every home, and the taxes aren't controlled by the market, so they can just keep going up. Yes, either way the 'little guy' pays, but the market will control costs in one scenario, the Tax Man in the other.

If you'll notice, both presidential candidates are recommending the government will fix the ills of today. Obama will increase taxes (as dems are notorious to do) and McCain and the Republicans will bail out Big Business, (as the Republicans are want to do), but neither solution allows the citizens to have any power. Not being an economist, accountant or presidential candidate, I would suggest letting some things take care of themselves. If the greedy brokerage or mortgage firms go under, let them go. Someone else will come along and take care of it. Work with people who are foreclosing thru bad loans and let them keep their homes. I can't get any help in Keeping my home, I have to be Losing my home. We have to have some means to 'regulate' greed. Look at all the 'crisis' we've had in the last 20 years, the S&L debacle, the Enron disaster, the DotCom bust. Why did all this happen? Greed. Someone mentioned another 'bubble' developing in the eco-friendly or energy fields. People will start throwing money at companies that are not proven, they won't research the product, they will ear lots of money on speculation and everyone will follow. I guess that's the way the market works, but we need to have someone to say 'slow down, what are you doing?'. But politicians won't go that route, they depend too much on money.

So I will win the lottery and buy a small island somewhere in the South Pacific. Anyone want to join me?

More to come...
As things happen, I'll be posting. Thanks for taking the time to read. You're opinions are welcome but if you have to start calling me names, don't bother, I won't read them. As my Dad says 'Opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one.'