everyone just settle down

Disclaimer: This is not meant to be controversial or political or offensive. It's meant to be a way for me to put my thoughts out there and clarify some points in my own understanding.

All this financial stuff going on is scary, but it doesn't help that the headline on every news outlet proclaims gloom and doom and catastrophe and crash and every other bad scary word you can think of. Bailout? No bailout? I'm the queen of being able to argue both sides of a question intelligently and convincingly, so it's no surprise there are respected people out there on each side. Here are the facts as I understand them, in plain-people-speak:

motivation #1: people want to own houses. it makes them feel good.
motivation #2: the government wants people to feel good. it gets them re-elected.
motivation #3: companies like to make money.

problem #1: people are by nature lazy and will usually take the easy road to get what they want
problem #2: the government did certain things (why? see motivation #2) to encourage and support companies to lend money to people who couldn't really afford to pay it back. (i.e. companies were given assurances by the government that took away some of their good business sense so they were willing to take more risks - motivation #3 - with assurances they'd be supported or bailed out if it went wrong)
problem #3: people took advantage of those no-money-down/stated-income/sub-prime-interest programs (see motivation #1 and problem #1) and bought more than they could afford.
problem #4: When people don't have to work hard (motivation #1) for a down payment and good credit and proof that they can pay back (see problem #2), they value what they have less. When they have no equity in a home, it feels just like renting (i.e. no pride in ownership) and when having bad credit isn't an issue then why not just foreclose.
problem #5: the real estate market goes through normal ebb & flow and ups & downs and right now is a down. This isn't usually a problem, but on top of problems #1-4 it has been magnified.

result #1: People who couldn't afford to make their payments defaulted on their loans. This makes people sad (and homeless)
result #2: Companies are holding loans that are worth more than the securing property is worth. So even if they sold the property, they'd still be in debt. This is bad on a balance sheet and ultimately will cause companies to go under.
result #3: When companies go under it makes people worry and panic. this makes them want to pull money out of banks and sell stocks which makes everything worse.
result #4: The government thinks they need to step in to "fix" everything so people will be happy again. Thus the bailout package. If we do not address problems #1-4 (#5 is normal) then we are bound to repeat the results again and nothing will actually get fixed.

Here is an article that is written by an economist that really explained the issues well.

I don't know what the solution is, and I hope (and trust) that there are smart people out there arguing each side and thinking it all through and coming up with a plan. But one thing I am frustrated about is the fact that all the blame is falling to the companies and the government (as rightly some of it should) while there is no discussion at all of the people's responsibility in all of this. We all need to harken the counsel we've heard over and over to get out of debt and live within our means and take responsibility for ourselves, so we'll be in a better position to weather hard times and to help one another when necessary.


Disclaimer: I am in no way judging anyone else's choices or intentions or holding myself above anyone else. This is meerly intended to be a commentary on general concepts and does not preclude my sympathies with individuals who find themselves in hard circumstances at this time. Life is all about learning from our mistakes and improving ourselves and doing better next time, myself included.

dads

Oliver has a good friend Jacob who lives around the corner from us. Oliver and Jacob play together almost every day. Jacob's dad is a philosophy professor at BYU. Here is a conversation between them that I overheard the other day:

Jacob: My dad's at work right now.

Oliver: My dad's at work too.

Jacob: What does your dad teach?

Oliver: Nothing. He plays music.

Jacob: Oh. My dad plays philosophy.

goosebumps

I just got home from seriously one of the best shows I've ever seen. It looked great, sounded incredible, and was comfortable and fun. It was obvious that the people on stage were having a great time and it was so fun to watch Scott play again and to have George there and the drum kit was crazy and the organ was loud enough and the pedal steel -- well what can I say -- there was pedal steel, and paul was funny and danced and dominic and sarah were awesome. I got chills and was just struck by how mature and professional they all looked and sounded and how wonderful it is to watch people excel at their craft. Inspirational.

Plus, as an added bonus Paul organized a raffle to benefit Stephanie & Christian and not only did they raise over $500, which is awesome, but my numbers got called 3 times! No, it wasn't rigged, and no, I didn't take all the prizes, but I did get this adorable Leia Bell print which will go great upstairs.

So too bad for all of you who didn't get to soak in all the good music vibes and win a raffle. Now go buy Paul's CD to make up for it.

You won't regret it - this is going to be a good show!

Paul Jacobsen and the Madison Arm will be playing their CD release show at the Post Theater at the University of Utah in Salt Lake on Saturday. This is going to be a great show. Scott will be playing and even George flew in for the event to join them on the bass. Dominic Moore and Sarah Sample are opening who are also fantastic.

You get a free CD with your $10 admission (and in spite of my bias I can honestly say this is a fantastic album - so this is a great deal). And there will be a raffle held at intermission to benefit Nienie. Some great music and a good cause -- what could be better?! Really - you should come. You won't be sorry.

a good referral

So we're getting ready to remodelate our basement and as luck would have it we found this business card on our front door just today. We've decided to hire them since they seem to get what we're going for. Also due to Scott's line of work it will be important to do some good accustical treatments, and looks like these guys can help. Anyway just thought I should spread the word in case you're ready for some remodelation too.

Happy Birthday Brenden!

The day is almost over, but I wanted to send a heartfelt shout-out to my firstborn, Brenden, who turned 9 today. What a fine young man he's turning into. He still has those perfectly piercing blue eyes and now has a few more crooked teeth but most of all he's just nice and thoughtful and smart and accommodating and a nice friend. In the past week a few things happened that made my heart swell a bit with pride.

First: A kid came by the other day looking for Brenden's friend Chandler, and accusing him of stealing his PSP. Brenden, instead of saying "I don't know where he is" or "you should just talk to him about that" immediately jumped to Chandler's defense saying "I know Chandler wouldn't do that. It wasn't him. Maybe you just lost it." I thought that was significant because my first instinct was to just stay out of it and tell him to try looking for Chandler at his own house, but Brenden cared about his friend's reputation and wanted to defend him.

Then the next day Chandler came over to ride Brenden's motorcycle in our cul-de-sac. Another neighbor offered to take Brenden & Oliver on a motorcycle ride up in the mountains behind the neighborhood, which is something the boys love to do, and Brenden decided to let Chandler go in his place. I watched this and right away wanted to stop them and let Brenden go and tell Chandler sorry, but when I mentioned it to Brenden he said, "No, I've gotten to go lots of times already and will get to go again and Chandler's never gotten to go, so I think he should get to go." How thoughtful!

I have a lot to learn from this kid. In both cases he did the opposite of what I would have done, but he was right on.

I love you so much, Brenden, and am honored to be your Mom. Happy 9th Birthday!

finally a year later...

I finally got our Jon Canlas pictures printed out and framed and hung on the wall. I'm not sure why I dreaded and avoided the project so much. I'm excited about the results. Thanks to Rachel for helping me conceptualize, measure, mark, and hang.