Kevin and I are so financially strapped we can't see straight.  My health woes killed us.  Now we are hit with back to school and Austin's birthday on Labor Day.  We've been scrambling around trying to figure out how we are going to get at least the bare necessities for school and something, anything, for Austin.

Then, yesterday, I learned that I'm getting a $500 incentive at work tomorrow.  So that would get us school clothes, haircuts, and the remaining school items that the kids need.  Plus a few groceries.  But we still don't have any money for Austin's birthday.

Kevin called me this morning.  He found out he was going to receive a $500 bonus for getting someone hired at his job.  $500!!  We can get what is on Austin's wish list now. 

This is so great that I think I need a margarita.  Now if only our house would sell!

Perhaps McCain is numerically challenged?

Ever thought of that you liberal nitwits?!?!

Cheers,

Tom

The Great American Yard Sale. http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080819/us_time/thegreatamericanyardsale

That means that when the economy recovers, there will be less wealth left in the country to reinvest in it. But then returning to the original question--Why is the American yard sale not setting off alarms?--Stiglitz explains that the alternative is even worse. "There isn't an outcry," he says, "because the focus right now is the weakness of the American economy, and anything to keep our economy going is welcome." That's why no one really objected to Citibank's becoming a Middle Eastern--financed bank, because it's better than Citi's becoming a dead bank. "But clearly we're worse off as a country," he says.

When the dust settles on the current downturn, the U.S. economy will probably regain its dealmaking swagger. But unlike the Japanese experience in the 1980s, the current trend of foreign buyouts won't be unwound. Yet the only way for the U.S. to avoid becoming a second-rate economy is to make the investments necessary to stay ahead in knowledge and innovation. Will we do it? There are a whole bunch of rich foreigners who have just bet their future on it. View this article on An Italian Snags the Flatiron

ASU is trying to lift the university's 78 percent freshman-retention rate to 90 percent, said Debra Friedman, vice president of the downtown Phoenix campus.

The battle to keep students, especially freshman, is being waged in some form on all ASU campuses. On Wednesday, students began moving into Taylor Place, a $150 million dorm complex at 120 E. Taylor St. in downtown Phoenix.  [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

1. Get Organized

I admit that in many areas of my life, I just sort of wing it. I'm great at making lists, and not so good at following through on them. One of my resolutions this year was to actually implement a useful task tracking system for myself, and I spent the first half of the year trying them on for size. I've settled on a slightly modified version of Getting Things Done, which you've probably at least heard of unless you've been living under an Internet rock somewhere. The most important aspect for me is that my to-do list is reliable. Every time I think of something that needs to be done, no matter how small, I write it down and add it to my Inbox on Remember the Milk. At this point I no longer have to spend time worrying about the task; if your brain runs a mile a minute, this is no small advantage. I know that my ideas and tasks are recorded, and after getting used to the system and learning to trust it, this means I'm not wasting brain cycles worrying about whether I'll remember to pick up cat food. I won't say stray thoughts never intrude anymore, but it has made a huge and noticeable difference for me.

Since I have this system in place, I can also use it to track freelance jobs. I start a new list on RTM for each assignment, since it's really a project with lots of small tasks. So far each job has been different enough that it takes a little while to tease out the steps I need to take, but once it's done, it's done. If I get tripped up, I can always refer to the project to-do list and sometimes that's all I need to get going again. At the very least I'm not buried in Post-Its that aren't even color coded or really at all useful for anything but making modular origami, which is definitely fun but maybe not so productive as a system for staying on track.

2. Get business cards.

If you had told me several years ago that not only would I want business cards, but that I'd be willing to spend my own money to get them, I would have laughed. A lot. I've never been much for anything I perceived as "too corporate," which included business cards. Yeah. Then I grew up. Useful for more than just entering contests for free lunch, business cards can be a great way to market yourself and get folks to remember you. I think it's helpful to add "freelance writer" as a job title, since otherwise the person is likely to forget and will someday clean out their card file and go "Jennifer Durren, who's that? Round file!"

I know lots of folks recommend Vista Print as a cheap source of cards, but I really didn't want an advertisement on the back of mine, and I found a lot of their designs to be, hmm, the card equivalent of a web page from 1997. Also, I wanted to have some cards in hand for PAX, so once I decided to have them printed I also needed to have them done quickly. I ended up using Staples; they offer a design service online and send it to your local store to be printed the same day. The design I chose ended up being $35 for 200 cards, which is a little steep but I figured if I get even one useful contact, they'll pay for themselves. So I spent yesterday in happy anticipation of picking up my new cards, only to be really disappointed when I picked them up. Seems the employee in the copy area didn't know what she was doing, and didn't bother to call their technical support, so I have 200 cards that say "PROOF" across them in addition to being splotchy. Way to print the wrong PDF, copy area girl! So yeah, I've spent more time than I wanted trying to get this fixed, and the manager I spoke to last night essentially shrugged and said "call back tomorrow and talk to this other manager," but said other manager's attitude was that they needed to make this right and that it was, in fact, unacceptable. I still need to make a trip up there, but it sounds like it will actually be resolved, which is good. The fact that I've spent so much time on what should've been a simple order: Not so good. I'm certainly annoyed, and I hesitate to recommend Staples as a source, hence the lack of link. It might be better to actually visit your local store and see how much confidence they inspire before you trust them with your cards.

Once I have the cards, I plan to enter every free lunch contest I see, and also to hand them out to anybody willing to take one. Writing jobs turn up in the strangest places, and you never know.

3. Get Paid

One of the most intimidating aspects of working for yourself is the financial stuff, at least for me. Different clients use different payment methods, and when I realized I might have to actually send invoices I had a temporary moment of panic. But man, if Web 2.0 didn't come to the rescue again: Invoice Journal is a free! site that lets you track your clients, your contacts, agreed-upon rates, hours spent or price per project, etc. Then you can generate an invoice for your client, which they can view online as a PDF, or which you can print and mail the old-fashioned way with stamps. Pretty nifty, and while it's still a beta, it's worked fairly smoothly for me as well. I also keep the same information in an Open Office spreadsheet, which provides me with a backup as well as a way to generate different kinds of reports for myself; better safe than sorry.

I also have a PayPal account, but really, who doesn't? It's an easy way for clients to pay, especially small businesses and individuals who don't normally cut checks for freelancers. I'm setting up a separate business checking account with my bank, too, so I can keep a clearer picture of what I'm earning and what I'm spending. Untangling my business finances from my personal spending will be a huge step, and also will make it easier to file quarterly taxes. Good thing I like filling out forms.

I hope some of this has been useful for other folks who are just getting started, and welcome any comments or questions you might have.

This summer, Catherine has interned in the health policy department at the National Consumers League. She’s from Washington, DC and, this fall, will begin her senior year at Cornell University, where she’s studying Government and Spanish.

About a month ago, both houses of Congress voted to override President Bush’s veto of HR 6331, the Medicare Physician Payment Bill, which stopped pay reductions to physicians treating Medicare patients. We at the National Consumers League support the passage of the bill. It will be crucial to protecting the healthcare of senior citizens across the country who would have been denied care had Congress not taken action to protect this important program and the providers who make the program possible.

Some background: on July 1st, a 10 percent reduction in the pay rate to Medicare physicians went into effect, leading many physicians to stop accepting Medicare patients for cost reasons and making it difficult for many senior citizens to find physicians who would. The Medicare bill will delay the 10 percent deduction for 18 months, financing the continued payments to physicians with a reduction in payment to the Medicare Advantage program, the Medicare health plan program.

After both the House of Representatives and the Senate voted by veto-proof margins to pass the bill, President Bush followed through on his threat to veto the bill, citing that the bill would hurt the Medicare Advantage program. The Medicare Advantage program provides flexibility for Medicare beneficiaries to enroll in private insurance programs.

The House overrode the veto by a vote of 383 to 41, with 24 more Republicans voting in favor of the bill. Similarly, in the Senate, the veto was overridden by a vote of 70 to 26 with 21 Republicans voting to override the veto. While not a permanent fix for the Medicare payment system, the passage of this bill shows Congress’s commitment to providing care for the elderly and making this care a reasonable venture for physicians.

First, 'allowance'

I would like to start an allowance type thing starting the 1st of the October. There was a really really good post here about it.

I'm figuring I'm going to do 2 dollars per year a month (that'd be 28 dollars a month for Morgan and 18 a month for Ian) It'll teach them saving, spending, etc. I'm going to go ahead and get Morgan a bank account online (probably have her dad set it up for her and have him be the executor, since he's more likely to put a ton of money in it than I)

The other thing. I'm not really big on paying my kids for chores. They have things they are expected to do around the house simply because we are a family, we all live here, and we all contribute to the mess and we all contribute to the peace and serenity that the house can be when we keep it picked up regularly.

So all that said. *I* think that the chores my kids have right now are fairly easy chores. Morgan and the boys have some friends that do WAY more work than they do, and they have some friends that don't do a darn thing (and Morgan says those are the friends that get bad grades, are fairly irresponsible, and selfish to boot, I see what she's talking about when she points out their names)

I also remember working in fast food (crew trainer at McD's) back when Ian and Owyn were babies I got SO sick of teens coming in and not even knowing how to wipe counters down, sweep or mop. Let alone clean bathrooms or wash their hands regularly. When I've got to train a 17 yo how to wipe a counter, that's just  wrong ok? What's wrong with their parents?

Morgan vacuums when I ask her too (usually a couple of times a week)
She does the dishes every night, along with that, she's supposed to do ALL of the dishes, the ones that don't fit in the dishwasher, are supposed to get hand washed and put in the drainer, she's supposed to wash the counters and stove. Put away dinner food and take out the garbage. Also she's supposed to wash Kaia's high chair tray (I wash it about 3-4 times a day before that)
Oh and she does her own laundry, when she runs out, like maybe 2 times a month. (It's supposed to be every weekend)
Of all of these, she does the dishes. Most of them.
'Forgetting' to look around the house for dishes, 'forgetting' to wash stuff that is clearly visible and by the sink, 'forgets' to wash a couple of the counters, 'forgets' to wash Kaia's high chair tray, 'forgets' to put the food away a lot of the time (3 times just last week, ruining a lot of food, the dogs knocked the stove over to get to the chicken on top of the stove and broke pieces off of the stove) She whines badly when I ask her to vacuum (which I expect, she's a young teenager) and doesn't always do it when asked.

The boys take out all of the houses dirty clothes about every other day, putting them in the appropriate dirty clothes separators. They take out the bathroom trashes, they help pick up the living room a couple of times a day (for me to vacuum and just because the mess gets on my nerves). They put dishes away every night (sometimes nicely, sometimes badly) They do some yardwork, help me keep an eye on Kaia while *I'm* cleaning or gardening, they clean their room a couple of times a week, they pick up yard trash that blows into our yard, and pick up sticks and stuff so Gary or I can mow the lawn. They also change out the litter box a couple of times a week and they are in charge of feeding and watering the animals (2 very large dogs and a cat) twice a day. We make our own dog food, plus the dogs need to be separated to eat so it's a bit more involved than the normal dog feeding...
Ian whines a LOT, Owyn helps gladly 99% of the time.

I honestly feel that the boys are doing more work weekly than Morgan.

I'd also like to come up with some sort of regular schedule, check off list etc for Morgan and the boys.

What is your guy's opinions on kids and chores? (since you already read my soapbox on that stuff) What about kids and allowances?
If you have kids, what are some of the jobs that they do around the house if any?

My other thought on this, brought to my attention a couple of days ago by a homeschooling friend of mine in OK is what kind of skills am I teaching my children as they grow to adult hood? Witness those poor teens when I worked at McD's! What kind of skills did their parents give them? Little to none I bet. I believe mine are ahead of the other kids their age for two simple reasons. They know how to get along with people of all ages, rather than just people of their age groups. Their social skills amaze me sometimes (then there's the times Owyn spots someone not quite 'normal' in his world at the store and is quite vocal about it LOL), then there is the chores. Ian can cook quite a few things, pancakes, asian soups, mac n cheese, muffins, cookies, grilled sandwiches, baked potatoes, and lots of other things. My brother had to be taught to cook after he moved out. I had to teach my ex-husband how to cook when we got married (he took to it like a fish to water honestly, he's a credit to me LOL)

The kids and I regularly grocery shop together and we make up monthly menu's with a budget, we comparison shop at the stores, we got to different stores for different things and talk about why. We comparison price at our local stores for Gluten-free stuff versus ordering online (even with shipping, it's often cheaper to buy packaged stuff online) but we've found it's cheaper to buy our flours from the local Asian food store. Yep. WE figured it out. Not ME.

So yeah, they are learning life skills with their chores and their homeschooling. They are learning to do laundry, cook and clean. They are learning how to do outside chores. I'm teaching them budgeting and leading by example in what we NEED versus what we WANT. And that hard work to get what you REALLY want is needed a lot of the time. That taking care of the things you have properly is nesessary if you want to have nice things when you don't have a disposible income. But my discussion with Kit (homeschooling friend) really got me thinking about what I AM teaching them.  Is it enough? Do I go to far? Did I go far enough? Morgan needs to learn how to use tools, how to balance a checkbook and properly use a bank account. How to pay bills, shop for insurance, how to care for a vehicle. And so do the boys.. So I've thought of things I haven't taught them. Yet. *grin*

Barclaycard was the most powerful credit card brand in the UK in 2007 according to the Issuer Brand Index (IBI) monitored in Cardbeat, a syndicated market research tracking study run by the Auriemma Consulting Group (ACG). This study considers the strength of the brand to be driven by a combination of card ownership and usage, perceived brand quality, brand awareness, and general brand characteristics. The study evaluates the strength of 17 top UK credit card brands.

Highlights from the latest study include:
-Barclaycard reported as the most powerful UK credit card issuer brand beating Capital One into second spot. Barclaycard's top position came as a result of having the highest brand awareness and second highest card usage ratings in our study. Wide card ownership also contributed to Barclaycard capturing the number one spot.
- Lloyds TSB’s customers have higher outstanding balances and use their card more for purchases than any other brand included in the study.
- Marks and Spencer’s card brand holds the top spot driven by perceived high quality and general brand characteristics but languishes at number 11 spot in the research due to its low card usage and moderate brand awareness.
- Egg’s card brand was at number 3 in terms of general brand characteristics, just behind the Co-op and Marks & Spencer’s card brand.
- MBNA and Barclaycard’s card brands are joint first in card ownership market share but there is a marked difference in usage and brand awareness.
- The least widely held card brand tracked in the study was issued by the Post Office

Matt Simester, Director at Auriemma Consulting Group commented, "As the credit crunch continues to dominate the consumer agenda, a powerful brand is critical to maintaining high quality recruitment and retention. While consumers with a poor credit history will find it hard to move issuer, those with stronger credit histories will demand better quality propositions from their current provider. Pressure to reduce costs of servicing, higher average APRs and lower investment into marketing may also impact perceived brand quality this year. I anticipate that there will be a different set of winners and losers at the end of 2008."

About Barclaycard
Barclaycard is a multi-brand credit card and loans business which also processes card payments for retailers and merchants and issues charge and credit cards to corporate customers and the UK Government. It is one of Europe's leading credit card businesses and has an increasing presence in the United States.

In the UK, Barclaycard comprises Barclaycard, Sky Card, Thomas Cook and Argos branded credit cards and FIRSTPLUS secured lending. Barclaycard also manages card operations on behalf of Solution Personal Finance.

###

Issuer Brand Index Methodology
The Issuer Brand Index is designed to capture brand strength of top UK card issuers in 4 separate categories:
Card Usage - Captures share of usage in terms of spending volume and reported outstanding balances
Brand Awareness - Represents familiarity with the issuer’s brand name
Quality - The perceived quality of the product and customer service provided
Brand Characteristics - perceptions of the brand by both existing customers and non-owners

I'm not talking covetousness (hopefully), but my VM management system has been taken to the next level as far as income control. Me and the wisdom of the Holy Ghost have developed a system that over time, will lead to more than enough in EVERY area. Most of you familiar with VM have heard me teach about percentages, and having an set amount for each area of your life.

This is way better than just a budget... It provides control, so that even when you bring in more or less, everything goes into its proper place. I'm excited about it! The new tool that we've developed is actually quite simple, its an excel spread sheet that records all income, and shows you what amount should go into every account. My wife and I see exactly what's coming in every month, and we have 9 different accounts (and envelopes) to distribute to.

Its also exciting because we can see our income grow. We're both entrepreneurs, so we can see steady progress (this system is excellent for businesses, and is a gateway into excellent accounting practices). This system is also very tough discipline. If there is not a certain amount of money in say, the "food" account, we eat the groceries we already have. We have goals for each account. This system also prevents the financial firefighter mentality, where you see a problem (or something you want or "need") and dump all your money into it.

The percentage system puts your money where your Vision is. That's what VMgpa is for. If you want a sample of the file, just email me at victorosai (at) yahoo (dot) com

• 41 percent of working-age Americans were in medical debt in 2007 -- up from 34 percent in 2005.
• Two-thirds of U.S. adults under age 65 had medical bill problems or debt, went without needed care because of cost, were uninsured for a time or were underinsured—insured but had high out-of-pocket medical expenses or deductibles relative to income.

Economic Disparity

• More than half of working-age adults earning less than $40,000 a year reported problems paying medical bills or being in debt due to medical expenses.
• 39 percent of those with bill problems say they have used up all of their savings to pay their health care bills.
• 29 percent of those with bill problems are unable to pay for basic necessities like food, heat or rent
• 30 percent of those with bill problems took on credit card debt
• 58 percent of uninsured adults were in families where at least one person was working full-time.

Coverage Problems.

• 46 percent of adults reported problems getting care because of costs in 2007, a dramatic increase from 29 percent in 2001.
• One-third of U.S. working-age adults spent 10 percent or more of their income on out-of-pocket medical expenses and health insurance premiums in 2007, up from 21 percent in 2001.
• 28 percent of U.S. adults ages 19 to 64 were uninsured for some time in 2007
• 14 percent are underinsured.
• 61 percent of those with medical bill problems or accumulated medical debt were insured at the time care was provided.

[Source: A new Commonwealth Fund report ]

Reading chapter nine in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle brought back memories and starting me thinking once again. Kingsolver writes about the value in a shared family meal and cooking from scratch. I didn't realize it was rare to sit down to dinner with your family or to spend weeknights at home until I went to college and learned that many people did not know family dinners and spent most nights with friends. I'm enjoying all the time Kingsolver spends ruminating on food culture and all its extensions.

We're on a tight budget, by choice mostly. We take as much joy in buying fruits and vegetables and eating healthy food as some people do in going to the movies or bowling or whatever is the activity du jour. This past weekend we took advantage of the grand opening sales at Sunflower Farmers Market. We, and throngs of people, were like giddy children going from one item to the next, amazed at the prices and variety of food. We didn't even make it to the other half of the store.

Unfortunately, the more I read of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, the more I realize the process of changing and establishing new food habits will take time and money. Most of what she writes is not new to any awake person. However, her book convinces me to finally take the plunge, that it's worth it. I'd rather spend money on food than on clothes (although, that's a no brainer for a shopping-detester like myself). But it will take continued research to find quality food. It's scary to think of what goes into to our food. A good friend told me on Friday that the insides of babies contain pure, perfect organs and parts, but you have to cut through the thick layer of fat to get to adult organs which are surrounded by all sorts of grime and grossness. If that's not motivation enough to eat better, I don't know what is.

Of course, the issue of food (organic, local, healthy, time-consuming, from scratch) is counter-cultural, as are most worthwhile pursuits. But I want to take time now to build a life that lives in tension with our culture and embraces disappearing values. But that is another topic for another time.

Last night, I got my mail and thumbed through the usual bunch of garbage. A Wal-Mart ad here, car insurance information next, and then a letter from Chase. Chase is a nation wide banking chain and is part of the larger JPMorgan Chase on Wall Street. I opened the letter and found an advertisement for $100 if I came in to open a FREE checking account. Now, FREE is often times not really free. In this case, it almost was. You have to use your bank account 5 times a statement period (use your card 5 times a month, like that's hard to do). Also, I would need $100 to open the account.

With $100 in hand today, I walked into Chase and began the process of opening the account. It took about an hour to open the account and to decline their attempts to get me to do more stuff with the bank. Make sure that you decline anything that you don't fully understand. Don't be obligated to say "Yes". That can get you into a lot of trouble. In 7-10 days I will have $100 free in the Chase account (with some nice freebies). It has to be the easiest money I've ever made.

A few things to note. You've got to keep the account open for 6 months or they will get their $100 back from you. Don't think that you will outsmart the system. Either leave it open for 6 months or use the account because it is pretty nice. Also, they will give you a coupon that will give you additional money if you refer a friend. The coupon has three options: 1) $25 for referring a friend to open the same account with the same $100 coupon, 2) $10 for referring a friend that opens a College Free Account, 3) and $50 is you refer a business and they open a business account. With this coupon your friend also receives the above mentioned money. Possibly the BIGGEST thing to note, is that you have to have THE coupon that offers the FREE $100 account or they won't get the deal. If you don't have the coupon, give the branch a call and see if they are willing to give it to you. It doesn't hurt to ask and you could be $100 richer by tomorrow.

http://www.chase.com/ccp/index.jsp?pg_name=ccpmapp/shared/assets/page/zipcode&targeturl=http://www.chase.com/index.jsp?pg_name=ccpmapp/individuals/checking/page/chase_free_checking
* Sorry for all the caps. I tried to highlight what I thought was important info. *

But seeing our disposable income dwindle despite asking God to provide, we have both become a little nervous.  We know God is bigger than our debt, and as odd as it sounds, we believe that God brought us to this financial place, but we struggle to live like we know this.  So, I've been asking for God to open my eyes to see how He is providing for us beyond our income.  This is what I've seen this past week:

Four times I was supposed to be on a watch shift for my friend in the hospital, which would have amounted to $36 in parking.  But the first two times there was a labor strike and so the parking gates remained opened and un-manned.  The second two shifts were cancelled due to changes in my friend's health.  God provided by giving back what I had already planned to give.

In that same week, I had signed up to bring a meal to my friend who had just had a baby.  That would have cost between $20 and $40, but the day before I was supposed to bring it, they called to say don't bother.  They had forgotten that their mother-in-law was going to be in town, so they were going to go out to eat instead.

And also that week, I had joined my mom and two grandmothers for lunch.  My mom treated me, and my grandmother had randomly baked a tortilla casserole that she froze and brought for me.  God used my family's generosity to provide one free meal that day and two free meals the following week.

Income aside, there is no doubt that God is providing for us.  I keep trying to remember my mother-in-law's words about the time that she and her husband were poor seminary students: "We had to lean on God in ways we otherwise wouldn't have and so we got to know God in ways we otherwise wouldn't have."  I don't want to miss how creative and intentional God will be in this time.  I don't want to miss that relationship that Daniel and I wouldn't be able to have with God and with each other if we weren't in financial need.  And so I pray that God will keep my eyes open and my heart grateful.

• Foods that bear the radura logo have been: c. Treated by irradiation
• You are a 16-year-old employee. Which of the following are you not allowed to do under the federal child labor laws: c. Be a delivery driver
• Which of the following calls would be prohibited when you register for the National Do Not Call list? c. Telemarketing calls
• What kind of personal information is not covered by any federal privacy law? c. What you watch on cable television
• Which of the following is not an advantage of using compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent light bulbs? c. They cost less

Here's their story. Here's an excerpty:

They never intended to undermine the mall or its corporate structure, or to make a spectacle of themselves. Townsend describes himself as "wired for happiness" and Yoto's idea of a good time is cataloguing all the items in a store and rating their desirability from "gift-worthy" to "if-it-were-the-apocalypse-and-I-was-looting-I-would-take-it." Which is precisely what they did during their stint living at the mall. Every day.

So, despite the fact they are the kind of people who I would gladly put my fist through their faces (seriously, if you call anything you do a 'collective' and there ain't a 'Borg' in front of that, you need the nature of the universe explained to you with a knuckle sandwich), they did what a lot of PF bloggers do: wonder all day about all the crap offered up for our consumption.

But then they had to go and steal some things:

They added sofas, tables, lamps, a TV, a china hutch and a Sony PlayStation (which was stolen while they lived there, which suggests their presence wasn't entirely secret), and stayed for days at a time. They planned to install pre-laminated wood flooring and a portable toilet.

Stealing is wrong, kids. And I have a very old-fashioned view of personal property: I don't dink about in other people's spaces without their explicit permission. Not from any noble purpose or anything, it's to keep the big guys with weapons and no Police Oversight Committee away.

The Salon article ends with this bit, which I found interesting due to my recreational musings on humankind and its desire to be individual:

Yoto and Townsend's great crime -- what made the mall feel violated -- was to make the mall an individual experience, to define the space themselves. They wanted to replicate what developers had done around them: declare an abandoned area blighted and then redevelop it, to make a tiny piece of the mall uniquely theirs. It was their own personal eminent domain.

In many ways, this blog is my way of making a tiny part of the universe uniquely mine. In my living situation I know somewhere deep in my bones that the solitude of my bedroom is nightly invaded by the eyes of my neighbors and decorating is allowed within limits set by my landlord. Said landlord can legally remove me from the premises within thirty days, and only the scuffs on the floor would remain.

I tell myself I'm actually okay with the impermanence of the human condition, except that's a total lie because otherwise I wouldn't spend so much time spinning stories, for my coworkers and friends, for this and my other blogs, and for eventual publication to the wider world. Even I find myself responding to the siren call of singularity, the ingrained desire to be an individual.

Malls, with chain stores and standardized goods, are the antithesis of singularity. They sell conformity. This couple used the mall as the launching pad for their brief flash of individuality.

I NEED TO GET BACK IN SCHOOL.  I hate living paycheck to paycheck.  I'm good at shuffling money from one account to another to make ends meet.  At this point, my savings is totally depleted.  My credit cards are current, and I'm working towards paying them off.  It has to get better before it gets worse.  At least I'm being optimistic.

This is my purpose statement.  Do you have a purpose statement?

Life is short and we need to live it to the fullest.  If you don't have a map it is hard to get to your destination.  If you don't have a purpose it is hard to fulfill it.

I want to encourage you to think about what your purpose is? 

Step 1

Make a list of the top areas of your life such as: Spiritual, Family, Finances, Education, Health, and Relationships.

Make a want list of what you want to have or accomplish in this area of your life.

This is Step 1.

Stay tuned for Step 2.

Would you do me a favor? If you have a purpose statement in writing, please comment on this article and tell us what it is.

Blessings

Lowell Lane

The global financial crisis is set to get worse, with a large US bank likely to collapse in the next few months, a former IMF chief economist has warned.

Kenneth Rogoff's comments came as shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sank on a report that the home lenders would, in effect, be nationalised.

Despite hopes that the US economy had turned the corner, Mr Rogoff claimed it was "not out of the woods".

"I would even go further to say 'the worst is to come'," he said.

"We're not just going to see mid-sized banks go under in the next few months," said Mr Rogoff, who held the IMF role between 2001 and 2004.

"We're going to see a whopper, we're going to see a big one, one of the big investment banks or big banks."

We have to see more consolidation in the financial sector before this is over
Kenneth Rogoff

Speaking at a conference in Singapore, Mr Rogoff, now an economics professor at Harvard, forecast that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would "probably" not exist in their present form in a few years.

"We have to see more consolidation in the financial sector before this is over."

On Monday, shares of Fannie Mae fell more than 22%, or $1.76, to close at $6.15. Shares of Freddie Mac fell almost 25%, or $1.46, to $4.39.

'Wrong move'

Shares in Freddie and Fannie first fell sharply last month on fears that they would run out of money to fund their business, forcing the US government to take radical steps to ease the panic.

The two firms are the backbone of the US mortgage market as almost all US lenders rely on them to buy their mortgages in order to access the funds to lend to consumers.

As mortgage guarantors, they must pay out when homeowners default on their loans.

With the housing market across the US crumbling, their finances have come under severe stress.

Problems in the US housing sector prompted the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates to 2% earlier this year.

But Mr Rogoff said the Fed was wrong to cut interest rates as "dramatically" as it did.

"Cutting interest rates is going to lead to a lot of inflation in the next few years in the United States," he added.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7569903.stm