Economies Are Similar All Around The World

As you may know, I am in France right now and trying to adjust to a French keyboard! So this may be a short post as I am typing at about half my normal rate.

But to the point of the post...it is definitely slower here this year. Not as many people. And a change made at the start of this year is definitely making a difference. Smoking is no longer allowed in restaurants. Now smoking is part of the French culture. Sitting and eating a meal, then lingering over your coffee or wine while smoking is just how it was always done. But now there are less people in the cafes and restaurants...and according to the waiters it is not just the economy but the ban on smoking that is keeping people away.

So not just the economy is hurting the cafes and restaurants, but a change in law. And to make it even worse people have actually walked out on their bills when they say they are going outside to have a smoke.

Ripples throughout the economy based on a law affecting the culture. Travel is so interesting, not just for the sites you see but what goes on at a local level.

"Think and Grow Rich" - Thoughts Relevant for Today

On the Forum that I frequent we have a "book of the month" that we read and comment on. This past month it was Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich."

One of the main themes is that your thoughts are things. Many people have said this in one way or another over the years but going back to the source is interesting. It helps to remind me that we have been through tough times before and gotten through them, and the idea that what we think becomes our reality (obviously to some extent) has always resonated with me.

I remember reading somewhere (sorry I can't give credit - I just don't remember the source) about how people react to seeing an envelope from the Internal Revenue Service. The majority of people would react negatively, with dread. But what if the letter was to tell you you had overpaid your taxes and had a refund coming? The envelope itself, nor the return address gave you any clue as to the content, but the "thought" that it was bad news would be enough to create a negative feeling, maybe even a physical reaction of a quickened heartbeat, in most people.

Our subconscious mind really does control our knee-jerk reactions to things. Yesterday we had a record drop in the stock market, today it went back up substantially. In tough times when the "talking heads" have nothing but doom and gloom to impart maybe it's time to turn the TV off and read something uplifting and insightful. It just might help you keep perspective.

What Exactly Does "Fortunate" Mean?

I was in San Diego last week filming a video interview and had the opportunity to spend time with a young man, not quite 18 yet, who is "going places" in life. He's already started a non-profit organization, raises money for it, has spoken before large groups of high school students, and on and on. This young guy is charismatic, well-spoken, humorous and engaging - a real pleasure to spend time with.

I found myself thinking about him on the long ride home and the word "fortunate" came to mind. And then my mind screeched to a halt...I had just associated the word "fortunate" to a young person who was left at a Mexican hospital at birth, lived in Mexican foster homes and orphanages all his young life and was subjected to the most horrendous abuses that you can imagine, all before the age of 14 when he was finally adopted by my friends and brought to the U.S.

And yet "fortunate" seemed an appropriate word because he kept his humanity and his love of life through what would have derailed the majority of kids faced with the life he found himself living. Now he is surrounded by parents and people who love him and are helping him reach his full potential in life. That's fortunate. He has faced some of the worst life can dish out and he's come out on top. That's fortunate. He has an ability to look at life from the perspective of "what's the worst that can happen...certainly not anything worse than I have already experienced" which is incredibly freeing. That's fortunate.

Please take a minute and go to his website, www.Thundermission.com - his charity's Mission Statement is "Changing the World One Child @ a Time" and his personal mantra is "Why Change One Life When You Can Change Two?"

You just may be able to someday say, "I knew him when..."

Senate Sends Big Banking Bill to the President

So on one hand they're talking about a $700 billion dollar bailout of the financial sector and at the same time they're sending a huge spending bill to the President to sign so that the government doesn't have to shut down come Tuesday. Here's the link:
http://channels.isp.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?flok=FF-APO-1333&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20080928%2F0046667640.htm&sc=1333&floc=NI-ne1

I just can't comprehend the amounts of money that are being thrown around. And the article ends with some huge dollars of special interest monies being included.

Where's the outrage? Why aren't our elected officials realizing that this just can't keep going on.

Why Do I Feel Like We're at Odds With Our Roots?

My husband has an uncanny way of being right, even when he's being annoying! Now he's not right about everything all the time, but he looks at the world in a very different way than I do.

He didn't understand the stock market crazy days...to him the fundamentals just didn't support what was going on. Same with the real estate boom...he kept saying to me it just can't keep going like it is.

So now he is saying too many people are making money from nothing, i.e., affiliate marketing on the internet, etc., where people are making money on referring people to other people who actually have a product to sell. He just shakes his head and says it doesn't make any sense. You work for money, you don't just shuffle things around and make money off of someone else's product, it just doesn't make sense.

And interestingly I know someone who makes a lot of money doing that, but he admits that it's short-lived. As soon as they figure out they can do it for themselves he's shut off and he has to go and recreate the model elsewhere.

My husband's not a big fan of the internet overall...but when he talks about something not making sense I do (finally!) take notice. He has been right more often than he's been wrong. So he's given me more to think about. Some will tell you the internet makes everything possible, there is no limit. But then I think about my friend who keeps having to recreate his model and I wonder how many times he really can do that.

A day's wage for a day's work. "Any necessary work that pays an honest wage carries its own honor and dignity." -- W. Kelly Griffith

Comments anyone?

I Don't Care What Your Political Affiliation Is, This Article Should Anger You

I don't want to get into politics here, but there's a difference in my mind between politics and just plain government officials, regardless of party, not doing right. This article shows the worst of our elected officials, in my mind anyway.

The friend that posted the link that I'm providing below titled her comment "Pork, the other white meat."

http://councilfor.cagw.org/site/News2?abbr=CCAGW_&page=NewsArticle&id=11608

What's Wrong With This? WaMu New CEO Gets $20 Million for 17 Days Work

I can't find words to comment on this I am so blown away. Read for yourself:

WaMu Gives New CEO Mega Payout as Bank Fails

Friday, September 26, 2008

Nice work — if you can get fired from it.

That's just what one Alan H. Fishman might have thought when he woke up Friday morning.

Fishman was the new chief executive officer for Washingon Mutual — WaMu — the nation's largest savings and loan, which was taken over Thursday night by federal bank regulators and quickly dumped in a fire sale to JPMorgan Chase for the Wal-Mart-like price of $1.9 billion.

But don't cry for Fishman, who reportedly was sky-high — literally — last night, on a flight from New York to Seattle, when WaMu collapsed. Even though he's only been on the job for less than three weeks, he's bailing out with parachute worth close to $20 million, according to an executive compensation analysis conducted for the New York Times by James F. Reda Associates.

That's right, $20 million for 17 days on the job ... and his company failed.

Fishman, who formerly was chairman of Meridian Capital Group, apparently was much coveted by WaMu, which was counting on him to lead the failing thrift out of mortgage troubles that pushed the bank to a $3.3 billion second-quarter loss.

According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, WaMu threw a $7.5 million bonus at Fishman when it hired him on Sept. 8, and guaranteed him an immediate cash severence of $11.6 million — both of which he gets to keep.

He also was eligible for annual bonuses of up to 365 percent of his annual base pay — set at $1 million — to go with millions of shares of company stock.

Fishman does lose out on a big bonus that would have kicked in had he remained on the job through 2009.

Documents show WaMu was going to pay their new boss $8 million to simply not screw up and get fired — all negotiated as the Seattle-based banking giant's loses climbed to an estimated $20 billion.