I was deep in shallow thought tonight (as you can see by the post before this one) when something crossed my path about an eco-friendly watch, and it made me think about those three letters, “eco”.   They start two words that are in the news constantly these days, the economy and the ecology, though the word “green” has somewhat replaced or enhanced ecology.

Many people want our government to save us from the economic mess we find ourselves in, and save the planet by focusing more on ecology.  There are some things that can benefit both…simple things, small things, like watches that don’t need batteries and run on solar power…every little thing helps!

I saw a watch like this when I visited the citizen watches website. If you click here, you’ll see an example of a watch that is part of the “Citizen Eco-Drive”, it is attractive yet sturdy looking, and beautifully crafted.  February 14th will be here before we know it, and this would make a good Valentine’s gift for the right person. It is a solar powered watch that is made by a company that has made quite a name for itself in it’s 85 years, Citizen Watch.

What are you doing yourself to help with the economy or ecology…don’t wait for, or expect, the new administration to fix things for you, we all have to do our part.

We’ve had new appointments to President Elect Obama’s Cabinet since my last post, I will get to that later.  As I listen to and read the news and blogs today, I can’t help but wonder about the connection between the quality and integrity of our leaders, and our economic situation. Of course I’m referring to Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois wanting to buy Obama’s Senate seat…maybe I’m a bit naive, but I didn’t even know things like that could be “bought”. Forgive me, but all that flowed through my mind as I listened to comments about the things he said while wire-tapped was the old movies about the Chicago mafia that I’ve watched.

I know all of our leaders are not corrupt, but I can understand an even greater concern on the part of “common” people, the people on Main Street, or as in my case on Rural Roads,  NOT Wall Street, when we hear such things, and think that these are the people managing money that is taken from our paychecks. What do you do in a situation like this? Who can you trust? You know from reading my blog that I believe God is above all and will guide those who trust in Him through it all, and it does make it easier to live day by day knowing that.

It also helps to know that there are good companies out there who want to help people through the process of working through financial challenges…companies like The March Group featured in Newsweek, who are especially helpful to businesses that are struggling in a big way right now. I am not knowledgeable about what goes on behind closed doors in big, medium or small business, but I am watching the affect on my son…he has been home more than at work lately as his company cannot pay the employees right now, and they are in need of guidance. March Group helps in areas that are way above my head, with things like acquisitions, mergers (VERY common during the present economic crisis), business plans, finances, and so much more.

Many of us have taken things for granted, and don’t have answers, it is good to know there are companies and people that know more than we do and can give direction.

Hi readers, here’s something I received by email today from a very upset friend, guess it’s making the rounds, but it’s full of good info…unless some of it isn’t correct…read and decide, comment if any of it isn’t true. And if it is, be sure it influences your vote!

The following is a condensation of a series from the “Investor’s Business Daily” explaining ‘What Caused the Loan Crisis’:

1977: Pres. Jimmy Carter signs the Community Reinvestment Act into Law. The law pressured financial institutions to extend home loans to those who would otherwise not qualify. The Premise: Home ownership would improve poor and crime-ridden communities and neighborhoods in terms of crime, investment, jobs, etc.

Results: Statistics bear out that it did not help.

How did the government get so deeply involved in the housing market? Answer: Bill Clinton wanted it that way.

1992: Republican representative Jim Leach (IO) warned of the danger that Fannie and Freddie were changing from being agencies of the public at large to money machines for the20principals and the stockholding few.

1993: Clinton extensively rewrote Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s rules turning the quasi-private mortgage-funding firms into semi-nationalized monopolies dispensing cash and loans to large Democratic voting blocks and handing favors, jobs and contributions to political allies. This potent mix led inevitably to corruption and now the collapse of Freddie and Fannie.

1994: Despite warnings, Clinton unveiled his National Home-Ownership Strategy which broadened the CRA in ways congress never intended.

1995: Congress, about to change from a Democrat at majority to Republican, Clinton orders Robert Rubin’s Treasury Dept to rewrite the rules. Robt. Rubin’s Treasury reworked rules, forcing banks to satisfy quotas for sub-prime and minority loans to get a satisfactory CRA rating. The rating was key to expansion or mergers for banks. Loans began to be made on the basis of race and little else.

1997 - 1999: Clinton, bypassing Republicans, enlisted Andrew Cuomo, then Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, allowing Freddie and Fannie to get into the sub-prime market in a BIG way. Led by Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd, congress doubled down on the risk by easing capital limits and allowing them to hold just 2.5% of capital to back their investments vs. 10% for banks. Since they could borrow at lower rates than banks their enterprises boomed.

With incentives in place, banks poured billions in loans into poor communities, often ‘no doc’, ‘no income’, requiring no money down and no verification of income. Worse still was the cronyism: Fannie and Freddie became home to out-of work-politicians,=2 0mostly Clinton Democrats. 384 politicians got big campaign donations from Fannie and Freddie. Over $200 million had been spent on lobbying and political activities. During the 1990’s Fannie and Freddie enjoyed a subsidy of as much as $182 Billion, most of it going to principals and shareholders, not poor borrowers as claimed.

Did it work? Minorities made up 49% of the 12.5 million new homeowners but many of those loans have gone bad and the minority home ownership rates are shrinking fast.

1999: New Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, became alarmed at Fannie and Freddie’s excesses. Congress held hearings the ensuing year but nothing was done because Fannie and Freddie had donated millions to key congressmen and radical groups, ensuring no meaningful changes would take place. ‘We manage our political risk with the same intensity that we manage our credit and interest rate risks,’ Fannie CEO Franklin Raines, a former Clinton official and current Barack Obama advisor, bragged to investors in 1999.

2000: Secretary Summers sent Undersecretary Gary Gensler to Congress seeking an end to the ’special status’. Democrats raised a ruckus as did Fannie and Freddie, headed by politically connected CEO’s who knew how to reward and punish. ‘We think that the statements evidence a contempt for the nation’s housing and mortgage markets’ Freddie spokesperson Sharon McHale said. It was the last chance during the Clinton era for reform.

2001: Republicans try repeatedly to bring fiscal sanity to Fannie and Freddie but Democrats blocked any attempt at reform; especially Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd who now run key banking committees and were huge beneficiaries of campaign contributions from the mortgage giants.

2003: Bush proposes what the NY Times called ‘the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago’. Even after discovering a scheme by Fannie and Freddie to overstate earnings by $10.6 billion to boost their bonuses, the Democrats killed reform.

2005: Then Fed chairman Alan Greenspan warns Congress: ‘We are placing the total financial system at substantial risk’. Sen. McCain, with two others, sponsored a Fannie/Freddie reform bill and said, ‘If congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial sy stem and the economy as a whole’. Sen. Harry Reid accused the GOP ;of trying to ‘cripple the ability of Fannie and Freddie to carry out their mission of expanding home ownership’ The bill went nowhere.

2007: By now Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee over HALF of the $12 trillion US mortgage market. The mortgage giants, whose executive suites were top-heavy with former Democratic officials, had been working with Wall St. to repackage the bad loans and sell them to investors. As the housing market fell in ‘07, subprime mortgage portfolios suffered major losses. The crisis was on, though it was 15 years in the making.

2008: McCain has repeatedly called for reforming the behemoths, Bush urged reform 17 times. Still the media have repeated Democrats’ talking points about this being a ‘Republican’ disaster A few Republicans are complicit but Fannie and Freddie were created by Democrats, regulated by Democrats, largely run by Democrats and protected by Democrats. That’s why taxpayers are now being asked for $700 billion!!

If you doubt any of this, just view the videos below and listen to your lawmakers own words. They are condemning!

Postscript: ACORN is one of the principle beneficiaries of Fannie/ Freddie’s slush funds. They are currently under indictment or investigation in many states. Barack Obama served as their legal counsel, defending their activities for several years.

My husband, the inspiration for this blog, sent me to view the following video.  It is pointedly biased, I admit, but I think we need a little more bias on the “other side”.  I haven’t commented on this all week, because I’ve been busy with other things, but it’s been unsettling to me to see how the problems with the economy, which are blamed on poor regulation of the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc., have been blamed on “the current administration” or in the words of Nancy Pelosi, “the failed policies of the Bush administration”.  Who, and what party, was saying what in the following clip from a 2004 hearing? And I wonder how long this video will stay online?

The challenges we are facing in our US economy affect everything eventually, including the quality of insurance we can get. Even though we have fairly good medical insurance, and are glad that we do, you notice a little change here, a little change there, which add up to you spending a little bit more money in one way or another than you used to.

This is why it is important, no matter what kind of insurance you’re looking for, to do all the research that you can. Recently my husband purchased a car. Cheap Car Insurance is something we’d love to say we have, we’ve done fairly well, but often wonder if we could have done better. There is a lot of help available on internet, and not just for those of us living in the United States. I found a nice little site in England, and since there is some English blood in my veins, it was fun to look at Car Insurance, and many other kinds of insurance at this site, even pet insurance…I’d love that right now as my Yorkshire Terrier is headed to the vet for minor surgery next week.

Okay, now back to politics.

The rates go up, the rates go down, this is a natural process, a way of trying to stabilize what  appears to be an unstable economy. There is talk today of the interest rates going down again. The instability in the economy is blamed on the rising cost of energy, on the cost of war, and a consequence that is also a cause - the plunge in the housing market.  I’m sure there is a lot more to this, I’m not an economist.

How do we be optimistic at times when the news media wants to take us down?  I love keeping up with current events…but lets face it, the news media likes to focus on the negative more than the positive.   Remember that the economy, like everything else, goes through cycles, cause and effect.  I’ve been through low interest rates, high interest rates, the gas lines of the early 1970’s, good times, bad times. Yes, there are bad things about lowering the interest rates, like the affect that it has on your savings, money market accounts, etc., but there are good things to…are you buying your first home?  This is a great time, the prices are down PLUS the rates are low.  Are you sitting in a warm home, and eating every day?  You have a lot to be  thankful for.  If you’re struggling, are you receiving some assistance from the government, a church, friends?  Yes, I know some are in very serious circumstances.  And for others of us, yes, things can seem tough at times, at least what feels like tough to us spoiled Americans, but we have loads to be thankful for if we take the time to think about it…don’t want to go there? Okay, be miserable, but I’m going to take some time right now to count my blessings.

The news is full of stories related to the condition of our economy and how it is affecting each one of us in one way or another. It was so easy to borrow at one time, and know that you would have the money to pay back your Auto Loans, home mortgage, or personal loans. But life circumstances can change all that very quickly. We know, we have been through a time of pay cutbacks, unemployment, and a medical emergency in the past 4 years…we are doing okay, but it is challenging.

So far, our credit rating is good, but we are realizing the importance of personal responsibility in borrowing. I think it’s easy to think that a lender will lend with the borrowers best interest in mind, but banking is a business, we, the borrowers, have to do our homework.

There are lenders who offer sub-prime financial services in order to help those who are suffering from bad credit, and may need what they call Bad Credit Loans, loans that people with bad credit can get under certain circumstances. Then, here is where personal responsibility comes in, you must be faithful in making your payments, and by doing so, you can improve your credit rating again.