Baseball and the Debate

Okay so I spent most of last night setting myself up at Blogspot. I'm disappointed. I have so many entries here and I will spend the next month trying to figure out what to do with them. But, I am not alone. We can collectively cry on each other's shoulders. Now I have an excuse to cancel AOL once and for all.

So, there are two things on my mind tonight, or maybe three. First off, Cubs lose 2 in a row and the Sox lose their first playoff game. I'm hoping that tomorrow will bring something better. Like I said the other day, I brag about the Sox and they lose. Like I'm a jinx.

Secondly, I hung onto the debate with as much interest as the last. And then I listened to the pundits explaining how well Sarah Palin did, and how this was her debate. I beg to differ. Truthfully as debates go, I don't think Biden was out debated. On the other hand when Palin started lecturing the American people about how we need to quit spending outside of our means and tighten the belt, and I had to restrain myself. I truly wanted to jump through the screen and scream. "You don't get it!"

I don't know about most people. I know about me, and I know about my friends. Most of us can't afford to spend money. It costs too much to fill the gas tank! Groceries are more expensive now. And God only knows how we'll heat this house this winter. Thank God we fixed the hole in the roof when Social Security came through three years ago. I could just see my heat escaping through the plastic we taped to the ceiling. You know when you can't afford anything else, you can't afford to keep things up let alone fix things. My water and electric bills are going up again. There are people losing their homes still. I know people who are losing their homes. I know people who have cut out essentials in order to pay their bills. I know people who are using their credit cards to pay their utilities. I know people who used their tax incentive to pay late bills. We've been living from paycheck to paycheck for a very long time now. So where do we cut back?

Now, on the subject of credit cards. I said it before. We have to fix the credit card industry before we will ever pull out of this. Credit cards were once passed out like candy. At least once a week I received two cards in the mail. I took advantage of one once. I charged $100. $100 became $300 by the time I paid it off. A few months later I was told I still owed them $300 because I was late with a payment and haven't cleared that up, so the debt continued to grow. I paid it off again. A few months later again, I received another phone call. When they tried to tell me again that I owed, I told them to f-off. I paid it off twice now, I wasn't paying it off again. That same company sent me another card within six months.

Now consider the idea that they were sending out cards to unemployed college students. It isn't bad enough that kids begin their working lives owing thousands on college loans, but credit cards had many of them in debt and behind because they thought they could actually use the cards. I'm dropping this discussion here because the next step is a rant over credit card companies charging 30% interest.

Another thing that pisses me off. Both candidates talked about money for college. My son was turned down last month for a Pell grant because they have already run out of money.

Does anybody besides politicians and TV pundits have any money?

Okay, before I copy this and post it again over at Blogspot, I have one other opinion I need to share. I hate buzz words. I'm tired of the expression about Wall Street vs. Main Street. I live on Maple. I'm not a hockey mom either. My kids played on Little League. And I resent the hell out of anyone who refers to the common middle class male as 'Joe Sixpack.' It sounds like they haven't got anything better to do than get drunk. Americans deserve better than that, especially from their politicians.