An interesting result of all the flash and hoopla about bailout-Mainstreet-Wallstreet is that conservative free-marketeers have decided it's the fault of poor people. Their specious, circular reasoning is that the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) helped low income people get loans. This led to the banks, mortgage lenders, and various executives making money hand over fist because they got greedy. This led to the markets and politicians also getting greedy. Are you with me so far?

Obviously when people are so tempted and so greedy, they overextend themselves and do stupid stuff. Of course, they would not have done so if we (the people and the government) weren't so concerned abou ... Read More »

I've been paying close attention to what the politicians, bankers, brokers, and lenders are doing with our money. I joke with some of my friends about how they must really like owning a major insurance company and so much stock in financial services companies. Obviously, I'm skeptical as to how our taxpayer investments are going to develop. I suspect that the abovementioned folks will do pretty well. The rest of us will continue to do the best we can with what we have while falling behind.

In addition to community activism and lots of opinions about people and politics, I am a psychotherapist. I decided to share a checklist that I have used for many years that is designed to maximize mood and health. It is a combination of supplements, nutrition and behavioral techniques. I hope you find it useful.

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  Scarcity scares people. When we see that there might be a lack of goodies, there is an immediate reaction. We compete aggressively or fade into the woodwork – the old fight-or-flight response. There are some who struggle a bit and give up after that initial energy surge. Others attach themselves to more aggressive folks. Still others gang up and drag down the guys on top. Some simply die.

  In certain contexts, competition for scarce resources is appropriate. Sports teams compete aggressively for the “trophy”. The individual athletes compete for fame, more money in their next contracts, and perhaps for the love of the competition. The sports team owners compete for revenue and prestige and who knows what else. That seems like a reasonable kind of competition and there is real scarcity at the top to make it worthwhile.

  Here are some collected thoughts on the state of things today. I hope you use these in your talking points to people. Remember that in spite of what the conservative radicals might say, the results contradict their words. Look at results not intent.

Thanks to Tom Feeley of Information Clearing House for these quotations:

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power." : Benito Mussolini

We're not a democracy. It's a terrible misunderstanding and a slander to the idea of democracy to call us that. In reality, we're a plutocracy: a government by the wealthy." : Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General< ... Read More »

  Wow! What’s the deal? Talk about crazy-making.  Take a look at Milton Friedman, Naomi Klein, Ravi Batra, Ha-Joon Chang, and all the media pundits who supposedly know economics. Friedman was quoted as saying, “Look at results not intention.” Evidently, that was a rule for others and not for him. I am going to explain economics in a clear and not necessarily all encompassing way. My emphasis is on what really happens 

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