Dancing Thoughts

In the past week or so, I think I've spoken to all three of you who read this blog. Just thought I'd post an interesting article or two I've read recently, just for fun.

The Fourteen Trillion Dollar Value Drain

If you peek at this article, I urge you to make it to the bottom:

"When you bounce a ball from the height of 6 feet, and drop it normally without applying force, it rebounds back 50% to 3 feet. The law of gravity pulls the ball down, but the physical resistance of the floor intervenes, absorbs some of the impact; and obeying the law of conservation of energy, deflects the ball back up. When the ball is back up 3 feet the first time, we can say that it is momentarily in equilibrium after the bounce.

Similarly, from its all time highs (when Dow Jones went up to 14279) of 23 trillion dollars in market capitalization, the markets deflated to a low of 11 trillion dollars in market cap about seven weeks ago at the time of this writing. Now they are back up a little bit, but we are still losing 42% from the highs. 42% of 23 trillion dollars is roughly 10 trillion dollars. Suppose we gain back 50% of that, or 5 trillion dollars, and call that point to be the momentary equilibrium where everything is restored and we can start on a new footing (hopefully with less greed), we can assume that the other 5 trillion dollars got drained by Wall-Street traders."

And the conclusion:

"This looting, which we have calculated to be equivalent to $14 trillion in DRAINED VALUE, has been going on since the liar loan (sub-prime mortgage with zero down) days, and even before that, when the Gramm-Lichey-Bliley act deregulated the financial institutions completely. Wall-Street insiders have handsomely benefited from this Value Drain by paying themselves big bonus amounts even as their mis-managed derivatives related businesses were going bankrupt, and were saved by the Fed and the US Treasury TARP. In addition to the John Thains and the Finklesteins of the world, some powerful names of people who have enjoyed form the Valye Drain include Henry Paulson got $400 million from is Goldman Sachs stock, Alan Greenspan who got $8 million from his book royalties, Larry Summers who pocketed $7 million plus from his one day a week job for $5.2 million yearly compensation plus speaking engagements, etc. "

"These guys at these companies were on a Sherman's March through their companies financed by our 410ks and all the incentives of their companies were for short term profit. They burned the fucking house down with our money and walked away rich as hell and you guys knew that that was going on." --Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, March 12, 2009. http://consumerist.com/5169419/daily-show-vs-cnbc-they-burned-the-f+ing-house-down-with-our-money-and-walked-away-rich-as-hell

20 years of working at this stoopid job with abusive managers, and I have nothing to show for it. Nothing at all. And I don't blame the people who got mortgages they couldn't afford, I don't even blame the brokers and banks that deceived them into thinking they could afford those mortgages. Speculative construction? Well that was based on the success of the first two, so even that is not entirely at fault. I 100% blame those day traders, derivatives dealers, commercial paper participants who gambled money they didn't have and ran away with the profits--which turned out to be funded by our retirements and savings--and left us with nothing for all our years of hard work.

Of course I could blame myself for putting my money in the stock market to begin with, but mutual funds were supposed to be a low risk investment, what you're "supposed to do." Everyone knows that, mutual funds are safe. That's why they have the lower returns, because we can trust in their safety. These day traders abused our trust. And nobody's even thinking about going after them.

For a pretty good description and discussion about what *really* caused the market crash, listen here: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/01/confusion/

Where is our bailout for the robbery of our retirement accounts? Why is it just the corporate thieves and greedy CEOs that get bailed out? Why is it just the people that bought houses they couldn't afford and spent more money than they had that get protected? Why is my future ignored? Why am I supposed to give all to my bad-behaving neighbor and sit by and get nothing for my good behavior?

Man, do I wish I had listened to that person who told me to just take that money and pay off my mortgage (because even without the collapse of the market, my return would've been only 2-3% lower). Then I could have fulfilled my dream of quitting this insane place to go work for Blockbuster. And to think that I once thought I was doin' pretty okay for a gov't trout.

"CNBC could be an incredibly powerful tool of illumination for people that believe that there are two markets: One that has been sold to us as long term. Put your money in 401ks. Put your money in pensions and just leave it there. Don't worry about it. It's all doing fine. Then, there's this other market; this real market that is occurring in the back room. Where giant piles of money are going in and out and people are trading them and it's transactional and it's fast. But it's dangerous, it's ethically dubious and it hurts that long term market. So what it feels like to us--and I'm talking purely as a layman--it feels like we are capitalizing your adventure by our pension and our hard earned money."

I'd like to see a tax imposed on anybody who made a greater than, say, 15% return on any hedge-related investment in the past 10 years. Put this tax in a fund and use it to repay any of these supposedly "secure" investments we were told to make. So that we can have our futures back.

The irony (or perhaps one of many) is that the smallest of the $3 billion in bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch employees as a reward for losing $15.8 billion in 2008 would be enough to replace all of my life's savings and 401k/retirement money. Having worked hard for all these years, paid my taxes and all my bills on time, saved my pennies, and lived frugally, driving a 15 year old 30mpg car, don't I at least deserve that much?

My little girl Belle, September 1991 - November 15, 2008. Beautiful kitty with a beautiful heart, I miss her so much.

:'-(

Dear Dr. Hart.

As it turns out, you were right, I was negligent in the care of my little girl, Belle. If only I had gotten her a simple antibiotic at just the right time, she would not have fallen critically ill and died. It hurts me deeply that she died from something with such a simple cure, if only I had been paying closer attention to her.

Instead, only 3 weeks or so before she died, out of extreme aggravation, I punished her for peeing yet again on the hardwood floor. For the past two years I was living in pee, the floor still shows the permanent stains of her favorite places. It had gotten so bad that I had thoughts that the end would be better than dealing with the smell and mess. Of course now I hate myself for thinking that way, but at the time I didn't know what else to do.

Although I did not realize it, peeing on the cool floor was only her way of trying to escape the pain she was in. And I punished her for that, one of the many things I can't forgive myself for. I had taken her to the doctor about a half a dozen times in the prior two years, originally because I saw she had trouble walking and I wanted to make sure it wasn't anything worse than arthritis. When I described the peeing problem, I was told over and over again that she had developed a behavioral problem. In addition to their usual mechanical litterbox, I bought 5 different litterboxes and tried 3 different types of litter, searching for the perfect combination, but nothing helped. At one point it was found she had a urinary tract infection, for which she was given two rounds of antibiotics, but the diagnosis remained that at the age of 15 she had developed behavioral problems.

Her crying at night, not just crying, but heart-breaking howling, was explained as deafness, which some cats get as they grow older. I knew that she wasn't going deaf, as she would come to me when I called her, purr at me when I left the house telling her to be a good girl. But having been told this several times by different doctors, I just accepted it as part of the aging process.

I should have been a better advocate for her. I knew she didn't have behavioral problems or deafness. I was feeding her the right food, but didn't notice that she had dropped too much weight, simply because I was too busy. Had I thought to read the websites on kidney failure, I would have known what she had and what to look for and how to care for her a long time ago, but I didn't know what to read or what questions to ask. The fact was that she was getting older, and I knew that she couldn't live forever. And I knew that at 17, she was considered geriatric. But she had never once been sick in her life (up until the UTI episode), so I expected her to live a long time, then one day just not wake up.

To make things worse, just a few days before she had the kidney failure episode, I noticed she had trouble climbing the stairs. When I told my husband, he thought she was fine, as she seemed to move normally once he got there to watch. I think she was trying to show me, but didn't want to show him. Even though she had stopped sleeping in our bed quite some time ago (I blamed the arthritis and her not wanting to jump high into the bed), suddenly she started to sleep with us again.

Two days later we rushed her to the emergency room. We had been watching TV and she seemed to be normal, she came downstairs to eat and drink and then came to sit on the couch with us. Then suddenly she looked sick, her head dropped, and I knew she was in bad shape. When you first saw her, straight from the emergency clinic, you knew that all of this could have been prevented, that her weight had dropped too much, and I should have noticed it. Since that day, I haven't been able to stop crying, knowing that it was my negligence that caused her illness and death.

When you called me to take her home, even though I suspected it was the end, it wasn't directly said. I had been reading the websites on kidney failure, how cats can live up to 3 years with it, given proper treatment. It was a Thursday night, of which I spent most of it with her sleeping on me on the couch. Friday I made the stupid decision to go to work, and she was alone all day--I will always regret that she was alone, except for the other cat, who might have made things worse for her, although when I got home that afternoon she seemed exactly as I had left her that morning, and seemed happy to see me again. I spent most of the night with her on the couch (I had put her in her bed for a bit but a few minutes later she meowed softly and jumped up on the couch to be with me), but then eventually I had to put her in her bed and put me in mine. When I woke up in the morning, she was sleeping under the dresser next to my bed: she had wanted to sleep with me, but didn't have the energy to jump onto the bed, so again, she was all alone.

She hadn't eaten since she came home, she threw up all the pills I gave her, and I think the only thing keeping her going was the subcutaneous fluids. My good friend and neighbor (who had originally recommended your office to us) told me that she really needed to be taken in. I still somehow thought she could get better, based on what I read about kidney failure, if only she would eat. She wouldn't eat tuna, her food covered in tuna water, catnip, and pepcid was clearly not helping her to feel any better. At some point that morning, she seemed to not really recognize me. Even so, I am sorry I could not be with her when she went to sleep, but maybe since I caused all this it was better that I wasn't there. I don't know what you do with cats' bodies after they die, but it was just a body, not the beautiful life that was in it.

She was such a sweet cat who only wanted to sit on laps and be petted. Because I was always so active, and she was a house cat, she bonded more with my former roommate than she did with me, and my other cat who was more active and dog-like got a little more spoiled by me. I am so sorry that I was neglectful of her, but it is too late. Since she is no longer here for me to make it up to her, I am apologizing to you, since you are the only other person who knows that I was terrible with her. Everyone else seems to think I treated her well, but you and I know different. I miss her so much. I just want to come home from work to see her sitting on the couch, looking up at me to say, Where is your lap and do you have time to pet me now?

dc, formerly owned by Belle, the beautiful little girl with a mustache.

No, I don't mean us, I mean the ACLO-Alameda Civic Light Opera. Click here: http://www.aclo.com/index.php

Currently showing, "Forever Plaid." Haven't heard of it? Neither had I, and I thought I'd seen *everything*. "The Plaids are a clean-cut quartet of high-school buddies whose dreams of recording an album ended when they were involved in a fatal (for them) accident with a bus filled with Catholic schoolgirls on their way to see the Beatles' American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. The play begins with the Plaids returning from the afterlife for one last shot at musical glory."

That doesn't nearly describe the laughs, the music, and the fun. Go see it!

Do you know where NYC is?

Well, they're both Islands, right?

In case you don't know yet, Thursday nights is Cuba in Alameda night. Come join us at the Harbor Bay Clubhouse for food and spirits, oh, yeah, Cuban music and dancing too!

Every human being (and those that don't quite qualify as one) MUST see this video.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html

nyCecilia Amazon.com Storefront

With Baseball season approaching, we are changing our regular Sunday dance practice. Please vote for your favorite day/time to dance in our poll