A lot has been happening these past two weeks in the financial sector which have been a bit complex and overwhelming for me to comprehend.  So here’s what I’ve learned from talking to people and reading about it:

Lehman Brothers – They’re an investment banking firm and this Tuesday, they filed for bankruptcy.  Causes: they were overleveraged.  Too much of their assets were financed on borrowed money.  Also, the ever familiar issue of having too large of a holding on bad mortgage investments.  Barclays is buying Lehman.  

Merrill Lynch - Earlier this year Bank of America  purchased Countrywide and this week, they bought Merrill Lynch, at a 70% premium too.  They paid $29 a share rather than $17, which was how much Merrill was worth.  I heard the reason was to stave off bidding wars because other banks were eyeing this purchase as well. 

AIG – Insurance and investing company.  They just got an $85 billion loan from the U.S. Treasury. At 10% interest rate, that’s a good deal for Uncle Sam for sure. Where are going to get that kinda’ growth these days? Not on the stock market I can tell you that much! And I don’t think AIG will tank so it’s a guaranteed 10% return. We win!

Freddie & Fannie – First of all, these two companies are government sponsored.  They’re there to make the mortgage market a bit more liquid which would foster more home purchases.  Banks sell their mortgages to Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac so they can have more capital to go forth and give out more mortgages.   Anything that passes through these two by default get AAA ratings.  Meaning, they’re good on getting paid back.  This is because they’re government sponsored.  Many foreign countries invested in Fannie and Freddie thinking they were very secure investments due to the government-ties.  Unfortunately, with the innovative mortgage loans that may go sour and with the difficulty of estimating how severe the bad loans are out there, they’re not sure if they can carry these hefty mortgage fallouts.  So the government took them under a conservatorship.  What once was an implicit loan payment guarantee became explicit.  They’re saying, if Fannie and Freddie can’t pay their loans because people can’t pay their mortgages, the U.S. Treasury will pay.  The hope is by keeping Fannie and Freddie afloat, it will keep mortgage rates low and encourage those thinking of buying homes, to buy.  Maybe by doing so, we’ll see the bottoming out of this real estate market and things will improve.

I’m not saying these entities should or shouldn’t be bailed out.  But what I see is typical election-year spending.  During the months before a presidential election, it’s hard for politicians to turn their backs on their constituents.  So set the money loose on the voters.  Maybe McCain will get his wish afterall.

I submitted a service ticket last Sunday.

Hey could you send me some movies?

Thanks!

Here’s what they replied:

Sorry for the inconvenience.
We’re in the process of Updating our Inventory and striving to make some changes to the Website with new offers and features. We’re also trying to get all the dealers back on board. We will assure you that all the issues that you are facing will be sorted out as soon as possible and everything will be back to normal.

We appreciate your patience and understanding,
Intelliflix Creative Content Support

Everything sounds hunky dory ‘cept for the part about trying to get all the dealers back on board. Guess that’s why they haven’t been mailing me any movies for almost two months.

The other day, I went to Costco to get a set of new tires. I got there relatively early, but by the time they got to me, the wait was three and a half hours long. Whoa. I like to shop, and Costco is big, but the most I can stretch that out is an hour. That includes going through all the aisles of things I’ll never need, like portable hard drives and 20 pound bags of sugar. So, I ambled through the aisles of stuff, reading the basic hummus components, and comparing the active ingredients of lotions. I can see your eyes crossing already but I had no choice, that is, until I came across the magazine rack. Costco doesn’t exactly have a large selection of magazines, and as I’m typing this now, I realize they also have books, so I could’ve gone that route too. As it were, I grabbed Us Weekly, People, Glamour, and the like, wandered over to the office furniture section and plopped my butt down on the most comfy looking leather desk chair. Then I proceeded to fill my brain with life’s great mysteries and the study of human nature. Some Tisdale girl is this other girl, Vanessa’s BFF. They are so close they even share Uggs. Ewww, sweaty boot sharing and Uggs.  This demonstrates that you’re not really pals unless you share sweaty boots.  Transfering that theory to my past experience, this means the person who wore my skates after me is my BFF.  I just don’t know her yet.  Or maybe I’m BFF with the person who wore my skates before me.  This is all so mindboggling, so let’s move on.  Next, I see a photo of Vanessa driving an Audi handing a homeless guy a rolled up Hamilton.  Charity is nice.  However, I’m not sure that was the best way to go about that.  But is it the outcome that matters or the intent?  I dunno how you feel but I’m going to provide my favorite answer: it depends.  Ha!  That answer sucks.  Ok I’ll pick one.  Outcome.  Intent is too touchy feely and I’m a cold cold woman. 

All in all, my four hours weren’t a complete waste.  I learned an interesting little tidbit concerning teeth, which I am very concerned about:

• Eating acidic foods weakens the enamel of your teeth. (So does bruxism.)
• Once the enamel wears out, it doesn’t come back, and then you get sensitive teeth.
• When you eat acidic foods such as citruses don’t mull over it in your mouth.
• Don’t brush your teeth until an hour after eating enamel-softening foods.
• Flouride helps strengthen your enamel.

So the most useful thing I learned from all that reading material came from a page of toothpaste advertising.

We were always taught the three R’s, “reduce, reuse, recycle,” in school. Things have changed since then. A couple of people mentioned this two r’s idea to me and I didn’t get it. I kept wondering what about recycling? What’s wrong with recycling? After hearing it for the third time, I think I understand this concept. Finally. :p

Recycling isn’t bad, it’s just that the first two r’s are better. Because in the end, recycling still uses up significant amounts of energy. So the reason why recycling has chilled out is because what you really want to do is emphasize ways to reduce the trash you generate and reuse things. Say you go to a coffee shop, bring your own coffee thermos. Don’t waste those paper cups, lids, cardboard cup holders, and cup sleeves. Grocery shopping? Bring your bags with you. Need sandwich bags for chips and crackers? Use tupperware or even some reusable containers of packaged foods instead. For instance, I like nuts, so I reuse those cans that the nuts come in with the plastic lids. I’ll usually fill em up with more nuts (that I buy in bulk or bags) or another snack food. They’re metal and sturdy as can be. If you’re the only one reading a print out, reduce the font and decrease the margins. Print on both sides of the paper. Instead of buying a pen holder for your desk, use a washed jar. Get creative. Recycle only when you’ve run out of uses. So don’t go patting yourself on the back just yet when you recycle your plastic grocery bags. You can do better than that. BYOB!

It gets easier as you do it. I used to forget my grocery bags in my car all the time. So there’s another new years resolution for me, mindfulness of R&R.

Oh, remember the waterpouch I got to eliminate purchasing bottled water? I loved it so much I got two more (.5 L and 1L sizes). Seriously, lugging around a 2 liter pouch of water is not too practical even if it does require less refilling. I keep that baby at my desk. The water tastes very clean. They’re inexpensive too. I got mine from Amazon. .5L is $6.95 and 1L is $7.95.

Wanna know who’s going to win the elections? Forget the newspapers, take a look at who people are putting their money on and you’ll get a more accurate reading. Warning: This site isn’t safe for work. I mean, it’s gambling basically.

Here’s something I never knew: Each Trader Joe’s store employs a team of artists to write all the signs, price tags, and labels.  Who knew!?  I met a TJ artist this weekend.  She’s fresh out of college and paints murals decorating the store.  It takes her about a week to complete a mural.  Currently she’s working on a farmer’s market scene.  She says most people mistaken the wall art as wallpaper. 

Workwise, they give her leeway to design the art, provided she stays within a given theme (like a vegetable or farmers market).  So she shows up, pops on her iPod and paints an artichoke.    Nice gig huh?        

Too Many Asians at this School: Racialized Perceptions and Identity Formation is an eye-opening research article written by Jenny Tsai. Basically, her findings suggest that we like being white. White is the new pink! Acting white is good. It’s cool and it’s fitting in. Acting foreign is FOBby and unsocialized. So how does one go about proving ones whiteness? Date a white person, have lots of white friends and curse at your parents.

After reading this article I immediately did a mental self assessment of my friends y’know, to see how well I do on this white continuum. Let’s see… 4 Asians (ooh off to a bad start), 1 black, 1 white! YESS!!, 1 Latina. That’s it?? I dunno where that puts me but I’m off to go make some more white pals. One is not enough! Especially since there’s no such thing as too much of a good thing.

Update: I emailed Jenny for her article and she directed me to this link. It’s free, in PDF if anyone’s interested.