Crumbs,Tidbits, and Nuggets - oh, my!

As a young girl, it was "diaries." Then, in a futile attempt at grown-up sophistication, it was daily "journals." Now, in this electronic age, it's "blogging." I know - I'm dating myself, but writing things down has been a part of me since I could first hold a pencil. That old-school stuff used paper, killed trees. What the hell? I'm going green! Here's my Crumbs, Tidbits, and Nuggets offered in humble contribution to the greater digital universe.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

I am shaking my head.

Wall Street was "encouraged" today with gains in the DOW due to early numbers showing that only 500,000 or so people lost their jobs in April.

Excuse me?

Reality check. Ah - the excitement comes from a comparison to the official job losses from March - over 700,000. Alrighty then. We're turning this thing around! Maybe next month only 400,000 will lose their jobs. Yes, sir, then we'll be on the high road to recovery.

Pardon me, but I'm not excited. What silliness. The banks are still in charge.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Unsettling Factoid

From the May 2009 issue of AARP Bulletin: According to the latest survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the percentage of those (older Americans) "very confident" of a financially secure retirement has dropped from 41% in 2007 to 13% today.

I'm thinking that 13% is mostly the financial executives who cleaned up 4th quarter 2008 and said adios. I figure the other 87% of us are "less than confident i.e. totally stressed."

Soldier on!