I'm Rich

The folks at Neatorama have stacked a pair of YouTube videos on their site that gives perhaps the best explanation of how our economy imploded due to the credit crisis.

Simple illustrations with some simple explanations can be found here. I'll put both videos on my own blog if you'd rather watch them here.

And if you want to know how much your own state is getting, check the site that list member LaVonne T. sent me here.

There. As promised, two links for the price of one to make up for yesterday. (But wait, there's more below!)

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THE "I AM RICH!" MENTAL EXERCISE
By Economist Robert Heilbroner

Imagine...

1. Take out all the furniture in your home except for one table and a couple of chairs. For a bed, use blankets or pads.

2. Take away all of your clothing except for your oldest dress or suit, shirt, or blouse. Leave only one pair of shoes.

3. Empty both the pantry and the refrigerator except for a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a few potatoes, some onions, and a dish of dried beans.

4. Dismantle your bathroom, shut off the running water, and remove all the electrical wiring in your house.

5. In fact, take away the house itself and move your family into your storage, garden, or tool shed.

6. Place your new "house" in a Shantytown, with hundreds of others exactly like it.

7. Cancel all subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, and book clubs. This is no great loss because now you have to imagine that none of you can read, anyway.

8. Imagine there is only one radio for your entire Shantytown.

9. Move the nearest hospital or clinic ten miles away and put a midwife in charge instead of a doctor.

10. Throw away your bank books, stock certificates, pension plans, and insurance policies. Leave the family a cash hoard of ten dollars.

11. Give the head of the family a few acres to cultivate, on which he can raise a few hundred dollars of cash crops ... one-third of which will go the landlord and at least one-tenth to the money lenders.

12. Take your average life expectancy and lop off twenty-five years. At least.

Now you are living in the same conditions in which well over one billion people on the planet live. How rich we are, indeed! Use that wealth responsibly and with compassion.

[Monday Fodder via Wit and Wisdom]

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I thought that with the economy tanking and Wall Street so apparently slow to respond to any kind of "stimulus," we could use a reminder that we are still perhaps the wealthiest nation on the face of the earth.

Be well, stay in touch, and I'll see you on Monday.

Mark

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WEB SITE of the WEEK: Okay, I confess I haven't tried out this website yet, but I'm just itching to get into it as soon as the half dozen hot potato issues I'm juggling have stopped trying to burn my hands. Check out http://www.mint.com/, a free site for tracking and managing your money. The reviews are great and it genuinely appears to be helpful. For once, you can review it before I get my grubby little mouse all over it and hey, you tell ME what it's like. I do like the look of the little I've seen, though. It appears to depend heavily on you doing all your banking and bill paying online.

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WORDS for YOUR WEEKEND: "For money you can have everything, it is said. No, that is not true. You can buy food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; soft beds, but not sleep; knowledge but not intelligence; glitter, but not comfort; fun, but not pleasure; acquaintances, but not friendship; servants, but not faithfulness; gray hair, but not honor; quiet days, but not peace. The shell of all things you can get for money. But not the kernel. That cannot be had for money." (Arne Garborg)

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THE CRISIS OF CREDIT, PART ONE:




AND THE CRISIS OF CREDIT, PART TWO: