I sure am up early this morning. I am so boring. And now, not only do I appear boring, I appear to be downright tacky. It looks like I am bumping my own thread. Oh well. I guess I am.
I have been paying attention to the economy for a very long time. And you know, lately, they keep talking about the late 70's, early 80's. Well, I remember those days and so do you. I had a 10% fixed rate mortgage that I had hunted down by spending what seemed like days with the telephone plastered to my ear while I asked lenders lots of questions.
And in the bank, there was a 17% CD. Even at the time, I knew that was not right. Inflation reigned supreme. But that CD was how we saved for Boomette's college tuition.
There was an article the other day, I think in the NYT, about how this crisis is going to affect kids trying to go to college. I have two grandchildren, Boomster, who is in college, and Boomlette, who will be soon. (As I have told you all before, I am a sweet, young thing. But I was a grandmothering prodigy. So very young when I started this grandma thing, you know.)
Back to that 80's comparison stuff... I just don't feel like this mess is a whole lot like those days. I don't think this is like anythiing we have ever seen before. I think they keep reaching for comparisons to make us feel better. Like we got through it before. And so we will get through it again. And we will. Eventually. (But I will never be as skinny as I was in those days of my 17% CD and my 10% fixed rate mortgage.)
So anyway, did I bump my own thread? I guess so. I did it in case you are interested in the link in the first post to the
Business Week article and maybe you missed it. I guess I am inviting you to be irate with me though so be careful. You might not want to read it at all. It is a horror story.
To buffer it a little, I am linking you to the NPR radio show
Marketplace Money. It's a little more pleasant. I have not done that for a couple of weeks. I am sitting here listening to it while I write this. And so in case you might like this radio show, too, here it is.
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/e....php?show_id=8
I just have to throw this economy stuff out here once in awhile. I can't help it.
Boring, tacky, irate Boomer in the Morning