Evening rant.....

Reading the news this morning  has taken me down a tangent that ended with an article I just finished this evening about living on a boat. Crazy that an article about how a U.S. official reportedly said that the administration is willing to increase the U.S. contributions to the IMF led me to end the day with reading about living on a boat, but it happened. I already knew that the  U.S. is the largest contributor to the IMF. Reading the article outraged me so I decided to watch a movie on Netflix. Just so happens one of the movies that came up was "Life and Debt".  Director Stephanie Black's documentary on how policies of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other aid organizations have altered the Jamaican economy over the past 25 years, leaving the locals to struggle in poverty. I was already primed because of the article so I thought "what the heck".  The movie is eye opening and worth the watch.  I encourage people to watch it.

So what does all this mean? I see so many people trapped. Be it in an upside down mortgage, credit cards or  just being hooked on the plethora of gimicks that are designed to steal your hard earned $'s.  I listen to co-workers regurgitate sporting stats with the exactness of an neuro-surgeon, yet if I ask them what the IMF is or what their supposed function is, all I get is a "deer in the headlights" look.  Uninformed.  All the time wondering if there's going to be any overtime this week, as if that's the answer.  Mortgage, credit cards, cell phones, sat TV, car payments...it's a trap and the vast majority of people are nothing but plankton that the sharks feed on . The same sharks that have now put so many countries begging to the IMF.  You buy the new car....you pay higher insurance, along with a hefty car bill and don't get me started on depreciation. Cell phone....biggest trap out there.  Is there a limit to how much the can actually  get people to pay each month? They're like leeches sucking your money from you, and you let them.  Our friends just couldn't believe it when we dropped our sat TV. I'm telling you we've haven't  missed it AT ALL. We've got dsl in the house and get all of our news off the internet.  IMHO the $25 a month I pay for my DSL is one of the biggest bangs for the buck out there. Not only do I get my news off of it, we listen to free internet radio (it's what feeds the background music on this blog), we pay all of our bills via online bill pay and watch all of our movies via the web. I was paying Direct TV $83 a month. They're leeches. We went to liability on all of our vehicles. Our friends thought we were nuts. "What happens if you get into a wreck?" they would say.  Well...we would buy another USED vehicle and pay cash. They just can't understand how one could have the cash to buy a vehicle. Well...take some that money your pouring into sat TV, cell phones and all the other sheit you don't need and save it. Better yet take it and pay off your mortgage. Your not going to get 5% return on the money in a savings account, so why pay the banksters the 5%. Nope..they would rather study sport stats. None of our friends could understand why we never amortized our property taxes nor house insurance, when we had a mortage. Well...if you write that check out you know exactly what it's costing you. You also pay more attention to any change in your taxes or insurance.  But no..that's not the American way. We've got to have in idiot proof and absolutely painless and that's the trap.  It's the same trap the IMF is setting for the global community and the same trap Greenspan set for U.S. homeowners.

People need to wake up and take responsibilty.  Live within our means. At the very least start somewhere. Take your lunch to work. Dump the texting on your phone (do you really need texting?).  We dumped our trash service and I built compost bins and an incinerator, we recycle the rest. We even  make our own laundry soap. What if I told you that we make a 5th of Kahlua for 3 bucks.  How about making your own exspresso or cappuccino at home instead of Starbucks. Stop buying pre-packaged meals and  learn the lost art of cooking.  Take all those little steps together and they add up.  It can work, we're proof. Our biggest  monthy expenses now are food and gasoline. I've even  thought about biking to work, it's 9 miles one way.  You don't have to buy into the game the crooks have ginned up. When you realize this your whole perspective is shifted.

You'll  spend your evening reading about living on a boat or you'll spend one month a year in a place like Vieques. 

:-)