Welcoming 2010

In other parts of the world, people have already welcomed the new year. I wish each and everyone a great year of learning and manifesting in this material world, seeing through the eyes of your soul. May you see the benefit of each lesson that crosses your path after you experience the emotional turmoil and fallout. It seems to be the human way of learning here. Wisdom comes from struggle and overcoming life's challenges. Dive deeply and know that you will surface when a breath is needed. Use this year to reassess where you are in life and be honest with yourself. Allow this to be a year of conscious change if dissatisfaction seems to be the main focus.

For 2010:

* It will be a great time to buy a home. Prices should reach bottom in the second half of 2010. Now that Freddie and Fannie received blank checks as a Christmas present, mortgages will be accessible.

* Healthcare will pass in some 'form.' Congress has clearly shown their unethical colors in how the elite manipulates and controls to get things passed. We do need a transformation in this industry. The Republicans have been digging in their heels yet they had their turn when they controlled both houses of congress and did not act. I hope that we, the masses, wake up to the fact that we are lead by a plutocracy versus democracy. We need to act in our respective ways to move toward democracy since we have reached critical mass in the disconnect between us and our representatives in congress. As you can see, I am an Independent who wants a government that listens to us and acts from that base.

* Our freedoms will continue to be diminished, especially with terrorism knocking on our door and finding pin lights of entry. The latest is the full body scan before entering an airplane. I am okay with that as long as we don't have to physically disrobe. I think it's quite symbolic that they will be looking at the inner.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :) :) :)

Citigroup Redirection, Housing

I'm glad to report that the government had to change plans with Citigroup, so the $38B tax credit is out of reach, at least for now. Once the holders of the stock got wind of what was in the works, the stock price dropped to a price that no longer encouraged the government to even sell a part of their stake. :)

Housing news is up one day and down the next. Continue to keep an eye on the foreclosures.

As we keep looking behind the scenes at the details, we can see a view of the surface and perhaps influence beneficial change. Be merry and know everything is in Divine Right Order.

Concern about TARP and Citigroup repayment

There is growing evidence that our country is on a path of having to take a 'fall' because of what is going on with the way money is being managed.

The inspector general who oversees TARP estimates the total cost of Wall Street bailouts could eventually reach $23.7 trillion. And I thought we were only talking hundreds of billions. And look at the fact that the $200B savings that Geithner pointed out is going to be spent versus saving to apply toward this huge liability.

Then today I found out that Citigroup who is repaying $25B of their TARP loan is going to get a giant tax break of $38B. Companies are allowed to offset their losses against their gains, but in this situation, the government sale of 34% stake in Citi and Citi's share sales qualify as a change in ownership. What is totally disheartening is that the news reported the repayment and excluded what the 'government intentionally set up' that requires the IRS to allow it. This may be legal but is totally unethical. Wouldn't you repay your debts if you were going to receive an even bigger monetary gift by doing so? This kind of behavior crosses all lines of political parties. It doesn't matter who is in office. Money always affects the leaders' judgment by forcing action that always keeps it first versus looking out for the welfare and common good of the people. Yet at this time in our history, we have gotten the better of ourselves, because we have weakened our ability to maneuver due to the mountainous debt. Debt buries at all levels when it gets unmanageable. It appears to me that handwriting is on the wall and it is not in the distant future.

One final comment, I saw Time chose Bernanke as the person of the year. I can only laugh since as you know I think he should be replaced by allowing the banks to lead the way in telling the government what to do through intimidation of the financial system collapsing. I keep remembering what Thomas Jefferson said about the banks being too powerful. I would rather this system fail and we start over than imprison each of us, our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, and future offspring indefinitely.

New Direction

I started this blog 15 months ago and focused on the mundane most of the time. I would like to expand it by taking a step back and looking at the Earth and her inhabitants from a more objective view.

The Earth will continue long after each of us has moved on. Our collective behavior today jeopardizes much of life here, including human. Our technical knowledge and use of her resources to care for an increasing population needing sustenance to live have exceeded the law of diminishing returns.

We are here to enjoy the Earth's bounty that includes consideration of her and all of her inhabitants, on land and under water. Not only the human species, but all life, including the immobile like plants, trees, and stones. Our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and those who have yet to be born should be foremost in our thoughts as we create our lives on this planet. Instead of reacting out of fear of shortages; like fossil fuel, clean air, clean water, land, and productive top soil, we need to look forward and take the baby steps that contribute to the benefit of the whole. Money is not the prominent solution. How each individual consciously acts to protect through conservation is the foremost important step.

Today, in the 21st century, we are living in an era not experienced before in the history of the earth as we know it. We are surprised by Nature's activities in the form of drought, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes, and climate changes, especially when her actions seem to be intensifying. Yet, when looking back, what is happening today has happened before as part of normal evolution. An example is that in the last 1100 years, there have been two droughts in California; one lasted 220 years and the other 140 years. This knowledge was learned by looking at the growth of conifers. Imagine as part of evolution, this state will experience another drought with the population the size it is. We live such short lives compared to the earth that our experiences are limited. We need to expand our consciousness to be more flexible and ready to change.

We are reaching the peak of the earth's resources in the form of drinkable water and oil; the first required for life to exist, and the second essential to our way of life. There are many books published on oil depletion and it is a subject of controversy and speculation. Drinkable water is becoming more of a focus due to its deterioration. Articles are prevalent reflecting the pollution of the humans with waste and byproducts. Weather cycles are shifting in ways outside the norm that we have kept records on.

The hand-writing is on the wall, displayed in every part of the world. There is no escape, whether you are rich or poor. We need to learn to live in alignment with the ecosystems, and have a more comprehensive understanding of what it means to 'evolve', knowing that we do not have the controlling hand.

What you read here, I wrote on September 19, 2006. Over 3 years have passed and we move closer to the turning point. I wish all of you a warm and heartfelt Christmas. May 2010 be welcomed and each challenge met on your path handled with a view for the 'whole.' We are all here for a reason at this juncture of Earth's evolution.

TARP Repayment, Housing

Timothy Geithner recently said, "None of them would have survived... the entire financial system and all the major firms in the country, and even the small banks across the country, were at that moment at the middle of a classic run, a classic bank run." This statement is in contrast to what the executives of the big banks said, like Goldman Sachs who claimed they would have survived without government help at the peak of the crisis. I wonder what he means by a 'classic' collapse. I presume he's talking from the textbook.

Imagine being the handful of people who believed the entire system was collapsing and what they were thinking and feeling at the time, like Paulson and Bernanke. Look at how a few can control the whole course of our financial system. Congress totally bought into that fear and there was no 'check and balance.' I'm still supporting the removal of Bernanke.

Good news is that most of the TARP will be repaid and that at least $200B is saved. I hope the government doesn't go out and immediately spend the savings. There are still hundreds of billions the government guarantees of devalued securities and other assets of the banks. There needs to be some form of 'available savings' for unexpected disruptions.

I can't help but comment on the housing industry. Chase said in November that 50% of the borrowers on their mortgages didn't make the 3 months of the payments required to make modified loans permanent. What the government is forcing the banks to do is not achievable because people were given loans in the past that even with monthly reductions, extensions on the timeframe of the mortgage, and low interest rates still cannot qualify, and it is outside their financial means to continue. Yet the government seems to have a one-tracked mind and continues this path that is nonproductive. Also, one of the big housing websites, Trulia.com is showing increasing new listings for foreclosures that are coming onto the market in the areas that I follow in California and Oregon.

Given my belief that each of us has a soul plan, there is a mixture of destiny and choice. I also believe that the world has a soul plan along with each individual country. I wonder what the U.S. has destined on its path as we move into 2010. It is a time of major change. There is no doubt about it based on what we have experience in the last two years.