Making Money

Thursday has arrived once again. And it’s a pleasant morning, already 68° and warming. But I just looked at the forecast and it seems that we have a big change coming during the next few days. Rain is back in the forecast and the high temperatures will be back into the 60’s. In fact, with the window open now, I can hear the wind gusting through the orchard.

More on the snakes: Yesterday morning, on our way out to see the horses that live next door, we almost stepped on the larger of the two gopher snakes we had seen at the pool the night before. We stopped and gave the snake some room to maneuver and he slowly slid away and through the fence, heading for the red barn. And we didn’t see either one of the snakes at the pool last night. I hope I didn’t scare them away. Now that I know what kind of snakes I’m dealing with, I would be glad to allow them limited pool access as having them around for rodent control is a good thing.

Yesterday started out badly, as when I went out to get the newspaper, I saw that the CHP was covering a bad accident down the street at the intersection of Highway 32 and P. I went back to the garage and got my binoculars and then I was able to see the remains of a blue car, sitting in the irrigation ditch. There was one other car, lightly damaged and sitting along the shoulder. A little while later I heard from my daughter, asking if all was OK? It seems that the accident had actually occurred the night before, killing three people and putting four more into the hospital. The intersection had been closed all night, with traffic re-routed. Laurae remembered hearing a siren briefly that night, but the house is well sealed and with the fans going, not much is heard from the outside.  

At the time of the accident I was watching Frontline and that may have been why I didn’t notice the sirens. It was a fascinating program on the corporate abuse of the pension systems. In particular, how United Airlines gamed the system so that they would no longer have to pay pensions and the responsibility was shifted to the American public. And the program noted that thousands of other corporations were quietly getting ready to do the same thing. Why? Because they can.

The program also detailed how employees are led to believe that a 401(k) program will be their savior when retirement comes. And it could be…if the employees were financial wizards that knew all about the machinations of the stock market. I don’t know about you, but I know very little about making money in stocks and bonds. And when I was in high school, there were no classes on the subject. Yet we expect everyone to manage their own portfolios to provide for their old age. A disaster waiting to happen, and in some cases, the disaster is already in full swing.

Some news from outside of Orland…
Seeking to Control Borders, Bush Turns to Big Military Contractors
“Several large companies plan to bid on a multibillion-dollar contract to build a "virtual fence" along the nation's borders.”

Does anyone see the problems associated with this news story? Let’s start with the word, Multibillion. Scares me! And which large companies are bidding on it? Would Halliburton be one? And entrusting the government to build something complex? This would be the same government that handles hurricanes and looks for Osama, right? And don’t forget “Star Wars”, a project that has absorbed billions without any success.