big money talks

price of oil tonight record 140.05/barrel

price of gold 915.70/oz

everything else- on a train which came uncoupled and is rolling downhill without brakes. don’t believe me? just visit with Warren

and the dow? it’s going to 7500 by Christmas folks. you heard it here first. it’s going to be a real live depression. if you have any investments you better trade them in for a burro and a shovel and some grub to last you until you hit pay dirt. but if you are like me and you have no investments or money either then get a couple year’s supply of Jack Daniels, stock up on cigarettes (even if you don’t smoke you can trade them for favors later) and don’t forget the other commodities you’ll need: gunpowder, toilet paper, coffee, flour, sugar, etc oh yeah don’t forget the trip wire you will need to perimeter your house and the bouncing bettys for the intruders. a couple of dobermans would come in handy too.

as for me, i only have enough money from my last paycheck to get a half year’s supply of jack daniels (it won’t cost much because i don’t drink much anymore) tonight i think i’ll go out on the porch and let the warm night breeze waft me to sleep. i won’t need any guns because younger families are welcome to take whatever they can use to survive. i am over the hill biologically and really quite irrelevant to the next phase of human existence which means i don’t need to worry about it much.

but if you’ve got kids to raise i would listen to the oracle of Omaha if i were you.

Oh Yeah, I almost forgot. what will George Bush say to the Taliban when our economy is destroyed—-“mission accomplished.”  heckuva Job George.

 

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given to hyperbole: another reason i love my life

drift fishing the yellowstone in the fall

the absaroka beartooths loom and words fail utterly

words only exaggerate the obvious

and they must fail as literal shells hatch caddis

so that the yellowstone cutthroat can react

words fail 

 

“If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?”-T.S. Eliot

picnic in montana: problembear’s dream #324

there’s been so much to absorb what with elections, wars and all that

i would like to propose a picnic in montana to get to know one another

a potluck for the world

miles davis said we could use his music

and coltrane and thelonius

they will smile on us from above

republicans can bring potato salad and hot dogs

democrats fried chicken and cole slaw

independents can never be told what to bring so surprise us

libertarians same as above

green party how about a nice organic salad and fresh baked bread?

unions bring the beer

country clubbers can bring the wine and scotch

and if you wouldn’t mind terribly, since you can afford it

all the desserts!

homeless bring your hunger

 

me and tom waits will bring ” eggs & sausage with a side of toast

coffee and a roll

hashbrowns over easy

chili in a bowl

burgers & fries….”

can you bring good chips and salsa, pitchers of lemonade?

it is time we took a break from the drama

and enjoy what is here again

small things done well. another reason i love my life

photo courtesy Nathan WIlson  front yard farming

sometimes when i reflect on the numerous huge things that need fixing in this country i become a little overwhelmed and since i am at core a bear of very little brain my intellect starts burning rubber and i have to think small again. there is a site called collective source which i have stumbled upon. it is possible to make small changes and do some good in this world.

plagiarism or inveigle?

sometimes when I am tired of the flapdoodle of life I retire to poems

and my favorite poet of all times is ee cummings.

please allow a sychophant to indulge

the following. with supreme thanks to Mr. Cummings, wherever he may be in the far flung string theory of existence.

ee cummings     from: is 5

Humanity i love you

because you would rather black the boots of

success than enquire whose soul dangles from his

watch-chain which would be embarrassing for both

parties and because you

unflinchingly applaud all

songs containing the words country home and

mother when sung at the old howard

Humanity i love you because

when you’re hard up you pawn your

intelligence to buy a drink and when

you’re flush your pride keeps

you from the pawn shop and

because you are continually commitings

nuisances but more

especially in your own house

 

Humanity i love you because you

are perpetually putting the secret of

lifer in your pants and forgetting

it’s there and sitting down

on it

and because you are

always making poems in the lap

of death Humanity

i hate you

 

 

ee cummings  Tulips & Chimneys, Tulips, Portraits,

 

Buffalo Bill’s

defunct

           who used to

           ride a watersmooth-silver

                                                     stallion

and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat

                                                                                   Jesus

he was a handsome man

                                      and what i want to know is

how do you like your blueeyed boy

Mister Death

Where is the Taliban when we need them?

Driving by on Brooks street the other day I notice that one of those payday loan places has a new sign that says “need money for gas? stop here!” so I stopped in. I work for a non-profit that serves many needy clients and I wanted to find out just what these places are all about. Many clients have told me that they need assistance from our agency because they fell behind on their payday loans or even worse vehicle title loans. I filled out their paperwork and wrote down 250.00 for the amount of the loan I pretended to need. The contract was handed to me all freshly printed out which showed that for this Payday loan I would pay 65.00 in “fees” (which is the term they use to avoid breaking the law regarding interest rates) This 65.00 fee for a 250.00 loan accrues every two weeks on the date the applicant receives his/her paycheck. I read this contract while glancing around at the other applicants in the small cramped room which once housed a burger and fries establishment. I saw a young woman with a tiny baby in her arms trying to fill out her application. One young man who couldn’t have been more than 22 received his money and skipped out the door with a friend talking about filling his tank, paying rent and going down to shoot some pool. the others stated they were there mostly to get gas money to go to work and to buy some groceries.

One client was a middle-aged woman who seemed to be nearly in tears as she showed the clerk her ID and answered the few questions in a very tired monotone. Not one of these customers even glanced at the contract before signing the papers. I took out my calculator and added up how much a 250.00 loan would cost if all you could ever pay was the fees. There are almost exactly 26 two week periods in one year. 26 times 62.50 equals 1625.00 for the interest charged on 250.00 for one year.

that is a rate of return of 650% on one loan. Most of these people will require many such loans over the course of a year. I looked up a site online that studies these places and the average payday loan place puts out between 750-1000 of these loans per year. At an average of 250.00 per loan they invest annually as much as 250,000.00 per year. The average profit on that investment equals over one and a half million dollars per year. This is an obscene and dispicable business that should be outlawed or at least regulated to provide a more reasonable profit. No wait, I can’t restrain my anger about the predation of the poor that goes on in this country anymore. I think the credit card industry should be more regulated for the predation on the poor that goes on there. Pay day loan proprietors should be marched off to the Afghanistan/Pakistan border by our troops and handed to the Taliban for beheading – and not just an ordinary average sort of beheading either. It should be done with a rusty serrated blade and take hours. Our soldiers would probably love to hand them over in view of what pay day loan/ vehicle title loan places have done to their families until congress stepped in and protected them last year.

* new update There is some new legislation being proposed now in Montana to regulate the payday loan business. the more I look into this outrage the madder I get. it seems that these diabolical slime devils are targeting seniors and the disabled. read

this article in the wall street journal if you really want to see some evil.  

Chinese eye Hawaii; Arab Emirates have dibs on Rhode Island and Alaska

filed under Bear News Syndicate. Washington DC.

Sheriffs closed down the US treasury today and evicted officials after China and The United Arab Emirates forced the bankruptcy sale of all collateral pledged and owed by the United States Of America for failure to make their payments. It is rumored that the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island will be turned into a relaxing spa for Saudi Royalty and their families. as of press time no word yet on the fate of Nebraska as it appears that no interest was shown in the state by any of the creditors although rumors run rampant that Warren Buffet may buy it for the new President, John McCain who said that he always enjoyed visiting Omaha and that the new United State of America will pay it’s bills as soon as the new mastercard arrives in the mail. It should be noted that McCain won the election by default after Obama resigned because Bush would not leave the White House willingly. Obama stated  “I just can’t fight the evil anymore.”