DarkroomDad

I admit, I understood very little about how the Subprime Mortgage debacle until I saw the very funny “cartoon via powerpoint” I posted in September that depicts the basic, somewhat horrifying process. However, that cartoon only scratched the surface on what was really going on. The guys at “this American Life” have taken a very capable stab at digging deeper into the Mortgage problem and all the other very scary issues facing the big businesses and financial markets today.

If you do not know what the “Commercial Paper Market” is, what “Breaking the Buck” means or what a “CDS” entails this hour long podcast will be very educational and should clarify a lot of the problems facing our economy today. At its simplest, these issues all stem from one very powerful desire - greed. But how greed was implemented in this case is astounding, and while no single political party is entirely responsible, it is clear that one man (Republican Phil Gramm ) had a strong and a little underhanded influence on getting the process started. The really frightening thing to consider is that Senator McCain has Phil Gramm on his economic advisory team and on his campaign team…WOW!!!. You decide.

While working at KnowNow earlier this year, a friend of a friend who manages a major investment bank sent a very funny (and a little sad) slideshow around on the “SubPrime Debacle”. All the latest goings-on had me thinking about it and I dug it up. It simply amazes me that in a world with so many smart people running the show, things could get so out of hand so quickly.

I guess greed and power can result in crazy behaviour regardless of background or brilliance.

After reading up on the economic policies of both Presidential Candidates (what little concrete info could be found), I must say I am rather impressed with the thoughts, policies and team Barack has pulled together. While still not as concrete or clear as he could be, his beliefs and positions to date signify good things to come for our current ailing state.

Obama seems the most thoughtful (not to mention SMART), pragmatic, realistic, and genuine leader available in the race - and actually in the ever increasing pool of politicos. Look around, listen to what “they” are saying and how “they” say it - all seems very disingenuous to me. In fact, Obama even has many of the “staunchest conservatives” thinking twice about voting party lines. I say it’s time we have a black person, with a Muslim name as our president. I just hope the majority of American voters agree with me…

I must be missing something. Noone ever told me that having kids would speed the passing of time so significantly. To say 8 years has slipped by since our amazing Grace joined our world is mind boggling in and of itself but to think our cuddly little Jackson is ALREADY SIX is almost too much to comprehend. Jack is moving on to first grade and it seems like just a day ago that he started walking! We have the most amazing kids in the entire world.

If i could give any advice to new or expecting parents it would be to spend as much of your time as possible with your new ones, take lots of pictures & video, and look at the results often. It is the only real way to experience (and chronicle) the amazingly rapid transformations you will witness. The key however is to spend time experiencing life with your kids. Heather and I try really hard to present “experiences” to our children, sometimes at the expense of our savings or investment in our home. The home will always be there but the time you can spend with your children (and resulting memories) are FLEETING!

I am starting a yearly tradition - a video journal that captures the adventures in the year of each of the kids lives on their birthday. I only wish I had started this from year 1…

No - I didn’t wager $10K on the G-Men to win it. Bummer cause the odds would have paid out nicely. It was an amazing game, and I was as stoked as the next underdog-lovin’-part-time football fan that the G-Men pulled one off for the ages. But it was not the heroics of the prepubescent looking Eli Manning that brought me to a serious point of reflection, but the pre-game reading of the Declaration of Independence dedicated to our troops. Those men and women fighting for our history (and maybe our future too if we don’t make a change soon). This simple intro to a big game nearly brought me to tears in thoughts of our future. I found the timing of this presentation most profound in this time where a black man and a woman seem to be poised to break all previous barriers to the White House. What a HUGE opportunity for the future - of our country and for the world.

I am all for “living in the now” but I have two beautiful children and I want them to have a chance at what I have experienced in my first 37 years in this great country. If you have a conscience you must consider the FUTURE during this upcoming election. We have much to learn both from our history and what it means to our future…

this is a great blogpost (and a VERY COOL Webdesign Company) and the latest post says it all IMHO! Happy voting.