Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Not Rocket Science
IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE FOLKS ...
Finally a breath of fresh truth!
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1285
Finally a breath of fresh truth!
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1285
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
“banks won’t extend credit because good borrowers don’t want to borrow”
"banks won't extend credit because good borrowers don't want to borrow"
While Megan Wilson is so over all of the cute lists circulating on Facebook ... the reason I continue to use it are for posts such as the following from my friends (they really are friends too, not just "friends") Jim and Jenny in St. Paul:
Account Representatives
Corporate Management
Public Relations
Capital One Corporation
1680 Capital One Dr.
McLean, VA
22102-3407
February 13, 2009
To Whom it May Concern:
We are writing to express our outrage at a communication we received today from your bank. It informed us that the interest rate on our Capital One MasterCard Platinum account, number 5XXX-4XXX-3XXX-0XXX, which we had carefully maintained in good standing for many years, is being raised from 5% to 13.9%. This is unacceptable.
How can an American financial institution act in such an irresponsible fashion at this time of crisis? We will not be using your services any longer. We may now be forced to cancel our plans for an addition on our home, depriving others of their livelihoods. Having a decent -- a fair -- credit rate is critical for our household, other responsible borrowers like ourselves, and for economic activity in the United States of America.
The ready availability of funds backed by we, the tax paying citizens of our Nation, at interest rates lower than ever seen before, should make the provision of credit to regular borrowers cheaper. At $3.5 billion so far, Capital One is in the Top Ten of TARP banks. Instead we see this predatory response. President Obama's call for a new era of responsibility has clearly fallen on deaf ears.
Now we know that the line "banks won't extend credit because good borrowers don't want to borrow" is simply a lie. We hope our elected officials are listening, and we have taken this opportunity to convey copies of this letter to our elected representatives as well as those in the area of your corporate headquarters in Virginia.
To these responsible elected officials we say: It is time to use the proper force of law to stop these out of control banks. Without immediate and targeted intervention, ordinary households and businesses will simply cease to function as economic agents. Cash on hand will not stop this economic collapse. We must have lending on reasonable terms.
Bank loan officials need to immediately be replaced with public officers behind the lending desks, as was done under Roosevelt's Reconstruction Finance Corporation in the 1930s; the same RFC that appointed many bank's officers in those days (read the history of many banks and you will find their founding presidents were RFC appointees). Unfortunately, it took the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations over four years to discover this policy option. Tragically, it appears it may take just as long this time around.
Regardless of any other economic or fiscal policy measures that may need to be taken, acting to get public agents behind lending desks is the only way to prevent today's bank lending strike from continuing to severely damage the United States. Today, any large bank that curtails credit is the equivalent of a hundred small bank runs and collapses in the 1930s. This is what turned the crash of 1929 into the Great Depression: Bank runs. Now we have a bank lending strike, and failure to recognize and combat it can only have the most dire consequences.
The bankers' strike of today is as dangerous as any railroad strike or bank run ever was; it should be broken at once. Perhaps the wealth and manners of the strikers render them beyond our system's ability to combat the threat; in this we can only pray for responsible and courageous political leadership.
To the account representatives at Capital One: Immediately cancel our account and never contact us again. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Please convey this letter to your management, their management, and Capital One's senior management. Nearly tripling a simple consumer line of credit's interest rate, at this time and under these circumstances, is immoral and dangerous, and demonstrates the need for vigorous government intervention in banks' decision-making personnel.
May God have mercy on our Nation.
Sincerely,
Jim and Jennifer Turnure
St. Paul, Minnesota
Cc Representative Betty McCollum, Minnesota
Senator Amy Klobachar, Minnesota
Representative James Moran, Virginia
Senator Mark Warner, Virginia
Senator James Webb, Virginia
Governor Timothy Kaine, Virginia
Attorney General Robert McDonnell, Virginia
President Barack Obama
While Megan Wilson is so over all of the cute lists circulating on Facebook ... the reason I continue to use it are for posts such as the following from my friends (they really are friends too, not just "friends") Jim and Jenny in St. Paul:
Account Representatives
Corporate Management
Public Relations
Capital One Corporation
1680 Capital One Dr.
McLean, VA
22102-3407
February 13, 2009
To Whom it May Concern:
We are writing to express our outrage at a communication we received today from your bank. It informed us that the interest rate on our Capital One MasterCard Platinum account, number 5XXX-4XXX-3XXX-0XXX, which we had carefully maintained in good standing for many years, is being raised from 5% to 13.9%. This is unacceptable.
How can an American financial institution act in such an irresponsible fashion at this time of crisis? We will not be using your services any longer. We may now be forced to cancel our plans for an addition on our home, depriving others of their livelihoods. Having a decent -- a fair -- credit rate is critical for our household, other responsible borrowers like ourselves, and for economic activity in the United States of America.
The ready availability of funds backed by we, the tax paying citizens of our Nation, at interest rates lower than ever seen before, should make the provision of credit to regular borrowers cheaper. At $3.5 billion so far, Capital One is in the Top Ten of TARP banks. Instead we see this predatory response. President Obama's call for a new era of responsibility has clearly fallen on deaf ears.
Now we know that the line "banks won't extend credit because good borrowers don't want to borrow" is simply a lie. We hope our elected officials are listening, and we have taken this opportunity to convey copies of this letter to our elected representatives as well as those in the area of your corporate headquarters in Virginia.
To these responsible elected officials we say: It is time to use the proper force of law to stop these out of control banks. Without immediate and targeted intervention, ordinary households and businesses will simply cease to function as economic agents. Cash on hand will not stop this economic collapse. We must have lending on reasonable terms.
Bank loan officials need to immediately be replaced with public officers behind the lending desks, as was done under Roosevelt's Reconstruction Finance Corporation in the 1930s; the same RFC that appointed many bank's officers in those days (read the history of many banks and you will find their founding presidents were RFC appointees). Unfortunately, it took the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations over four years to discover this policy option. Tragically, it appears it may take just as long this time around.
Regardless of any other economic or fiscal policy measures that may need to be taken, acting to get public agents behind lending desks is the only way to prevent today's bank lending strike from continuing to severely damage the United States. Today, any large bank that curtails credit is the equivalent of a hundred small bank runs and collapses in the 1930s. This is what turned the crash of 1929 into the Great Depression: Bank runs. Now we have a bank lending strike, and failure to recognize and combat it can only have the most dire consequences.
The bankers' strike of today is as dangerous as any railroad strike or bank run ever was; it should be broken at once. Perhaps the wealth and manners of the strikers render them beyond our system's ability to combat the threat; in this we can only pray for responsible and courageous political leadership.
To the account representatives at Capital One: Immediately cancel our account and never contact us again. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Please convey this letter to your management, their management, and Capital One's senior management. Nearly tripling a simple consumer line of credit's interest rate, at this time and under these circumstances, is immoral and dangerous, and demonstrates the need for vigorous government intervention in banks' decision-making personnel.
May God have mercy on our Nation.
Sincerely,
Jim and Jennifer Turnure
St. Paul, Minnesota
Cc Representative Betty McCollum, Minnesota
Senator Amy Klobachar, Minnesota
Representative James Moran, Virginia
Senator Mark Warner, Virginia
Senator James Webb, Virginia
Governor Timothy Kaine, Virginia
Attorney General Robert McDonnell, Virginia
President Barack Obama
Thursday, February 12, 2009
More Facebook Fun
MORE FACEBOOK FUN!
This is so NOT SURPRISING. Just in the past week I've learned of 3 breakups via Facebook. I'm continually amazed by the information that people are not just willing, but almost giddy about sharing on Facebook. The "lists" are especially creepy to me -- not because folks are sharing stories about themselves, that part I find touching, funny, and amusing. However, in this fabulously contrived and controlled public forum, it's a wet dream for corporations, government, and anyone with an interest in hacking into your personal info for potentially screwing with you. But then again, it's all in the game and name of FUN! FUN! FUN!
Lancashire resident Neil Brady decided to change his relationship status on Facebook -- he announced to everyone he knew that he had, "ended his marriage to Emma Brady." Neil apparently thought his wife Emma wouldn't notice. Emma only found out that she was single after she got a call from a friend in Denmark who asked her how she was handling the breakup. Even worse, someone had commented on Neil's wall saying,"You are better off out of it."
Neil claims his wife had been seeing another man, but we've still gotta call bad form on this one. We don't care how bad your marriage is, your wife deserves the dignity of being dumped in person... and before you tell everyone else about the separation via an update on a social networking site. [From: Daily Mail]
This is so NOT SURPRISING. Just in the past week I've learned of 3 breakups via Facebook. I'm continually amazed by the information that people are not just willing, but almost giddy about sharing on Facebook. The "lists" are especially creepy to me -- not because folks are sharing stories about themselves, that part I find touching, funny, and amusing. However, in this fabulously contrived and controlled public forum, it's a wet dream for corporations, government, and anyone with an interest in hacking into your personal info for potentially screwing with you. But then again, it's all in the game and name of FUN! FUN! FUN!
Husband Announces Divorce to Wife Via Facebook
What is up with the Brits? They can't stop having affairs on 'Second Life,' and now it seems a British husband announced his divorce on Facebook -- of course, this was before he got around to telling his wife he was leaving her. Considering last month's disturbing news about a Staffordshire, England man who murdered his wife after she changed her relationships status on Facebook to single, this latest news is surprising.Lancashire resident Neil Brady decided to change his relationship status on Facebook -- he announced to everyone he knew that he had, "ended his marriage to Emma Brady." Neil apparently thought his wife Emma wouldn't notice. Emma only found out that she was single after she got a call from a friend in Denmark who asked her how she was handling the breakup. Even worse, someone had commented on Neil's wall saying,"You are better off out of it."
Neil claims his wife had been seeing another man, but we've still gotta call bad form on this one. We don't care how bad your marriage is, your wife deserves the dignity of being dumped in person... and before you tell everyone else about the separation via an update on a social networking site. [From: Daily Mail]
Thursday, January 29, 2009
January 2009
January 2009
My blogging has obviously slowed way down due to many factors. Packing up my home of 13 years and moving it into a storage unit has been hard; first winter holiday without my Dad; lots of movement over the past month (San Diego, Joshua Tree, San Francisco, Sun Valley Idaho, Montana), installing my show at Sun Valley Center for the Arts, and now preparing for the next couple of months in SF and then Southeast Asia. It feels like I've lived a year in a month.
I think the Facebook craze has factored in some too. Since Facebook added the live feed component in August, it seems people aren't reading individual blogs as much and admittedly my interest in blogging waned with the overload of up-to-the-minute "friend" data. It's a pretty fascinating social phenomenon and like many, I find myself loving it and hating it.
I am trying to wean myself from the time suck site and actually read ... books, and write. I find it pathetic that I've gone from writing 3,000-word essays, to writing blogs, to writing messages on Facebook.
Anyway, here are some highlights of the past month:
Bowling with the Barrios women in San Diego. These women bowl, especially Momma Barrios, who has an entire area of their living room filled with bowling trophies!
Scrabblemania at the Blockstrada's:
New Year's Eve in Joshua Tree (thank you Carolyn and Andrea!) Perfect way to bring in the new year:
Packing up and heading out to Idaho:
Snowshoeing in Sun Valley:
Kwik:
Gloria Steinem in Sun Valley:
Installing the show at Sun Valley Center for the Arts. SVCA rocks! Yet another awesome space to work with -- thank you!!! (Eliza and Cindy helping with install -- thank you!)
Opening for the show (curator Courtney Gilbert, me, Eliza, and Cindy):
me and Matt (ceiling collaborator extraordinaire):
The Grass Is Always Greener finished installation. I'll be posting it on my Projects page in the coming weeks:
My blogging has obviously slowed way down due to many factors. Packing up my home of 13 years and moving it into a storage unit has been hard; first winter holiday without my Dad; lots of movement over the past month (San Diego, Joshua Tree, San Francisco, Sun Valley Idaho, Montana), installing my show at Sun Valley Center for the Arts, and now preparing for the next couple of months in SF and then Southeast Asia. It feels like I've lived a year in a month.
I think the Facebook craze has factored in some too. Since Facebook added the live feed component in August, it seems people aren't reading individual blogs as much and admittedly my interest in blogging waned with the overload of up-to-the-minute "friend" data. It's a pretty fascinating social phenomenon and like many, I find myself loving it and hating it.
I am trying to wean myself from the time suck site and actually read ... books, and write. I find it pathetic that I've gone from writing 3,000-word essays, to writing blogs, to writing messages on Facebook.
Anyway, here are some highlights of the past month:
Bowling with the Barrios women in San Diego. These women bowl, especially Momma Barrios, who has an entire area of their living room filled with bowling trophies!
Scrabblemania at the Blockstrada's:
New Year's Eve in Joshua Tree (thank you Carolyn and Andrea!) Perfect way to bring in the new year:
Packing up and heading out to Idaho:
Snowshoeing in Sun Valley:
Kwik:
Gloria Steinem in Sun Valley:
Installing the show at Sun Valley Center for the Arts. SVCA rocks! Yet another awesome space to work with -- thank you!!! (Eliza and Cindy helping with install -- thank you!)
Opening for the show (curator Courtney Gilbert, me, Eliza, and Cindy):
me and Matt (ceiling collaborator extraordinaire):
The Grass Is Always Greener finished installation. I'll be posting it on my Projects page in the coming weeks:
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Mural Art
MURAL ART
I just received my complimentary copy of Kirakoss Iosifidis' new book Mural Art: Murals on Huge Public Surfaces Around the World. An awesome survey of murals across the globe. I'm honored to have been included with my Bungas mural in Yogyakarta Indonesia.
Thank you for including me Kirakoss!
I just received my complimentary copy of Kirakoss Iosifidis' new book Mural Art: Murals on Huge Public Surfaces Around the World. An awesome survey of murals across the globe. I'm honored to have been included with my Bungas mural in Yogyakarta Indonesia.
Thank you for including me Kirakoss!
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