how come jinx gets all the gift cards, huh???? I'd like a gift card...

...is jinx a yuppie?

If yuppie still means young, urban, professional - no, no and no. If gift cards have something to do with it, I just might be.

Damn, I carry way more crap around than most of you.

--Drivers license
--Old drivers license with my maiden name on it for the occasional proof of identity
--Insurance card
--Things Remembered rewards card from when I got someone something engraved two Christmases ago
--Long distance calling card
--Old college student ID for discounts in various places
--Lifetime Complimentary Pass to performances by my high school theatre department
--Capital One card (Hooray for Vikings!)
--Library Card
--ATM card
--Visa Credit card
--Little information card telling me the model number for replacement printer cartridges in my printer
--Randall's card (grocery store--and I don't shop at Randall's)
--Medical insurance card
--Discount card given to me by a realtor at some point
--Ancient Blockbuster card from back when they laminated them by hand
--CPR Certification
--A "get enough stamps and you get $ off" card from a store that closed about 6 years ago (throwing that one away now)
--A receipt giving me $10 off my next Salvation Army purchase
--A stamp-sized hologram of Earth
--A laminated quote from the perspectives section of Newsweek around 1996 or so: "'Your gloves don't match your shoes.' Chanted at police who wore protective clothing during last week's gay-rights demonstration in Washington."
--A business card of a coworker
--A Simon (mall chain) giftcard
--A doctor's appointment reminder card for next Tuesday
--A Jo-Ann's giftcard with about $3 left on it (local fabric store)
--The receipt from our downpayment on our house that we bought two years ago, with the old owner's new address scrawled on the back.
--A gift certificate to a restaurant called "Tokyo One" in Dallas from about 2000
--A pen
--My checkbook

Amex
Visa card
Debit card
Corporate Visa
HMO card
AAA card
Driver's License
Frequent flyer card
Wegman's card
Business cards
~$80, random change

1972 - DJIA 1003
1982 - DJIA 1004

two (many more really, but these two i've looked at in the last week) run of the mill Growth and Income mutual funds tripled assets by using the same systems, processes, and prospectus that they did for the 40 years before this time period.

in rough or scary times disinvestors lose, investors win.

oh my wallet contains:

$17 cash
Debit card
credit card
Pictures of family
DL
military ID

So is that wallet one of a creditor or a debtor? Many only have instruments of debtors - credit cards. And yet current economic conditions say you better not be a debtor with storm cloud brewing on the horizon. Symptoms are similar to the early 1970s.

Paying big bucks for a war that, somehow, does not show up on federal spread sheets.

Massive government spending that, last time, was so dependent on European and Japanese bond buyers. Today that same debt problem is very dependent on Chinese buyers.

Serious trade imbalances that don't have any sign of being corrected as even jobs move overseas while a wave of new innovative products diminishes.

Unprecedented debts among consumers - we have never had so many consumers this deep in debt.

Unrealistic prices for things such as housing. A market driven mostly by rediculously low interest rates that will only keep increasing to address serious and impending inflation.

Sharp increases in energy prices created by extreme and unproductive consumption levels - ie car MPG back then dropped from 17 MPG to 8 and 12 MPG. Today the 25 MPG number continues to be driven lower by vehicles that only get 8 and 12 MPG.

Domestic automakers in serious financial trouble. Combined with some whose entire product line is incompatible with the future, whose costs due to inferior design are excessive, and whose corporate leaders are again trying to blame the unions.

One new factors is the impending Pension Fund disaster that looms like the S&L crisis of the mid 1980s. A problem created by bean counter mentalities whose function was to make a profit - the purpose of those financial instruments irrelevant.

Let's look at the stock market when these same factors previously existed as cited by Lookout123. Notice the pathetic growth rates from 1970 until the early 1980s - when gasoline went from the highest price in mankind to the lowest.

The first chart uses a linear scale that really distorts the numbers. The second chart uses a logrithmic scale that puts the stock market Dow Jones Industrial Average into useful perspsetive:

my point was that during that time period we had presidential problems, oil problems, middle east problems, war problems, and a flat economy and yet people with discipline and patience did very very well.

again a case of one person seeing a glass as half full while the other tears their hair out and screams to everyone who will listen "the sky is falling the sky is falling, if only you were as smart as me you would know the sky is falling!!!"

Forces continue today to contribute to an economic downturn. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation - a Federal government insurance company for Pension Funds - has announced a $22.8 billion shortage. A number that does not yet include the almost $3 billion default by Delphi onto the fund.

Again, we go to GM as a classic example of a company whose spread sheets mask a company in severe trouble. GM's products have long since been poor. One industry analyst recently pegged GM products at about $3,000 inferior to market standards. Of course, and contrary to GM's propaganda, the unions contribute only $650 per vehicle. GM products are that bad due to management. Even a chief designer is a graphics art student - not a hardware designer.

So what has GM been doing to mask their bad product line? Rick Wagoner's people were simply fudging the spread sheets to make the company look profitable. They shorted the Pension Funds and played other spread sheet tricks to claim profits that do not really exist.

Just like the S&L crisis of the 1980s, these spread sheet games to pretend GM makes good cars will eventually come out of your pocket. The PBGC deficient is just another way you will pay for GM that should have long been driven to bankruptcy - so that their bad management was removed.

GM buys companies, sucks out the profitable parts using cost controls, and then spins off the remnants. Delphi is just the latest example of these spread sheet games. Already GMs 2001 accounting games is under investigation. Meanwhile, the criminals will not be prosecuted. It’s simply a question of how big the retirement bonus will be for Rich Wagoner - a man who never worked in the product side of GM - and therefore was chosen over Louis Hughes as GM's top man. You will pay for his type as more large companies drop their pension funds into your lap - the PBGC that is already $23 billion in debit - a number that will only increase due to MBA management games with the spread sheets.

Notice the trends in that Dow Jones average chart. As a result of spead sheet games of the 1970s, higher oil prices, a war waged for reasons that were lies, etc; then the US did not see growth until about 1982. That growth was constant until about 2000 when a new president created same mistakes of the 1970s - including wild and uncontrolled government spending, masked by lies or spin, and not seen on this scale since Richard Nixon. This president even advocates torture and denies it.

Just more indications that the lurker should be protecting his financial positions. Prospects for a severe downturn are appearing.

lessee... starting at the top:

PADI open water diving cert card
membership card to tanning salon (haven't gone in a looong time)
my husband's Alaska Airlines frequent flier card
Barnes & Noble membership card
$12 in cash (wooot!! the kids didn't steal it all!!!)
Providian gold visa
AT&T platinum mastercard (what were they thinking??)
Wells Fargo platinum visa (see above)
Wells Fargo visa check card
Discover platinum card (I wonder if I've ever used this thing)
driver's license
2 pass thingys to the upper part of the Stratosphere in Vegas
my hunting/ fishing license
2 Hot Topic frequent buyer cards I need to turn in
my checkbook
a bunch of coins

Geeeez I guess I cleaned my wallet out before the last trip - I usually have way more in there than that!

Well, except for the low interest rates and low inflation.

As for credit cards...give me a good reason I shouldn't accept a standing offer of a 25-day interest free loan, and I might change my mind.

starbucks gift card with maybe $4.20 cents left on it
dl
debit card
$1.00 and change
AAA card
Medicare card (all but worthless - you can die nicely with the help of your Medicare card))
Library cards from 3 different Colorado libraries
King Soopers discount card
crumpled receipts that I can no longer read
phone book delivery contract
long distance calling card

bump


OK you win - you called it first!

Ok, this could be a long list:

D/L
Military ID
CCW License
Security Badge
Security Card for computer aka CAC Card
Visa
MC
Visa Debit card
Bank Debit card (second account)
Exxon Card
Insurance Card
Block Buster Card
Second Insurance card (motorcycle0
Boat Insurance Card
Sea Tow Card
Boat US Card
Boater World Card
Boater Safety Card from Coast Guard
NRA Card
GOA Card
SS Card
Old College ID with me with really long hair
Voter Registration Card
Passport Service Card
SeaDoo service Card
Check Cashing Card (local Store)
Organ Donor Card
Copy of old hip pocket travel orders
Laminated copy of quote "Not the critic that counts..."
Health Insurance Card
$228
lawyer business card
Storage Access code
Pictures of kids
Hunting Fishing License
Tricare Supplement Insurance Card
Miniture of Masters Degree
Professional License (#1, #2, & #3)
Certifications (A, B C, D)
Major Malpractice Insurance Card
Bunch of Change
2 Debit Receipts

Whole lotta pocket lint and an expired driver license from another state

ZERO credit cards...not a single one. I have not owned one since my divorce 8 years ago.

In fact, until last September when my car finally died and I had to finance a new one, I didn't owe a single person or entity any sort of debt whatsoever. My only obligations were for rent on my house, utilities and daycare.

I've found that buying things on credit is just not necessary if one chooses not to. We never go without, have very nice computers, musical equipment, clothing, and the usual toys people indulge in...but all of it was paid for at the time of purchase. We aren't wealthy, by any means, but we do budget and plan for future expenditures ie: birthdays, vacations, upgrades to possessions, Christmas and retirement.