If you know someone who brags about the bling around their neck and wrist, tell them to go home with all that noise. The days of Mr. T, Slick Rick, Run DMC and Salt N Pepa are back! Gold is king once again, so if you still have your dookie rope chain from the ’80s you might need to break it out or sell it (if it’s real).
Excuses are tools of incompetence and those who specialize in them will never be good at anything. The failure of the bailout plan in the House is the fault of everyone. It bothers me to see the Republicans blaming the Democrats, the Democrats are blaming the Republicans and the White House blaming the media for the failure. There’s a lot of blame to spread around and it’s going to take some compromising to get things done. I don’t want to give the fat cat CEO’s who benefited a break, but I guess something has to be done to slow the bleeding. It’s a blood bath out there and the Dow dropped 777 points today.
We need a change in our financial thinking. It’s hard, but it can be done. In older posts I’ve mentioned feedthepig.org and I’ve talked about the importance of saving for the future. It’s time to do our part and I’m going to do my best to get some good personal finance posts on the blog for you.
The video below is why I like Obama. He’s calm in the storm and can explain what’s going on to the American people. Unlike Bush, I think he’d have a better chance of convincing Congress to get things done. Sadly, I had a feeling that the plan wouldn’t get passed today. Oil did slide below $100 though. Got to find that silver lining somewhere.
You can get a draft copy of the bill for your reading pleasure here. I don’t think I’ll be reading it, but if I can’t sleep tonight I might check it out. Also check out this video from Obama speaking about the economic crisis.
I was in the car on the way home Monday listening to the Glenn Beck Show and heard a really good interview with Chris Gardner. If you’ve read the book or have seen In Pursuit of Happyness, then you know his rags to riches story. It’s an amazing one and is an example of how dedication and hard work can pay off.
Beck is a “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” type guy and I can respect that. But his show can be annoying at best and there are very few times when I catch an interview such as this. I’m not sure if the video is out there but I was able to get a transcript from the CNN website. In listening to the interview, I felt like Glenn was trying to get Gardner to use the “bootstrap” logic a number of times and Gardner wouldn’t fall for it. Read this portion of the transcript and let me know what you think. Am I reading too much into this?:
BECK: I wasn`t aware of that.
I don`t know if you`ve been watching TV the last couple of days, but everybody is talking about, you know, the financial markets. And now it`s turning into politics. I don`t even know what half of it really all about. And I do this for a living. And then they turn it into politics, and it just becomes blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
It is interesting that two areas affect all of us in a way that doesn`t make sense to most of us: politics and financial. That`s why I try to keep things at the gut level, and that`s why I wanted to talk to my next guest, an extraordinary guy with an extraordinary story that you know. He says it like it is. CEO of Gardner Rich and Company, is the author of “The Pursuit of Happyness,” Chris Gardner.
Chris, as always, good to see you.
CHRIS GARDNER, CEO, GARDNER RICH AND COMPANY: Always, brother. Good to see you.
BECK: So I`ve wanted to talk to you now for a while, because I think we are moving into this area in this country where nobody really understands pull yourself up by the boot straps anymore. You know, everybody is — is expecting something to be done for them.
When you look at the financial markets being bailed out by the U.S. government, what comes to mind?
GARDNER: The small business people in this country, they would like to be bailed out, too.
BECK: Amen.
GARDNER: OK. And how are we going to decide who gets a bailout and who doesn`t, right?
And let`s add one thing to that. The investors and the shareholders and the employees, Glenn, who lost billions of dollars, at no point have they felt like they`ve been bailed out.
BECK: Right.
GARDNER: OK? So I wish there were another word we could use besides “bailout.”
BECK: Screw?
GARDNER: Well, OK, screw. Descriptive, right.
BECK: I mean, come on, it`s true.
GARDNER: But again, there are a lot of small business people right now who would love to have the government come in and say, “You`ve got a home or job (ph). You lost your franchise. And by the way, here`s a check for a few billion dollars to go about your own.”
BECK: You know, it`s amazing, because I just said this on the radio today: 70 percent of business in America is small business.
GARDNER: Absolutely.
BECK: And nobody is trying to bail out or talking about bailing out.
GARDNER: It`s not going to…
BECK: I haven`t heard a single politician say, “Well, you`re too small to fail.” It`s all too big to fail.
These guys, when I looked at the way some of these companies were making loans, you know, and mortgages, you didn`t even have to fill out all the paperwork.
GARDNER: No.
BECK: You deserved to fail.
GARDNER: And you know what? You know what`s going to happen here? Hopefully. This could be the last wake-up call for Wall Street. Company X was making all this money during these subprime mortgages.
BECK: Yes.
GARDNER: So all the other guys feel like if we don`t get into that business, they`re going to take the market share. They`re going to make more money than us, and we`re going to be in a less than desirable position. So let`s do it, too.
The companies who did not go that way, Glenn, some of your community banks, some of your more focused financial services opportunities, they could be very interested in investment opportunities right now.
BECK: So let me — let me change gears and go to Hurricane Ike. I saw a story over the weekend. You know, I`ve never heard the government ever warn anyone, “Leave or you are facing certain death. And we will not come back to rescue you.”
Two thousand people, 40,000 didn`t leave their homes after that. Two thousand that didn`t leave their homes, needed to be rescued this weekend.
Meanwhile, the rest of the city needs to be rebuilt and trees cut and power lines relaid.
GARDNER: Sure.
BECK: And the government is spending the time rescuing those people. Do you think it`s callous to say, if you got that warning, and you could have left, and you didn`t leave, it`s not my responsibility?
GARDNER: I will tell you something and it`s probably going to get me in some trouble.
BECK: Yes.
GARDNER: There`s something called tough, and there`s something called Texas tough. OK? And those folks, honestly, in that part of the country, they`ve seen some of these storms. They can name every name you could ever come up with.
BECK: Sure.
GARDNER: They`ve seen so many storms, and they probably felt like, well, we can weather this storm. But in this case, look, I think your point. When the government says, “You`re facing almost certain death, and we ain`t coming back,” there is a point that you realize, the cavalry ain`t coming.
BECK: Yes. But they did come. So now — so now does it mean anything anymore? The reason why they came is because they`re like, well, we can`t let these people suffer. We can`t let — look, you`ve got the rest of the city suffering now. You told these people to leave.
I mean, is there such a thing as the American that doesn`t — that says, “You know what? I want to do it myself. There`s something to be gained from saving myself”?
GARDNER: It is probably what some of those people thought, Glenn, that “I could weather this storm also.”
BECK: Right.
GARDNER: But in this case, they were wrong. They were wrong.
BECK: OK. All right. Back in just a minute. As always, Chris, thank you, very much.
GARDNER: Thank you, Glenn.
BECK: Chris Gardner. Back in a minute.
Just so everyone knows, the government bailing out public corporations is BS. I understand you don’t want them to fail, but isn’t that what capitalism is all about? Only the financially strong will survive and the executive management of these companies should be put in the streets with no compensation for what they’ve allowed. If the government wants to get involved, then they need to manage all of it. But would that be any better?
That’s a whole other post.
There’s been a lot of debate over Sarah Palin and whether she can “do it all” as a Vice Presidential mom. It’s become a hot topic over the last couple of days, but it’s nothing we haven’t heard before. My wife works and she has had this same discussion with other moms many times. Being the soft-spoken, politically-correct Democrat that I am, I tend to keep my mouth shut regarding the subject. But I do have my own opinion and after seeing Sarah’s speech I was inspired to write this little post.
Being raised in a Christian household, I was taught the Bible has the answer to any situation you can face. While it may not always give you the exact answer, through prayer and studying there’s enough to get you on the right path.
Here’s a post from gotquestions.org regarding women in the workplace. I heard a similar response in a family ministry Bible study my wife and I attended a couple of years ago:
I was watching some old DVR’d episodes of the Black Enterprise Business Report and ran across an interview with Alfred Edmond Jr. discussing black people and investing. He made some really good points and I wanted to share the video with you. I have more to say on this topic, but I wanted to save it for my Tuesday rant on personal finances.
Also check out the video below with Dr. Boyce Watkins on how to set up an investment club.
I thought the lobbyists and big corporations were supposed to run this country behind the scenes. I guess times are changing because claims are being made that Wal-Mart has been informing its employees about what could happen if the Democrats get in power. A report in The Wall Street Journal said the discount retailer, which has rigorously resisted being unionized, had held mandatory meetings with store managers and department supervisors in recent weeks warning if Democrats take power, they would likely push through the bill hurting workers.
Who says lobbying can only take place in Congress? Wal-Mart says it always informs its employees about legislation that could impact the company and the talks were nothing more than that. Note to Wal-Mart, when workers want to form a union, it’s probably for a reason. But like all large companies, they would just find a way around it. Unionization would just give them a reason to layoff people to increase profit. It’s the American way and they’re just doing what businesses do. Looking out for the bottom line. If it means some people have to be told how to vote, then so be it.
Owning your own business can be difficult at times. Situations pop up that you don’t expect and at times it can really bring you down. Here’s some good advice from the Donny Deutsch show, as he interviews the CEO of Skechers, Robert Greenberg. Even if you aren’t in business this same advice can be used in your personal life.
There’s a new social networking site for people interested in creating relationships with Africa, discovering African cultures and reconnecting with Africans worldwide in a fun and dynamic environment. In my quest to “think global” I joined and I’m on my way to learning more about ways to do business in Africa.
It’s always been something I’ve been interested in, so we’ll see how it goes. I was invited by fellow blogger Benin Mwangi who has been integral in helping me learn more about the continent of Africa. I enjoy meeting people from other parts of the world and the Internet has made doing so easier.
Check out the Village at African Path and let me know what you think.
You soon won’t be able to turn around without hearing about “digital television” and its potential impact on you. Even though there is still a limited (but growing) universe of true high definition programming available over the air, Channel 8 and every other TV station in North Texas is sending out a digital signal right alongside its traditional “analog” transmission.
But all those analog signals will be switched off permanently on Feb. 17, 2009 by government mandate. That means if you’re watching Channel 8 on an older TV set and you get your picture with an off-air antenna, you’ll see nothing but snow starting on that date.
You should know, however, that old TVs can be used for years into the future with the help of a friendly little box to convert the new digital channels into an analog-friendly signal. While these converter boxes are expected to cost about $60 each, every family in the U.S. is entitled to receive up to two coupons with a value of $40 each that can be used to buy the adapters. You can sign up for the coupons starting Jan. 1, 2008.
Check out the WFAA.com DTV 2009 Countdown section for answers to questions. Don’t go into debt trying to buy a television you can’t afford. For now just use the coupon and apply for it as soon as you can. It’s been in the making for a while, so I didn’t think they would pass it and get it going as soon as they did. But the time to convert is coming and I want you to be prepared. Here are some other documents that may help also.
I grew up listening to Bill Cosby. My dad had almost every album he put out and I remember sitting around the record player with my younger brother laughing at his comedy routine. I grew up on Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids, the stories of him and his brother Russell and Buck, Buck. As a teen I watched Cosby Show and a Different World. And even as an adult, I watch Little Bill with my son. So I can honestly say, I had high expectations for the book Come On People and knew there would be a lesson for everyone who read it.
I have to admit, while reading it I received a lot of mixed messages. You can tell they were trying to get their point across without offending too many people. It was definitely a toned down version of Cosby’s usual rants about the black community and I feel a lot of what they wrote was common sense. But along with the criticism, they gave a lot of advice on things we can do to improve our lives and lives of those around us. The book included topics on parenting, health, finances, community involvement and personal responsibility.
The first chapter covers the topic of the black male (or lack thereof) and offers advice on some of the things we can do as men to benefit our families and the community. I thought this was a great way to start the book because I think the role and concept of a real black man has been skewed. They ask the question, “What’s going on with black men?” and encourage men to build on the legacy of the those in the past. They ask men to re-dedicate themselves to the family and rebuild relationships that may have gone bad in an effort to be with their kids.
I was also glad to see some advice in the book for ex-offenders. Those who are looking to change have a hard time after they are release and there is a word for them in various chapters of the book. No one in the book was free from criticism, but everyone received some advice. Black men, woman and kids can get something out of the book, but you really have to take it as constructive criticism. There’s a lot in this book to take in, so I thought I’d list the topic of each chapter. Each chapter has different subtopics that touch on different things we face as a people.
Chapter 1: What’s Going On with Black Men?
Chapter 2: It Takes a Community
Chapter 3: We All Start Out as Children
Chapter 4: Teach Your Children Well
Chapter 5: The Media You Deserve
Chapter 6: Healthy Hearts and Minds
Chapter 7: The High Price of Violence
Chapter 8: From Poverty to Prosperity
My overall opinion is that Come On People gives the same general message as every other book I’ve read regarding the black community. It’s going to be up to us to make a change in what happens in our community. Dr. Cosby tends to get a lot of flack for what he says. But sometimes we need to hear the tough words. I’m sure this book will catch a lot of criticism, but if he didn’t care about our community, I’m sure he could just sit on his mounds of money relaxing on the beach. Many may not agree with their methods in how the message is presented, but Drs. Cosby and Poussaint have gotten people to talk about the issues. While this book may not apply to the majority of people who read it, I hope it does move us to get out there and make a difference where we can. It’s going to be up to us to take what’s said here and us it to help empower others.
I’ve provided some links below, if you would like to read a few chapters from the book. If you’ve read it, then I’d like to know how you feel. If not, then it’s a book worthy of adding to your collection. I’ll be giving some additional comments of Come On People on the next podcast.
http://treasures.billcosby.com/pdf/ComeonPeople-pg77-88.pdf
http://treasures.billcosby.com/pdf/ComeonPeople-pg124-132.pdf
http://treasures.billcosby.com/pdf/ComeonPeople-pg168-174.pdf
In keeping with full disclosure, I did want to let everyone know the reason for this review was because I received a copy from Team Cosby. The only requirements were that I read and post an open and honest review in a month’s time. You can rest assured that I did just as they asked.
