And today I walked away from it all. I've moved out, left the keys and appliance manuals, turned off the power, and called the mortgage companies to tell them they better hurry up and insure the property and change the locks, because I've abandoned it. Oh, and I'm declaring bankruptcy for protection (partially due to the mounting medical bills, but mostly due to the mortgages). Of the $70,000 paid to my mortgage companies in the last 6 years, only $2,000 went toward principal. The other $68,...

As you may know, I am on disability for adrenal fatigue and mental health issues. My employer approached me by email today and said we need to discuss "how things will be" when I return from disability. He mentioned that I would most likely be doing the job I had when I first started 16 years ago (I am currently an executive), but I would work enough hours to earn health benefits but not retirement benefits. I assumed this came with a pay cut. If such a thing happens with a pay cut, then my ...

Hey Gang, I've missed all of you since posting The Daily Widget back in 2008. I've just stored all the Daily Widget posts in PDF format in one easy to find place, so bookmark this page if you are interested. Here is the link: (Link) All files contain the original contents of the posts, including the full-color graphics. All the files that were in my journal are missing the graphics since I had to cancel my web service last year. Pay attention to this one Daily Widget posted on November 1,...

 
Excerpt from President Roosevelt's January, 1944, State of the Union speech, the transcript of which has become an historic document: (snip) It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people—whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth—i...

It used to be that a homeowner built equity in their home, and in most cases if a life crisis came about, the homeowner could use this equity as secure collateral to cover at least part of the cost of the crisis. Those were the good old days. When the housing market crashed, that equity vanished and the ability of a homeowner to handle a monetary crisis vanished as well. Not only that, some bankers were lending without requiring any money down, zero equity, and when fair market values dropped...

Finally tonight as promised, a Special Comment on the passage, last week, of Proposition Eight in California, which rescinded the right of same-sex couples to marry, and tilted the balance on this issue, from coast to coast. Some parameters, as preface. This isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics, and this isn't really just about Prop-8. And I don't have a personal investment in this: I'm not gay, I had to strain to think of one member of even my very extended family who is, I have...

(Image) FINAL RESULTS FOR 2008* (*As of November 8, 2008) Almost all of the results are in, and as projected, Barack Obama and Joe Biden won the presidential election in a landslide! So, how did we do this year with all our projections? Overall, Obama performed better on average than our final projected spreads by state by a very tiny margin of 0.1%. We were high on some spreads and low on others, but on average we were right on the nose … not too liberal and not too conservative. We pro...

I am proud to live in a country that is making great strides in creating an atmosphere of equality for all, a country where true democracy is still within reach and bigotry can be overcome with education, diligence and time. President-Elect Barack Obama’s message of hope and inclusion for all this year made us proud! And I am so proud to have cast my vote this year for him and for all other Democrats on my ballot. We all won yesterday in a sense that change is possible and hope doesn’t go unn...

(Image) Here it is, hot off the presses: The final projections from The Daily Widget's forecasting model for Tuesday. President-Elect Barack Obama will be the 44th President of the United States. Electoral Votes: Barack Obama - 378 John McCain - 160 Popular Vote: Barack Obama - 74.1 million (+9.8 million) John McCain - 64.3 million Third Party - 3.1 million Close races going to Obama: Florida (27) Indiana (11) Missouri (11) Ohio (20) North Carolina (15) North Dakota (3) Close races goi...

(Image) (Image) – Updated 11/1 – Updated 11/1 – Updated 11/1 1. ANALYSIS Forty-one state polls were released yesterday: 28 for swing states, 5 for blue states and 8 for red states. Barack Obama’s record for this set of polls is 24-14-3. Although 5 states change columns today, two of them tipping from blue to red, the movement was very small for these states and Obama still holds a 9.8 million vote lead in the popular vote count over John McCain. McCain gained about 400,000 votes sin...

It's no longer negative politics, it's shock politics ... Britney! Paris! Worldwide Celebrity! Obama thinks he's The One! Obama admits he's a racist! zOMG!!!!!!!!!!!1 (Image) BUT IT'S A DISTRACTION! 1. McCain Bank Scandal John McCain's son Andrew McCain, according to analysis by grantcart, allegedly tanked a bank and resigned from its board. In the 116 days that Andrew McCain was a director of Silver State Bancorp (and chairman of their audit committee) the shareholders lost over $1...

(Image) Contents: 1. Tidbits – Weaker South and New England? 2. Widgets 3. New State Polls 4. Daily Tracking – Electoral Votes 5. Daily Tracking – Wigand Electoral Average 6. Daily Tracking – Popular Vote and Swing States Trading 7. Electoral College Map, Links and Sources * * * * * * * 1. TIDBITS – Weaker South and New England? Maybe berni_mccoy can confirm this with her Electoral Vote Strength Factor. Obama seems to be losing some ground in the South and in New England. Does this mean...