Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This

Ups, downs, twists and turns. There are always days like this.

As much as we’d like the road of life to be smooth, the path we travel is often filled with potholes, detours,  and unexpected hairpin turns.

“Wear clean underwear,” she’d say. “Just in case.”

Yep … Mama said there would be days like this.

Prepare – Don’t Predict

You can’t predict the future. Change is always on the horizon, just a moment away. Prepare. For the unexpected. The unthinkable. The inevitable. How?

“Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket. Save it for a rainy day.”
“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
“A penny saved is a penny earned.”

Childhood. Green stamps. Dime books. Piggy banks. Allowance. Eating out? Rare.

This crisis is the wake up call that can positively impact your future. When did it become silly to save? Prepare for the future? Be old fashioned and live within our means instead of borrowing against the future of our children?

What happened to building solid businesses on a foundation of tangible worth. Steel. Railroads. Cars. Bridges. Dams. Hospitals. Instead on phantom wealth. Derivatives. Short selling. Manipulation.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met for the second day of hearings today about the financial crisis. Chairman Henry Waxman opened with a statement:

Average Americans are suffering economically. They are losing their jobs, their homes, and their health insurance. Yet less than one week after the taxpayers rescued AIG, company executives could be found wining and dining at one of the most exclusive resorts in the nation.

Rooms at this resort can cost over $1,000 per night. Invoices provided to the Committee show that AIG paid the resort over $440,000, including nearly $200,000 for rooms, over $150,000 for meals, and $23,000 in spa charges. Read Chairman Waxman’s full opening statement here.

Criminal. It’s time to get angry. Really angry. Demand accountability.

How can Martha Stewart be sentenced to jail time for her misdeeds while, under the same rules, today’s greedy CEOs that created this global financial meltdown, destroying the financial security of millions of citizens, are rewarded with a financial bailout package. I’m not so naive as to think we didn’t need government intervention. However having no criminal consequences for the greatest financial hijacking we’ve seen in our lifetimes is not justice. What lesson does that teach our children?

In an article recently posted on the CBS website, Ben Stein shared:

Despite every bit of historical experience of Wall Street, the government trusted them to do the right thing. Instead, of course, they did the things that made them the most money in the short run – issued oodles of subprime mortgages, and then made staggering bets on whether those mortgages would ever be paid off. When, as might have been predicted, those mortgages defaulted en masse, the whole Wall Street edifice turned out to be a House of Cards. Many of the biggest, most famous names collapsed, and fear spread across the nation like oozing flood waters.

Let’s learn from this. Wall Street has many fine men and women, but they need to be regulated for their own good – and for our own good. Click to read the entire Ben Stein CBS article .

Since when did regulations, rules, and ethics become outdated?

“Rules are Rules – It’s for your own good,” my mama said.

Share your wisdom. What life lessons will help you through this crisis?