The Un-Civil War

This has been one of the most contentious years in American politics since the Civil War.  Back then our country was split into Northerners who believed that no man should be enslaved, and Southerners who saw no problem with slavery and the denial of fundamental human rights, as long as you made a profit. Back then, it was the Democrats who were the racists, and Republicans like Lincoln who believed in abolition.  It is ironic that one hundred and fifty years later, we have a Black president, and the parties have reversed. The predominantly Republican South and Mid-West are pitted against the mostly Democratic coastal states and former rust belt, areas most affected by unemployment today. 

Today's conflict is more than Democrat versus Republican. It is a conflict between the American worker and Big Business. Big Business wants to make a profit whatever it costs.  Big Business will pollute the atmosphere because it’s cheaper for them to do so. Big Business will go where it is cheapest to produce their product, even if it means American jobs lost.  We contribute to that.  We have been buying German, Japanese and South Korean cars for years. We abandoned our own auto industry for imports and we paid the price.  I recently drove a new Ford Fusion and was pleasantly surprised.  I have not owned a Ford since the Seventies, but I would consider buying this car.  I think all of us should take our own impact on the economy into consideration when we start shopping again.

Back to this election:  The campaign here in California has been particularly brutal.  We have Republicans and former business titans Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorino, running for Governor and Senator against Democrats Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer. Whitman and Fiorino's commercials blame Boxer and Brown for the unemployment and real estate problems that they helped create. Whitman and Fiorino personally sent over 50,000 US jobs overseas, as CEOs of EBay and Hewlett Packard respectively. They and the entire Republican Party are running a campaign that they will be the saviors of our jobs, while everything they have done or stand for has shown that they have done the opposite.

What really bothers me is that these two businesswomen have personally injected over $150,000,000 of their own money into their campaigns-- money received from corporations who made their profits by laying us off. Since when is it right to buy an election?

Over 5 billion dollars has been spent on the 2010 election so far, with one week of relentless commercials left to go. Count the zeroes, folks.  That's $5,000,000,000 that could have actually have gone to improving the lives of millions of Americans, by conforming to US regulations and removing harmful toxins from the air, or paying their fair share of taxes, instead of on a massive media blitz of lies and distortion. Big Business is pouring billions into cutting back on auto and factory emissions, preventing the development of solar and wind energy, and paying taxes.  Their minions want power and will agree to anything to get those dollars, instead of standing up to their insatiable corporate greed.

We need to protect the American people and get our country working again. For the last two years, I have watched the party that lost the election prevent the winning party from making many changes. They stood there with their self-righteous expressions and their arms crossed and prevented anything good from happening. The few successes the Democrats were able to push through, like health care, are threatened by the current election.  Republicans are campaigning that they will undo the health care act which is currently helping millions of us stay insured.

Do not forget that people with pre-existing medical conditions like cancer or diabetes, would again be bankrupted by a medical system that charges more for indigent patients, than for those on insurance, and where death panels actually exist at the insurance companies to save money.

Do not forget that the economic collapse of the real estate industry was caused by fraud and lack of government control, not by too much government.

Do not forget that the next Supreme Court judge could determine whether or not a woman has control of her own body--How is it "less government" when you try to control my womb?

Do not forget the thousands of lives lost in Iraq & Afghanistan to fight a war over oil, because as soon as the Republicans control the House, it will just be more of the same.

Stop blaming the unions and illegal immigrants for all our problems and recognize how each of us has been voting with our pocketbooks for years.

The system that caused our current crisis, needs to be fixed, and the only way that can be done is when we start being more civil to each other. We must also understand that the needs and wants of the South and Midwest are different than those of the two coasts, but unless we want another Civil War we will have to find a way to work it out together for the good of all Americans, not just ourselves.  Let's start talking to each other again with a little more civility, whoever wins this year.

The Mad Hatter Republican Tea Party

I've always been a fan of "Alice in Wonderland" from the time I was a child.  I even performed in an Open Theater style troupe production of "Alice" after college.  But lately I feel like I have fallen through the rabbit hole again. Everything seems upside down and inside out.  I feel like I am at the Mad Hatter's Republican Tea Party. I am combining the supposedly disparate Republicans and Tea Party activists, as they really are one and the same. They both call for the overthrow of the Democrats, Liberals and Intellectuals who they blame for everything wrong in this country.

 

Why is it that they find being intellectual a problem, being liberal as something to sneer at?  Wanting less government intervention is a good thing, right?  That’s what all the Republican Tea Party candidates keep exclaiming.

But: Bush wasn’t an intellectual. Look where we are now.

Why is it that the so-called “Ivy League elite” care more for the general population and the Tea Party Republicans only look after their big donor corporations?

Why is it that the very lack of government control was the reason the banks and Wall Street screwed the American people, then they got bailed out?  What about us?

Why is it okay to gamble with our retirement funds and bankrupt people for being sick?  What is so damn important about repealing a health care act that protects the American people for the very first time, against unscrupulous corporations whose executives are made millionaires, while they deny our citizens basic medical coverage? 

I can’t believe that all Republicans Tea Party activists are really such sheep as to be deceived into thinking that the very people who were laid off because corporations shifted their jobs overseas, should be called lazy and blamed for their unemployment.

I can’t believe that a modern society really thinks it is okay to strip a person of their job, their home, their identity and then flog them in public as if it is their own fault. When the real culprits, the greed mongers, the war machine and the very people who created the problems we are currently suffering from get off scot free and even run their current campaigns on saving us from this mess that they created.

What I really can’t believe is that the current Republican mantra “Greed is Good”, has to come from stepping on the backs of the poor and middle class.  Why can’t we ALL do better?  

And finally, why is the Republican Tea Party so white? Look at Congress when they are seated during the State of the Union. Almost everyone on the Republican side of the aisle is white and male. Even if the Chairman of the RNC Michael Steele is a black man.  Believe me that was more for symbolism than to show true acceptance, because the people who are complaining the loudest and getting the most help are the wealthiest. The people with multiple homes and millions of US dollars  in investments hidden in offshore accounts so that they don’t have to pay taxes. They are the real Americans, right? The rest of us hard working blue and white collar Americans, don’t really count. 

Money Money Money

Do you know how great it feels to earn money again?  Today I deposited a paycheck for the first time in four months.  An honest to gosh paycheck with taxes taken out and everything!  Since it was a bi-monthly check, it was quite a decent amount, enough to make my mortgage payment for the first time since May.  Over six hundred was taking out for Federal taxes and almost three hundred each for state taxes and social security, but you know what?  I didn't care.  I'll be getting some of that money back come tax time in April, and it feels good to be able to contribute something again.  Even if it means paying taxes.

You see, the way I look at it, we have a certain social responsibility that can not be ignored or be made to sound like too big a burden for others to bear. It's not morally right, to call for less government, when less means more distress for the less fortunate among ourselves. And who are these people calling for less government, the ones who are making all the money?  The ones in the back pockets of corporations and lobbyists and bigots and religious zealots?  The one's who have multiple homes and fly around in private jets and shop in high end boutiques?  Does that feel right to you?

I believe we ARE responsible for providing for the poor and needy and especially for other hard working Americans who have been punished by the greedy, who sent our jobs overseas in order to make a buck. I believe that excessive CEO bonuses are a crime; the stock market is nothing but legalized gambling for the elite, and that laying off workers and making one person do the job of three, while making enormous corporate profits, is a form of economic slavery.

I want to thank my family for having taught me the difference between right and wrong, between wealth and greed.  I want to thank the planets Jupiter and Saturn for being in the right alignment for my money to start flowing again. I would like to thank the House and Senate for belatedly extending unemployment benefits for the millions of long term unemployed.  I would like to thank the former employer who rescued me from amongst the ranks of the unemployed, and gave me a new and challenging assignment so that I can contribute something to the world again, be rewarded with a paycheck, and pay taxes to help those who can't work and those who are still looking for a job.

Do You Feel Like Dancing?

Another joy of underemployment is finally having the time to pursue your passion.  For my sister, Donna, that has always been dancing. We were both dancers as children, and she continued on through college. She was Disco Donna back in the Seventies, dancing at Studio 54 and the Electric Circus when she wasn't rehearsing for a new Broadway show and understudying for A Chorus Line. Donna is the one who got me hooked on the TV series Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance?  Two years ago she started taking ballroom dance lessons at the Arthur Murray studio in Sherman Oaks. Now she is dancing in ballroom competitions like the one held last weekend in Los Angeles.

I've seen the changes in my sister since she started dancing again. She is much happier and thinner and looks so much younger than she did a few years ago. Dancing is great exercise, one because it is aerobic, and two, because it is fun... a lot more fun than running on a treadmill.  Dancing involves human interaction, a chance to meet and dance with all kinds of people.  My sister has built a network of lovely new friends from people she has met while dancing. 

Last weekend I joined her at the studio where she and other dancers demonstrated the solo numbers they would be competing with on Sunday.  She soared through her Bolero, graceful and sultry at the same time. Other dancers performed a Viennese Waltz, Samba, Cha Cha and Swing.  There were varying degrees of ability on display, but the one thing they all had in common was the way their faces lit up as their colleagues and teachers applauded them through their dance.

Studio owner Mario Vitucci urged me to join them again on Wednesdays or Fridays when it feels more of a party atmosphere than a class. He promised next time to save me a dance. Group and private instruction is also available for all types of ballroom & Latin dancing.  For more info click here: Arthur Murray Sherman Oaks

Watch Donna's Bolero 

Amy's Tip:  Dance your booty off and/or dance your time away. Another fun activity for the underemployed.

Go for the Gold

One of the benefits of our current depression is that the price of gold hovers around one thousand dollars an ounce. You've seen those ads on TV and in your newspaper.  Friends of mine have reported selling their gold to jewelers and at private Tupperware-like parties. I sought out gold in all the nooks and crannies of my home. After a thorough search I turned up at least 10 items that appeared to be gold.  How can you tell if it is real?

Reaching out into the universe of assembled knowledge, I consulted the oracle of Google and various posts told me that if it sticks to a magnet it is not gold (but just so you know, not everything that doesn't stick to a  magnet is gold. Or the suggestion that if you scratch gold against a piece of unglazed ceramic it leaves a gold mark; if it is not gold, it will leave a black mark. But then you have to damage the item to prove that it is good, which doesn't make much sense to me. And you've heard of gold paint, right? Other more accurate tests involve nitric acid and displacement measurements in a test tube.  The commonly used phrase, "to pass the acid test" comes from the nitric acid test for real gold.

There are varying degrees of gold that buyers will accept, ranging from 10k up to 24k. 10 karat is commonly used in dental fillings. Jewelry over 10K usually bears a karat mark, but sometimes there is no karat sign. The fact that there is no karat mark does not mean that the item is not gold. Gold prices are based on 24 karat or pure gold. Lesser karats are discounted proportionately. 18k is 75% pure gold. 14K is 58.3%, and so on. When you sell your gold the buyer will further discount the price by adding fees to assay and refine it. These fees usually range from 10-20%.

I looked at the little pile of gold I had assembled on my desk. I used to have a lot more gold jewelry, most of which was stolen during a 1980's home invasion in New York. What little I still have holds more sentimental value than anything else. The calendar charm Nana wore on her bracelet with a tiny ruby on my date of birth, an oval pin with my initials that I received at my bat mitzvah, a pair of Dad's cuff links, a vintage gold or gold plated cigarette lighter that had belonged to my Papa, various chains, knotted and broken, a lump of gold with a diamond mounted on it-- a piece of art made from my mother's engagement ring, and my great grandmother's pink gold ring that still I wear to this day.  I struggled with the thought of selling my memories.  Maybe I could part with the broken chains and the lump of gold that was once a ring, but the other items still held too much emotional value and I wasn't ready to part with them for money... yet.

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Keeping in Contact

One of the first things you should do when you are unemployed or underemployed is update your address book. Now depending on which generation you are from, your address book is either on your phone, your email program, Outlook, Access or some other sales or marketing database. For my mother and grandmother it was an actual address book with a torn cover and worn pages and everything written out in longhand. Once a year my Nana would go through the book and cross out the names of the people who had died. Yes, there were babies to be added, and husbands, and wives, and sometimes a brief story to accompany the name.

I realized that it was time to update my electronic address book and my Nana's telephone number was no longer needed, unless they have figured out how to do call forwarding to heaven. She's been gone for ten years but I hesitated a moment before pressing the delete key. I deleted almost all of my great aunts and uncles, and many of my friends. Along the way I found a few contacts who I hadn't spoken to in years, and decided to give them a call. I spent the day catching up with old friends and putting the word out.

When was the last time you updated your contacts? How often do you back them up? Do you even know how to backup your Outlook file? These are a few questions you can ask yourself while you cull your contacts for new leads.

Last year, when I bought my iPhone, I discovered Apple's MobileMe. At first, I was in love. MobileMe updates my contact files on all my devices automatically, so that if I add a number to my iPhone contacts or an appointment to my Calendar, it is automatically updated in Outlook on both my computers, and vice versa. It is a great time saver. The only downside is that MobileMe charges a yearly license fee of $99. Now that I am underemployed, I decided to explore if there are other options that can do the same thing for free.

It appears that Google, is developing a product called Google Sync, a free application in the beta test stage. It works with Google Apps to synchronize email and databases. I haven't figured out a way to make it work without Google Apps, which is definitely more program than I need at the moment.  If any of my readers have another solution that they can suggest, please let me know.

Next Post:  Go for the Gold

More Ways to Make Money Cleaning Your Home

We live in an age of downloadable content. Apple's iTunes has replaced the need to store and maintain large collections of CDs and albums. Devices exist to convert your LPs and cassettes to iTunes as well. Once you have downloaded all your media to iTunes, and made at least one iTunes library backup, do you really need all those pieces of vinyl and plastic? I have several cabinets of albums dating back to the seventies, cassettes from the eighties, and CDs from the nineties. Call me sentimental, the only format I have been able to toss were my 8-track cassettes. About three years ago I started downloading all my music. I haven't made the transition to downloading movies yet, because of speed and storage limitations, but the technology is improving every day, so it is only a matter of time.

So what am I doing holding on to all my vinyl and CDs? Apart from the obvious advantage regarding album cover artwork and lyrics, there is no need to keep hard copies anymore when your entire music collection can fit on a drive the size of a pack of playing cards. There are second hand vinyl and CD shops in every major city like Second Spin and Amoeba in Los Angeles. At Second Spin, gently used CDs go from $1 -$2, while a Michael Jackson CD can fetch up to $6. It all depends on what the store already has in stock, and what is in demand. If they already have ten Kenny G CDs they probably won't need another one, so don't hesitate to split your collection amongst several stores. Extremely rare items can be sold on EBay or other web-based sites. Having a yard sale is another way to dispose of CDs, albums and tapes. Even if you only sell them for fifty cents or a dollar, this can add up to a nice chunk of money for sizable collections.

Just remember to back up your music library. And then make a backup of the backup. I recently learned this lesson after my last computer crashed. Fortunately, I had most of the collection backed up onto an external hard drive. I ended up losing two recent music downloads, Viva la Vida by Coldplay (not one of their best) and Epiphany by Chrisette Michel (OMG. She is amazing.)

The Apple Store's policy is that it is the customer's responsibility to create a backup of anything purchased from their site. If you need to download it again, you pay again. I hope they will rethink this policy, as many software developers did to accommodate users with computer and hard drive crashes, and owners who migrated from older to newer technologies. I also hope that Apple creates a better way of transferring music back and forth between devices. My entire music collection may fit on my computer, but it won’t fit on my iPhone. It would be great of there were a better way to select which songs or artists or even formats are stored on what device because you know the devices are going to change again and again.

New software and services are springing up to assist you with storing your digital media. Online Storage Solutions is just one of the latest services making it easier to store and transfer your music. Soon, I expect to see large capacity wireless storage drives with the ability to stream music & video to every PC, flat screen and cell phone in the home. For those of you who have already made the transition from hard copy newspapers to reading multiple newspapers online, and for those who have already transferred all your CDs to iTunes, the transition to video storage devices won't be a difficult one. The hard part is letting go of all your stuff. If you are able to do so, you might be able to get some money for all that media stuff filling your home. At least enough to buy groceries for a week or two. In today’s world, that can be very helpful.

Upcoming: Go for the Gold

Check out Chrisette Michel's song I'm Leaving on You Tube.
Check out Online Storage Solutions for $19 a year. 
Enjoy!

Pay it Foward

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have been underemployed for over one year now. I choose to use the word underemployed instead of unemployed because I continue to work part time in the film & TV industry. Part time work is better than nothing and usually more lucrative than unemployment. Our industry was hard hit before the recession due to runaway production to states and foreign countries that offer tax credits and rebates. Resourceful state governments in hard hit areas like Michigan, New Mexico and Louisiana enacted tax credit legislation to lure production away from California and they've done a damn good job of it. California's legislature has been incapable of protecting jobs that employ over a quarter of a million workers and suppliers in Los Angeles alone. This week Panavision announced it was having financial difficulties. It's a sorry sign of the state of our industry when the leading camera supplier almost goes belly up. Next thing you know we'll be shooting TV series on our iPhones.

I've adapted to the current situation by working for several employers, a day here a day there, Saturdays, Sundays, whenever work is available. Whereas before I was a full time employee with union benefits and federal and state taxes paid by my employer, now I am a freelance worker with no benefits (my insurance is running out soon) and it is up to me to pay my own taxes. Unfortunately I am not earning enough to make my monthly commitments and pay taxes unless I give up the important things like a roof over my head, my car, medical care or food.

During this past year of underemployment I have learned some survival techniques that have helped me keep my sanity. Over the next month, I'd like to share them with you. Not all of my ideas are money makers, but at least they give me something to do with my time. There are a lot of things that you can do to make the most of your unemployment/underemployment. Cleaning out your closets is one of them. I started with my bedroom closet. I had no idea how many items I had in my closet, clothing that I hadn't worn in years, jewelry, shoes, handbags that I had spent good hard earned money on and rarely used.

I made myself try on every item in my closet. Over the past few years I have lost a considerable amount of weight, so over half the items were way too large for me to wear. I tried having a few pieces taken in, but the tailor charged me nearly as much as the items original cost and a few weeks later they were too large again. I sorted them by sizes and then into piles for each of my friends and family. They were struggling, too. Why should they waste money on new clothes? I outfitted a few friends with suitable business attire and then asked them to clean out their closets and pass on the results to someone else. This pay it forward closet cleaning is something all of us can do. Of course you can donate your used clothes to charity, and some of my rejects ended up as donations, but I enjoyed seeing the smiles on my friends' faces as they tried on my barely used items.

Now some of you are thinking, maybe I should take the tax deduction or sell my stuff on EBay and make some cash. There are people out there who have created rental services for evening wear and high end handbags. Be creative, there are a lot of ways to benefit yourself and others with the items you already have.

Tomorrow: More Ways to Make Money Cleaning Your Home