If chicks kinda dig you in the first place, a Utilikilt makes you very popular.

Other guys hate them, though, usually. Some feel bad that they didn't try it, some are too afraid of what other people will say, and some are just haters.

Even the illusion that the government is "of, by, and for" us is gone now.

Blattidae Cosmodeus?

I pity anyone who thinks torture is amusing.

Crash:

There's a lot of stuff to address there, I'm not sure I can do it justice in this post, but I'll give it a whirl. :)

1. Lending money at interest

The US economy is based on debt. A massive, crushing load of debt, both personal and governmental. Borrowing money costs money. And we, and our gov't, keep on borrowing. It's a debt spiral. The thing is, when you extrapolate this out to its logical end, you begin to see that wealth must naturally accumulate into the hands of fewer and fewer people, because borrowing costs, and those with the money to lend must be paid their due. Add to simple or compound interest the taxes, fees, surcharges, and all the other hidden costs of things, especially those associated with credit cards, and it makes the situation all the worse. Eventually, unless we cease our endless borrowing to maintain an unhealthy standard of living (which is primarily based on luxuries, not the creation of a sustainable, balanced way of life), the vast majority of wealth will end up in the pockets of a very privileged few.

2. Baseline costs, and keeping up with the Joneses

The basic tools of life (food, shelter, etc) cost a baseline amount, though depending on one's frugality, it can be a lot or a little. A person who makes 30k a year will have less wiggle room in their budget once these items are paid for than a more wealthy one will. One blown engine or a medical emergency will be far more deadly to the financial health of a less wealthy person. And hey, if you overdraw your account paying for that emergency, you get banged with overdraft fees and a host of other "shaft the poor" costs. A wealthy person will almost never get to that point, except through mismanagement. It costs more to be poor, plain and simple. You're more likely to have good credit if you're rich, because you almost always have the cash to pay your bills on time, and you don't have to let the cable or utilities slide to cover other expenditures or the emergencies. And if your credit is better, you can borrow money more cheaply. Again, it costs more to be poor, because there are many more dangers. Add to all this our incessant exposure to advertising, social pressure, and a desire for comfort that make us want to buy more, more, more. "Retail Therapy". Our way of life is not sustainable.

Let me use an example that occurred with my brother-in-law the other day. The holidays just ended. He has 3 kids. He spent a load of money he didn't really have to give his kids a nice Christmas. His apartment complex had his car towed a couple days ago. Ostensibly this was because he was double parked. He wasn't, but he needs his car, and the impound fees go up, up, and up if you don't get it out right away. The towing company is supposed to provide a photo of the infraction, but of course, it wasn't "ready yet" when he went to contest/pay the charges. It's a shakedown. The towing company pays the complex a kickback for the right to shaft the people who live there. Now, a rich person wouldn't have tis occur. They can afford to pay the fees, or a lawyer to contest the shakedown. A poor person can't. It's that simple.

Alrighty...I gotta go. I'll try and come back and add more later. The minutae of real life intrudes!

(23)Crash:

In 1992, I got out of the Air Force after serving in the Gulf War. I intended to backpack around Europe. My "friend" and traveling companion was deported from the UK (where I'd meet him in the weeks to come)for being a smartass to the customs folks, and so I never got there- I went to hang out with my friend instead. Foolish loyalty. I had about 5 grand in cash and bonds with me, and we spent the summer pointlessly hanging out in Western Pennsylvania. The only trouble was, I was the only one with money out of a group of 5. I bankrolled baseball games, nights out, cigarettes for the smokers, endless fast food and diner meals, thinking, "Well, we're friends, we'll find a way, they have my back." Incorrect. Once my money ran out, no one wanted to hang out any longer. I knew no one else there, had nowhere to go. It was a recession, and no one wanted to give me a job. I looked for a month, and then I couldn't sell anything else to make even food money. I grew up in the mountains, and after shamedly being city homeless for 1 month or so, I went and stayed in the woods, living off the land. Thank all that's sacred I knew how to, or I'd have probably not made it. After 3 more months, I did some work for a friend's family, made $50, and used that cash to hitchhike home to Colorado.

It's easy to be irritated by, or frightened of, the homeless. It's harder to see the whole picture- that our money-obsessed society makes them what they are- broke, unwanted, hopeless, and reviled.

The reason the homeless congregate in parks and on benches is that they have nowhere to go. Most of us haven't yet experienced the terror of having nothing, of being a "burden" to everyone else. But if the bankers and politicians get their unwitting way, more of us will. Many, many more of us.

I'll probably be flamed for this, but so what. I know, no one wants to be made to feel bad for being successful and comfortable. But that's not my message. My message is this: When everyone is simply trying to do as well for themselves as possible, someone else has to pay to make that a reality. Foreign slave laborers, the unlucky, the mentally ill, the "different". It's always the most vulnerable who do so first. But once the edges have crumbled, and there's no way to ignore the "good people like us" who begin to fall prey to the incessant grasping for More, the rest of the plate is the next to go.

I've been homeless. I sincerely hope none of you need experience it. It is a soul-destroying thing.