We Buy Gold on Wall Street

It is official, we are in a recession. There are so many signs that this is true and has been for a while. This sign shouts recession. I found this man standing on Wall Street Monday afternoon. He was wearing a sandwich board for a Wall Street jewelry store stating, “we buy gold” and holding plastic bags to collect it right then and there. You can see The Bank of New York Melon and the New York Stock Exchange in the background. Is it really so bad that people are going to take off their bling in the middle of the street? What signs have you found that we are in a recession? Please leave your feedback in the comments.

Photo: Over NYC by Arnold Pouteau

Cell phones are lovely things when they keep you in contact with the proper people. Bill collectors, politicians looking to get elected and the occasionally crazy family member who wonders if now would be a good time to talk about some arcane piece of family fiction I don’t care about are the problems with being connected to the rest of the world on a constant basis. Yesterday, in an attempt to disconnect from everyone else in a world that is quickly slipping into anarchy, I left my phone at home for several hours. Of course, I missed a call that I wanted to take, in this case, Tomas, my former bartending partner who moved to New Orleans with his wife and daughters after she received an excellent job offer. “I’m walking on the street drinking a beer I got to go from a bar,” Tomas teased. “You can’t do that in NYC. Call me brother; it will be great to catch up.” I was kicking myself for not having my phone with me the one time in the past week I actually wanted to answer it.

Our game of phone tag ended a few days later. “Not only will she be working at an excellent salary in her field (psychology) but we’re near her family so it cuts down on the cost of babysitters,” he joked. After an hour or so of shooting the shit, I asked him how it was living back in the suburbs we both came from after being in the city for so long. “It’s peaceful. I’m working an adult joint and I don’t have to contend with kids asking for Long Island Ice Teas at 2 in the morning.” Continue Reading

Just to put this into something we can all understand…

$2,300 from every man, woman, and child…

That’s how much this bailout (And yes, this is a bailout) is going to cost taxpayers…

that’s you and me… (…for the most part)

So… I don’t know about you, but I can tell you right now, I ain’t got it. So, sorry banks, you can’t have your bailout, I ain’t got no $2,300. Can’t have it… Sucks for you huh? Continue Reading