Jack & Jill Politics

The economy has made layaway the “in” thing to do these days.  From Susie Madrak at Crooks and Liars:

NEW YORK – To gauge consumers’ strain, look no further than the rows and rows of plastic bags awaiting layaway payments at Kmart. They are filled with back-to-school basics — not just T-shirts and jeans but notebooks, magic markers and pencils.

It is unheard of for layaway rooms to be so packed at back-to-school time and for the packages to include relatively cheap school supplies.

A record number of shoppers, shut off from credit and short on cash, are relying on Kmart’s layaway program to pay for all of their kids’ school needs, said Tom Aiello, a spokesman for Kmart’s parent Sears Holdings Corp. Layaway allows shoppers to pay over time, interest- free, and pick up their merchandise when it’s paid in full.

I know about layaway – as a young teenager who spent her summers working, I used my paychecks to put my school clothes for the upcoming school year on layaway; pay half up front and the remainder with the final check before I went back to school.  It was a great relief on my mother, who insisted on contributing to my closet because she and Daddy needed to feel like they were pulling their weight as my parents.  My family only had ONE credit card that we used for everything, because my parents’ motto was if you couldn’t pay for it ON TIME, you didn’t NEED IT.

Bush left a phucked up economy.  Now, here’s my potshot; WHY THE HELL WAS BERNANKE NOMINATED FOR A SECOND TERM AS FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR?

The Fed Reserve was in bed with those who orchestrated that bail out.  This is one enemy I wished President Obama would keep at arm’s length before he gets his arm bitten off.  I tell you, I can’t shake the feeling our POTUS is being SET UP TO FAIL, because I do not think for one minute that Tim Geithner or Larry Summers have the POTUS’ best interests at heart – nor do I believe they are as loyal to him as they were to George Bush.

Don’t forget, Geithner, as head of the NEW YORK FED, spearheaded the Wall Street bailout with an assist from Skeletor Hank Paulson, former Goldman Sachs Prez, and Treasury Secretary. Additionally, he couldn’t get his taxes straight, and when I think about how Bill Richardson was shown the door on the nomination as Commerce Secretary because he couldn’t keep it in his pants – it makes me want to vomit.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard of putting an embezzler back in charge of the bank he robbed because he would know how to fix the problem and keep future employees from embezzling, but that’s what Tim Geithner gets to do – run the IRS while shafting their ass at the same time.

LayAway is what fiscally savvy people are doing.  It’s a way not to incur debt, interest and get what you need or want at the same time.  It requires patience, but anything worth having is worth being patient to get it.  I had the best Christmases as a little girl growing up in Houston because my mother would get the catalogs out in September, ask my brother and me what did we want Santa to bring us for Christmas and little did I know, she went to K-Mart and Sears and put that shyt on Layaway in September, so we’d have our gifts at December.

Besides, anything the financial industry hates, I’m all for it.  People going back to the days of “Cash and Carry?” GTHOH with that; the finance industry ain’t having it, otherwise Macy’s, Bloomingdales and Saks would have LAYAWAY departments, instead of trying to hustle you credit cards to take more of your hard earned money.  One of the commenters at Crooks and Liars had this to say, and I think it’s SPOT ON:

I think “goldman sachs, citi, boa, and the rest of all the welfare seeking financial institutions” …should be forced by the Obama administration to put the next bailout that they ask for…ON LAYAWAY.