I haven’t been here in forever, but upon hearing that it your birthday, I couldn’t resist a quick visit to say that you are a gem of a human being, Lily Tomlin.

To my wowOwow friends, First, I apologize for losing my temper this week. I do not apologize for the position I took; rather, my reaction. My life is a string of circumstances where I enter a place – Wall St., as a prime example – am told by the boys that I’m not smart enough, that I don’t have the chops to be in their league, that I don’t know what I’m talking about, then go off and start my own thing so that I can make the rules. That was the story of starting my financial planning company, and it is now the story of refocusing my time to what is important to me now. I thank James and Frank for providing me the motivation to “shut up and put up” when they told me that the sky was falling, and putting a significant amount of money into financial stocks instead of arguing with them about their viability. That is a $34 thousand dollar ‘thank you’ that I’m reinvesting in a new business doing the thing I love - financial education for women. (I still think you’re wrong about the sky falling, by the way. But what do I know? ) To the women at wowOwow, I’ve obviously enjoyed your company tremendously, have learned so much from you, and will always be grateful for the pleasure of your extraordinary thinking. Hope to see you down the road, wish you health, prosperity and the knowledge that you’re every bit as good as the boys. Kitty O’Keefe kittyok@earthlink.net

Hi Duchess, Point taken. I lost my temper. You’d think after working in a male dominant business all my life, I’d play nicer with boys. Miss Kitty’s going to take a break for a while until she calms the heck down.

It’s not a different perspective. It’s wrong.

Hi Maureen, So far, the Obama economic plan is most viable for many reasons - the most significant of which is that he adds $1.6b LESS to the national debt according to current projections. I’m a little worried about Robert Rubin on his team because when he chaired Citigroup he authorized the highly leveraged (lots of debt) model that is now getting everybody into so much trouble. And Greenspan, well, his job as Fed chairman is price stability (low inflation) and full employment, so technically it wasn’t his job to blow the whistle on this stuff, but morally, I think he should have. He’s a pure capitalist, though, and believes in NO regulation. So, he’s not allowed to bitch about this now, from my point of view. Hey, want a fun quote? Bloomberg News Greenspan Says McCain Tax Cuts Need Budget Reductions (Update1) By Scott Lanman Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. can’t afford $3.3 trillion of tax cuts proposed by Republican presidential nominee John McCain without similar reductions in the federal budget. Greenspan, a lifelong Republican and longtime friend of McCain, said on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt” that “I’m not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money.” It’s bad when your supporters don’t support your economic plan, don’t you think?

And I’ve just been crowned Queen of the Universe, bunnies are running the country of Afghanistan and cranberries have been found to cause deafness. Oh, and Frank has no f-ing idea what he’s talking about.

James, as a financial professional with 30 years experience who worked on Wall St. with some extremely foul mouthed young male traders, you have been more disrespectful to me than anyone I’ve ever worked with - and that’s saying something. I’m on a site trying to converse with women my age and find you - and Frank - to be, not only ill informed, but outright rude. At least traders acknowledged that I had backround, experience and education. You want me to give you a clue? Okay, James. I’ll fill you in. Skyrocketing unemployment? It’s 6.1%. Let me go back a few years and give you a lesson in unemployment figures. The last two recessions - where we actually had two consecutive quarters of contracting GDP had 7.4% unemployment. Skyrocketing? Not even close. It’s going up, but it’s nowhere near where it was in the last two recessions. And you’re calling this a DEPRESSION? Get serious. Do your homework. Record gas prices? Light, sweet crude went from $147 to $95, and spiked recently because a hurricane hit refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. Commodity prices are going DOWN, James. Grab a paper. Look at the CRB index. It’s going down. And, if you want to know what a CRB is, is Commodity Research Board. Look at the number. Banks going belly up? You’re referring to IndyMac and Lehman, I’m assuming. More banks - a LOT more banks - went bankrupt in the S&L crisis in the 90’s. Was THAT a DEPRESSION? No, it wasn’t. It was a recession. Number of manufacturing job losses? Hey, James. Let’s look at some data, shall we? 97/98 -2.3% 98/97 14.8% 98/99 4.7% 99/00 6.7% 00/01 -3.5% 01/02 -1.3% 02/03 0.85% 03/04 4.23% 04/05 2.65% 05/06 4.07% 06/07 0.95% 07/08 -1.3% There is the percentage of change industrial output since 1997. We’re down 1.3% this year. Call that a DEPRESSION? Well, then we had a pretty bad depression in 2000 - 2001, then, didn’t we? Oh, wait. That was a recession, wasn’t it? Bailouts? Did you say that we were in a depression when LTCM was bailed out? How about Chrysler? Did you call it a depression when Chrysler was bailed out? Oh, but now, it’s a depression because YOU say it is. Young man, I have a clue. And this is what I have a clue about. Standard and Poors released this statement yesterday, Take a read: “Washington Mutual’s credit has been lowered to BB- ‘Increasing market turmoil and the related impact from managing its concentrated mortgage franchise in this troubled housing and credit cycle led to the downgrade. It increasingly appears that market conditions could overtake credit fundamentals and leave the company with greatly diminished financial flexibility. Washington Mutual nevertheless has “adequate capital positions from a regulatory perspective, with a stable deposit base. Last week, the thrift said retail deposits as of August 31 were ‘essentially unchanged’ from $143.6 billion at the start of the year.’ Do you know what that means, James? That means that WaMu is adequately capitalized and because people who don’t know what they are talking about sell the stock in spite of that fact, WaMu could go under. That’s what “It increasing appears that market conditions could overtake credit fundamentals” means. And every time I see some baseless generalization contribute to making this problem worse, I’m going to say something about it. Get a clue? YOU get a clue. “if we fall into another depression, all bets are off the table regarding the safety of anything” is a baseless, ill informed statement, and I’ll challenge it every time you say it because it’s based on nothing.

Hi Rocky, Wow. My completely visceral reaction to the AIG thing was, “China owns $501b of our national debt - and AIG is BIG is China.” I felt strongly that it would be supported. Really interesting point of view from their side of the fence.

Well, Patty, we’ll agree to disagree on that. While the UAE has a lot of money, it’s a resource based economy. Ours has some of the finest educational facilities in the world, a venture capital structure capable of bringing products and services from our intellectual capital to global markets, skilled labor and enormous productivity. I agree we have problems - big problems. I am not trying to minimize or ignore them. I just continue to think this is the most capable financial system in the world based on the parameters on which I measure it. Hopefully, we’ve come to understand the importance of deleveraging the corporations and individuals in our country. It’s productive that you point out our flaws and demand that your government address them. I respect that. By the way, 25% of all our $9.7 trillion debt is held by other countries, as follows: (As of 4/2008, in billions) Japan 592.2 China, Mainland 502 United Kingdom 251.4 Oil Exporters 153.9 Brazil 149.5 Carib Bnkng Cntrs 115.4 Luxembourg 84.8 Hong Kong 63.1 Russia 60.2 Norway 45.3 Germany 44 Taiwan 42.6 Switzerland 42.5 Korea 40.5 Mexico 38 Singapore 33.3 Turkey 31.1 Thailand 27.9 Canada 24 Ireland 18.5 Netherlands 15.5 Sweden 13.1 Egypt 12.7 Belgium 12.5 Poland 12.5 Italy 10.6 India 10.5 All Other 154.2 Grand Total 2601.8

Hi Beverly, Listen, the tax code is enough to make anybody crazy - especially when you’re negotiating a contract in the midst of a retroactive tax law change. Those were the good old days - income averaging. That last line was funny. But, as Lorraine said, she’d rather be a smartypants than a dummypants.

Hi Frannie, I’d recommend that guy we talked about before Todd Davidson from Davidson Financial in Torrance, who’s a lawyer and a financial planner on that long term care thing. I think I mentioned before that I know him well. He’s an honest guy, and I’m sure he’d do a no charge consultation for you. Thanks for your response. I love hearing from somebody who works in the world outside of finance and knows the realities of how all this theoretical economics really works. You’re a smartypants.

You know, this is based only on my observation, but nearly all the brainiac mathematicians I know play the piano. There seems to be something to that premise, though I haven’t the faintest idea how to substantiate it other than the fact that I know a lot of people from Cal Tech and MIT - and they ALL play the piano. That is interesting, isn’t it?

Hi Phyllis, I learn so much from your point of view, and enjoy our discussions. Mr. Kitty paraphrases what you’ve said this way, “Republicans believe that if it’s good for me, it’s good for you. Democrats believe that if it’s good for you, it’s good for me.” I’ll let you take a wild guess as to his party affiliation.

Juanita, if you have a shred of evidence that this economy is entering a Depression, I would be most interested in reviewing it and discussing it with you.

Hi Kelly, I would NEVER think of speaking for Suzanne, but since she is apparently away, I will provide you some information that will help. Here is a comparison of economic policies by a joint operation of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute - both non-partisan think tanks http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411749_updated_candidates.pdf The conclusion that can be drawn from analysis of these plans are that at the end of McCain’s term, the national debt will be increased by $5b, and Obama’s, $3.4b. Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. can’t afford $3.3 trillion of tax cuts proposed by Republican presidential nominee John McCain without similar reductions in the federal budget. Greenspan, a lifelong Republican and longtime friend of McCain, said on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt” that “I’m not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money.” You can also tell the people with whom you are debating that you got this information from a person who is not a Democrat, is a capitalist, and spent her life in finance.