Tell It To Al

Roughly $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate loans will reach the end of there terms over the next five years, according to a report by a Congressional Oversight Panel.

Nearly half of these loans are underwater, worth less than the loan amounts due. And commercial property values have fallen more than 40 percent since the beginning of 2007.

Click here to read the report. It’s is not a good sign for our fragile economic recovery.
 
I talk about it with Shawn Patrick, anchor of Denver’s NBC affilliate, 9 News.

Are you seriously going to pay a hundred bucks for roses?

I paid $18.99 for a dozen at the grocery store today. Yeah, I know. I’m cheap. But that’s because my wife is smart. She would throw me out of the house if I blew a Benjamin on some dying floral arrangement, just because it was Valentine’s Day.

Turns out, the more you spend on roses, the more you spend on roses. It’s something like what Shakespeare said: A rose by any other prices still smells. Check out this video from consumer watchdog Angie Moreschi. Or click here to read her report.

News of Toyota’s gas pedal problems isn’t news to Cathy Donohue.

She says her 2008 Toyota Rav4 took off on her while driving down a busy street, hitting two cars, a light pole and a restaurant before coming to a stop.

Click here to read column.

President Obama is losing his faith, abandoning hope, and  becoming “agnostic” on the issue of a middle class tax hike.

“What I want to do is to be completely agnostic, in terms of solutions,” he recently told Bloomberg News.

Somehow, it now appears that the United States may not be too-big-to-fail. And that at some point money coming in has to equal money going out, just like an actual business or household budget.

“Our real problem is not the spike in spending last year, or the lost, even the lost revenues last year, as significant as those are,” Obama told Bloomberg. “The real problem has to do with the fact that there is a just a mismatch between the amount of money coming in and the amount of money going out. And that is going to require some big, tough choices that, so far, the political system has been unable to deal with.”

Click here to read the Bloomberg piece. Obama is beginning to sound like the first George Bush who said “Read my lips, no new taxes.” And then acquiesced to an increase in the federal gasoline tax. He was a one-term president. Obama faces a similar legacy.

Obama, of course, is only being honest, for once, about our economic reality. (Unlike his 2008 campaign pledge to never raise taxes on families making less than $250,0000.)

We can’t just keep bailing out banks, and stimulating the economy and piling up more debt, and not have to pay for it. We can’t just tax the rich, either. So open your wallets, everybody, because our fearless leaders are about to pass around the hat.

Too much time in Washington will ravage even the most enthusiastic idealist. I think I liked Obama better when he was a believer.

Jackson Browne rocks Red Rocks in Colorado. Photo by Al Lewis.

Everything I needed to know about money, I learned from rock and roll.

In fact, Jackson Browne set the stage for my whole life with just a couple of lines:

“I’m going to be a happy idiot and struggle for the legal tender,” he sang. “Where the ads take aim and lay their claim; on the heart and the soul of the spender.”

Browne released “The Pretender” in 1976, long before credit cards and home equity lines turned us into a nation of deadbeats and bankruptcy filers.

It was a time when rock and roll was not the standard sound track for TV commercials. When rock stars were more likely to be considered subversives than mainstream celebrities. And when corporate America had no clue that it could simply co-opt our cynical anthems of teenage rage, rebellion and non-conformity to sell us products.

Here are some other money lessons I’ve learned learned from rock ‘n roll:

*Somewhere in America, someone is falling for yet another Ponzi scheme. Or as Led Zeppelin sings: “There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold.”

* Wall Street is never what you think it is. Lou Reed: “A hustle here and a hustle there; New York City is the place where they said; Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.”

* Cash is king. Beatles: “Money don’t get everything, it’s true; What it don’t get, I can’t use.”

* Bankruptcy is just another economic opportunity. Grateful Dead: “One man gathers what another man spills.”

* Whoever is president, reckless bankers still get bailouts and bonuses. The Who: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”

* Beware the man in the suit. Traffic: “The percentage you’re paying is too high priced; while you’re living beyond all your means; and the man in the suit has just bought a new car; from the profit he’s made on your dreams.”

* Rich kids can get away with anything. Warren Zevon: “Send lawyers, guns and money; Dad, get me out of this.”

* All wealth should more or less be distributed equally. Pink Floyd: “Share it fairly, but don’t take a slice of my pie.”

* “The check is in the mail” is still a viable stall tactic. George Thorogood: “I tell the landlady I got a job, I’m gonna pay the rent; She said “Yeah?” I said “Oh yeah”; And then she was so nice; Loh’ she was lovy-dovy.”

* Challenge authority, but pay your dues. Bob Dylan: “Don’t follow leaders; Watch the parkin’ meters.”

* Advertising is infectious: The Rolling Stones. “When I’m watchin’ my TV; And a man comes and tells me; How white my shirts can be; But he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke; The same cigarettes as me.”

* The bait and switch is as prevalent as the Ponzi. Neil Young: “They give you this, but you pay for that.”

* Americans will line up to buy anything from a large corporation. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: “As we celebrate mediocrity, all the boys upstairs want to see; How much you’ll pay for what you used to get for free.”

* There’s really only one good time to invest. The Doors: “There’s blood in the streets, it’s up to my ankles; Blood in the streets, it’s up to my knee.”

* If you don’t own the business, you are a chump. Bachman Turner Overdrive: “If you’re train’s on time, you can get to work by nine; And start your slavin’ job and get your pay. If you ever get annoyed; Look at me I’m self-employed. I love to work at nothing all day.”

* War in the Middle East is just another industry. The Clash: “The king called up his jet fighters; He said you better earn your pay; Drop your bombs between the minarets; Down the casbah way.”

* Everything you work so hard to maintain, may one day seem strange and unfamiliar. Talking Heads: “And you may tell yourself; This is not my beautiful house!; And you may tell yourself; This is not my beautiful wife!”

* You actually can buy love, but it may not be worth the price. J. Geils Band: “I’ve been through diamonds; I’ve been through minks; I’ve been through it all; Love stinks.”

Learned any lessons about money from a song? Post them here, and rock on!

Former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain will try to reclaim his reputation as the new head of CIT Group Inc., a firm that jilted its creditors and taxpayers out of billions of dollars via Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Click here to read my tips for how he can accomplish this. I also talked about it with Fox Business News anchor David Asman.

I couldn’t believe this commercial from PETA was banned from the Super Bowl last year, given precedents such as a Miller Light commercial with scantily clad women wrestling in wet cement.

I am not on board with PETA’s anti-meat message, being pretty much a shameless carnivore. But I do like watching veggies on TV, especially when they are scraping across the flesh of some very hot women.

This year is going to be even more disappointing than last year’s banishment of the PETA girls.

We’re going to have to suffer through an ad from a Focus on the Family, a right-wing Christian group that apparently believes it has a direct mandate from God to meddle in elections and set moral standards for the rest of us. It’s likely going to have an anti-abortion message. Click here to read the details in The Denver Post.

The abortion debate, in case Focus hasn’t noticed, was lost decades ago. Many Americans believe abortion is wrong, but they also believe it’s none of the government’s business. And that’s pretty much been the lay of the legal land since Roe vs. Wade in 1973. (That by the way, was a landmark court case, not a football game.)

Someone should abort this commercial so we can enjoy another 30 seconds of debauchery and raunchy humor. This is the Super Bowl. Not church. And if God didn’t like it, he wouldn’t have made the Super Bowl on a Sunday.

When an organization comes up with $2.5 million or more for a just few seconds between plays during the Super Bowl, it’s sometimes a sign it has way too much money, reached its zenith, and is about to fade away.

Focus can’t seem to raise enough money to keep its people employed, but it somehow has no problem raising money for this.

I think Focus should just focus on the Saints, instead. Surely, God is a Saints fan.

If you think your Toyota is dangerous, try taking a bath in this.

This recalled bath tub can grab you by the hair and hold you under water, posing a drowning risk.

Click here to read my column on other scary product recalls.

The economy has stabilized, the economy is recovering, the economy has hit bottom, the economy is getting better.

How many times have we heard this since the economy officially began to collapse in December 2007?

We’ve been dragging along the bottom for so long that people who make their livings making observations about the economy try to find hope every single blip in the charts, even as entire European nations teeter on the brink of economic collapse and the air begins to leak from the stock market bubble of 2009.

Let’s face it: It’s depressing getting up every morning and noting that, yes, the economy is still a nightmare and the light of recovery is still quite dim. But, that’s what I do. And I refuse to take my anti-depressants.

Today’s unexpected news that the unemployment rate fell was no exception, even through it was driven to a large extent by temporary hiring.

“Overall, we are definitely heading toward a job market recovery,” declared cautiously optimistic employment guru John Challenger. “It may take longer than many people like, especially those who have been out of work for a long time.”

And that’s the good news for those wondering what they’re going to eat once their unemployment checks run out? That a recovery is coming? Eventually?

“Unfortunately, the hiring process is much slower than the firing process,” Challenger said. “So, job seekers must be patient, persistent and creative when it comes to their searches.”