(Re)check engine light…

It’s articles like the one beginning below that affirm my belief that every teenager should be made to read just as s/he starts her or his first job.

And, if you’re young now, in your 20s or early 30s even, don’t only read this book now, but do this book now. You’ll thank me when you’re my age. 🙂

I want you to especially read the lines, over and over, that talk about the typical feeling that, “I can’t possibly ‘pay myself first’; I already don’t have enough money.” Read it. Internalize it. Do it.


U.S. savings rate falls to zero
By The Christian Science Monitor

The personal savings rate hits its lowest rate since 2001 as Americans put their faith in the rising value of their homes.

Americans have stopped saving for a rainy day.

Instead, they are living paycheck to paycheck, depending on credit cards to get them through emergencies, and hoping that the rising value of their homes will give them a retirement nest egg.

This personal economic chasm is showing up in the national savings rate, which has been declining for years. Tuesday, the Commerce Department reported that the personal savings rate fell to zero in June, the lowest since a one-month buying binge in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The United States is on track to record a savings rate for the year below 1%, which would be the lowest since the depths of the Great Depression, when the rate turned negative.

Alarms
The nation’s paucity of savings is raising alarms from the Federal Reserve to consumer watchdogs, who worry that the nation is counting on foreign savings to maintain a spendthrift lifestyle. Some groups are cranking up advertising campaigns to try to remind Americans that they don’t need to participate in every sale.

And there are now high-level suggestions that the tax system needs to be changed to encourage savings instead of spending.

“In two generations it seems that we’ve lost the culture and habit of savings,” says Nancy Register, of the Consumer Federation of America, “There’s so much marketing pressure to spend and buy and have instant gratification. And if you can’t buy it now, put it on your credit card.”

Click here to read the complete article.


Robert met me at Toyota of Durham, where I left my car again to have the dreaded reappearing Check Engine Light checked. Grrrrrr!


We ate at right near the car place, and I had the:

LETTUCE WRAPS
Delicious grilled Asian-spiced chicken with carrots, water chestnuts, crispy rice noodles and toasted almonds. Served with fresh Bibb lettuce and sesame-ginger and peanut sauces for dipping.


We took an hour nap before dancing, and headed to a little after 8:30.

It was pretty dead in there when we arrived, but slowly picked up to a pretty nice-sized crowd after a while.

When we first arrived, there was an interesting group of people there, who turned out to be a family. A lady, with her girlfriend or partner, and her daughter, who used to be her son. And the daughter’s uncle, though it was never confirmed as to whether he was the mother’s brother or a father’s brother, or for that matter, the mother’s or father’s brother that used to be their sister. Love makes a family.

Andre was there, and bugged the pure-T shit out of me all night long. Missy was there, and bugged the pure-T shit out of most people all night long.

Carl taught Boot-Scoot Boogie specifically for the aforementioned Lesbians, who just as the lessons started said, “Oh, we’re leaving now.” Appreciated that!

It got late fast, and we left at about 11:45.

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