The Count Down Begins . . .

Christmas is upon us. It nears. And as it does so so does our moods change. Some of us become morose, some no change. We don't exchange gifts anymore, we can get those when we want at any time. We do not even wrap gifts anymore, we "bag" them. Or we just write checks. Some get cash. Ho, ho, ho!

The "Charlie Brown" tree is out and lit up. So much for interior decoration. A wreath is on the front door, so much for exterior decoration. Done.

The dreaded shopping at the grocery stores is almost done. The constant carping that you have to go to more than one grocery store to get things you need is just about over. Not!

Now for the stock market to recover. We were widely diversified, ergo we were widely ripped too. So much for diversification, we all go down, the boat goes down to. So we are hoping for a rise. There are some bright spots, GNMA funds did well, on average a 7% yield. And now that the FOMC - "the Federal Reserve Bank" - has lowered the interbank loan rate to 0 to 0.25%, the bond funds have all gone up. But that is an inverse ratio, as the interest rate goes down the price (eh cost?) of bonds goes up. Fortunately for us, we do not have to live on our savings - yet.

Equities on the other hand seem to ride along the bottom. The market does not seem to approve of the auto companies bailout. Sort of delays the inevitable. Ford did not get any bail out money but gets tarred right along with GM and Chrysler. Not have the merger talks between GM and Chrysler broken down or stopped, it now sounds like the government is going to force Ford into taking over Chrysler. Can you imagine that - Ford divisions of Mazda, Volvo and Chrysler? Not.

We have giant auto dealers around the corner from us in Hudson Oaks. Things are bad in the auto business, right. Well they are building a new Hundya dealership. That's added to the remodeling of the General Motors place and a new Suzuki dealership just finished. All the GM line, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai dealerships belong to one guy, Jerry Durant (nice person by-the-way - met him and his wife). The Ford guy owns the Suzuki dealership. The local bigwig Republican, Roger Williams, owns the Chrysler dealership. And the Lincoln Mercury dealership is owned by Hooks. Hudson Oaks has no ad volarium taxes, it basically has three business groups: liquor stores, car dealers and Wal-Mart. They get enough off sales taxes not to have property taxes. I think they may be hurting this year with the decline in auto sales - ya think!

As the end of the year nears, the Cost of Living Allowances (COLA) will kick in for next year. All the social security retirees will get a 5.8% increase. Us military retirees also get the same 5.8% increase. And since I am disabled, I get a stipend from the Veterans Administration and that goes up 5.8% too. Ergo we get a 5.8% raise next year. This does not happen often and most certainly will not happen next year with the decline of the price of oil and cost of buying a house. All other areas are up - like food.

That amount is not exactly correct as I am subject to "concurrent receipt" adjustments. In the past, I had to pay for my VA stipend - that is it was deducted from my taxable military retirement and paid back to me in tax exempt VA benefits. The US Congress saw the inequity in that process but was reluctant to making a 100% adjustment. In fact, only those with a disability rating of over 50% can get any relief at all. Since I qualify for that, they have steadily adjusted down the amount deducted out of my military retirement. It means we get about another $100 or so per year increase in the military retirement. It is taxable, but I am steadily reaching the point where I no longer have pay for my own disability. No one, not civilians, not civil servants ever have to pay for their own disability stipend - only the retired military people do.

Those whose disability is below 50% have to just suck it up. Some day in the future, they will get theirs too but many will have died not ever collecting a penny. And of course, nothing from the government is retroactive, except maybe taxes.

So the year rolls over.