Nutrition | The Iams Diet | Unattributed

The Iams Diet

Don't ask a retiree a dumb question ...

The next time someone asks you a dumb question wouldn't you like to respond like this?

Yesterday I was at my local Wal-Mart buying a large bag of Iams Dog Food for my loyal pet, Abby, the Wonder Dog and was in the checkout line when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog.

What did she think I had, an elephant? So since I'm retired and have little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was starting the "Iams Diet" again. I added that I probably shouldn't, because I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pants pockets with Iams nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in line was now enthralled with my story.)  Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no, I stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish  Setter's ass and a car hit us both.  I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard. Wal-Mart won't let me shop there anymore. Better watch what you ask retired people. They have all the time in the world to think of crazy things to say.

Money | View on Economy | Blackstone

Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman from today's earnings conference call for the beleaguered private equity shop:

Our view is the economy will continue to deteriorate sharply this quarter and next quarter and be pretty weak second quarter and maybe sort of see stability fourth quarter, and then I think you will have a pretty, and a weak 2010 although I don't think it will keep declining…I think 2011 will show some growth but still be well below the levels of 2006 and 2007. My own view is you may not get back to 2006 and 2007 a long time because we have sort of an emotional and psychic shift going on in America which is back to basics don't live on leverage, live within your means, more humble life styles, less extravagant consumption, savings and all of that sort of stuff.

I believe that a lot of people in America are legitimately scared and have seen their life savings or what they perceived as their net worth largely either wiped out or cut in half. That's going to forge fundamental behavioral differences and that will retard the growth."

Money | US Household Debt to GDP | Econometrics

Who to blame for the current economic mess? Republicans - Democrats - Politicians? Investment or Commercial Bankers? Wall Street or Main Street? We need to look in the mirror, folks. Check-out the trend of US Household Debt as % of GDP. See anything wrong here? I understand that the 100% current ratio was last seen in 1929. Here's that link from an NPR show on 2.27.09.

Money | Renters Lose Edge on Homeowners | WSJ

Eighteen year average of mortgage to payments compared to rents has trended around 125%. Mortgage costs blew through this trend line in 2003, peaked at 175% in 2006-2007 and returned to the trend in 2008. A composite of 79 metro cities in the trend. All real estate is local, of course, but regression to the mean is a powerful force. More correction is in store, I'm sure ... but the very worst may be behind us. One can always hope. Article.

Energy | Dell Warms Up Data Centers | WSJ

An opportunity for corporate energy and IT managers ... check-out this article on Dell running their data centers at up to 78F instead of the usual 10F below normal office temp. Other savings ideas in this news bite. In today's economy, the race goes to the thrifty.