Globalization comes home

Yesterday I took my daughter shopping for shorts. While she deliberated, I looked at labels. Vietnam. Indonesia. India. Pakistan. Bangladesh. Mexico. Guatemala. Haiti. Dominican Republic. China China China. Is it possible to find new clothes made by union workers rather than nearly certainly exploited young women?

I am in the tenth month of my yearlong moratorium from clothing shopping (for me). What a great respite it has been from temptation, yearning, time-wasting and closet cluttering!

For clothes to be so cheap after being transported literally across the planet means those workers can't be earning much. This bothers me.

When my year of abstinence ends I will still practice extreme restraint.

Peace, y'all

Molly

Peace in my home

My spouse has made some investments with a company called Reid and Rudinger. Avoid this outfit! He opened an IRA but the $$ went into a nonIRA His password don't work from home, though it sometimes works from a friend's computer. For months months he has tried to get these jerks to move his $$ to his IRA, where it should have been in the first place. No such luck. So we will have a huge distribution from the IRA to cope with this year. Again.

I didn't curse, I didn't yell. I didn't even complain. Peaceful huh? After all, it's only money. More important than money is that we are all healthy and our home is warm and dry.

Ahhhh. Money is important but I like what my college pal Mike used to say--"it's like sex, and only is important when you are not getting any." Since I have a good job, we are getting some. Enough to keep us fed and warm, and some tucked away for the future too. Though not as much, thanks to what's happening in the investment world. Good enough though. Thanks God.

Are we rich?

Yesterday I tried to look at my neighborhood through the eyes of someone from a different country. "Are you rich?" the visitor asked me in my mind. Well, so-so. Some folks have trouble making ends meet, either through bad fortune or bad decisions. Others have their needs met and money left over for fun, though they doubtless want more than they have. None would admit to being rich--Is this a uniquely American trait? But really, all the people in my neighborhood are comfortable, have enough to eat, and have a safe and comfortable place to live. And we all live in an area free of violence, lately anyway. So I think we are very rich, though not ostentatiously.

I want to buy something in the $600 range that is completely optional. But my pets have been ill, and my spouse brought home a bill from the dentist in the $750 range. So I will wait to buy the optional service I want. I am not poor. I could find the $$, but I would rather keep the $$ in savings. I am not poor. I am actually quite blessed, be able to choose and to be able to pay the dental bill and the vet bill.