I just want to preface this post by reiterating that all four of us residing at Castle Sidewalker are apolitical (mainly because, as taxpaying non-nationals we can’t vote), but when I see something wrong I call it, no matter what part of the political spectrum it originated from. I urge you to read the whole post, as it has far reaching implications for all of us.

Last week I was hanging out in the lounge with Little Miss Sidewalker and she knocked the television remote control on the floor for the umpteenth time (I know I should move it higher out of reach). The fall of the remote caused the channel to change, I can’t remember if it landed on Fox News or MSNBC. Anyway the anchor of the show was talking to Elizabeth Warren, the chairperson of the Congressional Oversight Panel, that keeps tabs on the TARP program.

They were discussing about the banks jacking up interest rates to as high as 30% on credit cards without warning. The anchorwoman asked Elizabeth Warren why Congress would not move to curb this loan sharking activity. Mrs. Warren replied, “The public do not have enough lobby dollars to win that battle.” Let me just type that again to make sure you get the full gravity of the sentence, she said, “The public do not have enough lobby dollars to win that battle.”

Two things jumped out at me from that statement. Basically she is saying that the banks have more money to shower on our elected Representatives than we the voting public have, thus ensuring an outcome favorable to the banks. So what is the point of electing these people if we don’t have enough money to give them to look out for our best interests? Something is very broken here. Don’t we the public pay their wages to be there on our behalf and work for our best interests in the first place?

Secondly the interviewer just breezed on through after that statement. Has pay-to-play become so ingrained in us, that the anchorwoman did not even pursue this thread with Mrs. Warren? She just shrugged it off. Yep, that’s right, me and you don’t have enough money to persuade our elected Representatives to have our back.

Does the notion that the general public has a need for lobby dollars abhor you? It should do…

Rant over.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $21.16

At 8p.m. this evening the cash for clunkers program is being suspended. Following on from my post Riddle Me This? where I explained in easy to understand terms the basics of the TARP program and how it affects you, today I have decided to shine the Sidewalker flashlight of clarity squarely on the cash for clunkers program. Disclaimer: Never forget the four inhabitants of Castle Sidewalker are apolitical, and we just call it as we see it.

1. Take $4,500 of your money (as a taxpayer) give it to a total stranger and tell them to get rid of their old ride and buy a new car.

2. Joe your local mechanic, who has had a totally viable family business for four generations servicing the older cars in the neighborhood is out of business within six months.

3. The bloated car manufacturers will implode next year instead of this year, because there will be no one left to buy new cars as all the demand has been brought forward due to the cash for clunkers program.

The big question is how do we profit from this? The simple answer; buy vacant lots in the Detroit area because they are going to have to park these cars somewhere unless they stop making them!

I have published this post on auto (pardon the pun) as you know I’m away.
Feel free to comment…

-Luke Sidewallker
-Current balance $18.30

The last eighteen months or so have been a torrid time in the financial markets, but it never fails to amaze me the amount of apathy I see from the general population towards this subject as I walk around. I have come to the conclusion that this apathy is born out of the main stream media’s mediocre coverage of what has been unfolding in front of us. So with that in mind I thought today I would do a Sidewalker synopsis of the TARP program; hopefully this will bring some clarity to what can be a very difficult subject.

1) The banks became insolvent because they made too many poor performing real estate loans.

2) TARP was then created to float the banks. “Your money” (as a taxpayer) was given to the banks via the Treasury and Federal Reserve at very favorable rates ~0% to 0.25%.

3) The banks then lend “your money” back to you via credit cards, mortgages, loans etc. at rates ranging from 6% to 30% depending on your credit worthiness!

Are you still having a great day!? I’m not an activist, I will not be organizing any “Tea Parties” and the like. My goal writing about this subject is to provoke thought from the guy/gal in the street on what I consider to be a very important issue. This issue thus far appears to have fallen through the cracks somewhere between American Idol and their new iPhone.

I understand that my summary above is very brief, and laid out in the simplest of terms. If it is well received I will consider doing more posts like this to shine the Sidewalker flashlight of clarity on the murky world of finance. I leave you with this question, if you lent someone $10 interest free, how happy would you be if you went to borrow it back and they charged you 18% for the privilege? Now think in billions…

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $15.59

Ever since I found that 1957 Wheat Back penny last week I have done some more research into the different types of pennies in circulation. Now that I have got the concept in my head that not all pennies are created equal, I decided to draw up a wish list of those I would like to find in the street. So in no particular order here goes.

1. 1943 Steel Cent. During the Second World War there was a shortage of copper, so the 1943 pennies were made from zinc coated steel. The only US issued coin ever to be made from steel.

2. Indian Head Cent. Struck between 1859 and 1909.

3. All four 2009 Lincoln Cents. These four special edition pennies will have different scenes from Lincoln’s life on the reverse.

While I’m on the subject of rarities, a Government bureaucrat in Washington spoke the truth today. If you want to see what it looks like when members of our “free” press, (in this case a financial cable tv channel, bought and paid for by the bankers) try to sandbag said official, then click on this link to the Market Ticker blog run by Karl Denninger and enjoy. If the subject matter does not make you feel queasy, the treatment of the Inspector General for TARP, Mr. Barofsky definitely will! I’m just the man in the street (albeit picking up change), but when Congress signed off on TARP wasn’t it $700 Billion, how did we get to $23.7 Trillion (with a T, that is no typo)? I feel like Rip Van Winkle, did I fall asleep and miss something?

Just to stress this blog is apolitical, but the Sidewalker’s don’t like getting robbed just like the majority of you out there. When I see a wrong, not matter what part of the political spectrum it emanates from, I call it! As a taxpayer, Mr. Barofsky maybe our only hope…

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.16 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

Can you believe that! I had a little rant about everyone driving too much on Saturday (see below), then first thing Monday morning the CEO of the biggest car manufacturer GM (otherwise known as Gimme Money) gets fired, by none other than the President of the United States himself Mr. Obama. In my memory I have never seen the CEO of a private company get fired by a President -in this country at least-, this is not a political blog, which is just as well, because my mind is still wrestling with the rights and/or wrongs of that action! Still it’s good to know that President Obama is clearly an avid follower my blog, Mr. President the “followers” section is to the lower right of this post feel free to sign up.

Meanwhile Mr. Wagoner has got some time on his hands, and being a former fat cat exec without a current revenue stream, may I be so bold as to suggest you get out there on the sidewalks of America and start picking the cash up. The walk will do you good and I’m sure the cash wouldn’t be unwelcome at this juncture…

On a side note, 11 cents found today, locations on map.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current Balance $6.51