Biking without a helmet

I got a ride several miles out of town to the volunteer-run bike shop to get a bicycle cheap. I was promised a helmet with the purchase, but the helmet they had for me was far too small. "Just don't fall down pedaling back".

I fell down at least twice.

Fortunately, I sacrificed my left shoulder for my unprotected skull, and can now almost move it.

With my glasses, dork-hair, bruised skin and pedaling in my hush puppies, I made the conclusion that I am not an outdoorsman. Fortunately, people on the trail were nice enough to make sure I wasn't dead.

This past week at work I barely met my first deadline, helping to get a letter of intent of to a foundation in the big city. I got that crazy pang of fear in the stomach I used to get at university, hastily editing papers that are due in five minutes. But when you hand in the paper, you feel relieved, and I got that feeling, too, this week. To celebrate, I went to the library to check out some art books, went to the grocery store to get some beer, and chilled out in my rented room watching episodes of Perfect Strangers online.

I am not an outdoorsman. This could be a problem. I do not have a car, I live in a small town, and I can barely ride a bicycle. But I have plenty of time, since the days are getting longer and warmer. I also have goals. The Pacific Ocean is fifteen miles away. I could take a bus out there, but, if my bike does not collapse on the next few trips, I will pedal out to the coast. I have not seen the Pacific Ocean up close in ten years.

I'll wait a few months. Just in case I fracture half my bones and have to go home, I can have something on my resume for all the effort.

While sitting beside the trail back to town, recuperating from one of my multiple falls, I thought about my bind. My brain likes physical work, while my body prefers a desk job. I can barely endure eight hours at my desk everyday. Then again, I was fired from my last job because I failed to bake the bread fast enough and I was actually allergic to flour. Non drousy Sudafed got rid of the sniffles, but the poor quality of Michigan tap water caused my hands to chap and crack. The yeast also turned my fingers red. But I at least felt sane.

What I really need is a job that involves labor, but also a desk to sit at time and again to keep my skin from falling off. It probably does not exist.

I made peace with myself and mounted my bike again. So I'm not a mountaineer; whatever. Neither was Kerouac. I am just a Yankee born in Massachusetts. Come to think of it, so was he.

Also, Teddy Roosevelt fell off his horse in front of everybody his first day with the Rough-Riders.

Happy Presidents Day.

The time has come for a new tax credit...

Just had an awesome idea. If it works politicians can use it to re-educate the country without having to do the right thing by resurrecting the public education system.

It's called the Reading Credit.

On your tax return there are a list of credits you could claim that could reduce your tax liability to zero. There are also a list of refundable credits you could claim to increase your refund.

For every book you buy at an independent or used bookstore, following the policy behind the Reading Credit you could take a certain amount off of your tax liability. Maybe it would work better at the state or city level. People usually get a refund from their federal return, but then end up owing the state something substantial.

Anyway, book purchases should be made deductible. But their deductibility should depend on what kind of book you buy. Imagine government debates over the tax benefits possible from reading Herman Melville.

If I had it my way,

Ann Coulter= $0.01
Dan Brown= $0.13
Contemporary Fiction= $0.15
Contemporary Poetry= $0.30
Anything from the New York Times Book Review that year= $0.40
Anything mentioned in the Economist= the shipping cost
Anything in a foreign language= $1
Art History from Yale University Press= $1.25
Art History from Taschen= you can afford an accountant
Science books by actual authors=$1.50
Architectural History=$2
Economics and Current events=$3
Travel books=$5 (if you actually visit the damn country)
Religious history=$6.66
European History=$6.75
Howard Zinn=$7
English Literature before 1900= $7.35
Any Literature before 1900=$7.50
Greek Comedy=$7.75
Greek Tragedy=$8
Science books by actual scientists=$8.20
French Philosophy=$8.50
German Philosophy=$9
Greek Philosophy=$11

If anyone has any suggestions or a list of their own...

On Progress

My second week of work involved a lot of information. My boss and I created a work plan. Much of the plan for this week demanded my familiarization with conventional finance and community development finance. Credit. Access to Credit. Equity.

I got bored pretty quickly.

But boredom is no excuse. I needed to learn about these things in order to review past grant applications and future funding opportunities.

Somewhere in the mix I came across the practices of credit unions. Hurray for the credit unions! I was so happy. I thought we would be working with these bastions of monetary virtue to help the agricultural community.

Then three minutes later my boss mentioned that they were gouging young farmers with attractive programs containing hidden interest rates.

O come now! These are the credit unions. The epitome of third way economics. Co-ownership. It does not get any better than the unions. They are the harbingers of progress.

Then it hit me. Progress is not the end. Progress is the means. The action, not the fruits of action. Americans need to learn how to progress, not shoot for Progress. Over a century ago, credit unions represented humans progressing from conventional banking methods to locally supported economies through member driven finance. Credit unions are not progress; they represent progress.

I believe that no matter how many benchmarks we make, there will always be reasons for progressing. Society ignores injustices until they expand to an unprecedented level.

Theoretically, I still think credit unions and cooperatives of all sorts are favorable. But I must honor progress by acting, even if it means turning a critical eye, on institutions I agree with.

Next week, I may be further researching the interest rates of credit unions. But that does not mean I am against them. It means that I am enacting my natural instinct to progress.

Fleeting Resources

I returned yesterday from a workshop in northern California for farmers who were either planning to pass their business to their kids or other young farmers. There was also financial planning education for young farmers so they could learn how to manage their income and expenses.

I cannot say that I know enough about financial planning. I am in my early twenties and have not gotten married, bought a house or a car, and am just beginning to make a living for myself (despite the VERY modest living allowance I earn for my work). Of course, like many young people my age, we have family pipelines that help us out once in a while.

Pipelines are not a bad thing, but my demographic needs to acknowledge that there are a greater number than us of young Americans who do not have that kind of support. Acknowledging one another is the subject of a later post.

This post is about finance. Money. And Religion. The popular phrase "the religion of money" implies more than is stated. Devotion to money could be religious, but it could also be obsessive. My interpretation of "the religion of money" is the accessibility to certain spheres of information.

Centuries ago, literacy was limited for many reasons. What allowed reading and writing to rise during the renaissance was the translation of the Bible out of Latin and into the local language. Luther's German translation of the Bible made the theological sphere more accessible. Prior to Luther's Reformation, religion's governance over Europe relied upon the illiteracy of its followers. But now, religion is a component of everyday life rather than the principle.

Though people try to live according to religious principles, they cannot ignore their financial responsibilities, or at least admit that they come first. The reason why many people fail financially is because the knowledge of money is not very accessible.

Like religion, money's governance relies upon limited accessibility. Though universities offer classes in accounting, the students who take those classes have already taken out loans for tuition and opened checking accounts littered with fees for everything short of shitting.

I cannot expect everyone to know how to file their tax returns. Just as I cannot expect churchgoers to recite Luther's or Calvin's treatises on providence.

What I think all Americans should expect is a high school education that addresses how to manage money, define terms like accrual and equity, and perhaps explain the foundations behind the Federal Tax Code. The reason why so many Americans are blank when it comes to finance is because college aged brains begin to resist the reception of information.

But that would be hoping for too much I guess. If it's difficult for adults, then teenagers just wouldn't get it.