random thoughts during a break....

[lagilman]

Reading the financial news these days seems even more an exercise is masochism than before -- not only is the news bad, but the lack of shame/common decency at the top is even more glaringly apparent. I may live quite happily in a Capitalist economy, but that doesn't mean I can't also wish for a wall and blindfold and a rifle for some of the players....

Still. Black Friday should be interesting. Folk, there are some decent buys out there, if you need/want something, and you don't even have to wait until Friday! (and on-line means shopping at 3am isn't the sign of addiction, just insomnia).

On a related tangent or two:
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For those of you following the H-M "we will buy no more books" broohaha, relax. Yeah, we hate hearing it. But the only thing that' setting H-M apart from probably every other major house is that they made a public announcement about it, probably hoping to slow down the flood of submissions from agents and allow them to sort through what they do have. Times are tough, credit is crunched, and a publishing house with a healthy inventory and solid schedule can take a break every now and again, especially if they want to reduce the money flowing out until more comes in. Believe me, they left enough loopholes to let them buy something they really want, if it appears.

If the freeze continues into 2009, then we can start to worry.

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Follow up to the previous financial post:

Today the mail brought a letter from my other major card with changes to my agreement:

-APR for cash advances is the Prime pus 17.99% (which brings them to about 29.9%, same as the other card)
-APR for late payment is Prime plus 14.9% [IF during the review period any portion of the minimum due is not credited by the due date. So they give you little wiggle room in case of a transaction screw up, but not much]
-APR for default is Prime plus 23.99. Owch. But default will get you slammed, yeah.
-Transactions made in foreign currencies are now tagged with a 2.7% rate. Ouch. So much for credit cards being better to use than cash.. [it may still be, depending on your ATM rate, but less and less so]

On the other hand, my credit union just offered me a Visa credit card through them with an introductory APR of 6.99% subject to a maximum of 17.99%. Plus, you're given a 20 day grace period to replay balances before being it with a finance charge. All these terms can change as quickly as any other card's, though, once you're past the intro period, so be careful when you do sign up for a new card...

Comments

[house-draven.livejournal.com]

I am *furious* at the attitude we're seeing on Wall Street. Absolutely livid over it. And you know how generally pro-business I am. Right now I think we should hang the bastards and start over.

And I'm still furious about the bailout. I think they should have given *us* that money, let us pay off our mortgages, and then there wouldn't have *been* a mortgage crisis at all. We're looking at a $15,000 pay cut, and those execs are floating away scot-free. Grrrrrrrrrrr. It's not even as if we could move to another city that might be doing better because we can't sell this house!

[handworn.livejournal.com]

Really puts paid to the "the market will regulate itself" notion, doesn't it?

[house-draven.livejournal.com]

Yeah. *grumbles to self some more*

[anisosynchronic.livejournal.com]

There were excellent reasons for the term "robber barons" and for the term being applied to corporatist corporate executives in "the gilded age(s)."

[house-draven.livejournal.com]

What I don't understand is why the government feels the need to throw money at these corporations instead of throwing it at us, the consumers. Mortgage crisis? Give *us* the money to pay our mortgages. Problem solved. Everybody's happy.

[julibeth.livejournal.com]

My sister is the kind of massochistic fool who wakes up at 4am Friday morning to wait in lines. And she draggs her husband, too!

[lagilman]

I was married to someone like that -- we were up and out at a slightly more reasonable 7am every year. Sayng 'hell no' wasn't an option.

Sleeping in on Black Friday still feels like a guilty pleasure...

[I love December. I just don't love The Holidays. If that make sense...]

[julibeth.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, my brother in law is a genuine irish man. No thanksgiving there, lol.

And yeah, that makes complete sense. The holidays seem weird to me, since I'll be working both thanksgiving and christmas.

[handworn.livejournal.com]

Believe me, they left enough loopholes to let them buy something they really want, if it appears.

Except isn't an author running the same risk of his or her book becoming shopworn for less chance of it being taken, by submitting now? (I know, many authors don't have the luxury of not trying for it.)

[lagilman]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'shopworn"....

Right now, they're saying to agents "we're not buying, so don't send us anything until we open the shutters again." What this means, really, is "if you have option material for our top people, or something Absolutely Fabulous, you have our phone number. Otherwise, see ya in 2009."

In today's economy, and considering they've recently merged with another large house and therefore probably have more overlapping inventory than they do slots, this move isn't surprising at all. Far better to say "no thanks, we're full," than to get rid of any of that inventory, no?

If they're still closed at the end of February, and haven't bought anything, then we can all do the Panic Dance.

[handworn.livejournal.com]

Well, I know next to nothing about the publishing industry, but I guess I mean over-familiar in the minds of potential purchasers. If an editor thinks he or she remembers a book already read last year when fewer purchases were possible, he or she might be less likely to read it again this year when conditions are better. That's what I meant.

Certainly it's not a bad thing for everyone to touch base with their roots, do some spring cleaning, do some debt reduction, get themselves grounded, before feeling confident about moving forward.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

I profoundly believe in good credit unions (not all of them are). I thought about changing my primary bank account to the one out here that held the mortgage on this house, but something told me not to.

Now the mortgage is held by the credit union back in New Mexico, and I am profoundly glad of it. The bank here can't even credit local-check deposits to my account for at least three days. It's unbelievable.