job search update, credit card rate increases, Tea party

OK, now that I've probably upset my very Christian parents with my religious admissions in the last blog, on to something else...

While Jenny still has not heard back from option 1 (the one she should have heard back from over a week ago now), she did do a face-to-face with another option today, and they told her that they would like her to come back for a second face-to-face next week. So, good job today, Jenny! Not exactly a high-powered (or -paying) position, but it's a great chance to get her foot in the door at a good company for once *cough*. She is also partway through week 2 of her temporary data entry job, and they want her back for at least another week. Not great pay, and she hates data entry, but it's still better than unemployment. They really like her work, so maybe that will pan out into something else interesting, who knows?

I heard on the news this morning that a lot of big banks are drastically increasing the interest rates on their credit cards, as much as a 100% increase. And these are the same banks that received bailout money from taxpayers. So, yeah, the companies are taking our money to remain afloat, since they're "too big to fail", and then they're taking our money to remain afloat a second time by doubling up interest rates on credit cards. Gee, I wonder who could be affected by huge interest rate jumps on credit cards? Maybe the poor and the working class, who can't afford big purchases outright? The people who are losing their homes because they can no longer afford their mortgages? Here's hoping our government puts their foot down on these companies for this, yet another 'screw-our-customers-while-we-get-rich' business idea.

Next off, how many of you have heard of the TEA Party going on today? The TEA Party, short for Taxed Enough Already, and set to mimic the Boston Tea Party, is a protest not of taxes, but of what the government does with our tax money. Protesters voiced concerns over rampant government spending as our tax dollars are used to bail out companies and to try and stimulate the economy. I really don't know what to think about this. I mean, on the one hand, it's absolutely sickening to think about how much money is being spent in efforts to fix the economy- money that puts us further into debt, making us look even more to the rest of the world like a bad credit risk. On the other hand, if that's what it takes to get us out of this mess, then so be it. Deficit spending certainly seemed to help with the Great Depression...as did World War II. But let's get back to a balanced budget as soon as we can once the economy picks up. So, what do you think??

One fun note- for those of you who haven't seen the video, there is a clip from Britain's Got Talent making the rounds. It's a woman who everyone, judges included, expects to make a huge fool of herself on the talent show, but, well, that doesn't exactly happen.

-Douglas