The truth is, my sister feeds me lots of ideas for this blog. With five children aged 15 - 21 she is most engaged in the world. All hail to Sister Sheila. A little left of center she is, and that is to my left  - she sends me great foder. Time after time, she is right on. Today is no different; she introduced me to Mr Schott.

For those of you not familiar Ben's Schott's Vocabulary, this column is featured daily in the New York Times: http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/ Ben showcases new words or phrases that 'we' make up and begin using until hitting the tipping point and then next thing you know, everyone is saying.

I will always remember my first car. It was suweeet and afforded me luxuries beyond mere transportation! (No worries…. there will be no TMI, X- rated shares in this forum; at least not today. But, if you would like to be inspired and remember your 'glory' years, check out Fiat's latest commercial..... not too much imagination required on this one! cleaning_dads_car_after_date.wmv (2.29 mb) ).

The year was 1984. For those of us on the planet, it was a smoking year. I was getting ready to move out of my parent’s home –with my collar turned up and my groovatron ‘mullet’ hairstyle. Be clear, I thought I was looking good. Mmmmm.

I needed independence. I needed wheels. Simply put, living at home cramps the style and ‘success rate’ of a 23 year old. I called my Grandmother in North Dakota, and like a champion, G sent me hard cash. I purchased from my sister's old beau a matchbox-sized turquoise colored Fred Flintstone Fiat. (For their current global line-up visit  <http://www.fiat.com> ).

Alas, I was free.  

Some technical problems didn’t slow me down. The heater for starters. No matter how many trips to the mechanic, the heat simply didn’t work. The radio and speakers provided no sound or tunes. No worries for a resourceful girl like me – I had my battery powered cassette deck and would jam to Peter Gabriel, Flock of Seagulls & Tears for Fears on my travels. Freedom didn’t last long. My Fiats’ rear axle broke in half in 1985 driving on Freeport Road in Fox Chapel. Within a decade, the Fiat brand was no longer sold in the Unites States.  

So, it warms the cockle of my heart to know that my ‘first’ will once gain be coming back. Something Old, Something New. Like a vengeance, Fiat of Italy may be roaring back into the States as they are looking at purchasing 35% controlling interest in Chrysler LLC. Welcome back, old friend.

Drive Your Bargain,

Anne

www.twitter.com/annefleming

I didn’t graduate cum laude. Ok, the fact is, I barely graduated. That is not the point. There remains something grossly unsettled and quite daunting about the second bailout for the guys at AIG, or as I will now refer to them as, the Abduction Investment Gamblers.

Another 30 Billion dollars? This begs some queries & comments, and a sample of my latest lyrics:

1. Who has access to the digitized photos of  “Fed Number One”?
2. In fact, who are the Feds other than an independent group of 12 banks that are more like a corporation? They were established in 1913, but I wonder, dare say, how do they receive and reserve the right to determine which companies “deserve” the bailout money?
3. Who was responsible for forecasting the $150 Billion in loans AIG has already received - and, just months later, the company needs another hit? Who under forecasted the amount needed by 20%? Fire the bastard, for they know not what they do.
4. With this $180 Billion, the recent and now 5 million unemployed Americans could each receive a salary of $36,000.
5. The Feds said that AIG would get more money as they are simply “too large to fail”? What does that mean? Let’s take a look at companies who have failed:  Worldcom, 2002; Enron, 2001; Conesco, 2002; Texaco, 1987; Financial Corp of America, 1988. Do you miss 'em? Did people lose money with these companies folding? Damn straight they did. And, the companies went bankrupt anyway. (There is a formula that even I remember from finance and goverment classes that still has application today: the balance and play of SUPPLY and DEMAND. Oh yea.... greed, also.) 
6. In 2008, AIG was the 18th largest corporation in America. Does that mean if the other 17 even larger companies “fail” we will bail them out, too?
7. And while I am at it, as a shareholder of Citicorp, I am sending the Board of Directors a letter for atrociously managing this public company. They make money off of people spending money, and yet, are so upside down the government now owns a portion of them. If you or I ran any of said companies, we would be in jail.

Kayne and I will be on our Cash & Rapture tour this Spring. Here is a sampling from our latest and we dedicate it to AIG:

“This bailout money is an addiction

Brother and sister are so full of friction

Hear them screaming in their kitchen

Bonuses with no admission

This cash is politico fiction

I am getting on my high horse bitch’n

Power is a superstition

The country has gone fishin’

And those that hope and those that are wishin’

I got one thing to say if you think so or not:  

All this money, honey,

It ain't nothing but fiction.”

Ok, it's time to make dinner and to go buy a car.

Drive Your Bargain,

Anne   twitter.com/annefleming