4/20/09

I'll go ahead and make one of my pointless economic prognostications, based on a single data point that probably should never be extrapolated to mean anything. I've been a cardmember with American Express since 1999. I've never had a spending limit and never failed to pay my balance in full at the end of the month. A few years ago, I added a Blue account to give me some flexibility in case of emergency. It had a $6,000 limit and, as I made the transition into a new profession, there were a few times that money got tight. I was able to carry a balance from month to month on the Blue card, in contrast to the 'paid in full' Gold Card. The balance never got above $1,500 and had been zero for at least the last two years. Two months ago, my $6,000 limit was cut to $500. Today, both the Blue card (with no balance on it) and the Gold card (with only the current month's charges outstanding) were cancelled.

No skin off my nose there. If they don't want my business, then they can kiss my ass. My ATM card has a Visa logo so I can use it pretty much anywhere I go when I'm not carrying cash. I liked the American Express for the rewards program, but that's about it. I never carried a balance anyway. Now we get to the prognostication. There are, from what I've read tonight, lots of folks like me getting squeezed out by these card issuers on account of the fact that we don't accrue and pay high interest rates or late fees. But the online economy is a pretty big driving force these days. What happens when I'm sitting around and drinking a beer, thinking that I might like to sign up to buy a new Mrs. Godfather or something? With only my checking account to access, I probably pass. With my good old American Express... well, I probably still would have passed, but you get the point. This account cancelling deal appears to be one more of those downward pressures on consumer spending that adds to the negative feedback loop. AmEx will lose its rather pricey 4.5% vig from the merchants on every purchase that I make. They'll lay off more people. The retailers will lose some of the money that I am known to waste. Etc., etc. Probably better for the long term stability of the markets though.

So that was about the only interesting thing about today. I got my truck back from the dealership this morning. I don't know how clutches really work, but apprently they loosen up over time. Before mine went on the fritz, it would go through a pretty long range of motion. As it stands now, the damn thing only moves about eight inches from top to bottom. Stops the gears like a champ though. I got all the other loose ends tied up so it looks like I'm ready to be a productive member of the workforce again for a while. Maybe there will even be some work for me to do in the morning.