Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

So far this has been the scariest Halloween season ever. For the past few days I've been just a tiny bit completely obsessed with our financial future -- or lack thereof. Up until this week I thought I was obsessed by the presidential election (I'm something of a political junkie, following politics in much the same way normal men follow sports, although I'm less objective and reasonable about it). This week, though, events overtook the election. I've never followed the stock market, even when it is significantly high or low. Now I'm checking the Dow and Ford stock constantly. I need an iPhone app that shows me Ford's cash reserves and sales figures in real time. 

I don't so much care about the money per se (although a lot of our retirement is in stocks - particularly Ford stock). It's our family lifestyle that I feel is threatened. Things have been good. We've been living comfortably, in a very nice house, and near to much of our extended families. Most importantly, with me away at work only two days a week, we've had a family life and been able to enjoy being parents. 

It was nice while it lasted. 

As I have mentioned before, our backup plan (if something catastrophic happened at Ford) was to move away to a region of the country that wasn't dying on the vine and start over. It would be painful, but possible. As of this week, though, the odds of something catastrophic happening at Ford have increased, and the odds of finding a healthy part of the country (or the world, for that matter) seem quite diminished. In fact, there is a terrible causal relationship between the two problems: Decreasing financial health of other places in the world increases our potential need to find a better place. It isn't certain doom for Ford, Michigan, or us, but our condition has been downgraded from "serious" to "critical." 

Sarah and her colleagues are working hard to bring Ford back. If they can pull it off they're going to have one heck of a story to tell for generations. These are historic times.

In the mean time, wouldn't you like to buy a nice Ford Flex or F-150? Sarah can get you a deal. And really, isn't a car a better investment nowadays than stock?