History was made! Barack Obama was elected President of the United States!  I am very optimistic that this will lead to a brighter future in the long run.

I was laid off. The economic downturn and so on led to yet another round of cutbacks at my old company.  Though it stinks to experience this I am comforted by the knowledge that it wasn’t about me or my performance: just another blind, pointless swing of the layoff axe.

The economy continued to tank. No surprise there.

I’m working on weight loss (again). We’ll see how that goes.

Beginnings: Tomorrow we elect a new president of these United States.  I think that man will be Barack Obama.  On August 28, 1963 my namesake Martin Luther King dreamt of a world where his children and indeed all people, “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”.  Just over 45 years later we are on the verge of electing a man of color to the highest office in the land.  Here’s the links (video or text) to his historic and prophetic speech.

Somewhere, Dr. King is smiling… in fact, I think he’s standing shoulder to shoulder with Madelyn Payne Dunham (Barack’s recently-departed grandmother) waiting to see the election results come in.  I sincerely hope that his election will help start healing the wounds that divide this country both ideologically and racially, and will open an entirely new (and better) chapter in our great history.

One the one hand, it’s between him, her and their families as to how to deal with it (shades of Clinton, but hardly impeachable even if he had gotten elected).  On the other hand, imagine if he had been the Democratic nominee right now?  That would be tantamount to handing John “Dubya” McCain the presidency!  Talk about foolish!  I don’t hate the man… he has a lot of good ideas about fixing the healthcare system in this country… but his dalliance could’ve given us four more years of “staying the course” by default, and that’s pretty damned irresponsible (though not nearly as irresponsible as starting this damned war in the first place).

I should know: in 1998, after almost 8 years of college, I had racked up close to $84K in student loans and credit cards!  Mind you, I was never late on a payment nor did I default on any of that debt, but I was toeing a very fine line between solvency and bankruptcy for many, many years.

I’ve often pointed at my previous heart valve issue as having informed my life from around 1995 through 2002 (when it was repaired), but even more pervasive was the effect of being effectively broke for almost 20 years, virtually all my adult life!  All the chronic stress and worry over those two situations have led in large part to my being overweight for many years now.  There were many other stressors but they were either transient (e.g., relationship troubles) or subordinate to the debt, such as job stress (no job would’ve meant no getting out of debt!) and the stress and diminished self-esteem associated with weight gain.

It’s ironic, really… I spent a lot on food over the years precisely because I was under such stress, thus increasing my weight and my debt, leading to more stress!  Such a vicious cycle… I continued to sink into debt (and even bought a new car, though I kept it for many years) and at the worst point in January, 2000 I was nearly $110K in the hole (but again, though I was still forbearing the student loans I remained regular and current on all my other payments).  The most stressful years (other than the last couple) were 2000-2002…

In 2000 a long relationship I was in ended over the course of the year. I came a hair’s breadth of reaching my weight loss goal but not for long (stress has a way of thwarting such things). I consolidated my student loans with a federal consolidation loan, though the interest rate – nearly 8% – was ridiculously high and would never be reduced under that program [see a footnote about this at the end of this blog].  I went to Switzerland with someone I barely knew (it was fun!) and had several other romantic adventures as well.  However, my net worth remained stubbornly around -$108K throughout the year.

In 2001 it became clear that I’d need heart surgery within the next year or two to fix the valve problem.  Meanwhile, at work I was left as the only person who could do my (pretty critical) job as people left or were laid off all around me.  I didn’t get any significant time off in the entire year, no long vacations, just a day here and there.  Even 9/11 found me performing yet another “urgent” task at work, all day and late into the night.  It was perhaps the most absurd year of my life, though in that year I managed to halve my credit card debt I nearly ruined my physical and mental health in the process.

In 2002 I was finally able to take time off and was in a relationship for several months, but all too soon it was time for the heart surgery at the end of May.  It was successful and I was quickly back to work, but then 2 months later I got the final bill: despite having excellent insurance for some bizarre reason the Cleveland Clinic (where the doctors all worked exclusively) was not in the network even though the doctors and surgeons were!  So, after years of religiously paying down my debt I was faced with a nearly $100K bill and likely bankruptcy (and that was a huge spike of stress and despair, let me tell ya!)  Fortunately I successfully appealed the claim and it was paid normally (it was a uniquely bizarre situation, through no fault of my own… and as it turned out the next year they started out-of-network coverage in general).  Again, I was very, very fortunate!

The next few years saw me finish paying off my credit cards.  In late 2002 I ended my forbearance and started making regular minimum payments to my student loans.  2003 finally saw my debt trending below $90K, and by the end of the year I had less debt than when I graduated from college.

There’s something to be said for student loans, and if the interest rate was more like 2-3% I’d almost certainly have paid off the car or stashed more in savings first! (I discuss this more below.)  Some benefits of a federal student loan are in my experience *:

• One can forbear the loan without getting a ding on one’s credit report for quite a while
• One can defer the loan similarly if one is in school
• The loan completely disappears if one dies

On the other hand *, nothing short of certain forgiveness programs (teaching is one, I believe, and military service may be as well) and death (the outstanding loan doesn’t go to your estate) make such debt go away early.  Go bankrupt?  That loan will still be there!

While keeping this loan gave me more cushion in the bank and some security in case of job loss (since I could effectively “pause” the loan with no great negative effect on my credit) it was pretty damned expensive for something I couldn’t even deduct the interest for on my taxes (and the interest rate is anymore far more than a current mortgage).  It also led to an enormous burden of chronic stress.

With all that in mind, in 2005 I began paying my student loans in earnest.  My original loan payoff date (after I consolidated it) was 9/28/2027 (barring forbearance, of which I had about 3 years available), with over $500/month in minimum payments.  Had I simply followed the original payment schedule I’d have spent over $98K in interest and I’d be practically retired before I’d have paid the damned thing off!  By paying it early I cut the potential total interest by more than 50%.

There were times I’d reconsider my overpayments: job instability was a recurring reason I found myself shifting more into savings at the expense of the loan debt at times.  But it’s not a very sound long-term strategy: when you do the math even 4% interest on a savings account or CD is effectively only about 2.5% interest after taxes, versus paying down a debt at 8% interest (there’s no tax bite for paying off a debt!)  I kept track of all this on some massive spreadsheets I created over the years, detailing ALL my finances and projecting them years into the future.  When you run a few payment versus savings scenarios with the right data and assumptions you quickly see the folly in not paying off high-interest debt!

All of these things led to my accomplishing several goals and milestones now and in the coming weeks, after almost 10 years of working hard to achieve them:

• My final student loan payment should apply to my account later today (I entered it yesterday).  I spent a skosh more than the original principal on interest (I used the maximum $46,000 of undergrad loans in college and the interest was just over $46,200).  It’s really astounding… I only crossed that more-interest-than-the-original-loan line back in March.
• My 10 year anniversary at work is coming up soon.  It’s amazing that despite layoffs and turmoil I’m still there but it was integral to achieving this goal.
• As of this month, and excluding retirement funds, I’m financially “in the black” for the first time in almost 18 years!
• I haven’t paid credit card interest in over 4 years (though I’ve paid interest on my car loan, it’s just not quite the same somehow).

Do I still have debt?  None, other than my vehicle loan (the vehicle happens to be worth more than the loan, the interest rate is low and I could pay it off tomorrow from savings if I really wanted to).  So effectively I’m debt-free as of this month and am squirreling away money in savings for future endeavors (and as a financial safeguard).

With this major goal of paying off debt and achieving a positive net worth accomplished the next major goal of reducing fat and reducing stress comes back to the fore! I’m damned lucky not to have any medical effects because of my weight (yet!) and I’d like to keep it that way… if I could manage to effectively pay off all my debts then I can certainly accomplish my goal of getting fit!  It makes a world of difference when you can put the worst stressor in your life fully behind you and move on.

A footnote concerning loan consolidation as it relates to my former student loans: Beware of companies that claim they can re-consolidate a federal consolidated student loan into another federal consolidated student loan and somehow reduce your rate on the original consolidated loan!  I nearly fell for this with a very large provider a couple of years ago.  In short, while after federal consolidation you can often consolidate that way again if you have new student loans, the interest rate is blended! Thus it won’t help you lower that first consolidated interest rate for that first loan’s part of the balance.  Plus, the practice may be illegal when they claim they can reconsolidate without a second loan to fold in (I got the paperwork and it was quite clear I’d be wrong to sign it… I wisely shredded it and didn’t go any further).  When you sign that paperwork it’s pretty clear there are huge penalties for lying so make sure you aren’t being misled into doing just that by an over-zealous loan provider!

* Disclaimer: I’m no financial advisor… consult your financial aid office or a reputable and ethical student loan provider for the most current and correct information on federal student loans!

And along comes Obama, and suddenly you see someone who can bring people together, who can speak to people of all classes, races and creeds, not with the voice of self-righteousness but with thought and consideration.  I’ve started reading his book, The Audacity of Hope, and already I’m impressed.  He doesn’t have all the answers and he admits as much (Bush – from day one – has shown unwavering hubris in this regard).  Is he perfect?  Nope.  But he certainly comes across as authentic.

I wrote a while back about the 2008 Election season, which was just heating up.  I still think Obama hasn’t got all the foreign policy experience one might want, but unlike Dubya I think he’d be a quick learner, listening instead of just reacting, considering rather than jumping to unwavering conclusions.

Hillary?  I was a big fan of Bill Clinton… but in retrospect I’m not as big a fan as I was (primarily because of some of his foreign policy decisions, and good ol’ NAFTA).  The nation is overdue for a woman as President, but she’s schooled in the art of old-time politicking, as evidenced by her underhanded attacks on the other candidates (mainly Obama now).  The only change she’d bring is a change to the political arena is in gender… it’d be the same stale old Democratic politics other than that.

As for McCain, he is more than happy to keep us in Iraq indefinitely, and his stand on torture is vexing.  Sure, he’s not playing well with the extreme right-wingers but he’s still paying lip-service to the same destructive policies.  And he’s old… with age comes wisdom but in his case it just makes him less flexible and more risky a choice.

I suggested that John Edwards was the best person for the job.  I still think he had the best plan for health care and in general always seemed to be a man of principles.  I could still see him making a difference now – as Obama’s Vice Presidential running mate.

I do worry about one thing with Obama: he’ll be a lightning-rod of sorts – just by virtue of his race – to the lunatic right-wing fringe.  I sincerely hope that even they lend him an ear and hear what he has to say.  I look at Obama and the first thing I see, before I think of race or anything else, is our next President.  I find that to be a small wonder in itself, and a testament to his rising above politics-as-usual.

On a political note, I’d be quite pleased to see John Edwards elected as the next president. His stance on the uninsured resonates with me, and he seems like a good and authentic person (unlike our current King George). As for the others:

• Al Gore isn’t running yet, but if he ends up running I’ll have a tough time choosing between him and Edwards… the current leadership is up to the tops of their metaphorical waders in bubblin’ crude and have done nothing but waste time denying that billions of tons of CO2 by us tiny little humans can have any effect on such a big planet (founded on a religious belief in “dispensationalism”, that is, no matter what we do it doesn’t matter because God’ll fix it anyway). It’s time for a radical revision of our environmental policy.
• Barak Obama seems to be a good person as well but he’s rather inexperienced at a time when we really need someone more seasoned (some time as Veep would hone his foreign policy experience and generally increase his breadth and depth in preparation for a future term or two as president). He is quite popular though, so we’ll see.
• Hillary Clinton: she just has not come across as strong or decisive on the big issues (particularly Iraq and even her old favorite, universal health care), and though we’re way overdue for a woman president, that doesn’t mean she’s the right choice. If she was elected I see a whole lot of nothing getting done, except perhaps more general discord.

For those of you who are leaning towards Republican candidates… the funny thing for me is how un-Republican the Republican party has become. About 10 years ago I noted that the “party of smaller government” was spending an awful lot of time promoting and investing in more government. Even old guard Republicans have noticed the irony. I recommend American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips, which examines this phenomenon. Look at how much taxpayer time and money Republicans have spent on legislating their version of sexual morality, while holding out against any sort of universal health care that encourages people to get proper care. Buy a sex toy in Texas and your immorality is punishable by law; die from an inability to afford quality medical care and it’s just too bad. That’s just twisted.

Letting Americans die of preventable diseases for lack of proper healthcare coverage is pretty cold (dying because a disease is not caught until it’s too late due to a lack of preventive care, primarily due to being economically disadvantaged). Letting people die of AIDS in poor nations for a lack of (artificially) costly medicine is reprehensible… as if letting people die is preferable to giving away medicine at cost to those who can in no way afford it’s market price. That’s moral? Nope… for those who rail against Darwin, that’s Social Darwinism at its best. It’s all about the money and control (the only way morality enters in such an equation is in judging such people unworthy of the government’s help). It’s wrong, wrong, wrong.

Note: this isn’t to say the Democrats have done much better at getting things done over the years either… but at least some of the present candidates seem to intend to make progress on the big issues in a way that goes beyond campaign fluff. I sincerely hope they do, and that this election means we don’t have any more of this foolish war, religious fundamentalism driving public policy or the general divisiveness we have today.

Are Republicans THAT different from Democrats? Not really… it’s mainly on issues of “morality” as it pertains to individuals that any difference is readily apparent across the respective parties. Edwards, Obama and (potential candidate) Gore seems to stand out from that crowd… I hope whichever of them wins proves my hunch right.

As a disclaimer, I’m not a dyed-in-the-wool liberal and I’m only conservative on a few issues (I’m centrist for the most part, left-leaning). This post is not paid for or otherwise endorsed by any of the candidates, parties or others, period. I’m just speaking my mind (warning: mind subject to change without notice…)