Women’s Suffrage and Financial Freedom

We recently watched one of my old favorite movies, “Mary Poppins” with my daughter. With the elections so near, I’m having a hard time getting this song out of my head. Ever have that happen to you? Well, since misery loves company! I thought I’d give it a share:

This ridiculous and rather offensive little song nevertheless reminds me of all of the rights that I currently enjoy as a woman in this country. Rights to freedom, rights to vote, rights to prosper. Rights that were hard won by the blood sweat and tears of countless men and women throughout history. Rights that I am not normally even grateful for.

As the election presses ever closer I find myself hopelessly disillusioned by both the candidates. Economists they are not! In fact, both sides have recently spouted so much hogwash about the economy and the financial state of the nation that I have occasionally been speechless.

So, to my mind, the election of either set of candidates cannot be considered a huge political victory. It can however, be considered an amazing victory of equality. For the first time in the history of this country we have both an African-American man, and a woman on the tickets.

America, what a long strange trip its been eh? To come down to this.

There is another issue at play during these elections though. An issue older even than equal rights and suffrage. It’s the issue of the “haves” and the “have nots”. The ever widening gap between the rich, and the poor. Wealth: challenger of nations.

The issues of class and caste, old wounds uncovered by fresh economic blood. The lower and middle classes are hungry for a champion, and the rich are struggling to hang onto their wealth. Rarely has this issue been brought to the forefront in America, rarely has it moved from the shadows into the light of day.

This is still a land of plenty, a land of a billion opportunities, even in a time of great loss. It is a land where any man or woman, by the force of their own will and hard work can amass a fortune.

In what is now undeniably an electronic age, I would like to turn the spotlight on the heralds of opportunity. Those who are leading the charge today. As so many of our brothers and sisters in ages past have given of themselves for the betterment of others, so too are these writers devoting themselves to the cause of what they believe is just and right: Equal opportunity economics.

They spend their time each day, in public forums, freely handing out the secrets to wealth and success. And they receive little commendation for it, and sometimes little profit. Yet they persevere, and they lead.

Let’s take just a moment, to follow them as they go:

• The Happy Rock has some further commentary on the presidential candidates and personal finance.
• Get Rich Slowly features the Faces of World Poverty: 20 Arresting Photographs as part of blog action day. Now matter how bad I think I may have things, all I have to do is turn around to find someone with even less.
• The Smart Spending Blog has a guest post by VH at Funny About Money. “At 63, preparing for an economic hurricane.”
• The Simple Dollar is doing an in-depth review of The Intelligent Investor. This part of the series is on Investing versus Speculation.
• Five Cent Nickel gives us Four Reasons Not to Overreact in the Current Market.
• Economic Crunch tells an interesting story about how CitiBank is encouraging people to pay up faster.

Stay Informed:

• The Digerati Life dishes on How To Get Free Credit Scores, myFICO Credit Scores On Discount.
• Free Money Finance tells us The Easiest Way To Launch Into Real Estate Investing.
• Mrs. Micah warns us to Avoid Paying For Mortgage and Credit Repair.
• The Credit Toolbox gives a simple and readable explanation of R1, R2, R9 and Other Terms in Your Credit Report.

Cherry Picking:

My favorite article of the week!

• Clever Dude is “Swearing at the Bill Collector“. Don’t miss this one!

Festivals, Carnivals and Celebrations:

Thanks to these carnivals who featured our articles this week:

• Blog Carnival: Business Books – October 15, 2008 @ Brian Oates
• 34th Money Hacks Carnival – Fall Into Savings @ Where You Are Now
• Carnival of Debt Reduction #161 – Fall Colors Edition @ Gather Little By Little

We also had a guest post up at The Digerati Life; “Leverage Your Good Credit! Don’t Let Good Credit’s Rewards Pass You By.” Thanks SVB!

Special Note: We will be hosting the Carnival of Twenty Something Finances on Monday! Here’s an official invitation for you to stop on by!

Thanks for reading, and as always we value your comments! Please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below. You may also want to subscribe to our RSS feed – you can click here.