Marc Acito
Portland, OR - http://www.MarcAcito.com
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Scam busters turn the tables on those running the Nigerian scam
Marc Acito
Nov 23rd 2009
Filed under: Banks, Fraud, Recession, Recession Diaries
Beloved One,I have the Courage to Crave Indulgence for this most opportune business venture...
Look familiar? A day doesn't go by day that I don't receive an e-mail from people with names like Dr. Fortunate Goodpence or Mrs. Pius Motubo soliciting my aid in recovering millions from banks in Nigeria, if only I just sent a little money to get started. Which means I greet each morning with the same thought: who still falls for this crap?
Modern advance-fee scams, commonly called 419 scams after the number of the Nigerian Criminal Code, have been around for over twenty-five years, but exploded with the growth of the internet. So you'd think we'd all be wise to them, yet the latest statistics available show that worldwide losses to these kind of scams topped $4.3 billion in 2007 - and those were just the ones reported. Because, let's face it, losing money due to greed and a sense of colonial superiority to Africans is super embarrassing.
How not to argue with your spouse about money - opera style
Marc Acito
Nov 3rd 2009
Filed under: Budgets, Career, Relationships, Recession Diaries
I recently learned how to avoid arguing about money with my spouse from an unlikely source: composer Phillip Glass. Not Glass himself - I'm hip, but I'm not that hip. No, I got marriage and money advice from Glass's setting of the classic Jean Cocteau film Orphée, which is having its West Coast premiere at Portland Opera this week. Starring me.
Okay, not starring me. But in this setting of the Greek myth, Orpheus travels through a mirror to the Underworld to rescue his wife, where he finds a glass maker who likes his job so much he can't stop working, even though he's dead. That's me. If you buy the CD that's being made, you'll hear me sing the words "glass maker" in French a whopping three times. But what the role lacks in actual length it makes up for in symbolic depth, so much so that Cocteau himself played it when he first wrote the piece as a play.
Okay, not starring me. But in this setting of the Greek myth, Orpheus travels through a mirror to the Underworld to rescue his wife, where he finds a glass maker who likes his job so much he can't stop working, even though he's dead. That's me. If you buy the CD that's being made, you'll hear me sing the words "glass maker" in French a whopping three times. But what the role lacks in actual length it makes up for in symbolic depth, so much so that Cocteau himself played it when he first wrote the piece as a play.
The Upside: Habits of the rich and thin
Marc Acito
Oct 20th 2009
Filed under: Budgets, Debt, Entrepreneurship, Food, Career, Health, Credit cards
Since the recession began, we've all been tightening our belts, but only metaphorically. As our finances have grown leaner, Americans' bellies continue to grow larger. Therefore, the question of how to increase net worth while decreasing net girth has been on my mind for a while -- like about 20 years.You see, I've been both rich and poor as well as fat and thin. Say what you want about the best things in life being free and money not being able to buy you happiness; in my experience, rich and thin were way better. What's more, for me physical and fiscal fitness seem to go together.
For instance, with the help of Jim Karas' The Business Plan for the Body I lost more than 60 pounds in a year by applying the skills I learned from running a successful small business. Since then, I've noticed that the challenges and benefits of following a diet mirror that of following a budget.
Dollar store shopping: bargain or marketing ploy?
Marc Acito
Oct 5th 2009
Filed under: Bargains, Food, Recession
According to a recent Nielsen survey, savvy recessionistas now shop at dollar stores. Wanting to be savvy, I journeyed to the nearest Dollar Tree, which makes me sound like a character in a fairy tale:"And there, Marco the Scribe found a magnificent tree and it was blooming money..."
My initial impression was to be impressed at how much you could buy for a buck: a shower curtain, a dog dish, safety goggles, a soap dispenser. "How can these stores stay in business?" I thought.
The Upside: Creative funding for the arts
Marc Acito
Sep 22nd 2009
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Career, Recession
I know, I know: no one wants to hear artists complain about how hard it is to make a living. It's as if the freedom from being a cubicle-dweller has disqualified us from ever venting our frustrations with the constant hustle and the ongoing economic insecurity. Remember that know-it-all uncle who told you how hard it is to be an artist? He was right.So I was especially interested to go to a lecture by artist A.L. Steiner at Portland's recent Time-Based Art Festival. Steiner is one of the co-founders of Working Artists and the Greater Economy, or W.A.G.E, "We demand payment for making the world more interesting," W.A.G.E. proclaims in its "womanifesto."
The Upside: The recession and the future of marriage
Marc Acito
Sep 6th 2009
Filed under: Home, Career, Relationships, Recession
You hear a lot about the toll the economy is taking on marriages. Both Oprah and Money Magazine are trying to recession-proof your marriage, while the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reports that divorce filings are down by 40%, a phenomenon the NY Daily News calls "sleeping with the enemy."I can relate. When my and my partner's real estate investments plummeted, we coped by not talking about it -- or to each other. It wasn't long before we were living like Ernie and Bert. Forget the wing-nuts who claim that gay marriage is causing the recession. The recession nearly caused my gay divorce.
The Upside: Hard times -- the sex industry and the recession
Marc Acito
Aug 18th 2009
Filed under: Sex Sells, Recession
You know the old saying: "As porn goes, so goes the nation." Okay, I made it up, but it's true. Our nation's latest economic bellwether is the sex industry.You see, once I learned that the global recession had put Czech hookers out of work, I began to wonder whether our home-grown American hookers have also given new meaning to the phrase "massive layoffs."
The Upside: The power of free
Marc Acito
Aug 4th 2009
Filed under: Budgets
Just because I haven't read a book doesn't stop me from debating it at cocktail parties. I mean, why let something like a lack of information get in the way of forming a strongly held opinion? So what's currently on my mind is "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" by Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine and author of "The Long Tail," another book I didn't read but often debate.
The Upside: Rumble in the Jungle -- Margarine, Orangutans, and You
Marc Acito
Jul 21st 2009
"Welcome to Jakarta," the sign read. And: "Death Penalty for Drug Traffickers!" "All that exclamation point needs is a happy emoticon," said my traveling companion, novelist Eve Yohalem.
"Or one of those ADA icons with someone hanging from a noose," I added.
The Upside: What Recession? Solutions for the New Economy
Marc Acito
Jul 7th 2009
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Recession, Recession Diaries
"I don't use the word recession," says gallery owner and art consultant Heidi McBride. "Any time I think about financial challenges I say 'I'm dealing with the new economy.' "I couldn't agree more. For two years now the prognosticators have been like unrepentant drunks, promising us that we've hit bottom and that this time it really is going to get better.
Don't believe them. In the aftermath of a bull market all that's left is B.S.
But even though I'm one of the U.S.'s many underemployed, I'm not depressed. That's because I've already gone through denial, anger, and bargaining, and have finally moved on to acceptance.
