A blind man enters a Ladies Bar by mistake. He finds his way to a bar-stool and orders a drink.
After sitting there for awhile, he yells to the bartender, "Hey, you wanna' hear a blonde joke?"

The bar immediately falls absolutely quiet. In a very deep, husky voice, the woman next to him says, "Before you tell that joke, sir, I think it is just fair - giving that you are blind - that you should know five things:

1 - The bartender is a blonde girl.
2 - The bouncer is a blonde girl.
3 - I'm a 6 feet tall, 160 lb. blonde woman with a black belt in karate.
4 - The woman sitting next to me is blonde and is a professional weight-lifter.
5 - The lady to your right is a blonde and is a professional wrestler.

Now think about it seriously, mister. Do you still wanna' tell that joke?"

The blind man thinks for a second, shakes his head, and declares, "Nah, not if I'm gonna' have to explain it five times."

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A check on the banks show that consumer confidence is waning in light of higher food prices and energy costs ratcheting up. It’s impacting the middle class wallet and devastating the working poor who live in the margins.

Property taxes, insurance costs as well as complimentary costs are equally rising. Banks need to provide a more accurate readings of risk.

The bursting mortgage market bubble is not an inherent feature of free financial markets. Creative mortgage financing originated outside the banking system in it’s own black box.

These mortgages were aggressively marketed promoted to people with bad credit and who were bad credit risks. Mortgage brokers were effectively unregulated. It was pure insanity. Giving the keys of expensive homes to the bottom rung of high risk society was pure folly and financial suicide.

Real estate was gambled beyond the regulation of financial futures and other types of financial derivatives. At least there you had to put up some risk capital. With no money down and no skin in the game, speculation was rampant.

Homes are not like the stock market. If you are wrong you are sold out if you can’t make the margin call. It’s quick. Homes take a long time to market and sell. It’s expensive and complicated.

Banks have been doing business the right way. It is painfully obvious that there is an urgent demand for strong standards for mortgage brokers. Federal regulations and standards need to be applied so this type of financial bubble never occurs again.

Checking the Federal Reserve cut interest rates recently bringing down the Fed Funds rate to 2.25% gives one reason to speculate on various outlooks. Think of it this way, since last summer Fed rates have decreased 3.25%. The fed is running out of rate cut bullets – only 9 left.

By cutting interest rates the value of the dollar will keep falling. The price people are willing to pay for a currency is nothing more than the interest rate.

Tax rebates, bailouts and low interest rates are highly inflationary. These conditions erode the value of the dollar considering the dollar is not tied to any asset such as gold.

The Federal politicians merely have to flip the printing press switch for “free money” to bail out their lost causes. This type of red-ink thinking erodes the value of the dollar as well as the assets of the American public. They believe they can create value out of thin air. Newtonian physics is still at work. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Without cutting the bloat, non-functional oversight departments and waste in government we seem at a standstill. One out of five people works for the government. Many think we could get along just as well if one out of ten worked for the government.

Cherry blooms are in the Spring air as April spells the annual Cherry Festival held in Washington D.C.* Cheri Blum’s brings the splendor or artistry into these personal bank checks which displays these grand floral paintings. These floral designed checks are part of a 4 rotating designs with matching address labels as well as checkbook covers and cards featuring special discounts for 2 or more boxes. Look under “Artistic Checks” for her designs.

Cheri Blum’s simple, graceful shapes on these personal checks have a timeless quality and restful feeling surrounds them.

* To browse the Schedule of Events for the Cherry Festival at Washington DC, click a date from the calendar or view all festival events

National Park Service forecasts dates for the Yoshino cherry trees around the Tidal Basin and East Potomac Park — 2008 Peak Bloom: March 27-April 3 (2008 Bloom Period: March 26-April 9)

My personal bank check book is noticing an inflationary jump with $3 gas, increased bread, pasta, food prices and $4 milk charges. They even talk about a 30% increase in fuel prices down the road.

Instead of farmers planting corn and wheat to feed animals for us they are planting and making ethanol on our farmlands.

Ethanol they could buy on the cheap from our South American friends, except political farm lobby twisted every politicians arm by huge handout subsidies for votes and subsidy legislation.

Guess whose bank checkbook got screwed?