On Monday, the U.S. Post Office raised the price of a first-class stamp from 41 cents to 42 cents. So, for all of us who have been buying sheets of stamps over the years, and have seen what the dollar will buy, this is nothing new. I am old enough to remember 3 cent stamps, and then 4 cent stamps. 5 cent stamps did not seem that long ago. And now, we are up to 42 cents! Over the weeks, since I started writing this blog, MoneyThoughts, I have discussed inflation, monetary policy, the Fed, currency exchange rates, and finally the most important question: Whose monetary policy is it anyway? If I could get a sizable group of people to start asking and thinking about that single question, perhaps the politicians in Washington would get the message that we are not all a bunch of boobs. For whose benefit is our monetary policy being run when we see prices rise continuously. What about the integrity of the U.S. dollar? Today, I will post some of my stamp paintings. I have not scan them all, so I apologize for the repeats.
One more thing: The President was in Saudi Arabia this week meeting with his boss, the king of Saudi Arabia. He politely asked them to please pump more oil, but they told him to go pound sand. We have troops in Saudi Arabia to protect their oil fields. If you see something wrong with this picture, honk your horn.
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6 comments:
Hi Fred,
I love your blog and your expertise on money matter and government. I would also love to hear you talk more about your painting and ‘Fred the artist’ in your ‘Saturday issue’. Obviously your work is based in your life experience- but how does this extraordinary finicial wizard manage to also be a part of our (artist) madness. I try to picture you in an old t-shirt , jeans covered in splotches of paint, and barefoot in your studio. Some of your work, although containing naturalistic elements, has some very abstract or surreal applications. What’s going on in that ‘Fred the Artist’ brain?
By the way- I really like this Postage stamp series, going from of cool grey tones to sepias,etc.
Stunning work and series.
Vikki
Hi Vikki,
Wow, thanks for all the nice things you wrote. Perhaps, if enough people take an interest in my work, I may actual call myself an artist. My father was trained as an artist. He attended night classes in the late 1920's at the Cincinnati Art Academy. He left art as a profession in the early 1930's. Married my mother in 1936 and started their family with me in 1942. He went back to his art in the mid to late 1950's and took up watercolor. He was a member of the Cincinnati Art Club and painted through 1968 until his death in January 1969 at age 57. I was brought up in a home with art and a work shop in the basement. My father had a hardware store, so I grew up respecting people that could work with their hands. I am an "outside artist", and at 65, I am through trying to get my work in to art shows or impressing anyone with my work. My paintings I refer to as political satire, and I work from ideas that come out of my interest in history, politics and economics. In the colder weather, I live in jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. I also design t-shirts and sell them. However, I don't have a studio yet, and I wear shoes. I'm glad you like the postage stamp series. There are a few more that I have never scanned that I would like to post in the future. I would like to do hand pulled silk screen prints of the Energy Policy piece as I think it would look good as a single or a block plate (4 stamps in a square), but I am too busy with stuff to start that project.
Again, thank you for checking out my blog. If you want to share it with your readers, please do, I am always looking to reach a wider group of people. I am for a Glorious and Bloodless Revolution in the United States. By that I mean, the government doing what is best for the majority of the people, not just the well heeled and connected few.
Fred
Each of the paintings (you’ve displayed here) has the same ‘food for thought’ challenge that you summarize in words on your blog. They speak as elegantly and clearly as you do on some very complex issues of our society.
I also enjoy the ‘Level Playing Field’ grouping. The choice of soft neutral tones has a ‘timed or aged feeling’. Yet, in every one of your paintings, it’s not complete without adding that one bold primary color (red, blue, ruby hills), to upset the quiet.
I’d be happy to exchange links and suggest your blog to others, Fred. You’ll meet other Glorious Bloodless Revolutionaries through my website and blog as well. And you never know: We may get you talking about some ghostly issue you haven't thought to speak of yet.
Vikki
You make a good point about the "food for thought" about my paintings. As you know, early paintings almost always had a message. TV and radio did not come on the scene until several hundred years later, so, it was the painter that told a story or spread the word. Naturally the Bible, Old and New testaments, provide the subject matter for many paintings and alter pieces. Later landscapes came into being, but it was religious paintings that were the first on the scene. They were in their own way political and so my paintings, while I call myself an outside artist, are really very much in the tradition of western paintings. I paint my little icons just like they painted them 500-700 year ago.
Hi MT,
Hubby has a theory- the Saudis said no because they can't- they have no spare capacity, and can no longer increase the output of oil. But it is in Bush's interest to perpetuate the myth that they can, to prevent public panic, (and I think, the car companies from going under from short-sightedness). Another emperor with no clothes.
K
Fred, I love your stamp paintings. Of course the art tugged at my heart strings, but I also very much enjoy your writing about the politics of money. Thanks for introducing yourself on my blog. I will stay tuned.
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