Alison Roose:  

Life This getting older stuff is NOT all it was cracked up to be. Oh well, better than the alternative. I have 2 children who turned 21 and 18 in 2007 and have been raising them alone since the divorce - when they were 4 and 7. Think I've done ok. The eldest attended the last 2 years of HS at the state's academy at the university and continues on the Dean's list to finish majoring in international business and German w a minor in Chinese. The youngest had a personality conflict w a horse in July 2005 but seems to be fully recovered (nothing stops that kid.) She graduated HS early in Dec 2007and plans to attend a local college in the fall. I was employed as fraud investigator for an internationally recognized utility and really thought I would be retiring from there until they decided to out source off shore. All the rage. Can you imagine how insane it is when a left hand and a right hand cannot coordinate? It pretty much puts the whole body at potential risk. Since the one governmental department cannot get a solid grip on Identity Theft INSIDE the USA (one hand) and have NO AUTHORITY OFF SHORE and if your credit is messed up once your identity is stolen, it could take YEARS of hassles and head aches "working with" the credit bureaus to get your rating back where it belongs WHICH INCLUDES decent interest rates and opportunities... NOT FUN. So now, with trade being so critical, tax incentives seem to be given to those corporations (the other hand) that outsource off shore... Now, losing your job and pension is one thing, but when they ship the accounts off shore (credit cards, utilities, bank account numbers when you use a check to pay, etc.) those accounts include your critical identity information: SSN, driver¿s license, date of birth, often your mother's maiden name, etc.. Put that into perspective acrss the whole web ... Potentially NOT PRETTY. So my public service comment, since every one ...Expand for more