High Finance

I have a bit of a problem trying to fathom $1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) even though it has been explained in easy English. I also remember quite readily my first allowance as a child: five cents (a nickel). That however evaporated when I earned my own money. But then, I actually could get something, not much, but something like a roll of wrapped candies for a penny.

Now when my bank credits my account with one or two cents I sort of smile/cringe if that is possible. I'm beginning to feel the pain now of mail and email practitioners soliciting money for worthy and other causes. They are alike in some ways. After their pitch, they make a recommended minimal donation. It used to be $5, $10, $25, and now $35+ is often the bottom line. The saving solution is putting a blank to fill in like $____ which I rarely used until recently.

Then, I've noticed something else. It is getting more and more common (at least it seems so) that even if I donate I get another pitch thanking me for my donation while at the same time including the original pitch as if I never heard it before asking for a donation (but not “another one”).

The good ol' mailman a couple of days ago left about a dozen pieces in our mailbox. I caught a relative of our next door shut-in neighbor about to leave so I spoke up and said, “I'll check her box, too” and handed over both pieces. I took our haul in and there was a personal letter, a magazine we subscribe to (of several), and 8 solicitations ranging from political to health causes and a museum. All probably reasonable causes.

Six included return unstamped envelopes with a minimum suggested ranging from $15 to $50. If I responded to these six minimums only, it would cost me $160 plus $2.70 postage. But if I responded readily and regularly, imagine what my budget would look like. And the agony of saying no over and over again to some very fine causes should be factored in, don't you think?

So as I look back to those days when I had a whole shiny nickel to spend, had I known then, I might have been even more grateful that the mailman didn't know I existed. Right?