Suze Takes Aim

from WWD

Suze Orman goes on TV to give us all hell, especially these days, about the who, what, when, where, why and how of spending our money. She doesn't play games, she doesn't have favorites; she's here to tell it like it is....or was....or could be/will be again.

“You have got to cut back like you have never cut back before.”

She is here to remind us that it is tough out there, more and more job losses, more and more foreclosures, more and more businesses going under. I know, I'm with you, I don't like to hear it either. The truth hurts and Suze Orman is carrying a big stick.

"You can't say the word Hope and 2009 in the same sentence.”

“The economy is beyond help.”

“If. You. Don’t. Face. Your. Debt. In. The. Mirror. You. Are. Going. To. Be. In. So. Much. Trouble.”

But Suze is here to help, to spell it out for us and put it in simple terms that even economic-no-nothings like myself can understand. It isn't all Dow Jones ups and downs, and economic forecasts and bailouts and bonuses. It's simply that you have to take care of yourself and watch what you do.

Don't spend what you don't have. Don't buy what you don't need. Ain't nothin' wrong with frugality.

Suze Orman is tough talk, and many times, she's scared me so much that I wanted to turn my TV off and crawl under a rug. But she is here to tell you, this ain't good, y'all. This ain't good.

And Suze is shocked. Shocked that we all spent the money we didn't have, bought a house we knew, deep down, we couldn't afford because some banker, or mortgage broker, or realtor who didn't really give a rat's ass about us, said we could afford.

“The United States of America is in the situation it’s in because people were spending, spending, spending. It was all smoke and mirrors and now the smoke has cleared and the view in the mirror is a horrific one.”

And she doesn't have kind words for the Bernie Madoff victims, who thought it would be cool to get big money the easy way. Because, and Suze will be the first to say it, it if sounds to good to be true, then it is to good to be true.

'“You walked right into that financial concentration camp, my loves,” she says later in a regrettable metaphor, given that the world’s most famous concentration camp survivor, Elie Wiesel, was among Madoff’s bilked investors. “I mean, you didn’t have to give 100 percent of everything to him.”'

And her rage isn't just for us, those folks that thought we could afford the high life; swimmin' pools and movie stars! No, Suze is not one to sit idly by and tell us what we did and did not do. She takes full aim at the target of her rage.

George W. Bush.

“Commander in Chief?....You blew up every single financial vessel we had and if you think you aren’t personally responsible, well, the blame starts at the top. There is no higher top than you, SIR! If I were you, I would feel so absolutely horrific that I would take every penny I had and distribute it to anybody and everybody to help them in whatever way I could. You owe the American people every penny of your fortune and your family’s fortune.”

Even though W is probably poppin' the top offa Coors right about now and watching ESPN, he needs to hear it.

You fucked us W. War. Terror. Financial institutions. You fucked us all.