Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn't Work) in Words and Pictures (2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Prior to releasing his book Economix in 2012, writer Michael Goodwin took a bunch of volumes on the economy, moved to India, settled in and did extensive research on the economy. For over 2 years, Goodwin combs over theories by noted economists such as Adam Smith, Keynes, Friedman, Ricardo. Even less conventional 'experts' like Marx and Engels are explored in this graphic novel exploration of how money makes the world go round. 

Along with the theories, Michael Goodwin examined how those theories impacted the markets and society as a whole in practice in business; both public and private. To do this, the author has a global look at economics. But being an American, Goodwin's focus in this book is the American economy. And boy did the United States make a ton of blunders when it comes to money. 

Goodwin does a fairly decent job just recording the facts. But it's hard for anyone to give a balanced, straight line approach without putting too much of yourself in a book such as this. I could only read this book in small chunks, considering how infuriating a lot those blunders made me. I would say that the author presents 'just the facts' about 70% of the time with about 30% emotions and opinions running the narrative. 

As for the visuals, it's a mix of line graphs, cartoon and caricature. Tasked with all of this is artist Dan E. Burr (Presidential Misadventures). The line graphs went over my head. I'm strictly a bar graph and pie chart man myself. I thought the cartoons had that unifying feel as noted years ago by Scott McCloud. The caricatures, while definitely something you might see on the Jersey Boardwalk, captured the images of 300 years of politicians, dignitaries and economic experts pretty well. 

As I mentioned earlier, this book was not something I could consume in just a couple of days. It took me almost the entire month of July, 2022 to complete it. There was a lot of theory, a ton of history and a gigantic amount of injustice. Economix made me think a lot about the spending of cash; how I spend it; and how changes in the regime shifts our cash flow. Being a school teacher in a specialized subject, I'm scared to death about losing my funding and my job in the wake of the mid-term election and 2024. 

My eyes are also opened quite a bit to the amount of excess being put upon our world. It moved me so much that I'm ready to cut my spending, live more sustainably and stop buying things I don't need. And then I saw the new line of comic book tees available for sale on Facebook...

Guess I've got a long way to go before I change the world. 

Worth Consuming! - But it surely will infuriate you from time to time!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #11 (About Business) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge. 

Poorcraft: The Funnybook Fundamentals of Living Well on Less (2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

Today more than ever, people need help making ends meet. Inflation, rising gas prices and the war in Ukraine are taking a toll on all our wallets. C. Spike Trotman takes it upon herself to help those with financial constraints with this graphic novel full of money saving tips. Along with whimsically cartoony artist Diana Nock (The Intrepid Girlbot), Trotman presents a method called Poorcraft. But it's really an amalgamation of a bunch of economical philosophies and techniques.

My wife and I partook in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University seminar a few years back. Trotman's advice on how to pay for a car and to reduce debt using the 'snowball' effect of paying off the smaller dues first and then applying that money to the next larger bill, is something I learned from Ramsey.

In this book, Trotman uses the character of Penny and her faithful dog, Nickel to help their pal Mil out of a sticky financial situation. From finding affordable housing to the use of transportation, cutting corners on grocery, clothes and entertainment and how to navigate the tricky paradox that is called higher education, just about any lifetime situation is covered in this book.

Not everything in this book is practical for everyone. Penny's use of a bicycle along with a bus to get around everywhere isn't really feasible for somebody who lives in a rural area. But a bunch of the tips in this book are universally helpful.

Ryan Estrada, one of the reviewers on the back cover suggests that Poorcraft replace Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go! as the essential work to give high school graduates. I'd almost agree with this assessment. Only, I think rising Juniors should get this book in order to avoid the traps of for-profit universities, un-repayable student loans and how to utilize affordable community colleges in order to meet the core class standards. Some of my pupils seek me out with help looking at culinary schools and I think the resources listed in this book will assist with that.

I'm thinking of hanging on to this book as a resource for the high school culinary classes I teach. There's a lot of great tips for cooking on a budget without resorting to just ramen noodles! That's a major concern in my students- being able to cook for themselves after high school. Our unit on the cooking of authentic ramen was a big hit with my upperclassmen. My level 1 students can't wait to do it this coming school year!

C. Spike Trotman has two other books in the Poorcraft series. One is about travelling on a budget. But it's her budget cookbook that I'm looking to add to my collection of texts useful for teaching culinary. I learned a lot from this book and I think my student will too!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #29 (With Chapter Titles) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge. 

Grading, Condition and Comic Books- My System is Way Off!

Just recently I tried to sell something on a Facebook group. I thought that I was following the rules of the group. But it turned out that the condition of what comics I were selling was too good for the group. 

That's got to be a first! Selling some that was too high grade! 

Obviously, the way I looked at grades of comics were flawed. But I feel like my way actually makes sense if you see it as Obi-Wan Kenobi. I.E. from a certain point of view.

I know that I am going to make some comic book collectors angry with my theory of grades and condition. But hear me out.

In order for comic books to get the big bucks, you now have to take you comic books to places like CGC to get graded. For a fee, an expert will examine every single page of your comic, including the position of the spine, how the staples are placed, and how each page was cut during the production process. Once a number from 0.5- 9.8 is determined for the book; the comic is placed in a plastic case and sealed. This is called a slab. (Ratings of 10.0 can occur. But it's really, really rare!)

Slabbing in my opinion is giving a comic book a grade. It's called grading by CGC and such. Thus it's got a grade. By the views of most collectors, anything around a 6.0 or lower is a low grade. Some will consider 5.0 the beginning of low grades. I'd consider anything a 7.0 a low grade but that's just me. 

The number of books that are slabbed and graded is relatively small. But that number grows every day. Still probably no more than 2% of books on the market are slabbed. The other 98% is considered to be bagged. That means to prevent additional damage to a comic, it is put inside a plastic or mylar bag and sealed with tape or other adhesive. Some collectors like to put a thin cardboard piece of paper to help prevent folding and creasing during storage. 

Anyways, when I was growing up, there was no such thing as a numbering system for comic books. Instead, we based comics on condition. The ultimate condition was Mint. Most books were NM and the level of condition went all the way down from good, to fair to ultimately poor. Near Mint is the unslabbed equal to 9.8, BTW.

In MY OPINION, if a book isn't slabbed, it isn't graded but it is still low grade. Think of it like this, so you had a book that was graded 9.8 and slabbed and then you also have the exact same book that was bagged and in the condition of Near Mint. The price of the two books, which are in the exact level of quality, would be astronomically different. 

For example, I checked on the 9.8 and the Near Mint price of an Incredible Hulk #181; the first full appearance of Wolverine. At one store selling both books, the 9.8 is listed at $2700. The Near Mint copy is selling for $900. Similarly, the same store has a slabbed 5.0 for $1000! Based on these prices a 1.0 slabbed would probably been selling for a $100-150. 
This all kinda reinforces my theory of comics based on grade/condition.

In my opinion, the Near Mint book is mid grade because it's worth less than the 5.0 slabbed book!  I know that there's of course some overlap but the way I think the system should be is as follows:

   High Grade: 

10.0-7.00

Mid Grade: 

4-6.99

Conditions: Mint-Very Fine

Low Grade: 

3.99-0.5

Conditions Fine- Poor

Again, this is all my opinion. The comic book community will never go for it. They had hard enough time going for grading when it was first introduced. But creating such a system was the only way the industry was going to survive after the comic book bubble burst in the early 90s. 

Some experts think that the comic book bubble is going to burst any moment. While I doubt highly that the collecting of older comics is going to die out, there is great concern that the market is glut with too many revolving titles. Will a new way of valuing comics have to be developed in order for the industry to survive it's next economic downturn?

For some, digital is considered comics' saving grace. for the future But where's the fun in collecting digital books? Plus, if the power goes out or you run out of battery, how can you read a blank screen?

My ranking system is just that- mine. It is one way of how I determine if a book is worth it's value. But that's the whole essence of collecting. It has different value to each and every person. I dig through bargain bins. If I didn't there is no way I'd have a collection of over 10,000 comics and graphic novels. Some collectors want their books slabbed only. To have such a collection cost money and results in fewer titles. 

Clearly I have an old school way of collecting and valuing. I don't really have any intention of selling my collection. But from time-to-time when I want a little spending money, if there's something I'm not a fan of, I will sell it. Case in point was issues 1-6 of Garth Ennis' Herogasm, autographed with COA. I'll just know from now on that in the future to check the grading requirements better of the site I am selling my books at. 

Value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

        

1977: A Madman Turns 40: 2017- Day 4

Gas prices from a Speedway in New Jersey 12-20-16.
Just before the holiday bump, which could be due to
gas protests in Mexico.

    What the heck happened over the holidays? Gas prices have been steadily creeping back up over the past few days. I've seen prices recently at $2.35/ gallon and considered myself blessed when I found a station with gas for $2.12/ gallon.

    For today's look at the year 1977, I decided to look at what gas prices were like. Short answer, gas was 'cheap.' Meaning I would love to only have to pay about $.65/ gallon for gas. But in 1977, the average minimum wage was about $2.30. That's a total of $8.54 in 2012 dollars (US DEPT of LABOR).

I wonder if paying for full service impacted the average price for gas....
I'd be more than willing to save the 4 cents and pump for myself.

     I remember by the early 80s, gas was just under a dollar a gallon. When I started driving, it was about $1.50 a gallon.  I don't think in the 17-18 years I've been married that I've paid less than $1.80 for gas. 
    So was gas really cheaper in 1977? Let's do some math...

  Let's go with gas in 1977 as being $.65/gal divide the price of 1 gallon into 1 hour of minimum wage:

    .65/2.30= 28% of income spent on gas

Now let's do the same for 2012. According to AAA, gas average was $3.60/ gal. Honestly, I don't remember paying that high ever in North Carolina. But I'll go with it for this example.

3.60/8.54= 42% of income was spent on gas.

So, comparatively, gas in 1977 was cheaper than it was just 4 years ago.

(NOTE: I can't find an average minimum wage for a year later than 2012. But if you take the standard minimum wage for 2016 which is $7.25/hr established by the Federal Government and divide it by the 2016 Average gas price of $2.16, the percent of income is 30%. It's lower than 2012 but still a little bit higher than 1977's averages.)

    So there you have it, it's perfectly fine to wish for the gas prices of 1977. But in no way want  do want the minimum wage from that year. I might be nostalgic but I'm not stupid...