In the episode of the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror VII, you can find one of the most poignant cultural references ever made by a cartoon:

Homer: America, take a good look at your beloved candidates. They're nothing but hideous space reptiles!
Kodos: It's true, we are aliens... but what are you going to do about it? It's a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us!
Man1: He's right, this is a two-party system!
Man2: Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate...
Kang: Go ahead, throw your vote away!

Of course, Ross Perot is then show punching a hole in a "Perot '96" hat.

So, let's say that you aren't completely happy with either Democratic President Barack Obama or Republican Candidate Mitt Romney. What's a budding protester to do?

Special thanks this week goes to blogress Andrea at So Over This for her assistance steering DQYDJ towards its new […]

I don't know who said it originally... but I always hated that quote. In my mind, if you win every game with a strong offense, what difference does defense make? If your defense is good enough for your offense to prevail, well, then you'll prevail.

On that note, I have more than half a million dollars in debt and I only pay the minimum payments.

Remember my fantasy squad I posted about? 1-0, baby. So far, so good!

It appears these days, more than ever, that Ethical Investing is an oxymoron.

Bells are ringing! I am finally worthless! With my paycheck today my net worth has finally passed the literal and psychological $0 barrier. My financial leverage given a net worth of $1 is about 45,000-to-1. Let this be a lesson to everybody: massively over-leveraged financial positions can only end positively. Look at Long-Term Capital Management, MF Global, Bear Stearns and AIG: their executives still managed to escape with millions of dollars!

DQYDJ's favorite links for the week.

Personal finance experts frequently tout the advantages of having a six month emergency fund, if not a more conservative twelve month fund. There are many reasons that a citizen would need to dip into their emergency savings: family illness, death, severe medical expenses, unplanned pregnancy or job loss to name a few. Many reports however, indicate that many (>25% or >50% depending on your definition) Americans still are not prepared for a downturn scenario.

Subtitle: Until You Read This Article.

I'm not one for hyperbole... I'm more of a "here's the data, deal with it" person, but I'll make a vast blanket statement for you today. You see, you may not care too much either way about the whole 'fiscal cliff' scenario, where an expiration of the so-called 'Bush Tax Cuts' of 2001 and 2003 would reset to their previous levels. Perhaps you make under $200,000 as a single or $250,000 as a couple, so if the cuts expire and President Obama extends them in a second term you wouldn't worry too much. Fine - I won't spend this article discussing what the appropriate level of taxation is for the many strata of incomes earned in this country. However, I do want to draw your attention to the insidious effect of rolling back the 2001/3 cuts - namely, how the code characterizes dividends.

So I drafted in the only Fantasy Football league I'm participating in. It's a 10 man, and I was the guy who went with the MJD/Rashad Jennings handcuff (risk tolerance: extreme!). Anyone want to grade my draft for a 10 person league? (I've come in second two years in a row; be harsh!)