It happened in Church – October 19, 1962
Chapter One Hundred – Reading the will
It Started In Church – October 19, 1962
http://www.itstartedinchurch.com
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WRITING: TEOTWAWKI fiction – It happened in Church – Chapter One Hundred – Reading the will
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
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JOBSEARCH: “Succeess Security”?
Wednesday, October 15, 2008http://www.linkedin.com/answers
Jason Alba CEO of JibberJobber.com, Author
*** begin quote ***
Might this be the new way to say “job security?”
I was speaking at a library on Bainbridge Island (near Seattle) last night and tried out a new phrase to replace “job security.”
… because everyone says there is no such thing as “job security” anymore. But I still want to talk about some kind of security for my future. “career security” doesn’t seem to fit… what about:
income security?
*** end quote ***
TO WHICH I RESPONDED
I think it’s two different things to two different class of people. Consultants (Yeah I know an employee is a consultant with no choice where they go tomorrow!) and Employees. To consultants, it’s the ability to diversify revenue stream and enhance it. To employees, it’s the ability to keep the paycheck flowing in and develop the next stream of paychecks. (One of my Turkey-isms is that you are, or should be, looking for your next job while you keep the current one happy.)
So I think there will be some confusion between what “it” means to those different communities when looked through the two different lenses. (Yeah, I love Gartner’s simplistic four box view of the world!)
It corresponds with what I tell younger folks who might be open to a “pearl”. Success for your generation is: (1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt; (2) a life long interest in learning — education — a degree — they can’t take it away from you; (3) a white collar job in order to save big bux; (4) a blue collar skill for hard times — never saw a poor plumber; (5) one or more internet based businesses — your store is always open; (6) a free time hobby that generates income; and (7) a large will-maintained network of people who can “help” you.
So, imho, with apologies to Covey, it’s “The Seven Dimensions of Success”.
Yeah, everything I ever learned was from a self-help book! Isn’t that the definition of a book? “Help Yourself!”
I think the term you are looking for is “Success Security”?
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WRITING: TEOTWAWKI fiction – It Happened In Church – Chapter Ninety Nine – John is the last
Monday, October 13, 2008It Happened In Church – October 19, 1962
Chapter Ninety Nine – John is the last
It Started In Church – October 19, 1962
http://www.itstartedinchurch.com
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MONEY: Might your employer be at fault for your 401k loss?
Monday, October 13, 2008http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/023453.html
October 11, 2008 Your 401k Plan – Breach of Fiduciary Duty? Posted by Karen DeCoster at October 11, 2008 06:24 AM
* begin quote *
Some friends and family have asked me to advise them on their choice of investments because they are down – an obvious point – in their 401k plans. A bit late, and there’s not much you can do anyways. But …prior to the meltdown, so few people were really willing to understand and believe that there was a financial storm in their future.
* and *
While snooping around, I immediately noticed something in this Wachovia plan that is epidemic nowadays. There is absolutely no option to invest in something that is low in risk. Typically, if you are predicting that the market will go South (as I have been for years), you’d look for a 100% US T-Bill option in your 401k, even if you only park it there in the short term. However, this person’s plan had absolutely no low-risk option whatsoever.
* end quote *
I know that everyone TRIES to keep liability at arm’s length from the business.
BUT, (there is always a big butt),
in this case, I think there may be a claim that has some merit against the employer and the fund company.
In my younger days, I would sneer at derision at “guaranteed return” offerings. I still do.
(Look at all those “safe” bond funds who have Lehman bonds in their portfolio, and tell me about safe! Money market funds as well. Icelandic banks. Inet banks. Yada, yada, yada!)
If a 401k has no “guaranteed” offering, I suspect that a claim could be made and imho would be paid off quietly.
?
Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, CPA, or even “thin, young, and handsome” any more. (Any More?)
Get me on the jury, present me with a good case, and I find for the “little guy” all the time.
Just my nickel’s work. (Two cents after inflation?)
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GLOBAL: Looking for an exemplar of what might happen here
Sunday, October 12, 2008http://www.impactlab.com/2008/10/11/studying-japans-dark-years-to-see-how-the-us-might-fare/
October 11th, 2008 at 4:32 am
Studying Japan’s Dark Years to See How the U.S. Might Fare
*** begin quote ***
Japan in the 1990s saw billions of dollars worth of wealth disappear. A generation of “parasite singles” grew up, living with their parents well into their 30s. The suicide rate spiked, and university graduates spent years in part-time jobs. Japanese entrepreneurs had no or limited access to capital, stymieing innovation. Yet the standard of living for the average Japanese did not dramatically change — the pain of the crisis unfolded over many years and the government refrained from dire pronouncements.
Unemployment would peak at only 5.5 percent, an enviable rate for much of the world in good times. Deflation — or price declines as gloomy consumers and skeptical businesses put off purchasing — sickened the economy. Yet leading experts now agree its impact was not as severe as originally thought.
Japan saw repeated years of low or negative growth, but the final tally was something short of a decade-long recession — with the 10 years leading up to 2000 averaging out at almost 1 percent growth. Companies like Toyota would prosper in adverse times, forced to sharpen their competitive edge. Emerging in the 2000s as the leader in hybrid cars, Toyota found itself on stronger footing than its U.S. counterparts.
*** end quote ***
Well, our politicians are dumber than the average bear in the woods. So what is our five or ten year forecast?
On the plus side, they can’t hide the distress. Unlike the Japanese did.
On the minus side, the Japanese people are savers; we aren’t. (As a nation. Not me personally. Now that I’m in the retirement red zone, I’m trying to make up for lost time and all my relatives will have to fend for themselves. Unless one of my books goes platinum, they would be kept in the style that they’d like to become accustomed to! And Frau Reinke could make a frugal squirrel look like a spendthrift.)
On the minus side, more than half of the people work for the gooferment. That’s not a model that can sustain itself. Especially, if the gooferment raises taxes and “producers” decide to chuck it all and go on the dole.
Inflation is unavoidable. Where do they get all these billions they are printing? Certainly not from savings. “Re capital ization”, my tush. Capital only comes from savings. You know Robinson Crusoe forgoes eating a fish so he can eat while he makes a fish net. Savings. Real savings.
Unfortunately, the sheeple are going to get a real “eddykation in ecckkyynomicks”. It’s called the dismal science for a reason. It’s dismal. There are NO silver bullets in real life. You can’t have it all. And, no amount of printing press money is going to make it so.
Forecast: Runaway inflation. More gooferment spending. More pain in the country at below the Teddie Kennedy level. (Don’t you love how rich politicians — redundant repetition of terms –have the audacity to say “i feel your pain”!) Fixed income folk takes the brunt.
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WRITING: TEOTWAWKI fiction – It Happened In Church – Chapter Ninety Eight – Marie passes
Sunday, October 12, 2008It Happened In Church – October 19, 1962
Chapter Ninety Eight – Marie passes
It Started In Church – October 19, 1962
http://www.itstartedinchurch.com
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POLITICAL: O’s birth certificate again!
Sunday, October 12, 2008POLITICAL: O’s birth certificate again!
Here’s an interesting assertion that I have heard before. So where’s O’s birth certificate? I have no idea what ax these folks have to grind. BUT, they do make a prima facie case that O is Constitutionally disqualified. And, if he is a natural born citizen, he can dispose of this gadfly with one swat. Interesting assertion, and even more interesting questions.
Suggest passing it along. It’s going viral.
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MONEY: What if all monopoly money was real?
Saturday, October 11, 2008http://www.lewrockwell.com/sennholz/sennholz19.html
Hyperinflation in Germany, 1914–1923 by Hans F. Sennholz
*** begin quote ***
How stupendous! Practically every economic good and service was costing trillions of marks. The American dollar was quoted at 4.2 trillion marks, the American penny at 42 billion marks. How could a European nation that prided itself on its high levels of education and scholarly knowledge suffer such a thorough destruction of its money? Who would inflict on a great nation such evil which had ominous economic, social, and political ramifications not only for Germany but for the whole world? Was it the victors of World War I who, in diabolical revenge, devastated the vanquished country through ruinous financial manipulation and plunder? Every mark was printed by Germans and issued by a central bank that was governed by Germans under a government that was purely German. It was German political parties, such as the Socialists, the Catholic Centre Party, and the Democrats, forming various coalition governments, that were solely responsible for the policies they conducted. Of course, admission of responsibility for any calamity cannot be expected from any political party.
*** end quote ***
If you ever talked to someone who lived thru that era, you could see fear on their faces. Only stuff was valuable. I remember being told by an old lady: “Each day at lunch time, I would go to Papa’s law office and take the money he collected for services and go buy something immediately. Anything. Didn’t matter what. Things had value; money did not. Papa would do the smae at night when he left the office.” I never forgot that conversation.
I had a fantasy as a child. I bet all kids do. At least kids who want more of what they can’t have. “What if all monopoly money was real?” I’m sure my Mom thought it was very funny
Then as the nerdy bookworm I was, I was on a quest to learn about money. Digesting a few good “iicky nom icks” books — can they be any more boring? — I was a diligent researcher in those days.
I read about the six characteristics of money — medium of exchange, store of value, unit of account, divisible, fungible, and measurable. Learned about how difficulty in barter lead to money. I could differentiate between Commodity, Representative, Credit, and Fiat money. I could define liquidity, velocity, demand curves, and even derivatives. But my young mind blundered on a realization.
It was all monopoly money!
Yes, dear reader, we’ve been defrauded by our own gooferment. Today’s dollar is not the dollar of our parents or grandparents. And, it won’t be the dollar of our posterity.
Fasten your seat belts. The 25% Carter inflation will seem tame after the politicians get finished screwing us.
The only funny thing is that, while every holder of a dollar today is going to be screwed, the biggest holders of dollars is the Chinese Communists. INflation is going to ravage their 5 Trillion Dollars.
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GOLDBUG: More paper money; higher gold values?
Saturday, October 11, 2008http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff228.html
Gold, the Dollar, and the Dollar Index
by Michael S. Rozeff
*** begin quote ***
Since 2001, gold has risen as the dollar index has fallen, but it has risen more sharply because the other currencies have also fallen in terms of gold. This appreciation in gold coincides with a world-wide inflation of paper currencies. Gold caught up to the inflation, so to speak. As long as these central bank currencies continue to be manufactured without solid backing, either gold or tax revenues, gold will continue to have a long-term upward trend. The volatility in gold prices will, in all likelihood, also continue, and that makes it hard to forecast the shorter-term movements with a factor like money supply. Note that the big increases of recent days have not pushed gold to new highs. In the longer run, however, we can be quite sure that gold will move higher if nothing is done to improve the backing of the world’s central bank currencies.
*** end quote ***
Seems obvious to me.
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RANT: It’s not an “economy” failure, nor a “free market” failure. It’s a “political” failure!
Saturday, October 11, 2008On Oct 10, 2008, at 10:08 PM, P wrote:
*** begin quote ***
From: “Chuck & Joyce”
Date: October 10, 2008 7:18:54 PM EDT
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
Subject: Fw: Our failed economy
Back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by law, tried to run it. They failed and it closed. Now we are trusting the economy of our country to a pack of nit-wits who couldn’t make money running a whore house and selling booze?
*** end quote ***
TO WHICH I REPLIED:
the economy hasn’t failed. we’ve failed to keep our politicians in line with what the dead old white guys outlined as the proper role of gooferment. at our own peril. anyone who votes for an incumbent this year is part of the problem. even if the incumbent had NOTHING to do with it or did nothing bad, they were: (1) tacitly complicit; (2) too stupid to realize what was coming down the road; OR (3) ineffective to stop it. Look at how many times Ron Paul was the lone voice “no”! No on the war. No on taxes. No on Fannie and Freddie. No on the Fed. Sigh. Best gooferment money can buy. Sorry. It wasn’t an economy failure; it was a political failure. We may become the next hyperinflation — like present day Rhodesia, Argentina of the 70s, or Germany of the 1930s. We know how well those all worked out. Gold coins may be needed. The Dead Old White Guys told us that was money. But we didn’t listen as FDR and Nixon fooled us. The 1913 FED started to procession to where we are today. Spinning out of control. Does no good to be right when the commonweal goes over the cliff taking us all to perdition. Argh. It’s all socialism and the elite in their hubris have led us there. Now where is my pitchfork and torch!
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Warning! Don’t stick your fingers in the Libertarian’s cage and poke or prod them. They can snap back. Us little L libertarians are very frustrated. No amount of warning “Here comes The Cliff” has done any good. All we get are dumb looks as people ask “Who’s Cliff?” Guess you know now. Welcome to what Mises, Hayek, Rothfarb, and all the “Austrian School” economists have been warning about!
Don’t blame me. I supported Ron Paul!
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1 Comment | Ranting | Tagged: Bailout, Depression, FED, Gooferment, GRIP, Libertarian, Moral Hazard, Recession, Tax Revolt | Permalink
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