MONEY: Ship your luggage?

Thursday, February 25, 2010

http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/kiptips/archives/save-money-by-shipping-your-luggage.html

Kip Tips
Save Money by Shipping Your Luggage
You may spend less by using a shipping company — rather than the airlines — to get your bags to your destination.
By Cameron Huddleston, Contributing Editor, Kiplinger.com

*** begin quote ***

You may be able to save money by shipping your luggage rather than checking it in the next time you fly. The idea might sound absurd. But if you do the math – as Airfarewatchdog.com has done for you in this chart — you’ll see that it would cost you less in some cases to send your bags to your destination by FedEx, UPS or U.S. Postal Service ground shipping.

*** end quote ***

We did it once before it was fashionable. Worked excellent. Not cheap. Probably cheaper now. And, easier.

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MONEY: Beat Airline Fees

Sunday, February 21, 2010

http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/18/nanofiber-clothing-iphone-technology-cio-network-travel.html?partner=technology_newsletter

Travel
How To Beat Airline Fees
Quentin Hardy, 02.18.10, 07:00 PM EST
Garments and gadgets that let you travel light and avoid extra charges on your next trip.

*** begin quote ***

This was before plausible roller bags, Web sites for lightweight travelers, and all the digital folding headphones, smart phone stands and nanofiber clothing that make the light life easy. It was also before the cursed baggage fees–now beating them is almost like flying for free.

*** end quote ***

Of course, I would only fly if I couldn’t get an appointment for a colonoscopy!

It also makes the “safety” case that all that junk dragged into the cabin makes us ALL unsafe should an emergency occur. The TSA should be the bad guy, (It is already.) By enforcing the number and size restrictions on carry ons. The airlines SHOULD charge for all the carry on crap. That’s what SHOULD be discouraged! Make checked bags free; carry on costs!

Argh!

If I were “king”, I’d proclaim the diktat throughout the land. And the serfs would rejoice.

If not for that, then for the fact we’d be using gold as a monetary standard and the gooferment would be cut down to size. (And, the airlines would be running the terminals, schedules, and “security”. Where passengers could sue in the “king’s” court for damages.)

And, peace and prosperity would be the rule though out the “kingdom”.

I can only wish!

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MONEY: Estates don’t make it to heirs

Saturday, February 20, 2010

http://mortonlaw.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/02/a-tale-of-two-sisters.html

February 10, 2010
A Tale of Two Sisters

*** begin quote ***

While meeting with a client yesterday I heard a story that I thought was instructive and worth repeating. My client’s two aunts were both in the same nursing home. One of her aunts was destitute, and her room was paid for by Medicaid. The other had managed to save a couple of hundred thousand dollars and was in the room next door privately paying for her care at about $5,000 per month. After about 3 years, the other aunt was also destitute and received Medicaid. My client correctly observed that both sisters had the same type of room, in the exact same facility, and received the same care, but one was spending her life’s savings while the other received the same care at no cost. My client wisely recognized the wisdom of planning in order to preserve her life’s savings.

*** end quote ***

Having seen this situation up close and personal, I agree it’s a disaster.

A great aunt gave a substantial estate to eventually getting tossed from a “private” nursing home into a state facilitiy. An aunt, who was merely “great” to me, burned through a several hundred thousand dollar “savings” to wind up the same way.

The answer: don’t get old!

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MONEY: The debt will ensure that any freeze is a joke

Thursday, February 4, 2010

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=123352

Obama: The era of big government is … eternal
Posted: January 28, 2010
Larry Elder is a syndicated radio talk-show host

*** begin quote ***

What about the national debt – what we owe? According to the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation: “The public national debt – $5.8 trillion as of 2008 – is projected to double by 2012 and nearly triple by 2019. Thus, America would accumulate more government debt under President Obama than under every president in American history from George Washington to George W. Bush combined.”

The Big Entitlements – Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – remain the incredible spending faucets set on automatic growth. Neither Obama and his party nor most “fiscally conservative” Republicans offer anything resembling a way out. Meanwhile, the band plays on.

*** end quote ***

The Socialists aka Secular Progressives, will bankrupt us sooner or later.

How does the country survive?

Tax revolt by the payers.

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MONEY: Tax the banks; tax the people

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

http://dailyreckoning.com/false-hope-in-financial-free-lunch
/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign
=Feed%3A+dailyreckoning+%28The+Daily+Reckoning%29

False Hope in Financial Free Lunch
By The Mogambo Guru

*** begin quote ***

“President Barack Obama said Thursday he wants to tax banks to recoup the public bailout of foundering firms at the height of the financial crisis.”! Hahaha!

I am sure that you, being the astute Junior Mogambo Ranger (JMR) that you are, are laughing merrily with along with me – Hahahahahaha! – because this is so, so, so Theater-of-the-Absurd funny on so many, many, many levels, once you get beyond the horrifying, un-funny realization that it is abysmally, shockingly, alarmingly stupid on just the one level: it is a known fact that a tax on a business is just another expense to the business, like labor and raw materials, that is added to the prices that they must charge their customers in order to make a profit, which makes prices go up as the businesses raise prices to maintain their profit margins by recouping the tax they had to pay by, in case you haven’t been paying attention, raising prices, which is inflation, which is the one thing a country does NOT want, making a tax on business the most stupid thing you can do.

*** end quote ***

I’m not laughing at the fool in the WH or all the other fools on the Hill. They are sooo dumb!

And, we’re just as dumb to not standing up to ALL of them.

(1) ANY tax on ANY company is dumb. EITHER: (A) the company takes this new cost and passes it along to the customers. (Might even mark it up a little, a la any regulated utility that has a license to steal!) OR (B) if the cost can’t be passed along due to (international?) competition, it goes out of business and closes down and let’s go all its employees. How dumb can one person, even the President, be?

(2) Banks are a special type of company. It deals in money. If you are supposedly trying to get the banks to loan money to Main Street to get the economy moving, taking money from them makes ZERO sense! Perhaps, the President may want to speak to to little Timmy tax cheat Geithner, who defends AIG rescue as essential (to Goldman Sachs) and Helicopter Ben, about the banks borrowing from Treasury at zero and buying Treasury Bills at 3%. Seems like that is worse than the bail out!

The “Corporate tax” should be ZERO. Only real people pay taxes!

Argh!

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MONEY: Is a Zimbabwe here preventable?

Monday, January 25, 2010

http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/01/letter_re_hyperinflation_appea.html

Letter Re: Hyperinflation Appears Certain for the US Dollar
from SurvivalBlog.com by James Wesley, Rawles

*** begin quote ***

Katrina and Haiti are examples of either predictable events or unpredictable instantaneous events as would be a single nuclear event such as a “suitcase bomb” . Each of these has a number of things in common, but the most significant is the limited geography associated with each. The biggest difference between Hurricane Katrina and the Haitian earthquake is the lack of adjacent unaffected land. In the case of Katrina there was a place to bug out to, on foot or by vehicle, without walking into hostility, and the time to do it. In Haiti, there is no warning and no place to go unless you are a long distance swimmer, but it will be remedied and controlled. There will simply be more deaths and casualties along the way. There will be survivors and they will by and large return to the way things were before the quakes.

*** end quote ***

Excellent observation. Geographic disaster zone where help can come from the outside … … eventually. The trick will be to survive until help arrives.

*** begin quote ***

Our society is so intertwined that any number of small subtle events can build up to and then spark these events. As with Katrina, those signs are out there. You are being warned, and just have to identify what they are and be on the outlook for them. I would compare Haiti to a localized small nuke; no warning, nothing to see coming, it just happens.

*** and ***

It could be a stock market crash, droughts, government failure to renew its short term debt, political upheaval, increased taxes or something as obvious as hyperinflation caused by continued Fed intervention into the economy. It is likely that all of these things and many others, in their own small way, will collectively be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. There is no way to tell which one or ones and when it is likely to happen. History tells us that it will happen.

*** and ***

I could ramble on forever about all of these things, but consider that hyperinflation is absolutely in our future. It’s caused by the Federal Reserve Bank and our government. The only way to decrease the value of what we owe is to print more money, or go to war. Printing more money simply dilutes the value of the dollar in this country. We buy oil with those dollars, and the less they are worth, the more dollars it takes to buy it. All things in our world are directly related to oil. The more it costs, the more everything else costs. Most of our goods are imported from foreign countries. The less the dollar is worth, the more dollars it costs to buy them. As the dollar decreases in value and it takes more dollars to buy the same old necessities, your paycheck never increases proportionately, and if the company you work for fails to make a profit, you’ll be unemployed. That $2 gallon of milk may soon cost $5 or even $10 dollars. As in Zimbabwe, $1,000 or more dollars. Sometimes it can’t be had at any price. Our money today has decreased dramatically in value and purchasing power since the Federal Reserve began in 1913. If you are my age, you’ll remember 15 cent per gallon gasoline. At that time minimum wage was $1.25 per hour. I could buy 8.3 gallons of gas for every hour worked. Today, using the same comparison, I could almost buy only 3 gallons for one hour worked at today’s minimum wage. This applies to all commodities. It’s only going to get worse, much worse.

*** and ***

The government is giving away more money than we provide to it. It’s generating unbelievable debt. Taxes have to be increased. This will decrease how much money you have to buy the more expensive goods and services. Watch the M2 and M3 money funds. They are the gauge of how much money the government is borrowing. Watch the roll-over or default of the short term debt at the end of this year. Where will the money come from to pay the $2 trillion in short term debt? Why would China or anyone else loan us this money when even they can se that they will not get repaid in anything other than de-valued dollars.

You will never see the truth about any of these topics reported in the MSM, and there is a dearth of connecting the dots, even on the Internet. As you read about these things, ask yourself, “what does it really mean” and how does it link the the other current happenings. I can’t list all of the inter-related subjects that have an effect on this, but can only advise you to pay attention. If you don’t, it will sneak up on you and you won’t be ready. – Tom H.

*** end quote ***

A very astute set of observations imho.

I’m not so sure now with the elections in VA, NJ, and MA, that disaster might be avoidable.

With gridlock on the horizon, we have a chance to allow the market to correct the economy on its own without “help” from the gooferment.

If the congress critters were serious people, they would recognize the terrible effect of the annual deficit and the national debt. Glenn Beck has been doing yeoman’s work in calling national focus to it.

I’d suggest that each year, we should have a national surcharge on income tax. I’m not for an income tax, property tax, or any kind of tax, but we have to save the ship. I’d rather be a passenger rather than Robinson Crusoe. So let’s start! Someone has to go thru the Federal Budget, line by line, a la that great movie “Dave”, and have a “fire sale”. Department of Education, out. Department of Agriculture, out. Price Supports, out. Foreign Aid, out. You get the idea. After we are pared down to the “bare bones”, it’s time to “fix” the tax code. Identify the poverty line in every zip code. Income minus the poverty amount. And, then take -steal – rob 10%. Then add 1% for the national debt. 1% for the last year’s deficit.

It would be a way back.

No deficit; no need for the surcharge. No debt; no need for a surcharge. That’s paying off the credit card.

Then, we have to look at all the unfunded mandates?

Maybe financial collapse is inevitable?

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MONEY: Negotiate rebate up front!

Friday, January 22, 2010

*** begin quote ***

Redeeming rebates for hardware and software is a pitfall-filled process, as contributing editor Scott Dunn’s Jan. 7 Top Story pointed out. But reader Walter Donavan says he’s found another way to play the rebate game:

“Scott omitted one possible method of dealing with rebates that is 100% certain — if you can negotiate it. Simply tell the vendor by phone or e-mail that you want the product and will buy it, but only with the rebate already included in the price. For example, ‘$50 after mail-in rebate of $100’ becomes ‘$50 price now.’ Never mind the risky $150 price before rebate.

“I will no longer buy a product that depends on a mail-in rebate. If the vendor won’t give me the post-rebate price up front, I hang up. It’s very satisfying.”

*** end quote ***

Sounds like a good policy for everyone all the time.

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MONEY: Obama made your contribution

Monday, January 18, 2010

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/47719.html

January 17, 2010
Obama Promises $100 Million in Aid for Haiti
Posted by Laurence Vance on January 17, 2010 05:12 PM

*** begin quote ***

It sure is easy to spend money when it is not your own. How charitable of Obama to donate $100 million of other people’s money. But shouldn’t America do something to help Haiti? No, America shouldn’t do anything. This $100 million comes out of the pockets of American taxpayers. In a free society, no one should be forced to fund foreign aid to any country for any reason. But what about individual Americans, shouldn’t they do something? Individual Americans may do something and can do something, but it would be wrong to say that they should do something. Who is to say whether John Doe on Main Street in Topeka, Kansas, should donate to the Haiti relief effort? It would be nice if he did, but only God alone can say that he should.

*** end quote ***

This is how I felt when I first heard it — robbed!

There are a lot charities that deserve our support. Voluntarily! SUre, President Obama can pledge 100 million. It’s not “HIS” 100 Million. It was ours.

I have less problem sending some of the military to help out. Like a hospital ship. Like “spare” troops sitting idle, “guarding” Arlington. But we have several wars going on.

I have no problem with VOLUNTARY charities. I do have a problem with “charities” that have no connection to Haiti that are soliciting. And, those with HIGH administrative rake-off. And, those like UNICEF that have an agenda.

I pray for the poor people of Haiti. But, you have to admit that the political corruption down there has made it a worse disaster.

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MONEY: Gooferment wants to turn savings into guaranteed income streams

Sunday, January 17, 2010

http://www.newmediajournal.us/government/01152010.htm

Government
Retiree Annuities May Be Promoted by Obama Aides
BusinessWeek.com/Bloomberg

*** begin quote ***

The Obama administration is weighing how the government can “encourage” workers to turn their savings into guaranteed income streams following a collapse in retiree accounts when the stock market plunged.

The US Treasury and Labor Departments will ask for public comments as soon as next week on ways to promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams, according to Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Iwry, who are spearheading the effort.

Annuities generally guarantee income until the retiree’s death, and often that of a surviving spouse as well. They are designed to protect against the risk that retirees outlive their savings, a danger made clear by market losses suffered by older Americans over the last year, David Certner, legislative counsel for AARP, said in an interview.

*** and ***

Content Editor’s Note: The Obama Administration is going to try to force investors to structure IRA and 401k accounts into what amounts to a US Treasury debt-backed government annuity. This is an attempt to divert hundreds of billions of dollars of private retirement accounts into federal government debt. If the Chinese won’t voluntarily buy more US debt, the government will simply force it on American investors whether they want it or not. Just more freedoms being taken away.

*** end quote ***

Last time, the trial balloon was “enhanced social security”. Considering that “Social Security Insurance” is broke, that was a lead balloon!

Now they are back with another one, “annuities”, in Treasuries, and I’m sure sold by the Administration’s friends at AARP, packaged by Goldman Sachs, insured by AIG, and delivered by a GM car. (OK, the last is a joke! But this whole think is a joke.)

What those unfamiliar with annuities does is ROB the estates of these people. And, make the gooferment your heir. Argh! As if the Death Tax wasn’t bad enough.

OK, for ha has, why not convert social security into annuities? Sure cause then people could sell them out.

BUT, (there is always a big butt), then we would be FORCED to recognized how underfunded all these “insurance” programs are.

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MONEY: Prep for the USA bankruptcy?

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a8486284-fee9-11de-a677-00144feab49a.html

Bankruptcy could be good for America
By Gideon Rachman
Published: January 11 2010 19:47 | Last updated: January 11 2010 19:47

*** begin quote ***

The result is that the US is piling up debt. A budget deficit of about 12 per cent of gross domestic product is understandable as a short-term reaction to a huge financial crisis. What should worry Americans is that, with entitlement spending set to surge, there is no credible plan to bring the budget deficit under control over the medium term.

*** and ***

Perhaps the most memorable thing said so far by an official in Barack Obama’s administration was the remark by Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, that “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste”. Mr Emanuel was widely condemned for flippancy and cynicism. But an examination of world history over the last 30 years suggests he was definitely on to something. Those much discussed emerging powers, the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India and China) all needed a fiscal crisis to set them on the road to economic reform and national resurgence. America may one day be lucky enough to experience its very own national fiscal crisis. Let us hope it is not wasted.

*** end quote ***

While it might be “good”, it’s hard to imagine it would be good for the “little people”. The poor, the middle class, the elderly, the young, those on fixed incomes. They all lose in any kind of problem. The rich, the political class, the bureaucrats all seem to make out just fine regardless of the problem. Some like Wall Street actually prosper when they should be going broke!

So that’s the USA going broke, with no plan.

Argh!

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MONEY: Sneering at Ron Paul and “End the Fed”

Friday, January 8, 2010

http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2009/12/29/visiting-ron-pauls-fed-free-utopia/?xid=rss-topstories

Visiting Ron Paul’s Fed-free utopia
Posted by Justin Fox
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 2:22 pm

*** begin quote ***

As for his welfare state argument, there’s surely something to it, but not nearly as much as Paul seems to think. In the post World War II era, Germany has followed much more of a hard-money (that is, Ron-Paulish) line than the U.S., yet it has a much bigger welfare state. So the growth of government can be a political choice, not just the result of the machinations of central bankers.

*** end quote ***

It’s hard to imagine the Germans creating their welfare state WITHOUT a fiat currency. That’s what enabled them to create the state without seizing the nation’s wealth silently. If there was a non-fiat monetary base (i.e., gold or competing currencies), then the German politicians would have had to inflict pain on the wealth holders to acquire the funds to give away. With a fiat currency, they can silently inflate away wealth without taxes.

Note that gold isn’t necessary. Repealing the legal tender laws would allow the folks to use a non-inflating alternative.

From times long past, sovereigns always debased the currency to serve their needs. I cite the French Franc from Louis 1 to 17. And rest my case.

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MONEY: Time to get “small”

Thursday, January 7, 2010

http://www.newsweek.com/id/228428/output/print

Survivalism Lite
They call themselves ‘preppers.’ They are regular people with homes and families. But like the survivalists that came before them, they’re preparing for the worst.
By Jessica Bennett | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Dec 28, 2009

*** begin quote ***

In the end, what it all boils down to, at least for the preppers, is self-reliance—a concept as old as the human race itself. As survival blogger Joe Solomon pointed out in a recent column, during the Victory Gardens of WWII, Americans managed to grow 40 percent of all the vegetables they needed to survive. “My mother’s parents had a 10-acre garden, and my grandfather worked at the dairy farm next door,” says Hill, the former jet mechanic. “They worked by raising their own food, they had their own chickens, they canned vegetables, and my grandfather fed a family of 12 like that.” But in the modern world, he says, many of those skills are easily forgotten. Today, our food comes from dozens of different sources. Most of us aren’t quite sure how electricity gets from the wires to our stoves. We use debit cards to buy a can of tuna and we wouldn’t have the slightest idea how to filter contaminated water. We are residents of the new millennium; we simply haven’t needed to prepare.

*** end quote ***

Hard times are coming. While it may not be TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It), there’s no doubt that it will represent a lesser standard of living for everyone.

Get “prepared”!

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MONEY: Fun way to get the message across

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Bullion Is A Girl’s Best Friend

ROFL!


MONEY: Plan for your OWN retirement; gooferment workers are retiring better than you can!

Friday, January 1, 2010

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/22/extending-federal-benefits-sex-couples-cost-m-cbo-says/?test=latestnews

Updated December 26, 2009
Extending Federal Benefits to Same-Sex Couples Will Cost $898M, CBO Says
  FOXNews.com

*** begin quote ***

Extending federal benefits to same-sex couples will cost taxpayers $898 million over the next nine years, according to an analysis of “domestic partnership” legislation released last by the Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO said in its Dec. 17 report that the House version of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act — H.R. 2517 — would cost $596 million in direct spending and $302 million in discretionary spending through 2019.

The independent nonpartisan agency found that “providing additional health insurance benefits through the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program” — for active and retired gay federal workers with spouses — “causes the largest increase in both mandatory and discretionary spending — $590 million and $266 million, respectively.”

*** end quote ***

Sounds like we have to examine the cost of ALL gooferment benefits.

We need to ELIMINATE the concept of benefits and pensions from employment.

Pay folks what they are worth and allow them to buy the benefits that they wish.

Life insurance is something folks buy on their own. Why not everything else as well. Let people save for their own retirement and balance current needs versus future ones.

Big brother gooferment is taking “Social Security” taxes and spending everything. If an insurance company did it, the execs would be in jail. It’s a Ponzi scheme.

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MONEY: Intergenerational Theft

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

http://tslrf.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-review-generation-debt-why-now-is.html

Friday, December 25, 2009

Book Review: Generation Debt, Why Now Is A Terrible Time To Be Young

*** begin quote ***

I just finished the book Generation Debt: Why It Is A Terrible Time To Be Young. Honestly I think if you are 18-35 or have a kid in that age range you should read this book. Here are some interesting snippets of the book:

*** and ***

-The cause is not a temporary recession but structural changes in the economy. In income and occupation prestige, young adults are behind where their parents were at their age.

*** end quote ***

At Christmas eve dinner, we had a discussion on this topic.

The kids didn’t understand that we were talking about their economic future.

Unfortunately, they are going to have to live thru this economic disaster.

They will have to be smart with their money. Very smart. Which to date, I have NOT seen evidenced by any young people. Or some old ones either.

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MONEY: Making a Loan Shark look good

Friday, December 18, 2009

http://www.impactlab.com/2009/12/18/subprime-credit-card-issuer-raising-interest-rate-to-79-9/

December 18th, 2009 at 9:56 am

Subprime Credit Card Issuer Raising Interest Rate To 79.9%

*** begin quote ***

In a recent mailing for a preapproved card, First Premier lowers fees to just that limit — $75 in the first year for a credit line of $300. But the new law doesn’t set a cap on interest rates. Hence the 79.9% APR, up from the previous 9.9%.

*** end quote ***

Good law!

People can’t look to the gooferment for protection.

Self-defense is only course.

Worse than the Mafia?

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MONEY: The Roth IRA Conversion Conundrum

Monday, December 14, 2009

http://www.edelmanfinancial.com/galleries/default-file/ipf_12_09.pdf

Ric Edelman in “The Roth IRA Conversion Conundrum” points out while you CAN convert your IRA to a ROTH. Unless the circumstances are just right, you shouldn’t. Why all the BUZZ about doing it? Well guess who makes out if you do it? Yup, the brokers and the gooferment! Paying taxes when it is not needed or wrong is always disastrous

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MONEY: The TEO trigger

Thursday, November 5, 2009

I “think” the TEOTWAWKI trigger will be the Obama “economy”. Or lack there of. “Health Care” will bust the budget. “Cap and Tax” will both bust the budget and kill economic activity. Pricing oil in Euros will be the equivalent of a tax increase, damping the economy, and killing the dollar. (Remember we killed Saddam for even suggesting pricing oil in gold.) Government Motors, all the bank takeovers. AND, tah dah, the FED is secretly monetizing the debt (i.e., use saw the shadow buyers of Treasury debt who turn around and sell it the NEXT DAY). Argh!

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MONEY: Stats with a weak dollar?

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/your-take-are-we-out-of-the-recession.html/

Your Take: Are We Out Of The Recession?
by Jim Wang

*** begin quote ***

Yesterday, the Department of Commerce reported that the annualized GDP (gross domestic product) grew to 3.5% in third quarter. This is significant because, by definition, a recession is two straight quarters of shrinking GDP. A 3.5% increase in GDP would mean, at least technically, the recession was over. Four straight quarters of negative GDP growth, the worst of which was the first quarter of 2009 (-6.4%), has finally come to an end.

Hooray! Right?

*** end quote ***

I’d point out that the weak dollar should influence our judgments. If the stock market goes up 50% but the dollar goes down 50% versus gold, the Euro, or some other “standard”, then did the market go up at all? Like fish in a tank, we can’t sense anything but water. Bad metaphor, can’t think of a good one. It’s like a football team gaining ground but the “year” gets redefined as the game proceeds. IT feels like we are losing ground on a “financial treadmill”. AND, give the gooferment’s tendency to make stuff up (i.e., jobs “saved” or “created”), especially if it’s a nebulously defined concept, I’m cynical about being “out of the recession”. The Titanic had its ice deliver but didn’t sink right away. Maybe we’re seeing the same thing. All that printing press money has to come home to roost.

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MONEY: M note; not C note

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aY6fyCTnmgh0

Dollar’s Doom Puts a Face on New $1 Million Bill
Commentary by David Reilly

*** begin quote ***

Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) — Forty years ago, the U.S. government said the $100 bill would be the highest-denomination note. With the Federal Reserve now trying to print its way out of the financial crisis, it may be time to revisit that decision.

*** end quote ***

Guess we’ll need trillion dollar notes like Zimbabwe!

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MONEY: The dollar is done

Monday, October 26, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/schiff/schiff53.1.html

Dollar Forced to Abdicate by Peter Schiff

*** begin quote ***

To save our currency, the Fed must get very aggressive with interest rate hikes and reign in the supply of dollars that have flooded the world over the past few years. The federal government must also do its part by cutting spending, which means no more stimulus and no more bailouts. Undoubtedly, these actions will have unpleasant economic and political consequences. A student who studies harder may have to miss a party or two. A simple analogy, but unfortunately it is that simple.

*** end quote ***

BUT, (there is always a big butt), it will never happen.

The “patient” (i.e., the dollar) is a “dead man walking”. The only question is when.

The congress critters killed it. And, us.

Like the line from the movie “Red October”, “You killed us, you arrogant ass!”

Only in this case, it’s the political class.

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MONEY: Don’t save your wealth in fiat money

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

http://hbdbooks.com/2009/10/what-powers-government-fiat-money/

Fiat Money: The Fuel of Government
October 15, 2009 in Book Reviews, Economics
End the Fed
By Ron Paul

*** begin quote ***

The ability to print money gives the government unlimited power. If you tax the people too much they rebel. But if you declare your paper to be the only thing used as legal tender and allow yourself to print as much of it as you want, there’s no limit to what you can do. The effects of inflation are as real as any tax. It’s just that the people are slower to notice and connect their lower living standards to the actions of the government. The scariest power that the Federal Reserve gives government is that to wage war.

*** end quote ***

How can you subject your hard earned wealth to theft by inflation?

How can you defend your hard earned wealth?

Other fiat currencies? Gold? Silver? International equities? Non dollar denominated bonds?

The Family Farm?

Maybe the farm, because you can still eat. But the Estate Taxes will prevent yo from passing it on.

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MONEY: Thinking about your paycheck

Saturday, October 17, 2009

http://dailyreckoning.com/your-salary-not-slashed-yet-just-wait-it-could-still-be-offshored/

Your Salary Not Slashed Yet? Just Wait, it Could Still be Offshored
By Rocky Vega

*** begin quote ***

It’s not an isolated occurrence, as former White House economist Alan Blinder points out, 38 percent of American jobs could ultimately meet this fate. He recommends that measures be immediately taken in anticipation of these extraordinarily tough times.

*** end quote ***

In the formula of how much of an emergency fund you need, you better reassess how stable your job is.

The answer is “not very”!

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MONEY: Evening with Ric

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

http://www.ricedelman.com/

Went to one of Ric’s sessions. (Disclosure, I’m a customer.)

He did have many interesting points.

The one I thought was most interesting was his assault on the “dizzy blonde” and Dave Ramsey. Ric favors having a big mortgage.

For me the jury is still out on that.

He is dead set against anything but a low rate fixed 30 year mortgage regardless of your age. His point was that you can have a pile of cash to make investments AND the house. I remember when I got a 5% VA mortgage and was happy as a pig through the Carter inflation. I’m warming to his advice.

Especially when 30 year fixed are going for under 5%.

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MONEY: Stocks go up but the dollar decline negates it

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

http://www.cnbc.com/id/33246832

Save the Greenback, Mr. President
Published: Friday, 9 Oct 2009 | 5:01 PM ET
By: Larry Kudlow
Anchor

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All this massive spending and borrowing is killing us. We need to be slashing tax rates on large and small businesses. There’s just no better place to begin job creation. And leave the Bush tax cuts in place for heaven’s sake. This supply-side shock therapy would save the dollar. And it would put real long-term torque into the recovery.

*** end quote ***

Unfortunately, the President is not going to defend the dollar. The Fed ain’t either. And, the congress critters are going to spend like those proverbial drunken sailors. (At least the sailor spent their OWN money.)

So what are the little folks to do. Get ready for a lost decade or two. Study Zimbabwe for how tough life is going to be as the world passes us by.

But some bullion to preserve wealth. Just don’t get ripped off by overpaying.

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MONEY: Watch your “fees”!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl/29-sneaky-fees.html

29 Sneaky Fees and How to Avoid Them
by Kathy Kristof

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If you feel like you’re getting nickel and dimed to death, you probably are.

In an attempt to create “sticker swoon,” – an irresistibly low price – an increasing number of businesses are advertising bargain prices for everything from cell phone service to hotel stays before tacking on hidden fees and charges to boost the final cost and make it tougher to shop around.

“The common denominator is the drive to disguise what the true cost is,” said Joseph Ridout, consumer services manager at Consumer Action, a San Francisco-based advocacy group.

*** end quote ***

Eternal vigilance is not just for the gooferment.

Ask the FTC: “Why don’t they crack down on fees?”

There too busy protecting those they supposedly regulate.

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