Reinke Faces Life

FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE ABOUT A NEARBY HOUSE BEING SOLD

284k?

Always thought the way to wealth was to have 12 single family rental homes.

At 300, the opportunity cost is about 15k. If you financed 300k for 30 years at 5%, the PI is 1610. If you could rent it at say 2k, then at the end of 30 years, you have an asset that throws off 24k per year. Twelve of them is 240+48=288/year. An excellent retirement.

I first saw this proposed in the 70s by a discredited hustler named Sonny Bloch. (Later convicted on something unrelated to real estate.)

Shoulda, coulda, and woulda if I was smart.

You have to be meticulous with money. Diversify your risks. But, I can see how it is a guaranteed winner. Like when we rented the shore house. Rents edge up over time. You sign one year leases with your tenants. Hefty security deposits. A lot of headaches, but after 30 years, or 40 years, you have the equivalent of the family farm. Incorporated it as a family business to minimize tax and legal risks.

Sigh.

Too late, I get smart.

:-)

# – # – #

Note: You have to bootstrap into 12. Optimistically, you get into one per year. Or per two year. You have to ruthlessly buy cheap quality houses. Modest improvements; diligent maintenance. Track the cash flow. Eventually the equity builds up. I think you title each one in its own corporate entity. Superior performing ones could be sold off at a premium. Hard work, but the road to riches imho.

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http://www.smartmoney.com/consumer/index.cfm?story=20071227

Consumer Action
New Year, New Consumer Scams
By Aleksandra Todorova |Aleksandra Todorova Archive |Published: December 27, 2007

*** begin quote ***

IT’S BEEN A tough year for consumers. With housing prices falling and the subprime-mortgage mess raging on, we won’t blame you if you’re looking forward to a fresh start in 2008.

Better watch out: The financial woes and natural disasters of 2007 have armed scammers with plenty of new tricks — or resourceful spins on old ones — aimed at separating you from your cash. Here the five most treacherous scams to watch out for in 2008.

*** end quote ***

As a notary, I “hear” a lot of scams going on. It seems that they all boil down to the elemental “something4nothing”. You’ll magically get, for example, a grazillion bucks from your long lost aunt tillie, if you’ll just send a “shipping & handling” fee.

Right?

Last time I looked, the tooth fairy made house calls. No “s&h”.

Fore warned is fore armed!

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http://www.survivalblog.com/2007/12/odds_n_sods_635.html

***Begin Quote***

SurvivalBlog reader Mary R. forwarded us this odd notice from the US Treasury: Annual Purchase Limit For Savings Bonds Set at $5,000. Could the Treasury have been warned that the Fed plans to further lower interest rates, potentially making even low-yield savings bonds more attractive? We live in strange times, dear readers.

***End Quote***

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/news/pressroom/pressroom_reducedpurchaselimit.htm

Very very strange!

# # # # #

http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2007/12/15/economic_recession_2008_scobles_advice.htm

***Begin Quote***

Economic Recession 2008: Scoble’s Advice The Only Way To Go?
By Robin Good on Independent Publishing
I loveRobert Scoble mostly because he is a very positive, optimistic and friendly person
CounterPoint to: Surviving the 2008 Recession
by Robert Scoble and Robin Good
1. Get some income from overseas.
2. Cut expenses.
3. Lock down clients into longer-term contracts.
4. Ensure you’re seen as valuable at work. Do an honest assessment.
5. Network more than usual. You might get laid off
6. Watch the job listings.
7. Dust off your blog.
8. Start a company.
9. Move to a bigger company
10. If you are in a big company, join a group that isn’t going to get cut.
11. If you’re in a small company, get real friendly with two groups
12. Look at your stock portfolio and make smart moves.
13. Try to get into hot new markets. Russia, for instance
14. ComputerWeekly is recommending CIOs get two budgets together
15. Work the basics: build a cash reserve; manage inventory; renegotiate your lease; reward loyal customers;
16. See where you stand in the story line.
17. Write a blog about how to brilliantly sail through a recession.
18. Clean up your balance sheet.
19. Keep your ear to the ground,

***End Quote***

Batten down the hatches!

# # # # #

It’s a fact of life that the “old folks” who go into nursing homes run out of money and become wards of the state. It happened to a wealthy aunt decades ago, who took a “fortune” and wound up on the dole. (I was young and not privy to the exact numbers.) And, it’s happening to another aunt and I am privy to the numbers.

She worked her whole life at menial jobs. Saved her pennies and accumulated a nice nest egg. (Probably 5 times her annual salary!) Had social security and a tiny pension. And she’ll die on the dole. (I’m not planning on telling her because she just get upset.)

It’s NOT her fault.

That “social security insurance” theft didn’t provide her with “social insurance”. Proper insurance with MetLife, Prudential, or Allstate over fifty years would have given her a substantial annuity.

Argh!

Now I read about folks going into assisted living. I read about old folks living on cruise ships. I read about people going overseas for expensive medical procedures.I read about old folks in Japan needing robots.

Will old people become America’s new export? Will the American equivalent of the Eskimos putting old folks on ice flows going out to sea be sending our old folks to old age homes in Third World countries where they can get taken care of “humanely”?

Warped thought, but who is going to take care of an “old” America?

Is that a consequence of our love of abortion and our failure to cherish life?

# # # # #

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/10/24/understanding-the-seven-habits-of-wealth

Understanding the Seven Habits of Wealth
Wednesday, 24th October 2007 (by J.D.)

This is a guest post from Dough Roller, a Washington D.C. blogger who writes about building wealth, one dollar at a time.

***Begin Quote***

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. — Aristotle

We tend to define our lives by the big events: graduation, marriage, children, a big promotion, retirement. What often gets neglected are the little things we do every day, the little things that make the big events possible. As Aristotle said, it’s what we “repeatedly do” that produces excellence. When it comes to money and wealth, what do you repeatedly do?

***and***

Hard Work
Modest Living
Patience
Perseverance
Balance
Self-Awareness
Learning

***End Quote***

I remember, but didn’t “learn” until much later, that “small leaks sink big ships”.

Singularly, I have demonstrated “big leaks sing ships quickly”. It’s my personal objective to plug all my “big leaks” before I “sop earning and start burning”.

I have to get organized!

:-(

Maybe that’s the “eighth” idea. Organization. You have to be organized to succeed?

# # # # #

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/greenberg/2007/12/straight-talk-on-the-mortgage-mess-from-an-insider

Straight Talk on the Mortgage Mess from an Insider
12:11:23 PM December 6th, 2007
Herb Greenberg is senior columnist for MarketWatch. His column also appears in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal.

***Begin Quote***

Values are down and these are interest only loans, therefore, many are severely underwater even without negative-amortization on this loan type. They were qualified at a 50% debt-to-income ratio, leaving only 50% of a borrower’s income to pay taxes, all other bills and live their lives. These loans put the borrower in the grave the day they signed their loan docs especially without major appreciation. These loans will not perform as poorly overall as sub-prime, seconds or Option ARMs but they are a perfect example of what is still considered ‘prime’ that is at risk. Eighty-eight percent of Thornburg’s portfolio is this very loan type for example.

***End Quote***

It appears that this mess is not even begun to be cleaned up. Remember the post 9-11 FED with its multi-year near zero interest rate? That’s the cause. Now the PREZ is going to “save us all” with some type of sub-prime bail out.

Fools! The sheep are fools. Just Fools!

It’s immoral for politicians to steal money from the productive class to bail out the unproductive class.

It’s just makes people make even worse decisions.

Hopefully, you’ve been putting away your gold coins. Perhaps, this is truly the end of the Republic.

Messing with the money is always a sure sign of the end.

# # # # #

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-466210540567002553&pr=goog-sl

Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve
41 min 25 sec – Jun 1, 1996
Average rating: (868 ratings)

***Begin Quote***

Description: Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson understood “The Monster”. But to most Americans today, Federal Reserve is just a name on the dollar bill. They have no idea of what the central bank does to the economy, or to their own economic lives; of how and why it was founded and operates; or of the sound money and banking that could end the statism, inflation, and business cycles that the Fed generates. Dedicated to Murray N. Rothbard, steeped in American history and Austrian economics, and featuring Ron Paul, Joseph Salerno, Hans Hoppe, and Lew Rockwell, this extraordinary new film is the clearest, most compelling explanation ever offered of the Fed, and why curbing it must be our first priority. Alan Greenspan is not, we’re told, happy about this 42-minute blockbuster. Watch it, and you’ll understand why. This is economics and history as they are meant to be: fascinating, informative, and motivating. This movie could change America.

***End Quote***

Never?

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http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog

***Begin Quote***

What Is Insurance and How Does It Fit Into My Plan?

Insurance is the cheapest and most immediate way for a person to displace risks that are too great to assume individually. I can afford the doctor for an annual check-up, but what if I need an MRI and surgery? By paying a smaller amount up front, I am moving the responsibility from my shoulders to a large organization.

***End Quote***

This drives me wild. It is so basic, yet we seem to have zero understanding.

(1) Ever watch the TV commercials made famous by Ed McM. Insure your baby. Insure your funeral expenses. Insure what? What in the Intelligent Designer’s name are you protecting against?

(2) Social Security Insurance? That Ponzi scheme should have never been allowed to assume the word “insurance”.

(3) “Health” Insurance that pays for routine maintenance stuff.

Insurance on the open market for true catastrophes, like death, are cheap and easy to buy. Life Insurance was pioneered by the fraternal organizations to mitigate the death of a wage earner.

So what are you calling “insurance” that isn’t? And, what are you paying for that you shouldn’t even be “insuring”? And, what are your biggest risks? Are they “insurable”? And which ones should you be mitigating and which should you properly be “insuring” (i.e., the big hairy ones)?

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http://www.dolans.com/video/DOEL_avoid_these_401k_mistakes_091207.html?sid=9AG316&cp=IPIE&ct=20071204&cc=eletter&en=3452901

***Begin Quote***

Avoid These 401(k) Mistakes!

We’ll be straight with you: In our many years of talking to people about their money concerns, we’ve heard from far too many folks who are making serious mistakes with their 401(k) plans. It breaks our hearts to think about how often we come across these mistakes — and how costly they are as well.

***End Quote***

Good folks with good advice!

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/katz-j/katz-j26.html

Knowledge Through Ignorance
by Joshua Katz

***Begin Quote***

Now, the state of Pennsylvania has outlawed the labels. This is quite harmful to producers who built organic farms, which are much harder to build and maintain, on the expectation of being able to obtain a higher milk price. Now that the milk is not labeled, there will be no price differential, and soon enough there will be no untreated milk available for sale in the state, I’d wager.

***End Quote***

Milk is an excellent example of the fascism that pervades this country. Milk is highly regulated and highly taxed.

(Regulated for your “protection”. Like you couldn’t tell that the milk you were buying wasn’t pastuerized or homogenized. You used to be able to buy a BRAND of milk for it’s assurances. Now milk is a commodity!)

(Taxed because … well they can. When you see a gallon of milk, think of a gallon of gasoline. And, all the taxes on the gasoline that went to produce and deliver it to you are all hidden in the price of the milk that you buy!)

And, to ensure that the gooferment properly protects the fascist milk producers, there are milk price support laws! So you can pay more. And, that makes work for the lobbyists employed by milk fascist.

So where are your lobbyists?

How does this relate to money recognize that you are paying more? And, ask you congress critter why!

# # # # #

How doe

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-466210540567002553

Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve

*** Begin Quote ***

Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson understood …. But to most Americans today, Federal Reserve is just a …

*** End Quote ***

But when they do it, it’s “inflation”, “expanding the money supply”, or some other drivel.

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http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_05/schiff113007.html

The End Of Consumer Credit As We Know It
Peter Schiff

***Begin Quote***

In an article this week that examined the troubles brewing in Citigroup’s mortgage business, the Wall Street Journal focused on Natalie Brandon, a 51 year old married woman from Granada Hills, CA, who is currently unable to make the payments on her $625,000 adjustable rate home loan from Citigroup, despite the fact that the rate will not even reset higher until June of next year. Amazingly, the Journal reported that Mrs. Brandon bought the house in 1985 for just $105,000, but had chosen to refinance five times over the past seven years, borrowing more than $500,000 and spending every single penny. While this may be an extreme example of American profligacy, it is by no means unique. Unfortunately this type of behavior typifies everything that is wrong with the modern American economy.

Had this homeowner behaved responsibly, as was typical for Americans of prior generations, her current monthly mortgage payments would likely be less than $600 and the remaining balance on her loan would be about $40,000. In eight more years she would have owned her home free and clear, and would likely be on track for early retirement. Instead, after 22 years of making mortgage payments, she is now $625,000 in debt. The article stated that she had recently tried to refinance into a 6%, forty year, fixed-rate mortgage, but it fell through. Even if she had qualified, she would have been obligated to make monthly mortgage payments of close to $4,000 until she was in her nineties.

***End Quote***

Well, they say something like experience is an expensive schoolteacher, but fools will learn from no other.

About the only think that can happen is the foreclosures and subsequent bankruptcies allow folks to start over.

What does one have to show for a life’s work … “experience”.

Seems like there will be a lot of competition for my planned “final job” as the WalMart Greeter?

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/money-mania.html

***Begin Quote***

Let’s ask ourselves: why would this make anyone optimistic? Let’s say that you are playing the game Monopoly and one player proposes to double the money stock for everyone. The problem would be obvious to everyone. If the prices on the board could change, they would double. Since they can’t, the game will only last twice as long as before. Meanwhile, players would become more reckless with their investments in houses and hotels. It wouldn’t really make the players more wealthy; it would only create an illusion that would be temporary.

The analogy isn’t exact, but the point should be clear. Paper money is not the same thing as wealth. Wealth comes from trade, investment, and capital accumulation. Money is merely a tool that facilitates the creation of wealth; it is not identical to it.

***End Quote***

The essence of an advanced course in Economics. If Americans ever re learned that one fact, then the pundits, politicians, komisars, and bureaucrats would be all “out of business”. They couldn’t scam us any more.

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http://www.resourceshelf.com/2007/11/26/resource-of-the-week-consumer-guides-for-getting-and-keeping-health-insurance

Resource of the Week: Consumer Guides for Getting and Keeping Health Insurance
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor

***Begin Quote***

Here is an issue that, in the United States, needs no elaboration. Even if you, yourself, do not have a health insurance horror story, most assuredly you have a friend, relative or colleague who does. We’re all familiar with these tales by now:

* People who lose their health insurance when their employer kicks them to the curb.
* Small businesses no longer able to offer coverage to employees because premiums have become unaffordable — if they can find a company willing to insure them to begin with.
* Large businesses unable to complete on a level playing field in the increasingly globalized economy, due to the built-in overhead cost of providing health insurance for employees and, sometimes, retirees.
* People without insurance who put off going to the doctor until a health situation reaches the crisis stage, at which point they show up in the emergency room, where they are treated at taxpayers’ expense for something that might have been prevented — or relatively simply and inexpensive to take care of in its early stages.
* People who are tethered to unrewarding/unsuitable jobs — who would maybe like to work part-time and/or start a small business — because of the need for health insurance.

***End Quote***

Note the fine hand of the gooferment in this problem at many places.

* Employer connected benefit plans are a direct result of the WW2 wage and price controls.

* Health Insurance is tax deductible to an employer but not to Joe SixPack (and I’m not referring to abs). Consultants and contractors can deducted by the pretense that they are their own employers. Argh!

* The supply of “doctors”, “nurses”, and “hospitals” are all restricted by gooferment licensing laws. (Like people prior to the AMA were too stupid to figure out what docs were good and what were bad. Docs that screwed up my get shot. Made for motivated health professionals.) Any restriction in supply increases cost. Demand is relatively constant.

* Drugs are restricted by the FDA (whose horror stories are legendary) and, even when “approved”, are further restricted by FDA diktats which ensure the creation of BigPharma (where “regulators” come from and go to retire in an incestuous relationship). Further restricting supply when you can get it. And, too bad, if you happen to die while “your” drug awaits approval. Even if you wave all the claims and accept the risk, you still can’t have it, you peon you. (Unless you’re rich enough and healthy enough to fly to a Third World country where you can have whatever you need. If it’s made at all.

* Drugs, that are evil things that can jump up and put themselves in you, can only be sold in gooferment approved stores. And, then only by prescriptions from gooferment approved “doctors” (qwak qwak) which have to come on gooferment approved forms. These prescriptions can be paid for by gooferment approved insurance companies if they are listed in their gooferment approved “formularies”. Argh!

* Things that BigPharma can not make a profit on — vitamins, minerals, dirt, mold, weeds, bark of tropical trees — can not be advertised to you by anyone — regardless if the have a gooferment license or not — as “curing anything” unless the FDA agrees to the proof. Since, for example, the British Navy discovered that Vitamin C cures scurvy, but you can advertise that claim citizen because the FDA hasn’t been paid so you can do a double blind test — at your expense of course. So no vitamins or minerals for you Citizen regardless of what they cure, prevent, or help. (I know one fellow, gets something for his horse, and takes it himself. For arthritis pain. Horse and owner are doing just fine thanks. Not so, the rest of the non-horse owning population.)

* Now my favorite topic, weed. MJ. Did you see that they think that smoking it prevents breast and brain cancer from spreading? Yup, no joke. And, ignore the fact that some sick people can tolerate it better than the fancy and expensive BigPharma drugs. And, further ignore, that in California, the federal thugs are robbing medical marijuana dispensaries. (Well, what do you call a federal raid where pot and cash are taken, but no one is arrested or charges. OJ does it in LV and he’s an armed robber. The feddies do it in CA and they are heros of the empire. We stopped being a republic a long time ago. Guess they haven’t read the Fourth, Fifth, and Tenth Amendment.)

AND ONE LAST POINT

* The gooferment assuming the medical insurance of all old folks over age 65 under the Social Security / Medicare program is imho the single biggest factor in why we are broke and medical care stinks here. Go to a hospital er and go to one of those “you pay” urgent care places. Guess where you’ll be home from first.

Argh!!!

BTW, the guide is excellent and this is a great find.

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http://www.moolanomy.com/74/7-mistakes-i-made-when-i-went-to-college

***Begin Quote***

1. Not considering the return on investment

Education is like any other investment — i.e., there are good ones and bad ones. Aside from your house, this is probably the second biggest investment you will be making. The problem was that my heart was set on going to an Ivy League school, and I stupidly turned down full scholarship to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (a top notch school). In short, I was young and irresponsible with money (my parents’ money). If I went to Ann Arbor instead I would have saved them about $20,000 a year (after scholarship and financial aids), and that was in 1991. If I had instead saved and invested that money, it would be worth about $265,000 today (at modest 8% annualized gain).

Was my Ivy League education worth $265,000? Definitely not! I do not think I would make any less money today, if I had gone to Ann Arbor.

***End Quote***

Is it really?

I agree that on one level (i.e., I spend X; I then earn Y; if Y GT X, happy, else unhappy) one might think of it as an “investment”. Comparing the IVY to a STATE is more difficult than it seems.

One reason that immediately leaps to my mind is that this is not a “repeatable event”. Probability theory is built up around roulette wheels, dice, and cards. The student is a UNIQUE (i.e., a unique individual with free will). Selection of a college isn’t a repeatable event. As a high school senior in the US you only get one choice. And, it’s destructive. You don’t get to rewind the VCR as in the movie “groundhog day” and get to run repeated trials.

Another reason is that your experience colors everything — every single blessed thing — you do after that point. Your perceptions, your thinking, heck even your speech and the words you use are different. And, it “labels” you to other people. You’ll always be the “Ivy League” guy.

So static analysis is pointless.

In the cited case, you can’t even assume that the mythical 265k — and it is mythical because it exists no where in your own mind — no where — would have been “saved and invested”.

You can’t even be sure that where you have to chosen STATE over IVY, that on the first day of school, as you were crossing from the bus stop to the campus — cause in your mythical dream you’d have saved money on a car and taken the bus — that crossing the street you were hit by the big dump truck. (Hey if you can imagine a “college student saving money” then I can make “runaway dump trucks” materialize as well!)

Nope, that is why they are called “decisions”. One choice precludes (“cide” means to cut) all the others. You come to that proverbial fork in the road and you do a Yogi Berra taking one. Peck advices taking “the one less traveled”. You will never know in this lifetime what would have been if you’d gone down the other one. It’s all guesswork and speculation.

It’s a question philosophers have struggled with like forever. Duh! It’s really easy. The one you took was by definition the “best” one. Unless your were deluded, high, or defrauded, then you chose the one that your perceived “best” at the time. “Right” is left to the Intelligent Designer to decide.

imho.

So, I’d that the premise is flawed. Education is different and unlike other investments.

Interesting exercise though.

I don’t know if my Mom’s money and my time was well-spent by my education? Hope so. But, I don’t “know”!

# # # # #

Proud to say, I chipped in a couple of bucks for this effort! If they can do it Taxachusetts, then it can be done anywhere!

*** begin quote ***

From: Small Government News [www.SmallGovernmentNews.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 1:25 AM
Subject: END the Income Tax Initiative Headed For Ballot

Small Government News*
Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Publisher: Carla Howell
Editor: Michael Cloud

===========================================================
IN THIS ISSUE
===========================================================

— END the Income Tax Initiative Headed For Ballot
— Boston Globe Article
— “Congratulations,” Writes Citizens for Limited Taxation

===========================================================
END THE INCOME TAX BALLOT INITIATIVE HEADED FOR BALLOT
===========================================================

Dear Friend,

We’re frazzled, fried, and fatigued.

Last week, we delivered 100,000 petition signatures for our END the Income Tax Ballot Initiative to 351 town clerks for validation and certification.

This week, we have to arrange pickups and shipping of these legally validated signatures to us.

Next week – by Wednesday, December 5th – we must file our validated petition signatures with the Massachusetts Secretary of State.

Then the fun begins. We get to show Massachusetts taxpayers and voters the huge, immediate, direct benefits of ENDing the Income Tax in Massachusetts.

We get to tell them why they can make themselves dramatically better off by ENDing the state income tax – and giving 3,000,000 Massachusetts workers and taxpayers $3,600 each, every year.

{Extraneous Deleted}

*** end quote ***

If they can start the ball rolling repealing the income tax around the country, we’ll have a booming economy and I can afford to quit blogging for fame and fortune. (Huh?)

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http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/JackieClay/2007/11/26/we-made-another-giant-step-yesterday

***Begin Quote***

We’re still kind of working the bugs out of the system; we’d gotten lazy about things like turning off the lights (with the generator on, what the heck?), phantom loads (unpluging the TV when you’re finished, not just pushing the off button, cause it’s still ON!), etc.

***End Quote***

Maybe I’m anal, but I hate to pay for nothing. And, that’s what “instant on” translates to.

Also, don’t forget those “warts”, you know the various and sundry “wall warts”, power “adapters”, the things that convert AC to DC. Running all the time.

I put them on a power strip with a switch and click off the entire strip when I’m not charging something.

A penny here and a penny there, and before you know it you have two whole cents.

;-)

# # # # #

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=2007-11-25_D8T4MV7G1&show_article=1&cat=breaking

Court to Consider Investor’s 401(k) Suit
Nov 25 08:48 AM US/Eastern
By PETE YOST
Associated Press Writer

***Begin Quote***

WASHINGTON (AP) – James LaRue says he lost $150,000 when his instructions to his employer on where to invest money in his retirement plan were ignored. Now the Supreme Court will decide whether a federal pension-protection law gives LaRue the right to sue to recover his losses. Arguments in the case were scheduled for Monday.

***End Quote***

This is a interesting development.

Ignoring for the moment that the gooferment court will decide just how much trouble a corporation, another gooferment created entity, can get into. Of course, there are lawyers abundant as far as the eye can see.

More to the point:

(1) Why are there such things as 401ks?

(2) Why would you expect a business to be involved in YOUR retirement?

(3) Why is the gooferment “protecting” both sides? (Allowing the corporation off the hook if it’s not “criminal” while pretending to regulate the “industry”.)

Now clearly, the roles and motivations of the individual, the employer, a slew of other corporations, the gooferment, and bunch of lawyers are all muddled together. Time to cut the Gordian Know and simplify!

# # # # #

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2007/tle445-20071125-01.html

***Begin Quote***

Question: So, what can the regular guy do to help create a more stable financial economy?

Answer: First, “sauf qui peut.” Save yourselves. If you have a savings account, and no other wealth, then take that savings account and buy some gold and some silver, and do it right now. Second, diversify. Again, for the sake of your own financial survival. Put some of your money into … …

{Extraneous Deleted}

***End Quote***

Never hurts to “bury” a few coins in your yard!

And, where is your “victory garden”?

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FROM AN EMAIL WITH LUDDITE

What you don’t the think that the youth of American understand that they are getting screwed royally by you old folks? Why would you think old folk wouldn’t want more of the same? It’s not like they are going to be around when “Rome” falls!

I’m firmly convinced the only way we avoid a lot of pain and misery is for Ron Paul to guide the country back to the Founder’s original intent.
Otherwise, I think the kids will see the TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) scenarios (i.e., high inflation caused by the world rejecting the American Dollar as it’s reserve currency; Social Security – Medicare – Medicaid – Drug “benefit” breaks the bank in social spending; the graying of America takes a lot of productive people out of the labor force; Oil becomes even more expensive when it’s priced in something other than dollars; the 5T$ in China come home to roost; and don’t forget about the National Debt.

# # # # #

http://www.gambling911.com/Ron-Paul-111807.html

***Begin Quote***

This “inflation tax” is what is causing most of us to feel the economic pinch right now. Right now one main reason things are so tough on you financially is because the government is spending up to one trillion dollars a year on the military. Guess who is paying for that? Us. Guess when? Now and in the future when we will have to pay interest on even more loans the government took out. The government has no money of its own, it only gets what it takes from you and me. And they have been taking a lot of it. We just haven’t seen it directly coming out of our pockets in the form of taxes in our paycheck, but we sure feel it when it costs over fifty bucks to fill the tank, or milk is five bucks a gallon, or your cat food goes from 7.99 to 12.99 in three months. Right now the prices are rising because the value of the dollar is dropping.

***End Quote***

I’d say a lot of people are finally waking up to the fact that the “inflation tax” might be a bigger bite than any other single tax.

Bout time! It is.

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Friday, November 16, 2007
Early To Rise
The Internet’s Most Popular Wealth,
Health and Success E-Zine
Issue #2201

“It’s Just So Much Tougher for Kids These Days.”
By Michael Masterson

***Begin Quote***

That’s the view of Tamara Draut, who works for an agency that promotes government action and whose book, Strapped is subtitled “Why America’s 20- and 30- Somethings Can’t Get Ahead.”

I read the book because I was curious. Her assertion didn’t seem true.

Draut argues that escalating college costs, high rents, and a tough job environment have forced our young people into an endless cycle of borrowing. The result? A generation that simply can’t make it in today’s economy. She supports her argument with anecdotes. And she concludes her book with a short chapter urging governmental reforms and running credit card companies off campuses.

***and***

I tried to put everything I know about starting out and becoming successful – as an entrepreneur and as an employee – in Automatic Wealth for Grads… and Anyone Else Just Starting Out. If you get the book (and I hope you will), you’ll see that I put a heavy emphasis on what has worked for me:

Don’t fret about your problems. And don’t wait for the government to solve them. Create a personal plan for success and follow it.

***and***

This is probably not the kind of advice that Tamara Draut would like to hear, because it doesn’t do much to solve the “starting-out problem” on a global level. But I’d like to think it can help individual people – college grads and young people – become wealthy despite the challenges posed by our shaky economy.

***End Quote***

I think anyone, who looks to the gooferment for “helping” getting on track, is going to be sadly disappointed.

In my warped world view, when we help our fellow man, we are awarded certificates of appreciation (i.e., money). Help lot’s of people and get lots of certificates. These are really IOUs that promise to be redeemable at a future date for a like contribution.

[They should be aware of “inflation” aka gooferment counterfeiting. Running the printing press causes inflation and it is an unavoidable tax on money. At least, the old kings had to physically clip coins to steal from the people. Today, it’s a silent hidden tax.]

I see “children” of many chronological ages wasting their attention, time, money, and energy on frivolous things. Probably the biggest waste is attention. When I watch a college football game and they intro the players and identify their major, I’m stunned. Majors like “Sports management”, “Government Studies”, and “Peace” give me the greatest shock. At least if they say “undecided”, I have some hope.

No, as I have said before, I think the model for success in the future generation starts with: (1) ruthless financial discipline. And, maybe it should be shortened to just “ruthless self-discipline”.

In the days of an agricultural America, children grew up quickly. Chores and the harsh realities of life taught discipline. That has been lost. Today, children are allowed to be dilettantes. Unfortunately, there’s no national trust fund to keep them in the style they’ve been accustomed to.

So, I hope that all the young people can see their way clear of the “smoke” that people are blowing up their a…… in their collective eyes making them “blind” to the realities and possibilities of life. They have a lot less room for error than I did when I was a kind.

It’s a global world and their are a lot of hungry people who will eat their lunch unappologetically.

Sigh!

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*** begin quote ***
One of the most common items of misinformation about Ron Paul’s positions is that he wants to go “back on the gold standard” or “return to the gold standard.” And, this is often used as criticism against him by misinformed and careless reporters and bloggers.
*** end quote ***
For those who follow Ron Paul closely, this is absolutely correct. Not being crazy, he realizes that we need time to adapt. His statements that I have heard indicate to me that he wants to merely remove the restrictions on “commodity money”. A “commodity money” is a store of value that backed by something like copper, silver, gold, platinum. A “fiat currency” is also a store of value backed by the full faith and credit of the printer. Gooferments use “legal tender” laws to ensure that their fiat currency MUST be accepted. In America’s early days, prior to 1913, the American dollar greenback was redeemable in gold. During that time, many currencies circulate simultaneously. If he begins to closely supervise the Fed with an eye to its demise and begins to unwind the “legal tender” laws, then he will have initiated the Third American Revolution. Just doing what he has said are his priorities will set us on the track to peace and prosperity.
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read more | digg story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hobbies

List of hobbies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

***Begin Quote***

* 1 Amateur science related
* 2 Animal-related
* 3 Arts and crafts
* 4 Collecting
* 5 Computer-related
* 6 Cooking
* 7 DIY (Do It Yourself)
* 8 Electronics
* 9 Film-making
* 10 Games
* 11 Gardening
* 12 Historical reenactment
* 13 Interactive fiction
* 14 Internet-based hobbies
* 15 Literature
* 16 Model (scale model) building
* 17 Music
* 18 Observation
* 19 Outdoor/nature activities
* 20 Performing arts
* 21 Photography
* 22 Sports or other physical activities
* 23 Toys of some sophistication
* 24 Transportation

***End Quote***

For those who follow my model for future success:

{Extraneous Deleted}

(6) a free time hobby that generates income;

{Extraneous Deleted}

So what’s your “hobby”?

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/business/15lend.html?ei=5065&en=09648bf21e15f1a5&ex=1195794000&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

November 15, 2007
Foreclosures Hit a Snag for Lenders
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON

***Begin Quote***

A federal judge in Ohio has ruled against a longstanding foreclosure practice, potentially creating an obstacle for lenders trying to reclaim properties from troubled borrowers and raising questions about the legal standing of investors in mortgage securities pools.

Judge Christopher A. Boyko of Federal District Court in Cleveland dismissed 14 foreclosure cases brought on behalf of mortgage investors, ruling that they had failed to prove that they owned the properties they were trying to seize.

The pooling of home loans into securities has been practiced for decades and helped propel real estate prices in recent years as investors sought the higher yields that such mortgage trusts could provide. Some $6.5 trillion of securitized mortgage debt was outstanding at the end of 2006.

***End Quote***

Interesting?

The concept of “standing” is something that everyone learns to deal with when even contemplating legal action. Prove to me by evidence that you are the injured or the injuring party.

I have no doubt that with some effort the “bank” can meet their burden sooner or later. But, there’s always the possibility of a misfile, blunder, or error.

Just goes to show, never assume anything when you’re in trouble.

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