Reinke Faces Life

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,517060,00.html

November 13, 2007
WEST WING
A Pearl Harbor without War
By Gabor Steingart in Washington, D.C.
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

***Begin Quote***

The dollar crisis has politicians alarmed worldwide. The US currency has lost 24 percent of its value since the introduction of the euro, and now there is even a chance that China could abandon its policy of pegging its currency to the dollar — a problem the United States should take very seriously.

{Extraneous Deleted}

So far Beijing has behaved like the benevolent shopkeeper who willingly extends credit to his customers. The Americans receive shipments of Chinese-made television sets, toys and underwear, but the Chinese do not import a comparable volume of US goods. The gap between buying and selling amounts to about $5 billion every week.

The Chinese are satisfied with buying US treasury bonds, partly to keep their most important customer afloat. The central bank in Beijing already holds currency reserves of $1.4 trillion.

{Extraneous Deleted}

Within a single generation, the world’s biggest lender has become its biggest borrower, a circumstance the United States has made no serious attempts to change. And what has been Washington’s standard take on the shift? The dollar is our currency, but it’s your problem.

Thus, the tone of the US government’s callous and thick-skinned reaction to China’s announcement last week came as no surprise. There was a reason the dollar became the world’s reserve currency, US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said in a slightly offended tone.

{Extraneous Deleted}

***End Quote***

Well, the other shoe is about to drop. And, it would be nice if it didn’t drop on us! I have no illusions about just how important this upcoming Presidential election is to everyone’s pocketbook. Personally, I’m prepping fro President Hillary and adjusting my thinking along those lines. It will make the 1929 Great Depression look like a walk in the park. We have a Notre Dame style Hail Mary if Ron Paul can get the Republican nomination and then win the election. At least, he understands the problems and a way for us to escape the executioner’s guillotine. A return to commodity money! Sure, it’s painful. But not as bad as a Great Depression Cubed with Hillary (i.e., the Dollar is no longer the World’s reserve currency, Social Security – Medicare – Medicaid – Drug Benefit time bomb explodes, and a global depression that makes the Japanese Stagflation look like a boom). Add to that President Hillary’s version of a “Great Society” with Guns + Butter + Socialism. And, it’s pretty bleak.

I’m advising getting your financial house in order for a plague of Biblical proportions. Seven years of lean might well be seventy. Look at the aftermath for the Roman Empire and you might get a feel for the next set of Dark Ages.

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http://www.survivalblog.com/2007/11/mass_inflation_aheadsave_your.html

How To Build Your Pile of Nickels

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How can you amass a big pile-o-nickels? Obviously just saving the few that you normally receive as pocket change is insufficient. Here are some possibilities:

{Extraneous Deleted}

2.) Obtain nickels in rolls from your friendly local bank teller. Most “retail” banks are already accustomed to handing over rolls of coins to private depositors because of collector demand for statehood commemorative quarters and the new presidential dollar coins. Ask for $20 or $30 of nickels in rolls each time that you visit to do your normal banking deposits or withdrawals. It is best to ask for new “wrapped” (fresh Federal Reserve Bank issue) rolls. This way, you might have the chance of getting rolls with valuable minting errors–such as “double die” strikes. These are usually noticed and publicized a few months after the fact, and can be quite valuable. You will also be assured that you are getting full 40 coin rolls. (Getting shorted with 38 or 39 coin rolls is possible with hand-rolled coins.) If the tellers ask why you want so many, you can honestly tell them: “I’m working on a collection for my children.” (You need not tell them how large a collection it is!)

***End Quote***

Get ready for rampant inflation and currency devaluation.

This is a currency hedge for the little guys.

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text

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/11/06/beware-of-citibanks-retroactive-late-fee

***Begin Quote***

Here’s one way for banks to compensate for their losses during the subprime lending debacle: screw their other customers. GRS reader Morydd shared a scary story in the discussion forums. His wife has a student loan through Citibank, which this month decided to charge a retro-active late fee without any explanation.

***End Quote***

Watch for fees! You figure all these banks will have to make up their sub-prime mortgage losses somewhere. What better place than you!

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http://www.liberty-watch.com/volume03/issue08/coverstory.php

Good as Gold

***Begin Quote***

One gold coin with a face value of $50 currently equals $806 in FRNs. If a worker earns a $50 gold coin each week, that person takes home an annual income of $2,600 based on the precious metal system, which is below the income-tax reporting threshold for an employee. However, the value of the coins in FRNs — $41,912 — is not. That’s the basic idea.

***End Quote***

The gooferment has missed their appeal deadline. It has gone unreported as to their intentions.

So, you have a trap door for the time being. Use the time wisely.

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http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/10/28/build-wealth-with-a-virtual-employer

Build Wealth with a “Virtual Employer”
Sunday, 28th October 2007 (by J.D.)
This article is about Money Hacks, Hints and Tips

***Begin Quote***

Here’s the longest “money hack” I’ve ever posted. This is another reader comment from our recent discussion about the transition from “becoming debt-free” to “living debt-free”. In this guest-post from James, who is new to GRS, he describes how he created a “virtual employer” in order to limit his natural spending habits. By playing games with himself, he was able to go from $20,000 in debt to having over a million in savings in just fifteen years. This guest-post is long, but I think it’s worth it.

How is living debt-free different than becoming debt-free? If you are rational (and fortunate) it shouldn’t be different at all.

***and***

A tale of two employers

My real-life employer direct-deposited my paycheck into a money market account. This account used an automated bill-payment service to make deposits into my regular checking and savings account every two weeks. This last set of accounts was used for ATM transactions, and for paying all of my bills. Income into this account was my “salary”. I had to live within my means just like I ought. However, it was like I did not work for my employer, but for a fictitious employer. When I got raises or bonuses, they went into this fake employer’s money market account and did not appear in my salary — they were left to build my savings faster.

Once a year, I gave myself a raise by changing the amount of the bi-weekly salary that went into my personal bank accounts. My income kept rising, just a bit more slowly than in my real-life job. I never felt that I was scrimping because my virtual job was increasing my virtual salary faster than inflation. It took me about two years to pay off debt, and another 4-5 years to build up emergency savings and open a brokerage account and start investing.

***End Quote***

Here’s a great idea.

If only the tax code would let one be one’s own employer.

But, in any event, here’s a way to fool yourself into living within your means.

I think this is one of the more innovative things I have read.

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http://www.mightybargainhunter.com/2007/10/25/eight-ways-to-invest-in-yourself

Eight ways to invest in yourself
Published October 25th, 2007 in Investing.

***Begin Quote***

* Start a blog.

* Get started on a back-up profession.

* Start up a side business.

* Exercise.

* Learn a skill that helps you to be more self-sufficient.

* Learn a second language.

* Take a Myers-Briggs test.

* Important to help others.

***End Quote***

Feathers in with my strategy about success in the future.

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http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20071024%5cACQDJON200710242253DOWJONESDJONLINE001107.htm&

UPDATE:Rangel Tax Plan’s Centerpiece Is 30.5% Top Corp Rate
(Updates with source saying all industries included in proposal to tax financial managers’ carried interest as regular income)
By John Godfrey
OF DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

***Begin Quote***

Absent a patch, the alternative minimum tax will expand to hit roughly 25 million taxpayers, up from 4.4 million in 2006, increasing their taxes by a total of nearly $50 billion, according to congressional estimates.

***End Quote***

Ahh good old charlie, just looking out for the folks!

“barbara streisand”

Bear in mind, that companies don’t pay taxes. Only people do!

Bear in mind, that taxes are the drag on the economy. Every dollar extracted in taxes to be wasted by the gooferment represents choices that were silently precluded!

Bear in mind, that politicians follow three imperatives: get reelected; feather their own nest; and reward friends / punish enemies. You don’t even figure in their hierarchy of values.

Any questions?

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http://www.impactlab.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=13497

***Begin Quote***

Casinos and other sponsors of poker tournaments will be required to report winnings of more than $5,000 to the Internal Revenue Service beginning March 4, 2008, the tax agency said Friday.

***End Quote***

Sigh!

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/greenhut/greenhut47.html

The Republican Crackup
The libertarian and conservative factions of the old Reagan coalition are marching to different drummers
by Steven Greenhut

***Begin Quote***

Grover Norquist, a prominent conservative activist from Americans for Tax Reform, called on the reconstitution of Reagan’s “leave us alone” coalition. The members of that group – gun lovers, home-schoolers, small-business owners, taxpayer advocates – didn’t necessarily like each other, he said, but they united in their desire to pursue their lives without excessive meddling from the government. “We don’t have to agree on secondary and tertiary issues,” he said. “Ours is a low-maintenance coalition that wants to be left alone in the zone that matters to them, and that’s what matters.” By contrast, the Democratic coalition is what he calls the “takings coalition – the unions, trial lawyers, the dependency movement, coercive utopians and radical environmentalists” who are promoting “a list of rules slightly longer and less tedious than Leviticus.” These groups can work together as long “as more money is coming into the center of the table.” His solution: Starve the beast through tax cuts and expand the coalition of Americans whose primary goal is to be left alone.

***End Quote***

Sounds like plan. Oppose every tax. Demand reductions. Oppose every debt issue. We can’t even conceive about all the taxes we are paying.

And, that makes us slaves.

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http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/moneymag/0708/gallery.20_rules.moneymag/20.html

20 timeless money rules
Money Magazine collected the best advice from some of the smartest investors (and other people) who have ever lived.
By Carla Fried, Money Magazine

***Begin Quote***

1. Be humble
When you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it–this is knowledge.
–Confucius

2. Take calculated risks
He that is overcautious will accomplish little.
–Friedrich von Schiller

3. Have an emergency fund
For age and want, save while you may; no morning sun lasts a whole day.
–Benjamin Franklin

4. Mix it up
It is the part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow and not to venture all his eggs in one basket.
–Miguel de Cervantes

5. It’s the portfolio, stupid
Asset allocation…is the overwhelmingly dominant contributor to total return.
–Gary Brinson, Brian Singer and Gilbert Beebower

6. Average is the new best
The best way to own common stocks is through an index fund.
–Warren Buffett

7. Practice patience
It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It was always my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!
–Edwin Lefevre

8. Don’t time the market
The real key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.
–Peter Lynch

9. Be a cheapskate
Performance comes and goes, but costs roll on forever.
–Jack Bogle

10. Don’t follow the crowd
Fashion is made to become unfashionable.
–Coco Chanel

Or, as the legendary financier Sir James Goldsmith has said, “If you see a bandwagon, it’s too late.”

11. Buy low
If a business is worth a dollar and I can buy it for 40 cents, something good may happen to me.
–Warren Buffett

12. Invest abroad
The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
–St. Augustine

13. Keep perspective
There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.
–Harry Truman

14. Just do it
It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.
–Eleanor Roosevelt

15. Borrow responsibly
As life closes in on someone who has borrowed far too much money on the strength of far too little income, there are no fire escapes.
–John Kenneth Galbraith

16. Talk to your spouse
“In every house of marriage there’s room for an interpreter.”
–Stanley Kunitz

17. Exit gracefully
Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.
–Pablo Picasso

18. Pay only your share
The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.
–John Maynard Keynes

19. Give wisely
The time is always right to do the right thing.
–Martin Luther King Jr.

20. Keep money in its place
A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.
–Jonathan Swift

***End Quote***

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http://www.survivalblog.com/2007/10/from_the_survivalblog_archives.html

Headline: Dumping of US Dollar Could Trigger ‘Economic September 11’

***Begin Quote***

There is a potentially fatal flaw at the heart of the global economy: the strong possibility of financial meltdown following a collapse of confidence in the greenback, Clyde Prestowitz tells Bruce Stannard
29 August 2005

THE nightmare scenario that haunts global strategist Clyde Prestowitz is an economic September 11 — a worldwide financial panic triggered by a sudden massive sell-off of US dollars that would lead inexorably to the collapse of economies around the world. If that happens, Prestowitz predicts: “It would make the Great Depression of the 1930s look like a walk in the park.” Australia would be sucked into the vortex of such a recession, which would cause great hardship throughout the world, he warns. Prestowitz is not a doomsayer, neither is he alone in his views. As president of the Economic Strategy Institute, a Washington think tank, he is in regular contact with the most influential US business leaders, several of whom — Warren Buffet and George Soros included — have taken steps to hedge their currency positions against the possibility of a cataclysmic plunge in the greenback. “Right now,” he says, “we have a situation in which the US is running huge trade deficits — about $US650 billion ($766 billion) in 2004 — which are financed by borrowings from the central banks of Asia — mainly the Chinese and the Japanese. All the world’s central banks are chock-full of US dollars — they’re holding many more dollars than they really want. They’re holding those dollars because at the moment there’s no great alternative and also because the global economy depends on US consumption. If they dump the dollar and the dollar collapses, then the whole global economy is in trouble.

***End Quote***

Sigh!

TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) is postulated by a hyper inflation in Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse by James Wesley Rawles — the editor of SurvivalBlog.com.

So clearly his blog is sensitive to this issue.

But that doesn’t make it “impossible”.

When money is no longer a “store of value”, what does one do?

Beats me, but I’m open to suggestions.

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***Begin Quote***

Bloomberg: First baby boomer asks for Social Security benefits

“The first Baby Boomer applied today for Social Security benefits, a milestone marking the approaching retirement of a generation of Americans whose eligibility for government payouts threatens to overwhelm the federal budget. ‘This is the first drop of rain in the flood,’ said Bob Bixby, head of the Concord Coalition, a Washington-based advocacy group that promotes balanced federal budgets. ‘It’s the beginning of an era. It’s symbolic but it reminds us that we’re not doing anything to prepare for this.’

“The demands on retirement programs by the estimated 80 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 combined with spiraling health-care costs will eventually overwhelm the federal budget unless lawmakers change government policies, Bixby said.’

Source: Brian Faler, Bloomberg.com, October 15, 2007.

***End Quote***

Here comes the tidal wave of more people on the dole!

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french59.html

***Begin Quote***

The Fed has been creating money at a phenomenal clip all year with the M-3 (that government no longer reports, but economist John Williams does on Shadowstats.com) growing at a 14-percent rate, a 34-year high.

***and***

Although it appears for now the Bernanke Fed is way behind Mugabe’s Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in the inflation race, the man tracking the numbers at Shadowstats, believes “the onset of hyperinflation [in America] remains most likely at least several years in the future,” an unappetizing prospect.

***End Quote***

Seems like preparing for higher inflation makes sense.

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http://www.smartmoney.com/taxmatters/index.cfm?story=20071016

Tax Matters
Will Your Social Security Benefits Be Taxed — Again?
By Bill Bischoff
Published: October 16, 2007

*** begin quote ***

THINK YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY benefits are always free from federal-income tax? Think again. In fact, depending on how much income you have from other sources, you may have to report up to 85% of your benefits on Form 1040 and pay the resulting federal income tax hit.

When this happens, you’re effectively getting taxed twice on the same dollars. The first time is during your working years when you pay federal income taxes on Social Security taxes that are taken out of your salary or self-employment earnings. The second instance occurs later on when you have to pay federal income taxes on your Social Security benefits. To make matters worse, depending on where you live, you may suffer the same double taxation fate under your state income tax rules, too.

While this is unfair, if not downright scandalous, it’s pretty much par for the course in the tax world.

{Extraneous Deleted}

***End Quote***

Surprise, the gooferment lied and the politicians got away with it. Careful calculation and planning is need to steer the minefield of taxation.

Bottom line: You’re not as well of as you think.

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north574.html

Wall Street vs. the Middle Class
by Gary North

***Begin Quote***

There is a price for this upward access to greater wealth: the possibility of a fall into poverty. This is a greater threat to the rich than to the middle class. The rich are at the far right edge of the bell-shaped curve. There are few of them. Their position is insecure, for good reason. The free market rewards those sellers who serve consumers efficiently, wasting few scarce resources. Consumers are a fickle bunch. They keep asking sellers, “What have you done for us lately?” There are always many competitors trying to get rich. They are ready to replace today’s rich people. Today’s rich people know this. They are therefore ready and willing to pull up the ladder that enabled them to replace yesterday’s rich.

***End Quote***

I love his metaphors. It sounds like the poor swap places with the rich. (Yeah, I know it doesn’t work like that, but it looks that way.)

The inflation hurts the middle and the bottom disproportionately. That’s why you would think that sound money (i.e., Ron Paul wanting to nuke the Fed; not Iraq, Iran, North Korea, or the Republic of Where-The-Heck-Is-That-is-tan!) would be a winning economic policy. I don’t understand the sheep.

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ADVISING A RELATIVE ABOUT ESTATES

***Begin Quote***

The estate attorney probably will get paid by the hour so it pays to have your thinking done before the meter starts ticking off hundred dollar bills.

You each {Husband and Wife} need: a will, durable a power of attorney, a health care proxy, and advanced directive — or whatever the local equivalent in your jurisdiction. It’s typical — but not required to kriss kross as husband and wife.

(When it comes to pulling the plug on you sometimes it’s a duty best delegated to friend rather than a spouse.)

What you need to worry about is common disaster and incapacity. (I’m real good at worrying about stuff that can’t happen.)

You need a primary and an alternative guardian for the children.

You need a primary and an alternative executor for the estate.

They probably should be FOUR different people. (The children and the estate may have different fiduciary interests.

(The estate lawyer may ask for a custodian for all the children en masse, and a guardian for each individual child. Have some extra names in your pocket. See each child has a unique fiduciary interest.)

Common disaster means what happens if you both go down in the plane together. What happens!

Incapacity means that one of you can’t speak for yourself and the other can’t either or has died.

(Pushing camels through needles, imagining pink elephants, and envisioning zebras that have swapped black and white stripes is required in estate and insurance planning. Like at real estate closing they define for insurance purposes at exactly what TIME the transfer takes effect. That’s so when the building burns down there’s no squabbling whose building it was when it burned.)

Now for the hard stuff!!

You need to create a binder of all your assets. Even stuff that doesn’t look like an asset.

All deeds, policies, and account information. Anyone discharged form the military needs their dd214s and such docs.

Past five years of tax returns.

You should also create a family tree identifying all relatives / in laws, with name – addresses – phone numbers – email – birthdate (Date of Death if applicable) (Date of Marriage if applicable) (Date of Divorce if applicable).

Remember if he has to stop and ask a question, you’re paying for it. Since we know his staff will do all the work filling in forms, try to have everything done in advance and indexed.

The last thing to decide is who gets your estate (i.e., the children) and when they can get it.

P.S.: Don’t forget a large bequest for me!

p. p. s.: In Estate Planning, try never to leave large amounts of money to people who are the same age or older. It just gives the tax man a double bite. (i.e., I leave money to my Mom. The tax guy gets a bit when I die and when she dies.) You can leave a “lifetime interest in trust” for the older persons benefit if they need it with the remains to a younger person and avoid the double bite.

Hope this helps. Don’t hesitate to ask questions. I can tell you the mistakes I made and I seen made. :-)

***End Quote***

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/016014.html

***Begin Quote***

Congressman Paul, I think you have questions and concerns about the bonanza in the hedge fund industry. Do you?

Mr. Paul: Yes. I think this is not a consequence of free markets. What’s happening is, there’s transfer of wealth from the poor and the middle class to the wealthy.

Mr. Paul: This comes about because of the monetary system that we have. When you inflate a currency or destroy a currency, the middle class gets wiped out.

So the people who get to use the money first which is created by the Federal Reserve system benefit. So the money gravitates to the banks and to Wall Street.

That’s why you have more billionaires than ever before. Today, this country is in the middle of a recession for a lot of people. Michigan knows about it. Poor people know about it. The middle class knows about it. Wall Street doesn’t know about it. Washington, D.C., doesn’t know about it.

But it’s because of the monetary system and the excessive spending. As long as we live beyond our means we are destined to live beneath our means.

And we have lived beyond our means because we are financing a foreign policy that is so extravagant and beyond what we can control, as well as the spending here at home.

And we’re depending on the creation of money out of thin air, which is nothing more than debasement of the currency. It’s counterfeit. And it is a natural, predictable consequence that you’re going to have people benefit from it and other people suffer.

Mr. Paul: So, if you want a healthy economy, you have to study monetary theory and figure out why it is that we’re suffering. And everybody doesn’t suffer equally, or this wouldn’t be so bad.

It’s always the poor people — those who are on retired incomes — that suffer the most. But the politicians and those who get to use the money first, like the military industrial complex, they make a lot of money and they benefit from it.

***End Quote***

What a bunch of bozos! The media panders to the politicians and the gooferment bureaucrats and those that suck off the public ninny.

Of course, it’s the poor and middle class that get the … … “dirty” … end of the stick. Intelligent Designer forbid you’re on a fixed income, pension, or gooferment handout. You’ll really be slipping further and further into the hole.

My rx is always the same: end ALL the wars — foreign and domestic, stop the dole — for people and companies, bring the troops home, cut the gooferment back to strict constitutional size, pardon all the non-violent people in prison, phase out “publik eddikation”, and return to honest money.

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

***Begin Quote***

Roman coins grew gradually more debased due to the demands placed on the treasury of the Roman state by the military

***End Quote***

So why do we think that the inflation of our fiat money isn’t just as bad?

Some thing happened to the French Franc. It went from a gold hockey puck to a wafer thin button. In the end, the peasants sent the leaders to the guillotine.

So the end result of inflation is the colapse of the nation into disorder.

When is it our turn?

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http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2007/pr07083.html

FDIC Approves the Assumption of the Insured Deposits of Miami Valley Bank, Lakeview, Ohio

***Begin Quote***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 4, 2007
Media Contact:
David Barr (202) 898-6992
cell: (703) 622-4790
e-mail: dbarr@fdic.gov

The Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today approved the assumption of the insured deposits of Miami Valley Bank, Lakeview, Ohio, by The Citizens Banking Company, Sandusky, Ohio.

Miami Valley, with $86.7 million in total assets and $76 million in total deposits as of October 1, 2007, was closed today by Ohio’s Superintendent of Financial Institutions, and the FDIC was named receiver.

The failed bank’s two offices will reopen tomorrow as branches of The Citizens Banking Company. Depositors of Miami Valley will automatically become depositors of the assuming bank.

The Citizens Banking Company has agreed to assume $62 million of the failed bank’s insured deposits for a two percent premium. At the time of closing, Miami Valley had approximately $14 million in 269 deposit accounts that exceeded the federal deposit insurance limit. While these customers will have access to their insured deposits, they will become creditors of the receivership for the amount of their uninsured funds. The FDIC will retain all of Miami Valley’s assets for later disposition.

***End Quote***

Why would anyone EVER have a balance in excess of the 100k$ FDIC limit?

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/raskin/raskin26.html

Run for Your Money
by Max Raskin

***Begin Quote***

Fractional reserve banking rests on the delusion that if the banks can fool enough people into thinking that they can withdraw their money at any given time, then they can expand credit and make all sorts of unwise investments. The minute the public gets wind of the bank’s insolvency, as with the latest crisis, they rush to demand their money. On the free market, fractional reserve banking is no more of a problem than fractional reserve car dealerships. If a car dealer sells two deeds to the same car it is clearly fraud. Yet somehow the banks are not burdened with the inconvenient job of repaying their depositors. Unlike the central bank, the car dealer cannot print more cars.

***End Quote***

And, they can’t print any more beach front property. Or, gold bullion coins. Or, any such commodity.

When one is in a “fiat money system” (money is unbacked by gold), then you are best advised to convert your paper into something. A house, a business, or anything that ain’t gooferment paper.

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Lesson Learned: Loyalty cards don’t matter … unless they do.

Sound strange.

Follow along. Remember YMMV!

Loyalty cards are those stupid card that the casinos want you to use so they can build a profile on you. I always sign up for them. I figure what do I have to lose. (Just my privacy. But I’m so out there, there no such think anyway!)

Silverton Casino on Blue Ridge Road in LV. Played for a week off and on a various visits. (They have the most beautiful aquarium and are physically connected to the Bass Shop. Kool! And, neet!) Check for the result of my play that week … … tada … $3.36! (Are you joshing me?)

Boulder Station Casino out on Boulder Highway. Hadn’t played yet. But when we went to the buffet, the cards got us 4$/head off!!

So, from this, I come to the conclusion: get them, expect little, and, you will always be pleasantly surprised.

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http://www.smartmoney.com/retireretirement

***Begin Quote***

Retire “Retirement!” Today’s retirees are more active than ever, moving
forward with their lives and pursuing a wide variety of interests and passions.

Suggesting retreat and withdrawl, the word “retirement” no longer does this lifestage justice.

***End Quote***

Re-focus-ing

Originally, one had to focus on the wolf outside the door. Daily bread earned thru the daily grind. Now, when reaches the “land of critical mass”, the point where 5% interest equals enough to live comfortable for the rest of one’s lifespan, one can now focus on what gives you joy, makes the world a better place, or “cashes” all those “LATER” ious.

So it’s refocusing from the daily grind to achievement. How ever one defines it?

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http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/intelligent-leisure-time-activity

***Begin Quote***

7. Find a good hobby – A hobby is a great way to develop skills and interact with other people. Some of them can even generate income. A hobby builds on itself. You start out knowing nothing and gradually build a repertoire of skills. Even if these skills aren’t particularly useful, the process helps you learn how to learn. Once you’ve developed one set of skills from scratch, the next set is even easier.

***End Quote***

Sounds like I have to update my mantra-like spiel that I give to the youth I come in contact with.

Success for your generation is: (1) ruthless financial discipline; (2) education for a white collar job; (3) a blue collar skill — never saw a poor plumber; and (4) one or more internet based businesses.

Have to figure out to integrate: (x) have a hobby that generates income.

Here’s my new one:

Success for your generation is: (1) ruthless financial discipline — no bad debt; (2) a life long interest in learning — an 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; and (6) a free time hobby that generates income.

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http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57563

Use salary hike to pay off debt
Posted: September 11, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
Dave Ramsey is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and best-selling author. His life experience gives him an unusually deep perspective and insight into life and money matters.

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Dear Dave,

I’ll be graduating college in December with a degree in elementary education, and I have a job waiting for me. It will be the first time in my life I’ve made more than minimum wage, and it will bring our household income up to about $75,000. I’ve got $15,000 in student loan debt, $6,000 to pay off from a repossession a while back and $3,000 in credit card debt. How should I handle this salary increase?

Mickey

Dear Mickey,

Congratulations on your degree and the decision to get serious with a plan for your money! And here’s some more good news for you. If you guys keep living the way you have been and put the rest toward debt, you can have it knocked out in about a year.

But just because you’re making some money doesn’t mean you should double your entertainment budget or pick up a car payment. Sit down together and work out a written monthly budget. Give every dollar a name before you spend it, and don’t forget to work the debt snowball, too. List your debts from smallest to largest, pay minimum payments on the two largest and then attack that credit card debt with a vengeance! Chances are you can get these taken care of in a month or two. Once you’ve paid that off, roll the money from that payment over and apply it plus any other cash you can scrape up toward the car repo. If that debt has any age on it you can probably work a deal for 50 cents on the dollar and get out paying just half.

Once you done this, you’ll have a bunch of cash to throw at those students loans and get the debt off your back once and for all. Good luck, Mickey!

Dave

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I like Dave. He’s one of the sources I often cite. He wants people to be debt free. Admirable, but I’m not sure that I agree with that strategy.

Here’s a classic case of that disagreement.

I think that there is “good debt” and “bad debt”.

“Good debt” is a 30 year fixed home mortgage, a fixed rate student loan for an education that earns income, or such. I’ll even go so far as to call a fixed rate credit union car loan that is tuned to the depreciation of the car and enables one to earn a living as a “good” debt. I think that he’s wrong to characterize these in the same way as “bad debt”. The credit cards, the car leases, the home equity loans for frivolous purposes. Anything that is a variable interest rate.

I think that he ignores the tax aspects of some transactions. And, his advice borders on the immoral. (Which is why I’m blogging about it!)

Let’s take the example at hand.

There’s no disagreement about the credit card debt. That needs nuking right away. The fact that there is credit card debt implies that the person doesn’t have a budget. Which is really not OK. Even though lot’s of people do it. (When you don’t have a destination, any road is going your way.)

Where I have a moral quibble is about settling the repo for pennies on the dollar. Just because when CAN do it, doesn’t make it morally right to do it. If the person borrowed it and got repoed, they are MORALLY obligated to pay the whole thing. It’s about doing the right thing.

Now on to the “student loan”. I’m assuming that it’s a typical fixed rate low interest student loan. I’ll quibble about paying that off early.

I’d be stressing an emergency fund. (Maybe even before paying off the credit card or the repo!) I’d want a savings account equal to an appropriate number of months of the “burn rate”. The number of months is determined by how long it would take to replace the income stream.

After the efund, credit card, and repo, but before the student loan, I’d be thinking IRA. (Early money is so much more important than late money.)

Then, I’d be thinking of home ownership.

Those are two tax advantaged investments that shouldn’t be ignored in a sem-religious fervor to be “debt free”.

IMHO, I think he’s wrong. But, he’s the big columnist and I’m just an injineer. And, in the case of the repo, I think his advice is “immoral” which is why I took the time to write this post. Just a voice crying in the wilderness.

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http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2007/tle433-20070902-06.html

Thoughts About Money and Other Things
by L. Neil Smith

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Here’s why: the information that money conveys is called “price”—a word, in the study of economics, with a technical definition. Each of us contributes to the pool of that information whenever he buys something—or refrains from buying it—in the marketplace, as long as the marketplace, and the choices we all make, remain free and uncoerced.

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I think this is an important attribute of money that is often overlooked. (I know when I took economics I don’t think I heard this concept.)

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo125.html

The Government-Created Subprime Mortgage Meltdown
by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

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The thousands of mortgage defaults and foreclosures in the “subprime” housing market (i.e., mortgage holders with poor credit ratings) is the direct result of thirty years of government policy that has forced banks to make bad loans to un-creditworthy borrowers. The policy in question is the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which compels banks to make loans to low-income borrowers and in what the supporters of the Act call “communities of color” that they might not otherwise make based on purely economic criteria.

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Ahh, yes, the gooferment creates the problem, engages in other policies the worsen it, and then are Casablanca-style shocked to find there’s a problem. And, of course, the fix is — you guessed it — more gooferment. Sigh. When do we get off the treadmill?

Buy gold. The real thing. Bullion coins. The gooferment can’t print more of those.

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