Reinke Faces Life

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/?storyID=7501

A non-currency country
Zimbabwe Today
It’s a daily struggle trying to survive in
a society where money is worthless

***Begin Quote***

I popped out for a Z$25,000 loaf of bread last Friday. It had gone up to Z$30,000 dollars. I ran home for the extra, ran back to the shop – and the price of my loaf had risen to Z$44,000.

That’s life in Zimbabwe today – or at least it was, until this week when our government took bold and decisive action to reduce the inflatory spiral, and predictably everything got even worse straight away.

***End Quote***

I love when the Universe provides us a “labratory demonstration” when the meme we call gooferment falls afoul of economic law. Not content with shaving a few coins, the gooferment in Zimbabwe can’t print paper money fast enough. (Sounds a little like “helicopter ben” at his Senate confirmation hearings!)

When humans are infected with a mental virus, or meme, we can become irrational. Look at the “pet rock” which was pretty harmless. Look at the tulip craze in Holland’s history, the German hyper-inflation, our Great Depression, or any of the “monetary disasters” of the last century. They are all characterized by a failure in our own thinking.

Gold coins anyone?

If you were traveling to Zimbabwe, then I bet they’d hold their value!

The question is how does the human population of Zimbabwe throw off their “mental virus”? If you are in that society, how do you survive? How does it unwind?

Sadly, I think it involves a lot of pain and suffering and even deaths.

# # # # #

FROM AN EMAIL TO ECONOMIST WRITER

Dear X:

As an injineer, I’m not a social scientist. Some say I am not even social. As a “gold bug”, I am adding to supply of that relic. My question is one of philosophy, history, and practicality.

I first became aware of inflation (i.e., monetary fiat inflation as opposed to all the other distractions that are called inflation) when in Manhattan College in some course or another, vonMises was an assigned collateral reading. I had a prof, who I can’t remember, was always on Crusoe’s Island. I got a D, so I didn’t take much away from the course. My next brush with education about it was a visit to the Smithsonian where I saw the incredible shrinking French franc. The original French Franc of Louis I was a gold coin that looked more like a small hockey puck than a coin. The last French Franc of the monarchy Louis XVI was a tissue paper thin button. That is what governments do. They debase the currency. They redefine money to give themselves more and the people less. Paper money is even easier to inflate. No coins to shave! I then experienced the Carter inflation of the 70’s with 18% interest rates. And the WIN (Whip Inflation Now) absurd buttons. Lately I’ve read about the Liberty Dollar, silverization of the Mexican peso, and the golden dinar. I’m also remotely aware of Say’s Law which I will paraphrase as “if you had some gold and some paper, which would you spend first?”. I think is a fair translation.

So with that context, how do the people of say New Hampshire, with all those willing Free State Project members, transition from Federal Reserve Banknotes (that I sarcastically called FRBies) to a metal backed currency (i.e., the Liberty Dollar, gold or silver bullion coins, something else)?

I’ve posed this question to Walter Williams, Lew Rockwell, and anyone else who I thought might have an answer. Never had a good answer. Care to take a stab at it?

Does it take a TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) scenario to get rid of the Federal Reserve? With all the fighting and bloodshed to get to peace and economic honesty? Or is there a peaceful path to end “counterfeiting”? With all the “stuff” that the Federal Gooferment could sell off, it would seem possible to make good on all the promises. Sell off land in Nevada and Alaska to pay for Social Security? I can’t see how anything good will come out of our current direction. Nothing likely except more inflation.

Care to share your thoughts about this topic?

# # # # #

http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/
get_a_life_blog/2007/06/what-to-do-when.html

http://tinyurl.com/2wqhys

Tuesday, 26 June 2007
What to do when your work dries up, key client disappears or industry grinds to a halt
Pamela Stewart Slim
Escape From Cubicle Nation
How to go from corporate prisoner to thriving entrepreneur

***Begin Quote***

Save for a rainy day. Your financial adviser and grandpa were right … you should have a healthy cushion of savings set aside in case of emergencies. This is the hardest advice for me to follow, but it is very, very wise. Set up an automatic monthly deposit to an account that is NOT tied to your regular personal or business checking account. I heard someone suggest that it be a bank or financial institution that is inconvenient to get to and has few ATMs.

***End Quote***

I learned this lesson sort of by chance.

In my first transition from AT&T to Wall Street, I got a golden handshake to leave. Thru dumb luck, the protection that the Universe extend to the totally clueless sometimes, I was able to get back “in” in eleven days. Mostly that was waiting for the gooferment SEC and the blood test about drugs. In my new job, I had access to a salary deferral plan that allowed my to defer paying taxes on the handshake. Since I hate taxes, the money was “saved”. Fast forward to my transition out of Merrill Lynch, where I decided to become a consultant. I was seeing big gobs of money being paid to consultants in those go go days. Frau’s fears were minimal, and so were mine, beneath the bravado, since I still had that year’s pay with interest “salted away”. Always nice to fall flat on one’s face when you have a nice cash cushion to “fall into”. My consulting was a wild success. But it could have just as easily been a dismal flop. When I consult with My Turkeys (i.e., the FOWGs who are out of work) who “land”, I always try to drive home the need for building up a “rainy day fund”.

Sigh. Some even listen.

# # # # #

http://www.survivalblog.com/2007/06/letter_re_request_for_investin.html

Letter Re: Request for Investing Advice from a U.S. Reader
What is your guidance on a safe (conservative) way to invest? What percentage in precious metals? Thanks, – TZK in Central Kentucky

***Begin Quote***

JWR Replies: I recommend that SurvivalBlog readers should put at least 25% of their portfolios into gold, silver, and barter goods, and roughly 50% into productive farm ground–a retreat to occupy year-round–in a lightly populated region that is well-removed major metropolitan areas.

{Extraneous Deleted}

I consider any investment denominated in un-backed paper dollars risky, at least in the long term, since the US dollar, as a currency unit is doomed. It faces the same fate as all other un-backed currencies throughout history. In the long run, they will all inevitably revert to their actual value, which if measured either by weight or per square inch is comparable to toilet paper.

***End Quote***

Well, in the long run, we all die too.

One can quibble about the advice. I’m not sure there will be any place to hide in TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) scenario. But, having said that, one wonders how long the mass global illusion with the Federal Reserve Note aka mislabled the dollar can continue?

Abroad, the Chinese and the OPEC are amassing huge collections of these funny green pieces of paper. Abrogation by the USA gooferment is not unheard of. Think of the French having the gold window closed in their face. At home, look at the mountains of unfunded liabilities the various levels of gooferment have rung up. So gold does appear to be a store of value.

I would respectfully disagree with JWR the greenback isn’t comparable to toilet paper. Toilet papers is useful; greenbacks are a poor substitute.

# # # # #

http://www.clairewolfe.com/wolfesblog/00002602.html

06/13/2007 Entry: “The Tsunami of Credit”

***Begin Quote***

Certainly my anecdotal evidence, gained from talking to friends and acquaintances, strangers I meet in my travels, and observing lots of closing businesses and neighbors losing jobs, suggests that times are hard, not good.

Surprise! The government figures regarding inflation and the economy are tissues of lies.

John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics paint a far different picture. Mr. Williams generally reports economic figures the old fashioned way, avoiding the many gimmicks introduced since the Reagan robbery of social security.

His figures show GDP growth is -2%, and we have been in a recession since the burst of the Greenspan dot-com bubble at the end of 2000. Consumer price inflation is above 10% and rising. (Nixon imposed wage and price controls in 1971 when price inflation rose above 4%.) M3, the broadest measure of the money supply, is rising at over 13% year-over-year.

What’s that? The FED stopped reporting M3 in 2006, claiming it was too costly to produce. Mr. Williams, like all free market actors, is able to produce with very little effort what the bloated FED cannot, or does not want to do. Inflation of the supply of money is the root cause of price inflation, and the FED doesn’t want too many people to pay attention to the men behind the curtains.

I believe the huge increase in M3 explains a lot about why we don’t already have a full-blown, widely recognized depression. At the current rate of growth, an astonishing $1.4 trillion in new money is being created every year. The GDP is $13.6 trillion; adding 10% of that figure in brand new, created from thin air money to the economy increases GDP only 0.6%? Clearly we are losing ground.

***End Quote***

Well, if the fellow is right, and I suspect he is, perhaps we’re both wrong, but it certainly feels like “hard times”. I think my “turkey pen” is now full. (I counsel out of work execs as a hobby and constant reminder that I might be next.)

So how does one “action” this report.

(1) Closely monitor one’s personal “burn” rate. How much are you spending, committing to spend, agreeing to spend? Stolen from the venture capital world, the “burn rate” was probably stolen from the rocket launches where the amount of fuel being consumed was monitored. To a Venture Capitalist who’s invested with a start up, the burn rate is outgo minus income measured on an almost daily basis. To start a successful business one must invest in the future.

(2) Zero debt. Certainly at the very least zero short term debt. Even colateralized debt (i.e., your home mortgage) maybe “bad debt” if you don’t have a job. You must recognize the fact that you may not be able to sell for what you owe. If you can’t sell and can’t pay, then you’re foreclosed. For high net worth people, where a mortgage is more of a tax saving device (i.e., having a low-rate mortgage that is covered by assets for the purpose of being able to itemize deductions), one doesn’t have to go nuts. Everyone else should be “storing up” for long cold financial winter.

(3) Network in your white collar job. You only sure of your last paycheck that cashed.

(4) Develop a blue collar skill; never met a poor plumber.

(5) Explore entrepreneurial business on the inet. For under a grand, you can incorporate “Your Wild Ideas” as your personal incubator. Sell stuff for a profit. It’s the new wild west gold rush.

(6) Learn from the Amish and the Mormons about self-reliance.

Fasten your seat belts; there’s turbulence ahead.

# # # # #

http://www.survivalblog.com/2007/06/
letter_re_greenspan_gold_and_t_1.html

Letter Re: Greenspan, Gold, and the Safe Store of Value

***Begin Quote***

Dear Mr. Rawles,

Regarding the use of gold as a store of value, it’s important to realize that gold often functions as a fiat currency. It does have intrinsic value for jewelry, electronics, rust-proofing, and some chemistry applications but the vast majority of its value comes from the shared expectation that people will accept it as being valuable in the future. The only difference from fiat dollars is that it’s harder – but not impossible – to increase or decrease the gold monetary supply, and that supply isn’t controlled by any government.

{Extraneous Deleted}

JWR Replies: I agree that gold will have only marginal utility for barter during an economic collapse. It will only come into its own in the recovery phase. Gold can act as a “time machine”, preserving your buying power from now until the far side of a currency collapse.

{Extraneous Deleted}

***End Quote***

Interesting comment and response.

Greenspan in his younger days WAS a gold bug before he want Darth Vader on the American People. Like Freedman, the economists seem to “see the light” and turned to the dark side to earn a handsome living.

Gold has imho a function today. JWR alludes to it as a time machine. It IS the only “safe store of value”. Just as in the “non-modern times”! You can’t use, for example, grain as a store of value because it spoils or the rats get at it.

Money is a token that everyone will accept in exchange for the things they have to sell. The essential functions of money are: medium of exchange; unit of account; standard of deferred payment; and store of value. Effective money has to be: divisible; fungible; measurable; and countable.

Leaving aside the TEOTWAWKI scenario, gold is valuable today imho because:

(1) It avoids the “inflation tax”. In 1970, I had a dollar. That same dollar today can only purchase five cents what it could back then. Where did the “other” ninety five cents of purchasing power go? Yup, stolen by the Federal Reserve! When the FRB produces inflation by printing more greenbacks, it acts as a tax on savings. Anything dollar denominated is taxed. You really didn’t thing that your house was “worth” that much more. Did you? No, it’s the “dollar” is worth less.

(2) It avoids the “estate tax”. There’s a rumor that when Trump’s casinos were in trouble his dad went into one of them and bought a few million in chips. An untaxed gift? An off the books loan? Something else? Envision you have save some gold coins, you die, your executor just passes them to your heirs, like furniture, books, or your clean undies. No estate tax on those.

Bear in mind, the Smithsonian exhibit reports that a “fine men’s garment” has cost two ounces of gold in the days of the Romans, before the French Revolution, during the Victorian Era, and for most of American history. Having bought a “less than fine” American suit recently, I can assure you that standard is alive and well today!

So gold is an “interesting investment”. It doesn’t pay interest. May be lost or stolen. But, not by the gooferment. And, can’t be taxed. Interesting!?

# # # # #

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/
0,1518,363663,00.html

July 04, 2005
SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH AFRICAN ECONOMICS EXPERT
“For God’s Sake, Please Stop the Aid!”

The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.

***Begin Quote***

Shikwati: If they really want to fight poverty, they should completely halt development aid and give Africa the opportunity to ensure its own survival. Currently, Africa is like a child that immediately cries for its babysitter when something goes wrong. Africa should stand on its own two feet.

***End Quote***

Like the Hippocratic oath, when you donate to a charity, “first do no harm”.

# # # # #

http://www.lewrockwell.com/sennholz/sennholz18.html

Money Is Flooding the World Markets
by Hans F. Sennholz

Dr. Hans F. Sennholz was professor and chairman of the department of economics at Grove City College.

***Begin Quote***

A few pessimistic economists are convinced that a devastating economic cataclysm lies ahead. They usually point to three threats that may have a serious impact on the American economy. There is the burgeoning tower of public and private debt resting on a foundation of greed and overindulgence. There are a multimillion-dollar list of promises to a retirement system and a vast building of government guarantees and promises that are bound to be unkept. There even is a world of complex derivatives, the value of which depends on something else, such as stocks, bonds, futures, options, loans, and even promises. They all, according to these economists, will be the victims of the coming cataclysm.

This economist, who has observed central bank policies since the 1950s, is in basic accord and feels sympathy for these pessimists. They seem to have a clear view of the principles of money markets and the policies conducted by governments ever since they discarded the natural money order, that is, the gold and silver standards. But these pessimists tend to ignore the countless ruses, devices, and stratagems used by government officials and central bankers to hide the consequences of their policies. Long before there will be a financial Armageddon, there will be a myriad of government regulations, controls, edicts, and rulings that hide the consequences of monetary policies. Policies will be readjusted frequently to cover the actual effects. Given the public confusion and unfamiliarity with monetary policies and their consequences, a large majority of the public is likely to accept official explanations and welcome the regulators and controllers.

***End Quote***

We know that the gooferment is broke, made promises it can’t keep, and will be mia when the you know what hits the fan.

Self-defense: Zero debt, save; save in things that don’t inflate or depreciate or disappear; be aware; be educated; be vocal; develop skills; stay healthy; be prepared; be practiced. imho

# # # # #

FROM STOP INFLATION NOW

***Begin Quote***

I struggle with Say’s Law. It says that bad money drives good out of circulation. Obviously! If I have a gold ounce and 700 frbnies, which will I use for the item? Yup, goodbye furbies. So how does one get people using “honest money”? Any honest money? See the Liberty Dollar, Ithica Dollars, or egold. It’s all the same problem. “Honest money” will be horded; fiat paper will be used. The gooferment can then inflate (i.e., tax) us to poverty. Until TEOTWAWKI! I’m befuddled.

***End Quote***

# # # # #

via Chris Pirillo President at Lockergnome and Owner, Lockergnome.com

*** begin quote ***

Dear Network: I received this letter from a reader. Thought I’d throw it out to you to help her with an answer…..

“Dear Chris,
My husband got me a fake Gucci bag for Mother’s Day, and I really appreciated the sentiment, but had a revelation. I’m tired of the knock-offs…I want to be able to afford the real thing sometimes. Do you have any advice for me about how to invest my money? (I earn $60K annually). How do I find an investment advisor? Is online stock trading advisable? Thanks for any advice you can send my way!”

Shirley S.
Seattle, Washington

*** end quote ***

Chris,

With all due respect, this is a train wreck. And, you’re in the middle. This person is going to be disappointed, unless she’s wildly lucky to pick the next Microsoft / Google / Berkshire Hathaway, and subsequently be mad at you for bum advice. The market is a rigged game, and online trading is a fast path to the poor house.

Earning 60k per year, the person probably can’t (shouldn’t) even get a trading account because of “suitability rules”. There’s a reason why traders in big firms get paid lots of money and for an amateur to think they can compete is absurd. I’d suggest that they shelve this idea as a path to wealth.

If the writer wants to be truly wealthy, they need to give value to others in a way that is unique to them. It could be buying real estate and renting it. She will have to have a laser like focus on value and positive cash flow. Perhaps she can own her own side business. Maybe she can provide a service.

At 60k per year, I’d urge her to put her discretionary income into a tax deferred savings plan like a RothIRA in Vanguard Mutual Funds, and seek to increase her earning power. In thirty years, she may not be buying Gucci bags, but she won’t be eating dog food either.

I believe that the model for success NOW is: (1) ruthless financial discipline to capture part of your earnings while making every dollar work hard; (2) seek a white collar job; (3) have a blue collar skill; and (4) create one, or hopefully more, profitable web based businesses.

Then, she might become truly wealthy. If she has a husband who tried to make her happy, then she’s already blessed. Part of being wealthy is not having more “stuff”. It’s valuing what the Universe has given you. It’s not about having what you want; it’s about wanting what you have.

imho

# # # # #

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north529.html

Debt: An Inescapable Concept
Part 2: Personal Debt
by Gary North

***Begin Quote***

There is no tooth fairy. There is no retirement fairy. There will be no streams of income for the vast majority of old Americans. There will probably be monthly checks. They will not buy much.

***End Quote***

Medical costs will destroy us. The unfunded promises of the Medicare and drug benefits will bankrupt the country. When the politicians make promises, they leave the bill for the future taxpayers to pick up the tab. When the bill comes due, it’ll be devastating.

http://www.masternewmedia.org/information_access/
central-bank-federal-reserve/panama-has-no-central-bank-20070512.htm

http://tinyurl.com/25db5o

May 12, 2007
The Federal Reserve – Who Needs It? How Panama Has Thrived Without A Central Bank
David Saied is head of National Public Policy for the Government of Panama
and also directs the National Competitiveness Program.

***Begin Quote***

The Federal Reserve is America’s Central Bank, owned by an unnamed corporate cartel, given a license to print money, and holding significant sway over the national government and economy. If it were dissolved tomorrow, the average tax-payer would doubtless be a lot better off. But we couldn’t do that, could we?

The Republic of Panama has managed just fine without a Central Bank for over a hundred years, and in actual fact, if you compare the rate of inflation between Panama and the USA over the last twenty years, Panama comes out a lot better off every step of the way.

***End Quote***

I’m just an injineer; not one of them there highly educated highly compensated ekkynonnymists. BUT, it seems to me, that you are tying yourself to the USA Federal Reserve Bank Note and the rate that they choose for inflation. That “tying” can become a hangman’s noose when “helicopter ben” starts dropping FRBNies from the sky. ALSO, it would seem that shifting from the “US Dollar”, which is really the FRBN not a real Constitutional Dollar, to a gold / silver standard for a Panamanian currency could make you the darling of all the gold bugs in the world. A national currency redeemable in gold might well be a great growth industry. But then, I’m just an injineer.

# # # # #

http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2007/04/26/
ten-years-left-for-social-security/

Ten years left for Social Security
By Michael Hampton
Posted: April 26, 2007 3:01 am

***Begin Quote***

By 2017 Social Security will begin paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes and will have to begin redeeming bonds from the Social Security Trust Fund. Worse, Medicare is expected to cross the same line later this year, resulting in a massive fiscal crisis.

***End Quote***

Well, this certainly has to be added to the list of risk that the retiring baby boomers face.

Inflation is always the number one risk. You have to worry about a “wealth tax” that simultaneously devalues your savings, reduces the buying power, raises prices, and (usually) decreases your Social Security Insurance (a Ponzi fraud on a mammoth scale) earnings (i.e., the Gooferment calculates the inflation rate that it has to pay you based on?). Now you have to throw on the concern that you’ll get nothing for your SSI “contributions”! Look for lower benefits, increased taxation of benefits, means testing, making it more into a welfare program, and — when the Ponzi scheme breaks — the Gooferment walks away from the obligation.

That might be the thing that brings out the pitchforks and torches. Like during the French Revolution, that might not be a good time to be an aristocrat.

“Let them eat cake” might be superceded by “the Social Security trust Fund is broke”!

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/millionaire/30108

Ten Steps to Cell Phone Security
by David Bach
Posted on Monday, April 23, 2007, 12:00AM

***Begin Quote***

Americans love their cell phones — most of us can’t live without them. Yet the Better Business Bureau reports that cell phone providers are the No. 1 cause of complaints among consumers. This is mostly due to incorrect billing, confusing fees, unexpected charges, and deceptive contracts. These can certainly add up, but I was shocked to learn that the most significant — even devastating — monetary damage can occur when your cell phone is lost or stolen.

A $26,000 Cell Phone Bill

A recent CBS 5 ConsumerWatch report by Jeanette Pavini profiles the plights of three consumers in California — all of whom had their cell phones stolen and were left stuck with a huge bill for unauthorized charges.

The report told the story of San Francisco resident Wendy Nguyen, who was shocked to receive a bill for $26,000 after her cell phone was unknowingly stolen before she left for an overseas vacation. Cingular held her responsible for charges incurred after the phone was taken, up until the time Wendy discovered the theft and called the carrier.

She was able to prove via airline and passport documents that she was out of the country and couldn’t possibly have made the unauthorized calls from San Francisco during that time, but Cingular still held Wendy accountable for all charges.

Not only that, they advised Wendy that if she couldn’t pay the bill she should consider filing for bankruptcy!

***End Quote***

What a disaster!

If you have a cell phone, then you should read this.

http://www.bullnotbull.com/archive/mandrake.html

American Federal Reserve Token

***Begin Quote***

AFARTs are brilliant 100% pure, authentically gold-colored zinc & copper clad tokens, engineered by the New American Empire and backed by the full faith and taxing power of inflation. Helicopter drops of the new FARTs are scheduled for neighborhoods soon.

***End Quote***

I think this is a stitch. Remember “helicopter ben” said in his conformation hearing that in a faltering economy he’d drop money by helicopter to keep the economy moving. That’s all the politicians had to hear. That told them that he make sure that they’d have all the money they could possibly spend.

Now where do you think all that “value” is going to come from? Yup, you guessed it. From us. The people. The schmoes. Anyone who has anything dollar denominated. Cash, savings, and such! They get to pay a special “inflation tax”.

Maybe that’s why they are so touchy about NORFED.

The Austrian economists teach us that fiat currency is the originator of the boom bust cycle. Eroding the value of the franc was factor in tumbling the French Kings.

Looking at — the Baby Boomer (losing productivity and putting them on the dole), Social Security Ponzi (decreasing workers will pay higher and higher taxes), unfunded pension plans in federal, state, local, and business (the promised benefits won’t be there), and the expanding Medicare and Drug benefits (that won’t be possible given the financial constriction) — you wonder where it ends.

Toyota displaces GM. College graduates can’t find work. College debt hangs on them.

Where does it end?

N.B. When we laugh at the “sovereigns”, they shrink in stature to be just men. That’s what they are. Fallible men!

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070427/D8OP24H80.html

Pricing Software Could Reshape Retail
Apr 27, 12:16 PM (ET)
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN

***Begin Quote***

A large retail chain had a problem. It sold three similar power drills: one for about $90, a purportedly better one at $120 and a top-tier one at $130. The higher the price, the more the store profited.

But while drill know-it-alls flocked to the $130 model and price-fretters grabbed its $90 cousin, shoppers often ignored the middle one.

So the store sought advice from a new breed of “price-optimization” software from DemandTec Inc. What followed offers us a clue about important shifts that technology is bringing to retail shopping.

After analyzing an array of variables, including sales history and competitors’ prices, the software suggested cutting the middle drill to $110.

That might have made the top drill seem more expensive. But drill aficionados still were fine shelling out $130. Sales of that drill didn’t change. However, now that the $90 version seemed less of a bargain, the store sold 4 percent fewer low-end drills – and 11 percent more of the mid-range model. Profits rose.

***End Quote***

So how do you know when you’re getting hosed? Or, drilled?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?
qid=20070418145315AAvRFIm&r=w&pa=
FZptHWf.BGRX3OFMhjJcU3dTz2fL1SGSHVFFKU
ggBa3urpdU4fI94ITlgk9gyKJd5b3ZB2r5nu
_431eRPA–&paid=answered

http://tinyurl.com/2hon64

Can someone take out a mortgage on your home without you knowing?

***Begin Quote***

I got a phone call, left on answering machine, talking about a mortgage. I do not have a mortgage on the home . I am just worried that someone could fraudulently get a mortgage on my home. With people stealing identities how easy would it be?

***End Quote***

Vote for my answer even if you don’t like it?

Seriously, if you like it, vote it up. If not, tell me. I could be wrong. (Not bloody likely but I have to look humble.)

If you think I’m wrong, take a look at this one:

http://www.privacyrights.org/cases/victim30.htm

UPDATE: My answer was voted “best’ and I picked up another 10 Yahoo Answers points. (Hey, I play carnie games and give the tix to little kids. It’s about scoring points!)

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;
_ylt=Ahza2ZJt4BzuwdD9FhFzxWLsy6IX?
qid=20070412044522AAFIP4t&show=7

http://tinyurl.com/3cl8bt

I want to consolidate my debt?

***Begin Quote***

I have great credit, but a little to much debt. I would like to consolidate my debt without hurting my credit to bad. I would like to be able to pay less than what I am paying now. Paying for many years does not bother me, some of us can only make it with payments on everything (that’s me, the world is to hard and expensive today). Does anyone know a good place to go with?

***End Quote***

Well, if I were you, I’d look around for a Credit Union. Almost all credit unions, at least the four that I have used extensively, had: (1) great rates; (2) an education program; (3) debt counseling — the non-rip off kind; (4) were honest with you; and (5) usually have your best interests at heart. In recent years, the membership requirements have been loosened. It’s now as exclusive as rainfall. The last one I joined, I had to deposit 25$ in my account as a “membership fee”. It paid interest, and I still don’t understand, but you have to “join”. Look around. I’m sure you can find one you can join. If all else fails, I can “adopt” you. :-)

You also have to change your thinking a little. Credit card debt is a “disaster”. You’re a slave to those payments. The interest rate is only part of the “cost”. Don’t be late or you’re socked with fees. They play games with when they “get their mail” and other dirty tricks. Finally, it affects your thinking and your future choices. You think it’s ok and you get in the habit. Next you know it’s juggundo godzilla size debt. And, you have to keep working at your current job because you “need to make your payments”. That precludes switching careers, taking time off, or just not having to remember to make a payment.

Disclaimer! I’m not “suzy orman”, don’t work on Wall Street anymore, and have not stayed in a Holiday Inn Express. But, I do blog about money from time to time. And, I’ve made a lot of mistakes with my own money. So I’ll claim “black ‘n’ blue” credentials from the University of Hard Knocks!

Hope this helps.
fjohn

*** in addition, an after thought ***

I probably could have stressed “thinking” first and “credit union” second. Consolidation, without improved thinking, will just lead to more debt. I probably should have referred to Dave Ramsey, who is the king of “i’m debt free”. That’s the other extreme.

Interesting, that the local bank where we are placing Frau’s ira cd ladder, has some special problems.

They have some lame offering schedule (i.e., 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 month terms).

[Obviously my feed back from the last visit fell on deaf ears. What a surprise. I’m shocked! A la Casablanca. A bank not listening. Maybe that’s my next career opportunity.]

Note: there is no 9 month offering. And the underlying interest rate is flat between 24 and 36.

Then, they have 9, 11, 13, and other “special offerings”.

So, it is very interesting to construct, or fill in, a ladder.

So I was king, or at least running the bank, and you came in and asked for a ladder. I’d ask you what would make you happy. You want the 4 quarters over 5 years to all have an equal amount. POOF! That’s what I would offer. If you wanted them to all come due on the 13th of the month. Poof! That’s what I’d do. If you wanted them printed on pink paper. poof! (yeah it gets old!) That’s what I’d do.

I’d also rationalize my rates to give every longer duration a time premium preference. That’s no two time periods alike. (Hey, they are making big bucks off cds.) And, I’d offer automagic roll over. You just give me your money and I’ll take care of everything for you. AND, I’ll give you the best interest rate I can afford to pay.

And, if your account goes over the FDIC insurance cap, I’ll set up the overflow with my competitor down the street.

You just come to me and all your concerns will be addressed.

http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2007/tst040907.htm

The Federal Reserve Monopoly over Money
April 9, 2007
Ron Paul
2008 Republican Presidential Candidate

***Begin Quote***

Recently I had the opportunity to question Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke when he appeared before the congressional Joint Economic committee. The topic that morning was the state of the American economy, and many of my colleagues raised questions about how the Fed might better “regulate” things to ease fears of an economic downturn. The tenor of my colleagues’ questions suggested that Mr. Bernanke’s job is nothing less than to run the U.S. economy, like some kind of Soviet central planner.

Certainly it’s true that Mr. Bernanke can drastically affect the economy at the drop of a hat, simply by making decisions about the money supply and interest rates. But why do members of Congress assume this is good? Why do we accept without objection that a small group of people on the Federal Reserve Board wields so much power over our economic well-being? Is centralized, monopoly control over our money even compatible with a supposedly free-market economy?

Few Americans give much thought to the Federal Reserve System or monetary policy in general. But even as they strive to earn a living, and hopefully save or invest for the future, Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank are working insidiously against them. Day by day, every dollar you have is being devalued.

The greatest threat facing America today is not terrorism, or foreign economic competition, or illegal immigration. The greatest threat facing America today is the disastrous fiscal policies of our own government, marked by shameless deficit spending and Federal Reserve currency devaluation. It is this one-two punch– Congress spending more than it can tax or borrow, and the Fed printing money to make up the difference– that threatens to impoverish us by further destroying the value of our dollars.

The Fed’s inflationary policies hurt older people the most. Older people generally rely on fixed incomes from pensions and Social Security, along with their savings. Inflation destroys the buying power of their fixed incomes, while low interest rates reduce any income from savings. So while Fed policies encourage younger people to overborrow because interest rates are so low, they also punish thrifty older people who saved for retirement.
The financial press sometimes criticizes Federal Reserve policy, but the validity of the fiat system itself is never challenged. Both political parties want the Fed to print more money, either to support social spending or military adventurism. Politicians want the printing presses to run faster and create more credit, so that the economy will be healed like magic- or so they believe.

Fiat dollars allow us to live beyond our means, but only for so long. History shows that when the destruction of monetary value becomes rampant, nearly everyone suffers and the economic and political structure becomes unstable. Spendthrift politicians may love a system that generates more and more money for their special interest projects, but the rest of us have good reason to be concerned about our monetary system and the future value of our dollars.

***End Quote***

Any doubt why I support his bid for the Presidency.

http://www.libertydollar.org/ld/legal/legalissues.htm

Legal Defense Fund
Your right to use Gold & Silver is at risk.
Bernard von NotHaus
Monetary Architect

***Begin Quote***

The US Mint would have us believe that it is illegal for Americans to exchange gold and silver (such as the Gold and Silver Eagles minted by the US Mint or any other gold and silver for that matter) on a voluntary basis between consenting adults. Just imagine that at a time when “consenting adults” can legally exchange “fluids” between themselves, the US Mint would have us believe that you and I can not trade gold and silver between ourselves. This is ridiculous and an assault on the concept of a free market.

Of course the US Mint allegation is not the law, in fact, it is a lie. For that reason, the Liberty Dollar has filed a federal lawsuit: Liberty Dollar v Henry M. Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, Edmond C. Moy, Director, US Mint for a declaratory judgment.

Since the US Mint posted their warning, over six months ago, no further action has been taken. No arrests. No indictments. No investigation. Nothing. The warning has been purely a scare tactic. Unfortunately it has been very successful, until now. You will not be arrested for having, using, or helping the Liberty Dollar at this hour of need. Nobody is going to chase you down for a $20 Silver Liberty.

***End Quote***

First, everyone should support their attempt to defend our right to honest money. Let the moth out, and contribute and / or buy something.

Second, clearly the gooferment doesn’t want to turn off their “automatic theft machine”. Inflation is the gooferment’s best revenue raiser. It’s silent; no votes required. It’s insidious; you don’t realize it is happening. You really don’t think that houses, like mine, that sold in 1950 new for 8k$ are really worth 300k$ today. Did the wooden boards in them get scarce when we weren’t watching? No, it’s the dollars that are different! AND, the gooferment gets the additional benefit that everyone is inflated up the income brackets. That allows the gooferment to take more of your money and “generously give back” tax cuts! How stupid are we?

Third, A much more subtle question has been rattling around in my head. Why did the gooferment select NOW to pick a fight with the “lunatic fringe” of gold bugs. I don’t understand. The Treasury itself sells gold and silver bullion coins. SO why now? It’s not like New Hampshire is using hard currencies to the exclusion of the fiat Federal Reserve Banknote (i.e., the dollar?). Did Ithaca dollars scare them? What does the gooferment see as a threat? Even the OPEC Arab Muslims could NOT get their “gold dinar for oil” program started. (I believe that was what Iraq is all about. It wasn’t about “oil”. It was about the “oil bought and sold in gold not dollars” that Iran was pushing with Iraq. It that had happened it could have signaled the end of the USA dollar as the world’s reserve currency. If that happens the FED’s game would have been up big time as all those dollars overseas would be looking for a home.

So, I think you need to take some action now: (1) donate something to the legal fight; (2) buy some bullion to balance your investment portfolio (i.e., 5%); (3) tell your congress critter and any politician that will listen that you want the gooferment to back off; (4) read something anything even Wikapedia about the post ww1 German hyper inflation; if that does not scare you than nothing will; (5) think about how your financial plan will handle the current uncertainty (i.e., the bust of the baby boomers; the social security ponzi scheme; the medicare drug benefit; taxes; inflation).

It’s pretty bleak fmpov!

http://bbs.freetalklive.com/index.php?topic=12824.0

James Turk urges New Hampshire to remonetize gold and silver

***Begin Quote***

GoldMoney founder James Turk, editor of the Freemarket Gold & Money Report and consultant to GATA, is among those urging the New Hampshire legislature to pass a bill allowing citizens to require state government to use gold and silver in payments to them. Turk’s recent testimony to a New Hampshire legislative committee was published in the FG&MR this week and has been reprinted at Jim Puplava’s Financial Sense Internet site here:

http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/turk/2007/0326.html

To claim “economic rent” from someone Else’s labor when applied to land, which is something no one can own outright, is in itself, to claim landlord status over raw nature. It is an attempt at coercive monopoly power that is at the root of statism.

***End Quote***

I am as much of a gold bug as anyone. BUT, it doesn’t describe how the idea will work.

Says’ Law tells us that bad money will drive good out of circulation. So paying the Gooferment in gold or silver will not put gold or silver in circulation. The legal tender laws are what is the problem. It dictates that everyone has to take the fiat currency.

Even if bullion coins start to circulate, they won’t circulate very far. Logically, if you have a fist full of FRBies (Federal Reserve Bank pieces of paper) and an equivalent bag of gold coins, then which will you spend first?

Under the theory that you have to have an answers or options.

My personal strategy is to move a percentage of my savings into bullion coins. You can’t eliminate your use of FRBies. You can’t not save. You can’t know when the collapse is going to come.

SO what you do is think like y2k. No debt, prepare for societal breakdown, develop “real” skills, and allocate a portion of your savings to gold bullion coins.

Read about the hyperinflation in post-ww1 germany, and the other fiscal disasters.

Good Luck,
fjohn
from behind the lines in the
peepuls republik of nu jerseee

http://www.yourcreditadvisor.com/blog/
2007/03/your_identity_h.html

http://tinyurl.com/2zgbqr

Your Identity Has Been Stolen: a 24-Point Recovery Checklist

***Begin Quote***

Step 3: Change all passwords that you use online as you walk through the next 21 steps.

While you search for business contacts and download forms to fill out in this recovery process, begin to change all your online passwords (this is assuming your computer wasn’t stolen!). Thieves may have acquired your information through an online password-protected account. Use new and different passwords for each account, and stop saving your passwords online or on your computer.

***End Quote***

Every password should be unique!

Keeping the passwords stored separately from the computer is a lesson that I could learn.

http://www.mises.org/story/2515

Old-age Security Without the State
By Oskari Juurikkala
Posted on 3/22/2007

***Begin Quote***

A better solution is to get the state out of old-age security. The trouble is that many people cannot imagine old-age security without the state. This is particularly the case in continental Europe, where few people have private pension plans. To their minds, abolishing existing social security schemes implies millions of people starving to death or freezing out in the cold.

***End Quote***

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what we have with a gooferment system.

People are starving, dying, and unhappy. It’s caused by the gooferment’s intrusion into all facets of our lives. Its taxes, its inflation, and its “insurance” has boxed people into a “prison”. You had those famous tv commercials of “Thelma and Louise” deciding to eat or pay the power bill. The FDA prevents the marketplace from delivering life saving and savings to the consumer to benefit the gooferment, its bureaucrats, and its friends in the big drug companies. It’s “insurance” prevents people from saving their own money, earning after retirement, or passing along the fruits of their labor to their posterity.

The private solutions — family, financial markets, mutual aid societies, charities, and work — are all destroyed by gooferment. The gooferment manipulates us by: taxes, inflation, “laws”, regs, diktats, “insurance”, and propaganda.

Until we shake them off, we’ll never have a truly SECURE retirement in America.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north518.html

Read in a Gray North article

“If your outgo is higher than your income, your upkeep will be your downfall.”

http://www.lewrockwell.com/hein/
hein160.html

http://tinyurl.com/334mny

The Big Unknown
by Paul Hein

***Begin Quote***

For example, no one at the bargaining table is going to interrupt proceedings to ascertain what, precisely, is meant by “hour.” The discussions will not hang on what is meant by “week,” or “year.” Common sense dictates you don’t quibble over words that have a universally understood meaning. Sadly, that also seems to include the word “dollar,” although no one sitting around the negotiating table could define it.

***AND***

And simple curiosity would prompt one to ask why this inability to define one of the most basic units in society should exist. Why cannot “dollar” be defined with as much precision as “quart” or “pound?” The only conceivable answer, I think, is that “quart” and “pound” measure something. No one goes to the store to buy a quart, or a pound, but only a quart of milk, or a pound of potatoes. But “dollar?” Of what is the dollar a unit? In general, of course, the answer is money. And what is that? Once, it was silver, and for a while, gold. Today it is nothing.

***End Quote***

And, in a nutshell, the author has expressed eloquently my problem with planning in the “modern economy”. Now I don’t think I am a doom or gloomer. Not too much! But, I can see all the clouds on the horizon. Of all the risks facing a retiree, there are several 800 pound gorillas.

Will the USA break the promises it makes?

A retiree has a lot “invested” with gooferment. Certainly it violates the 5% rule.

The Social Security Insurance ponzi scheme has several components in that promise: the defined benefit amount, the retirement age, Medicare health care benefit, what it covers, the Medicare drug benefit, and the taxability of the benefits.

The gooferment can also easily upset the planning by messing with inflation, taxation, and regulation.

The deficit, the debt, and the continued “buying votes with future benefits” are all going to the road to perdition at a quickening pace.

Finally, one has to recognize that the gooferment permits “under funding”. Corporations under fund their pension plans. Gooferment itself under funds the pension and medical benefits promised to its own gooferment employees. And, by its involvement in healthcare and drugs, it “under funds” what the marketplace would normally direct to those “silver bullets”. (Drugs are cheaper than hospitalizations. Healthy people are productive people. Nursing homes for “indigents” are obscenely expensive. And Alzhiemer’s, Parkinson, and senility destroys everyone.)

So how does the old fogy invest in this climate. Assuming that you’ve done proper planning, you’re doing a lot of investing. But, if you come upon a windfall, what do you do.

I’m a gold bug. No bones about it.

Of all the things that the gooferment can do to upset my apple cart, the big ones are changing tax policy, “adjusting” the taxability of benefits, and adding a means test to benefits.

So you want to have enough assets for a comfortable retirement, but perhaps you don’t want to have too much on paper?

Like the “medicare trusts” of today’s planners, you have to think ahead. A medicare trust is where the assets are put in trust to get them excluded from the medicare eligibility calculation. People use it to get their old relative’s nursing home paid for by the gooferment and preserve the old relative’s estate that gets passed to their heirs. Dirty pool, but legal.

But, when all these “blank checks” come due, maybe it might pay to have assets that don’t show up on paper anywhere.

Bullion coins!?!

They don’t earn interest. They don’t take up a lot of space. They certainly don’t depreciate with inflation. AND, the don’t show up on any statement or tax return.

A coffee can, a shovel, and a planter!

It won’t be the treasure of the Count of Monte Cristo. But, it might be the difference between being poor and being secure.