Relevant Deprivation Theory from ChangingMinds.org:
Description
We tend to decide how well-off or deprived we are not from any absolute standard or how hungry are, but by comparing ourselves with other people.
In particular, we decide on what we deserve and what we should expect from looking at other people. We then compare ourselves with this standard.
Research
Vanneman and Pettigrew (1972) asked white Americans how well off they were when compared with other whites and also with black Americans. Those who felt not well off when compared with other whites were more prejudiced against the black people.
Example
Even rich people can feel poor as the even richer parade in front of them. So what?
Using it
Build up expectations of the other person, perhaps by showing what you have got. They will get to feel deprived. Then show them the way to alleviate that deprivation.
Defending
When you feel deprived, consider how you got that way. When you are drowning, beware of people who offer you straws to clutch.
See also Perceptual Contrast Effect--this further explains the phenomenon.
References: Vanneman and Pettigrew (1972), Gurr (1970), Walker and Pettigrew (1984)
_____________________________________________________
I managed to alleviate my own (economic) suffering, and now I try to alleviate other's suffering with my frugality and tax tips. Now I understand what's going on around here with the "bling", the throwing away of perfectly good stuff, and the constant buying of brand-new things and drive-thru convenience food--I knew it was a psychological problem of some sort (ala Bill Cosby and decadence), but I never knew it already had a name. Now we all know, including Bill Cosby.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Omnibus Obama Tax Avoidance Tip Sheet and Small Loophole Collection
UPDATE: Don't vote Obama in for another term--he's not finished with his "social justice" agenda yet.
• Don’t smoke—the new increase in cigarette tax is going to make it onerous, and the cigarette tax avoidance is going to throw SCHIP into jeopardy. It never should’ve been funded through an easily-avoidable vice tax.
• Don’t make an adjusted gross income over $125,000 for singles, or $250,000 for couples
• To avoid AMT, don’t make over $75,000 adjusted gross income.
• Donate taxable “things” to charity rather than money when the costs to own it (purchase, maintenance, taxes, insurance, etc.) exceed 28% of the value (such as vehicles, stocks, jewelry, homes, etc.).
• Don’t own anything that stands a good chance of experiencing rising taxes on it—homes, cars and computers (through real or personal property tax), etc.
• Avoid the proposed health insurance tax by switching to an HSA, FSA, or just paying cash. Look for “flat-fee” doctors, and pay them annual lump-sum payments.
• UPDATE: Eat a healthy, fruit-and-veggie rich diet so as not to have to choose between food and medicine—make food your medicine, and grow it at home to avoid running up against sales taxes. You may end up running afoul of the new Food Safety Act, which covers "any facility that produces, processes, and/or packages and distributes food"--this may end up including your kitchen and garden.
• Create more Obama-increased tax deductions—so far, it’s anything having to do with kids (through the Earned Income Credit and other deductions/credits).
• If the proposed “universal savings” plan becomes law, move IRA/401k money to Roth accounts, then move to tax-advantaged funds or indexes, or triple tax-free zero coupon bonds or municipal bonds—this avoids the possible confiscation and taxation of our retirement money. So far, there has been no talk of attacking the Roth accounts, and if the tax-free status of regular IRAs is restored, all you have to do is recharacterize what money you have in the Roth—it doesn’t cost anything, whereas converting the traditional IRA to a Roth WILL incur taxes, but it will undoubtedly be cheaper than the fines or taxation on the total amount. We still have a year for this planned savings nationalization, so you can still move money before a large tax increase takes effect.
• Avoid rising sales taxes and costs of food by growing your own as much as possible.
• Avoid rising gas prices, gas taxes, personal property taxes, insurance, maintenance costs, and registration fees by not owning a car.
• Avoid rising energy/utility costs and taxes by minimizing use of water, electricity, and gas unless you have independent sources (off-grid). Strive to get independent sources or re-use grid sources (like gray water) for more than one thing—like watering the garden.
• Avoid sales taxes by buying second-hand through non-retail places (garage sales, yard sales, and rummage sales). Swap/barter if possible.
• Avoid taking more pay in a taxable form (wages, tips, and salaries)—instead, ask to get it in the form of perks, which are tax free (for now).
• Move money into whole life insurance policies for tax protection, and then cash out later for tax-free proceeds—this is how wealthy people move money to their heirs without running afoul of the estate tax.
• Change your type of income from active (wages, tips, salaries) to passive (dividends, rents, royalties, capital gains) to lower your tax burden if needed.
• Look into the requirements for local public assistance programs—I know this may seem contradictory, but most of them only have eligibility based on active income and not assets. Lower your (taxable) active income if necessary to match the requirements. YOU paid into the system, so get some of it back! Look at it as Obama paying you for a change.
• Find ways around incurring a tax through alternate means (such as bikes for transportation, or cargo containers/storage units for homes), or combine items to consolidate taxes (such as RVs or vans for homes—both transportation and home. Mobile homes used to fit this bill because they were considered a vehicle if the wheels and license plates were still on them, but have now become “homes” and subject to property tax where they haven’t been banned outright).
Use your imagination and whatever limits and loopholes the law and tax systems allow—judging by the latest CBO deficit estimates, you’ll be living like this a long time, so you may as well get comfortable. Don’t be surprised if groups of people pool their money together and buy farms or multi-family dwellings outright, effectively setting up small communes—only the farmers did well in the last Depression. The group can always agree to sell when the recovery permits, or some members can offer to buy out others who wish to leave.
This list will update as more information becomes available.
• Don’t smoke—the new increase in cigarette tax is going to make it onerous, and the cigarette tax avoidance is going to throw SCHIP into jeopardy. It never should’ve been funded through an easily-avoidable vice tax.
• Don’t make an adjusted gross income over $125,000 for singles, or $250,000 for couples
• To avoid AMT, don’t make over $75,000 adjusted gross income.
• Donate taxable “things” to charity rather than money when the costs to own it (purchase, maintenance, taxes, insurance, etc.) exceed 28% of the value (such as vehicles, stocks, jewelry, homes, etc.).
• Don’t own anything that stands a good chance of experiencing rising taxes on it—homes, cars and computers (through real or personal property tax), etc.
• Avoid the proposed health insurance tax by switching to an HSA, FSA, or just paying cash. Look for “flat-fee” doctors, and pay them annual lump-sum payments.
• UPDATE: Eat a healthy, fruit-and-veggie rich diet so as not to have to choose between food and medicine—make food your medicine, and grow it at home to avoid running up against sales taxes. You may end up running afoul of the new Food Safety Act, which covers "any facility that produces, processes, and/or packages and distributes food"--this may end up including your kitchen and garden.
• Create more Obama-increased tax deductions—so far, it’s anything having to do with kids (through the Earned Income Credit and other deductions/credits).
• If the proposed “universal savings” plan becomes law, move IRA/401k money to Roth accounts, then move to tax-advantaged funds or indexes, or triple tax-free zero coupon bonds or municipal bonds—this avoids the possible confiscation and taxation of our retirement money. So far, there has been no talk of attacking the Roth accounts, and if the tax-free status of regular IRAs is restored, all you have to do is recharacterize what money you have in the Roth—it doesn’t cost anything, whereas converting the traditional IRA to a Roth WILL incur taxes, but it will undoubtedly be cheaper than the fines or taxation on the total amount. We still have a year for this planned savings nationalization, so you can still move money before a large tax increase takes effect.
• Avoid rising sales taxes and costs of food by growing your own as much as possible.
• Avoid rising gas prices, gas taxes, personal property taxes, insurance, maintenance costs, and registration fees by not owning a car.
• Avoid rising energy/utility costs and taxes by minimizing use of water, electricity, and gas unless you have independent sources (off-grid). Strive to get independent sources or re-use grid sources (like gray water) for more than one thing—like watering the garden.
• Avoid sales taxes by buying second-hand through non-retail places (garage sales, yard sales, and rummage sales). Swap/barter if possible.
• Avoid taking more pay in a taxable form (wages, tips, and salaries)—instead, ask to get it in the form of perks, which are tax free (for now).
• Move money into whole life insurance policies for tax protection, and then cash out later for tax-free proceeds—this is how wealthy people move money to their heirs without running afoul of the estate tax.
• Change your type of income from active (wages, tips, salaries) to passive (dividends, rents, royalties, capital gains) to lower your tax burden if needed.
• Look into the requirements for local public assistance programs—I know this may seem contradictory, but most of them only have eligibility based on active income and not assets. Lower your (taxable) active income if necessary to match the requirements. YOU paid into the system, so get some of it back! Look at it as Obama paying you for a change.
• Find ways around incurring a tax through alternate means (such as bikes for transportation, or cargo containers/storage units for homes), or combine items to consolidate taxes (such as RVs or vans for homes—both transportation and home. Mobile homes used to fit this bill because they were considered a vehicle if the wheels and license plates were still on them, but have now become “homes” and subject to property tax where they haven’t been banned outright).
Use your imagination and whatever limits and loopholes the law and tax systems allow—judging by the latest CBO deficit estimates, you’ll be living like this a long time, so you may as well get comfortable. Don’t be surprised if groups of people pool their money together and buy farms or multi-family dwellings outright, effectively setting up small communes—only the farmers did well in the last Depression. The group can always agree to sell when the recovery permits, or some members can offer to buy out others who wish to leave.
This list will update as more information becomes available.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Cavalcade of Risk #We Lost Count--The “Hubby Went to a Safety Conference, and All I Got Was a ****ing Pen!” Edition
Yes, I was highly disappointed. Usually, when Hubby goes off to some conference or expo, he brings home bags stuffed with free notepads, pens, stickers, magnets, and other little gadgets (like the computer screen wiper), but this time there were only six vendors there, and they mostly handed out brochures and pre-loaded binders.
Where’s the fun in that? What’s in it for the wife who packed the suitcase, pre-hunted acceptable (low sodium/low sugar) eating places on the web at the conference town, made the flight arrangements, booked the hotel room, and put up with airport traffic both DEPARTING and ARRIVING?
I’d at least like a free note pad for my grocery shopping lists. Hubby would like his Friday night back so he could see the final episode of Battlestar Galactica, which they have yet to post to the web.
We’ve decided this may be his last cross-country conference.
Anyway, on with the Risk show.
_________________________________________________
FINANCE:
Ian Welsh has solved global financial crises in one post with three little words: “Stop selling risk.” Are you listening, Tim Geithner, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and anybody else who had their dirty little mitts on this thing?
The Digerati Life wants the investor to know thyself as part of the investment plan, especially when it comes to risk profile analysis.
HEALTH:
The Sentinel Effect brings a glimpse of the unreal world in California with Comp Medical Management: Study in Runaway Costs and Weak Results. Believe me, the insurance industry isn’t all that’s wrong in California! Maybe they need a little more “sentinel effect” and a lot less “Utopia” effect.
Healthcare Manumissions alerts us to the Obama administration’s back-door health care regulations with Healthcare: The Financial Mess and its Furtive Features. Believe me, I’m watching this one closely—this “best practices” plan doesn’t take into account one’s individual reactions to drugs, dietary restrictions (either personal or religious) that may relate to drug ingestion, or even genetic differences that cause differing outcomes with drugs or other therapies. So much for treating everybody with a blanket approach!
As I see it, more and more people will be driven out of conventional health care simply to maintain their privacy—driven to self-treat, or visit non-conventional practitioners in an effort to stay healthy. I am considering it for myself, unless I can opt out, or get my doctor to opt out, of this reporting (which amounts to the same third-party marketing crap that credit card companies do).
Somebody PLEASE get Obama (or rather Tom Daschle) out of my doctor’s office!! Oh wait—that would be my job at the voting booth, wouldn’t it?
Jaan Sidorov of Disease Management Care blog brings (in my opinion) a little economic sanity to the ObamaCare topic with Self-Reinforcing Negative Feedback Loops: A Simplistic Threat to Primary Care. Now this may sound like highly-technical economist jargon, but the article is easily understandable to the lay reader, and points out a concern I myself have about this “universal” health blunder: if doctors are turning away Medicare and Medicaid patients NOW because they aren’t profitable, imagine what would happen to Obama-care patients? Individually, they’d be less profitable, so doctors would have to either dump them or flood their practice with them to somehow make a decent living.
Personally, I‘d rather not be a waiting room that’s flooded with Obama-care patients, because much like HMO patients, they would likely tend to be sicker than your ordinary bear, spreading their communicable diseases around while they sit. This would DEFINITELY breed a case of going to the doctor and coming out sicker than when you went it.
What Obama should focus on (instead of leveling the playing field) is heavy promotion of better eating and exercise—even to the point of revamping the Farm Subsidies program to start including more monies for fruits and vegetables, the “protective” foods. A lot of diseases and everyday bugs can be reversed or killed off with improved eating habits.
That how I'd revamp the health care system, anyway--nutrition first, drugs and procedures second. This has been sent to Obama, but he's more hell-bent on gaining power than really improving lives.
Colorado Health Insurance Insider sends in this post about Colorado HB 173 and Single Payer Health Insurance, , noting “I can’t see the logistics of a program that aims to provide universal health care to everyone in Colorado, in a single-payer system, without government involvement.” Apparently Colorado wants to have both private insurance and universal health care in one plan.
In today's news: Insurers Offer to Stop Charging Sick People More (Yahoo Health)
Heading Off Healthcare Inflation (Yahoo Opinion)
GENERAL INSURANCE:
AllBusiness—Insurance For the 21st Century asks “Should You Stay the Course with AIG?” I’ve been hearing that AIG still has some healthy subsidiaries that didn’t get caught up in the financial meltdown, and that AIG is supposedly set to break up and spin off the bad sectors of the business, as well as go through a name change—some TV viewers have suggested changing it to IOU. I figure it worked for one of the Enron accountants (who went on to become Accenture)—now I can’t even remember the old name—so it may work for AIG too.
The Smarter Wallet asks if you should buy extended warranty coverage--I say it depends on what you want to insure. If you think you might be able to replace the item cheaper than you originally bought it (which is most things electronic), and can afford to do so, then don’t bother with insurance. Also, look at the paperwork that comes with the item—if the factory warranty is only for a year or two, that should tell you about how long the item in question is expected to last AT MINIMUM. If you don’t think you’ll be able to replace it for less after that amount of time, then consider insuring it—otherwise, you’re insuring depreciation. Cars, houses, lives, and catastrophic health are the only exception I can see.
But beware I’m not an insurance expert—I’m more of an insurance avoidance person. That’s why we have The Smarter Wallet.
Hank Stern of InsureBlog injects a little sci-fi into this Cav (as if Obama isn’t injecting enough!) with Real-Life Lifeline--an early Robert Heinlein story about a man who can predict death accurately and literally. Well, it seems a Lifespan Calculator has been created along the very lines of the Lifeline, and puts actuarial tables to shame. The Calculator (http://www.nmfn.com/tnetwork/lifespan/) will also tell you how to extend what years you may have left.
My hubby is also a collector of sci-fi, and Heinlein is one of his favorites. We have the very story you mention. Did you know that Heinlein invented the waterbed--well, the concept for the waterbed?
For those looking to cut costs on life insurance, Free Money Finance sends us 6 Ways to Cut Insurance Costs. I can think of just one reason why someone might consider whole life policies, and that’s to transfer wealth tax free. In 2010, the estate tax gets completely repealed, then gets reinstated back to Clinton-era limits, which were egregious. Life insurance policies are a way of getting money to the intended beneficiary without having to pay Uncle Sam half. These policies can be cashed out or borrowed against without repayment, moving money to beneficiaries tax free.
Joshua Dorkin of Real Estate Dispatch alerts us to the asset protection misconception: why insurance alone isn’t enough. For those of you who own investment real estate, remember these three words when it comes to insuring your investments: MOLD IS GOLD.
And now something for our four-legged fur-covered friends…
Personal Finance Analyst brings us Pet Insurance: This May Sound Crazy, But… You don’t make it sound so crazy in your article! I have found precisely what other have found (including Liz Pulliam-Weston)—that pet insurance doesn’t cover anything adequately except maybe catastrophic care. Even with the new techniques and procedures, the policies I’ve seen are EVEN MORE lacking in coverage than the old ones. If a nationally-accepted policy exists out there for the truly-conscientious pet owner who get pets’ teeth cleaned twice a year, get blood and urine analyzed annually, feeds a special homemade vet-created personalized diet, and STILL end up with cases of diabetes and heart disease, let me know—I’d like to see it. In the meantime, I’ll keep shelling out for my babies.
I have found that most policies don’t even cover half of my costs, and the annual premiums cost more than the coverage they offer.
In my mind, it’s totally unnecessary for the vet to produce CD-ROM copies of dental x-rays unless you’re being sent out to a specialist—like anyone else would be able to read and interpret x-rays, then find a use for the wasted disk! And good luck trying to get cats to let you brush their teeth, so why the little gift bags of toothpaste and a toothbrush, especially when dry food and chemicals for their drinking water do the same trick?
You ask me, THAT’S where the animal care costs are unnecessarily jacked up. Wait, just wait for someone to come up with an Obama-style universal healthcare policy for animals—but then again, it would encounter the same problems as people health care insurance, wouldn’t it?
____________________________________________________
Worthwhile reading:
Is This A Liquidity Crisis or a Risk Crisis? by Worthwhile Canadian Initiative
Corporate Goal-Setting: More Risk Than Reward by Sagacious Thinking
So You Can’t Outsource Risk? by The HART of Outsourcing
I thought that’s what the subprime mortgage mess was all about.
_____________________________________________________
Next up on the Risk docket is Healthcare Manumissions—good luck, buddy! I hand my conference pen over to you. :)
Where’s the fun in that? What’s in it for the wife who packed the suitcase, pre-hunted acceptable (low sodium/low sugar) eating places on the web at the conference town, made the flight arrangements, booked the hotel room, and put up with airport traffic both DEPARTING and ARRIVING?
I’d at least like a free note pad for my grocery shopping lists. Hubby would like his Friday night back so he could see the final episode of Battlestar Galactica, which they have yet to post to the web.
We’ve decided this may be his last cross-country conference.
Anyway, on with the Risk show.
_________________________________________________
FINANCE:
Ian Welsh has solved global financial crises in one post with three little words: “Stop selling risk.” Are you listening, Tim Geithner, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and anybody else who had their dirty little mitts on this thing?
The Digerati Life wants the investor to know thyself as part of the investment plan, especially when it comes to risk profile analysis.
HEALTH:
The Sentinel Effect brings a glimpse of the unreal world in California with Comp Medical Management: Study in Runaway Costs and Weak Results. Believe me, the insurance industry isn’t all that’s wrong in California! Maybe they need a little more “sentinel effect” and a lot less “Utopia” effect.
Healthcare Manumissions alerts us to the Obama administration’s back-door health care regulations with Healthcare: The Financial Mess and its Furtive Features. Believe me, I’m watching this one closely—this “best practices” plan doesn’t take into account one’s individual reactions to drugs, dietary restrictions (either personal or religious) that may relate to drug ingestion, or even genetic differences that cause differing outcomes with drugs or other therapies. So much for treating everybody with a blanket approach!
As I see it, more and more people will be driven out of conventional health care simply to maintain their privacy—driven to self-treat, or visit non-conventional practitioners in an effort to stay healthy. I am considering it for myself, unless I can opt out, or get my doctor to opt out, of this reporting (which amounts to the same third-party marketing crap that credit card companies do).
Somebody PLEASE get Obama (or rather Tom Daschle) out of my doctor’s office!! Oh wait—that would be my job at the voting booth, wouldn’t it?
Jaan Sidorov of Disease Management Care blog brings (in my opinion) a little economic sanity to the ObamaCare topic with Self-Reinforcing Negative Feedback Loops: A Simplistic Threat to Primary Care. Now this may sound like highly-technical economist jargon, but the article is easily understandable to the lay reader, and points out a concern I myself have about this “universal” health blunder: if doctors are turning away Medicare and Medicaid patients NOW because they aren’t profitable, imagine what would happen to Obama-care patients? Individually, they’d be less profitable, so doctors would have to either dump them or flood their practice with them to somehow make a decent living.
Personally, I‘d rather not be a waiting room that’s flooded with Obama-care patients, because much like HMO patients, they would likely tend to be sicker than your ordinary bear, spreading their communicable diseases around while they sit. This would DEFINITELY breed a case of going to the doctor and coming out sicker than when you went it.
What Obama should focus on (instead of leveling the playing field) is heavy promotion of better eating and exercise—even to the point of revamping the Farm Subsidies program to start including more monies for fruits and vegetables, the “protective” foods. A lot of diseases and everyday bugs can be reversed or killed off with improved eating habits.
That how I'd revamp the health care system, anyway--nutrition first, drugs and procedures second. This has been sent to Obama, but he's more hell-bent on gaining power than really improving lives.
Colorado Health Insurance Insider sends in this post about Colorado HB 173 and Single Payer Health Insurance, , noting “I can’t see the logistics of a program that aims to provide universal health care to everyone in Colorado, in a single-payer system, without government involvement.” Apparently Colorado wants to have both private insurance and universal health care in one plan.
In today's news: Insurers Offer to Stop Charging Sick People More (Yahoo Health)
Heading Off Healthcare Inflation (Yahoo Opinion)
GENERAL INSURANCE:
AllBusiness—Insurance For the 21st Century asks “Should You Stay the Course with AIG?” I’ve been hearing that AIG still has some healthy subsidiaries that didn’t get caught up in the financial meltdown, and that AIG is supposedly set to break up and spin off the bad sectors of the business, as well as go through a name change—some TV viewers have suggested changing it to IOU. I figure it worked for one of the Enron accountants (who went on to become Accenture)—now I can’t even remember the old name—so it may work for AIG too.
The Smarter Wallet asks if you should buy extended warranty coverage--I say it depends on what you want to insure. If you think you might be able to replace the item cheaper than you originally bought it (which is most things electronic), and can afford to do so, then don’t bother with insurance. Also, look at the paperwork that comes with the item—if the factory warranty is only for a year or two, that should tell you about how long the item in question is expected to last AT MINIMUM. If you don’t think you’ll be able to replace it for less after that amount of time, then consider insuring it—otherwise, you’re insuring depreciation. Cars, houses, lives, and catastrophic health are the only exception I can see.
But beware I’m not an insurance expert—I’m more of an insurance avoidance person. That’s why we have The Smarter Wallet.
Hank Stern of InsureBlog injects a little sci-fi into this Cav (as if Obama isn’t injecting enough!) with Real-Life Lifeline--an early Robert Heinlein story about a man who can predict death accurately and literally. Well, it seems a Lifespan Calculator has been created along the very lines of the Lifeline, and puts actuarial tables to shame. The Calculator (http://www.nmfn.com/tnetwork/lifespan/) will also tell you how to extend what years you may have left.
My hubby is also a collector of sci-fi, and Heinlein is one of his favorites. We have the very story you mention. Did you know that Heinlein invented the waterbed--well, the concept for the waterbed?
For those looking to cut costs on life insurance, Free Money Finance sends us 6 Ways to Cut Insurance Costs. I can think of just one reason why someone might consider whole life policies, and that’s to transfer wealth tax free. In 2010, the estate tax gets completely repealed, then gets reinstated back to Clinton-era limits, which were egregious. Life insurance policies are a way of getting money to the intended beneficiary without having to pay Uncle Sam half. These policies can be cashed out or borrowed against without repayment, moving money to beneficiaries tax free.
Joshua Dorkin of Real Estate Dispatch alerts us to the asset protection misconception: why insurance alone isn’t enough. For those of you who own investment real estate, remember these three words when it comes to insuring your investments: MOLD IS GOLD.
And now something for our four-legged fur-covered friends…
Personal Finance Analyst brings us Pet Insurance: This May Sound Crazy, But… You don’t make it sound so crazy in your article! I have found precisely what other have found (including Liz Pulliam-Weston)—that pet insurance doesn’t cover anything adequately except maybe catastrophic care. Even with the new techniques and procedures, the policies I’ve seen are EVEN MORE lacking in coverage than the old ones. If a nationally-accepted policy exists out there for the truly-conscientious pet owner who get pets’ teeth cleaned twice a year, get blood and urine analyzed annually, feeds a special homemade vet-created personalized diet, and STILL end up with cases of diabetes and heart disease, let me know—I’d like to see it. In the meantime, I’ll keep shelling out for my babies.
I have found that most policies don’t even cover half of my costs, and the annual premiums cost more than the coverage they offer.
In my mind, it’s totally unnecessary for the vet to produce CD-ROM copies of dental x-rays unless you’re being sent out to a specialist—like anyone else would be able to read and interpret x-rays, then find a use for the wasted disk! And good luck trying to get cats to let you brush their teeth, so why the little gift bags of toothpaste and a toothbrush, especially when dry food and chemicals for their drinking water do the same trick?
You ask me, THAT’S where the animal care costs are unnecessarily jacked up. Wait, just wait for someone to come up with an Obama-style universal healthcare policy for animals—but then again, it would encounter the same problems as people health care insurance, wouldn’t it?
____________________________________________________
Worthwhile reading:
Is This A Liquidity Crisis or a Risk Crisis? by Worthwhile Canadian Initiative
Corporate Goal-Setting: More Risk Than Reward by Sagacious Thinking
So You Can’t Outsource Risk? by The HART of Outsourcing
I thought that’s what the subprime mortgage mess was all about.
_____________________________________________________
Next up on the Risk docket is Healthcare Manumissions—good luck, buddy! I hand my conference pen over to you. :)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Suddenly Domestic Terrorism is No Longer Fun
Yesterday, the MIAC amended their report to the FBI to exclude a lot of what they perceive to be "terrorists", and now it's no longer fun to poke fun at the whole situation--a situation created by a group of loonies with tinfoil hats and a handful of 9-11 Truthers.
One thing that IS fact from their list: militia members tend to vote third-party. That's all.
It appears I can no longer commit treason and tyranny simply by waving the flag, posting links to videos of Constitutional discussion, and by owning a gun--my fun has been taken away!
Now I actually have to WORK at being a domestic terrorist....sheesh! :)
One thing that IS fact from their list: militia members tend to vote third-party. That's all.
It appears I can no longer commit treason and tyranny simply by waving the flag, posting links to videos of Constitutional discussion, and by owning a gun--my fun has been taken away!
Now I actually have to WORK at being a domestic terrorist....sheesh! :)
The Economists at My Health Food Store :) (L-O-N-G)
I just received this newsletter from them. I didn't know they had economists on staff.
____________________________________________________________
“Stock” Tips for 2009
"Many financial pundits are sporting newsletters these days suggesting the road to economic recovery will be long and difficult. Even our local Wachovia bankers think it will be the end of 2010 before we begin to see “daylight”.
The general advice, which seems prudent, is to conserve cash, get out of stocks and bonds, pay back debt and increase personal savings. Many will further suggest investing in gold and silver (although many of these are just stocks and no more secure than any other stock).
However, since you can’t eat gold or silver, we’d like to offer another low-cost investment strategy for these times: stock up on a little extra food.
For many years prior to 2008, we would receive 50 to 60 price increases from our suppliers at the beginning of each month. Then beginning in the spring of 2008 and extending throughout last summer, we were getting price increases for 500 to 600 items per month, 10 times the norm.
Prices appeared to stabilize around Thanksgiving and held more or less steady until recently when we noticed increases starting up again.
One idea we’ve heard is that last summer food manufacturers passed along price increases due mostly to the high cost of oil, until the economy slowed so much that people, shocked by the higher prices, quit spending money, leaving manufacturers with unsold inventory. Further price increases would not help so they absorbed the costs and held prices steady or even lowered prices until their inventory was gone by the end of the year. Now they mostly have a much smaller inventory on hand and are beginning once more to pass along their increased costs.
Another idea we’ve heard is that we’re seeing higher costs due to inflation and devaluation. Since early last year, there has been a sharp decline in the value of the dollar relative to currencies such as the Euro, and a good deal of organic food such as olive oil and pasta is imported from Europe.
Whatever the reason for the increases, they appear to be real and here to stay.
We are not, of course, financial wizards, nor making any predictions about “doom and gloom” scenarios or the end of the world as we know it, (though if that’s your cup of tea see “Food Scarcity And The Decline of Civilization”), but based on day-to-day observations, we do see prices steadily rising and want to suggest some strategies for using “food” as a good investment.
Here they are:
1. Buy a little extra food online though our website each week.
2. Shop for low prices. Buy your extra food online when it’s on sale.
3. Buy “bulk” for even greater savings.
4. Grow a garden this summer.
5. Consider Long Term Food Storage – i.e. having a 6 mo. or 1 yr. supply on hand
1. Buy a little extra food online though our website each week.
This is easy and doesn’t have to break your budget. You don’t need to stock up on lots of 50 lb. sacks of wheat (though if you want to, they will last a long time and are always a great value, especially if you have a grain mill for fresh flour).
Instead, think “small, but steady”, just like the tortoise and the hare. Add an extra 2 lb. bag of rice or an extra jar of honey to your order each week. Pick items which have a very long shelf life, e.g. rice, wheat, sugar, salt, flax seeds, raisins, etc. We just brought in 1 lb. bags of Shiloh Farms organic dried beans (Anasazi, Adzuki, Garbanzo, Kidney, Lima, etc.). If you have the space, you can freeze grains like wheat and oats for very long term storage.
Many foods today have a “best buy” date rather than an “expiration date”. That’s because, except for infant formula and some baby food, product dating is not generally required by Federal regulations. If there is a date, it doesn’t necessarily mean the food has gone bad or spoiled. Increasingly manufacturers are using shorter and shorter “Best Buy” dates on products to fool people into thinking the food has expired, forcing stores to take it off their shelves and buy more. In reality this ploy just means more sales for the manufacturer. It’s a game and to some degree a scam.
As an investment, if inflation gets much worse, you will have made money (or more accurately saved money) when you consume your (lower cost) food in the future. When prices jump suddenly, incomes don’t go up as quickly or by the same percent. Therefore, in the future, you could be spending a much larger proportion of your income to buy the same item(s), i.e. you will be buying in “inflated” dollars.
If inflation doesn’t get any worse, and prices stabilize, then you can order / buy a little less each week and use up your store of food if you want, or maybe just keep it for a “rainy day”. Either way, you don’t lose anything, and might gain a significant advantage.
2. Shop for low prices. Buy your extra food online when it’s on sale.
Buying “on sale” makes your money go further. It typically saves an additional 10% to 25%, and if you think about it, there are very few investments these days which give a “guaranteed” return that high. As you know, shopping through our online system already saves you 15% over shopping in the store even when items aren’t on sale, but you save much more when they are!
Be sure to put items you might want into your personal catalog online. Then when any of them go on sale (and over 4,000 items are on sale each month), our system will send you an email so you can "stock up" on a little.
3. Buy “bulk” for even greater savings.
“Bulk” foods are much less expensive per unit cost than their smaller, prepackaged counterparts. If you do want to buy larger quantities in “bulk” (remember you have to click the “bulk” checkbox on our website to see bulk items), find a friend or neighbor to split the quantity with you if you don’t want it all. Unfortunately, we have no facilities for splitting large bulk bags.
Online, there is an excellent selection of bulk items in 25 lb. bags, an easy to store, easy to handle, low cost option.
4. Grow a garden this summer.
It’s good exercise and gives an excellent return on invested time. Based on spring seed sales so far, the National Gardening Association predicts a 19 percent increase in home gardening in 2009.
It’s not terribly difficult to grow a garden. You need a spot which gets sun most of the day. Make sure you have access to water. You can start your own seeds in little plugs of peat moss or peat pots, then plant them when the weather warms up. If you don’t have the space, you can also buy small seedlings from home improvement centers like Lowe’s or Home Depot.
If you haven’t done it before, start small, don’t try to grow lots of everything, unless you like lots of squash. Only grow what you can tend.
There are numerous websites and books in the library which tell you how to do it. There’s even a series running in the Virginian Pilot showing how it can be done on an apartment balcony.
Seed catalogs are free, and a packet of seeds is inexpensive. One of our favorites is Park Seed Co. because they’re a Southern company and their varieties do well in our hot, humid summers. Another is Southern Exposure Seed Exchange which has a lot of heirloom and organic seeds.
Standard varieties are available locally in the big discount chains and home centers, with good selections of organic seeds this year, but don’t wait too long as the best varieties usually sell out quickly. Remember, this year lots of folks are thinking about growing a garden.
If you’re very successful and have a lot of food from your garden, you can give it to neighbors or preserve it through canning, drying or freezing for winter eating. One of our favorite books is “Putting Food By” by Janet Greene and Ruth Hertzberg. You can find it at the local library or online at booksellers like Amazon. Anyone interested in food preservation should have this book in their library.
5. Consider Long Term Food Storage – i.e. having a 6 mo. or 1 yr. supply on hand
Many families, especially members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have long term food supplies equal to 6 months or even 1 year for their entire household.
Why would you want to consider this? Natural disaster, personal emergency, financial crisis or layoff, and helping others during crises are reasons which come to mind.
You might feel that building a long term food supply is so far beyond your means that you don’t think you should even make the effort. But it doesn’t have to be done all at once.
There are numerous websites which tell you how to start with a small one to three month supply and build from there if you want.
In general, the key is to start small, building up a one week supply, then expanding that to two weeks, and then to a month. Set a budget. Buy foods which you would normally buy anyway. If you have perishable items in your stock, rotate through those, eating and replacing them more often so they don’t go bad. And don’t forget water. You might not think of it as a “food”, but it’s awfully difficult to live without. Commercial bottled water in PET containers especially ozonated or with a high pH (e.g. Iceland Springs) tends to have a shelf life of 2 years or more if kept in a cool, dry place without sunlight.
TELL YOUR FRIENDS
So there you have our “stocking up” tips for 2009. They may not be glamorous, nor rival the “stock tips” you’d get from investors like Warren Buffet, but they will give you a solid, satisfying and tasty return on a very small investment of time and money.
Join us today in “stocking up” and “plant a seed” in others. Tell all your friends who you think might be interested as well. Help them sign up and teach them how our online ordering system works. We’re here to help everyone get the best possible food at the lowest possible price for health, and yes, prosperity too.
Thanks for being a member and helping us towards our goal."
_________________________________________________________
I sent them back my thoughts that when I see cash registers in stores set up to take gold and silver for transactions, then I'll freak out and buy gold--I'll have no choice. I also sent them a link to my Cheap Eating with Cost Per Serving post.
____________________________________________________________
“Stock” Tips for 2009
"Many financial pundits are sporting newsletters these days suggesting the road to economic recovery will be long and difficult. Even our local Wachovia bankers think it will be the end of 2010 before we begin to see “daylight”.
The general advice, which seems prudent, is to conserve cash, get out of stocks and bonds, pay back debt and increase personal savings. Many will further suggest investing in gold and silver (although many of these are just stocks and no more secure than any other stock).
However, since you can’t eat gold or silver, we’d like to offer another low-cost investment strategy for these times: stock up on a little extra food.
For many years prior to 2008, we would receive 50 to 60 price increases from our suppliers at the beginning of each month. Then beginning in the spring of 2008 and extending throughout last summer, we were getting price increases for 500 to 600 items per month, 10 times the norm.
Prices appeared to stabilize around Thanksgiving and held more or less steady until recently when we noticed increases starting up again.
One idea we’ve heard is that last summer food manufacturers passed along price increases due mostly to the high cost of oil, until the economy slowed so much that people, shocked by the higher prices, quit spending money, leaving manufacturers with unsold inventory. Further price increases would not help so they absorbed the costs and held prices steady or even lowered prices until their inventory was gone by the end of the year. Now they mostly have a much smaller inventory on hand and are beginning once more to pass along their increased costs.
Another idea we’ve heard is that we’re seeing higher costs due to inflation and devaluation. Since early last year, there has been a sharp decline in the value of the dollar relative to currencies such as the Euro, and a good deal of organic food such as olive oil and pasta is imported from Europe.
Whatever the reason for the increases, they appear to be real and here to stay.
We are not, of course, financial wizards, nor making any predictions about “doom and gloom” scenarios or the end of the world as we know it, (though if that’s your cup of tea see “Food Scarcity And The Decline of Civilization”), but based on day-to-day observations, we do see prices steadily rising and want to suggest some strategies for using “food” as a good investment.
Here they are:
1. Buy a little extra food online though our website each week.
2. Shop for low prices. Buy your extra food online when it’s on sale.
3. Buy “bulk” for even greater savings.
4. Grow a garden this summer.
5. Consider Long Term Food Storage – i.e. having a 6 mo. or 1 yr. supply on hand
1. Buy a little extra food online though our website each week.
This is easy and doesn’t have to break your budget. You don’t need to stock up on lots of 50 lb. sacks of wheat (though if you want to, they will last a long time and are always a great value, especially if you have a grain mill for fresh flour).
Instead, think “small, but steady”, just like the tortoise and the hare. Add an extra 2 lb. bag of rice or an extra jar of honey to your order each week. Pick items which have a very long shelf life, e.g. rice, wheat, sugar, salt, flax seeds, raisins, etc. We just brought in 1 lb. bags of Shiloh Farms organic dried beans (Anasazi, Adzuki, Garbanzo, Kidney, Lima, etc.). If you have the space, you can freeze grains like wheat and oats for very long term storage.
Many foods today have a “best buy” date rather than an “expiration date”. That’s because, except for infant formula and some baby food, product dating is not generally required by Federal regulations. If there is a date, it doesn’t necessarily mean the food has gone bad or spoiled. Increasingly manufacturers are using shorter and shorter “Best Buy” dates on products to fool people into thinking the food has expired, forcing stores to take it off their shelves and buy more. In reality this ploy just means more sales for the manufacturer. It’s a game and to some degree a scam.
As an investment, if inflation gets much worse, you will have made money (or more accurately saved money) when you consume your (lower cost) food in the future. When prices jump suddenly, incomes don’t go up as quickly or by the same percent. Therefore, in the future, you could be spending a much larger proportion of your income to buy the same item(s), i.e. you will be buying in “inflated” dollars.
If inflation doesn’t get any worse, and prices stabilize, then you can order / buy a little less each week and use up your store of food if you want, or maybe just keep it for a “rainy day”. Either way, you don’t lose anything, and might gain a significant advantage.
2. Shop for low prices. Buy your extra food online when it’s on sale.
Buying “on sale” makes your money go further. It typically saves an additional 10% to 25%, and if you think about it, there are very few investments these days which give a “guaranteed” return that high. As you know, shopping through our online system already saves you 15% over shopping in the store even when items aren’t on sale, but you save much more when they are!
Be sure to put items you might want into your personal catalog online. Then when any of them go on sale (and over 4,000 items are on sale each month), our system will send you an email so you can "stock up" on a little.
3. Buy “bulk” for even greater savings.
“Bulk” foods are much less expensive per unit cost than their smaller, prepackaged counterparts. If you do want to buy larger quantities in “bulk” (remember you have to click the “bulk” checkbox on our website to see bulk items), find a friend or neighbor to split the quantity with you if you don’t want it all. Unfortunately, we have no facilities for splitting large bulk bags.
Online, there is an excellent selection of bulk items in 25 lb. bags, an easy to store, easy to handle, low cost option.
4. Grow a garden this summer.
It’s good exercise and gives an excellent return on invested time. Based on spring seed sales so far, the National Gardening Association predicts a 19 percent increase in home gardening in 2009.
It’s not terribly difficult to grow a garden. You need a spot which gets sun most of the day. Make sure you have access to water. You can start your own seeds in little plugs of peat moss or peat pots, then plant them when the weather warms up. If you don’t have the space, you can also buy small seedlings from home improvement centers like Lowe’s or Home Depot.
If you haven’t done it before, start small, don’t try to grow lots of everything, unless you like lots of squash. Only grow what you can tend.
There are numerous websites and books in the library which tell you how to do it. There’s even a series running in the Virginian Pilot showing how it can be done on an apartment balcony.
Seed catalogs are free, and a packet of seeds is inexpensive. One of our favorites is Park Seed Co. because they’re a Southern company and their varieties do well in our hot, humid summers. Another is Southern Exposure Seed Exchange which has a lot of heirloom and organic seeds.
Standard varieties are available locally in the big discount chains and home centers, with good selections of organic seeds this year, but don’t wait too long as the best varieties usually sell out quickly. Remember, this year lots of folks are thinking about growing a garden.
If you’re very successful and have a lot of food from your garden, you can give it to neighbors or preserve it through canning, drying or freezing for winter eating. One of our favorite books is “Putting Food By” by Janet Greene and Ruth Hertzberg. You can find it at the local library or online at booksellers like Amazon. Anyone interested in food preservation should have this book in their library.
5. Consider Long Term Food Storage – i.e. having a 6 mo. or 1 yr. supply on hand
Many families, especially members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have long term food supplies equal to 6 months or even 1 year for their entire household.
Why would you want to consider this? Natural disaster, personal emergency, financial crisis or layoff, and helping others during crises are reasons which come to mind.
You might feel that building a long term food supply is so far beyond your means that you don’t think you should even make the effort. But it doesn’t have to be done all at once.
There are numerous websites which tell you how to start with a small one to three month supply and build from there if you want.
In general, the key is to start small, building up a one week supply, then expanding that to two weeks, and then to a month. Set a budget. Buy foods which you would normally buy anyway. If you have perishable items in your stock, rotate through those, eating and replacing them more often so they don’t go bad. And don’t forget water. You might not think of it as a “food”, but it’s awfully difficult to live without. Commercial bottled water in PET containers especially ozonated or with a high pH (e.g. Iceland Springs) tends to have a shelf life of 2 years or more if kept in a cool, dry place without sunlight.
TELL YOUR FRIENDS
So there you have our “stocking up” tips for 2009. They may not be glamorous, nor rival the “stock tips” you’d get from investors like Warren Buffet, but they will give you a solid, satisfying and tasty return on a very small investment of time and money.
Join us today in “stocking up” and “plant a seed” in others. Tell all your friends who you think might be interested as well. Help them sign up and teach them how our online ordering system works. We’re here to help everyone get the best possible food at the lowest possible price for health, and yes, prosperity too.
Thanks for being a member and helping us towards our goal."
_________________________________________________________
I sent them back my thoughts that when I see cash registers in stores set up to take gold and silver for transactions, then I'll freak out and buy gold--I'll have no choice. I also sent them a link to my Cheap Eating with Cost Per Serving post.
Monday, March 23, 2009
*Book Recommendation*
This one's about college and the questionable need for it: Weapons of Mass Instruction.
The way I see it, if you INSIST on being institutionalized, then stay in school--otherwise, the more free you are in thinking, the more successful you'll become, because you aren't hemmed in by conventional and institutional thinking.
The way I see it, if you INSIST on being institutionalized, then stay in school--otherwise, the more free you are in thinking, the more successful you'll become, because you aren't hemmed in by conventional and institutional thinking.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Harbinger of Economic Doom
Several signs point to further bad times ahead:
1. Rising market indicators such as the Producer Price Index (PPI), Consumer Price Index (CPI), commodities that have little to no true demand (oil, grains, gold, etc.) other than emotional buying, and the sudden increase in building multi-family housing (meaning somebody expects a lot more renters than buyers).
2. The sudden trillion being shifted from one Uncle Sam pocket to another via the Fed buying treasury bonds/notes. This will serve to both lower the loan interest rates AND further lower the value of already-depreciated dollars in existence.
3. The Fed is trying to get us out of a deflationary cycle by creating a "new" bubble in inflation--this will lead to hyper-inflation, because that amount is what it's going to take to end this deflationary cycle.
4. We will be (and are being) coaxed back into our old, harmful ways of borrowing and spending, because that's what's been running our economy, instead of production and saving.
5. Since we no longer make anything of export value (but we DO export companies using the tax code), using the WWII method of getting us out of the recession isn't going to work. No production and saving, no exports and trade, no faith and hope in our economic and financial security, and it's just a waiting game to see when socialism marches in and takes over.
6. Since we no longer can produce our way out of trouble, the solution is to either change the tax code to make it more favorable to offshore businesses so they'll come back home, resurrecting production in this country, or we need to change our currency, risking the effects it would have on other currencies tied to it.
7. If production gets shifted elsewhere on a permanent basis, the government will pretty much have to prop itself up with the one thing we can and still produce for export: bonds and notes. In other words, it too will have to become a cash-and-carry institution in order to make some kind of profit from the sale of that paper. Government spending will have to decrease to below the level of it's income--which we all know will never happen. Instead, we will be importing our very own cheap labor source through the SPP (Robert Pastor's baby). But without changes in the tax code and environmental laws, it will be for naught--what will this cheap labor PRODUCE for us besides savings on labor costs?
8. Wall Street has become our main source of revenue in this country, and Obama's administration and political party are treating it like a common criminal because he and they don't understand how to maneuver in a capitalist society other than through borderline-criminal behavior.
9. When the administration has enacted laws and restrictions that will literally stifle any kind of production (except what IT deems we need and it can profit from, hence the whole global warming farce and alternative energy production inventions) to a halt, then it will step in to "rescue" us with social safety net programs--funded by the Chinese and other paper-buyers, as well as tip-top tax rates.
10. All this is being engineered from within the Treasury, Fed, Congress, and the White House itself. You can out-engineer them by being responsible for your own production (through recession-proofing your job), sales (by helping the boss find new markets for your product or creating your own new markets), income (don't be afraid to jump ship or go it alone), spending (by paying closer attention to it and spending less), and security (what you do with your savings).
In short, nothing much will change except maybe our currency, a few laws, a cultural blending of us, Canada, and Mexico, the way we are expected to live, and the re-direction of our attention to invented crises and their supposed production "solutions." THAT'S what's waiting for us on the other side if we don't rise up and start taking back our power and becoming responsible again.
1. Rising market indicators such as the Producer Price Index (PPI), Consumer Price Index (CPI), commodities that have little to no true demand (oil, grains, gold, etc.) other than emotional buying, and the sudden increase in building multi-family housing (meaning somebody expects a lot more renters than buyers).
2. The sudden trillion being shifted from one Uncle Sam pocket to another via the Fed buying treasury bonds/notes. This will serve to both lower the loan interest rates AND further lower the value of already-depreciated dollars in existence.
3. The Fed is trying to get us out of a deflationary cycle by creating a "new" bubble in inflation--this will lead to hyper-inflation, because that amount is what it's going to take to end this deflationary cycle.
4. We will be (and are being) coaxed back into our old, harmful ways of borrowing and spending, because that's what's been running our economy, instead of production and saving.
5. Since we no longer make anything of export value (but we DO export companies using the tax code), using the WWII method of getting us out of the recession isn't going to work. No production and saving, no exports and trade, no faith and hope in our economic and financial security, and it's just a waiting game to see when socialism marches in and takes over.
6. Since we no longer can produce our way out of trouble, the solution is to either change the tax code to make it more favorable to offshore businesses so they'll come back home, resurrecting production in this country, or we need to change our currency, risking the effects it would have on other currencies tied to it.
7. If production gets shifted elsewhere on a permanent basis, the government will pretty much have to prop itself up with the one thing we can and still produce for export: bonds and notes. In other words, it too will have to become a cash-and-carry institution in order to make some kind of profit from the sale of that paper. Government spending will have to decrease to below the level of it's income--which we all know will never happen. Instead, we will be importing our very own cheap labor source through the SPP (Robert Pastor's baby). But without changes in the tax code and environmental laws, it will be for naught--what will this cheap labor PRODUCE for us besides savings on labor costs?
8. Wall Street has become our main source of revenue in this country, and Obama's administration and political party are treating it like a common criminal because he and they don't understand how to maneuver in a capitalist society other than through borderline-criminal behavior.
9. When the administration has enacted laws and restrictions that will literally stifle any kind of production (except what IT deems we need and it can profit from, hence the whole global warming farce and alternative energy production inventions) to a halt, then it will step in to "rescue" us with social safety net programs--funded by the Chinese and other paper-buyers, as well as tip-top tax rates.
10. All this is being engineered from within the Treasury, Fed, Congress, and the White House itself. You can out-engineer them by being responsible for your own production (through recession-proofing your job), sales (by helping the boss find new markets for your product or creating your own new markets), income (don't be afraid to jump ship or go it alone), spending (by paying closer attention to it and spending less), and security (what you do with your savings).
In short, nothing much will change except maybe our currency, a few laws, a cultural blending of us, Canada, and Mexico, the way we are expected to live, and the re-direction of our attention to invented crises and their supposed production "solutions." THAT'S what's waiting for us on the other side if we don't rise up and start taking back our power and becoming responsible again.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
A Blast From the Past: Income vs. Savings
Originally written in 2005.
___________________________________________________
There are two ways to look at affordability today: raising income or spending less.
To raise your income, you have a few of things to choose from:
· Get a better-paying job
· Be worth more on your current job
· Get an additional job
To save money you already make, there are limitless ways to do it:
· Refine your spending
You may be looking at the above and thinking, “Hey, there’s only one thing listed for the ‘save money’ part, yet the statement says ‘limitless’!”
Just as there are myriad ways to increase your income, they all boil down into the three categories listed. Saving money also boils down to one category, despite the multitudes of ways to go about it (which I won’t go into here, because you should all already have that knowledge and information).
People in frugal chatrooms often ask which is easier—making more money, or changing spending habits. The vote usually gets split 50/50 along income lines. Those who make the most money will say that it’s easier to make more money BECAUSE THEY’RE ALREADY IN MONEYMAKING MODE. The rest of us, who generally prefer not to die with our noses on the grindstone, find it easier to refine our spending—we’re in money-saving mode. It’s two halves of the same coin of making ends meet.
I guess it all really comes down to energy level, and how you care to spend your energy. Those of us who care to spend a little energy NOW will have some left at the end of the race. Those who burn through it all NOW will be on their deathbeds early wishing they hadn’t spent so much time at the office. Some of their kids will be echoing that sentiment from behind bars.
Another way to look at the “energy” issue is this: how much energy are you willing to devote to doing the opposite of what you do now—saving instead of working? Working instead of saving? How much energy do you plan to have for the future, or do you plan to have “things” instead? So many of us turn into couch potatoes from lack of personal energy—most of which we gave at the office (or the last meal—chewing takes energy! :P)
How are you handling your “energy crisis”? Do you own a “hybrid” life (some work, some savings)? Are you waiting for that “fuel cell” to be invented (the secret to aging)?
___________________________________________________
There are two ways to look at affordability today: raising income or spending less.
To raise your income, you have a few of things to choose from:
· Get a better-paying job
· Be worth more on your current job
· Get an additional job
To save money you already make, there are limitless ways to do it:
· Refine your spending
You may be looking at the above and thinking, “Hey, there’s only one thing listed for the ‘save money’ part, yet the statement says ‘limitless’!”
Just as there are myriad ways to increase your income, they all boil down into the three categories listed. Saving money also boils down to one category, despite the multitudes of ways to go about it (which I won’t go into here, because you should all already have that knowledge and information).
People in frugal chatrooms often ask which is easier—making more money, or changing spending habits. The vote usually gets split 50/50 along income lines. Those who make the most money will say that it’s easier to make more money BECAUSE THEY’RE ALREADY IN MONEYMAKING MODE. The rest of us, who generally prefer not to die with our noses on the grindstone, find it easier to refine our spending—we’re in money-saving mode. It’s two halves of the same coin of making ends meet.
I guess it all really comes down to energy level, and how you care to spend your energy. Those of us who care to spend a little energy NOW will have some left at the end of the race. Those who burn through it all NOW will be on their deathbeds early wishing they hadn’t spent so much time at the office. Some of their kids will be echoing that sentiment from behind bars.
Another way to look at the “energy” issue is this: how much energy are you willing to devote to doing the opposite of what you do now—saving instead of working? Working instead of saving? How much energy do you plan to have for the future, or do you plan to have “things” instead? So many of us turn into couch potatoes from lack of personal energy—most of which we gave at the office (or the last meal—chewing takes energy! :P)
How are you handling your “energy crisis”? Do you own a “hybrid” life (some work, some savings)? Are you waiting for that “fuel cell” to be invented (the secret to aging)?
From the Tax God: How to Prepare For Death...and Taxes
From MSN Money.
Life insurance is going to be the only way to transfer wealth from one person to another without incurring the tax wrath unless the tax laws change to close that loophole. Life insurance can also provide the money needed to pay taxes on the stuff handed down intact, like homes, cars, businesses, etc.
I urge you to go read Jeff Schnepper's "How to Pay Zero Taxes" books when they come out each year--since we're about to go into a major tax code shift, now would be the time to get boned up on how to defend yourself from the coming tax onslaught.
Life insurance is going to be the only way to transfer wealth from one person to another without incurring the tax wrath unless the tax laws change to close that loophole. Life insurance can also provide the money needed to pay taxes on the stuff handed down intact, like homes, cars, businesses, etc.
I urge you to go read Jeff Schnepper's "How to Pay Zero Taxes" books when they come out each year--since we're about to go into a major tax code shift, now would be the time to get boned up on how to defend yourself from the coming tax onslaught.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Mole Hills into Mountains Part II: from Pyramid Schemes to Money Laundering, with a Bonus
Yes, already we have a Part II to this saga.
Congress, in all its infinite wisdom (insert laughter here) came up with and executed the biggest pyramid scheme of them all—what we know as the Social Security system. Today, we find they’ve managed to invent and execute ANOTHER huge scheme without our willing participation, or mandate that we become familiar with it—money laundering in the form of the AIG bailout.
Now for the bonus: the AIG bonuses that everyone is busy ballyhooing over in an attempt to raise poll numbers for re-election (Charles Schumer topping all the drama with his “suicide” remarks) amount to a MERE FRACTION of the amount laundered to other companies and other continents through AIG.
The political drama continues. First, the stimulus bill spelled out that bonuses were allowed as long as they were earned before the February stimulus bill draft and vote. Now, politicians are screaming, one suggesting suicide, and threatening 100% taxation over something that was okayed and legally contracted before the stimulus bill was signed! Many people who received those bonuses no longer work for AIG, and those who still do are now working for lower pay than before, and the bonuses are to make up the difference.
Sound familiar? It should—that’s how much of Wall Street operates. Lehman Brothers was the champion of low pay and high bonuses for performance. AIG just took a page from Lehman.
Back to the money laundering scheme: here’s how it worked without you ever knowing about it until now—our government “bailed out” AIG, and in turn, AIG “bailed out” Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, along with banks in France, Switzerland, Germany, and other countries. In fact, foreign countries got MORE bailout money in total than our corporations got here at home. Our own government used AIG to funnel money out of the country to help other nations with their economic meltdowns RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES.
Glenn Beck has a wonderful video on how it all worked.
That’s money laundering. Now do you see who the real crooks are? At least incompetent CEOs didn’t ask for the world in the dark of night—they were all right there on C-SPAN for all to see, hat in hand. Was Switzerland, France, or Germany sitting in hearings or at committee meetings begging publicly for money from us taxpayers? No—they had Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulsen, and Tim Geithner as their lobbyists. Then we have Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Charley Rangel here at home engineering the roots of what would be the cause of the economic meltdown: mandating Fannie and Freddie to make and back increasing amounts of riskier and riskier loans, then selling them off worldwide, paired by “insurance” on those loans through…who else? AIG. The insurance on those mortgages became known as credit default swaps.
Of COURSE the government had to bail out AIG—it was bailing itself out by basically buying back the bad debt so other investors (world-wide) could cash in those insurance policies.
And the bonus money for AIG executives? A mere pittance compared to the amounts of money diverted off shore, so why is there such high political drama to the point of suggesting suicide? Those bonuses were actually commissions earned for their commissions of the crime, and some bonus earners aren’t even U.S. citizens—how are you going to tax foreigners working out of London or Frankfurt offices? AIG was truly a global enterprise with offices around the world, and the executives getting bonuses also worked around the world, not just here in the U.S., but it would seem only the U.S. executives are going to be taxed to smithereens, whether currently employed or not.
This is why our Congress-critters are demanding a list of employees who got bonuses—so they know exactly who they can tax, which will be a small number. Yes, more political theater for the masses.
Want more? Go see if you can find out how much AIG donated to various Democrat campaigns, especially Obama’s. Now you understand the extent of white-collar crime taking place right under our noses each and every day these clowns are in office.
Term limits, anyone?
Charles Schumer, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and all the other “outraged” congressional pawns are playing to the camera, hoping you’ll remember them come Election Day. They hope against hope that you will remember this drama and re-elect them so they don’t have to join the swelling ranks of the unemployed—the unemployed that THEY helped to create with their egregious corporate tax code, gagging trade restrictions, and insane pollution regulations. All you need to remember is that they are the instigators, and to vote the incumbent out, regardless of who he/she is.
If anybody needs to commit suicide, it’s Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Charley Rangel in my opinion, along with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Obama himself, who hide this crap in legislation and pass it into law. You can kill their careers for them next time they come up for re-election, then pray they too fall victim to mortgage foreclosures, car repossessions, and credit card cancellations just like the people they helped to rip off.
Personally, I’d like to see Nancy try to survive on food stamps.
Congress, in all its infinite wisdom (insert laughter here) came up with and executed the biggest pyramid scheme of them all—what we know as the Social Security system. Today, we find they’ve managed to invent and execute ANOTHER huge scheme without our willing participation, or mandate that we become familiar with it—money laundering in the form of the AIG bailout.
Now for the bonus: the AIG bonuses that everyone is busy ballyhooing over in an attempt to raise poll numbers for re-election (Charles Schumer topping all the drama with his “suicide” remarks) amount to a MERE FRACTION of the amount laundered to other companies and other continents through AIG.
The political drama continues. First, the stimulus bill spelled out that bonuses were allowed as long as they were earned before the February stimulus bill draft and vote. Now, politicians are screaming, one suggesting suicide, and threatening 100% taxation over something that was okayed and legally contracted before the stimulus bill was signed! Many people who received those bonuses no longer work for AIG, and those who still do are now working for lower pay than before, and the bonuses are to make up the difference.
Sound familiar? It should—that’s how much of Wall Street operates. Lehman Brothers was the champion of low pay and high bonuses for performance. AIG just took a page from Lehman.
Back to the money laundering scheme: here’s how it worked without you ever knowing about it until now—our government “bailed out” AIG, and in turn, AIG “bailed out” Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, along with banks in France, Switzerland, Germany, and other countries. In fact, foreign countries got MORE bailout money in total than our corporations got here at home. Our own government used AIG to funnel money out of the country to help other nations with their economic meltdowns RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES.
Glenn Beck has a wonderful video on how it all worked.
That’s money laundering. Now do you see who the real crooks are? At least incompetent CEOs didn’t ask for the world in the dark of night—they were all right there on C-SPAN for all to see, hat in hand. Was Switzerland, France, or Germany sitting in hearings or at committee meetings begging publicly for money from us taxpayers? No—they had Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulsen, and Tim Geithner as their lobbyists. Then we have Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Charley Rangel here at home engineering the roots of what would be the cause of the economic meltdown: mandating Fannie and Freddie to make and back increasing amounts of riskier and riskier loans, then selling them off worldwide, paired by “insurance” on those loans through…who else? AIG. The insurance on those mortgages became known as credit default swaps.
Of COURSE the government had to bail out AIG—it was bailing itself out by basically buying back the bad debt so other investors (world-wide) could cash in those insurance policies.
And the bonus money for AIG executives? A mere pittance compared to the amounts of money diverted off shore, so why is there such high political drama to the point of suggesting suicide? Those bonuses were actually commissions earned for their commissions of the crime, and some bonus earners aren’t even U.S. citizens—how are you going to tax foreigners working out of London or Frankfurt offices? AIG was truly a global enterprise with offices around the world, and the executives getting bonuses also worked around the world, not just here in the U.S., but it would seem only the U.S. executives are going to be taxed to smithereens, whether currently employed or not.
This is why our Congress-critters are demanding a list of employees who got bonuses—so they know exactly who they can tax, which will be a small number. Yes, more political theater for the masses.
Want more? Go see if you can find out how much AIG donated to various Democrat campaigns, especially Obama’s. Now you understand the extent of white-collar crime taking place right under our noses each and every day these clowns are in office.
Term limits, anyone?
Charles Schumer, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and all the other “outraged” congressional pawns are playing to the camera, hoping you’ll remember them come Election Day. They hope against hope that you will remember this drama and re-elect them so they don’t have to join the swelling ranks of the unemployed—the unemployed that THEY helped to create with their egregious corporate tax code, gagging trade restrictions, and insane pollution regulations. All you need to remember is that they are the instigators, and to vote the incumbent out, regardless of who he/she is.
If anybody needs to commit suicide, it’s Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Charley Rangel in my opinion, along with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Obama himself, who hide this crap in legislation and pass it into law. You can kill their careers for them next time they come up for re-election, then pray they too fall victim to mortgage foreclosures, car repossessions, and credit card cancellations just like the people they helped to rip off.
Personally, I’d like to see Nancy try to survive on food stamps.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Moving On From Economic Rock Bottom
According to two separate articles from Yahoo News and MSN Money, here’s a collection of signs to look for:
• An upward trend in temp worker hiring
• An upward trend in home values—not expected until 2010, thanks to the mortgage bailout
• A sudden, massive stock market sell-off followed by a sustained buying trend
• Indexes start rising, such as stock indexes (measures investment), the housing index (measures building and sales), transportation index (measures imports), and the Baltic Dry Shipping index (measures exports)—globally, when the WLI (collection of World Leading Indicator indexes) starts rising and sustains growth--can be found at ECRI.
• Pricey jewelry sales and expensive restaurant reservations climb
• Personal splurges resume, such as organic foods, gym memberships, Starbucks coffee, etc.
• Lawyers and financiers working long hours again
• For you New Yorkers—trouble catching a cab
• An upward trend in temp worker hiring
• An upward trend in home values—not expected until 2010, thanks to the mortgage bailout
• A sudden, massive stock market sell-off followed by a sustained buying trend
• Indexes start rising, such as stock indexes (measures investment), the housing index (measures building and sales), transportation index (measures imports), and the Baltic Dry Shipping index (measures exports)—globally, when the WLI (collection of World Leading Indicator indexes) starts rising and sustains growth--can be found at ECRI.
• Pricey jewelry sales and expensive restaurant reservations climb
• Personal splurges resume, such as organic foods, gym memberships, Starbucks coffee, etc.
• Lawyers and financiers working long hours again
• For you New Yorkers—trouble catching a cab
Saturday, March 14, 2009
10 Things Credit Card Issuers Don't Say
From MSN Money.
I'll summarize:
1. "We're just waiting for you to screw up."
2. "When it comes to identity theft, we're part of the problem."
3. "Your children are our future."
4. "Our 'freebie' rewards are anything but."
5. "Debit cards should come with a warning: 'Use at your own risk.'"
6. "Paid in full? Not necessarily."
7. "We're accepted globally, but our exchange rates are from Planet Rip-off."
8. "We close early on payment-due dates."
9. "Our whims are legally binding."
10. "Go ahead and exceed your credit limit -- we like that."
I'll summarize:
1. "We're just waiting for you to screw up."
2. "When it comes to identity theft, we're part of the problem."
3. "Your children are our future."
4. "Our 'freebie' rewards are anything but."
5. "Debit cards should come with a warning: 'Use at your own risk.'"
6. "Paid in full? Not necessarily."
7. "We're accepted globally, but our exchange rates are from Planet Rip-off."
8. "We close early on payment-due dates."
9. "Our whims are legally binding."
10. "Go ahead and exceed your credit limit -- we like that."
Friday, March 13, 2009
Bailout Boomerangs
Banks, as you may have heard, are giving the TARP money back to the government as fast as they can gather the cash. Why, you ask? Weren't they SO desperate for bailout money in the FIRST place?
The reason? Unintended consequences, of course. They always crop up.
Banks and other businesses who took TARP money are finding extreme restrictions bestowed upon them--the government became a not-so-silent partner in everyday decision-making, and was encouraging banks and other businesses to make unsound decisions and partake in risky actions...pretty much like they did BEFORE the TARP money came around.
I guess it's different when Uncle Sam is telling you to roll the dice or give them back, so banks and other businesses are giving them back.
Every single business decision became a political one. Can you imagine having Congress as your Board of Directors? That, in essence, is what happened.
My question and pondering thought for the day: if BUSINESSES are making this wonderful discovery that having government influence isn't such a good thing, when are INDIVIDUALS going to figure out the same thing when they realize THEIR bailout money (unemployment, food stamps, welfare, COBRA extensions, and the coming "universal" assortments of health care, savings, and god knows what else) also comes with strings that choke and strangle?
I can't wait for the day when they begin giving them back...in the form of higher taxes. Just wait until about 2010 or so--it's coming. AMT for everyone!
You always get what you pay for, and you always pay for what you get--eventually.
The reason? Unintended consequences, of course. They always crop up.
Banks and other businesses who took TARP money are finding extreme restrictions bestowed upon them--the government became a not-so-silent partner in everyday decision-making, and was encouraging banks and other businesses to make unsound decisions and partake in risky actions...pretty much like they did BEFORE the TARP money came around.
I guess it's different when Uncle Sam is telling you to roll the dice or give them back, so banks and other businesses are giving them back.
Every single business decision became a political one. Can you imagine having Congress as your Board of Directors? That, in essence, is what happened.
My question and pondering thought for the day: if BUSINESSES are making this wonderful discovery that having government influence isn't such a good thing, when are INDIVIDUALS going to figure out the same thing when they realize THEIR bailout money (unemployment, food stamps, welfare, COBRA extensions, and the coming "universal" assortments of health care, savings, and god knows what else) also comes with strings that choke and strangle?
I can't wait for the day when they begin giving them back...in the form of higher taxes. Just wait until about 2010 or so--it's coming. AMT for everyone!
You always get what you pay for, and you always pay for what you get--eventually.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
From the Tax God: 8 Types of Income the IRS Can't Touch
From MSN Money. This goes hand-in-hand with my own article about working for perks and benefits.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Filling Up On Fewer Calories with Less Food—Negative Calories and Volumetrics
Before you object mightily to the term “negative calories” and start yelling “MYTH! MYTH!”, I want to explain exactly what they are, how to use them, and why you should start.
First, the WHAT: Negative calorie foods aren’t foods that contain calories less than zero—there is no such thing. What this term signifies is negative NET calories—foods that take more energy to digest than the food itself gives off in calories. If you do a Google search, you may find additional information under the term “Volumetrics”—a diet that includes negative net-calorie foods along with lean meats and select starches.
Second, the HOW: Use these foods in conjunction with lean proteins to get a balanced meal without having to resort to refined carbs, sugary foods, or fatty foods to achieve long-lasting fullness. Whether you cook them or eat them raw, they still work because of their high water and fiber content.
Third, the WHY: Well, there are many reasons, but I’ll just skip to what I think are the pertinents:
1. Improved nutrition—these foods are loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, which will serve to help cut down health care expenses.
2. The additional water and fiber in these foods will go toward speeding up your metabolism, digestion, hydration, and colon health. Water and fiber both serve to clean out your digestive tract and blood, pulling out excess hormones, cholesterol, sugar, and salt.
3. Less reliance on refined carbs that break down into sugar (which becomes stored as fat) means ultimately less fat in the system.
4. In this time of recession, shortening the shopping list and using only inexpensive, filling foods like these saves money, time, and space in the kitchen—most of these foods are refrigerated and don’t require cupboard space. Plus, these foods don’t rely on coupons or rebates to entice you to buy them. They can also be grown at home.
5. Most of these foods can be served raw (as in salads), by the piece (such as fruit), or cooked in some way (baked in desserts, added to soups, stir-fried, boiled, fried, you name it), meaning they allow for greater cook’s imagination—no tie-downs to a cookbook or package directions.
6. This may be the most important—because these foods have negative net calories, you can eat more often, or more per meal. Because of their relative cheapness, you can afford to serve larger portions—but their high fiber and water content means you may not have to, because it takes less to fill you up.
Negative net-calorie foods
Corn
Rice
Potatoes
Kidney Beans, Black Beans—I’d include small red beans as well
Cauliflower
Lettuce (all varieties)—I’d include chard and kale as well
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Carrots
Beets
Green Cabbage
Celery
Chili Peppers
Cucumber
Endive
Garden Cress
Garlic
Green Beans
Onion
Peas
Radishes
Spinach
Turnips
Zucchini
Bananas
Apples
Papaya
Pineapple
Grapefruit
Asparagus
Watermelon
Apples
Berries—black-, blue-, straw-, rasp-, and cran-
Cantaloupe, Honey Dew melons
Mango
Oranges, Tangerines
Peaches
Pineapple
If you’d like to hone this list down much further, here are the absolute highest-nutrition foods from this list (I call it “the Wenchypoo magic 8”):
Plums
Navel oranges
Carrots
Broccoli (you can substitute other crucifers—cabbage, collards, cauliflower, etc.)
Red bell peppers
Berries (straw-, blue- and black-) Small red beans can be substituted for blueberries due to high antioxidant level.
I personally use the Magic 8 as a starting point in my diet, and add leafy greens for salads, lean meats, and red potato, bean, or rice servings (as Volumetrics will tell you to). Quite often, I throw it all into the salad—the meat, the fruits/veggies, and the beans or rice—and have an all-in-one dish of mostly negative net-calorie foods. Pre-preparing foods helps cut down kitchen time (see “How I Make My Own Kitchen Convenience”), so I have even more time to spend elsewhere, like at the computer writing articles for my blog.
Not only did I cut down on time, needed space, and money, but also weight*, and you can too with a little re-thinking and re-allocating. No more choice overload when it comes to the grocery stores, or even diet food lists, and no more slaving yourself to coupons, rebates, or other gimmicks, because these negative net-calorie foods are already at rock-bottom prices when in season—even cheaper when grown yourself!
* Weight loss alone gave me more benefits, such as better health, lower cost of clothing, more closet space, more dresser space, less laundry, and less shopping time needed because now my husband and I can share clothes like sweats, shorts, t-shirts, and tube socks. Our clothing sizes no longer have an X or XX in front of them thanks to negative net-calories and The Magic 8 foods.
First, the WHAT: Negative calorie foods aren’t foods that contain calories less than zero—there is no such thing. What this term signifies is negative NET calories—foods that take more energy to digest than the food itself gives off in calories. If you do a Google search, you may find additional information under the term “Volumetrics”—a diet that includes negative net-calorie foods along with lean meats and select starches.
Second, the HOW: Use these foods in conjunction with lean proteins to get a balanced meal without having to resort to refined carbs, sugary foods, or fatty foods to achieve long-lasting fullness. Whether you cook them or eat them raw, they still work because of their high water and fiber content.
Third, the WHY: Well, there are many reasons, but I’ll just skip to what I think are the pertinents:
1. Improved nutrition—these foods are loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, which will serve to help cut down health care expenses.
2. The additional water and fiber in these foods will go toward speeding up your metabolism, digestion, hydration, and colon health. Water and fiber both serve to clean out your digestive tract and blood, pulling out excess hormones, cholesterol, sugar, and salt.
3. Less reliance on refined carbs that break down into sugar (which becomes stored as fat) means ultimately less fat in the system.
4. In this time of recession, shortening the shopping list and using only inexpensive, filling foods like these saves money, time, and space in the kitchen—most of these foods are refrigerated and don’t require cupboard space. Plus, these foods don’t rely on coupons or rebates to entice you to buy them. They can also be grown at home.
5. Most of these foods can be served raw (as in salads), by the piece (such as fruit), or cooked in some way (baked in desserts, added to soups, stir-fried, boiled, fried, you name it), meaning they allow for greater cook’s imagination—no tie-downs to a cookbook or package directions.
6. This may be the most important—because these foods have negative net calories, you can eat more often, or more per meal. Because of their relative cheapness, you can afford to serve larger portions—but their high fiber and water content means you may not have to, because it takes less to fill you up.
Negative net-calorie foods
Corn
Rice
Potatoes
Kidney Beans, Black Beans—I’d include small red beans as well
Cauliflower
Lettuce (all varieties)—I’d include chard and kale as well
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Carrots
Beets
Green Cabbage
Celery
Chili Peppers
Cucumber
Endive
Garden Cress
Garlic
Green Beans
Onion
Peas
Radishes
Spinach
Turnips
Zucchini
Bananas
Apples
Papaya
Pineapple
Grapefruit
Asparagus
Watermelon
Apples
Berries—black-, blue-, straw-, rasp-, and cran-
Cantaloupe, Honey Dew melons
Mango
Oranges, Tangerines
Peaches
Pineapple
If you’d like to hone this list down much further, here are the absolute highest-nutrition foods from this list (I call it “the Wenchypoo magic 8”):
Plums
Navel oranges
Carrots
Broccoli (you can substitute other crucifers—cabbage, collards, cauliflower, etc.)
Red bell peppers
Berries (straw-, blue- and black-) Small red beans can be substituted for blueberries due to high antioxidant level.
I personally use the Magic 8 as a starting point in my diet, and add leafy greens for salads, lean meats, and red potato, bean, or rice servings (as Volumetrics will tell you to). Quite often, I throw it all into the salad—the meat, the fruits/veggies, and the beans or rice—and have an all-in-one dish of mostly negative net-calorie foods. Pre-preparing foods helps cut down kitchen time (see “How I Make My Own Kitchen Convenience”), so I have even more time to spend elsewhere, like at the computer writing articles for my blog.
Not only did I cut down on time, needed space, and money, but also weight*, and you can too with a little re-thinking and re-allocating. No more choice overload when it comes to the grocery stores, or even diet food lists, and no more slaving yourself to coupons, rebates, or other gimmicks, because these negative net-calorie foods are already at rock-bottom prices when in season—even cheaper when grown yourself!
* Weight loss alone gave me more benefits, such as better health, lower cost of clothing, more closet space, more dresser space, less laundry, and less shopping time needed because now my husband and I can share clothes like sweats, shorts, t-shirts, and tube socks. Our clothing sizes no longer have an X or XX in front of them thanks to negative net-calories and The Magic 8 foods.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Using Our Own Money Against Us Part 3: Making Mole Hills into Mountains
Here are part 1 and part 2.
Everywhere on the news, you hear nearly wall-to-wall “economic” coverage (or what passes for it) from various news organizations…or that’s what THEY call themselves, anyway. These days, they’re just branch offices of Fear Mongers, Inc.
The truly fearful stuff hasn't even happened yet...wait until 2010.
Take the current economic “crisis”, or what you’re SUPPOSED to think is a crisis: only 6% of us are behind on our mortgages, only 8% of us (officially) are unemployed (the actual number may be twice that), and about 13% of us have no health insurance. The way these things are being reported about would make someone think the sky is falling!
This is what Obama and his cronies (including the bedfellow media) want you to think, so they can act—even if it is wrong.
Rahm Emanuel said to never let a crisis go to waste, and wasting this one they are not.
Why so insistent on striking while the iron seems hot? For political expediency—to gain maximum power and money in the shortest amount of time, for little or nothing. Why the political hoopla? It’s all an excuse for redistribution and to cover up a big hole in revenue collections. Rich people (however you define “rich”) aren’t likely to have voted for Obama, but poor people are, and this is how he’s paying them back.
Once again, he’s using our own money against us to achieve what he believes is the ideal Utopia for the poor, unsuccessful, and disadvantaged (you define it). He’s leveraging the marginal of us for maximum personal gain with the money from the central core of profit—middle and upper income earners.
Poor people have always been and will always be the most profitable among us, because they don’t even know how exploitable they are—even for Obama.
If the mortgage, unemployment, or health insurance numbers were put out in circulation merely as an AP announcement, none of this coverage-fest would happen. The media, having nothing else to use for eating up time (on TV networks) and space (newspapers), cling to Obama for kernels to fill both. Turning kernels into whole heaping bowls of “news” is their primary job—otherwise, we’d be back to 13 channels, the national flag and test pattern at midnight, and 1 main newspaper to cover whole regions. They sell ads to maintain the empires of attention-robbing, and have to keep eyeballs contained somehow to rack up that ad revenue!
It doesn’t help that they’re in Obama’s lap, and Obama just keeps the hits coming—near-daily press conferences, town hall meetings, cabinet appointments, and never passing up an opportunity to speechify when a podium and teleprompter are handy.
Remember the motto “Dazzle Them With Brilliance, Then Baffle Them With Bullshit”? Well, he’s doing it with style—he dazzled lots of us on the campaign trail, and now he’s baffling us all with his bullshit. Today, it’s economic bullshit, complete with plans to raise taxes, extend benefits to the undeserving, and close off any possible escape routes from it all. The media’s helping him by distracting us with shiny things, even if they aren’t real, like over-inflated “economic” crises.
Even Wall Street is suffering from this media frenzy over what amounts to nothing—every time Obama opens his mouth, the markets tank, and that’s exactly what he wants (as if the employment numbers alone aren’t enough).Anything to destroy the profit motive and competition. Rather than have us endeavor to learn from our mistakes and better ourselves, he’s like a co-dependent father who always insists on bailing us out of our mistakes, with us learning instead to rely on HIM instead of ourselves.
Let’s not forget that in his eyes, competition is evil, the markets are evil, and success in any form is evil and must be taxed away. Apparently we must all climb back into our respective fishbowls, re-grow gills, and never again dare to think about evolving to operate on dry land. After all, we ourselves made mountains out of mole hills with all sorts of gains, so why shouldn’t we be punished because a few couldn’t get over the edge of the fishbowl?
Those who couldn’t clear the fishbowl are the same ones who can’t clear a hurdle when it’s on the ground—the mole hills of society. These very same mole hills are currently getting made into mountains as we speak.
Everywhere on the news, you hear nearly wall-to-wall “economic” coverage (or what passes for it) from various news organizations…or that’s what THEY call themselves, anyway. These days, they’re just branch offices of Fear Mongers, Inc.
The truly fearful stuff hasn't even happened yet...wait until 2010.
Take the current economic “crisis”, or what you’re SUPPOSED to think is a crisis: only 6% of us are behind on our mortgages, only 8% of us (officially) are unemployed (the actual number may be twice that), and about 13% of us have no health insurance. The way these things are being reported about would make someone think the sky is falling!
This is what Obama and his cronies (including the bedfellow media) want you to think, so they can act—even if it is wrong.
Rahm Emanuel said to never let a crisis go to waste, and wasting this one they are not.
Why so insistent on striking while the iron seems hot? For political expediency—to gain maximum power and money in the shortest amount of time, for little or nothing. Why the political hoopla? It’s all an excuse for redistribution and to cover up a big hole in revenue collections. Rich people (however you define “rich”) aren’t likely to have voted for Obama, but poor people are, and this is how he’s paying them back.
Once again, he’s using our own money against us to achieve what he believes is the ideal Utopia for the poor, unsuccessful, and disadvantaged (you define it). He’s leveraging the marginal of us for maximum personal gain with the money from the central core of profit—middle and upper income earners.
Poor people have always been and will always be the most profitable among us, because they don’t even know how exploitable they are—even for Obama.
If the mortgage, unemployment, or health insurance numbers were put out in circulation merely as an AP announcement, none of this coverage-fest would happen. The media, having nothing else to use for eating up time (on TV networks) and space (newspapers), cling to Obama for kernels to fill both. Turning kernels into whole heaping bowls of “news” is their primary job—otherwise, we’d be back to 13 channels, the national flag and test pattern at midnight, and 1 main newspaper to cover whole regions. They sell ads to maintain the empires of attention-robbing, and have to keep eyeballs contained somehow to rack up that ad revenue!
It doesn’t help that they’re in Obama’s lap, and Obama just keeps the hits coming—near-daily press conferences, town hall meetings, cabinet appointments, and never passing up an opportunity to speechify when a podium and teleprompter are handy.
Remember the motto “Dazzle Them With Brilliance, Then Baffle Them With Bullshit”? Well, he’s doing it with style—he dazzled lots of us on the campaign trail, and now he’s baffling us all with his bullshit. Today, it’s economic bullshit, complete with plans to raise taxes, extend benefits to the undeserving, and close off any possible escape routes from it all. The media’s helping him by distracting us with shiny things, even if they aren’t real, like over-inflated “economic” crises.
Even Wall Street is suffering from this media frenzy over what amounts to nothing—every time Obama opens his mouth, the markets tank, and that’s exactly what he wants (as if the employment numbers alone aren’t enough).Anything to destroy the profit motive and competition. Rather than have us endeavor to learn from our mistakes and better ourselves, he’s like a co-dependent father who always insists on bailing us out of our mistakes, with us learning instead to rely on HIM instead of ourselves.
Let’s not forget that in his eyes, competition is evil, the markets are evil, and success in any form is evil and must be taxed away. Apparently we must all climb back into our respective fishbowls, re-grow gills, and never again dare to think about evolving to operate on dry land. After all, we ourselves made mountains out of mole hills with all sorts of gains, so why shouldn’t we be punished because a few couldn’t get over the edge of the fishbowl?
Those who couldn’t clear the fishbowl are the same ones who can’t clear a hurdle when it’s on the ground—the mole hills of society. These very same mole hills are currently getting made into mountains as we speak.
Friday, March 06, 2009
The Next Collapse: Colleges
Who among you doesn't see THIS coming?
With rising unemployment, sinking sales and other taxable activities, where will the revenues to keep the colleges going come from?
While we're going to be busy trying to hang onto what we have, there isn't going to be any money to send someone to college, or continue to pay for someone already there--college is going to become one of those "luxuries."
At the very least, there will be serious campus consolidation. At most, whole campuses will disappear.
Here's my two cents on the whole thing (which some of you may have read before): Rethinking the Value of College
My bright idea: turn these soon-to-be ghost malls into mini-campuses. The malls themselves are already built to withstand high foot traffic, are already outfitted for public habitation (lighting, temp control, bathrooms, a food court, etc.), have well-lit and plentiful parking lots, and would be much easier to secure than a regular campus is now (only so many entrances and exits, right? Not much patrolling needed.). Make each store area a classroom, because that's about how small the classes are going to become anyway.
Classrooms on the first deck, and admin/teacher offices on the second deck.
What to do with existing campuses? Turn them into nursing homes and/or assisted living centers--we're going to have a bubble in the geriatric population, and these ex-campuses have plenty of space to accommodate these people with far less wear and tear on the facilities, and fewer outside security needs. Besides, traffic flow around existing campus areas would vastly improve, as would crime levels.
With rising unemployment, sinking sales and other taxable activities, where will the revenues to keep the colleges going come from?
While we're going to be busy trying to hang onto what we have, there isn't going to be any money to send someone to college, or continue to pay for someone already there--college is going to become one of those "luxuries."
At the very least, there will be serious campus consolidation. At most, whole campuses will disappear.
Here's my two cents on the whole thing (which some of you may have read before): Rethinking the Value of College
My bright idea: turn these soon-to-be ghost malls into mini-campuses. The malls themselves are already built to withstand high foot traffic, are already outfitted for public habitation (lighting, temp control, bathrooms, a food court, etc.), have well-lit and plentiful parking lots, and would be much easier to secure than a regular campus is now (only so many entrances and exits, right? Not much patrolling needed.). Make each store area a classroom, because that's about how small the classes are going to become anyway.
Classrooms on the first deck, and admin/teacher offices on the second deck.
What to do with existing campuses? Turn them into nursing homes and/or assisted living centers--we're going to have a bubble in the geriatric population, and these ex-campuses have plenty of space to accommodate these people with far less wear and tear on the facilities, and fewer outside security needs. Besides, traffic flow around existing campus areas would vastly improve, as would crime levels.
We Really ARE the New Rich
According to a Fox News poll, 30% of respondents say people who make more than $75,000/year are considered rich. 29% more say that people making from 0-$75,000 are rich.
This cartoon says it all.
This cartoon says it all.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
The Origins of Congressional Pork
It comes from projects that people can't get funded locally or privately--they make a call to their legislators, and the legislators see what they can do to get the projects inserted into totally irrelevant bills.
It's all stuff nobody else will fund, so it gets funded by the taxpayers. The Snail Museum, the Swamp Harvest mouse, the Shrimp Museum, swine odor control research, all of it.
For you farmers out there looking to control odor, here's a freebie: INCLUDE CHLOROPHYLL IN YOUR ANIMAL FEED--go back to grass-fed practices, include alfalfa in your feed, or just use chlorophyll pellets in the current feed. Now quit bugging the taxpayers already, and learn to use Google!
It's all stuff nobody else will fund, so it gets funded by the taxpayers. The Snail Museum, the Swamp Harvest mouse, the Shrimp Museum, swine odor control research, all of it.
For you farmers out there looking to control odor, here's a freebie: INCLUDE CHLOROPHYLL IN YOUR ANIMAL FEED--go back to grass-fed practices, include alfalfa in your feed, or just use chlorophyll pellets in the current feed. Now quit bugging the taxpayers already, and learn to use Google!
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
In Case of Layoff--A Financial Fire Drill
From MSN Money.
DON'T WAIT UNTIL IT ACTUALLY HAPPENS--START MAKING PLANS NOW!!
DON'T WAIT UNTIL IT ACTUALLY HAPPENS--START MAKING PLANS NOW!!
This Just In: Scientists Discover Root Cause (ha-ha) of Gray Hair
From HealthDay News(second article down).
"British and German scientists say they've identified the root cause of gray hair, a finding that may lead to new methods of treatment.
In experiments with hair and follicle cells, the researchers found that gray hair is caused by a large build-up of hydrogen peroxide due to wear and tear of hair follicles. This build-up blocks hair's natural pigment, BBC News reported.
"This discovery is a major breakthrough in the understanding of hair graying and opens up some novel ideas to combat this scenario. These are being followed up at the current time in our laboratory," said lead researcher Karin Schallreuter.
The study appears in The FASEB Journal, published by the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology."
Here's the irony: what do you think hair dye's main ingredient is? Peroxide. So isn't hair dye just defeating the purpose?
I've personally found a solution to MY gray hair: plums and L-glutathione. Don't ask me how it works--it just does. It may not work for you, so I advise you to go find out how to get rid of your own hydrogen peroxide buildup (both internally and externally).
"British and German scientists say they've identified the root cause of gray hair, a finding that may lead to new methods of treatment.
In experiments with hair and follicle cells, the researchers found that gray hair is caused by a large build-up of hydrogen peroxide due to wear and tear of hair follicles. This build-up blocks hair's natural pigment, BBC News reported.
"This discovery is a major breakthrough in the understanding of hair graying and opens up some novel ideas to combat this scenario. These are being followed up at the current time in our laboratory," said lead researcher Karin Schallreuter.
The study appears in The FASEB Journal, published by the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology."
Here's the irony: what do you think hair dye's main ingredient is? Peroxide. So isn't hair dye just defeating the purpose?
I've personally found a solution to MY gray hair: plums and L-glutathione. Don't ask me how it works--it just does. It may not work for you, so I advise you to go find out how to get rid of your own hydrogen peroxide buildup (both internally and externally).
Using Our Own Money Against Us Part 2: More Plans
This global New Deal that's being bantered about by Obama and the Brit guy (if it ever came to fruition) would serve to prevent escape options from excessive taxation and confiscation--individual plans (like we have now) would let us escape, much like traders and corporations do now with money to seek higher profit and avoid taxation.
The global New Deal would be run by global thieves--everyone who now runs an oppressive country, and some who are about to.
The Cap & Trade plan currently being planned would serve to:
1. Redirect any possible profits from individuals to government and a few well-connected,high-value investors/contributors. As of right now, those select few include Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Boone Pickens, George Soros, and probably Ed Begley Jr. (I wouldn't doubt it). Oh, and let's not forget G.E., who already cornered the market on cap-trade credits, and is just waiting to start selling. Remember--this is a GLOBAL scheme, and god knows who else would profit from this.
2. Direct everyone's energy choices to certain favored forms so they can profit.
3. Raise energy prices on us, fueling the profit plan. After we get all those proposed windmills and solar farms up, the price of electricity will skyrocket...of course. They wouldn't have it any other way. Forget natural gas--Boone and Nancy have got you there, and this is just in America! Remember this is a GLOBAL scheme.
Just for the sake of argument: do you know what would happen if we stopped emitting carbons altogether? Plant life would die, and so would we--plants take in carbon dioxide and emit oxygen.
Now do you see the bigger picture? We die and they profit (before dying themselves with the most toys). Welcome to the Flat World of Thomas Friedman.
The global New Deal would be run by global thieves--everyone who now runs an oppressive country, and some who are about to.
The Cap & Trade plan currently being planned would serve to:
1. Redirect any possible profits from individuals to government and a few well-connected,high-value investors/contributors. As of right now, those select few include Al Gore, Nancy Pelosi, Boone Pickens, George Soros, and probably Ed Begley Jr. (I wouldn't doubt it). Oh, and let's not forget G.E., who already cornered the market on cap-trade credits, and is just waiting to start selling. Remember--this is a GLOBAL scheme, and god knows who else would profit from this.
2. Direct everyone's energy choices to certain favored forms so they can profit.
3. Raise energy prices on us, fueling the profit plan. After we get all those proposed windmills and solar farms up, the price of electricity will skyrocket...of course. They wouldn't have it any other way. Forget natural gas--Boone and Nancy have got you there, and this is just in America! Remember this is a GLOBAL scheme.
Just for the sake of argument: do you know what would happen if we stopped emitting carbons altogether? Plant life would die, and so would we--plants take in carbon dioxide and emit oxygen.
Now do you see the bigger picture? We die and they profit (before dying themselves with the most toys). Welcome to the Flat World of Thomas Friedman.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
The Consumer’s Guide to Functioning in an Economic Cycle (L-O-N-G)
Let’s start at the beginning when the last economic cycle ended—the Great Depression. None of us were there (okay, very few who remain lived through it), but the vast majority of us weren’t even born then, so the institutional memory of that time is largely lost.
The Depression was tough—no jobs, no food, no housing, no money, and no hope for millions of people. Back in the 1930’s, the population was less than half of what it is today, so the total effect per person was even tougher than any of us realize. The only people who had any shred of anything left were the farmers, and money was hard to come by even for them—some people volunteered as farm labor in exchange for room and board just to survive.
I’ll call that Ground Zero for lack of a better starting point. People had no money to be careful with, because there was nothing until the government stepped in with its social safety net.
Then came World War 2 and the production ramp-up that led us out of the Depression and away from economic Ground Zero. Women worked the factory lines while men went off to war, and money began flowing back into hands once again, but women being pretty much being sole providers in a single-parent household (for all appearances) were very careful with their money, just having come from the Depression, and heading into rationing. The economic cycle had begun again, and we were slowly moving down the backside of a big circle—like a clock. Right now, it’s about 15 minutes after Depression Hour.
The war ended, the men came back, and lots of things were in short supply: jobs, housing, and all the things confiscated for the war effort (metals, foods, etc.). Housing was in short supply BEFORE the war, because nobody was building or buying due to the Depression, and families moved in with each other to ride the Depression and war out. Most of these newly-single-parent households were living with parents, and when Dad came home, he wanted a separate place for the family. Money was carefully saved for the new house (whether or not it was actually new).
By this time, the building industry was going full-tilt with tract homes for vets, a new benefit bestowed by the government with VA loans. Credit was more widely introduced and made available through Bank of America’s charge card (now Visa), and other credit cards as well. Credit was no longer limited to individual store merchants, but you had to have a job. No longer did we have to save great quantities of money (even in 1950 price levels) for homes, cars, or pretty much anything else.
The economic clock is now about half past Depression Hour.
Then came the 60’s and 70’s, with go-go standards, go-go living, and yet more depending until the sudden oil crisis lurched the economy into a temporary standstill. Inflation ravaged everything and everyone until the ENTIRE economy was taken off the gold standard and replaced with what amounts to a giant credit card—just like that, all our problems were wiped away, and we could go on spending again. Those who learned from the Depression continued to save, as the economic cycle lessons taught them: nothing lasts forever. The rest of us want that coveted American Express card.
The tech boom of the 80’s and 90’s carried us through with yet more economic cycle movement up the side of the circle, and more go-go lifestyle of spending and appearances. Brand names all of a sudden mattered on little things like clothing, haircuts, perfume and cologne, you name it—marketing was definitely alive and well, covering up all appearances of impropriety. We moved further up the back side of the circle, and are about ¾ of the way through it. Savings…WHAT savings? We have CREDIT to carry us through! God bless VISA and MasterCard. Our newer, higher living standards almost require them!
The clock is now about 45 minutes past Depression Hour.
At last, we arrive at the 2000’s, the dot-com boom is filling up and looking to burst, marketing is still alive and well, and profit appearances are still being kept until some brave soul blows the whistle. Conglomerates of steel and iron (on the outside) turn out to be made of tissue paper and lies on the inside, as CEO after fund manager are perp-walked into waiting cars to be whisked off to jail.
“Savings” is now a dirty word, even though mortgages have failed, jobs are lost, businesses collapse, and commodities have soared and fallen somewhat. The current president’s assault on saving, the tax code, and the rich doesn’t help much as he endeavors to drag us back through time to economic Ground Zero to re-set the country back to dependence again in a quest for political power. People are starting to save in spite of his efforts to kick-start the ailing credit market, paying down their debt and making due with what they have and can get easily. Savings will once again be a staple in every household, and credit will go back into storage now that so many have FINALLY LEARNED that credit is a privilege and not a right.
The economic clock is about 10 seconds away from another Depression Hour. Want to catch a falling knife now? Many of us don’t, and we’ve quit spending on all but essentials and debt.
Update: To see the Economic Clock expressed as seasons, see K-waves.
So how do we re-start the economic clock and regain prosperity? Take a look at what we did the LAST time—we did it through savings and productivity thanks to a spanking-good war. I’m not suggesting we START a war or go looking for one to join, because we already tried that in Iraq, and are now in Afghanistan, and it’s not working. Obama’s trying to create a Green War to ramp up things, but that will also be futile if nobody can afford the products we’re cranking out.
This is not to say other wars won’t crop up in the near future—there’s always North Korea, Iran, China, Venezuela, and others. Who knows? Maybe even a new enemy will emerge.
How do we survive the NEXT economic clock cycle? By preventing it from going the way of the last one—savings, careful spending (buying only when prices are low and stable, preventing unhealthy and unsustainable surges from “buying at any price”), and doing economically-sustainable work (work that’s recession-proof, and resistant to outsourcing, off-shoring, software/robot replacement, or illegal aliens/foreign visa workers). We must teach our children and grandchildren how to live to stop the economic clock, ensuring prosperity for all at a realistic level of expectation.
Just as our grandparents and great-grandparents had memories of hard times doing without, we will have memories of luxury and convenience—but let’s work to KEEP them that way…just memories.
Let’s all work to unplug this Christmas tree once and for all.
You yourself can start right now, if you haven’t already. Teach your kids about your failings, and be sure they understand what NOT to do in the future. Teach then what you would do if you could do it over, and what THEY should do when they become of age. Make sure they keep THEIR children in the loop—get everybody economically-educated through the generations, so the economic playing field WILL be level in the future, and hopefully won’t repeat the cycle we’ve already completed ever again.
A recap:
1. Pay off debt and don’t incur new debt. Mortgage debt is fine as long as you can reasonably afford it, but DO endeavor to pay it off as fast as possible to avoid the coming property tax escalation—less monthly outlay means more affordable housing for you, even if it is all taxes.
2. Save money to make purchases in cash. Don’t spend more than you can afford comfortably. Make “credit” a dirty word.
3. Spend only when prices are low and stable, or falling. Learn to separate “value and worth” facts from marketing hype. Make “excess” a dirty word.
4. Do NOT buy at any price, especially when prices are high, or climbing. This will serve to stop bubble formation.
5. Get or create a recession-proof job in an economically-sustainable field. Don’t be a victim of excess again—yours or corporate.
6. Teach your children and grandchildren how to maneuver in the economic clock cycle (by teaching them about your failings and the contents of this recap list). Have each generation do the same—as long as this is passed down, we can continue economic rationality and personal prosperity.
7. Lather, rinse, repeat.
For more on how to save on purchases you DO make once you care to spend again, see here, here, and here. As long as we get and maintain control of our own resources, we gain control of our own economic destinies, as well as the country’s.
A recommendation: whatever you buy, buy it outright and in bulk if possible—coming tax hikes and inflation will make this most advantageous to you, because you likely won’t be able to afford it in the future. Even if it’s a house, pay down your mortgage as fast as you can to avoid the coming property tax slaughter, making your house unaffordable to you (and everyone else, so don’t count on being able to sell it).
Enjoy your new “wealthy” status while you have it—Bernie Madoff and Alan Stanford wiped out the old wealthy, and anyone left with a job and a good handle on their finances is now the “new wealthy.” Inflation and tax hikes will serve to shake any remaining prosperity out of us, so get it while you can.
The Depression was tough—no jobs, no food, no housing, no money, and no hope for millions of people. Back in the 1930’s, the population was less than half of what it is today, so the total effect per person was even tougher than any of us realize. The only people who had any shred of anything left were the farmers, and money was hard to come by even for them—some people volunteered as farm labor in exchange for room and board just to survive.
I’ll call that Ground Zero for lack of a better starting point. People had no money to be careful with, because there was nothing until the government stepped in with its social safety net.
Then came World War 2 and the production ramp-up that led us out of the Depression and away from economic Ground Zero. Women worked the factory lines while men went off to war, and money began flowing back into hands once again, but women being pretty much being sole providers in a single-parent household (for all appearances) were very careful with their money, just having come from the Depression, and heading into rationing. The economic cycle had begun again, and we were slowly moving down the backside of a big circle—like a clock. Right now, it’s about 15 minutes after Depression Hour.
The war ended, the men came back, and lots of things were in short supply: jobs, housing, and all the things confiscated for the war effort (metals, foods, etc.). Housing was in short supply BEFORE the war, because nobody was building or buying due to the Depression, and families moved in with each other to ride the Depression and war out. Most of these newly-single-parent households were living with parents, and when Dad came home, he wanted a separate place for the family. Money was carefully saved for the new house (whether or not it was actually new).
By this time, the building industry was going full-tilt with tract homes for vets, a new benefit bestowed by the government with VA loans. Credit was more widely introduced and made available through Bank of America’s charge card (now Visa), and other credit cards as well. Credit was no longer limited to individual store merchants, but you had to have a job. No longer did we have to save great quantities of money (even in 1950 price levels) for homes, cars, or pretty much anything else.
The economic clock is now about half past Depression Hour.
Then came the 60’s and 70’s, with go-go standards, go-go living, and yet more depending until the sudden oil crisis lurched the economy into a temporary standstill. Inflation ravaged everything and everyone until the ENTIRE economy was taken off the gold standard and replaced with what amounts to a giant credit card—just like that, all our problems were wiped away, and we could go on spending again. Those who learned from the Depression continued to save, as the economic cycle lessons taught them: nothing lasts forever. The rest of us want that coveted American Express card.
The tech boom of the 80’s and 90’s carried us through with yet more economic cycle movement up the side of the circle, and more go-go lifestyle of spending and appearances. Brand names all of a sudden mattered on little things like clothing, haircuts, perfume and cologne, you name it—marketing was definitely alive and well, covering up all appearances of impropriety. We moved further up the back side of the circle, and are about ¾ of the way through it. Savings…WHAT savings? We have CREDIT to carry us through! God bless VISA and MasterCard. Our newer, higher living standards almost require them!
The clock is now about 45 minutes past Depression Hour.
At last, we arrive at the 2000’s, the dot-com boom is filling up and looking to burst, marketing is still alive and well, and profit appearances are still being kept until some brave soul blows the whistle. Conglomerates of steel and iron (on the outside) turn out to be made of tissue paper and lies on the inside, as CEO after fund manager are perp-walked into waiting cars to be whisked off to jail.
“Savings” is now a dirty word, even though mortgages have failed, jobs are lost, businesses collapse, and commodities have soared and fallen somewhat. The current president’s assault on saving, the tax code, and the rich doesn’t help much as he endeavors to drag us back through time to economic Ground Zero to re-set the country back to dependence again in a quest for political power. People are starting to save in spite of his efforts to kick-start the ailing credit market, paying down their debt and making due with what they have and can get easily. Savings will once again be a staple in every household, and credit will go back into storage now that so many have FINALLY LEARNED that credit is a privilege and not a right.
The economic clock is about 10 seconds away from another Depression Hour. Want to catch a falling knife now? Many of us don’t, and we’ve quit spending on all but essentials and debt.
Update: To see the Economic Clock expressed as seasons, see K-waves.
So how do we re-start the economic clock and regain prosperity? Take a look at what we did the LAST time—we did it through savings and productivity thanks to a spanking-good war. I’m not suggesting we START a war or go looking for one to join, because we already tried that in Iraq, and are now in Afghanistan, and it’s not working. Obama’s trying to create a Green War to ramp up things, but that will also be futile if nobody can afford the products we’re cranking out.
This is not to say other wars won’t crop up in the near future—there’s always North Korea, Iran, China, Venezuela, and others. Who knows? Maybe even a new enemy will emerge.
How do we survive the NEXT economic clock cycle? By preventing it from going the way of the last one—savings, careful spending (buying only when prices are low and stable, preventing unhealthy and unsustainable surges from “buying at any price”), and doing economically-sustainable work (work that’s recession-proof, and resistant to outsourcing, off-shoring, software/robot replacement, or illegal aliens/foreign visa workers). We must teach our children and grandchildren how to live to stop the economic clock, ensuring prosperity for all at a realistic level of expectation.
Just as our grandparents and great-grandparents had memories of hard times doing without, we will have memories of luxury and convenience—but let’s work to KEEP them that way…just memories.
Let’s all work to unplug this Christmas tree once and for all.
You yourself can start right now, if you haven’t already. Teach your kids about your failings, and be sure they understand what NOT to do in the future. Teach then what you would do if you could do it over, and what THEY should do when they become of age. Make sure they keep THEIR children in the loop—get everybody economically-educated through the generations, so the economic playing field WILL be level in the future, and hopefully won’t repeat the cycle we’ve already completed ever again.
A recap:
1. Pay off debt and don’t incur new debt. Mortgage debt is fine as long as you can reasonably afford it, but DO endeavor to pay it off as fast as possible to avoid the coming property tax escalation—less monthly outlay means more affordable housing for you, even if it is all taxes.
2. Save money to make purchases in cash. Don’t spend more than you can afford comfortably. Make “credit” a dirty word.
3. Spend only when prices are low and stable, or falling. Learn to separate “value and worth” facts from marketing hype. Make “excess” a dirty word.
4. Do NOT buy at any price, especially when prices are high, or climbing. This will serve to stop bubble formation.
5. Get or create a recession-proof job in an economically-sustainable field. Don’t be a victim of excess again—yours or corporate.
6. Teach your children and grandchildren how to maneuver in the economic clock cycle (by teaching them about your failings and the contents of this recap list). Have each generation do the same—as long as this is passed down, we can continue economic rationality and personal prosperity.
7. Lather, rinse, repeat.
For more on how to save on purchases you DO make once you care to spend again, see here, here, and here. As long as we get and maintain control of our own resources, we gain control of our own economic destinies, as well as the country’s.
A recommendation: whatever you buy, buy it outright and in bulk if possible—coming tax hikes and inflation will make this most advantageous to you, because you likely won’t be able to afford it in the future. Even if it’s a house, pay down your mortgage as fast as you can to avoid the coming property tax slaughter, making your house unaffordable to you (and everyone else, so don’t count on being able to sell it).
Enjoy your new “wealthy” status while you have it—Bernie Madoff and Alan Stanford wiped out the old wealthy, and anyone left with a job and a good handle on their finances is now the “new wealthy.” Inflation and tax hikes will serve to shake any remaining prosperity out of us, so get it while you can.
*FutureShock*: Housing and Property Taxes From the Near to Distant Future
Declining house values (already at about 20%) will get another beat-down to the tune of another 30% from a still-decelerating buyers market, but that’s not all—rising property taxes (beyond what has already taken place) will help serve the final blow to what once was a safe investment.
Rising property taxes will serve to prop up home PRICES but not home VALUES. What we lost in equity will be replaced by property taxes—Uncle Sam’s equity, if you will.
Dwindling revenues from other sources and our AVOIDANCE of those sources (cigarettes, alcohol, sales, personal property taxes, car registrations, fees of all kinds, etc.) will force the states to rely heavily on property taxes. We won’t avoid using our homes unless we rent, but even THAT won’t save us—property taxes are built into monthly rent wherever you go.
State revenues will be made up of property taxes from homes and whatever Uncle Sam feels like dishing out, so property taxes will escalate until we revolt against it—we can only take so much. Our population is dwindling, our incomes are forever dwindling, and many of us will be lucky just to HAVE a house, let alone the things that go with it.
Perhaps by this time, the unhoused working masses will have surpassed public housing’s accommodations, overflowed the shelters, caused other family members’ places to burst at the seams, and created a new form of housing: storage units. Why not? They’re affordable, some are climate-controlled, and easy to maintain—and by then, we won’t have much else to put in one anyway (thanks to taxes gone wild). The only thing to stop this from happening now is the building code and occupancy laws, but even the fines that would result are affordable compared to the alternative.
Another alternative would be to move into those shipping containers that are piled up everywhere—they’re insulated, but cannot be locked from the inside…yet. Whole families could fit into those. Downhill from that would be concrete culverts and drainage ditches--it they can't find you, they can't tax you!
Taxes and inflation will force most of us to rely on public everything: housing, transportation, health care, welfare in some form, food stamps, you name it because taxes will have soared out of reach of many to own their own stuff. The good old days (meaning today) only taxed us at a 40% maximum rate for all levels of income tax, but now it’s up near 90% and rising.
10 more percent and it will be Soylent Green time, if that bell hasn’t already rung.
Kids are a distant memory of luxury gone by, as are cars, individual phones, internet connections, private bathrooms, and private-label food and clothing. All we’re getting for our tax dollars now is generic gray wool pulled over our eyes—no, make that our entire bodies!
Rising property taxes will serve to prop up home PRICES but not home VALUES. What we lost in equity will be replaced by property taxes—Uncle Sam’s equity, if you will.
Dwindling revenues from other sources and our AVOIDANCE of those sources (cigarettes, alcohol, sales, personal property taxes, car registrations, fees of all kinds, etc.) will force the states to rely heavily on property taxes. We won’t avoid using our homes unless we rent, but even THAT won’t save us—property taxes are built into monthly rent wherever you go.
State revenues will be made up of property taxes from homes and whatever Uncle Sam feels like dishing out, so property taxes will escalate until we revolt against it—we can only take so much. Our population is dwindling, our incomes are forever dwindling, and many of us will be lucky just to HAVE a house, let alone the things that go with it.
Perhaps by this time, the unhoused working masses will have surpassed public housing’s accommodations, overflowed the shelters, caused other family members’ places to burst at the seams, and created a new form of housing: storage units. Why not? They’re affordable, some are climate-controlled, and easy to maintain—and by then, we won’t have much else to put in one anyway (thanks to taxes gone wild). The only thing to stop this from happening now is the building code and occupancy laws, but even the fines that would result are affordable compared to the alternative.
Another alternative would be to move into those shipping containers that are piled up everywhere—they’re insulated, but cannot be locked from the inside…yet. Whole families could fit into those. Downhill from that would be concrete culverts and drainage ditches--it they can't find you, they can't tax you!
Taxes and inflation will force most of us to rely on public everything: housing, transportation, health care, welfare in some form, food stamps, you name it because taxes will have soared out of reach of many to own their own stuff. The good old days (meaning today) only taxed us at a 40% maximum rate for all levels of income tax, but now it’s up near 90% and rising.
10 more percent and it will be Soylent Green time, if that bell hasn’t already rung.
Kids are a distant memory of luxury gone by, as are cars, individual phones, internet connections, private bathrooms, and private-label food and clothing. All we’re getting for our tax dollars now is generic gray wool pulled over our eyes—no, make that our entire bodies!
Using Your Own Money Against You
The bottom is dropping out of the markets—right now, the Dow has no stopping point until about 3000, the S&P at 700, and the NASDAQ at 0.
If any of your money was tied up in stocks or stock funds, kiss it goodbye. Every time Obama speaks on TV, the markets drop hundreds of points more—it seems he’s intentionally killing off and any chance to save and invest for ourselves.
This depression (yes, I’m calling it) will cause a 20-year (+/-) loss of equity in both housing values and the stock market, so don’t look for salvation there. We’re already at a 10-year loss point-wise, and a 20% market value loss, with about 30% more to go in real estate.
Obama’s making it punitive to try to prosper. Peggy the Moocher should have been his Economic Advisor. What he’s doing today will have far-reaching implications for the future, as it can’t be easily undone in one administration or one generation of voters—once they learn to vote themselves largesse, they keep doing it. Oh, the expediency!
The money supply is up 271%, and had tripled since 5 months ago—this should serve to warn you of how much and how fast inflation is coming. Just like in the stock market, this is the time to sell, and sell EVERYTHING you can to hang onto the basics: food, clothing, shelter you can afford, and money for the bus. If you don’ own it, they can’t tax you for it.
Now you’re getting the gist of what it’s like to live in a Third World country, and Obama wouldn’t have it any other way.
How's that for optimism?
If any of your money was tied up in stocks or stock funds, kiss it goodbye. Every time Obama speaks on TV, the markets drop hundreds of points more—it seems he’s intentionally killing off and any chance to save and invest for ourselves.
This depression (yes, I’m calling it) will cause a 20-year (+/-) loss of equity in both housing values and the stock market, so don’t look for salvation there. We’re already at a 10-year loss point-wise, and a 20% market value loss, with about 30% more to go in real estate.
Obama’s making it punitive to try to prosper. Peggy the Moocher should have been his Economic Advisor. What he’s doing today will have far-reaching implications for the future, as it can’t be easily undone in one administration or one generation of voters—once they learn to vote themselves largesse, they keep doing it. Oh, the expediency!
The money supply is up 271%, and had tripled since 5 months ago—this should serve to warn you of how much and how fast inflation is coming. Just like in the stock market, this is the time to sell, and sell EVERYTHING you can to hang onto the basics: food, clothing, shelter you can afford, and money for the bus. If you don’ own it, they can’t tax you for it.
Now you’re getting the gist of what it’s like to live in a Third World country, and Obama wouldn’t have it any other way.
How's that for optimism?
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