I Am Rich!

I received an eMail with some excellent news!

From: andros@telkomsa.net

Subject: IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM AGENT BRIAN

Date: September 10, 2011 6:21:27 PM PDT

To: agentbrianl2@skymail.mn

Reply-To: agen-brianlamkinfbi@hotmail.com

FROM: AGENT BRIAN D. LAMKIN'S OFFICE
SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
INTELLIGENCE FIELD UNIT
2635 CENTURY PARKWAY N.E.,
SUITE 400
ATLANTA, GA 30345 USA


URGENT ATTENTION


I am special agent Brian D. Lamkin; from the Intelligence Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). We just intercepted/confiscated two (2) Trunk Boxes at the Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta Georgia. We are on the verge of moving this consignment to the bureau headquarters. However, we scanned the said boxes and found out that it contained a total of USD$4.1M and some back up documents which bear your name as the owner of the funds. Investigation carried out on the Diplomat who accompanied these boxes into the United States, revealed that he was to make the delivery of the funds to your residence as these funds are entitled to you, being Contract/Inheritance over due payments. The funds were from the office of the Ministry of Finance, Federal Government of Nigeria.


Furthermore, after cross checking all the legal documents we found in the boxes backing you up as the beneficiary of the funds, it became known to us that one of the documents is missing. This document is very important and until we get the document, the boxes will be temporarily confiscated pending when you will provide it. The much needed document is the Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Delivery (DISD). This document will protect you from going against the US Patriot Act Section 314a and Section 314b. This delivery will be tagged A Diplomatic Transit Payment (S.T.D.P) once you get the document.

You are therefore required to get back to me within 72 hours so that I will guide you on how to get the much needed document. Failure to comply with these directives may lead to the permanent confiscation of the funds and possible arrest. We may also get the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) involved if do not follow our instructions. You are also advised not to get in contact with any Bank in Africa, Europe or any other institution, as your funds are here now in the United States of America.



AGENT BRIAN D. LAMKIN

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This communication and its attachments may contain non-public, confidential or legally privileged information. The unlawful interception, use or disclosure of such information is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, or have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply email and delete all copies of this communication and attachments without reading or saving them.

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Noam Chomsky on Bin Laden Murder

Although there is little, if any, evidence bin Laden was murdered by US forces this year Noam Chomsky asks social-conditioning-free qustions about the event.

Chomsky is a linguist, meaning he studies languages and communication and philology, all a subset of philosophy, a hard science.  Inherently he cannot do his work and be sucked in by social conditioning.  His peers are the ones who design social conditioning for the powers that be, and Chomksy is a dissident.  I understand Chomsky is a leftist, and I suspect he is a marxist, if only because he has his facts straight, which is something which recommends reading marxist writers.

His short essay here on the "killing" of bin Laden is the kind of clear thinking we need to get mainstream.  Chomsky writes exceptionally well, and the simple facts add up to "making sense."

Her refers to Orlando Bosch, of interesting pedigree.

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More Hard Advice

On Sep 10, 2011, at 4:16 AM, P@aol.com wrote:

We have also as I mentioned, given this to people we know to actually test and ask them would they honestly, buy it in a shop, to which the answer was yes. These people dont sign purchse orders but they are potential customers.

***Unless you plan to sell door to door, they are not potential customers.  Their opinion is neither valid nor reliable. Retailers are your customers, and they are very likely to tell you no.  The "no" is often "no, because..."  and if you fix the objection, there is still a chance, but the most likely is "no."  Until you are in front of purchase order signers, you have zero customer input in your plans.***

 

I was hoping you would be able to share your experience of shipping procedure and these distribution problems but may thanks for your input anyway.

 

***You do not have any distribution problems, because you do not have any customers.  I could tell you 100 options for distribution, and their costs, but it is possible not a single one would apply.  You would know instantly the single one that applies to you if you were to start with the customers, and not everything else under the sun.  In fact, most stores tell you exactly what freight carrier to use.

Six months ago, had you brought in a dozen cases to usa, and pitched a case directly to a dozen stores, price 2 times your cost, delivered one case at a time yourself, and followed up in  a month, you' d know exactly what you need to do.  You'd have a dozen stories about a dozen price points and what happened. Worrying about forming biz, license, customs, "market research", exclusives, patents, biz planning based on no real information, etc, all a complete waste of time.

Your efforts are probably the most common approach people make, and it rarely if ever pays off.  At some point you MUST approach real customers.  Why not make that the FIRST thing you do?  If nothing else, you then learn what the right questions are.

John

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EarthQuake in LA?

What's shakin'?

Vancouver Island, never mind...

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We Are All Immigrants Now

If you woke up in USA today, you may well believe you woke up in a foreign country, on your own, with nothing.  You left America, the land of the free and home of the brave, for a country where freedoms are much constricted,  you are much spied upon, the people are timorous and the economy has failed.  Look at your property, paycheck and pension, and imagine you left that behind, because it is as good as gone in USA today.  So what would you do?

You'd probably act like an immigrant.  You'll think "I have brains, hands, feet and I am good at (fill in the blank.)"  Say you are a good mechanic, then you'll find the best empty garage for the least money and cut a deal for part of your income in cash for rent.  You'll barter heavily, and save.  Or if you an cook, you'll make a restaurant where no one considered it before, and get folding tables and chairs from GoodWill to seat people.  You'll build from their, one bowl of pho, one taco plate at a time, and work your way up.

The whole time you are teaching your kids a valuable lesson, work hard, play fair, get ahead.  These parents know their kids will stand on their shoulders, and do better.  These kids mean old-age security and joy, when they become doctors and lawyers or better yet, businesspeople themselves.

Now, there is one more part of being an immigrant that may militate against you, since in fact you are an American.  Every single USA citizen is on welfare, of one sort or another. For example, I ship books at  the media rate, a 50% discount subsidized by taxpayers, for an organization, the USPS, that just announced it will shut down in November without billions in bail out money.  Most Americans look down on welfare, when in fact it is well woven into their lives, and lifestyle.  Roads, banks, government services, food, housing, clothing... all deeply reliant (and therefore misallocated) on welfare programs.  USA citizens may blanche at taking welfare, whereas an immigrant does not.  Every single USA citizen directly receives welfare from some source, whether they realize or not.  No one is ever dependent on welfare, we merely get used to it. If it went away, we'd adjust.

Let me broadly outline a cross-current.  In spite of being heavily welfare insinuated, yet disapproving of welfare, a US citizen's reputation is harmed if he is on welfare.  To his peers, something is wrong.  For an immigrant, there is no such harm to reputation among his peers.  An immigrant has not been socially conditioned against welfare, and his peers would hardly take a dim view on getting a helping hand.

A welfare-fraud investigator once told me "everyone on welfare is cheating, because no one can live on welfare.  It is just not enough."  Another one gave me a date and time to come to his ffice and sit in the parking lot, and observe the BMWs Mercedes Escalades driven by sharp dressed people, who come in for welfare.

The problem with my thought-experiment, that you woke up as an immigrant, is it does not address the social conditioning of our  conceit that we "play by the rules (generally)" ethic.  As a practical matter, being charged with welfare fraud does more damage on our psyche and emotions than it would on a immigrant, who is struggling to find his way anyway.  Prosecuting immigrants is an awful lot of work and expense, what with translators and little if any recovery.  Prosecuting a citizen carries no such costs, and the citizen can have certain future benefits, income, etc mulcted more easily.  With one's reputation on the line, a prosecutor can squeeze a lot for little effort.

Along with welfare fraud, which is minimal in the big picture anyway, is there is non-enforcement of rules and regs when it comes to immigrant businesses.  Now I have nothing to support this except I know the rules and regs, I see violations rampant where I would be shut down.  Now I am not complaining here, I very much believe anyone who is allowed to ignore pointless rules and regs, who is given a pass on taxes, should take it and exploit the advantage. Doesn't WalMart & Google do as much?  The result is the businesses offer better prices and standard quality, and I am glad to give them my business.

I noted this in Hong Kong, where Hong Kong managers who open factories in China are at a disadvantage to Chinese factory owners who open offices in Hong Kong.  The Hong Kong business people, constrained by reputation and with more to lose, have a hard time against business people whose reputation is outside of impact, and who have little to lose.  It is not to say good business cannot be done, it merely means it is harder.  they way to win in that case is charge a premium for superior management.

 I truly wish the powers that be extended such courtesies, not taxes and pointless rules and regs, to us all. Welfare could be eliminated if we did that, because there would be full employment, as in Hong Kong. 

 That would be freedom, and the powers that be attack us because they hate our freedom.

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USA Int'l Trade Continues Up

For all of the trouble on Wall Street, world trade is still moving along nicely.

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Spotting Hot Sellers

On Sep 6, 2011, at 12:13 PM, PT wrote:

Dear John

 

thank you very much for your reply.

 

The background

The product is produced in the Uk by a good friend of mine, who has agreed to me being the sole reseller for N America.

***Impossible.  I can get your friend's product by buying it through my friend in Liverpool.  Your friend would not know my friend is exporting it to me.  The only way your friend can stop me from getting around your "exclusive" is for you friend to cut off all domestic UK sales.***

 

His product has no presence in the USA at this time and although there are other such products out there, this product is more effective and has some USP's

 

I have renamed it for the USA market , redesigned the label, it now complies with USA customs requirements and I understand is legal to import into N America. It is non hazardous, non toxic and non flammable.

*** Was the renaming and redesigning demanded by USA customers?  Or did you do this on your own?***

 

My problems are mainly pricing  , distribution methods and costs

 

I am concerned that after purchasing the units, shipping , import duty ( which I think would be 6.1% max) etc my margin will be too low.

 

I am struggling to determine what is my break even price as there are so many variables, mainly due to transport costs , especially on small orders. How do I get an order of say 20 units from one shop on the East coast and not make a loss??

 

I have decided to concentrate on East coast USA rug  & carpet  retailers to keep the transport costs low as possible. I estimated that the max price for a product of this type would be say $17-19 USD including sales tax.?

 

I estimated that the retailer would want 45%- 50% markup and worked it backwards.

Would you say this is a realistic  margin and the best method?

***Here is the problem: customers, not pricing, distrib and costs.  You are guessing there are customers.  You need to test that hypothesis, but you are not in a position to do so, being in the UK.  If I was advising your friend, I would say sell your product FOB Liverpool to a USA importer, and forget about it.  Let the USA importer do all the work, handle all the problems.  Of course, there is no role for you in this scenario, but there you have it.***

 

Max retail price  less 50% , less unit cost, transport cost and duties = break even  wholesale price.

 

I have spoken to some buyers of larger chain stores such as Home depot and sent samples. This hasnt produced results as yet

***And it will not...***

so I feel we have to get the product in the small shops first and get a presence.

***Very likely,  but again, you are not in a position to do that, and if you are slightly successful, at any rate before you get a return on your investment, others will simply go around you.***

 

So far I think Home Depot appear to be the most straightforward to deal with in they have a 70 page document detailing how they conduct business with new supplier.

***Don't ignore that you cannot comply with those 70 pages, and the 50 more with an actual order.  And every error or ommission comes out of what they pay you.  It is not uncommon for a new small business to end up owing Home Depot several thousand dollars on the first shipment.***

 

I would like this to be the first of many products but product selection is obviously key. How do you spot a good margin product? I did see  a few  of your videos on products on You Tube.

***this question is coming up more and more, so I suspect there is someone flogging the idea that success is a matter of spotting a series of hot sellers...  to answer your question, no one spots a good margin product, one develops one.  That is the way it has always been, and is now.  ***

 

 

The other point is the formula only has a UK patent which I think is a  problem and I hope I can convince the supplier to at least apply for a US patent once sales start.

***Patents are a waste of time and money, and actually harm your prospects. You need customers, not monopolies.***

 

I would be very grateful for any advice you can offer on pricing, transport costs and how I can make this excellent product sell in the US.

***My advice is to understand your opinion does not matter, it only gets you into trouble, only the opinion of the paying customer matters.  Until and unless you start with the paying customer, all the other effort is a waste of time and money.  And you are in no position to make money with the product you found.

The approach you propose is not unique, but it is always infecund.  What I teach is how to start a business that is doable and achieves your goals.  In essence you'd have to forget about all of the above...  What I teach is to NOT do what you are doing.  

If you find success in your method, please do share it with me.  It will be the first time I've seen it work, and I'll tell everyone I was wrong.

John

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Social Conditioning

So much of what gets us into trouble or keeps us from thriving is a result of social conditioning...  Anthony, checks in on this topic...

On Sep 5, 2011, at 10:43 PM, Anthony wrote:

You may have deprogrammed me.  Did you intend to?

I saw a brief clip of Ron Paul talking about FEMA.   He basically said the "shock" a person feels at what he says  is a reflection of the person's social conditioning.   Then I began to think about deprogramming and the stages of deprogramming. 

1. Discredit the figure of authority: the cult leader .... John discredits government.

***Don't the discredit themselves?  Isn't "news" largely how government has failed?***

2. Present contradictions (ideology versus reality): ....John points out how government distorts the market.

***But the government can merely propose, hardly impose, it is people drinking the kool aid that is the problem...***

3. The breaking point: When a subject begins to listen to the deprogrammer; when reality begins to take precedence over ideology... John starts to make sense

***these are hardly my ideas, my inquiry started when I crossed the border from hong kong to china in 77...***

4. Self-expression: When the subject begins to open up and voice gripes against the cult.... Anthony starts sending John articles about bad government.

***Well, other's articles is hardly your expression...  when you begin to test nuclear fallout on your own, that is self-expression...***

5. Identification and transference: when the subject begins to identify with the deprogrammers, starts to think of him- or herself as an opponent of the cult rather than a member of it....Anthony becomes a free market advocate.

***I am not so much opposed to the others system, as pro-free markets... altough I think anarchy is best, I'll settle for panarchy...let them have their system...***

OR, have I been REPROGRAMMED!   

***Maybe, but the point is to take charge of your own programming...***

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Health Care and the Environment

One of the changes we need to see is a vast reduction in subsidies in industry, especially those subsidies that re well hidden, such as taxpayer-funded export finance subsidies, and the massive damworks that make for "cheap" electricity for the aluminum industry.  It is such subsidies which tends to obscure costs and lead to degeneration in other areas.

For example, not only does "cheap" electricity (cheap if you do not count the cost of environmental disaster and other industries literally flooded out by dams) make for cheap jets, it makes for cheaper and lighter packaging, which means coupled with artificially cheaper finance, big firms can concentrate production of food, and buy other big firms cheaper produced corn, and ship it farther.  So we get food with less nutritional value, shipping in poisonous containers, over long distances, and then we need more expensive health care to deal with the health problems from such a program.  And then we need the landfills to dump it, except where we pay for recycling, a program where we pay to sort trash and then it is dumped in the landfill anyway. What a mess!

Since this is expensive, we then shift from "cure" to "care."  We know will pay bazillions for health care, no one even bothers mentioning medical cure.  Health care is diet and exercise.  Cure addresses a problem.  We need cures, not care. It gets so tangled so fast.

If we did not have our system of subsidies, our housing would be built better with better materials, rather than these flimsy macmansions which deteriorate without constant maintenance.  We'd have clothes that lasted longer than fashion dictates, we'd have food that nourished instead of attacking the heart.

How about shoes that last for 30 year or more.  I have 2 pair I bought over 30 years ago, cost me $250 at the time.  I resole them every year or so.  New now they are about $300, since the same quality would cost about $800,  so the company is using cheaper materials... sigh... the $800 shoes would be a better buy.

Take cheap electricity and you can grow flowers big and bright colors fast, but no scent and they do not las long.  So the flower industry is hurting because their raw material is poor.

With everything so disposable, gift giving has pretty much disappeared, with the warming of relations that goes with it.  No wonder people are getting lonelier.

If we get back to property rights, and see subsidies as what they are, theft, we'll see quality return and more employment.  Good stuff takes good materials and skilled hands.

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More On Fukushima

When so much money and power is concentrated, and things go badly, the powers that be are slow to react.  here is an interesting video update on Fukushima, thanks to Mike R.

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Medicine In USA

When innovation is restricted people will work in what they can.  It is easy to recruit the unemployed to nefarious ends.  If people were naturally employed, it is unlikely they would get involved in such terrible things, such as "teenscreen."  The very fact that taxpayer money is malinvested in such programs makes people unemployed, by starving innovation.

Such do-good programs have precedent, here is a university heart surgeon telling you he was wrong, get back on fats.

And then of course, vaccines are generally a waste of time, money and threat to health.  What was that feeling you felt when you read that sentence?  That feeling was created from the outside, it is the result of something called social conditioning.

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