Saturday, November 8, 2014

Greenspan On Gold

Much is being made of Alan Greenspan repudiating the dollar as king, calling gold real money.  Mish and as far as I can see are viewing this as a mea culpa and a typical post-damage admission.  Part of the excitement is the CFR minutes excised the comments:
Tett: Do you think that gold is currently a good investment?
Greenspan: Yes... Remember what we're looking at. Gold is a currency. It is still, by all evidence, a premier currency. No fiat currency, including the dollar, can match it.
Well of course they would excise that criticism.  The FED is a the heart of the corporation we call the United States of America.

But this attitude of his is nothing new.  He was appointed as FED chief by Reagan because Greenspan was a gold bug.    Here is his 1966 work.

And his first act as FED Chairman was to crash the USA economy with his policies, and usher in the moral hazard that just made things worse later.
The 1987 crash was the debut of the “Greenspan Put,” and some critics argue that the complacency it fostered in market participants — economists call it moral hazard — helped foment the sort of risk taking that led to the 2008 crash.
Greenspan is a smart man.  He knows the truth, and he knows the score.  He gave the powers that be exactly what they wanted.  His alternatives would be to continue life as an unknown financial consultant, or he could manage the system for the hegemon, become immensely wealthy, bag Andrea Mitchell as his squeeze, and retire with fame and fortune.

The inevitable is the ideal.  Greenspan knew somebody was going to do it, so why not him?  It ain't the hand you are dealt, it is how you play the cards.  There is no judging a man for how he plays his cards.  Greenspan played them they way he played them.  What is tedious is the countless people who pretend that their work is somehow noble, the people who want it both ways, that is to scam the world and be thought of as heroes, the hypocrites.  That Greenspan was a gold bug, worked to advance all that is wrong with the world, and then retire to re-affirm himself as a gold bug is absolutely honorable.  Attaboy.

It reminds me how Jesus told stories of the wicked master who criticized his servant for not even trying usury to increase his wealth, and how he admired the scamp of a steward who upon being given dismissal notice ran around cooking the books to make friends, and also in the apocalypse cautioned "be ye hot or cold for if ye are lukewarm I'll vomit you out of my mouth."    Just don't be timid or a hypocrite...

But back to what Greenspan said.  "Gold is a currency."  Ungh.. those definitions again...  yes and no.  It is money, a medium of exchange, and can be used as currency, but almost never is.   Economies in history usually run on credit, asset based at zero interest.  Such a comity build community. If gold is backing a transaction, the gold is not exchanged, but warehouse receipts are traded.  It is only when the trading partner is of a doubtful future are debts settled in actual gold exchange.  It's a false dichotomy gold vs fiat currency.  There is a gold as money and credit, and then there is force and fraud of fiat currency.  Yes, gold is infinitely superior to fiat currency (the dollar), but the alternative to the corrupt dollar is credit, which the dollar is supposed to represent, and asset-less backed credit at that.  In a real economy, there is gold and silver as money, and there is non-interest (usury) credit.  Fiat currency has no place in an economy.

Greenspan knows this, but he could count on his truth-telling to be deleted by the CFR in any case, and what little that did get through, would fall on uninformed ears anyway.

Given all that, why wouldn't Alan Greenspan play his cards they way he has?  If I got half a chance, wouldn't I?

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Online Advertising

Received another Costco advertising booklet in the mail today.  Stuff for sale and on sale.  Costco is fairly internet savvy.  Funny they are sending out dead tree media to promote business.

In the 11/1/14 edition of Forbes, page 11, the Chief Product Officer (?!) of that august org give a rundown on online advertising... doesn't look good.  I ran the numbers on his percents:

Ad viewability - only 5 in 10, 000 readers click on a display ad, but only 70% of readers see the ad in the first place.  Hmm... 10,000 is 70% of 14,286...  and 5 into 14,286 is .00035.  So ad impressions online is about 35/100th of 1%.  Now mail order catalogs, dead tree media, gets sales of 1/10th or 1% of impressions.  Online advertising only gets about 1/3rd the views of catalog sales.

It is interesting no one can bring themselves to admit what the sales rate is with online advertising.

Fraudulent Traffic...  and even if someone did report a click, who knows if it is accurate?  The numbers above include fraudulent traffic meant to make online advertising look good one way or another, some 36% of internet traffic being fake.

This is a problem with building a system on something started by the Hegemon.  The internet was invented as a closed system with some rather brutal responses to people messing about.  In 1980 that system changed, telecom was deregulated and the first order of business as to create a system that relied on technology and property rights to control fraud and force.  Never happened.  AOL and Apple gave it a try, Apple largely succeeding, as far as they could influence.

But Microsoft got the government contracts and within the Hegemon productivity does not matter. Spam rules.  And with no rational limit on what can be financed by lending credit, we built out a system that is pretty bad as to security, and then charged it to the grandkids.  Capitalism is an awful system.

Since online advertising is ineffective and rife with fraud, Forbes Chief Product Officer D'Vorkin notes some online sites are promising 250 hours of in-view time for an ad.  Fine, but what about sales for that time at what cost?

I've been offering people who try to sell me on online advertising a bounty of $47.50 per sale, a 50% affiliate fee or anything you want to call it.  15 years in, no takers.  I am sure because they know it cannot be done economically.

Google Ads will allow you to track from click to sale so you can associate your ad costs to actual sales, but true to Google form, Google Ads cannot be used by anyone short of computer scientists.  I meet countless people who say "yes, tried Google Ads, could never figure it out."  That is either on purpose or they have so much false economy ad revenue that why bother with mere viable businesses?

Forbes notes that now more dollars are going into programmatic buying, where computers are matching ad opportunities with big data at lightening speed, no need to humans.  Would love to hear if that is effective.  Maybe so.

The Chief Product Officer says Forbes was on the cutting edge in 2010 with native advertising, in which "50 marketing partners publish content" on Forbes.  Is slapping a by-line on a advertiser's press release all that new?

There is massive malinvestment and misallocation in media.  When the bust comes, there will be a shake-out and the false economy rags will fail and an organic set of winners will emerge.  Unless president Hillary can get in there fast enough and post gatekeepers on a controlled-by-subsidy media.

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Sanctions Backfiring on Norwegian Salmon Exports

After USA blamed Russia for the USA destabilization of the Ukraine, the Europeans inexplicably joined the USA in sanction on Russia.  Russia grows stronger as EU countries stagger.
The export value of Norwegian salmon was NOK 4 billion (USD 585.8 million) in October, which represents a small decline of NOK 130 million (USD 19 million), or 3 per cent, compared with October 2013. This is the first time that salmon´s monthly export value has fallen in two years.
So far this year Norwegian salmon exports have totalled NOK 35.8 billion (USD 5.2 billion), NOK 4.5 billion (USD 659 million), or 14 per cent higher than in the same period in 2013, according to figures from the Norwegian Seafood Council.
"The reduction in the value of exports in October is a combination of lower prices and lower traded volumes. Despite the current Russian ban on imports, the demand for Norwegian salmon remains very strong,...
The average export price for fresh whole salmon in October was NOK 35.82 per kg. This is 5 per cent lower than in the same month in 2013, although just over 2 per cent up on the average export price in September.  
So "very strong" demand, but at lower prices.  Yes, if you lower prices, demand increases.  If you ban demand, with sanctions on Russia, then you have excess supply.  To move excess supply, you reduce prices.  To harm Russia because the USA destabilized the Ukraine, the Norwegians are taking less money for their salmon.  Brilliant move!

I recall Daniel 4:17
'The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people.'
Our leaders are doomed to be complete idiots so we can know that God is in charge.  You have a better explanation for why we only get idiots as politicians?

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B2B Email Campaigns a Waste

Comes a new study showing yet again email campaigns in business are a waste of money.  Yes, billions are spent on it, but by businesses whose stock price rise is fueled by funny-money FED policies.
NOVEMBER 6, 2014:
A survey conducted by Annuitas, a B2B demand generation strategy firm, has found that only 2.8 percent of B2B marketers claim that their demand generation campaigns are effective at achieving goals and less than half of marketers use buyer personas when creating their strategies.
Don't be in a false economy business or job when the correction comes.  Inability to transition is called unemployment.

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Friday, November 7, 2014

West Coast port Slowdowns

Taking a Ferry from the Seattle waterfront to Bremerton to do a bit of mushroom foraging in the forests around Seabeck, I was curious at the Seattle Waterfront crowded with container ships and grain ships lying at anchor.  Was this the result of the new alliance between Seattle and Tacoma?  No... Longshoreman work slow downs...The ILWU's job actions, which have already crippled operations at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, now threaten to do the same in Los Angeles and Long Beach. Together, these four ports collectively handle nearly 80% of all containerized cargo at West Coast ports. The job actions began soon after a PMA offer responding to the ILWU's demands during contract negotiations last week.
The labor-orchestrated slowdowns come at a critical time in negotiations for a new coast-wide labor contract, and threaten to stem the flow of cargo during the final holiday season push. "Although the existing congestion has had ripple effects throughout the supply chain, it is the ILWU slowdowns that now have the potential to bring the port complex to the brink of gridlock," Gates said. "The ILWU's orchestrated job actions are threatening the West Coast's busiest ports and potentially billions of dollars in commerce. It is essential that the ILWU return to normal operations, as promised, so that we can continue meaningful negotiations in a productive environment free of union-staged slowdowns that are disrupting terminal operations at our largest ports."
I am a longshoreman, but mercenary as hell, so I was on the management side of the 1982 West Coast Master Contract negotiations in San Francisco, representing the small unionized import company I was managing.  If the longshoreman want the best deal, now is the time to do it.  We live in a false economy, so they need to cut the best deal that they can, when they can.  My sympathies are with the longshoreman.  It won't take long to get management to cry uncle, and there are not others who can do this highly technical work.  Honor labor!

But what about the small importer who has foods held up?  The small importer ought to have his minimum LCL orders spread out in the supply chain so he can manage these kinds of risks.  We never go for volume in logistics at the small biz level, always frequency of minimum orders.

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Swiss Gold Referendum

All policies have winners and losers, and bystanders can observe the intent and play the odds, even if the policy is inherently evil.  The existence of the Federal Reserve Bank is both force and fraud on the losers of USA economic policy.  Bystanders, such as the Swiss, can and do decide the game is "tradable" and engage to some degree, to play the odds.

Very many Swiss knew what would happen when the USA went off the gold standard completely in 1971.  Collectively they decided it was tradable.  Until now.

Enough Swiss are deciding it is time to end the game and get their currency out of the game, go back to a gold standard.  Peter Schiff has this comment:
"Those economists who are trying to convince you weakness is strength and strength is weakness do not understand that Exporting is not an ends in and of itself.   Exporting is a means to an end,  and that ends is Importing.  The only reason you Export is to Import.   There are a lot of things Swiss people want that they don't make.  How do they pay for those things?   They make things other people want and then they trade.  The beauty of a strong currency is the stronger the Franc,  the less the Swiss have to Export to pay for their Imports.  In other words,  you don't have to work as hard to enjoy greater consumption.  A strong currency increases your standard of living."
True, true, and the Swiss know it.  Old man Kennedy said only fool tries to time the top.  Swiss elections are hard to fake, but if enough Swiss decide there is still enough wealth to transfer from USA to Switzerland, then they will vote no.  But people are discussing the end game.

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Thursday, November 6, 2014

Google Delivering Like Amazon, But No Warehouses

Yikes....  Amazon has a world class warehouse and distribution system, and Google has cleverly skipped the warehouse part...

I was meeting some people to mix it up halloween night in an odd part of Mountain View, California and came across this parking lot with google delivery vans...  odd I thought.  The vans are marked Google/Express... which expands to https://www.google.com/shopping/express/


Here is what they are up to...

https://support.google.com/shoppingexpress/answer/4561693?hl=en

But then Amazon comes out swinging...
Amazon is testing deliveries via taxis in San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to the Wall Street Journal, as the Internet retailer explores alternative modes of delivery to speed up shipments while restraining cost.
Deliveries by cab are nothing new, ask any cab driver.  They get calls to deliver delivering moms, pizza, beer, blood, etc...

But this way amazon does not have to buy all those vans.  A cab can be an expensive delivery vehicle, but cabs have a lot of down time, so a cabbie can pick up some extra cash working in a delivery near a pick up.  Efficiency.

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Putin Makes Right Economic Moves, Says the Right Things

These unwarranted attacks on the Russian economy, and blaming Putin for the USA destabilization of the Ukraine, are giving Putin the chance to make needed free market advances.
Neil Shearing, chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, said the changes “in essence amount to a move to a free-floating rouble”. He added that the foreign exchange policy adjustment “should help to limit the risk that the plunge in the rouble over the past month develops into a self-fulfilling currency crisis”.
A weak rouble is not necessarily all bad for the Russian economy. It will help exporters and offset the effect of weak oil prices on government revenues. But the speed of its slide is stoking inflation and so hurting consumers.
Bravo.  Floating currency is so grown up!  Next, he is saying the right things, things which need to be said:

We get together for other reasons. We get together so as to talk frankly with each other. We need to be direct and blunt today not so as to trade barbs, but so as to attempt to get to the bottom of what is actually happening in the world, try to understand why the world is becoming less safe and more unpredictable, and why the risks are increasing everywhere around us.
Today’s discussion took place under the theme: New Rules or a Game without Rules. I think that this formula accurately describes the historic turning point we have reached today and the choice we all face. There is nothing new of course in the idea that the world is changing very fast. I know this is something you have spoken about at the discussions today. It is certainly hard not to notice the dramatic transformations in global politics and the economy, public life, and in industry, information and social technologies. 

The Russians are making smart moves in the face of USA aggression.  The Russians have a worldwide audience.  Give it a read to see what others think.

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Another Definition of Capitalism

A definition of capitalism, which is as good as any, from ZeroHedge...
From Elliott Management's Q3 letter, by Paul Singer
Capitalism is a system according to which capital is owned by private citizens, who in turn determine its price and flow by interacting with one another
Note the word price, as in price of capital, or money.  Well, first, why would a medium of exchange have a price, except in exchange for goods and services?  Of course, this is necessarily the "rental price" of money over time.

Every definition of capitalism necessarily includes a profit on lending money, or credit, and thus by every definition capitalism involves usury.  And this is the heart of the problems in the world, love of money, the root of all evil.

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Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Hillary Next President

With the house and senate firmly in conservative grip through 2016, the country will not let the White House go republican too.  It does not matter who runs as president this time as a republican (didn't the last two times either) it will be a democrat president.  Jeb Bush, who does not care to be president, will be the republican candidate, and after eight years of Hillary, the country will be begging to get a Bush back in.   Jeb's son...  It is necessary for the Bush power base worldwide to maintain a lock on presidential power in USA.

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From a Student at the Sorbonne

So, rēs in latin and ray in sanskrit both mean wealth or physical goods originally. Res publica, where republic comes from, originally meant "state treasury," literally the "state wealth", and from that it later came to mean simply the state. What's interesting is that both these words, res and ray, come from an indo-european root meaning to give, to offer. Sanskrit even still has a verb rā meaning to give. So there was obviously a heavy link between giving and money in those times: the word for wealth meant "something you give." In Sanskrit culture in general the importance of giving is key- generosity is king, and the best way to show off wealth is by giving it (although, only to those who deserve it - no throwing pearls to swine could have been an indian proverb!). 


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Encouraging Moderate Muslims to Fight

Flight delay at SEA to SFO and while I work the odious CNN is on the Moron-o-tron.  Wolf Blitzer of CNN is interviewing various people including on Bob Baer who, with others, are discussing the USA effort to encourage moderate Sunnis to rise up (10:06 AM PST, halloween, 2014.)

Hmmmmm... having encouraged Extremist Islamicists to rise up, by training and arming them, they are now encouraging moderate Moslems.  Turning to violence is an extremist thing.  So USA is encouraing the spread of extremism?  Has anyone thought this through?

Turkey is assisting their Kurdish minority (and USA ally) to fight ISIS only enough to assure mutual destruction of both the Kurds and ISIS.    The Soviets rode the Polish resistance to Hitler like a horse, arming, guiding, training, intelligence...  get ready, wait, get ready, wait.. go.

Go precisely at the point at which the Poles could not win, but they would inflict serious hurt to the Nazis.  The Nazis destroyed what was left of Polish leadership and command and control, so the Soviets would not have to.    Efficient.  The Soviets conquered Poland with some cabbages, the odd potato, vodka.  That is all that was needed.

So our allies are being betrayed, and it is not secret to anyone in the game, only secret to Americans.

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Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Expect Deflation In China

This is good news for small businesses, since excess capacity means opportunity for new designs at lower prices:
The China Import and Export Fair, popularly known as the Canton Fair, generated 179.2 billion yuan ($29.30 billion), organizers said in a statement on Tuesday, the final day of the event that began on Oct. 15. That's 8.6 percent less than last fall's fair after accounting for currency fluctuations.
In capitalism, bad news for big business is good news for small business.

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Vote Early, Vote Often, Make a Difference

Professor Carroll Quigley was President Clinton’s mentor when he was a student at Georgetown University. From his book, Tragedy and Hope:
“The National parties and their presidential candidates, with the Eastern Establishment assiduously fostering the process behind the scenes, moved closer together and nearly met in the center with almost identical candidates and platforms, although the process was concealed as much as possible, by the revival of obsolescent or meaningless war cries and slogans (often going back to the Civil War). … The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to the doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can “throw the rascals out” at any election without leading to any profound or extreme shifts in policy. … Either party in office becomes in time corrupt, tired, unenterprising, and vigorless. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party, which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies. [Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time (New York: Macmillan, 1966), pp. 1247-1248.]“

http://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/carroll-quigley-on-voting/

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Vietnam Rising

The creativity and effort the Vietnamese devoted to defeating the United States' invasion of their country is now directed at producing goods to peacefully trade with the United States.  It is working well.
The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) expects Vietnam’s export to the US to hit around US$29.4 billion by the end of 2014--making Vietnam the top Southeast Asian supplier to its former foe for the first time in its history.
AmCham predicts bilateral trade will continue to surge to $57 billion in 2020, leaving other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states far behind, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported.
Vietnam exported around $800 million to the US in 2000, which means the country will have increased trade nearly 36-fold in 14 years.
I was in Saigon in April of 2010 and it very much reminded me of Hong Kong in April 1978.

This makes me reflect on how after the United States' unwarranted invasions of the middle east countries are defeated, how we will finally begin to trade peacefully with those countries.

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Trade Data and Los Angeles Ports

Jim sends in a notice on the LA ports,

"A shortage of transportation equipment and possible labor disruptions at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, the nation's busiest, is delaying shipping containers for up to three weeks, threatening timely delivery to retailers for the holiday season."

and then there is this, giving some background -
Consider that imports final sales are added to GDP usually several months after import – while the import cost itself is subtracted from GDP in the month of import. Export final sales occur around the date of export. Container counts do not include bulk commodities such as oil or autos (which, of course, are bulk and not shipped in containers).
Honor labor.

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Monday, November 3, 2014

R Has a Plan B Hypothesis

Hey R,

This is complicated, and now that is see the product in the pix, I have 1,000 words of explanation...

I can see why the guy offered you a straight ten percent....  you won't get away with a mark-up since any customer will simply go direct and cut you out of your mark-up...

Exclusives cannot hold in int'l trade, so that won't work.

The maker needs a sales person, since the product is ready to go...

To your questions...
Questions: 

I am really caught up on the concept of minimum orders. What should I expect, what is a reasonable quantity and price point? 
***Well, you will be offering to retailers, who will have a one box minimum...  but I think you need to know the distribution system in Canada...  my guess is a distributor with 500 small retail clients in in say Vancouver (and there would be say 10 total in Canada...) would buy a minimum to stock and there would be 500 retailers with a  sample set.  But find out:  this is wall covering...  how is wall covering distributed in Canada?  Do you know someone in the biz?  Do you know someone who has bought high end wall covering in the last couple of years?  How does it work?  That is what you work within...***
He sells his flooring and wall coverings by sheet. So would the order be in weight or number of sheets??
*** M2...  ***
I have sent along some photos hopefully it will give you an idea including part of his pricing sheet that's in American dollars. Each sheet is around $100! What's your opinion on that price?
***My opinion is always the same.  What is the customers opinion of the price?  Usually no opinion.  The opinion that matters is of the product, since in that specialty market the price does not matter.***
Also should I include in my proposal that I will be buying from him in Brazilian dollar? That would be ideal for me! I don't make Canadian dollars anymore ... Shucks ....
*** It very well may be the only reason he exports is to get USA dollars...  but then he gets paid in brazil currency domestically so he is used to it..*** 
The brown box is full of samples, the entire box can be left with prospective buyers! 
***at $10 per box, times 500 boxes?  You got that?  If you pursue this, start with maybe one distributor and he tests with ten of his clients.

What is your hypothesis on this plan b proposal?

" I believe if I can get this high end wall covering into distributors (appropriate?) they will market it to retailers who in turn will buy enough to cover the suppliers minimum in a workable amount of time, profitably."

Is that your hypothesis?  If so, then you need to affirm to whom you would be supplying (since it is not you in Canada) and then test to find out if the distributor is not better off going direct.  (What value are you providing?)

If you will be in Canada soon, you can check this out fairly easily...  some pointers:

1. Do not discuss this with friends and relatives.  They are not customers.  Any time spent talking to them is time not spent talking to people who would be customers.

2.  Do not figure out how to overcome the market structure to get around any preference the market may have for going direct (exclusive, secrecy, etc).  Look for a trade line that is not being served and no one else will work in...  EG, you buying wholesale direct in Brazil against orders from NA and shipping 12 m2 ($2000) at a time to a specialty design firm that uses the stuff as an accent in wall covering in tiki bars...  find a market that no one will serve, as opposed to trying to outsmart everyone in a market that is served.

the 10% commission offer only makes sense if you'll live in Canada.  The next rational thing is to sell to a Canadian importer, but that entity will simply go around you.  It seems to me you market is whatever else is not being served.  You need to test that hypothesis on your next visit....***

John

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Hillary's 2014 Victory

The odds are the republicans will take the senate and then control both the house and senate through 2016.  All over America, where people are voting republican, they vomit afterwards knowing they need change, but republicans will not change anything either.  Sickening.

In 2016 we'll be treated to another Bush v another Clinton. What the electorate will not do, is have the general government a straight party ticket.  With a republican congress and senate, the presidency needs be democrat. A republican takeover means Hillary is a shoo-in in 2016.

This 2016 Bush is destined to lose to Hillary, but he is not interested in being president anyway.  He is paving the way for his son to be a candidate.  4th Generation Bush politicians.    Hillary the prez will make those who voted for the elder Bush desire the newest even more.  Vote early, vote often!


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Identity Theft & Credit Score

The radio was highlighting the horrors of identity theft and the horrors victims experience.  "And for a mere $1 a day you can be immune...."  A big concern was one's credit score.  A woman explained how she checked her credit score often after being victimized, and months into this was still finding unauthorized accounts being attributed to her.

What if you did not care about credit score with the big three? Dave Ramsey has gotten rich preaching just that.  But more practically, is the time spent gaming for a good score worth the eventual payoff.  The alternative is to pay current and never use credit (at interest) which opens an alternative universe of living.

There is a massive, clear and present exercise of identity theft for purposes of fraud that goes on every day.  Your identity is hijacked for purposes of securing credit.  The Federal Reserve Bank lists you as an asset when it lends out credit to whomever the picked winner will be.

You don't feel it, but you are certainly on the hook for any loss.  Solyndra?  Big deal! You don't feel a $500 million loss any more than when Branson's $500 million rocket blew up (bless the dead co-pilot's soul.)  it all comes from you some way or another, but not that you can tell.

Here is the tough sell: we see what we see, and assess that.  "Good enough."  The alternative is what we cannot see, what myriad goods and services we would have if we were to go usury free.

"Let go of what you know, and you'll get much better in return."  Good luck selling that.  Life guards wittingly let drowning people go under before they get too close because a drowning person will bring the life guard down too.  I guess you have to sit back and wait until the situation is dire.  I am in not hurry to see dire.  I've been swimming everyday in Lake Washington, even with the temperature in the low 50s.  It is an overwhelming experience, I can't wait to get back everyday.  If I had all the money in the world, it is what I would do.  So nothing would change for me, but may I recommend a daily swim, at least in to the low 50s?

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Houdini Stole Ideas, Gave Free Performances

Houdini is considered the greatest magician ever, and there is an exhibit explaining how he did his tricks.  As an aside, in an article, there is this.
When one audience demanded that Hardeen escape in front of them, he obliged and received a standing ovation. When Hardeen told his older brother, Houdini decided he had to outdo his brother and developed the Hanging Straitjacket Escape. He frequently performed the act a few hours before his evening shows to draw a bigger audience.
Indeed, the great showman in essence stole ideas and gave away performances.  Read "Free" by Chris Anderson (listed to the left) on this topic and thank goodness his brother did not monopolize the act.

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