Too good not to share.........

The past seven brutal days will go down as one of the worst weeks in history for a sitting president. It certainly has been, without any doubt, the worst week yet for President Obama.

Somehow, Mr. Obama managed to embarrass himself abroad, humiliate himself here at home, see his credentials for being elected so severely undermined that it raises startling questions about whether he should have been elected in the first place — let alone be re-elected later this year.

Consider:

• Last Friday, Mr. Obama wandered into the killing of Trayvon Martin. Aided by his ignorance of the situation, knee-jerk prejudices and tendency toward racial profiling, Mr. Obama played a heavy hand in elevating a tragic situation in which a teenager was killed into a full-blown hot race fight.  Americans, he admonished, need to do some “soul-searching.” And then, utterly inexplicably, he veered off into this bizarre tangent about how he and the poor dead kid look so much alike they could be father and son. It was election-year race-pandering gone horribly wrong.

• By the start of this week, Mr. Obama had fled town and was racing to the other side of the planet just as the Supreme Court was taking up the potentially-embarrassing matter of Obamacare. While in South Korea he was caught on a hidden mic negotiating with the president of our longest-standing rival on how to sell America and her allies down the river once he gets past the next election.

• Meanwhile, back at home, the Supreme Court took up the single most important achievement of Mr. Obama’s presidency and, boy, was it embarrassing. The great constitutional law professor, it turns out, may not quite be the wizard he told us he was.

By most accounts, Mr. Obama and his stuttering lawyers were all but laughed out of the courthouse. They were even stumbling over softball questions lobbed by Mr. Obama’s own hand-picked justices.

• Mr. Obama closed his week pulling off a nearly unimaginable feat: He managed to totally and completely unify the nastily-fighting Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Late Wednesday night, they unanimously voted — 414 to zip — to reject the budget Mr. Obama had presented, leaving him not even a thin lily’s blade to hide behind.

So, in one week, Mr. Obama got caught whispering promises to our enemy, incited a race war, raised serious questions about his understanding of the Constitution, and then got smacked down over his proposed budget that was so wildly reckless that even Democrats in Congress could not support it.  It was as if you lumped Hurricane Katrina and the Abu Ghraib abuses into one week for George W. Bush. And added on top of that the time he oddly groped German Chancellor Angela Merkel and got caught cursing on a hot mic.

Even then, it wouldn’t be as bad as Mr. Obama’s week. You would probably also have to toss in the time Mr. Bush’s father threw up into the lap of Japan’s prime minister. Only then might we be approaching how bad a week it was for Mr. Obama.  Not that you will see any trace of embarrassment in the face of Mr. Obama. He has mastered the high political art of shamelessness, wearing it smugly and cockily. Kind of like a hoodie.

Grazing in India

As a cowboy at heart it is hard to understand this typical scene in India.

Eating plastic and paper day in and day out can't be good for any animal.

The fact that we all live downstream from this quagmire of humanity scares me.

Is shovel-ready a verb or bankruptcy term?

Solyndra was just the appetizer. Earlier today, in what will come as a surprise only to members of the administration, the company which proudly held the rights to the world's largest solar power project, the hilariously named Solar Trust of America ("STA"), filed for bankruptcy. And while one could say that the company's epic collapse is more a function of alternative energy politics in Germany, where its 70% parent Solar Millennium AG filed for bankruptcy last December, what is relevant is that last April STA was the proud recipient of a $2.1 billion conditional loan from the Department of Energy, incidentally the second largest loan ever handed out by the DOE's Stephen Chu. That amount was supposed to fund the expansion of the company's 1000 MW Blythe Solar Power Project in Riverside, California. From the funding press release, "This project construction is expected to create over 1,000 direct jobs in Southern California, 7,500 indirect jobs in related industries throughout the United States, and more than 200 long-term operational jobs at the facility itself. It will play a key role in stimulating the American economy,” said Uwe T. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Solar Trust of America and Executive Chairman of project development subsidiary Solar Millennium, LLC." Instead, what Solar Trust will do is create lots of billable hours for bankruptcy attorneys (at $1,000/hour), and a good old equity extraction for the $22 million DIP lender, which just happens to be NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, another "alternative energy" company which last year received a $935 million loan courtesy of the very same (and now $2.1 billion poorer) Department of Energy, which is also a subsidiary of public NextEra Energy (NEE), in the process ultimately resulting in yet another transfer of taxpayer cash to NEE's private shareholders.

This is NOT an April Fools Joke.............

While we do not know if foodstamp usage is seasonally adjusted, we do know that in January it was virtually unchanged at 46.5 million recipients. And while the actual number of recipients declined by a whisper, the number of households actually receiving benefits increased to a new record of 22.2 million. Lastly, the average monthly benefit per household slide to a multi-year low of $277.27. First the quality of jobs gets diluted, next the poverty benefits. All in line with the continued dilution of real wealth, simply so nominal indexes can hit fresh 5 year highs - today the S&P hit an intraday high not seen since December 31, 2007. Luckily, soon everyone will be rich and can retire.

Lies from Obama confirm the following............

Watching pompous politicians, egotistical economists, arrogant investment geniuses, clueless media pundits, and self- proclaimed experts on the Great Depression predict an economic recovery and a return to normalcy would be amusing if it wasn’t so pathetic. Their lack of historical perspective does a huge disservice to the American people, as their failure to grasp the cyclical nature of history results in a broad misunderstanding of the Crisis the country is facing. The ruling class and opinion leaders are dominated by linear thinkers that believe the world progresses in a straight line. Despite all evidence of history clearly moving through cycles that repeat every eighty to one hundred years (a long human life), the present generations are always surprised by these turnings in history. I can guarantee you this country will not truly experience an economic recovery or progress for another fifteen to twenty years. If you think the last four years have been bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Hope is not an option. There is too much debt, too little cash-flow, too many promises, too many lies, too little common sense, too much mass delusion, too much corruption, too little trust, too much hate, too many weapons in the hands of too many crazies, and too few visionary leaders to not create an epic worldwide implosion. Too bad. We stand here in the year 2012 with no good options, only less worse options. Decades of foolishness, debt accumulation, and a materialistic feeding frenzy of delusion have left the world broke and out of options. And still our leaders accelerate the debt accumulation, while encouraging the masses to carry-on as if nothing has changed since 2008.

The worst tragedy for retirees.........

is the artificially driven low yields on bonds.   The yields are not even close to the rate of inflation of the goods and services they consume.

One would think the seniors in America would be heard on this matter but then again, most of them probably still believe Congress is looking out for their best interests.

It is a real hoot to bump into all of the fixed income investments, structured products and to hear the stories told to older Americans by slick stockbroker-salesmen.  I can laugh because we hear the stories and see the carnage all too often.   I just wish it weren't so.   Good people getting creamed.  Year after year.  It just never ends with investors who rely on salesmen with their serious money.     

Mega Lottery and Millions!

I have managed money professionally for over 30 years. I have a substantial net worth and consider myself a serious student of prudent money management and investment behavior. I am in the markets every day, long or short.

Since the inception of my firm in 1995, we have managed money for lottery winners and some very highly compensated Native American tribes and individuals, some individuals making over $100,000 per month. It is true, nearly all lottery winners are broke after 5 years. Broke. They are in the same financial position they were in prior to winning, usually with larger financial responsibilities they have no way of paying. Lotteries essentially target and encourage lower-income individuals into a cycle that directly prevents them from improving their financial status and leverages their desire to escape poverty. Yes, that’s a bit harsh, and yes, people have the right to make their own decisions. Even bad ones… Also, many people tend to significantly overestimate the odds of winning because we tend to assess the likelihood of an event occurring based on how frequently we hear about it happening. The lottery is nothing but society's perfectly efficient way of, to use a term from the vernacular, keeping the poor man down.

It has been enjoyable to listen to this Mega Millions lottery talk. Althought it would be very difficult to lose the entire amount by making poor choices, it would not be impossible.

You see, savings and retirement are not institutions. They are matters of personal responsibility. They are an attitude - not some external organization or person to blame. Generally speaking, don't blame anyone but yourself for your financial problems. You're just labeling yourself a victim. Most of the "rich" deserve to be rich because they earned it. Aspire to be rich, don't denigrate them. That is just a class envy attitude. Besides, it is the rich who create wealth. Has anyone ever heard of a poor person giving anyone a job? Is it the poor who give to the Salvation Army and the Red Cross? Do the poor support the churches? The so called rich, small business people, etc., are the ones who put people to work.

Try to act like the rich - be frugal, save, delay material gratification, save, take personal responsibility for yourself, save, delay buying iPads, iPods, Blackberries, big screen TV's, video games, extraneous cell phone charges, and did I mention, save.

The key word in retirement planning is not retirement. It is planning as in, plan to save to have your house paid for, plan to save to have your car paid off, pay off the credit cards. Have enough saved to generate a steady income to add to the biggest ponzi scheme in existence, Social Security. Start now. Do not wait.

In my experience, here are some "poor" spending habits to drop, the sooner the better.

1.Smoking
2.Drinking
3.Gambling
4.Driving a gas hog
5.High end cell phone
6.High end cell phone plan
7.Extended cable
8.Premium channels
9.Changing oil at 3000 miles(7.5 to 10k is fine)
10.Washing clothes in hot water. Cold is better anyway
11.Going out to eat
12.Going out to movies
13.Going out to clubs
14.Speeding
15.Buying the latest gadgets
16.Pets,plants and anything that cost to keep up,feed ,etc.
17.Gym membership
18.Country club membership
19.Coffee of the month club.
These are things that worked for me (they are not for everyone)so I had more money to take trips, hunting trips,etc.

I know some will come back with stupid remarks like “quit breathing”, ”quit living”, etc. That's fine. For those there is little hope until it gets late in life.

Learn to really enjoy life. Go for a hike. Take in the arts. There is alot of "free" in life, just go find it.

Sure, you can listen to CNBC and Obama drone on about the recovery, about the wealth effect, about trickle-down economics, about why adding $150 billion in debt per month is perfectly acceptable, and about a brighter future for America and the world. If you win the lottery I hope you will diversify your winnings across currencies as well as into physical metals. I hope you would interview me to be one of your money managers.

I bought a ticket yesterday.  I hope we both win!

Sick and getting sicker..........

After reading the headlines about the US soldier who shot up Afghanistan civilians, I couldn't help noticing an irony. There is all this clamor to try this guy quickly and execute him, never mind his having suffered a traumatic brain injury.

Yet this Major Hasan, who shot up Fort Hood while screaming Allah akbar, still hasn’t stood trial, and they are still debating whether he was insane, even with the clear evidence regarding his motive: slay as many infidels as possible. So we have a guy in a war zone
who cracks, and he must be executed immediately.

But this Muslim psychiatrist who was stateside in a nice safe office all day murders 13, wounds 29 of our own guys, and they try to argue the poor lad suffered post-traumatic stress syndrome, from listening to real soldiers who had actual battle experience. Two and
a half years later, they still haven’t tried the murderous bastard.