Get Rich Slick

Call your Senators and ask them to Support the Demint Amendment!

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If  you’ve been wondering where the PPT has been all this time, they’re alive and well.   Watch the video.

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A few people have commented that they are seeing ads on my blog but I don’t run ads so I’m curious how/why this is happening.   A reader e-mailed me the following screen shot from his computer.

Clearly there is some strange ad which appears to be some sort of flash overlay.  I’m wondering if my site has been hacked.  Any ideas?

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Wow, it’s hard to phathom that three years ago I started this blog.   Remember 2006?  The Dow was above 11k and headed higher towards the sky.   People were talking about the never ending boom in housing but some of us saw what was coming…

Looking back since 2006, I’ve worked for 3 different companies only to find myself currently unemployed.  I’ve traveled to at least 5 continents and over a dozen countries since that time for both business and pleasure.    My kids have grown quite a bit and in a few short years our kids will be asking for vehicles and then off to college.    I still can’t phathom where all the time went when I look back on it.

I’ve considered shutting down this blog numerous times simply because of the time constraints of work, family, and other committments but I’ve endured and the latter part of the year may be brutal (more on this later) but I’ll endeavor to keep going.

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I’ve been unemployed now for three months and my life has changed for the better.  I get much deeper sleep now and feel so much more relaxed than I’ve ever had in my life.  This is the first time I’ve been off for such an extended period of time without carrying a blackberry, without having to worry about fiscal budgets, deadlines, projects, international travel, etc.

I’ve been gardening every day and picked up a rich tan but that’s not the only thing.  I’ve noticed the birds singing, the roses and flowers bloomimg, the vegetables sprouting and so much more.   I’ve noticed the movements of the sun change from January thru today (April). I’ve noticed the curious things my kids do when they get home from school and I’ve played with them outside almost every day spring started.

I’ve started to read books that interest me instead of professional books and journals required for my career.  I’ve cleared the clutter in some rooms to simplify my life but still have a long way to go.   I’ve started to adjust to life the way it should be which means that I must be getting close to it all slipping through my fingers.    I’ve begun to get a few calls from recruiters and have some interviews scheduled for May so the end of my wonderful new life must be near.

To be honest, I was hoping to be unemployed through the summer as I’ve got grand plans:  take my kids to the beach a few days in the week, go fishing a few other days, explore the countryside and maybe go camping a few days to see what nature is all about.

I believe everything happens for a reason and the last three months “off” have shown me the way life should be.

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If you’ve ever watched Star Trek or most science fiction shows you’ll inevitably encounter “teleportation” devices that can “beam” or transfer one object from one point to some other point, usually a distant point tens or hundreds of miles away.   I usually do thought experiments and ponder what would happen if such a device existed today and how it would impact the economy.

For starters, if such a device existed, I would imagine that the following industries would almost immediately collapse:

Shipping – No need for oil tankers, cargo ships, or other bulk carriers since goods can be “teleported” from point A to point B with no problem.

Airlines – No need to “fly” anywhere if you can “beam” there instantly.

Air Shipping – No need to “fly” goods anywhere if you can “beam” them there instantly.  If teleportation devices could be installed on every home then UPS, Fedex and others would disappear too.

Hotels – If you could “beam” back and forth from your favorite vacation spot, why would you need a hotel?   The entire industry wouldn’t collapse but a large portion of hotels would eventually succumb.

Car Rental – Once again, if you could “beam” to your destination, why bother with a rental car?

Auto Industry – If you could beam from home to your place of employment, the grocery store or your favorite vacation spot would you ever need a car?

Now that air travel, shippers, autos and other industries have disappeared you can look at what other industries are no longer needed.  If planes, trains and automobiles are no longer needed then oil is no longer needed in the quantities that are currently being consumed so a significant portion of the oil & gas industry would collapse.

You can take this thought experiment in any direction and I did with a friend over a long discussion about other technology advancements that could further destroy the economy.   If a cure for the common cold is discovered then there isn’t a need for NyQuil, Sudafed, and hundreds of other cold remedies.  The marketing, sales, production, distribution and other personnel associated with the cold remedy would be made obsolete.

My friend argued that we would always have new jobs and new innovations to keep people working but my argument is simple: there is an initial burst of jobs created initially but then the jobs go away and people don’t have the time or money to constantly retrain onto something else.   In our teleportation thought experiment, initially many new jobs would be created with the creation of teleportation units, installation and eventually maintenance of units but what do you do when you reach saturation?   Worst yet, what if you could simply teleport a teleportation device then you would saturate the entire planet within a year then all the installation jobs are gone.    The only jobs left would be repair and maintenance similar to AC repair and in the process, millions of jobs have disappeared!

Ultimately, this begs the question, with the population continuing to grow exponentially and technological advancement growing exponentially, what will members of a society do in the future, particularly at a time when wage deflation is spreading throughout the world?

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My uncle had his annual chili cook off at his home this weekend and I was amazed at how openly people talked about recently being laid off.  There were about sixty people at the cook off and about half of them had been laid off recently and most were nervous they would be laid off soon.  Almost everyone employed has received announcements that there would be potential layoffs at some point in the future.

Amazingly, people spoke openly about their pay as well.   It seems businesses are really taking advantage of the employment situation as some companies are laying off people only to rehire those same positions as “contract” positions with lower pay, no benefits and poor work hours.   Interestingly though, there are some good companies that are offering people buyouts, some as generous as 2 weeks for every year worked so people that have worked there for 30 years get 60 weeks of pay!

The most surprising thing of all however was the real calm that everyone displayed.  I didn’t encounter a single person that was worried or stressed about  their situation.  Most people seemed to have accepted their fate and adjusted to spending less.  Most expressed their relief at not having to be stressed out all the time so they could buy crap at the store.   Perhaps there will be a truly generational change where people won’t consume the way they’ve consumed in the past.

Almost everyone agreed that the stimulus plan was a complete waste of money and wouldn’t work or solve any problems.

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I’ve been perplexed about something I’ve seen at the grocery store over the past few weeks.  I generally buy organic milk when I go grocery shopping and it is usually 2 or 3 times more expensive than the regular white liquid that goes by the name of milk.   For the past few weeks, the grocery store has had deep discounts, in-store coupons and even offering free milk with the purchase of an item like cookies.

I’m perplexed about how the grocery store is making a profit on milk and I came to the following conspiracy theory regarding their milk dilemma.

Theory 1 – The grocery store might have signed a large contract for a large quantity of milk on the expectation that it would be able to sell it for a higher margin/premium a few months (maybe year) ago.    When the credit crisis hit and consumers balked at paying $6/gallon for organic milk, the store was left holding the bag and needed to come up with a way to dump milk (coupons, freebies, etc).

Theory 2 – Organic milk producers are desperate to sell their organic milk wares that they have partnered with the stores to provide discounts and freebies although this doesn’t make much sense to me because if the milk is too expensive for the consumer, they simply need to reduce the price or find cheaper ways to produce it.

Theory 3- My wife suggested that by offering milk for free with the purchase of cookies, the store was trying to encourage greater consumption of milk.  This makes perfect sense except for the fact that the milk is the more expensive item and is being given away for FREE.  It would make more sense to get free cookies with the purchase of milk than free milk with the purchase of cookies.

Ultimately, I think organic milk producers are going to be in a world of hurt if the economic crisis continues as I rarely see anyone pick up organic milk these days.   I’ve actually noticed a surplus of milk at the grocery store lately and the price for non-organic milk (and eggs) have been drastically dropping over the past few weeks.

Deflation continues to hit the grocery store as today I saw Dreyer’s Ice Cream being offered at $1.75 discount right off the top!

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Check the Dow lately? It’s down to 1997 levels so we are now officially in a lost decade. The question: Will the Dow stay here for the next 10 years or shoot to 17,000?

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These are the best videos explaining the housing mess and ensuing economic crisis that I’ve seen so far.

The only thing left out was the fact that the money for the whole scheme came from the average Joe investor through his bank deposits (from paycheck), from his 401k contributions, and from his pension and other retirement and savings accounts.

Shhhh…..don’t tell anyone but the money you think you have in checking, savings and elsewhere really isn’t there. It’s been gone for a while now.

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