Freedom Requires Courage . . .

Freedom Requires Courage! I find those three words about as compelling and impacting as the late M. Scott Peck's opening statement, "Life is difficult." in his best selling classic, The Road Less Traveled.

Indeed, true freedom does require courage. I picked up this thought from a fellow responding on one of the Yahoo groups I subscribe to about Vandwelling. One individual posted about his solution to acquiring a van type vehicle to travel and live in and others were weighing in with their thoughts on the subject.

Steve A., posted his contribution to the subject and it went like this, I quote him:

. . . I avoid debt like the plague. I count being debt-free as important as regular maintenance. A credit card for emergencies is wise, but don't trade your freedom to the banksters except as a last resort. Debt = slavery, and it will destroy your peace of mind. Rent is also a losing proposition, helping to pay someone else's mortgage. No property means no property taxes. Van dwelling is considered hostile by the authorities because they can't stand the thought of people not being chained to the economic "system" and not slaving to pay taxes. Freedom requires courage, which is why van dwellers are the most interesting and thinking people you will find.

I think it's important to clarify that van dwelling or full-time RVing people do not evade taxes. They simply choose to avoid paying any tax they feel they are not legally bound to pay. So far, there is no "law of the land" that I know of that demands, commands or in any other legally binding way requires anyone to own real estate or help anyone else finance the other party's real estate and pay that party's real estate taxes through the rent they would pay to occupy the other party's real estate. In other words as ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court, "The legal right of an individual to decrease the amount of what would otherwise be his taxes or altogether avoid them, by means which the law permits, cannot be doubted." So, avoiding paying any taxes you are not legally bound to pay is fully sanctioned. This is not to be confused with evading taxes that you are subject to by law or tax code.

Many people make decisions and choices in life that are, all too often, influenced by misinformation, lack of knowledge, intimidation and fear. The tax codes and all the levels of taxation one may be subject to including local city or town, county, state and federal are voluminous and intimidating. Many people take the "safe" route and pay everything they believe they must pay. They live their lives believing they must live within the lines or inside the box that seems to be the standard established, once again, by an unknown committee of people or authority we refer to as "They."

That's the reason Steve A's comments and most significantly, the three words, "Freedom requires courage," really were meaningful to me.

Condemning the 1%

It never ceases to amaze me when people bad mouth and condemn the "so-called" 1% or the "Rich" people for not paying their fair share of taxes. The problem is, in probably 98% to 99% of the cases, the 1% have indeed paid their fair share as prescribed by law. And, why shouldn't they? They have been blessed with the good fortune to be wealthy. They can afford to pay their taxes. The problem is that those who haven't been as financially blessed see things through a "them and us" filter and pass judgment using a double standard. But, the wealthy pay CPA's and tax specialists to go over their finances with a fine tooth comb and prepare their tax returns taking every legal tax deduction, exemption and credit allowed by the current tax code of the current time. Most very wealthy people contribute more money annually to qualified charitable causes than the average family earns in a year and sometimes as much as many average families earn in a year.

I have a personal friend who is very wealthy. No! He's not a billionaire, not even close, but his net worth is still far more than most people could imagine. His church wanted to buy a new concert grand piano for some of the fine concerts and musical events the church sponsored and hosted. The piano was going to cost $35,000.00. Now, that's a lot of money. He knew the congregation couldn't raise that kind of money within any reasonable time. So, he told the pastor to present a fund raising proposal to the congregation to raise the money. This gave the congregation a feeling of "ownership" in the project; they had "skin" in the piano. They set a time limit to raise the funds. When the deadline was reached, a brand new $35,000.00 piano graced the front of the sanctuary. In fact, the congregation had only raised $10,000.00 of the $35,000.00 required for the purchase. My friend funded the other $25,000.00. However, the congregation never knew that. They believed they had raised those funds. My friend stipulated with the pastor of the church that his contribution was to be kept in total confidence and go to the pastor's grave with him or the deal was off. In other words, my friend wanted to remain anonymous and allow the rest of the congregation to believe they had achieved this worthwhile goal. 

This goes on everyday in our country, hundreds or perhaps thousands of time a day. So, why should these wealthy people not be able to take advantage of the tax laws as written? But, there are factions in our society that want to create divisiveness. It could be in government, religious organizations, educational institutions, the corporate world and other places including within families. The fact is that nearly 50% of the people in this country don't pay any taxes at all. They have no skin in the game, but they condemn those who do pay taxes for not paying enough. In fact, many of those who don't pay any taxes not only don't have any skin in the game, but their share is being paid by those who do pay. And, further, these same people are actually receiving financial benefits (often referred to as entitlements) from the tax funds of those who are paying their fair share. I'm not passing judgment against anyone. It is truly unfortunate that anyone finds them self in a financial or medical situation to need such financial benefits. However, my point is that those who are not paying any taxes are actually using the same laws to not pay any taxes that allow the wealthy people to avoid paying some taxes. It's one of those double standard situations I mentioned.

Freedom Requires Courage . . .

It truly does require courage. First, you must be willing to become educated and stop being influenced by those who are misinformed. Some one much wiser than me once told me when I was a young man, "If you want to learn how to make $100,000.00 per year, you have to listen to and learn from people who are making $100,000.00 per year. Do not expect ten people who each make $10,000.00 per year to show you how to make $100,000.00." Now, that sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? Of course it does. That's because it is a simple truth and fact. And, most truths and facts can be broken down to the simplest and most common denominator. Don't get your tax information from hearsay and others who have never had to file taxes or who don't have to file taxes because their income is so small.

Second, freedom requires the courage to stop living in fear and being intimidated by the government (at all levels), in the case of taxes. Becoming educated in the tax knowledge that impacts your life is one way. "Knowledge is power!" Then you can't allow yourself to be intimidated by the people who you pay to work for you. Remember, every government employee, no matter at what government level and no matter what his or her job is, is paid from taxpayer money collected from the hard working, productive members of the private sector. Governments don't do anything that produces revenue. They get their money by collecting (or confiscating as they just did in Cypress) money from the private sector. The only place money is produced is in the private sector.

Every government at every level has a department of tax collection. The most feared agency in the U.S. is the Infernal Revenue Service at the federal level. I almost had to vomit while listening to some of the testimony, under oath, by the acting (forced to resign) head guy of the I.R.S. about this current scandal targeting specific kinds of organizations and individuals for political reasons. This is no different than the way dictatorships, communist and similar governments target their opponents and dissidents. If this man were a civilian in the private sector, he'd be facing a judge and a jury and probably facing a lot of years in prison for, among other things, perjury, obstructing justice and criminal negligence. Instead, he'll likely retire on a six-figure income with a bounty of additional benefits at taxpayer expense.

It requires courage to stand up for what's right and your personal freedom and my personal freedom are our right. It's not the amount of money we don't have that deprives us of our personal freedom. It's the amount of debt we get into that deprives us of that freedom. It's the misinformation, the lack of knowledge, the fear of the unknown that may befall us if we don't march in step with some authorities' drummer and buckling to intimidation of a variety of thugs in our society. It's not much different than "protection rackets" operated by organized crime lords. They just have different titles including I.R.S. agents, bill collectors, bankers, bosses, neighborhood bullies, police officers and you can add any other labels and titles you want to.

Yes, Steve A. is right, "Freedom requires courage . . ." People who choose to live free have to, at some point, take a stand in their own mind and heart. If you want to live free you have to define what that freedom looks like and how you define it. You have to determine the cost since you know that freedom is never free. You must stop being intolerant of others. Some of the others are the people who have become known as the "1%." Sure, there are some real greedy, exploitive, uncaring people in that group. But, remember, you may be partially or even completely living your current lifestyle because of the generosity 1% or the businesses they created that provide jobs. And, believe it or not, if it were to be your dream and goal to become a member of the 1% you could do it (a lot easier than winning a half billion dollar PowerBall lottery). So, you might actually become one of those that a lot of people loath and condemn. Are you really a bad person?

You'll have to prepare yourself by learning all you can about the choices you are making. That knowledge becomes the power to face the thugs, their intimidation and not fear the unknown because you're making it known. This may take you days, weeks, months or even years to fully achieve. You may not be ready or in a position to walk into your bosses office tomorrow and tell him or her to "take this job and shove it." That's probably not the best way to do it, anyway. Then you have to decide on a myriad of details. Where you'll live. How much space you'll need. Will it be a fixed location or on wheels? How much money will you require to live as you've outlined your living free lifestyle? Where will that money come from? What things will you pursue with your freedom? And there will be other things you'll have to determine. Then you can begin making the changes and moving toward your living free goal.

Freedom is both intoxicating and additive. I know very few people who ever want to go back to their former lifestyle once they have experienced living free. While I'm still becoming acquainted with a number of people who identify themselves as van dwellers, I have found them to be one of the most interesting groups of people I've encountered in my lifetime. They are all very individual. They are intelligent and resourceful men and women of all ages from young adults to Golden Agers, from a variety of backgrounds and careers and they all find interesting ways to support their lifestyles. And the thing they all have in common is that they love their freedom.

Be Courageous! Live Free! 

Soaring or Falling

Today is the end . . . to a new beginning. It's December 31,2012, New Years Eve. At the stroke of midnight tonight we will either soar off the cliff or fall off the cliff. The choice is ours. Yes, you and I both have the opportunity to soar off the end of the cliff that is 2012 and achieve new heights in 2013 or we can fall off the cliff to new lows or even crash and burn. There is a third option. You can glide off the cliff. If you're fortunate, you'll find some thermals and updrafts and maintain your status quo for a while, but eventually you'll lose altitude.

So, why the analogy of soaring or falling and the cliff? I have been following the news for the past month and a half and all the reporting about our U.S. economy falling off the fiscal cliff. The U.S. government has a wonderful way, with the help of the mass media, of inventing graphic names for their incompetence and inability to effectively fulfill the responsibilities they are charged with by their constituents. The new term is "kicking the can down the road." That means that as these stubborn, overgrown adolescents continue this standoff, the average U.S. citizen's future is being held hostage. Kicking the can down the road is the way the government glides.

Will You Soar?

We associate freedom and soaring with eagles. Eagles soar, swoop, dive, climb high into the sky, free as the proverbial bird that it is. They typically build their nests at the highest roosts in the area. So, are you going to soar off the cliff in 2013? Will you be free to soar to new heights? Will you swoop and dive and climb to new heights of freedom in the new year?

If you're not already free, as you define personal freedom for yourself, is this your time? Are you ready? Do you have a plan? Are you ready to start eating your elephant one bite at a time. If not now, when? It's simply another choice in life. Sure, it may feel strange or uncomfortable to make life changing choices, but that elephant will never disappear unless you choose to take the first bite.

Earlier in the blog I gave you 12 elephants for you to consume in my 12 Steps for Living Free. I also gave you an abbreviated 3 StepPlan. You know where and what the elephants look like. Is it time to take the first bite as you soar off the cliff of 2013?

Will You Fall?

Will you go off the cliff and fall? Will your job or business, your debt, problem relationships, the complexity of life, the crush of all your stuff, the drain of status and keeping up with the Jones's or your lack of self-confidence pull you off the cliff. Will you be restricted, limited, constrained by the incomprehensible number of laws, regulations, rules and covenants laid upon you by the federal, state and local governments as well as those levied on you by your condo or home-owners association.

Will the government going over the, so-called, fiscal cliff impact your life detrimentally? Will your hard earned salary or profits from your business be negatively impacted making your life more difficult and requiring you to reduce your and your family's lifestyle? The more you allow all of this to impact you, the further you'll be from personal freedom.

Most of us are impacted directly or indirectly by those elected government representatives and their minions of staff and bureaucrats who seem to think that we are here to obey their edicts. Okay, we have to obey those laws that keep us out of the justice system (another topic altogether) and the jails. But, to be as free as possible, we have to find the ways to allow the hundreds of thousands of pages of laws, regulations, rules and so on from making us feel numb. And, we allow the mass media to fill our heads with this stuff from the time we wake up until the time we go to bed from 24 hour news feeds on radio, broadcast TV and cable news channels as well as all the print media. Unfortunately, a lot of people will go off the cliff this year and be negatively impacted by and continue to conform to this burdensome system.

Will You Glide?

The final choice is basically to do nothing and just glide off the cliff or continue kicking the can down the road. This is what most people will do. Life just goes on. The government will do what they do best, kick the can down the road. Ultimately, the problem will not be resolved. The mass media will continue plying us with their typical fare of negative news spiked with an occasional piece of positive news just to release the stress a little.

The jobs will go on as they have been, though, depending on the outcome of the "fiscal cliff" debacle, some people, perhaps a lot of people will have less spendable income, due to tax increases, both direct and hidden and prices will increase on all the stuff we need including and especially health care. Many may lose their jobs . . . again. I'm not predicting this will happen. I'm merely suggesting that this has been the pattern in the past and there don't seem to be any indications the pattern will change.

This is how most people the world over will bring in the new year. Since we are a global society more than ever before in the 21st Century, everything that happens in this country impacts the other countries of the world. To a slightly lesser extent, what happens in other countries around the world will impact the U.S.

Cause and Effect

There is a pretty simple cause and effect apparent here. When the American Dream and the democratic republic experiment began, most people were very independent. They were responsible for their own welfare. They were accountable to themselves. Over a couple centuries we've become very dependent on government. They protect us from each other and from the world. If we can't take care of ourselves, they take care of us. But, as we have become more and more dependent on government, they need more and more money to provide for us. So they simply creat more and more taxes, some direct and many more hidden. But, since they can't generate enough in tax income, they have to borrow massive amounts of money. Additionally, they need to create more laws, regulations and rules to make sure that we stay in line in order to have all the security they are providing. This also requires more forms of enforcement, so more forms of police and enforcement officers and agents exist than ever before.

This is, of course, an over-simplification. It's become such a complex society that it's unlikely anyone could untangle it. It just is and it now feeds on itself and continues to grow larger. We are safer and better off in some ways and at the same time and are less free and more restricted than ever before. The cause is simply that as the population increased and the usual greed and corruption that is common to the human species increased with the population, the population demanded more and more protection and security from the government. The effect is also simple. The more the government provides, the more they have to restrict our freedoms.

Not Everyone!

Not everyone has bought into the "New American Dream" of trading personal freedom for government security, laws, regulations and restrictions. No one can be totally free in our world any longer. Perhaps, if a person wants to completely drop off the grid and drop out of society he or she might find a deserted island or move so far into the outback that no one would ever find them, then he or she might be as close to totally free as possible.

The reality is that those of us who want to realize as much personal freedom as possible, within the society and the system that exists, have to define what personal freedom means to each of us. I believe the one thing that everyone has is common is the desire to be happy. I've never met anyone who wanted to achieve being unhappy. If you're not free, it's virtually impossible to be truly happy. It's the elephant eaters who will soar off the cliff and start the new year with the goal to be freer than they've ever been. It's still a very small percentage of the people in the world who will take the leap of faith and go after their freedom and happiness. I hope you're ready to soar tomorrow. Happy soaring in 2013.

Bye, Bye American Dream?

Remember a couple decades or so ago there was a group of people who promoted the concept that God is dead? Well, of course, that is totally subjective and based on individual beliefs. Currently, there is a new belief system being put forth - the American Dream is dead!

Apparently 63% of college and university students in the U.S., according to recent surveys, believe the American Dream is dead. Unfortunately, I believe there is a large percentage of the high school population who share that belief system. And, to make it even worse, I believe there is a growing number of people in the 24 to 80+ year old bracket who are beginning to lean in that direction, too.

I was listening to several cable news commentators discussing this issue earlier today. There were a number of views expressed, but in general, I would have to say they agreed that the, so-called, American Dream is, indeed, dead. But, the discussions dug a little deeper into the subject and actually went to where my belief system rests.

THE American Dream

Yes! I do believe the American Dream is dead, but it's not "THE American Dream" that this country and republic was based on and founded on. No! The American Dream that is dead is the watered down, aberration that the current American Dream has become. Sure, the promise of a stable, good, well-paying, secure job with advancement opportunities, costly comprehensive health insurance, a great pension plan after 30 years or so, lots of vacation, paid holidays and personal/sick time, over-time pay or compensatory time off and other perks, is gone. The part of the dream that included a nice McMansion, with the picket fence, three car garage, at least three cars plus recreational toys like motor homes, boats, skimobiles, ATV's and multi-thousand dollar vacations, college educations for the kids, etc., etc. Yes! That American Dream is dead!

But, here's the funny thing. "THE American Dream," the dream that people braved sailing across wild oceans on small sailing ships for, leaving family and friends behind and risking everything, how little it might have been, to pursue, that dream, is still very much alive. That is the dream of opportunity. That is the dream that allows for the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As a matter of fact, there are probably more opportunities today than at any time in the history of this country. However, that's not the dream that today's young people and the disillusioned are looking for. It seems THE American Dream was only good enough for the hearty pioneers who came here to enjoy "personal freedom" and the opportunity to build whatever kind of life they wanted.

Did everyone succeed? Absolutely not, but that's how it should be. Freedom is about both the freedom to succeed and the freedom to fail. There were no safety nets. You were responsible for yourself and accountable to yourself. If you failed, you did whatever it took to pick yourself up and start again, using what you had learned from your failure to move forward. There were no unions, no unemployment insurance, no free clinics, no staying on a parent's health insurance until age 26, no government backed student loans that allowed forever to pay back the loans, no welfare programs, etc., etc. Actually, there were safety nets of a sort, but it wasn't the government who provided them, it was your family, your friends, your neighbors, your community and your church who would help folks to get a new start. It was an imperfect system, but it worked. That's the reason that within two and a half or three centuries America became the wealthiest, most powerful, most innovative, most advanced society on the face of the planet. Unfortunately, the version of the American Dream that's now dead is why we're in the economic downturn, untenable national debt and are slowly (and possibly accelerating) losing the admiration of the rest of the world.

Today, everyone seems to know that the government has a program to bail them out. A natural disaster comes along today and everyone immediately goes to the government's teat to feed off. We hear the phrase "federal funds" will be allocated to rebuild private homes, private businesses, carry people while they have no income, provide shelter, clothes, food, etc. Sure, many people have insurance, but apparently, not enough insurance. Now, here's the real point. Federal funds is a misnomer. The federal (or state and local for that matter) governments have NO FUNDS. These are taxpayer funds. Who are the taxpayers? You and me. Thus, those "federal funds" are YOUR money and MY money.

So, the government is taking from the haves and giving to the have nots. Excuse me, isn't that the story of Robin Hood who stole from the rich and gave to the poor? Who gave the government permission to take your money and my money and give it to individuals for their personal good. The government is about the common good, that's what we supposedly have our tax money taken from us for. So, we give money to these individuals and now we don't have money to fund the common welfare of the country, so the government has to borrow that money at higher and higher interest rates. Oh, yeah, and since the government has no funds of their own to repay these loans, who ends up holding the bag? You and me, of course.

So, here's the point. THE American Dream is STILL alive and well for anyone wanting to participate in it. But, THE American Dream doesn't provide for or give any guarantees. It only provides opportunities. Amazingly, the citizens of the U.S. are amazingly resilient and generous. Have you heard about all the people from across this country sending money, food, clothes and all kinds of other support to those impacted by Super Storm Sandy? The same thing happened with Katrina, Irene, the 9/11 tragedy and it's been that way since the beginning. Also, did you notice all the money, food, water, clothes and support we received from the rest of the world? Nothing! Nada! Zip! Yeah! Those are the same people we send our money and support to both from individuals and federal funds (that really are our money, not the government's).

The Whiners and Bitchers

I know life has been terribly uncomfortable and inconvenient for everyone effected by Sandy (and Irene, Katrina, etc.). But, it really bothered me to listen to all the whiners on the news sound bites wah-wahing and getting arrogant, indignant and angry because their power hadn't been restored, yet. I understand that they are insecure, uncomfortable, cold, hungry, displaced, frustrated, aggravated and a whole lot more. Who wouldn't be. 

But, wait a minute! Did any of them consider this was possibly the worst storm of it's kind in our history? Did any of them consider that there were eight million households and businesses in nearly half the states of this country without power? Did any of them consider that hundreds and maybe thousands of the people who were busting their asses to restore power everywhere at one time and provide emergency aid and assistance were coming from all over the country to assist them, in many cases, at their own expense and living in miserable accommodations and operating on minimal or no sleep and limited food resources? Did any of them consider many of those people who were busting their asses to restore power and other services had no power or services at their own homes and that their families were suffering from it all, too?

Ah, yes - I forgot, the American Dream as we seem to know it today is about everyone being entitled to whatever they want to bitch about it when they can't have it NOW. Hey, I didn't ask or tell any of those people to live in that area that has, since the beginning of time, been at risk from natural events such as this. The same is true for people who live in areas well-known for wild fires and mud slides. The same is true for people who live in areas known for serious earthquake activity on a fairly regular basis. No one made any of them live there. Those their choices and they need to accept the responsibility for those choices.

Ghost of THE American Dream

I find it interesting that there must be a different kind of people and mindset in the mid-west. The rivers flood, their crops are lost, their livestock is drowned, tornadoes come out of nowhere and wipe out towns and homes, but - for some reason, we seldom hear a lot of whining sound bites from them. They chose to live there. It's a way of life. They accept the risk. They accept their choice and responsibility. They know they either have to deal with it or leave. They simply do whatever it takes to regroup, support one another and get back to normal as soon as it's possible. Is it possible that these are the vestiges of the hearty pioneers who built this country and believed in THE original American Dream?

We, as a people, have milked this country and our fellow countrymen as far as we can. I believe we've reached the end of the rope. I totally believe THE American Dream our hearty pioneer great, great, great (add more greats) grand parents believed in and pursued is still alive and well. They believed in personal freedom. they lived life on their terms. They built their farms and businesses. They helped each other out when disasters struck. It wasn't easy and it was seldom fair, but life is not fair and never will be. Those who are self-made and successful - at whatever level they are comfortable at - deserve what they have earned and achieved. I feel bad for all of those who have suffered losses due to nature, but no one owes you anything. Deal with it. But, just remember, as a resilient and generous people, those of us who can send money, food, water, clothes, other support and volunteer our time to help YOU HELP YOURSELVES, we'll always be there. Just suck it up, appreciate it and deal with your own choices and take responsibility for them.

To be fair, there are lots and lots of the folks in the New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other states impacted by the recent super storm who are digging in, cleaning up and finding the resolve to start over again. I salute you and I support you. Make good decisions, Perhaps, since it's projected that due to the global climate changes we know are accelerating, where you have lived is very likely to be impacted again and again for an unknown period of the future. Nowmay be the time to relocate. But, if you choose to stay where you are, don't expect me to give my money to attempt to protect a geography that is constantly at risk for even worse forces of nature projected for the future. That's not my responsibility. You or the entire government cannot beat the forces of nature. Any fix is only temporary at best. THE American Dream is still yours just as it is for every college, university and high school student and everyone who has lost their jobs, homes and businesses.

Here are two pieces of advice. Remember, you can always learn something new and I'll gladly help anyone do that. If you give a person a fish, the person will eat for a day. If you teach a person to fish, they'll eat for a lifetime. Second, remember what Albert Einstein said, "if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten. He defines that as a form of insanity. No jobs when you get out of college? Be creative! Invent your own job. Create a business. EVERYONE can do something to be productive. Live in an area that is projected to be impacted again in the foreseeable future? It's time to move. It will be tough, inconvenient and unsettling. But you can do it. Bye, bye American Dream. Welcome back THE original American Dream.  

Step #6 Economizing

This step separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls. This, again, is going to require some lists and complete honesty. The honesty is with yourself and with those financially entwined in your life. As you are probably aware, one of the major causes of separation and divorce in marriage, break-ups in other kinds of domestic relationships and business relationships is MONEY! Finances are one of the main building blocks of any kind of stable life regardless of whether one is single or married, a sole-proprietor or a partner in a small business or on the management team of a huge global corporation. There is one simple principle to keep in mind here. If you are in debt, you are not and cannot be free until you are out of debt.

Let’s begin by listing all your financial assets and what they are realistically worth. We know certain basic things about finances.

1. While real estate has tended to appreciate over time that can change at any time and just did, to the detriment of a lot of people, many who have already lost their homes and more who will in the future.

2. Most tangible assets depreciate such as automobiles, RVs, boats, motorcycles, time shares, furniture, clothes, jewelry, books, electronic devices, especially computers, tools of your trade and so on.

3. Over the long-term, the stock and bond market outperforms the real estate market, but investing in the “markets” is, always has been and always will be a major risk and you have to be able to tolerate that risk. It would be nice if we knew the future, but to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever passed Crystal Ball 101.

4. No matter what we want to believe, prices continue to increase and most incomes do not keep up with it.

5. Marketing is a science designed to separate the public-at-large from the hard earned money they earn and attempt to preserve for a rainy day.

6. Credit is NOT your friend. It is the friend of the huge banking conglomerates. No one who loans you money in any form really cares about how much that new home, car, pair of shoes, etc. will mean to you. They only care about how much they will earn from your often ill-guided wants and desires. Losing your home, car or whatever is none of their concern.

7. We live in a society of gluttony and instant gratification. The vast majority of the 7+ billion who inhabit this world live for a year on less then you make in a single week. Yet, we never seem to have enough.

The List Of Assets

We could keep adding to this list, but let’s move forward at this point. List all your cash on hand, money in checking, savings (most people don’t have any or very little), money market accounts, CD’s, IRA, 401K and other retirement accounts, investments in stock, bonds, commodities, currency, precious metals, real estate (including your own home, vacation properties and investment properties), vehicles, jewelry, art, collectibles, furnishings, clothes, tools, toys, college funds, pre-paid funeral arrangements, possible future inheritances you know about for sure and anything else you can think of that has value.

Real World Value

Now, next to each item place a real world value. Some of these will be easy, of course. If you have $500.00 in a checking account and $1,000.00 in a savings account, that is their current real world value, assuming the currency won’t collapse and become worthless or runaway hyperinflation doesn’t make a dollar worth a dime. It will be more difficult on most of the other items on your list. For example, your home is a best guess since many factors will determine the real value including changes to your community, foreclosures, closing or opening of a school that serves the community and so on. You may have paid $60,000.00 for a Hummer H2, that by normal depreciation might be worth $40,000.00 when it’s four years old, but then again, with gas prices in the range of $3.50 to $4.00 per gallon and the Hummer averaging, perhaps, 8 to 12 miles per gallon, the market may have tanked and its value may only be $15,000.00 to $20,000.00. This is where the realistic and honesty factors come into play. Don’t kid yourself. It won’t hurt me and it won’t hurt anyone outside those directly intermingled in your finances, like your spouse, children, business partners, etc.

Another thing that has to be taken into account at this time is your marital/relationship status. Are you single or married? Are you in a domestic relationship – romantic or for convenience – and do you own any of these assets in joint tenancy? Do you have joint bank accounts. Does your spouse (male or female) have any claim to any retirement accounts or pensions you have should the relationship dissolve? Do you have disability insurance and/or long term care insurance and/or health insurance if something unthinkable happens? If so, is it adequate to cover all the bases? By the way, I’m not a credit counselor, insurance professional or certified financial planner. I’m simply a guy who has lived for 67 years at this writing and watched untold numbers of people go down the tubes due to business downsizing, closings, car accidents, work related accidents, home accidents, health issues like heart attacks, strokes, cancer, divorce and so on. It’s that Life 101 thing again.

Fire Sale!!!

Next, make another column on your Asset list and call it, Fire Sale Value. If this sounds familiar, I hope you went back to Step #3, Personal Inventory. It will help you speed this process. In this column you’re going to come up with values for your assets based on the worst case scenario where you would need cash fast to cover doctor bills, gambling debts, to put food on the table, a flood, earthquake or wildfire destroying your home, business, etc. and insurance isn’t enough to cover your losses or whatever other unforeseen and heretofore unthinkable event could befall you. Okay, I know, this only happens to other people. It will never happen to you. That’s what “they” all said, too. Is the grass really all that much greener on your side of the fence? Have you really dotted all your i’s and crossed all your t’s? DO NOT be optimistic with these valuations. Mostly, even your most conservative guesses are going to be optimistic, at best. Go visit that pawn shop with your jewelry, computers, stereo’s, TV’s, etc. and get a real idea of their fire sale, worse case scenario value.

Gee! This is pretty depressing isn’t it? There are so many more scenarios, but we’re going to move on. Remember, being free, ultimately, is going to mean detaching yourself from “stuff” and money and determining the basic core values that are really meaningful and valuable to you. But, we’ll look at that a little later.

What Do You Owe?

Start a new list and title it “Liabilities.” Now, you’re going to list every single thing you owe no matter how much or who you owe it to. Start off with your home and vacation property mortgages, The main thing right now is to consider how much you owe on the principle amount borrowed. Then go to your vehicles (all of them), toys, tools, credit card debt carry-over, home equity loans, signature loans, other secured loans, student loans, loans from family and friends, gambling debts (oh yeah, don’t hide from them, if you have them, list them), loans on investments, real estate properties, business loans and lines of credit you’ve personally had to guarantee, medical bills you’re paying off, deficits in investment accounts and so on. You probably didn’t think your list could be this long. Surprise, you’ve been kidding yourself like most people do. When you get to the bottom of this list (and you’ll probably continue remembering little things you forgot), tally up the total. Ouch!

Reality Time

Now, here comes the real eye opener. Subtract your liabilities from your assets. If the resulting number is a positive number then that’s how much you’re worth (and remember, if you’re married, you really only worth half that much). If the resulting number is a negative number then face it, you’re bankrupt.

I told you this might surprise you when I outlined the 12 Steps for Living Free. You (like most people) don’t want to look at reality, so you typically skip over things and conveniently forget to list them. This certainly isn’t a full and necessarily accurate balance sheet that an accountant can prepare for you if you give him or her ALL the information they require, but it’s accurate enough to give you a pretty good idea of where you really stand in life.

I hope you came out with a very, nice, large positive number. The reality is that most people are 90 days away from bankruptcy. A major illness, loss of a job, natural disaster or any of a number of other events could pull the rug out from under you if you’re like most people.

But, there’s more. OMG! Haven’t I made you miserable enough? Sorry! The facts are the facts and reality is reality. We’ve only examined the assets and the liabilities – and don’t forget to subtract the liabilities from both the “realistic” valuation and the “fire sale” valuation of your assets. The pictures could be and probably will be very different.

Time To Crack The Nut

Now, we have to add in the cost of day-to-day living. Your assets and liabilities don’t address those added expenses. So, it’s time for another list you can call Monthly Living Expenses or Monthly Overhead (a bit more business-like term).

Here are many of the items to include on the list, though not all of them, certainly. Let’s start off with the more mundane necessities like food, clothing, transportation, job related expenses, school related expenses if you have children, prescription and off the shelf medications, supplements and vitamins and similar items. Next, let’s add a big category, insurance. Make sure to list the monthly premiums (or if you pay them quarterly or some other frequency, calculate the monthly cost) for life, health, car, house/homeowner/renter, disability, long-term care, dental, RV (if you have one), vacation property, flood, title and any other forms of insurance you carry for yourself and your family’s security.

Then there are utilities like gas, electric, water, sewer, telephone and cell phone. You can add entertainment like cable or satellite TV, Internet, Netflix, book purchases online or at stores, theater tickets, movies, concerts, dining out, dinner parties and vacations. Don’t forget monthly expenses for the kids that may have to do with school sports programs, concert trips, field trips and such. Also, remember you have federal and possibly state income taxes, and various other local, state and federal taxes you are required to pay.

And the last major category is monthly debt service. This can be a little tricky because you may pay some of your other categories with your credit cards, so you’ll need to separate these so you don’t list them twice. But, most will be pretty clear cut, your mortgage payment(s), car payment(s), secured loan payment(s), signature loan payment(s), and so on. If you have money withheld from your income to be deposited toward any of your retirement or pension accounts, that is money coming out of your income each month, so count it as part of your expenses. It does have the benefit that it is increasing the value of your assets on the other side of the ledger.

Add all the dollar amounts on this list together and this is your monthly “nut” to crack. Subtract this number from your total income (that you can count on) each month. Now, you know how much you have to go to savings or for some discretionary pleasures. This is what you NEED to maintain your lifestyle just as it is today with no significant improvements. And, if your income doesn’t keep up with the increasing costs of things like health insurance, utilities, gasoline, food and so on, then at some point in time, you’re going to have to dip into your savings account to finance today’s lifestyle. This is called deficit spending. If you want a good example of exactly how this works, watch the evening news about how the U.S. government operates and what the impact of this kind of spending formula has had on Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain, to mention a few.

Sure, you knew all this. I’m not trying to insult your intelligence. But, are you operating like the U.S. government or like the Coca Cola Company? The government doesn’t produce anything, they take money from taxpayers – allowing all kinds of special concessions to all kinds of people with “special” interests or needs. Then they spend that money wantonly and simply borrow more when they don’t have enough. How long can this be a FREE country if we keep adding to our $14 trillion debt – sooner or later someone has to pay the piper. How long can you continue the illusion of being free if you owe massive amounts of money. At some point in time the U.S. government won’t be able to borrow any more money and neither will you. On the other hand, the Coca Cola Company operates on a simple formula – they take in more money then they spend. What a concept. And, it works.

It’s Show Time

So, now we’re to the bottom line of this step, Step #6 Finances. What is it going to take for you to get to the point where you can say you’re financially free? You may have noticed that there is an interconnecting pathway within these steps. While each is distinctively an individual step, action from various steps will definitely impact the other steps.

How do you define living free in financial terms in your life? If you are part of some kind of partnership like a marriage, domestic relationship or business partnership, do you see eye to eye with your partner(s)? If you are single and self-sustaining and self-supporting your choices, decisions and actions are much simpler then if two or more individuals have to come together on dreams, philosophies, choices and actions.

I stated it earlier, you can’t be in debt and be free. So, if you are in debt (and unfortunately, very few people aren’t in some form of debt situation), how can you eliminate your debt? If, after you created your asset, liability and overhead lists you, find yourself in a reasonably healthy and positive financial situation, can you simply go through the downsizing process, simplify your life, sell off high value (and possibly high debt) assets to clear those liabilities off your books? Perhaps you can work with a credible and highly reputed financial planner to create a plan to lower your monthly/annual overhead and apply the income that was paying for that higher overhead to paying off debt and reducing your liabilities. Those are two likely scenarios. Each will require a plan and a reasonable time line to execute and accomplish.

If you’ve been kidding yourself for more then a couple years and now, after being brutally honest and evaluating your actual financial position, you realize you’re not likely to get out of your liability position during this lifetime. You may have to consider drastic measures. If this is a realistic scenario, it’s important to accept that your assets will most likely be attached when you die and there will be no estate to leave your kids. You’ll never be able to stop working as hard as you are now. You’ll never be any freer then you are now. You’re doomed to the life of a wage slave, even if you own your own business. Then what? You could quit everything and abandon your home and lifestyle and just go off the grid. I don’t recommend this kind of action. Maybe you could just sell off whatever you can, take the money and leave the country and start all over again in a different country. Sure, that’s possible. But, we’re in a global society and your anticipation of privacy is pretty slim. Your records will follow you and catch up at some point in time unless you can do a very successful change of identity. Frankly, This isn’t a great idea, either. Bankruptcy is yet another alternative. If you’re in this kind of situation, let’s face it, sooner or later you’re going to default and your house of cards will collapse. The longer you go on, the more hopeless the situation will likely become and the more people you’ll potentially hurt. So, why not consider just doing it, getting it over with and starting out fresh.

Call In The Cavalry

Now I’m going to make this very emphatic – DON’T DO ANYTHING UNTIL YOU GET PROFESSIONAL LEGAL AND ACCOUNTING ADVICE! I am not a legal, accounting or financial professional and even if I were, I don’t know your specific circumstances. It’s absolutely vital that you seek the appropriate professional help. Take your lists with you. Tell them everything about your life, lifestyle, job/business as well as your “partner(s)’s if you have one or more. Tell them your dreams and aspirations. Explain how you plan to live your “new” life free, frugally and fiscally responsibly. Give them an idea of the time line you’ve tentatively established.

Tell them what actions you’ve taken to date. For example, explain that you’ve eliminated your wired phone lines, gone to a flat rate cellphone service, cut the cable service to the most basic service, restructured and re-shopped your various insurance policies and reduced your insurance cost by 30% (or whatever). Indicate that you do more shopping at Walmart instead of the high priced supermarket and Nordstrom’s and cut you food and clothing bills by 50%. You only have someone in once a month to clean the house instead of weekly and don’t plan to have anyone once you downsize to a smaller home or apartment. Show them you’re willing to take on more of the direct work yourself by letting go of the lawn service people and mowing your own lawn. Additionally, indicate what other actions you plan to implement to reduce your overhead and simplify your life. Perhaps, you’ve closed six of your eight credit card accounts and use only one with the other as a back-up for emergency use.

Like everything in the 12 Steps for Living Free program, nothing is an overnight process. You took actions over a period of time to “imprison” yourself in the lifestyle you’re seeking to shed. You have to pay the price to extricate yourself. However, each small step you take is one more step toward the living free lifestyle you’ve identified for yourself. I compare it to losing weight. You didn’t gain all the weight you may desire to eliminate in a day, a week or a month. It happened a little at a time over a period of time. The same is true when you want to lose the weight. If you want to lose 30 pounds and you set a goal to lose one pound a week, you’ll reach your desired weight in 30 weeks. If you go on a crash program, you may lose it, but it won’t be a healthy loss and it’s virtually certain that you’ll regain it just about as fast as you lost it because you didn’t actually modify your lifestyle.

I told you I cut my overhead by about 80% in one day. But, that was my combined personal and business overhead (which in my case are basically synonymous). However, I began the plan for that to happen a couple years in advance of the actual event. It was little steps. It was little modifications in my lifestyle and my business operations. It was a process to become a reinvented person. And that’s exactly what you’re going to do. I’m not unusual in what I’ve accomplished. There are many people like me and I meet more of them all the time. None of them want to go back to their old lifestyle (me included). It’s an ongoing process for all of us. And, here’s the simple fact. If I can do it anyone can do it and most especially you.

Next time, you’ll be adding another process, Step #7 Avocation, to the 12 Steps for Living Free and it’s going to dovetail right into Step #6 Finances.

The Wages Of Sin

I was reading a friend's, Jerry Gillies, blog this morning. Jerry is a best selling author of several books, one of them, "Money Love" made him pretty famous around the world. Jerry was released several months ago after serving a 12 year prison term in Folsom State Prison, in California. While reading one particular posting a thought inspired me. And I just toss this out for you to ponder.

The Bible says, in Romans 6:23, that "The wages of sin is death . . ." I pondered the thought as I think of where our country is (and much of the world) in this current economic collapse and came up with the concept that "The wages of instant gratification is debt." We've become a world of people who wants everything and we want it now. Instant Gratification! Well, there is always a price, we've just been putting it off and now we're in a world of debt.

Enthusiastically,
Ed

Living Free – An Attitude Part III

So far, in Parts I and II of this series, we’ve discussed the human characteristic of greed, by using banks as an example, and how greed can lead to personal imprisonment or bondage. Now, let’s realize that a certain amount of healthy greed is not bad. It is one of the motivators that helps us improve our positions in life. Prosperity and abundance are certainly not bad. This would be very grim world indeed, if the best we could look forward to would be abject poverty.

Living free doesn’t mean living in poverty or living without. Our world and society has advanced because of the constant evolution of technology that has made our lives better. While I’m a non-conformist, a pragmatist, a minimalist and a free thinker, that does not mean that I live in abject poverty, want to live in poverty or want to give up my cell phone, netbook computer, regular laptop computer, car, digital recorders and so on. However, what I have found is that I don’t need all the “stuff” I had accumulated. Like many people, I had shelves full of books I had read or scanned and would most likely never read again. I had closets full of clothes I seldom or never wore. I had pantries full of food I hadn’t eaten in years – but I was hoarding it for some reason. I had recording equipment that I hadn’t used in years and probably would never use again. I’ve been single for the last 16 years and, while I had some relationships over those years, I haven’t had nor do I have any interest in getting married again. So, the amount of space I need for myself is minimal.

I have found, for myself, that I’m actually very happy and feel very free having little in the way of “stuff” and “baggage.” I recently downsized my entire life. I got rid of the ranch I lived on for the past 5 ½ years or so. I sold off and got rid of most of the office furniture and equipment I owned, my household furniture, extra clothes, most of my library, some of my extra recording equipment. I then assumed a nomadic lifestyle and travel between two friend’s homes and a friend’s office where I have rooms and an office to work in. I have a minimal amount of clothes at each of the two rooms I occupy and set up a basic workstation at the two rooms and the office. I carry a backpack, an attaché case and a fanny pack with my computers, my recorders, camera and other peripherals. The truck of my car carries things I don’t need as frequently. For the first time in over 40 years I don’t have rent or mortgage payments, utility bills, landline phone bills, household insurance, lawn and house maintenance bills, Internet charges and all the other financial obligations of having a fixed home and address. The feeling of freedom has been euphoric. I’m basically happier then I can ever remember being (with the exception of a few unique experiences, like the birth of my son).

It’s important to make a of couple disclaimers here. First, I still have more stuff then I need and I’m continuing to pare down and eliminate more “stuff.” This is not an easy process. Second, there are still challenges to overcome and issues to deal with. Life is complicated; it’s just that now I’ve eliminated some of the huge complications. Third, I’m still experimenting with this free-spirited, non-conforming, nomadic lifestyle and it can be daunting sometimes. Life is adventure and a journey. So, all of this is about the journey and not the destination. The ultimate destination is the same for everyone.

It’s also important to point out that my definition of “Living Free” is not the end all/be all definition for anyone other then myself. That’s the great thing about freedom. It’s whatever we each want to interpret it to be. But, one thing freedom and living free is not, is being a slave to debt. Debt of any kind is still debt. Going back to our greed discussion, because of the advances and evolution of our society, we have adopted an “instant gratification” mentality. The greedy bankers, mortgage brokers, car dealers, homebuilders, real estate agents, etc. want our money. They’ll convince you that you can have it all now and entice you in so many different ways; they know you’ll bite on one of them. Maybe you’re actually one of these people and now, due to the economic crisis, you’ve found yourself in financial crisis of your own because this easy flow of money is no longer filling your pockets. The end result is that we all lose and we are all in the bondage of debt.

If your dream is a new home, that’s great. If that’s part of your definition of freedom, then you should be free to do so. What you don’t want to do is buy more house then you need and can afford. You don’t want to pay too much for it. You want to have as much of your own money to put into it as possible – that means setting some goals and working toward them. You don’t want one of these tricky mortgages with adjustable rates or interest only for X number of years. The same goes for motor vehicles, flat screen TV’s, etc. In other words, if these kinds of tangible assets are an important part of your definition of freedom (and freedom isn’t free, there is always a price for it) then do everything you can do to limit your liability. Remember, if you don’t have the money to buy what you want and you choose to finance it, you just gave up some of your freedom. The more debt you have, the less freedom you have. It should also be part of your plan to have something to back up your plan to acquire these assets. Savings had reached a 0 level in this country at the peak of the buying frenzy that we reached just before the economic collapse. Also, remember that, if you’re not financially independent, you have to have a job. If the amount of cash outflow you face each month is considerably more then you can earn doing something that you’re passionate about doing (working free) and would even do for free, if you could, then the job you will have to have to make the payments will seem more like a prison, thus, less freedom.

Now, some disclosure is important so you don’t, at some point, feel I’m being hypocritical. I’ll discuss this more in Part IV of this series on Living Free.

Enthusiastically,
Ed

Living Free – An Attitude? Part II

In my last posting, I began a discussion about how greed and power worked in the human species. I chose the banking industry as an example and I led up to a basic layman’s concept of the banking business. Now, we’ll ramp things up a bit. Here is where the greed and power starts mucking things up.

The bankers realize that they basically are making money off OPM – “other people’s money.” How can they capitalize even more on that so they can make more? Being creative and talented (and we’ll talk about that more later), how about if they loan the depositors’ money back to the depositors at a higher rate then they are paying the depositors on their savings? How do they do that? They simply convince the depositors that they are better off buying things right now that they can’t afford by borrowing the money for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards, etc. so they can realize they’re dreams NOW – instant gratification. Don’t save your money until you can afford that house, that new car, that 60” LCD, flat screen TV and so on. It will take you a long time and you may never realize your dreams.

This is where the depositors’ greed kicks in. They want all these things now because they are told they can have them now. We live in the land of plenty. We have a right to have all these things, after all the Declaration of Independence says we have the right to life, liberty and happiness. Oops! I forgot a word – the “pursuit” of happiness – there is no right to happiness, just the right to pursue it. But, we think if we get that new house NOW that we can’t really afford, we’ll be happy. If we get that shiny new SUV or convertible NOW, we’ll be happy. If we get those new shoes or that nice silk shirt NOW, we’ll be happy. And, we have a job that we can use the money from to pay the monthly payments for these items – and the bankers will even tell you that you can do it. Get the “stuff” NOW and you’ll be happy.

Now, get this picture – the bankers are borrowing your money (your savings) and paying you 3% (if you’re lucky) and then they are loaning it back to you and charging you 6%, 9%, 12%, 18% and even more then 20%. Simple arithmetic shows that a depositor will never get ahead in the long run under this scenario.

But, the bankers want to make more money. After all, now we call stealing money and manipulating people . . . “talent.” And in order to attract the best “talent” in banking we have to pay huge salaries that are totally unrealistic – then sweeten the pot with huge bonuses in the six and seven figure range and, not to let the investors out of the picture, we’ll give stock options so these “talented” criminals – I’m sorry, I mean bankers, can purchase large blocks of stock in the bank at special preferred prices and dilute the equity and earnings of the original stockholders. But, that’s okay, because the original stockholders are convinced these “talented” bankers can come up with lots of new “creative” ways to fleece depositors and borrowers. Why . . . there is “float,” late fees, over limit fees, a fee that’s charged to merchants when you use your credit cards, default swaps, bundling mortgages that were bad when they made them and peddling them off to some other greedy investors believing they are buying quality investments, and so on.

This is why we are in an international economic crisis. And, let’s not only blame bankers, just replace the word banker with other industries. And this isn’t something that just happened over the last decade or so; it’s actually been going on since the beginning of civilization. And then every so often, the bankers (or whoever) get caught with their hands in the cookie jar and the house of cards collapses and it starts all over again.

But, remember when you point a finger at someone there are three fingers on your own hand pointing back at you. We are all in this together. There is no individual (including children, we teach them young) who are not implicated. It is unimaginable that Bernie Madoff could have operated his scheme, essentially, undetected for as long as he did, if it wasn’t for the greed factor. There is an old saying, “If it looks to good to be true, it virtually always is.” Even the U.S. Treasury was recently scammed by a Nigerian e-mail money scam. They fortunately nipped it before the taxpayers were fleeced even more, but there it is again.

Living free can never happen when an individual or a family is totally beholding to someone else. That’s what has happened to our country. Our government with a taxation system that is nothing more then an illegal shell game has scammed us. It is so complex that virtually no one, including the government, can tell us how much we are actually paying in taxes. We are prisoners to jobs that we HAVE TO HAVE to just keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs and basic transportation – BUT, we have to have cable TV and high speed Internet and cell phones, etc., too. Pretty soon, we are not free. We are imprisoned by our own greed. There is a satire on the little ditty sung by the Seven Dwarfs of Snow White fame. It goes like this, “I owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go.” That’s not very funny. Well, this is long enough for this posting. In the next posting, we’ll see where this goes to next.

Enthusiastically,
Ed

545 vs 300,000,000

A friend sent this to me this morning. As I read it, I felt very strongly that this definitely represents the antithesis of living and working free.This is not new - it was originally written in 1985 and rerun in 1995 with a few changes. And again, someone must have updated it after we entered Iraq.

EVERY CITIZEN NEEDS TO READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS JOURNALIST HAS SCRIPTED IN THIS MESSAGE. READ IT AND THEN REALLY THINK ABOUT OUR CURRENT POLITICAL DEBACLE.

Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years.



545 PEOPLE

By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.

The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ.

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses . . . provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.What you do with this article now that you have read it.......... is up to you.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The way things are right now, there are very few people who can really embrace and live life to its fullest. Living and working free IS an ATTITUDE! But, when we have delegated all the power over, pretty much, all of our lives - to 545 people, who live a privileged lifestyle, even though we are, supposedly, their bosses - according to the Constitution - then we are not truly free - neither our living or our working lives.

Til next time,
Ed

The New Normal . . .

Well, time sure flies when you’re having fun – hmmm, are we having fun, yet? It’s been over a month since my last posting here. Yes! I have been busy. Doing fun things? Well, yes and no! But, I’m not going there, now. And I’ll pick up more on the Freedom Isn’t Free theme later

I just received an e-mail from my friend Dick Strader who is the full-time RVer I wrote about a year ago or so. He sent along a picture of the famous Apache Observation Location – Tucumcari Mountain, after which the town of Tucumcari, NM was named. He’s teasing me. He knows how bad I want to be out on the open roads seeing this continent. But, my time will come and it’s getting closer.

I haven’t heard from my other friend, Andrea, who was out seeing the country in her converted van. I trust she’s doing okay and thriving. Another friend from Winchester just joined the “living and working free” lifestyle. Actually, she gave up her apartment last October, just before I left the ranch. She left this past Saturday to start a new life and lifestyle in Florida. She called me from Georgia on Sunday. She should be in Ft Lauderdale by now.

Today, on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” the evening radio magazine on public radio stations, I heard a feature called “The New Normal.” I believe it was one of the show’s hosts, Robert Siegel who interviewed various people or received calls and e-mails from people across the country describing what the “new normal” is going to be when the U.S. returns to “normal” after this economic event (call it what you will, collapse, crisis, recession, downturn, depression, whatever). It was interesting. No one from the calls and e-mails they aired seemed to expect the U.S. to return to where it was before the event – at least not in the foreseeable future – or maybe never in our lifetimes. They were all somewhat optimistic, yet still pessimistic and cynical. But, alas, they were probably not far off the target. Actually, they weren’t all that pessimistic. I think I would say they were realistic. No, we’re not all going to go back to living in log cabins or caves and groveling for bits of thrown out food or foraging for berries and hunting for our protein.

It seems that they expect that everyone (except a small percentage of the “Haves,” as Robert Ringer, best selling author ( www.robertringer.com ) calls the one class of people in society) to be living a more conservative and frugal lifestyle. Housing will downsize into more affordable and manageable homes. People who should be renting instead of owning too much house with a mortgage they can’t afford, will be renting. There will still be cars even if GM and Chrysler join the dinosaurs in the La Brea Tar Pits. As a matter of fact, we’ll still have all the necessities we’ll need and some nice things that we want to have – probably just not as many – and we’ll learn to save and be patient instead of the instant gratification our country became so accustomed to. In reality, life will not be bad, it will just be real – and probably more pragmatic.

But, the middle class may not be the same middle class that was created in this country over the past 80 years since the Great Depression. Again, referring back to Robert Ringer, who wrote, Restoring The American Dream, since recorded history began (and probably long before that) there have always been basically two classes of people. The one class is a very small, elite, aristocratic (often self-created) class of wealthy, powerful people – the “Haves” Everyone else, the vast majority, were the “Have Nots.” Some of the Have Nots, had more then other Have Nots – this became what we called the Middle Class. In other terms, there were the Upper Class and the Lower Class – so, obviously, anyone who had a little more then the rest of the Lower Class still didn’t qualify as the Upper Class, hence – the Middle Class. It’s all very obvious and logical. But, for the most part, the Middle Class still qualifies as Have Nots. And this is why we are in the trouble we’re in. But, that, too is a subject for another day.

What concerns me, a very basic, simple, pragmatic person is how we’re going to pull this off in the future. Now, lest I sound “holier then thou,” believe me, I’ve been just as guilty as a lot of other people in some ways. I’ve lived decently all my life. I’ve indulged myself when I shouldn’t have, but I liked credit and instant gratification. I would definitely consider that I am one of those in the Middle Class – and when I was younger, I had dreams of becoming very wealthy. That was not to be, at least not from a financial perspective. However, I actually feel that I’m wealthier then I could have ever imagined – but in my own terms, not necessarily those of a materialistic society.

So, what are my concerns about the future? Well, like I’ve said many times, I’m basically a simple person. So, I look at things from a simple and, maybe, a somewhat logical perspective. We currently have approximately 77 million Baby Boomers in the U.S. (we won’t talk about the rest of the world). A very large number, possibly the majority, of these folks have lost much or most of their retirement savings. Many have lost their pensions. Many have also lost their jobs or will lose them in the future, before they were/are ready to give them up. So, they are going to need to have jobs to be able to survive for the rest of their lives – and the Baby Boomers will be the generation with the greatest longevity in history. But, we don’t have enough jobs for all these Boomers and since people are cutting back on spending and will continue to, according to predictions, savings (when there is anything to save) is going to trump having stuff, so where will the jobs be for this aging population?

But, it doesn’t stop there. It appears, that while we weren’t looking, probably because we were too busy spending, there is now a generation in our country called the “Echo Boomers.” The first Echo Boomers are just turning 25. Now, here’s the glitch – the Echo Boomers are a larger generation then the Baby Boomers. It is estimated that there are more then 80 million Echoes. They are getting out of college, grad school, high school, vocational school and junior colleges and needing jobs, too. Where are those jobs going to come from? Oh, and I haven’t included the legal immigrants or the illegal immigrants.

Well, this is a bit longer then my usual post and I’m really trying to shorten them, but I will explore this more in the future. There will be some direct correlations with living and working free in this. But, for now, just think about it?

Thoughtfully,
Ed Helvey

A Sign of the Times . . .

A Sign of the Times . . .

About a week ago, I heard from some dear friends. I hadn’t heard anything from them in quite some time. I’m going to call them Bill and Mary, not their real names, but at this time I’d rather not divulge that information. Mary had worked with me in some of my business involvements a few years back and Bill is an artist. Both of them are very intelligent, talented and capable. Both, had worked at different careers at various times over the years, but ultimately, Bill wanted to focus on his art and Mary was his strongest supporter. They had raised five kids and each was out on his or her own living their own lives. Bill and Mary had a very nice home they built about 10 years ago or so - before this crazy real estate bubble began. They had a million dollar view from their property. Bill kept reasonably busy with commissions for his art. He is highly regarded by his peers in the particular field of art he pursues. About two or three years ago, they decided that they were in a position to leave the Winchester, VA area, cash out on their home that had appreciated considerably due to the real estate bubble and move to an equally beautiful part of the U.S. where real estate was less expensive and make this their retirement move. This is where the phrase “timing is everything” comes into play.

They put their home on the sales block right when the real estate market began to crash. Over a couple years, from what they told me, they had very few people show any interest in their home and worse, yet, no one even made offers on it. Then, as the economic crisis began to rear its ugly head (before the major crisis of the past six months or so), the demand for his art dwindled and commissioned work dried up. Ultimately, they found themselves in financial difficulty (this is nothing uncommon these days), the value of their home decreased, no buyers were anywhere to be found and finally, they simply packed up, left the key with the mortgage holder and moved to that beautiful place they planned to go to anyway - unfortunately, not on the terms and conditions they had been planning. Bill and Mary are the first personal friends who have become victims of this economic downturn to the degree of losing their home and essentially, their retirement funds.

Bill and Mary do have some minimal residual forms of income coming in, but not enough to cover everything. The new home they thought they’d acquire in this new location is still a dream, but not affordable at this time, even at the lower real estate costs. So, they are living in a small apartment. Bill has found fulfilling work with a niche business that is allied to his art. He works half-time, which still allows him time to pursue his art and passion. Mary still contributes to their overall well-being and lives. As Bill said, they are basically back to where they started out when they were first married. Needless to say, they are not happy about these events and certainly their dreams have been battered. But, from the attitude I got from Bill‘s e-mail, they are handling the situation and moving forward. He said things are going fairly well, all things considered. They are living and working free through difficult times.

Of course, their story is not an isolated situation. There are literally tens or even hundreds of thousands of people going through the same thing. But, it’s their attitudes that make the difference between total negativity or finding the positive opportunities that are always there somewhere.

Enthusiastically,
Ed Helvey