Can We Play Fantasy…Politics?

“Deflate-Gate.” Who has heard of it? I’m sure if your head is not buried in the sand you have heard of this by now.

That term alone has led me to ponder why our culture is so infatuated with a GAME. A game in which has NO bearing on life. I mean, if you told me, “Brandon, this is the Hunger Games and people are going to die.” Then maybe it would be something of value or concern. Speaking of that, kind of reminds me of “The Colosseum.” Funny thing, that was a remnant of an empire distracting its citizens to what it was doing through the medium of cheap entertainment. Sound familiar?

It is peculiar that an entire nation would be so apathetic as to let the freest and most amazing country in the course of human history fall by the way side. Or is it that shocking?

Humans are creatures of habit and it seems that one of those habits is to continually let other men rule over them. Instead of learning from its ancestor’s mistakes and having the gumption to be able to rule itself; we continue to fall in to the perpetual trap of tyrannical oppression.

Our culture fantasizes over how my quarterback did and how many points my running back earned me this weekend. We scrutinize the New England Patriots and whether they messed with FOOTBALLS and analyze it to no end. Where is the media and where are the people when it come to real scandals? Benghazi? Fast and Furious? Solyndra? NSA? IRS? Un-equal pay in White House? Etc.?

Can you imagine if people scrutinized and broke down our politicians week in and week out? Wow! We would have amazing accountability. I bet you our country would be light years ahead and we probably wouldn’t be nearing $20,000,000,000,000 in national debt.

Just saying.

Why don’t we play fantasy politics? Put money on it? Make it fun? It’s not like we don’t have money on it anyway, right? I mean by my math we all have somewhere in the neighborhood of $60,000 in the pot each. That’s just current debt from the government. Doesn’t include your annual personal debt/expenses.

Isn’t the point of the American experiment to see if man can rule himself? Or will he fall in to the habits that his ancestors routinely succumbed to and be overridden by cheap entertainment and “what feels good” at the moment?

If we played fantasy politics we could set up a scoring system…we could track it all and break it down week in and week out, just like football. Maybe that will keep people more engaged? Maybe it’s not enough just saying “hey, these taxes or this healthcare system or this law is going to drastically alter or affect the rest of your life”, maybe that just isn’t enough. So, we will implement a fantasy politics game in place of that. This way people can understand the importance politics, history, and law play in our lives and make it a little bit more fun and engaging. We all know it could use that.

This may sound like fun and games but seriously, if we analyzed the people who lead us and would like to; I think we would be a much more efficient and unified country. The point of the media and an informed electorate is to watch over the government and to make sure that they are staying the course of freedom and liberty.

Our founders knew what they were doing when they separated the branches of government. They purposely did this so things would NOT get done and branches checked one another. The problems we do have are SOLELY because of all the things that DID get done; the implementation of the income tax, the creation of the federal reserve, the Social Security system, Welfare, the department of education, Obamacare, and on and on.

The natural arc of government leads towards “getting things done” and passing laws. The more power you have the more laws you pass and the more laws you pass the more power you have. Do not be mistaken; the people who have power are the elites, the ones in control. Does not matter if you are Republican or Democrat or conservative or liberal. Just ask the millions of poor innocent souls who lived under dictatorships in the 20th century in Russia, China, etc.. There were just two classes: the rich/elite and the poor/peasant. There was no conservative and progressive. They all suffered equally. Just as we will all suffer equally.

Do not get fooled by people who say things need to get done. The government does not get things done, people get things done. The people make the government look good. Government does not make people or a country look good.

Now, I have not said that “no government” is good. I have talked about what makes our government great and that is the way we were founded, the laws that have been set up and put in place during our founding – the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Limited government with many restrictions on what it could do to its people. Not huge massive centralized government or no government at all. But, the government that is limited in its scope and does what it is supposed to do; protect us with the military and provide and manage roads. That is PRECISELY what made us great, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If you don’t believe me, just ask the millions and millions of immigrants why they came here over the last couple hundred years. They will gladly tell you.

The point of this article is fun and games but also very serious. Anyway to make history and politics more interesting so more people will be informed and engaged will only help our nation. If you want true “PROGRESS” then getting people to pay attention and inform themselves is what we should be talking about. This is a uniting cause that stretches – as I mentioned earlier – across both sides. We both will suffer greatly and equally if we do not come together and band against those who seek and desire constant power. The greatest president we’ve ever had, George Washington, was forced to be the first president of the United States and served honorably for two terms and then resigned voluntarily back to his estate in Mount Vernon. He DID NOT seek power, we FORCED it on him. He was a servant leader and that is something our country is sorely missing.

Leaders eat last, they do not eat first.

Education Is The Destroyer Of Slavery

This decade is going to prove to be very volatile. The world is teetering on the edge of a cliff. There are things you can do and there is hope!

You MUST get educated! That is the most important thing you can do. No one can tell you exactly what do. Each situation is different and you must educate yourself and devise your own plan.

The world’s demise could be your biggest opportunity!

Why Gold and Silver Are SO Important

This site is run by one of my favorite mentors, Mike Maloney. He is phenomenal at education and informing people about the upcoming storms.

You can find pretty much anything you need to know on his site. Plus he regularly talks about other people he looks up to and learns from!

Enjoy!

And The Next Crisis Is…

Its hard to say what the next financial crisis will be in this country. Will it be housing again? Commercial real estate? Or will it be Social Security or Medicare going bankrupt? Maybe the U.S. dollar collapsing or most likely the Japanese yen going bust?

I think there is a good argument to be made that it will be the pyramid scheme we’ll refer to as student loans.

The Next Crisis?

Our politicians wont let this happen because, you know, “it wouldnt be fair if someone couldnt go to school only because they couldnt afford it.” I mean we just heard the President say this again in another campaign speech earlier this week: “its not that we need equal results, everyone should have equal opportunity.”

I hate to break it to people but thats not life. You make your own breaks. If you are older than the age of about 10 you should have realized this. You level your own playing field or you dont. Its that simple. I would have loved to have Wayne Gretzky or Bobby Orr coach me my whole hockey career but its not that simple. You cant make life FAIR no matter how hard you try or how many government programs you scheme up.

They are going to try and make college free someday, MARK MY WORDS!

The President may mention it before he leaves office. I would put money on it actually.

Americans have to realize that they cannot have their cake and eat it, too.

You cannot be the most prosperous and free country on Earth and think you can still pay for everyone to sit home and produce nothing.

The printing of money will only get you so far, just ask the Romans! Our joy ride WILL come to an end if we keep traveling down this delusional “shared wealth” vision.

If it worked then America would have been modeled after every other country that existed prior, but it wasn’t. There is an excellent reason for that.

The Death Of The American Dream

Financial Education Blog

Why the Impending Financial Crisis is Creating a New America

Posted July 23, 2013  By Robert Kiyosaki

I believe that the American Dream is dying because many of us have lost our moral compasses. Our schools are not fulfilling the educational needs of our students, nor are they being kept safe. We see so many kids, especially from poor neighborhoods, who turn to street crime and violence.

Rich dad often said, “Needy people become greedy people. Greedy people become desperate people. And desperate people do desperate things.”

The greatest gift my rich dad gave me was showing me both sides of the Employee-Entrepreneur coin. He exposed me to the life of an entrepreneur and offered me an environment in which entrepreneurial thinking could thrive. Today, I do not need a job, a steady paycheck, money, bonuses, government support, or Social Security and Medicare.

Financial independence

The Rich Dad Company propelled Kim and me into financial independence. We do not need paychecks. We work because we love our work, sharing what we know so others can also grow and prosper.

While we make a lot of money, most of that money does not go into our pockets. Most of the money is spent on growing the company, investing in new and better technology, more people, and new product development. That is what true capitalists do.

But Kim and I are the exception, not the rule. Today, in America, we have a growing problem. People are becoming increasingly dependent on the government as the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen.

The rich are getting richer

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the increase in incomes between 1979 and 2007 in the United States looked like this:

Poor: Income grew 18% over 30 years
Middle Class: Income grew 40% over 30 years
Rich: Income grew 275% over 30 years

Then in 2007, the bottom fell out when the boom went bust. Today, incomes for the middle class and poor have stopped going up, yet the rich seem to be getting richer faster.

In 2011, the number of Americans living in poverty grew to 46.2 million people. That translates to approximately 1 in 6 Americans who now live in poverty, and that number is growing. When a person has no property, they join the ranks of the poor and become dependent upon the government to take care of them. Oftentimes this leads to increased violence, both on the streets and in our homes.

Students on food stamps

Nearly 47 million Americans rely on federal food assistance benefits (food stamps), a 12-year high attributed to the weak US economy and high rates of unemployment over the last five years.

A lesser-known fact is that college students are among the fastest-growing segment of our economy to rely on food stamps. As tuition fees go up and financial aid opportunities vanish—and parents who were once a source of financial support have lost jobs or homes and become ineligible for college loans for their children—students have had to fend for themselves.

The next poor

Are teachers headed for the ranks of the poor?

In 2011, the California State Teachers Retirement System, CalSTRS, realized it faced a long-term deficit of $56 billion. A deficit is the gap between assets and estimated
liabilities.

CalSTRS collects $6 billion a year, but needs $10 billion each year to meet its obligations. A shortfall of more than $4 billion a year is a lot of money, especially for government bureaucrats who do not know how to invest or how to make money.

If the California teacher’s retirement plan goes bust, the taxpayers will be stuck with yet another massive bailout. Worst of all, millions of teachers will slide from the middle class and join the poor.

Again, repeating the words of John Bogle: “The whole retirement system…in the country is in, I think, very poor shape and it’s going to be the next big financial crisis in the country….”

The new America

All of these statistics translate to one thing: the American Dream of go to school, get a good job, buy a house, andinvest in a portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds is dying. Financial crises are creating a new America. Today, the middle class is disappearing and the gap between the rich and the poor is growing.

For some, this is discouraging. Many people choose each day to give up on their dreams and to be increasingly dependent on the government. They give up their freedom for security—though if CalSTRS is any indication, that’s not security at all.

In today’s new America, there are only two options: increase your financial education and learn to create your own wealth by playing by the rules of the rich, or become poorer and poorer and rely on the government and the rich to take care of you.

Which sounds more secure to you?

I fear our financial crises will only continue to grow. The rules of money have changed and you must adapt. Today, I encourage you to first come to grips with the new America and then to resolve to do something about it.

By increasing your financial education and starting a business or investing, you can set yourself up to thrive while others struggle to survive. Start today.

Be Prepared

Preparation is something of a dirty word in certain areas of life, and other areas it is highly applauded – culturally speaking.

If you are buying home insurance or life insurance people will not bat an eye at you. Heck, buying car insurance is mandatory and you are in big trouble if you are found not to have any.

Then you hear people talk about money insurance or food insurance…wait, no you don’t.

Why don’t you?

The people who do talk about these things are often labeled crazy or “preppers”.

First, lets take a look at those terms and what they mean.

Food Insurance: is either storing canned food/dried food and water.

Money Insurance: is converting your fiat currency in to things of value like commodities – gold, silver, rice, grain, sugar, oil, etc..

If insurance is something that our society seeks – Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, car insurance, home insurance, etc. then why are people who prepare to keep their money and stay alive shunned and labeled “crazy”?

To me, I believe it is something that the media and modern culture have rammed down our throats. They label people as “preppers” and extreme for actions that in the end will either directly save your life or protect and expand your wealth.

I believe we can find our answer in history as well. Government does what it can to seek power. They ALWAYS have and ALWAYS will. The people who generally seek those positions are people who want power and the government is a great way to take advantage of that. Fortunately, now, there are a lot of people who have sought office and will continue to seek office because of a calling to serve the people of this country and return it to the accountable and responsible government laid out in our founding documents.

Roosevelt did it, he sought power and won. Not by winning elections but by confiscating gold from the citizens. He brought the power to the federal government from the states possibly more than any other President in American history. He stole wealth and made people like it. The government increased its money creating capacity exponentially under Roosevelt, not to mention the social programs he constructed which we are feeling the effects of today like Social Security.

This is what government does effectively – steal your wealth and keep you dependent. I truly believe they ridicule gold and silver investors and food savers because they want you totally dependent on them. If everyone is prepared for disasters than who needs government? Government does not want that, that means less money coming in and fewer votes – less power.

That is why they always want to tax you more. Speaking of that, inflation is a constant tax. The government is stealing your wealth and many people do not even realize it.

America’s problem is our apathy and our memory. Most Americans don’t remember all the recessions our country has had nor do they believe any of these bad things we see happening all around the world can happen here. I hate to break it everyone but they CAN and they WILL if we continue to implement the same failing strategies.

This is exactly why it is imperative that people wake up and become prepared. We are on our way to $20 trillion in debt. Baby Boomers are just starting to retire and the programs they depend on for retirement are already on their way to bankruptcy, not good! The dollar has lost 95% of its purchasing power since Nixon took us off the gold standard in 1971. The Federal Reserve is approving Quantitative Easing (printing money) every month for the foreseeable future. Our credit rating will come in to question again as to whether we can make good on our debts.

The list goes on and on. That list is not good. That list should tell you a few things; you need to get educated and you need to get prepared. Find out what government is doing with the money you give them. Then you need to take action. The dollar will collapse, most likely in this decade.

What will you do about your money? Do you really think that paper assets are the way to go right now?

What will you do if a natural disaster hits or an economic disaster?

These are important questions to ask yourself.

Having car insurance, home insurance, and Medicare aren’t going to matter when you know what hits the fan. Get prepared and educated and start your path toward independence.

Get the insurances that you will really need. You will sleep better now and then!

Blackjack Rule: Playing With House Money

Investing is a mystery to most people. To most it seems like a gamble. When I was younger I know that whenever I would hear the word, investing, I would automatically think gamble.

To most you would be correct to assume that.

To the individuals who study and learn continually and read the books that are available to all of us, you begin to realize its more about control than it is about gambling.

Knowledge is the key to life. And reading is the key to knowledge. Anything you want to learn about is right down the road at your local library and for many of you it’s one click away on your iPad or tablet.

There is a simple rule to live by while investing: play with the house’s money.

You should always be getting something for free or using something for free in any investment deal.

When investing money in the stock market, put your initial investment in and then take it out as soon as your investment grows beyond what you initially put in. This way you are using house money.

When selling real estate make sure you roll that profit in to another bigger and better investment known as a “1031 exchange”. This way you do not have to pay a capital gains tax, you are using the money tax-free for a larger investment.

Using OPM (Other People’s Money) or debt is another way to use house money. When you know how to use credit and loans (OPM) on assets not on liabilities (bad debt) then you are using the house’s money.

There are many ways to use the game and have it play in your favor. It is up to you to study the language of money and find out how to make it work for you.

Making debt work for you and making the tax system work for you are two of the most important things you can do to attain true wealth. Currency is debt now so you might as well get good at making it work in your favor rather than keep you poor paying interest your whole life.

The choice is yours.

A Theory About Cyprus

This may be a month or so after the bank deposit raid that took place in Cyprus but it is STILL relevant because it hasn’t happened here yet, but will in due time.

I believe one of the big reasons it got such little media coverage in the western world is because that is the plan going forward here. The media dictates what they think the public can handle – just like the government gives you just enough money left over for what it thinks you need to live on.

I think the biggest reason for this silencing of the raid was due in large part because the heavy-hitters are not ready to show their cards yet. We are on the “turn” and the powers-that-be are not ready for the “river” quite yet. They are still gathering all the gold and silver they can find and stashing it away while the public blindly believes that the economy is on the road back to recovery. I mean hey look, the Dow is well over 15,000 and continually setting new highs, right?

We have seen ebbs and flows, recessions and depressions before, but we have never seen anything like what is coming in the future; an economic collapse on a global scale.

All the past hiccups were between only a handful of countries. Now, nearly every country in the world minus some African countries are involved in this debacle. Add to that, this is one of the first times the gold and silver market has had such a massive audience.

When things start hitting the fan people will ultimately turn to the world’s only real money: gold and silver. When they do its going to be the same gold and silver we have been trading around for thousands of years. Yes, we have obviously mined more in that time but the quantity still remains fairly low – a little over 5 billion ounces.

To put that in to perspective, we are about $17 trillion in debt as a country alone. Then you look at the world and we are on the hook for quadrillions of dollars in derivatives. See, governments can print money, they can’t print gold and silver.

When it all comes crashing down you are looking at nearly the same quantity of gold and silver being ravaged by a consumer base hundreds of millions of people larger than the last bubble in 1980.

Talk about a bidding war.

We are going to see prices in the stratosphere for people who want to preserve their wealth and not be totally wiped out by the reset that WILL take place.

And it WILL happen.

We are printing $85 billion a month, have been for years and will continue to do so for another 2 years. This makes the money you have worth less and less each day, don’t believe me just watch:

What has the price of gas been since 2008?

What has the price of milk been since 2008?

What has the price of sugar, wheat, rice, etc. been since 2008?

This isn’t something that happened because of which President came to power in the last few years. I mean some helped more than others. But George W. Bush and Barack Obama were focused on bailing the “too-big-to-fail” guys out while you were footing the bill.

This really started once we created the Federal Reserve in 1913 (Woodrow Wilson) and compounded it with Social Security (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) and Medicare/Medicaid (Lyndon Baines Johnson) and then ultimately coming unhinged when the U.S. (Richard Nixon) took the world off the gold standard.

This is when savers became losers and debtors began to win.

Financial education will help you through this mess and give you a fighting chance to survive the decade or two of turmoil we have ahead of ourselves.

 

Some recommended books to start off your education:

“Why ‘A’ Students Work For ‘C’ Students and ‘B’ Students Work For The Government” by Robert Kiyosaki

“The Creature From Jekyll Island” by G. Edward Griffin

You Are Being Screwed: Currency vs. Money

Until a couple of years ago I had no idea what the difference was between these two things; currency and money. Can any of you tell what the difference between the two is?

After months upon months of studying I finally realized the difference. The difference is; one is screwing you and the other is not. Simple as that.

The better question is, ‘who is screwing you?’ I bet you will NEVER guess. No, wait, you probably already answered correctly. Yes, the government is screwing you over. Hard to believe, heh? That same U.S. government that is nearly $17 trillion in debt is the one stealing your wealth. Couldn’t be, right?

The U.S. Dollar has lost about 95% of its purchasing power since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. Fractional reserve banking and the credit/loan system we have set up is the governments way of stealing your wealth away from you without you even batting your eye. Heck, we have $17 trillion in debt and single digit approval ratings in congress yet we still vote the EXACT same people in over and over again. So why would you notice the government stealing away your money?

Most have their money sitting banks thinking they are collecting interest; have their money in CD’s or mutual funds which give them rates well below inflation. YOU ARE LOSING MONEY AND LIKING IT. That’s what the bank is telling you and you sit there and take it because you don’t know better. It’s not totally your fault; you weren’t taught this in school and your parents didn’t teach you. This is why 96% of the people make 3% of the money. It is up to YOU to educate yourself. Why would you give your money away to someone else to take care of it for you? You are the only one who cares the most about your money.

Knowing the cycles of wealth – real estate, stocks, commodities – will give you the ultimate freedom. Trusting that your government is going to take care of your money and provide your retirement is the surest way to collapse. You will find yourself in the end, caving on your principles because you are so desperate for a decent living from the government. We saw it in the Weimar Republic in Germany which gave birth to Hitler, and we could see it here if we keep down this path.

Expecting everyone else and the government to take care of you is not what made this country exceptional. What made this country exceptional was citizens finding a better way and trusting in the themselves, not in their government. What we see now is the American people giving up on themselves.

Just as in school, in life, you MUST do your own homework. The government only tells you what you want to hear. You must sift through the garbage being told to you everyday. YOU are the only one that can look out for yourself and your family. Government CANNOT do that. They will NEVER be able to. The Boston Marathon attacks should once again be proof of that. You must take responsibility for your safety, your finances, and your future.

In the end, we must not get caught up in the “money” lie. We use fiat currency, known as dollars. “Money” is only gold and silver, that’s it. It is unconstitutional to have notes that aren’t backed by gold and that is exactly the situation we find ourselves in. Governments all around the world do this and the currencies they use ALWAYS fail. They have a 100% failure rate throughout history. The dollar WILL collapse – most likely this decade; and I would bet during Obama’s Presidency. Anyone who tells you differently either is talking blindly or they are up to no good.

There is a pattern all governments go through and the United States is NO different. To not think so is to ensure your demise. We are no different from any other country/government in the world. We used to be different, but we haven’t seen the likes of that in over a century. Looking at this list will give you an idea of where we are in the progression of the decline of empires.

Scary. Time to get studying.

The seven steps to collapse of societies:

1) Government starts with good money backed by gold and silver

2) Government grows, takes on more burdens (social programs, etc.)

3) Funds a massive military

4) Involved in wars, expenditures explode

5) To fund wars, government steals people’s wealth (fiat currency)

6) Expansion of currency with massive inflation, money printing, loss of faith

7) A move from currency to metals, currency collapses, wealth transferred to those who prepared

Another Obama Corruption Finding

Just another example of crony capitalism in the Obama administration. This is getting disgusting; it seems everyday we learn of a “green” company or some type of program enabled by the Obama administration that we soon learn is funneling money to their own people, donors, getting Americans killed, etc. – using taxpayer money nonetheless.

When will the Democrats and Obama and his people more specifically, be held accountable for these despicable acts? We now have LightSquared, Solyndra, Fast and Furious, and Solar Reserve just to name a few of the big corruption cases on the docket for Obama. The kicker with this newest company – SolarReserve – is that House Minority Leader Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law is the number two man at PCG, one of SolarReserve’s big investment partners.

Tune in tomorrow for what Im sure will be the revealing of another corrupt Obama practice.

SolarReserve Corruption

Told Ya! Obama-posturing

Obama job bill was just a stack of papers with a cover sheet! I claimed the other day that it was absolutely nothing in his hand, as he spoke to the nation on Monday.

My predictions were correct: Dems have still not filed the bill to Congress. I guess that 9% unemployment and horrific approval ratings don’t give you enough urgency.

Or is it that Obama’s bill is exactly the same as his stimulus – which we’ve pointed out – and knows that this wont get passed. Its just political grandstanding to the American people.

Its maddening, that a President thinks the American people aren’t intelligent enough to see through him.

Rather insulting, for lack of a better term.

American people have sharpened their memories during this administration. That may be the only good thing that comes out of these four years.