Meteoric Demise

/in /by

They came in, heralding their expertise. Halfway through it, I knew one was a self-indulgent con, the others just plain conceited and ignorant, a deadly combination. Yet “meteoric rise” was a phrase the con liked to use, but truth was, he’d executed a “meteoric demise”.

Sadly, others believed in them, despite the warning signs. Some believed because they were too junior to know better, others because they felt they were too senior to start again, and others just because they wanted to believe – the promises sounded so good and it all sounded easy.

I have a poem for you, and later, I’ll write the book – a “How NOT to….” versus a “How to…”. Because I have witnessed first hand how not to do certain things in life. And some things should not remain a secret.

In the meantime, here is a post that they (and I) should have read before agreeing to do ANYTHING together. I think the first point would have signaled all that this was not going to be a good move.

“When your ego is too big to manage a company”

Where does the time go?

/in /by

We are struggling to keep up with ourselves. It seems we just got up, and we turn around, and it’s time for bed!

Yes, we are early risers. And these days, we are spending about 3 hours hiking the hills. By the time you get up and piddle around the house, do chores on the computer, we head out by 8 or 9 am if we are lucky. Finish that hike around 11 or so. Now we are hot and grimy, so home to shower and clean up. But oh wait, what about those errands? – think we can squeeze them in while we are out? Sure! So a stop here and there for supplies, and we are home around 2:30 or 3. Now it’s shower time, stretch, upload photos and document the hike, and 6 pm is here before we know it. A glass of vino, some chores around the house, and bedtime.

And tomorrow we will do the same thing, but different hike, different errands, and different chores. And the next day, and the next day. So when people ask what’s new?, well, nothing really. Morning, noon and evenings all blur into one warm cozy memory.

We look forward to better weather, which will force earlier hikes, and patio dinners (which will force more gardening chores). And friends over to enjoy the evenings. We are happy with this simple life. And we hope you are, too. If not today, maybe tomorrow.

And here we go

/in , /by

Enjoying a Saturday morning, after a 3 mile run. Best morning, with coffee and IBD (except the hot water heater stopped working, but that is another story).

Sequestration has begun. The President got his tax hikes a while ago, and couldn’t find his way to negotiate away from his own “bad idea” sequestration policy. He could find his way to campaign against Republicans in his constant blame-game.

My notes:
So IBD reports (and I want to capture here) that Americans, in January paid record taxes ($2.6B for personal and social insurance (Obama-care)), as the payroll tax relief expired, and tax rates rose on higher earners. And let’s not forget the Medicare payroll tax hikes.

Real personal spending was anemic -> 0.1% of GDP. Personal income was down 3.6% in January, with disposable income down by 4%. Households about $250k now face a 3.8% hospital insurance tax on income – earned and investment gains.

Personal income suffered the biggest drop in 20 years, and disposable income its biggest drop in 50 years.

These essentially erased on all the income gains since September. Consumer spending did increase – but not due to prosperity – rather due to rising energy prices.

It is my personal belief that Obama’s redistribution of wealth plan is not aimed just at the wealthy or upper middle class, but at all Americans.

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that if I work 60 hour weeks to get ahead, but the government takes half of that, then I might as well only work 30 hours, net about the same, and have more free time.

As a matter a fact, here are two true stories for you:
First, and ex-employee returned to our business to apply for a work. He had originally left 5 years earlier to go to a competitor, and since he was a good worker, I was happy to have him back. Seeking info on my competitor, I asked why he left them. He replied that he had left them years ago. I then asked why he now wanted to come back to us and he replied, “because my unemployment insurance ran out”.

Second true story. A contractor friend of mine had a (legal) visiting worker from Mexico, who later brought his wife and young son to the States. The son had spina bifoda. It was not long before CA had purchase a brand new shiny wheelchair for the family. The wife became pregnant. Twins. Wife became pregnant again, twins again. All the while, they were on food stamps. The worker had to ask the contractor to pay him half in cash, because his benefits were going to be cut due to his income. When the contractor refused, the worker quit. And we taxpayers are paying for the son’s special needs, and the food supplies for that family, and their extended family.

Meanwhile, our daughter and her family sold their home and are moving out of CA due to the high cost of living here.

Catching Pigs….

/in , /by

Forwarded to me in an email. You decide…is this what is happening? Are we the frogs in the pot of water?

CATCHING PIGS….

There was a chemistry professor in a large college that had some
exchange students in the class.

One day while the class was in the lab, the professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist regime.

In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a
strange question. He asked: “Do you know how to catch wild pigs?”

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line.
The young man said that it was no joke. “You catch wild pigs by finding
suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground.

The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free corn.
“When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence.

“They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side.

“The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the
gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and
catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom.
They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught.

Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves,
so they accept their captivity.”

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America.

The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.

Are you one of the caught pigs? Do you monitor the government classes taught in school to your kids? Ask your child about the Constitution. Do they know anything about it? Ask yourself about the Constitution. Do you know anything about it?

Protect our American rights. Don’t be lulled into a pen.