Art Youmans, “Your Financial, Future,” 10 July 2018
We live in dangerous times in 2018.
We trust our lives to a group of congressional bureaucrats, most of whom are less competent & more corrupt (for sale to the highest bidder) as politicians than even we would be in their position. An example is Monsanto, which bribed congressmen & women in 2013, with over $500 million in campaign donations to get immunity from prosecution for diseases, like cancer, caused by toxic chemicals in Roundup, which contains 2 Agent Orange chemicals. Roundup is engineered to stick to produce like Velcro & won’t wash off in the rain or when you rinse it in the sink. (Consider using a Fruit & Vegetable wash from a health food store like Sprouts.)
Many of these politicians fit this paraphrased description of one described by Sir Winston S. Churchill:
“A politician is someone who looks out the window & sees a parade marching down the street. He runs to the front of the parade & leads it, acting like he knows where it’s headed & what its objective is.”
I have no confidence in any politician, since Harry S. Truman, to ever tell the truth or to know anything more about the future than I do.
All that western politicians are good at is spending other people’s money, creating massive trillion dollar debt & amassing many more zeros in their personal bank accounts
than when they first were elected to office & moved to Washington, D.C.
Below are a few examples why I distrust politicians & corporate decision-makers to make rational decisions for me:
1 .In January, 1980, the price of gold rose to a record high of $850 per ounce, & fell to $250 per ounce by 1999. British politicians panicked, by 1999, fearing gold could fall lower, so they began selling most of their gold reserves. It took nearly 3 years for the Brits to sell 395 metric tons at $275 per ounce average.
If we’re lucky, America didn’t sell off any of its 8,133 plus metric tons of gold, then. No one of us in the public knows for sure how much gold is stored at Fort Knox & other depositories.
This was an extremely dumb British decision, as almost immediately after the British sale, the price of gold began to rise to $1,000 per ounce in 2009 & to about $1,260, today.
Of course, these British politicians consulted the greatest commodity experts across the globe before selling most of the gold that should back their monetary system. Apparently, even these experts were clueless about the future.
My hypothesis is: Nostradamus died more than 450 years ago. Since then, no politician or commodity expert can accurately predict the future, consistently.
2. The earnings growth of many companies, like Apple, Pepsi, Google, Visa, eBay, AIG, Cisco, Pfizer, CVS & many others are artificially inflated due to these companies buying back their own stock.
An analysis by investment firm Artemis Capital Management argues that 40% of corporate earnings growth between 2009 & 2017 is due to share buybacks, not actual profit.
The profit a company earns is divided by the total number of shares to get earnings per share (EPS). When a company buys back its own stock, these shares are retired. This increases the earnings making the company stock rise artificially. . .EXAMPLE: Company X earns $1 billion in 2017. However, over the years, they bought back 200 million common stock shares out of 1 billion shares outstanding, leaving only 800 million shares outstanding.
In 2017, the company’s EPS is $1.25 per share ($1 billion divided by 800 million shares).
This buyback makes the company appear more profitable than it actually is. Without the stock buyback, EPS would be only $1 per share ($1 billion divided by 1 billion shares)
Buybacks are ongoing. J.P. Morgan estimates that there will be $800 billion in buybacks by American companies in 2018.
Just like the British government made the wrong decision to sell gold reserves, top executives in corporate America are using stockholders’ money to artificially spike up stock prices & buying the stock at record high prices, which is a dangerous strategy, in my opinion.
I no longer trust the overpriced U.S. stock market & underpriced commodity market, & plan to never, again, invest another dime in either. Politicians have run up huge annual deficits, since 2009, which will, soon, destroy the U.S. dollar & cause severe inflation. Therefore, it’s advisable to make large purchases (e.g. a house or car) sooner rather than later, when things will cost more because of inflation caused mostly by the free-spending politicians who ignorant voters elect & re-elect to congress.
The British & the Wall Street experts have been wrong, before, & will be wrong, again.
When corporate buybacks stop, expect a massive sell-off in the stock market.
The western world is saddled with too much debt & the stock market is artificially increased in value by stock buybacks, creating a dangerous situation for anyone with a sizeable common stock portfolio over $500,000 & a bank account of over $20,000.
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Finance Story 2
Art Youmans, “Debt,” 5 December 2017
The world, that includes the USA & the European Union (EU), runs on debt.
This flood of debt cannot continue forever. It is like a deck of cards forming a structure, like a tall building 20 stories high. Eventually the building will get top heavy at the top & will collapse.
Like Enron, the U.S. has two sets of books for its debt. One set of books is open to the public & is called the U.S. National Debt, which is now over $20.1 trillion dollars. Currently, Uncle Sam is running an annual $688+ billion deficit which could bring hyperinflation to America, one day soon.
The 2nd set of U.S. Government books records is secret & includes over an estimated $200 trillion in future government pensions, plus unfunded Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid expenses
. Most western countries, including Uncle Sam are broke...dead broke. About 45 out of 50 U.S. states are also broke. State debt is $1.2 trillion. College students are broke. Student loan debt is $1.5 trillion. U.S. consumers are broke. Debt per consumer is more than $57,000. Credit card debt is $1 trillion. Mortgage debt is over $14.6 trillion. Total personal debt is $18.4 trillion. (SOURCE: USDEBT CLOCK.ORG)
U.S. consumers are doing exactly what the U.S. Congress is doing: They are spending more money than they earn. They borrow the difference between spending & earning (e.g. $688+ billion) each year & will keep this policy up until they or the country goes belly-up. Retail stores & shopping centers are going broke, too, as consumers switch their purchases to e-commerce firms, like Amazon.com, rather than brick & mortar stores like Target, J.C. Penny, Macy’s & Sears. People are even buying cars, appliances & food online.
U.S. Government spending is controlled by congress. Only the House of Representatives can cut spending & they are unwilling to do so. Therefore, we are destined to default on our debts, sometime in the near future. You can’t kick the debt can down the road forever. The 95% democrat-controlled major media continues to trumpet the wonders done by congress & the president in the past 8 years to try to brainwash ill-informed Americans, with fake news, just like the two con-men weavers did to the emperor in the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” published in 1837. In the fairy tale, a child cries out to the naked emperor, parading through the crowd, “But he isn’t wearing anything at all!”
The American public was not as dumb & brainwashed as the major liberal media believed, when they elected a maverick, Donald J. Trump as President on November 8, 2016. It was almost as if the child in Anderson’s 1837 fairy tale was crying out to voters, “Kick the crooks out of the White House in 2016 & kick the free-spending bums out of congress in 2016, 2018 & 2020. Unless we replace the free-spenders in congress, in 2018 & 2020, with folks who will cut spending, the US economy will go bust within the next 10-20 years. Social Security will be broke in 17 years (or sooner), estimated by the Social Security Board of Trustees (SOURCE:”Sovereignman” newsletter, 10/30/17)
Imagine another fairy tale about Uncle Sam, parading through the crowd in a few years, wearing a barrel suspended by suspenders. A child cries out to the naked Uncle Sam, wearing only his hat,” But he isn’t wearing anything at all. Uncle Sam is so broke he had to hock his clothes in a pawn shop.”
You live in a formerly wonderful country, which has only this one problem: The USA is governed by a spendthrift, out of control congress, that has wrecked this country since about 1963.
In the next election, vote for someone in your political party other than the incumbent. Kick the bums out!
Vote for someone else in the primary than the incumbent. Anyone else! You can’t do any worse than the bums we’ve got in congress, today, who have bankrupted this fine country…& used surplus funds from Social Security for pork to get themselves re-elected!
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Finance Story 3
Art Youmans, Uncle Sam. Can You Trust him?” 10 October 2017
Few people know that, in 2010, during the early years of the Obama régime, congress quietly passed a “bail-in law,” allowing U.S. banks to legally confiscate your savings & checking accounts & safe deposit box contents if the bank ever finds itself in an “emergency situation.” The bank, itself, can determine what constitutes an “emergency situation.”
This sets a precedent.
So Canada quietly passed a similar law in 2013, & the EU passed its “bail-in law” in 2014.
The only country, so far, to use this ominous law was Cyprus in 2013. Cyprus was the trial balloon to see if banks & the government could pull off such a theft without causing rebellion. There was no rebellion.
My advice to you is this:
Never keep more than $10,000 total in your bank’s checking, savings & CD accounts. Never keep valuable coins, silver, gold in a safe deposit bank, since both could be legally confiscated if your bank went broke, like many did in 1932 & many will likely do before 2027.
Locate a place in your home, like a hidden safe or under insulation covered by a screwed-in board, in your attic, where you can hide valuables.
Trust neither your local banker nor Uncle Sam. There are laws already written that protect them, but don’t protect you.
The International Monetary Fund has openly campaigned for the U.S. dollar to be replaced by SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) — a hybrid composed of the U.S. dollar, the troubled euro, yen, yuan and British pound. I believe the USA’s conversion to SDRs could occur anytime.
When that occurs, banks could close for weeks, so have cash on hand at home, if possible.
Thanks to out-of-control spending by Washington politicians, Uncle Sam is dead broke. Expect the U.S. Treasury to continue the Obama policy of printing more money to keep the U.S. economy from collapsing.
Think of this country (e.g. Uncle Sam) on a 100-mile-per-hour money-printing treadmill. He’s afraid to make any changes for he’s afraid he’ll fall off the treadmill any moment.
Uncle Sam will stay on this out-of-control money-printing treadmill until the country implodes from excess debt & too much worthless money circulating around the world.
When that collapse is imminent, any of two (2) things could be done by Uncle Sam:
He will issue a new currency other than the U.S. Dollar. This new currency will likely be able to buy 85% of what the U.S. Dollar would have bought, the day before. Essentially, Uncle Sam has taxed you 15%. This new currency will likely be based on gold. Uncle Sam could (without your approval) invest your 401k or IRA in government bonds. This scenario has been discussed in congress, several years ago. 401ks & IRAs are worth over $23 trillion, which would cover the government’s U.S. National Debt of over $20 trillion.
To paraphrase the old saying about friends & enemies
, “With the U.S. Congress as a Friend, You don’t need any More Enemies.”
In the eyes of congress, you are no more than a milk cow that pays taxes, which provides the money they have to spend on pork to get re-elected.
Few folks realize that little more than half of U.S. gold (4,582 metric tons) is stored at Ft. Knox, Ky. The rest is at West Point on the Hudson River in New York. The U.S. Army controls all the gold since both Ft. Knox & West Point are Army bases. Have you ever wondered if the military’s control of our gold is a reason former generals, James Mattis & John Kelly, are now, respectively, Secretary of Defense, & Chief of Staff in President Trump’s cabinet?
The laws are already in place to turn you into a government-controlled robot, like George Orwell described in his novel, “1984.” Never trust Uncle Sam & you will never be disappointed.
I believe that when George Washington, father of our country, who owned 317 slaves, is removed from the one dollar bill, this politically-correct country will be just like the totalitarian communist-controlled-police-state described in “1984.”
Although cries will be heard, from George Soros’ paid agitators, to also remove George Washington’s face from Mt. Rushmore, I doubt if Uncle Sam has the money to do it. This country is dead broke & up to its eyeballs in debt, thanks to the Obama regime nearly doubling the U.S. National debt since 1/20/2009. State politicians have also bankrupted Illinois with high salaries & huge pensions to state employees to buy their votes. 44 other states are nearly broke for the same reason.
When the SHTF, thank congress, state politicians & the country’s past presidents from Johnson to Obama for the debt in the present & the hyperinflation in your future. Old guys like me will be long gone when the SHTF in a few years, but you’ll still be here to suffer because of congress’ out-of-control spending, mostly since January 20, 2009.
The problem with Uncle Sam’s Americans’ economy is the “swamp” of regulations facing new & old businesses, today (According to the Brookings Institution, more American businesses are dying than are being born.). The democrat-controlled congress’ Dodd-Frank Act (2010) alone added 848 pages to the 39-page Glass-Steagall Act… along with 22,000 pages of additional regulations!
With this kudzu blocking your path, it is hard to set up a new U.S. business. And without new businesses, GDP growth in America stagnates as many firms move overseas & jobs disappear. Congressional over-regulation & over-taxation kills American jobs. A corrupt, free-spending congress is not the only reason that America can default on its debt, anytime, in the future. Congressional red tape is also killing Uncle Sam’s America. Prepare yourself. Don’t be blindsided when the SHTF.
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Finance Story 4
Art Youmans, “Benefits from the Experience of Others,” May 30, 2017
Whenever you buy any common stock, like Apple (APPL) or Silver Wheaton (SLW) or hundreds of others, always consider having a trailing stop. Also, use trailing stops when you buy options. I always buy call (LEAP) options as they offer less risk than dangerous put options.
A trailing stop can keep you from losing your entire principal or profit in a stock & worked well for me in 2016 in SLW. It can work well for you, too.
The following example shows how a trailing stop works.
Joe buys 1,000 shares of Silver Wheaton at $20 a share for $20,000 + commission. He decides to protect his principal, so he mentally places a 20% trailing stop order on his stock. Therefore, he plans to sell Silver Wheaton if the stock price ever falls 20% to $16 a share.
A volatile common stock, Silver Wheaton rallied to $30 a share 366 days later. Since he has a 50% profit on SLW, Joe decides to raise his trailing stop to $24 a share, which would be a 20% trailing stop
.
If the common stock ever rose to 40, Joe would have raised his trailing stop to about $32 a share. However, demand for silver suddenly slackened & the common stock fell like a rock to below $24 a share.
As soon as SLW fell to $24 a share, Joe sold the stock for a $4,000 profit which is a profit of 20%.
Research trailing stops on the Internet or library or ask your broker about them.
I lost my shirt by NOT using trailing stops in the 1990s, when technology stocks were making millionaires out of speculators, using borrowed (margin) money. I was one of these foolish margin speculators who defied the law of gravity: “what goes up, eventually goes down.”
Not being a complete fool, I learned my lesson about 17 years ago & now always use trailing stops. My advice for you is to not be a complete fool in 2017 like I was in the late 1990s.
A smart person learns from the sad experience of others.
Essentially, you’re playing Russian roulette with a loaded pistol whenever you don’t use a trailing stop when you buy common stock or options.
Good luck! Benefit from the mistakes of others.
Multiculturalism: Bending over backwards with political correctness to accommodate the heritage of new immigrants, rather than creating a melting pot atmosphere where immigrants are forced to assimilate (learn the language & customs in 3 years or go back home), will cause a tremendous future loss of life around the world.
Throughout Europe, Muslim immigrant communities live in ghettos, keep their culture separate while accepting citizenship & welfare from their new country. There are sections of Paris, Sweden, Belgium & Great Britain that are dangerous for non-Muslims, especially women, to walk through.
Islamic suicide bombers, once confined to the Middle East, are now common in all politically-correct countries, like Great Britain & France. The recent Manchester, England, Islamic suicide attack killed 22 people. Just remember this statement: “The more Middle Eastern immigrants a politically-correct country admits, the more of its citizens will die in terror attacks.” My advice is to never take a vacation trip to Europe or any other area that practices multiculturalism. It’s potentially- dangerous to your life, in my opinion.
However, since 3% of worldwide Muslims believe that the only good Infidel (who doesn’t convert to Islam) is a dead one, & a killer of Infidels has a reserved place in heaven with his 72 virgins, common sense would dictate that folks from terrorist countries (especially men from 17-40) should be screened before being admitted to any European or Western Hemisphere country. In Britain, polls show that 20% of Muslims sympathize with the brainwashed suicide bombers.
Allowing unscreened, brainwashed-to-hate-Infidels young 1st or 2nd-generation men & women from the Middle East into a country of trusting Infidels is insanity, as far as I’m concerned. These brainwashed morons are ticking time bombs. It’s as smart as a politically-correct farmer inviting hungry wolves into his hen house. Don’t allow America to become Britain & Europe. European Muslim birthrate is 6 times greater in non-Muslim France & many other EU countries, so also expect a Muslim political takeover at the ballot box within the next 2 or 3 generations.
“If you take the time to look, as I have, you’ll see small increases over time that have added up to incredible price increases. Since 1990 in the USA: “Beef prices have risen 80%. Chicken prices are up almost 240%. Cocoa prices have almost tripled, up around 300%. Coffee prices have nearly doubled — a 100% rise. Corn prices are up 60%. Bananas are up 40%.
Do you think these huge increases have occurred because these commodities have become somehow more valuable? No. It’s because the value of your dollar is so much less than what it was. “Why? Because the government keeps printing money (to pay for pork to keep them (Congress) in office) and the more they print the less it’s worth! And it gets worse. “Inflation numbers (issued by Uncle Sam) are just LIES.
“The truth is the government always “cooks the books” by changing how inflation is measured. For example, did you know that the government numbers for inflation do NOT include food, energy, and housing? “(SOURCE: Bob Livingston Alerts, May 25, 2017)
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Finance Story 5
Art Youmans “Banks Are Unsafe” 7 March 2017
Tip for the Future
Diversify Your Assets. Spread your investments around. Never put all your assets in one place, like a bank, which keeps only about 3% of assets in the bank to meet daily transactions.
Due to the fact that they have a history of going belly-up, like they did in 1932 & almost did in 2008, keep most of your assets out of the bank. In my opinion, keeping your dough under your mattress is as safe as keeping it in a bank or bank’s safe deposit box.
Why? Read the article below:
“In a scathing editorial published in the Wall Street Journal today, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Neel Kashkari, blasted US banks, saying that they still lacked sufficient capital to withstand a major crisis. “Kashkari makes a great analogy. When you’re applying for a mortgage or business loan, sensible banks are supposed to demand a 20% down payment from their borrowers. If you want to buy a $500,000 home, a conservative bank will loan creditworthy borrowers $400,000. The borrower must be able to scratch together a $100,000 down payment. But when banks make investments and buy assets, they aren’t required to do the same thing.
“Remember that when you deposit money at a bank, you’re essentially loaning them your savings. As a bank depositor, you’re the lender. The bank is the borrower. Banks pool together their deposits and make various loans and investments. They buy government bonds, financial commercial trade, and fund real estate purchases. Some of their investment decisions make sense. Others are completely idiotic, as we saw in the 2008 financial meltdown.
“But the larger point is that banks don’t use their own money to make these investments. They use other people’s money. Your money.
“A bank’s investment portfolio is almost entirely funded with its customers’ savings. Very little of the bank’s own money is at risk.
“You can see the stark contrast here. If you as an individual want to borrow money to invest in something, you’re obliged to put down 20%, perhaps even much more depending on the asset. Your down payment provides a substantial cushion for the bank; if you stop paying the loan, the value of the property could decline 20% before the bank loses any money.
“But if a bank wants to make an investment, they typically don’t have to put down a single penny….” Original Source (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-16/fed-president-admits-us-banks-have-only-half-equity-they-need) FED PRESIDENT: US Banks Have Only ‘Half the Equity They Need’ February 16, 2017 3 Comments (http://www.libertyheadlines.com/fed-president-us-banks-half-equity-need/#disqus_thread)
In 2008, when most banks were about to go belly-up, the U.S. Treasury assumed all their debt, keeping them from closing their doors & quoting the phrase “they’re too big to fail.” At that time the U.S. National Debt was only about $10.6 trillion & the country was prosperous.
From 2008 to 2017, inept politicians have nearly doubled the U.S. National Debt to over $19.8 trillion & the country is dead broke. No longer can this country bail out its bankers, gambling your money on derivatives & other risky speculations, while expecting to be bailed out, again, by the government.
Government spending is like a runaway freight train, fully without brakes,-loaded with TNT, on a downhill slope, running full throttle. Somewhere in the future, within the next 5 years or so, a brick wall built across the tracks will stop this train.
Unless President Trump can greatly-cut congressional spending, starting NOW, banks as you know them now will be closed by 2022. When they reopen, your account will have a zero balance, just like bank depositors had in 1932.
I believe that the U.S. dollar is doomed & will also be replaced by some type of world currency before then, perhaps as early as the end of this year. (It never happened.)
You have a bunch of politically-correct spendthrifts in Congress, whose vote is often for sale to the highest bidder. (Think, Monsanto!). These politicians must be stopped or your assets will disappear.
President Donald J. Trump may be a miracle man, but it will be a Herculean task to drain the swamp in congress of these free-spending, corrupt congressmen & congresswomen who have been, annually, running up a nearly a trillion-dollar a-year-debt since President Obama took the presidency on January 20, 2009.
Because of congressional overspending, I’m willing to give you 2 to 1 odds that the currency you’ll have in your wallets & pocketbooks in 2022 will be a new world currency, not the bankrupt U.S. dollar…and that you’ll be lucky to get 80 cents on the dollar when you go to your reopened bank to exchange your dollars, that you had at home, for the world currency.
Also because of congressional overspending, unless a miracle occurs to stop these maniacs, you’d be smart to buy a bit of gold or silver, in bars or coins, just in case President Trump is unable to drain the swamp in the House of Representatives. I don’t believe that even God could stop these congressional maniacs from overspending your tax money.
U.S. voters in each state seldom vote the bums out of office, so prepare yourself for what will be a likely bad-for-your-wallet scenario within the next couple of years. Unfortunately, congressional incumbents are re-elected 95% of the time.
It’s another sad fact about American politicians. Termites, rats & politicians are difficult to get rid of!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Finance Story 6
Art Youmans “Financial & Legal Icebergs Ahead” 19 April 2016
The United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan & most of Europe are up to their necks in debt. Like the HMS Titanic
, it’s just a matter of time before they all hit a (financial) iceberg.
About 46 out of 50 U.S. states, including Oklahoma, are in debt. The U.S. Social Security system is also broke because of Congress using the excess money paid into it for pork & replacing the billions of dollars they have “borrowed” (AKA stolen) with worthless IOUs.
Many economists expect a financial panic to take place in the U.S.A., soon, because Congress & President Obama’s adding over 8 trillion dollars in the past 7 years to the skyrocketing U.S. $18+ trillion U.S. National Debt & off-books debt obligations (e.g. future government pensions) exceed another $200 trillion,)
When this financial panic takes place, there will be a run on the banks, similar to what took place in the U.S. in 1932 during The Depression. Inflation will follow.
When bank runs occur, banks close down for weeks or months. The reason is that a typical bank keeps only 6% of deposits on hand. When they run out of depositor funds to return to depositors they close down, sometimes permanently. This scenario almost happened in 2008.
You may think that the FDIC will guarantee your bank account, but remember that the FDIC keeps only 1% of deposits on hand at any one time.
So you won’t be blindsided when a mounting U.S. National Debt causes banks to close, keep survival cash (in small bills, like $20s, $10s, $5s, & $1s) for a month or more, junk silver, gold & silver bars & coins, food & water hidden in your home or attic or buried in the backyard.
When financial chaos came in 1932, many banks closed & depositors lost their money. (My Dad lost his life savings of $250.) History could repeat itself, soon, maybe even later this year, when the Chinese Yuan becomes a World Reserve Currency competing with the U.S. Dollar.
This country’s financial condition is a time bomb that could go off anytime, If you are able, try to insulate yourself from the time, in the next few years, when everything hits the fan. If you do, when the SHTF, you will be the rare survivor.
The government’s attacks on our privacy and liberties are growing fiercer, and too few people (who can do something about it) are raising alarms. We are getting accustomed to police-state tactics at airports, as the government’s power to control us has increased, incrementally every year since the Patriot Act was signed after 9/11/2001.
The Obamacare law was barely-passed by a democrat-controlled congress & signed by President Obama & approved by a 5-4 vote by the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing government to eventually provide socialized medicine, which has proven a disaster for patients whenever it is government-controlled by red-tape, paper pushing bureaucrats.
The Phoenix VA, which led to numerous veteran deaths by its red-tape & bogus bonus system for denying benefits, is an example of what Obamacare will become.
In fact, we’re dealing with a government that is continuously sneaking new laws to control Americans into massive bills, so that legislation passes, often without the public’s knowledge. We’re also dealing with a Machiavellian president who signed Executive Order #13,684, (on 12/18/2014) allowing him to declare martial law at any time & even suspend elections.
Other Trends in The Economy: “It’s not my fault, Judge!”
If you drive a car & are involved in a traffic accident, expect the unexpected.
Former New Orleans Saints’ defensive end Will Smith didn’t expect the unexpected after his car was recently rear-ended by a crackpot driving a Hummer. After the accident, the moron shot Smith multiple times in the back & then claimed he killed Smith in self-defense.
If the crackpot gets a high-priced, high-profile Johnnie Cochran-style lawyer & an “O.J. Simpson Jury” maybe he’ll wrongly get off scot-free for murder, too, like Simpson did in the mid-1990s.
Back in 1973, Judy Z drove her car through a green traffic light in Tahlequah & was broadsided on the driver’s side by another car. Unconscious, she was transported to a local hospital. Judy (a co-worker) awoke & saw a $200 traffic ticket in her purse for driving through a red light.
Furious, Judy showed up in court to argue that the lady who broadsided her should have received the citation. However, since the lady who broadsided her had a witness to the accident (her sister), & the witness also lied to say Judy ran the red light, Judy was ruled the offender by the judge who fined her $200 plus court costs. This indicates that there are plenty of folks out there who will lie like Hell to avoid finding themselves at fault. Politicians aren’t the only liars around.
NOTE: Bestselling author Peter Schiff isn't a bit optimistic about your financial future.
Mr. Schiff believes that an economic hurricane will soon make landfall - regardless of who wins the White House, after the Chinese Yuan begins to compete with the U.S. dollar later this year. Anyone on a fixed income is most vulnerable to this financial tsunami, which could begin, soon.
Schiff and hundreds of other financial experts expect financial fireworks to impact American pocketbooks in the near future, mostly because of outrageous, out-of-control spending by congress & the president since 2009.
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Finance Story 7
Art Youmans, 2 May 2017, “An Easy Way to Predict the Future”
The FUTURE is where you will spend the rest of your life.
If you’re an old guy, like me, you spend most of your time thinking of the past, when your spouse, you & friends had happy times together.
However, if you’re young (anyone less than 60), you should spend most of your free time thinking & planning for the future.
Below, are some financial facts about the future of which you may be unaware.
Approximately 40% of American workers have absolutely nothing saved for retirement! Pension funds in the U.S.A. are underfunded by about SIX TRILLION DOLLARS! Social Security is just a giant Ponzi scheme that is going broke. Automation & millions on food stamps & other forms of welfare have resulted in fewer workers paying Social Security taxes while Baby Boomers are retiring by the tens of millions, heading America into a mayor financial disaster by 2030 or sooner. Governments of the major high-tax, high-deficit nations, like the U.S.A., have the same problem.
Germany & France will soon be limiting your personal privacy & financial freedom with new laws that allow the IRS (& its equivalent in Europe) more access into your financial affairs, to combat what they call “motax. Be aware that large sums of money (over $1,000) are routinely confiscated by rent-a-cops at airports & by cops at traffic stops. The U.S. Supreme Court recently approved this confiscation. So, be careful traveling with cash!
If you’re wise like 60% of Americans, you’ll plan for your financial future. If you don’t save for the future, I wish you are lucky-enough to win the mega-lottery. Be like the ant & not the grasshopper in the famous “Aesop Fable,” “The Ant & the Grasshopper,” which shows the virtue of hard work & planning for the future by the ant when winter (like retirement) eventually arrives.
Below, are some suggestions for your well-being in the future.
Stock up on batteries. When the lights go out, you’ll thank me for the suggestion. The U.S. power grid is so old & vulnerable, & it’s just a matter of time before terrorists like ISIS or Al-Queda or North Korea or Iran destroy it & the lights & power go off, possibly for as long as 18 months
. Destroying only 9 of the U.S.’ 55,000 power stations, like al-Queda did in Yemen, a few years ago, would do the trick. Politically-correct U.S. media refuses to inform Americans about Islamic terrorist arsenals seized from secret terrorist arsenals in Europe. Spanish police seized 10,000 weapons in January including anti-aircraft guns, howitzers & hand grenades. (SOURCE: “Warning America,” April 22. 2017, eheadlines.com)
These were enough weapons & ammunition to equip an entire division of 1,500 soldiers for battle.
.Only an Ostrich wouldn’t think that what happens in Europe won’t happen in the U.S.A. It will & soon. My suggestion is to have double locks on your doors, solar lights on your home & a good home-defense system with plenty of ammo. It wouldn’t hurt to stock up on canned food & water. When the SHTF, it’s “every man for himself.” The world of the future will be similar, soon, to former ultra-liberal Sweden in May, 2017. Sweden, a small country of 10 million people, has finally realized after the April 7th Stockholm Islamic terrorist attack that unscreened mass immigration from the Middle East in 2015 wasn’t such a good idea.
Sweden is already more than 2% Islamic & finds that its Middle East population has caused deadly unforeseen consequences by killing Swedes. Expect more countries, including the U.S.A. to greatly curtail welcoming unscreened immigrants from the Middle East.
However, it is already too late. Tens of millions of immigrants are already in Europe. When your grandkids go to Europe in 50 years, they better be able to speak Arabic, unless the maniacs in Iran haven’t blown the world up by then. (Up until now, Sweden accepted more migrants per capita than any European country.
This insane (multi-cultural) policy changed after April 7th.) Partially due to the flood of Middle East immigrants on Europe’s welfare rolls, & partially due to political overspending by govment officials, I expect to see more countries vote to leave the European Union (EU), like Britain just voted to do over a five year period. Italy may be the next to leave the EU. Italy’s banks are as bankrupt as Greek Banks
. France could also leave the EU if Marine le Pen wins her May 7th election. Le Pen wants to deport “African immigrants who are living in tent camps & cardboard boxes everywhere in France.” She says these people are not self-supporting & are destroying French culture, plus they often kill French citizens in Islamic Terror Attacks. In the future, expect more civil forfeiture by law officers at traffic stops & airports
. In 2014, law officers seized $5 billion from U.S. citizens through civil forfeiture. Americans carrying more than $1,000 cash can have it confiscated by the cops as suspected drug money, or money can be seized from your bank account for “suspicious” deposits. Be aware that you have to protect yourself in many ways…both from the bad guys who rob you illegally as well as the good guys who rob you legally. (SOURCE: Mark Nestmann, investments, nestman.com, April 29.2017, “Feds Steal More from U.S. Citizens than Burglars in 2014.”)
Finance Story 8
Art Youmans "Anything Goes with Politicians" 17 May 2016
Have you heard of negative interest rates? If you haven't, you are in for a shock sometime within the next few months or years when this new bank account tax comes to America.
Even the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, Janet Yellen recently said negative interest rates aren't "off the table" in the U.S.A. In normal times, like 1776 to the present, banks pay you interest on your deposits.
This is called positive interest rates. I recall getting 4% interest on my U.S. Army bank deposits in the mid-1950s. Currently, you get hardly any interest on bank deposits or CDs. Now, irresponsible U.S. politicians have wrecked the economy with out-of-control spending & nearly doubling the U.S. National Debt from $10.6 trillion since 20 January 2009 to $19.2 trillion+ today
. Overseas, irresponsible & corrupt politicians have done the same in many countries, including Japan & Greece. In order to stimulate the economy, idiot politicians, in Greece, Japan etc., instead of cutting their out-of-control spending, are trying to stimulate consumer spending by passing crazy negative interest rate laws annually-taxing your money deposited in a bank, savings & loan, credit union, stock market etc.
This is essentially a wealth tax, like they've had in socialist countries, like Norway (which has a 2% wealth tax) for many years. NOTE: The value of your home, car, boat etc, will eventually be included in this annual tax. Disregard lying politicians who will say that it won't.
Congressmen & the President said the same thing when the super-rich (top 1% of Americans with annual incomes over $500,000) were 1st taxed in 1913
. In my opinion, this new annual tax (negative interest rates), when imposed, will lead to millions of U.S.A. folks pulling their money out of a bank & other places & selling assets to avoid paying the tax. This already happened in Japan when foolish politicians imposed negative interest rates on savings.
Citizens immediately pulled their dough from the bank, locking it up at home, causing an explosion of safe sales & a likelihood of future bank closings. Currently, American banks hold $11.1 trillion in checking & savings accounts.
However, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve, there are only about $1.4 trillion paper dollars in circulation in the U.S.A. If even 15% of depositors took their cash from their bank when politicians pass negative interest rate taxes, the U.S. banking system would collapse, like Greece's did, last year, when Greek banks closed for 20 straight days.
Greeks without any cash or food at home were helpless for almost 3 weeks during the Greek bank run, which forced banks to close when they ran out of dough. I don't trust the current U.S. government & believe that they could impose negative interest rates on American savings, soon.
Therefore my advice is to have an emergency backup plan in the event of a bank run, like they had in Greece & may have shortly in Japan. If possible, have enough cash (in small bills like ($10s & $20s) stashed in your house to last for at least 3 months. Hide it in attic insulation, bury some in the backyard in sealed PVC pipes. in book safes, under the mattress etc.
Also, keep a stash of a month's supply of canned or bulk food on hand like Spam, Tuna dried fruit etc. Canned tuna can last a few years (I've eaten some 3-1/2 years old).
. Dried dates & figs can last a few years, too. I buy my fruit (mostly dates at $2.21/pound & Turkish figs at $3.32/pound) in bulk (25 ro 28 pounds or so at a time) on the Internet for about 35% of Tulsa retail price at www.ifsbulk.com
Store back-up water,too, just in case the electrical power grid collapses from old age & no repairs or a radical Islamic attack, like Yemen's power grid did in 2014
You can live only 3 to 4 days without water..
Under Obama, politicians are too busy spending infrastructure money on pork so they can be reelected, &, like magicians, distracting/misdirecting naive voters with politically-correct regulations, like transgender bathrooms, instead of strengthening the U.S. power grid or protecting our open borders from terrorist infiltration.
QUESTION: "Ever wonder how water will get from the reservoir to your home faucets during a power outage caused by a radical Islamic attack on transformers in only 9 (out of 55,000) U.S. power stations.?"
ANSWER: "It won't." In my opinion,
Alfred E. Neuman would do a much better job running this country than any of the scoundrels in congress or the White House, who have been screwing up the economy & screwing your future, since 20 January 2009. Until you vote them out of office, they will continue to screw you with new taxes & police-state laws.
A campaign ad for Alfred E. Neuman appeared on the December 1976 back cover of "MAD" magazine, when he unofficially ran for President against Jimmy Carter.
Unfortunately for America, an incompetent & misguided Carter, who kicked out The Shah of Iran, brought radical Islam back to 1979 Iran from France & annual inflation of over 15% to America in the late 1970,, won the election.
The End
Finance Story 9
Art Youmans, “Advice to Survive the Future,” 22 March 2016
Many business reports on the Internet forecast bad financial times ahead for you & me.
Most (45 out of 50) states are broke, congress & the president are spending money (much of it for pork) faster than drunken sailors, most western nations (including the USA) are close to bankruptcy (AKA default), & most of the clear-skies-ahead forecasts of prosperity ahead coming from Washington, D.C. are lies.
It’s obvious to me that there will be bad times ahead for you & me. The problem is knowing exactly when the bad financial times will begin. Some feel they have already begun.
When the SHTF, it will strike without warning, probably on a weekend when bank are closed (to prevent a run on the banks.).
Therefore, consider this e-mail as a weather forecast for a coming Financial Hurricane.
My advice is:
Make sure each of your outside doors has a heavy-duty bolt lock on it & you have plenty of ammo for your defensive weapons.
Remember that humans can live only 3-4 days without water so store a week or more supply of water for each person in your family.
Canned food can last a few years so buy a few dozen cans of tuna, Spam, dried fruit & nuts etc. You can live a few months or so without food as long as you drink water.
Keep spare cash hidden in your house, for example, under the attic insulation.
When SHTF, like it did in Cyprus in 2013, banks closed for a few weeks. Most financial experts believe that, at some point in the future, congress will pass a law forcing you to convert your retirement IRA’s & 401K’s into its worthless U.S. Treasury Bonds. If there is a way for you to prevent this from happening, consider doing it before it is too late.
All that I am suggesting is that you follow the advice of a wise man named Will Rogers”
“TRUST EVERYONE BUT CUT THE CARDS”
The End
Finance Story 10
Art Youmans “If I Were Rich…” 31 December 2013
According to Wikipedia (The Free Online Encyclopedia), the top 1% with annual incomes of $250,000 or more, are rich.
According to the IRS, anyone who dies in 2013 pays NO estate tax (a tax on the rich) unless they are rich & their estate exceeds $5.25 million.
In contrast, the IRS considers anyone winning $5,000 or more in a lottery as rich & hits them with a 25% federal withholding tax plus states also tax lottery winnings.
The highest taxes on the rich’s lottery winnings are in New York City where the state & city taxes total about 12.5% for a total of 37.5% tax on the rich lottery winners.
The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) considers someone rich if they have over a million dollars of net worth. (assets minus liabilities = net worth)
My definition of RICH is someone with both a $250,000 annual income & over $3 million in net worth.
In California, because of inflation, a 3-bedroom home that cost $20,000 in 1960 might be valued at $1 million or more, today.
One thing is certain. When you are rich, there are a lot of folks, both in & not in the government, who are interested in stealing your riches, as shown below, with Jackson Barnett in the early 1900s.
JJackson Barnett, an illiterate & incompetent Creek Indian, became the world’s RICHEST Indian after the discovery of oil & gas on his 160-acre-&-a-mule government allotment in Drumright, Creek County near Cushing, Oklahoma
. After 265 Creek Indians had inspected & selected their 160-acre farm land allotments, one rocky hill remained unclaimed, since it was unsuitable for farming.
So the U.S. Department of the Interior completed the last of their 266 land allotments to the missing Barnett, who, at the time was reported to be dead drunk, somewhere in California, & unavailable.
Serendipity struck Barnett like a Mega-Lottery winner when the Glenn Pool oil & gas field was located in 1905 right in the middle of Jackson Barnett’s rocky hill.
By dumb luck, overnight, Jackson Barnett, like Cinderella, went from cleaning houses & stables to become the richest Indian in the United States.
Although much of his tens of millions of oil & gas royalty dollars were stolen by crooked lawyers, judges, land speculators & retailers (who crooked judges named as trustees of Barnett’s estate), Jackson still had more than a million dollars in his estate when he died, while living in his mansion in Los Angeles
. It is believed that he was the model for the popular TV series, “The Beverly Hills Hillbillies.” He founded Bacone College in Muskogee.
Jackson Barnett is proof that when you are RICH, there are numerous crooks & con men who are willing & able to relieve you of some if not all of your riches. If Jackson Barnett’s wife (who was rumored to have been married to 3 other men without getting any divorces) had not retained an honest lawyer, Barnett would likely have died penniless & Bacone College might not have been founded.
* * *
If I had a $250,000 annual income, was under 70, & at least $3 million net worth, I’d see an International Tax Attorney, immediately, & ask him, “Get me the hell out of here ASAP before the government taxes me to death or goes so broke that the U.S. dollar becomes worthless.” (I’m convinced that both events will happen, sometime, without warning, within the next ten years.)
When the personal income tax was 1stproposed in 1913, Congress promised the American public that only the top 1% of Americans (earning $500,000 or more annually) would be taxed.
You know how that lie turned out.
No matter what politicians say to the gullible public, the next decade will bring new higher taxes, fewer jobs other than burger flipping, more welfare & inflation (not 4-6% annual inflation like today but hyperinflation), food riots when welfare checks bounce & chaos in the streets from unruly mobs of desperate folks.
Without at least a loaded weapon for self-defense, you will be as ill-prepared for self-preservation as George Armstrong Custer was in 1876 when his band of 250 soldiers attacked & then was surrounded by 6,000 Souix.
After the battle, many of the Souix warriors did what the super rich are doing as fast as possible, today…
they moved out of the country to Canada.
The only firms & people getting rich over the next ten years will those who are politically-connected (think GE, GM, unions, trial lawyers, Solyandra, AARP, Bill Clinton, George Soros, Barack Obama & Al Gore.)
Read Orwell’s novel, “Animal Farm,” to be able to visualize America before 2023.
When riots occur, since supermarkets have only a three (3) day supply of food, both food & water will be worth their weight in gold. Stock up on extra canned food & water for future emergencies caused by an out-of-control, free-spending bureaucratic government that neither you or I can stop.
Rich folks create tens of millions more jobs than do poor folks. With rich folks being driven from this country by oppressive taxation & threats of increased taxes, the unemployment rolls will greatly increase, creating even more poor folks. The U.S. will continue to borrow/print money to fund its out-of-control spending.
(NOTE: over 1/3 of the $17 trillion U.S. National Debt was incurred by the idiots in Washington during the past 3 years.)
Anyone not aware that the Washington bureaucrats are bankrupting the country in order to rebuild it (like the Phoenix rising from the ashes) as a socialistic EU country like Greece, Cyprus or France. or the old Soviet Union or Mao’s China, has his/her head is in the sand.
Thinking like an ostrich is not good for your financial health in this perilous economy
. If you believe the reports of a robust economy that you read about & hear about in the government-controlled media (ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, “Tulsa World,” “NY Times” etc.), you are the perfect patsy for investing in a hedge fund that was run by an inmate, serving a 150-year sentence in a North Carolina prison, named Bernie Madoff.
The End
Art Youmans, "CAVEAT EMPTOR," 2009 , 522 words
,
Inflation is a problem for folks, especially senior citizens, who have a fixed income from Social Security and/or a non-inflation-related pension.
Hyperinflation (out-of-control inflation from printing too much paper (fiat) money, like the U.S. Treasury is doing now) will be a catastrophe for anyone living on a fixed income. You may remember stories of Germans going to the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread, in 1923, pushing a wheel barrel full of 100,000 mark paper currency.
Not only are senior citizens (folks over 55+) under attack by rising food & energy price inflation but they are also hit by falling home prices when they finally sell their home (deflation).
The only suggestion I have is to have a couple of rolls of $1 coins for emergencies stored in a safe place, like a safe deposit box. When paper money loses its buying power, coins should be able to buy more for your everyday needs. If you can afford it, think about investing a small sum in gold coins, like the 1986 $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion coins which come in ¼, ½, ¾. and 1-ounce sizes.
****
Tens of thousands of folks have been scammed by thousands of crooks and con-men, so be careful of where you put your assets.
Examples of a few bad investments are shown, below: General Motors corporate bonds used to pay about 8% annually. When GM went bankrupt, in 2009, the bonds became worthless. Many investment advisors recommended these bonds to senior citizens before 2009. (Even my lawyer recommended GM bonds as a good investment, but, fortunately I never took his advice in 2004.)
.Swindler Bernie Madoff conned $65 billion from tens of thousands of folks around the world and is currently serving his 150-year sentence in a large federal prison, the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, N.C., about 30 miles north of Raleigh. (SOURCE: “The Wall Street Journal,” 14 July 2009, page C1)
Madoff will be joining other white-collar crime crooks at this medium-to-low-security prison.
Some of these people include: Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas & his son (found guilty of securities fraud in 2004), former Rite Aid Corp. Vice Chairman Franklin Brown (serving 10 years), Al Parish (ran a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of $66 million) . (SOURCE: “The Wall Street Journal,” 14 July 2009, page C1) and hundreds of non-violent thieves, con men, politicians and other crooks who separated the public from its money and were apprehended before they fled to Brazil to join the Mustang Ranch’s Joe Conforte (who owes the IRS taxes on $18+ million) or to Switzerland to join Saddam’s buddy, former oil-trader Mark Rich (who owes taxes on $100 million or so).
Every once in a while even a prominent lawyer gets sentenced to 20 years in prison for fraud. New York attorney Marc Dreier cheated individual & corporate investors out of $400+ million. (SOURCE: “Tulsa World,” 14 July 2009, page E2) .
Who can you trust when money is involved?
THE ANSWER: “No One but Yourself.”
.
Let the buyer beware! CAVEAT EMPTOR !
The End
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