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Blowing It Scenario #57-Shorting Stocks.

Betting against growth.

Tesla’s stock recently plunged because of an accident with one of it’s vehicles. Making those that shorted Tesla’s stock $1.8 billion over night. The action of shorting a stock isn’t necessarily blowing it in my eyes. It’s part of the market and it makes people a lot of money. Just go back to the housing market crash in 2007 and 2008. There you will see the people who were shorting stocks, were the only people making money. I do think it’s a failure to allow shorting in the first place. You are literally making a regressive bet of failure. You want to see that company crumble. And while it does, you reap the rewards. It’s a side bet against progress.

Tesla is making innovative leaps and bounds towards what one would hope will be a better future. They have improved electric car capabilities, they are working towards complete autonomous cars and semi trucks. It remains to be seen if self driving cars will be a massive failure of economy, when it displaces a majority of the work force. But we’re not quite there yet. Either way you swing it, it’s progress. Why bet against it unless you are rooting for it to fail? And in the case that you are doing exactly that, well you may just find pessimism might be a close ally to you as well.

The other area of concern is the fact that on very rare occasions people are dying at the hands of this new technology. An absolute tragedy with each event that occurs. And in an ideal world, progress would be made with no loss of life. However we don’t live in an ideal work. The early tragedies will give way to massive breakthroughs and prevention of accidents to many more in the future. When the first airplanes took off crashes were a common occurrences. Loss of life was tremendous but as the years progressed and technology improved that loss became minuscule. And now it’s rare to ever hear of anyone dying in a plane crash. This is the promising future we may get to enjoy when invention is improved upon. With each iteration the process gains depth of knowledge and all of a sudden one day we just magically live in a world with no automobile crashes. There may be some hiccups along the way. That is to be expected it’s sometimes the price of growth. But betting against future progress is a bet of failure.



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Blowing It Scenario #50-Valuing Wants And Needs Equally.

A Failure To Budget And Properly Value An Items Worth.

Is it a want or a need? A question I consistently ask myself when making a new purchase. A question I recommend you ask yourself before any major life decision. I have always been very good at saving. And to properly save, it helps to begin with this question in mind. Saving is just a matter of bringing in more then you are sending out. Many of us want the big immaculate house, the luxury cars, ability to dine at the finest restaurants. The comfort of knowing all our wants and needs will forever be covered. In order to achieve higher aspirations you either must save more or make more.

Some of us may not want any of that but we all know that everyone has essential needs. And those needs are food, clothing, shelter, water and the air we breathe. In survival their is the rule of three. Without air you can only survive about three minutes, without shelter in a harsh environment you can potentially perish within three hours, without water three days, and without food three weeks. These items are the bare essentials. These are our needs, beyond any reasonable forms of these basic items, are where our wants reside. Wants are often socially influenced. Your friend just bought a new car, or house or they remodeled their kitchen and bathroom. Now you feel you need to have a new car, or a new better house. If you can’t find that, surely you’ll feel better if you remodel your current living space. Because the desire to keep up socially is so powerful. Their is a term to this, it’s called keeping up with the Joneses. We have all felt that urge at some point or another. Other then your friends, the media and advertising is another one of the biggest culprits of driving these desires. But I urge you to resist those temptation, it’s all fabricated. You feel the need for more but it’s really just selfish desire. A want masquerading as a need.

We should never ever fund any wants with debt either. You never truly own anything that has been purchased with other peoples money. At least not until those people are paid off. Usually by then your wants have shifted and you have found a new shiny toy that becomes the object of your desire. Sure debt payments may fit your budget at the time but at what cost? Your never free if you owe someone money. It’s a burden that eats a way at you and your savings. Own everything you buy. Buy your with car with cash, pay for travel with cash, pay for all wants in cash, and in doing so you will never live beyond your means. Now a house is a tricky proposition, not many have hundreds of thousands of dollars just lying around and we do need shelter. The question then becomes how much do I really need and can I be satisfied with renting? I always err on the side of caution and minimalism. If your wants and desires drive you into a home where your leveraged to the hilt with mortgage payments. The stress of that payment can do far more damage then settling for something more reasonable. If you want bigger find a way to make more money.

As for clothing, enough to cover your limbs and torso should be sufficient enough. No need for high priced brand names that claim you have more money then your fellow clothes wearing companions. On the subject of water, water is really all you need. High priced lattes and other beverages are simply wants. Granted drinks aren’t going to break the bank and water isn’t necessarily free either but they do add up and it helps to recognize even the smallest expenses have a impact on your psyche, especially when it comes to the last item, food. Food, similar to water doesn’t really have much room for savings, but we can remove the unnecessary excesses we think we need. The chips, the cookies, the soda, all the poor snack foods that don’t add value and usually leave you more hungry in the long run. If you do have bad habits when it comes to food and drink those poor habits may continue into other parts of life, especially when it comes to purchases. Removing them creates a pattern of success that transcends into other areas of your personal growth. Just start with the question, is it a want or a need. If it’s a want, the next question becomes, how can I provide more value in order to afford my desires?



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Blowing It Scenario #45-Supreme Court Ruling Of Citizen United Is Basically Equal to Russian Meddling In Our Elections

President Said He Would Crack Down On Russian Meddling In U.S. Elections He Should Start With Over Turning Citizens United.

I love this constant talk about Russian Meddling in our elections. I think it’s absolutely hilarious how the media paints a picture of some other country messed up our elections process and now is at fault for our unhappiness in the new state of affairs. It’s a completely ridiculous argument to incite vitriol, anger, and anti-Russian sentiment. It’s our own ignorance that skips over the fact that the worst perpetrators of election meddling is our very own “domestic” companies. I say domestic but that is a term used loosely.

You can be an international company with a corporation based in the United States Of America and that company would be considered a an American citizen. And that “American Citizen” company, would then be allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money to elect the official that will best support their corporate agenda. Take this for a hypothetical example. Anheuser-Busch the makers of Budweiser are considered an American corporation. However they are fully owner under the Anheuser Inbev umbrella. A multi nation conglomerate who is based in Brazil and Belguim. Now if Budweiser had a candidate they thought would best set rules and laws that would help their business. They could then pour billions of dollars into trying to get their candidate elected. How is this not meddling from foreign interest? I’m not saying Anheuser Busch InBev did any of this. It’s just an example I use to demonstrate our very own Supreme court set the stage for anyone in the world to influence our elections. They don’t have to be a U.S. citizen (human citizen) they just have to maintain a corporation within the U.S. And they will be able to completely influence every election held. And our own countries elected officials gave them that right.

Maybe Russia has had their hand in our elections and then again maybe it’s just all fabricated. Just a seed planted in our minds to grow into us to actually wanting to fight with or go to war with Russia.  I hope that’s not the case. My question is what does Russia really have to gain? Did they receive any benefits what so ever from this election? Who knows maybe they are trying to create their own currency and cut out international banking. That will usually earn the ire of those in charge to push for war. Regardless of where you stand on Russia we have to get our own affairs in order first before we go blaming other countries and that begins with over turning the failed and flawed ruling of Citizen United.



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Blowing It Scenario #44-United Airlines Replacing It’s Performance Based Bonus With A Lottery

Now You Can Work Your Butt Off And Hope To Get Lucky.

This is so indicative of our economy and state of employment. Performance pay based on luck. United is essentially saying we don’t want to pay you for working hard, but we’re going to incentivize you with the idea that if you do work hard we just might pay you. It’s the same concept as an internship. Work hard for free so the employer can benefit from your hard work at zero cost. And just maybe at the end of it we’ll give you a job.

It’s a genius racket and one we all buy into, yes it does work out in the end for a select few. But many more will fail or worse yet greatly benefit the company it “works” for and receive no compensation at all ever. Maybe I’m just crazy to think our time is valuable and if we’re putting in time for another we should compensated for that time. We only have so much of it on this earth why would we want to waste it advancing some companies agenda while never receiving anything in return. It would be a beautiful system if we were all altruistic and groceries were free, housing was free, labor was free, gas was free and health care was free and we all just worked supporting one another at no cost. But that isn’t how our society is setup. We work to get paid so we can pay for housing, groceries, health care, gas and in some cases labor working for us.

We as patrons of United should all be able to fly for free right? We’ll just setup a lottery that will insure the airlines might get paid for travel cost. See how that works when the shoe is on the other foot? It simply doesn’t. Now if the fact is that their is just no money to pay bonuses that is a different story. However if we examine the executives pay and it’s 50 times the average earnings of the employees then their is money in the budget. It may be a crazy concept but I think we should pay the people that help our companies most, the workers.



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Blowing It Scenario #43-Trade Wars Are Here, Brace Yourself.

President Trump Wants To Raise Tariffs On Imported Steel And Aluminium.

This could very well set off a trade war with the rest of the world. I really don’t know how to feel about this. Both sides have a great argument. If we truly are losing billions in trade then it does make good business sense to cease these trades. On the other hand I imagine it can severely raise cost, not only to consumers but to all countries benefiting from trade with the U.S. Which in turn would create more reason for those other countries to retaliate and raise tariffs on U.S. products.

War is never a good word, it doesn’t matter what you are referencing. That is unless you are discussing the card game but even then, that game usually involves infighting and ends with someone holding all the cards. We have seen it countless times throughout history. Cold wars like trade wars or currency wars or nuclear armament, can often end in hot wars. In 1930’s Germany they began to institute protectionism as aspects of free market capitalism were viewed as failures to a nations sovereignty. They instituted public-works programs like autobahns, protected industry from foreign competition, expanded credit, instituted jobs programs, bullied the private sector on prices and production decisions, vastly expanded the military, enforced capital controls, instituted family planning, penalized smoking, brought about national healthcare and unemployment insurance, imposed education standards, and eventually ran huge deficits (mises.org). Which all seem great, and were to a country rebuilding a nation. However it most likely was the issuing of government backed credit that was their first major mistake and the beginning of their downfall. Their we’re much more horrific mistakes in the proceeding years. That is a whole other colossal failure topic. However for this article we’re discussing money and trade and when it comes to finances, the debt collector will as come calling.

Every war in history has been a battle over money you can spin it anyway but it all comes back to finance. It can be over land but that land usually has something of financial value. Or the land is strategically placed near a port or central to operations to obtain near by lands and their prosperity. Most people think the civil war was fought over slavery. This is simply not true, it was a financial war. Lincoln was issuing greenbacks throughout the nation (money back by the government) without any foreign interest. Which is a very protectionist stance against money lenders. However the war itself was over trade tariffs. Which put the country into insurmountable debt that the green backs had to be abandoned. Boston Tea Party, taxes. Hilter’s credit expansion. Napoleon Bonaparte and the french revolution again, began over taxation. Protectionism was instated to prevent further financial decay. Later introduced a government ran bank with new currency and ended in exile and death. The moneyed interest will always come for the pie. So although protectionism seems good for a country’s people and their sovereignty. Some entity, be it a country or a financial institute, with a lot more, will come for their share and usually win it. Often times at great loss. As long as the U.S. doesn’t try to issue their own money outside of central bank control. We should steer clear of a hot war. Good luck Venezuela with you government cryptocurrency. Those who introduce their own currency don’t usually fare well throughout history.



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Blowing It Scenario #21-Twitter’s Previous Failures Finally Amount To Success

Twitter Posted It’s First Ever Profit Since Going Public In 2013.

Business is sometimes a battle of attrition. You grind it out every single day and you can still lose money at the end of that day. That has been the story for Twitter. A company known and used all over the world. Twitter hasn’t turned a profit since 2013 but all that changed with it’s most recent quarter. Nearly 5 straight years of steady losses and it took till now to turn the corner. Which is a beautiful display of failure in action.

Hell most of us after two years of failing to make any profit would probably say to ourselves, “well this clearly isn’t working.” Maybe we wouldn’t even make it two years, some of us just a few months, others a few weeks and many of us still, just a few days without seeing results can send us packing it in on our goals and dreams. We usually, more often then not, simply hang up our hats and move on to the next project that will hopefully provide greener pastures in the future. Or maybe even a path of lesser resistance.

Sometimes the correct move when your flying in the face of failure is to stick it out. To keep adjusting coarse slightly till you find a working formula. It may take a year or two, or even five, maybe longer. However I will say it is my firm belief if there is no turn around after too many years you will have to face your extinction event. Just don’t give up too soon and try not to lose all that is good around you in the process either.

Twitter also has another thing going for it in the prevention of failure. One of the greatest factors of all when you are trying to push through those breaking points. That is, that Twitter had thousands of people relying on them. Thousands of workers and investors with families of their own to take care of and provide for. Thousands of people trying to affect change around the world through their platform. This is the main thing you can’t dismiss when you want to quit. Who is relying on you? If we become other oriented, meaning we put others first and we continue to grow that base. Before you know it hundreds of thousands could be relying on you too. If you have just one, or a thousands. In that moment, you will refuse to fail too.



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Blowing it Scenario #8-World Economic Forum

It’s A Failure To Have A Few Wealthy Individuals Wax Intellectual About Economics Without Hearing The Plight Of The Common Man.

Every year the top business people and those in banking and government get together in Davos, Switzerland to discuss the economics of the day. I do believe in some form or another that it is very necessary to discuss such issues. Cooperation between world powers is essential for peace. One of the crucial elements I do believe they often miss, is the will of the people. I could be wrong. How am I to know exactly what is discussed. I have yet to be  invited to such events.

However when the media discusses the world economic forum. They discuss the future plans, and it usually involves ideas to throw more money at this issue or that issue. The major failure of this increased money supply that the wealthy most likely understand but do it anyway.  More money complicates matters for those with less of it, but it enriches when you hold all the cards. In Pareto’s Law it describes this economic principle, that 80% of the wealth will be in the hands of only 20% of the masses. Sometimes the numbers are skewed heavier in one favor then the other but they theory holds up across all industries. So when an abundance of money flows to a particular area of the economy. By law 80% of that money will flow to 20% of that particular industry. And when you have those 20% dictating where that money will be spent, it creates a self serving world economy where the wealthy will never part with any of there share.  And the less fortunate receive less and less, if anything at all. It seems the outsider looking in that the goal of this event is to gain more for those few.

In order to keep up those 20% individuals and businesses, who have 80% of the wealth (it’s probably now closer to 90/10 now). The everyday working class citizen must borrow more and more just to keep up with the rising sea of money that flows in to every area of life. Rent increases, gas price increases, food cost increases, mortgage increases and on and on. And speaking of mortgage increases, the wealthy beyond there wildest dream banks, who almost collapsed the economy with their risky bets. Banks now make you pay their insurance bill, on the money they risked to loan you, for your house mortgage. They literally make you pay there insurance bill. Which insurance is just another investment arm, so they take that money and pump it back into industries they want to grow. And the cycle continues, enriching a few and perpetually increasing the cost of goods and living expenses. Mind you when you pay your banks insurance bill, that doesn’t go to paying down the principle on the house you “own” or raising your station in life. That is just money you willing give to the bank to because you have to foot the bill for there risky past failures. So I guess the lesson here again is, either get rich or hope that elite class starts letting you into the party. I believe the former will be far easier then the latter.



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