Wow! Twenty years later! The original web site at its original address.

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Reminds me of the old Plaxo days when the same thing happened. This is NOT a feature by any means. People do not want their contacts spammed! Some companies still don’t get it!

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Great article on the evils of the wealth tax.

Why is wealth always punished? Greed and envy from those that don’t have it.

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The central plank of Bernanke’s magic recovery plan has been to get everybody back borrowing, spending and “investing” in stocks, bonds and other financial assets. But not equally so, as he has been instrumental in distorting the landscape toward risky assets and away from safe harbors.

That’s why a two-year loan to the US government will net you only 0.22%, a rate that is far below even the official rate of inflation. In other words, loan the US government $10 million and you will receive just $22,000 per year for your efforts and lose wealth in the process because inflation reduced the value of your $10 million by $130,000 per year. After the two years are up, you are up $44,000 but out $260,000, for a net loss of $216,000.

That wealth, or purchasing power, did not just vanish: It was taken by the process of inflation and transferred to someone else. But to whom did it go?

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Perhaps inflation is rearing its ugly head to Fed bankers with their heads in the sand, or more to the point, up their asses?

The Fed, and the Keynesians who run it, never see the correlation and causation between monetary inflation and price inflation. The two are mutually exclusive in their minds.

Inflation is here. It has been here for quite some time. The Fed refuses to see it, as does all the other central bankers around the world.

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More fallout from Obama’s “Affordable Care Act.” The sad fact is the company didn’t want to drop coverage. The new law prohibits the type of plan Universal offered its part-time employees.

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Another sign of too little, too late. Home Depot is replacing BlackBerries with iPhones. RIM, now BlackBerry, rested on their laurels far too long and let everyone else pass them by. They are trying to please both the consumer and enterprise markets with the latest BB10 operating system and Z10 phones. Loyal BlackBerry enthusiasts will probably stay, but many of them switch to iOS and Android a long time ago. They got tired of antiquated hardware and software.

Enterprises heavily invested in BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (BES) would normally stick with the platform due to its high security and manageability.That reasoning is disappearing thanks to BYOD, or bring-your-own-device. Corporate IT is more open to letting employees use their own mobile devices to securely access their corporate network and mail servers. IT no longer has to manage, or pay for, expensive BlackBerry servers. Nor do they have to manage and purchase mobile devices. Costs are lowered while maintaining security.

Reviews of the new BlackBerry 10 OS have generally been positive. It is a much-needed improvement, and reinvention of the OS. The hardware is seen as good, but a year or two behind current phone hardware in features and power.

BlackBerry needed to hit a home run to save the company. It seems they have hit a double. Enough to keep them in the game for a little while longer, but not long enough.

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Do as I say, not as I do.

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Well, something happened when people got their first paychecks of the year. It was noticeably smaller. What happened? This funny little thing called the payroll tax went up 2%. This tax is supposed to fund Social Security. In reality, it doesn’t, but that’s another issue.

The payroll tax was cut 2% back in 2009 as a stimulus to boost the economy. People’s paychecks were higher! During the all the fiscal cliff talks and arguments, no one mentioned the payroll tax. All they talked about was income tax rates. They were hoping you’d forget all about it, and most people did. The Republicans caved, Obama got what he wanted, fiscal cliff averted.

People aren’t so happy right now. They see their paychecks and wondered what the hell happened? How come nobody told us about this? We felt betrayed! Hardcore Obama supporters are unhappy with him because of this. If people had paid attention to the payroll tax, they would have seen it coming. It didn’t matter who you voted for, both sides agreed to let it expire without saying a word to anyone.

Because of this, we did go over the fiscal cliff. A consumer driven economy cannot grow if consumers have less money to spend. That additional 2% adds up. People will spend less and those banking on an economic recovery will be disappointed.

Now the next cliff is the debt ceiling. Republicans and Democrats have dug their heels in. Obama refuses to negotiate. All of this is meaningless as government spending remains out of control. No one on either side will cut spending. Republicans will refuse to cut military spending and Democrats will refuse to cut social spending. Therefore, no spending cuts. Get ready for even higher taxes.

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This year brings more of the above and then some. It is going to be an exciting year with plenty of positive, life-affirming changes ahead.

Each year we start anew. Each year we make resolutions to better ourselves. Whether it’s to lose weight, make more money, learn a new skill, find a new mate, or all of the above. The problem is we lose the drive, desire and focus. “Life” takes over and our goals are put to the side. This goes on year after year after year.

Make this year be the one. Don’t let “life” get in the way. Make your goals your life. Write them down, make a plan and get started.

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