warren's truth

Obamacare

2012-03-04T08:00:00.004-08:00

I think everybody knew Obamacare wouldn't work as it was written.

That's why those bent to drive it in, went behind closed doors and constructed it out of public view.

Now that we have it, we'll adjust it, just as the authors perceived when they wrote it.

Create a monster that can be trimmed and you will have a trimmed monster -- better perhaps than the mess our health system was in when it came roaring out of its cage.

The Russians taught us that, didn't they? One step back, two steps forward.

Or, in another powerful perspective -- never waste a crisis.

Dueling agendas

2012-03-04T06:19:00.009-08:00

If we could rise above the fray.

Because we get bogged down easily, the current political rhetoric steers us into dizzying directions and we get lost trying to find the pathway we came in on.

(If we could only utilize the boy scout rule against getting lost -- "stay put", they told us).

The politics is simple enough.

As freedom reigns, greed grows stronger on both sides of the struggle. Nobody seems immune to the need to control other people.

Government is created to control independent greed run amok. And government, well they seem to have a hard time getting it "right".

Now, that government is in charge, greed champions want government "out of the way" of their own (greedy) agendas.

It's called freedom, I guess, but the struggle to gain control gets in the road of perspective and a thing called polarization results which is where we seem to be now. Polarization is what happens when people no longer listen to each other. In a family, it's called divorce.

I write because I'm thinking I'll help you sort it out too, but only if you can look down on it with some detachment -- like watching a football game from the nosebleed section.

Conservatives say they want to rule their own lives and prosper. Some of them prosper by promoting unsavory agendas -- and because they get away with it, others take up the same agenda.

Liberals like to rule because they make a living out of keeping conservatives from being too greedy and so they spread their control well beyond necessary limits and prosper themselves touting their need to control the greedy. To be sure, greed is what the other guy has. If only conservatives knew that they started this argument by letting themselves get out of control in the first place.

Government thrives when the greedy go "uncontrolled". Conservatives thrive when they have total control over their exploits.

A kind of peace exists when everybody maintains some legitimate restraint. But since nobody can define how much restraint is positive, the line goes back and forth from too little to too much. None of us seem able to "get it right". A stagnant Congress results when polarization stops the effects of balanced communication.

The solution probably lies in less greed on both sides of the rhetoric. The power of greed vs the greed of power, and yes, it's all about greed, isn't it?

If we could just figure out how to help people care more about other people than themselves.

In the meantime, though we complain a lot, we tend to like the fight down on the field, cheering our personal champions. We pay our admission, buy a hot dog and go home entertained.

If I ruled the world... (Move over Tony, but don't encourage me.)

Manners

2012-03-03T09:57:00.006-08:00

If you are over 30, you have already seen a lot of change. If, you are over 40, it's more, but now you are changing too.

In the 50's and 60's, you are changing but you don't like it anymore. After that, change is so fast, you can't keep it in focus -- coming at you like a bullet -- swishing beyond you out of sight.

At some point, I think age puts a lid on change -- mostly because one's memory can't track it anymore for the size of it.

Some of that change is good. Some isn't, but it is all either an improvement or a loss of something.

One thing I've noticed that seems to have changed the most -- the reducing effect of civility, the loss of respect for others.

My mother made a big thing out of getting up and letting another person sit down and she made a believer out of me even though I can't remember her doing it herself. She was only four foot eleven, but she was bigger than me long after I stood over her.

So I did it, first because my mother said so, and then because it was the right thing to do.

Standing up for others was a good thing, but it took my mother's will to make it happen in me at first. If you didn't have a mother like that, you have a sizeable hole in your life now that you'll have to fill on your own and not lucky like me to have it forced in there at first.

I now stand up for different kinds of people -- not just for my elders, but for those who need to rest more than I do, not because of their age but from that look in their eyes that tells me they need to rest and that I can help.

I stand -- even when it is harder for me to stand than the person I stand for.

Then I realized it is about giving civility to others in my way, and then though I am not small any longer as my mother was, I made myself lesser for others. She has grown in my eyes since then.

I don't think I am less important because I stand out of the way of others, but that others are also important enough to serve and that standing up for them does not diminish me.

It's probably why the Japanese revere their elders, and why presidents should be more mature in these times of self interest.

To be philosophical about this demands a kind of faith in what's happening right now as God's will (and our mother's) have their way with us.

I prefer to blame God for this. He knew about my mother before I did.

Change

2012-03-01T09:30:00.007-08:00

"Change" is a word that represents hypocrisy and progress at the same time -- moving from established points of view in a changing world.

Those who think change is not already happening are destined to surprise -- soon I think.

President Obama made a lot of rhetorical taunts of the previous president about change from his policies, and then followed most of them into 3 years of his term. But, there has been subtle change too. The current election will point them out and you will get a lot more of it than you want as rhetoric gets even hotter now. And, it won't get comfortable for a lot of us.

It's the American system, ugly yes, but as close to representative government as you can find on the earth.

Civility is getting harder too as people strive with each for control of the other.

What I think demonstrates these principals as much as anything was a T-shirt I saw here in Arizona last year, worn by a Hispanic gentlemen who said, in affect, "If you think a revolution is coming, look around, you're in it".

And, then, there's the story about the two young gentlemen duking it out in a sword fight. One swished his blade at his opponent's neck and said "take that, you scoundrel" whereupon his opponent remarked, "missed". The first sworder responded calmly: "try moving your head".

And, people give their lives to the continuing and changing world we live in. This morning, a very conservative blogger from Los Angeles is dead at 43. You figure it out.

Change is not coming. It's here. History will mark it later.

Be calm, but try moving your head.

Live forever? Really?

2012-02-28T09:30:00.000-08:00

Time magazine is telling us you could live forever (in the flesh and here on earth).

To be fair, it was the second choice.

The first choice would be to live to 150 years.

The question is how could you afford it? It's probably a good time to run a speadsheet on your finances because that's where the money will come from unless you have planned for it with some current offers to pay you "forever".

It is pretty clear, the US government isn't equipped to carry you along. Social Security won't promise anything like that.

Consider now that the hottest prospect to carry you into eternity here on the earth is what is called an "income rider" where the insurance company promises to "rollup" increases every year on your current retirement account and with that rollup, promise to make payments to you for the rest of your life -- yes, for the rest of your life -- whatever it is.

If you are interested, you need to get some facts to disclose just how this is done, but your interest to know more can be enhanced by knowing the current bank rate for certificates is about 1/3 of 1% and that you stand to gain significantly more than that in this approach to eternity.

I take your eternity seriously -- and I'm not just joking with you. So, as it turns out, you should too.

Call me 928 345-1200 or send along an email to wstryckeraz@yahoo.com. I can answer your questions.

Where's your union button, bud?

2012-02-24T05:45:00.009-08:00

Back in the early 40's, I was just a little guy and my dad worked nights in downtown Portland to make ends meet at our little farm out in the country.

He didn't feel all that confident, he explained, working the night shift in the city, so when he came up out of a street elevator with a trash can, he was shaken pretty good by a bunch of toughs surrounding the street access to the basement.

That and the darkness of the night.

The lead tough said: "Where's your union button, bud?"

My dad was just a skinny little guy with mouths to feed at home and not very brave under these circumstances. He finally breathed out his explanation:

"I don't have one".

Whereupon the lead guy responded: "We'll be here tomorrow night -- same time -- better have one".

The next night came and went, but the paper was not collected. Dad had caved.

I have my father's will to be independent and I'm not sure what I would have done in the same circumstances.

Seventy years later, it's not the union threatening me to knuckle under. It's the government. And, a lot of you will agree with it for reasons of your own.

The government is moving with considerable power now. Unemployment is up. The rich are getting richer, but unless you comply with the latest government regs, you don't work.

More than that, perhaps, you are painted with another brush too -- the fact that unless you do it the government way, you are branded a rebel and can't be trusted to do the right thing.

I think the treatment for independents is what irritates me the most. And, if you don't like it, you can lump it. That's clear enough.

I've always wanted to work for myself, so no, I don't like it.

I think I do better work than the government does -- more caring, more efficient and with the feeling of freedom that comes from getting up when I want to, working later when I want to, taking time off when I want to, helping people I want to -- getting more done because I want to.

My advice to you younger guys -- don't do it. The tough guys are back. In the end, your phone stops ringing. You comply or you die.

In his 90's, my dad advised me he should have given in earlier, and that I should too.

Government has the upper hand now. Entrepreneurship is dead (again), strangled by mounting regulation to pay tribute to the government idea that they are the ONLY ones in charge now.

And, to put something else straight -- this is not about D's and R's or even I's. It's about government itself and I don't think it can be fixed at the voting booth.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Government wants to help you out

2012-02-23T07:29:00.003-08:00

I guess you already know the government wants to be in business -- your business. The assumption is that you don't know what is right about stuff and that they do.

Now, if you believe that, I already know a lot about your politics.

I have aligned with two different business themes in recent years -- retirement investments and mortgages. Little by little, the government has put themselves in the role of counseling you about what is the truth and what you must do about it -- and in the process, put themselves into an adversarial position against the agents who present these products to you.

It is assumed that you are too dumb to make good decisions, and that you need their help.

In the mortgage business, if you should wish to pursue a reverse mortgage to get some of the equity out of your house to use in your retirement, the government believes you should talk to them first. They will ask you a lot of questions -- about an hour's worth as it turns out -- that seems to me is none of their business -- asking you personal questions about your household budgeting and other personal decisions you are making, to be put on your own future "record" in case something should go wrong with your decisions in the future, or theirs.

And yes, they fully expect to be there helping you out in the future too, and in case you think this counseling is "free", think again please.

It's called counseling though it is much more than that. The assumption is that only the government knows for sure what you need to know before you do anything about it, even though the mortgage system has a fail safe rescission at the end to get out of any obligation if you decide against it later. And the agent who introduced the subject is not allowed to call himself a counselor like the government counselors are. And yes, it is assumed he/she is not and that they are.

The purchase of an annuity is much the same and you can expect government intervention soon to make you evaluate stuff from their point of view before you purchase such a thing, even though the purchase of an annuity in my state allows 30 days before you are bound to your decision.

Under the current government state of things, you can expect more of this kind of stuff -- like it or not.

I think I would agree with some of it if the government acted in a responsible way in these requirements for government approval of your business. But the government "system" is proving to be evasive, inefficient, and vague in its results -- not to mention expensive. And after the government counselors dismiss you, there will be more confusion, not less.

The cost of government is going up at about the same rate as government intrusion. Go figure.

It's almost true of most everything you buy already, but you can expect even more of this for everything you buy coming down the road. You might cut your leg off using whatever it is you wish to buy, or you might consider buying. And, without government intrusion, you cannot be trusted to make a good decision. Sorry about your bad luck.

Most of us are truly not aware of this encroachment and probably don't believe a word of this diatribe. We are going to have to push the government out of the oversight business if we wish to have it any other way.

And it's OK. You don't have to believe me. I'm not allowed to be called a counselor.

If you are testing to be in one of these industries like I am right now, you'll soon see that the government is making you take tests to qualify to present things "their way" and refusing to let you see your own qualifying test results. You are only entitled to pass/fail reports on your testing and no further explanation is given for your final grade, even though you paid the government fees to test yourself and studied long and hard.

Yes, the government IS creating new jobs -- mostly in the counseling business, and you are paying through the nose for it. And if you don't like it, you can, well lump it.

And, yes, you can expect more of it. The super regulators are coming. They are calling themselves counselors in case you needed to know what to call them.

And yes, Republicans and Democrats are both passing laws to bring it on -- Independents too, I think.

In case you didn't know, it's already too late to stop it.

This new industry is referred to as: "I'm the government and I came to help you out". You may have already heard about that. Now, you know what it means to you.

You should know that the assumption that the government already knows what is true about you is about to be expanded to counseling oversight.

The new age government calls it counseling, and it's not on the cheap, nor does it support your freedom as a citizen in this country.

Your right to decide on your own, is just one more freedom lost. Other countries are slamming the door on freedom of expression like this. We will be doing the same soon.

The President now has a "President's Counselor" on things purchased who will oversee agencies already in place to regulate what you purchase, when and where.

The counselors are coming. You'll be in big trouble if you bought a Ford instead.

Sorry about that.

The Church of what's happening now...

2012-02-16T04:37:00.000-08:00

A long time ago now, there was a black comedian named Flip. He was disrespectful, of course, because that is what comedian's do.

Flip had this little segment every week, because in those days, we watched him every week. We considered it "news" though it clearly wasn't, but we needed our own intelligent reputation for "taste" in watching TV and since the reception was very poor, we didn't know a lot of what was going on.

(It's a lot more difficult to get away with stuff now with high density reception).

Anyway this segment was about the church, but it was also about the country in which the church resided.

I was noticing this week how the anti-Obama campaign was going and since the people running for his office are mostly famous and with considerable wealth, I wondered along with you how they got to be "filthy rich" as we used to say when we were young and vulnerable to such things.

Turns out, a lot of their income comes from speaking fees because we are willing to pay them for their views about "what's happening in Washington" kind of stuff. (And you thought it was government corruption and insider trading, right?)

As Congress now has the lowest support level ever, we really don't care much about what is going on there, so it's Obama who draws our attention, and anyone willing to speak about it, hence the currently emerging occupation of speaking for a fee.

The only qualification is to get famous somehow and then make up a story that shows how you have the experience it takes to now tell us what is going on in Washington.

Will Rogers probably started this occupation when he continued to be interviewed for public consumption some generations ago, ending his little diatribes with "all I know is what I read in the newspaper".

I picked up on that because I wanted to be in the newspaper business and so for a lot of years that is what I did, believing I was gathering the news in our little town for others to read, thinking they needed to know what I knew -- or could find out -- about their community.

(When I went to the restaurant for a bite of lunch, the room would quiet down to whispers thinking I might report on what they were talking about and it took me awhile to figure that out).

That was good as far as it went -- until I began to realize a lot of people were lying to us about what was going on and so -- like it or not -- we were pumping out lies as fast as we could gather them. What people told us is they mostly liked the neighborhood gossip more than what we called the "hard news" such as city, school and crime news in our town.

And as they told us, they just wanted to know what we knew about what they knew already. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

We considered ourselves important to the community and didn't realize how unimportant we really were. We were among the lowest paid in the community and didn't mind because of what we believed was our role to distribute truth to our neighbors. (Little did we know, of course).

So, here comes the Presidential hopefuls with their latest charge against Obama who continues to smile at us as if we were friends. (He uses the smile like his predecessor used his frown). Now, he has brought a new frown to show us he is concerned about the state of things and will concentrate on the solution we need as soon as he can find time. He now exchanges his new frown to offset the smile we all distrust. It's fair and balanced now.

Meanwhile, the "speakers bureau" is racking up unprecedented fees for attacking the President day by day. If they weren't millionaires before, they are becoming so day by day while the rest of the country looks for a job and this trend will continue as long as we are willing to pay them to talk to us. The gig will end this fall and start over for the next Presidential term to come.

I doubt that we need a President as much as we think. As long as there are teleprompters and people willing to write for them, the "virtual President" can continue his charade that he is really running things in Washington.

This week, some 50% of us think he's doing just fine, thank you very much, and that's about half of us. The other half gets to vote in secret. We will know about that later.

It is the Wizard of Oz all over again.

But he has successfully created a half dozen new jobs for those running against him which I give him credit for and they are becoming millionaires and will be paying a 30% tax real soon to help the country out. And because of those jobs, a whole new entertainment industry has been energized in the latest round of comedians, some giving us news at 5 pm and others following into the night, night after night -- some recycled from the last election and some new blood too.

I might as well tell you this too: I'm being employed writing this blog week after week, spawned out of a need to write stuff. Some 916 page views of these words have contributed to some of you clicking the ads (8) that appear here which has contributed $7.74 to my retirement so far. Based on this trend, I could be famous too, but probably not anytime soon. I'll leave it grow before I draw it out. I could go to dinner with it now, but I need twice that much for Jo and I to go together. Later maybe.

You might as well sit back and enjoy the show. It's what's happening now...

Does this make me conservative?

2012-02-14T08:02:00.000-08:00

I wrote my Senator (McCain) this morning:

"I am overwhelmed with calls from solicitors selling stuff over my business line that is "free" because it is paid for by Medicare. I am in a regulated industry so I know that this can be controlled to reduce or eliminate the idea that things are "free" at Medicare.

From what I hear, Medicare is "broke" and don't have money for basic medical services with limitations coming down the pike for lack of money, and incoming baby boomers coming on strong. I do what I can as one American to stop this but it is uncontrolled at the Medicare level.

Maybe it's time to stop paying for diabetic meters people don't need or wheelchairs for people who get around just fine most of the time. I believe in free enterprise, but this is ridiculous, isn't it? I hate to think I would have to put my business phone number on the do-not-call list to stop it. I would think a bill to regulate these misrepresentations is in order. Don't you?"

If you are someone you care about is on Medicare or will be soon, you can take it from me. Medicare cannot afford to buy a bunch of stuff charged to it these days.

This is the second time I have mentioned this here in recent weeks without response, mostly. Does that make me conservative, and you liberal?

Whitney.

2012-02-12T05:22:00.000-08:00

I will miss Whitney -- bigger than life.

A voice like no one else.

She gave us courage when she didn't have enough of it for herself.

Life did her in, I guess, as it does to most of us in the end.

I have only known two for sure that I believed left us on an upbeat.

They will always be special to me, but one lived in a small world of his own, and the other became very famous, leaving us in the Peace we only sing about to give courage to face life at the end.

Whitney gave us courage as Americans to do stuff we feared -- like going to War and way-out-of-control loving.

Our singers have always given us courage in time of fear and became larger than life when we were really unsure of ourself.

David. Frank. Dean. Elvis. The Beattles. Barbara. Michael. LeAnn. Cliff Barrows/George Beverly Shea. And, now Whitney. Others in both church and state -- there for us when we feared.

Today, I downloaded two songs from Whitney and one of them was the Star Spangled Banner sang to us on that Super Bowl Sunday more than two decades ago now as we went into War, again.

It's hard to believe there will be another Whitney. But I said that about Michael too and Elvis. They left us with a lot of downside fears of their own, but in the meantime, cheered us on in the dreariest moments.

My grandson is "on the road" in his new rock band from Austin. My nephew in his church in St Louis. They will make their case for the next generation of musical leaders -- we call them stars because they give us courage to face life in the deepest emotional trenches and on the highest mountains of elation.

Bye Whitney.

We will always love you.

No juice

2012-02-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

Jesus said something about no fruit and bad fruit.

But he didn't say much about grapefruit with little juice in it -- fruit that looked beautiful on the outside from the beginning of the season when the bees came and pollinized it.

But day after day, when I came out to one of my three grapefruit trees this year, I would pick one without much juice and little weight. Looked beautiful. Nice blush on the yellow grapefruits but no juice. I waited and waited thinking that as well as this fruit looked, it will get better by the time it's ripe to pick. It didn't. Out of my three grapefruit trees this year, only one remains that gives me good fruit. Fruit on the other two have gone to the garbage where they belong.

So there you go.

Jesus was right about a lot of stuff and he was right about this too. How many times will I go to the tree anticipating good fruit and take one into the kitchen and slice it open to eat and find little or no juice in it -- not even fit for juicing.

So, I went out this morning to put the fruit into the garbage can. This is the day.

I won't hope again for this fruit. Is there none on the tree that is good? Probably is, but I'm tired of looking. I think Jesus was tired of looking too -- made him angry to see what was not happening.

Today, only 10% of us like what Congress is doing.

Less than half of us like what the President is doing.

Republicans lack the juice to stay on course, wobbling back and forth across the major issues of the day, and it's hard to believe there's any real juice in them -- have to cut them open to find out if they are dry and pulpy inside.

It's hard to find REAL customer service anywhere. People are rude, nasty, threatening. No juice inside.

I represent annuities to people for financial reasons. It's hard to find a really good one and I'm tempted to throw them all out and do something else. I scream at people sometimes trying to get them not to buy one. I don't quit looking because I am still looking for the good ones. People are buying the bad ones hoping they're good. There's no juice in them -- but they look good on the outside.

Some of you in the stock market are saying the same thing about stocks. It's hard to find the juice in them.

Our politicians in Washington pass bills to produce home loans for people to refinance their foreclosures. By the time you cut them open and see what people are expected to do in there to qualify, there's no juice ... and so foreclosures continue as they will until somebody produces a loan without all the catches and snags. We have a major problem with real estate and we think it will fix itself. 2012 will be the record year for foreclosures.

No juice.

Less of us like what the cable TV and telephone people are doing. Time after time when we get an issue settled, we lose ground on our end. No juice to be fair.

We are looking for juice -- everywhere, and finding little.

A few years ago, we were looking for the "beef". "Where's the beef", they would ask.

Now, it's juice. You get the picture.

Speaking of pictures, this is what I did to my grapefruit tree this morning. It's what Jesus promised by way of his storytelling to do to us if we don't produce good fruit with good taste and lots of juice inside.

I think we are heading for some tough times in this country. There isn't enough juice to go around. People have given up on doing the right thing.

Where's the juice?

There's a new day every morning

2012-02-08T06:10:00.000-08:00

I like this focus on today. You have a new chance every day to do what you have to do, well.

There are many forces against you, of course.

It could rain, as they say, or the sun may show it's face. But in the end of the day, we have learned -- people get used to the sun, and the rain, and the day begins again, rain or shine.

I do some things every day I can be sure will happen just to shore up my confidence.

I exercise every day. It's something I can control. Sometimes, that's about all I can control in a world seemingly out of control all around me.

I go to a lot of trouble to make a nutritious and delicious breakfast. I do it every day. It is important to my level of confidence to do the right thing.

Someone once told me that if you give Strycker a 50/50 chance, he would lose every time. Over the years, that has often been true. The important thing is about the other 50%. What can I do with that?

At the gym, which is open all night, I come thinking I have my spot on the machine I want. Often somebody else has it, but at my gym, if I want that spot and it's important enough for me to come at times when it is available and I'm willing to go in the middle of the night, I can have "my way".

(And Frank thought he was the only stubborn one.)

I go to the gym to destroy calories -- so I can go until I have enough to satisfy my goal -- every time. It's an important number and I can do it every time I go. My choice.

We are born with an allotment of time to use with the talent we brought with us. What we do with it is our choice...

It is the courage to continue that is important. There are so many negative events to stop us on the way. Yes, most people give up too easily working for something they want so they never gain the confidence they need to survive confidently.

They lose on the 50/50 bet because they quit trying and they lose the confidence and courage to try again.

Too bad. A lot of good stuff never happens.

Football Injury? Not.

2012-02-02T04:21:00.000-08:00

Some of you who read these meanderings faithfully, have already figured out I was dropped on my head when I was young.

Nowadays, and especially during pre-SuperBowl week, it's more fashionable to explain that it was a football injury that caused the damage. Everybody loves a good football story.

I was reading about Tony Dorsett this morning. He played for the Cowboys and now lives in Dallas, TX where he is sharing his football war stories with AP and explaining how difficult it is to remember the story after they have starting telling it.

As he describes his memory loss and other mental lapses, I am "taken" with the similarities I share with him.

No I've never played football, and as far as I know, was never dropped on my head. I'm sure somebody slapped me on the butt some but that still seems to work OK.

My older brother just sent me an email about the place where I was born and wanted to know if his facts were "straight". I told him I didn't remember being born there -- must have been a football injury.

The problem with football players, they are used to being stars and explaining to others what it was like to be in the limelight, bleeding out a little extra for the press now, trying for another round of applause and a place in the football museum "in the sky".

But, because they are "older", their memories are a little cloudy now -- and the explanation naturally flows into the concussion nobody knew they had in the game with...

Yes, I'm a little older now. Aren't you? Did you play football?

Maybe. Maybe not.

2012-01-31T11:37:00.000-08:00

Some of you are "maybe" people -- maybe this will happen, maybe not, but I'll prepare just in case.

All this talk about inflation isn't just talk, so let's talk about it.

If the country borrows more money (from China or even Greece, for that matter), there is a danger of inflation, and all of this is tracked daily for you in case you think it is OK to ignore it.

For those receiving social security, or for those already getting their checks, we learned last year that there was no inflation, hence no increase in social security.

Since that, inflation is being measured again and you'll be able to track it by accessing this webpage. Go ahead, take a look. Click on this link: http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Rate/CurrentInflation.asp

And if your retirement resources are invested, you can add a percentage for how much more money you will need to stay even. In December 2011 -- about a month ago -- the hike was about 3%.

Given that you have your money in a CD at the bank or credit union, you'll need an additional 3% earnings to keep ahead of it so your money doesn't drain away before you need it.

So, if you were earning less than 1% on your money, a 2% loss would amount to about twenty bucks or so, or about the cost of 2 dinners per year (without getting to enjoy the food you might have purchased with it)

On the other hand, if you had earned 5% on your thousand dollars instead of 1%, you would have gained enough to buy a dinner or two with every thousand in your account at no cost to you -- or something like that.

If I can't make you care about that, then for all those obvious reasons, I won't be able to help you be as prudent as possible with your retirement money as you steam on into it down the tracks ahead of you.

Some of you think you're too old to care, and while I'm older, I'm not ready to buy into that yet.

Suffice it to say, you're probably not a "maybe" person. Good luck at the other end.

On the other hand, if this DOES make sense, it will be good for you to call me and tell me what I can do to help you into more free dinners ahead.

Call 928 345-1200 or write me a note at wstryckeraz@yahoo.com

Forgiveness.

2012-01-22T05:26:00.000-08:00

It is so difficult to understand the concept.

To actually take away your judgment from someone(s), and to forgive them -- even when you love them SOOOOOOO much, but more even than that when you don't.

Mostly, it is our own forgiveness we need to seek, and it's so much more human natural to think of judgment -- even for ourselves -- than the total absence of it for someone else.

So easy to say, so difficult (IMPOSSIBLE?) to practice.

Forgiveness. The absence of judgment in a world of guilt.

Short on one side, long on the other

2012-01-18T18:23:00.000-08:00

If you are like me, you probably resist the idea of one short leg, and one longer leg. I have believed for a long time my legs/feet were proportional one to the other.

Recently I was having my annual physical and my primary doctor suggested I go to a podiatrist to check out the sensory systems in my feet as that condition relates to long term diabetes.

So, today I went forth. Filled out the paperwork and waiting my turn, I had thoughts about what I would tell the good doctor the reason why I was here in his office.

"Just a checkup," I said. "My primary wants you to check out my "sensories". Then I remembered I had a sore heel recently that created a bit of a limp after being seated in my recliner for awhile, and so I told him about that.

Now in most cases, I'm pretty strong on sensories. I am pretty hardcore emotional sometimes so I figure my sensories are probably OK.

Doctor took off my shoes and socks and looked at my feet.

I was seated on his examining table a little cross ways when he said: "You have one leg longer than the other." I realized I seated sideways and so I straighted out and the doctor now suggested "now it's the other leg that's short" not bothering to explain further. I decided not to bring up the obvious.

Now, I've never been told one leg was longer and I doubt that it is, but he put his hands on my hips when I was standing and declared that one hip was lower than the other hip too.

Now, I admit to being confused about this -- especially when the short leg was on the same side as the lower of the two hipbones.

So, he put my shoes and socks back on and brought out an insole and a heel pad and sent me on my way. "That will be $60," the receptionist said as I wrote the check and left his office.

It's good to have a "condition" like a short leg and/or a lower hip because sometimes you have to explain to people what's wrong with you when things don't go right.

I'm a little short on one side -- or is it the other side? The new heel pad will help if I can remember which heel.

And all this time, I thought it was arthritis.

Sometimes you get explanations for problems you don't have at all, and other times, nobody wants to explain what's wrong when you desperately need to know --

Time for bed. I think my arthritis is flaring up again.

Skip the Twinkie

2012-01-11T05:53:00.000-08:00

The news that Hostess is going into bankruptcy, again, may be the latest sign that people in this country are starting to get serious about their health. I hope so.

Twinkies have provided the symbol for eating the wrong stuff. Even Charles Barkley is cutting calories now.

I also wondered if the President is aware of the challenge he had when GM faced this intersection on the way to financial failure. Unless he can put some new cutting edge technology inside the Twinkie to make it "good" to eat, another historic company may soon be biting the dust in America.

Difficult as it is to accept this failure -- in the long run, perhaps Hostess can find another way to make a living that will contribute to our fitness.

Thoughts from the last level

2012-01-08T05:30:00.001-08:00

In sports, there is this "next level" which is a way of saying things are even better than before. I watch a little football and it seems to get better and better. Quarterbacks throw passes that get caught in the worst/best of circumstances and I am left to agree with the observation that football is now in a "next level", but only after failing so many times in the boring "last level", something we don't spend much time thinking about when new levels are reached.

I often think back to the space event that was in the "next level" long ago when the capsule went into the "back side of the moon". The description of that level was that the onboard computer lost its connection to "Houston" and the anticipation of chaos was imagined, perhaps for the first time in the space sequences.

Chaos did not erupt as imagined. That was the good news. The bad news is that we didn't grasp what it was like to be connected again.

What's going on in our country these days -- perhaps around the world -- seems like the same kind of sequence. The "managers" are still managing (regulating), but the signal is not received, and chaos looms because we have difficulty seeing "around the corner".

The crisis passed back then, like the natural flow after constipation.

As I have described it before, we can have hope to hope that the flow in this country returns to normal pretty soon. Pressures are increasing from the inside.

Some of us are running out of steam as people who can't find a job return to a world without the hope to hope.

Hello Houston. Can you hear us now?

Problem with government

2012-01-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

I think I'd vote for Obama in the upcoming election if I could just believe his love for government meant he had the power to make government work, as he often pontificates.

I have found that mostly government just doesn't work.

People who make their way into government jobs seem to like the authority they have to regulate other people. Policemen who have the right of authority too often become arrogant and testy instead of supportive and responsive. Government develops into higher and higher positions of authority, rather than better and better ways to assist people on the way to success.

On the other side, greed prevails on the private side and government doesn't seem able to stop it, choosing rather to encourage their own greed rather than making greed the enemy for all.

I wish government workers would concentrate on the good they could do encouraging the private sector to do better, to join them in their efforts to improve their chances to succeed rather than become the adversaries they often are, resorting to regulation as the means to rule.

Since the president has so much more education than I do, I'd think he'd find a way to make government better by joining forces with those they regulate.

The face off we see these days just enforces the opposing goals of these two opposing forces and the gulf widens between them.

I work with a lot of government regulators these days in a variety of ways. More and more, regulators seem to like regulation itself for the authority they inherit from it. Those who are regulated just get more and more resentful of the arrogancy of regulation itself.

I am impressed with all the new regulation coming into the mortgage business into which I have been immersed to hold new licensing. Then, I am interrupted by the President adding another level of oversight to "protect" his chosen contituency from the very mindboggling regulation our government is enacting to make it work better.

How much government will be needed to make the government work? It's a repeat of the alligator story that reminds us that we came to drain the swamp, not kill the alligators.

I KNOW, let's fund a new regulation to regulate the regulators.

Potato peeler politics

2012-01-02T07:54:00.000-08:00

I was halfway through peeling the carrots this morning when I realized that the peelings didn't look quite right. Upon further investigation, I found that the peeler was upside down and the odd looking "peels" came off the dull side of the peeler.

That's when I realized how long I have gone through life doing the wrong thing without realizing it.

The government says I have to learn and pass tests on the mortgage business structure before I can legally do what I have done successfully for 5 years or so. Most of this structure is newly passed by a Congress that the current President says he doesn't have to work with in order to be our leader.

But the rules are clearly mandated by that same Congress which he has chosen to ignore in this phase of his Presidency, the same one authorized by the Constitution long ago and elected by the people of this nation.

I was wrong using the dull side of the potato peeler. So, I'm going back to school to learn my job the "government way".

How does the President peel his carrots these days? Perhaps I need a carrot peeler, but I think they have a wrong (dull) side too, don't they?

I think I know the answer to this riddle.

I'm learning with the mortgage transitions that I can't just pick up my bat and ball and go home just because the other side keeps beating me up.

Some things I have not learned, but a long time ago I stood up with other young men and pledged with the Jaycee organization that we are a nation of laws, and not of men even though those same men passed the laws.

Sorry sir, but "them" is the rules here and until the government passes new rules on whether the President has to abide by the rules of our nation, then, you will have to conform just like I have to do -- and we need to make you do it now.

What you are teaching us and our kids about government is dead wrong.

Turn the peeler over and peel, sir. What you are teaching us and our kids about government is dead wrong, and unless you get it right pretty soon, you will be without a job too. This country cannot afford to let you get away with it now.

There is too much at stake.

Runup to 2012

2011-12-30T05:54:00.000-08:00

There you are on the tarmac, waiting to take off into 2012.

I'm there too, of course. As a one time pilot, I'm thinking it's time to see if the motor falls apart when I push in the throttle to turn up to maximum rpms. The hum in my ears is solid screaming power. No parts fall out. A few rattles here and there, but no explosions.

That's the first good news of 2012.

2012 will be important to me. I am an ole guy learning new ropes in the mortgage business so I can address what it will mean to those headed into retirement without enough funds for the long haul. I have my eyes in the online training book where all good stuff is located these days.

(If you still think books are available in a library, better take another look -- the online books come first now, then the library. But online is there too now in that long row of computers over there by the windows in front of the books.)

Why the mortgage business now?

Because this is the safety net to get over the mountain ahead -- longer lives, more sickness, inflation, deteriorating 401ks -- stuff like that.

Focus on Home Equity -- something that has been deteriorating year by year.

Many of you boomers have already been living on the equity, so deteriorating home values can mean less equity to work with in retirement.

I think it's possible that the answer to ongoing foreclosures is the reverse mortgage -- something only those over 62 have had access to up to now -- to their happy relief from cashflow shortages and deteriorating equity.

I am reminded today as my son and daughter-in-law are unpacking in Singapore that the current economy is stronger in the Far East than in these United States.

So, I'm headed back to school to be certified by the National Mortgage Licensing System to function as a lifeline assisting people on their way into retirement.

Now, that the runup is complete, I'll probably not be focusing on Obama's re-election although what happens there will impact what I am preparing to do now.

This country can function without a President as we have learned before. It probably won't function without a lot of people heading back to school with a focus on mission control through 2012 and beyond.

I hope your engines are running smoothly, and that there will be enough power for the 2012 takeoff challenge into the future.

I'll be going to bed early as usual so I can get started early in the 2012 morning.

Don't be left on the runway. It will be dangerous out there now because there's lots of runaways and they will all be busy now. Lots of our best performers are getting out of Dodge. Those left standing -- as in standing still -- will be, well, left in the dust, don't you think?

Please don't sit this one out by sleeping in. Good luck to all of you. These United States need your best shot now.

What if it is NOT true?

2011-12-22T08:05:00.000-08:00

Quite a long time ago now, one of my favorite brother-in-laws preached a sermon I didn't like. I didn't like a lot of sermons over the years, not even my own, so that's not a new truth.

The sermon dealt with all the uncertainties that we humans deal with, and concluded what was to be a new tack for me. About Christianity, he asked -- "what if it is NOT true -- would life on this earth be better, or worse?"

I took issue with him, and told him so, but I was a lot more holy then and couldn't imagine a non-believer. There's been a lot of water under the bridge too now.

Now, I'm dealing with it again. Do I believe in the Christmas messages?

I've met a lot of unbelievers over the years, and the believers I know don't often impress me with their beliefs. Unbelievers really don't claim to offer belief, because, as they say, they don't. Yes, their unbelief is a belief, and the ones I know expect me to unbelieve with them.

So, it's Christmastime and lots of us -- maybe a growing number of us -- feel hampered by the Christmas message that God sent his son to be born in a manger and to die on a cross for our sins -- to focus on our inability to start over and wipe out the train wreck most of us are on in this life, blaming everybody else for our failures, ruining all our new chances to start over.

Being tough is a new branding tool for many of us.

What if our parents never really loved us as we scoffed at their continuing admissions that they did. What if we were wrong about that too?

What if God did NOT exist so he couldn't have sent his "son" to be born of a virgin with the power to direct us to the God Creator so we could be reconciled to a secure position in the God family?

What if none of that was true, a product of our fantasy imagination --like Hobbits or Captain Kirk?

Sometimes I need to start over with a clean slate several times a day. What would I do if I was saddled with all the stuff I do wrong? HOW WOULD I UNLOAD IT when it gets too heavy?

Without real forgiveness, would we better for it? Or worse? Some would say we don't need forgiveness? Really?

Would we be better for it? Or, worse...

I think my fantasy is at least as good as the Hobbits, don't you?

Miracles of our time

2011-12-20T04:32:00.000-08:00

No, it's not Thanksgiving. It's Christmas now (almost).

Lots happening among us.

Surgeries to put people together again. Emotional struggles to regain confidence. Deaths to endure. Births to celebrate. Engagement to show support when it is needed most.

And, for the first time, we can experience them -- as they are happening, cheering others as they face despair and elation, sharing the truth of our own experiences when it truly makes a difference to others.

It is not a time for weakness. It is a time for us to show our strengths, and the very nature of life itself is on the line.

With the ability to hear from the person in the struggle, to identify with their pain at the time of its happening, share in their "hope to hope", engage them directly, offering sympathy when it is needed most, holding up others before our Creator-- the very cutting edge of our struggle on earth.

All possible now in the little boxes we hold in our hand -- finally the computer has reached us, and while we contemplate the many negatives of this new reality, we don't seem to comprehend the miracle that has happened with us as we share in each other's struggles.

We have engaged in the human spirit.

We can weigh in with people we care about at the time of their despair and while they are still elated with the best news of their lives or while they are reaching out in danger for the future and overcoming the failures of the past.

People who meant so much to each other while they were "growing up" are brought together again and again, receiving the gift of hope from precious others that made so much difference to them long ago, restoring engagement with others who have always cared for us.

So much better than the Christmas cards and newsletters of the past, these live messages reach into our souls and engage us in the game of life, learning about support we thought we had lost, giving and receiving in the Spirit of Christmas.

This current computer generation of communication is the newest adventure in the spirit of the season.

It is a miracle to be experienced -- a kernel of hope in a difficult world.

May we become better for it.

Flip flopping along at Christmas

2011-12-16T05:44:00.000-08:00

It's Christmastime.

For me, it's a time to stop trying to manipulate the world long enough to roll with some invisible punches thrown wildly at my plans for the future.

Bing and Frank and Tony and Kate all singing in my ear -- snow and reindeer and stuff fantasizing away in my head.

Christmastime is when I flip flop the most. Things I think strongly about before Christmas are turned into symbolic snowflakes, drifting down and then melting away behind.

Yes, I'm the same one that thought Hobbits were a lot of poppycock, back when we were all trying to teach our kids the truth about the world around them, and the God around us as if we knew a lot about it then.

Now, I hum along with Mitch and his band who played Christmas tunes so long ago and while I always thought Andy sang a little flat when my wife of many years adored him, now I sing along with glee as if I were in Branson now with him, but I don't hear much from Mitch these days.

The train we are on is surging down the track now. Gates open ahead of us in the distance, closing behind us in the darkness. I don't think there is anybody pouring on the coal, but the train seems to be picking up speed now for some reason.

Have you noticed?

In the engine, there is no one in the seat with a hand on the throttle, but there is a sense of peace about it all as we near the Christmas station just ahead. We see the lights in the distance -- white and red, green and yellow...

Bells are sounding as we pass the crossings. Ding. Ding. Ding.

Even if the worst should happen, there is a peace about it as I realize I don't run this engine, and even when we allow negative thoughts of putting on the brakes, we don't do it, flipping and flopping along, saying kind things to strangers on our way while whistling a Christmas tune.

Regardless of our self righteousness, we are humbled before the God of the universe now -- and like Tim Tebow, bend our knee realizing that even as we are speeding down the track, we can be at peace now...

God is in charge.

Please don't take offense. It works for me. Merry Christmas.