My dear readers – 9

Talk about creative! I came upon this little ditty in yesterday’s issue of BoingBoing.net and it reminds me of when I was a kid and I thought of all kinds of innovative ways to use conventional things.
Some kids in California have done just that.
Like everywhere else in the country, the bottom has fallen out of the housing ($1 million plus) market, and the water has subsequently been drained out of all the pools.
Huh?
The young folks out there have made a most ingenuous connection between empty pool and skate park!
Can you imagine using a diving board as a jump ramp?
Ouch.
Now let’s see what kind of money-making gig can come out of this unique thinking.

On a similar, but more serious note, (also a tidbit from BoingBoing), one guy from an unnamed town has taken it upon himself to match homeless people with homes that are empty and in foreclosure.
He says he doesn’t care about getting arrested, and is moving forth because it’s simply the right thing do to.

I am so excited about the innovation and courage bubbling up among us.
It seems the days of saying, “it’s someone else’s job,” are over and we are reinventing ourselves and our world!

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free.

My dear readers – 8

Day number 1 and the race has begun!

Actually, it’s eerily quiet outside this morning.
My world is shrouded in that light fluffy stuff called Lake Affect snow – a phenomenon unique to the Great Lakes.
It insulates me from the reality that exists “out there.”

Not to be the harbinger of doom and gloom, but I felt compelled to share with you some stories that met me as I sipped my morning coffee.

“Jobless numbers suggest a bleak 2009,”
“Rochester stocks suffer big decline,”
“Well-known brands took hit in 2008,”
“Chemical giant is considering Chapter 11.”

Stymied?
You bet.
Scared?
Some.
Disgusted?
Amen.

But, let my cup runneth over and soak you with optimism.

Things, they are a changing.
It didn’t take a fortnight to get here, and it will take more than a fortnight to get out of here.

However, do consider:

• Digital communication vehicles including blogs, websites, forums, listservs, and so on have leveled the playing field and morphed us from a people governed to a governing people.
• News and information travels at the speed of light resulting in our instant and necessary awareness
• More information is transmitted than ever before giving us access to a depth from which we were previously shielded
• For the first time in many moons, we took back our power as a people with the election of Barack Obama

I’m sure you see my point, which is, now that we the people have our power back, we need to take the information available to us, use the communication vehicles at our hands, and reverse this downward spiraling economy by wrestling it away from those who about did us in.

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free.

Cashless Society - 5

What’s your cash quotient?
That’s right, your cash quotient.
How much cash do you carry with you at any given time?
One dollar? Five dollars? Twenty five? Five hundred?
Is your security based on how much cash you carry?
As we move toward a cashless society, I ask you to be conscious of your cash quotient.
My cash quotient is zero.

In other words, I rarely have any more than some random change in my pocket. Here are the benefits of this:

1. When my kids come ask me for money for silly stuff, I pull out my wallet, lay it open in front of them (seeing is believing) and beg poverty.
2. When a street person asks for money, I drop in a quarter or dime, and plaintively say that’s all I have.
3. I don’t have to worry about putting my pants in the wash with a pocket-full of paper money
4. My days of being a pickpocket mark are over. (Yup, been there, done that)
5. 1.I save myself a lot of stress when paying for something by not having to rummage around for money, figuring out if I have enough, waiting for change, and so on.

How do I pay for things?
I use my debit card – that’s right, not credit card, debit card.

I believe the debit card will be the forerunner of more advanced technologies to come.
In the meantime, try it, get used to it, you’ll like it!!

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free

Cashless Society - 4

Would a cashless society infringe upon your rights of privacy and individual freedom?
Some people think so, and to be honest, it very well could be! But it doesn’t have to be, and here’s why.
It’s all based on its implementation and management.
If a cashless system was designed and managed by an entity with a centralistic, upper-class, militaristic mentality, the technology to manage a cashless economy would be designed for “Big Brother” to keep tabs on things (us).
But in this new era it is far more likely that the design of this system would be egalitarian, decentralized, and “for the people.”

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free

Taxes, money, currency :

Caroline Kennedy withdrew her New York State Senate bid because of taxes and household help, aka nanny.
We all know what that means.
Timothy Geithner, “almost” secretary of Treasury in the new regime admitted to careless, unintentional errors in tax calculations he made years ago.
The tax monster strikes again.
And Mr. Geithner has come out making a strong statement about the suspected manipulation of Chinese currency.
He says
“China is purposely keeping its currency devalued against the dollar and leaving American exports at a competitive disadvantage against lower-priced Chinese goods. “
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/business/worldbusiness/23treasury.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1232712160-JoduYWhYLQaImebJiYW82A

Taxes, money, currency:
always the same polluters of economy, society, and politics.

The plot thickens …. Stay tuned!

The Eye-in-the-Sky

I read in this morning’s news that Barack (amazing, to actually feel like we can be on first name basis with our president) has instructed federal authorities to loosen up their practices of secrecy of information.

Remember the Freedom of Information Act?

Well, he’s actually enforcing it.

Now, you ask, what is the relevance of this to my Corney’s Model of a cashless, taxless economy?
It has significant relevance.
One of the primary arguments against my model is the alleged ability of our private financial affairs to be monitored by a centralized, “Eye-in-the-Sky” force of power.
Guess what, folks?
With Barack’s policy of open information, we will become that “Eye-in-the-Sky” force of power with the ability to monitor who, if anyone, is monitoring our private stuff and act accordingly.

Thus, here we have another instance of power-to-the-people, and another solid argument for the implementation of my plan.

Cashless Society - 3

I heard a man talk this morning.
In fact, I heard him give a speech.
Did anyone else hear this man talk?
Before I heard this man speak, I thought that the days until our cashless society would be quite some indeed.
But today, in the day of this new America, in the light of this man’s view of America: a view of not tolerating putting off decisions that will be good for all because of politics and childish behavior, I’m beginning to think that day might be closer than we think.
Let’s just hope the 44th President of the United States, Barak H. Obama, can pull it off.

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free

Cashless Society - 2

It’s been five years since Keith Regan wrote about a cashless society in an article in E-Commerce Times.
Since that time, progress has been made to that end, albeit in indirect, yet effective ways.

Here’s the deal, guys and gals.
Cash is expensive. Huh? That’s right.
We’ve got an economy out there that is melting before our eyes and yet we insist on traveling to the bank once a week, and buying things with cash money.
In fairness, though, we have made progress.
We are not visiting the bank quite as much, which reduces their costs which in turn is good for us customers.
But, instead we are visiting ATM machines where we are getting — CASH!!!

What’s the alternative? Technology!
Technology in the form of electronic payment devices – cash cards, debit cards, antenna’d devices, or even cell phones!
The cost of using technology for financial transactions is far less than the cost of dealing with money – money costs money to make, store, distribute, and bank. Technology costs virtually nothing other than the price of the gadgets involved.

Regan also points out that the
road block on this cashless thing is US!
That’s right – it is our reluctance to give up our pocket and pocketbook full of change for lunch, candy, or a newspaper.
We have also become attached to the feel of a thick wad of green stuff.

Illusion! Think!
That pile of green stuff in your pocket might
as well be rotting cabbage.
Those clinking coins might as well be a pile of tin. Worthless.

Think more: a cashless society means more money for all of us.

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free.

Cashless Society - 1

You know how everyone is one their cell phone?
24/7? While horseback riding, roller skating, driving, and just about any other activity you can think of?

The cell phone has become ubiquitous.
Its availability transcends economic boundaries and it has become the beacon of modern day society.

In an article in E-Commerce Times in 2004, Keith Regan, discussed the inevitability of a cashless society, an inevitability that will benefit our economy in countless ways.
But the point I want to make now is that he poses the idea of the cell phone as the point of power – the point from which all financial transactions originate.
The topic of a cashless society has been raised before, including by yours truly, and many payment vehicles have been suggested.
But this cell phone thing is really the cat’s meow, IMHO.
Assuming its use, implementation is simply a puff of smoke away!

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free.

How to Lose your House the easy Way

“One of every five mortgage holders now has a home worth less than the mortgage on it”

From the Washington Post.com, January 17 edition:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/16/AR2009011604724.html?wpisrc=newsletter

I am stymied to see this in print, but at the same time, not surprised.
My jaw dropped when I read the bit about a couple in Riverside Ca. who are paying a mortgage of $6400 a month yet their home’s value is now far below what they paid and selling is therefore impossible.

California is known for its high taxes so I can’t help but wonder how much of this payment is for property and school tax.
Taxes, the bane of existence, at least as structured today.
All very Republican in approach. I have high hopes for President elect Obama: do you?

By the way, as a preview to a complete overhaul of the current tax system, I invite you to download my report “Done with Cash” for free.