{"id":760,"date":"2009-06-28T11:18:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-28T11:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/?p=760"},"modified":"2009-06-28T11:18:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-28T11:18:00","slug":"prince-and-pauper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/prince-and-pauper\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince and Pauper"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Here are a couple of worthwhile vids about living well.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.msnbc.msn.com\/id\/21134540\/vp\/31515125#31423980<\/a><\/p>\n

And then there’s this guy, who is presented as a bit of an oddity, but to me seems like the seeing man in the valley of the blind: he’s sane
http:\/\/www.msnbc.msn.com\/id\/21134540\/vp\/31515125#31405978<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve been thinking about this sort of thing recently: live like a king, die without a penny. The federal government is devaluing the currency (just wait until the “stimulus” gets turned into ten times that amount in debt! I hope they find that the public isn’t buying it) perhaps faster than what you can earn in interest. What if traditional retirement (ie save up enough to live on the interest) won’t work in the future?<\/p>\n

Just something that’s been percolating for me.<\/p>\n

One plan I’m considering is simply not accumulating any assets, only perhaps some use-able commodities. What else can have value but not be considered an asset? What cannot be looted by lawyers or the IRS? Goodwill with a local farmer? A skill that can be turned into cash easily (bike repairman)? Loyal children with good jobs? There’s your social security. Is there a commodity that has a shelf-life of 20+ years that can be both consumed, sold or traded with relative ease? Deodorant, Soap, Propane?<\/p>\n

Right now I have a negative net worth. A bum walking down the road who picks up a $0.05 can and puts it in his bag is richer than me. His net worth is “positive one nickel”.<\/p>\n

Response<\/span>
Shawn,
I think you’re starting to get a little paranoid about these economic things… The United States has been in debt since WW2… If the United States crumbles… burdened by debt… you’re not going to have to worry about someone taking your assets… Besides only reading what the doom and gloomers are saying perhaps you should look at what other economists are saying as well? Carpe Diem is a blog that only sees good news in the economy (I know, I find it hard to believe as well)<\/em>

The best thing you can do is keep your personal finances in order… That means paying off that debt and then, if you’re sure, the whole FED and Federal govt. is a scam to invest in real assets. Property and commodities… Just make sure you own them…<\/p>\n

If you want to be really paranoid, and about something that will probably happen before the US collapses under it’s debt… start looking into what peak oilers are saying: Cheap credit depends on cheap energy. Our culture is dependent on cheap energy. Cheap energy is a thing of the past.<\/p>\n

<\/em>http:\/\/cluborlov.blogspot.com\/<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Enjoying the site and the videos… I’ll be a customer as soon as my own personal debt is paid off!<\/em><\/p>\n

Sincerely,
JH
<\/em>
I really appreciate feedback on the blog. I am open to differing viewpoints. I would like to air various sides of an issue. If what I write is unfounded, then let’s hear why.<\/p>\n

The only thing I would take mild issue with is the use of the work “paranoid”. That means that someone is imagining danger when there is none: an unreasonable fear. I maintain that my concerns are well-founded, and if anything, the majority of Americans are suffering from the opposite of paranoia: there are dangers that are not being recognized. This is not tin-foil-hat-conspiracy-theory. It’s everyday stuff that profoundly affects the well-being of common citizens.<\/p>\n

Here are some additional thoughts:<\/p>\n

Don’t drink the water from the pool the Banks have created. It is poison. It will hurt you. You don’t need their “products” (so-called). There is a better and healthier way. This from the guy who likes Twinkies! But you get my point.<\/p>\n

My sincere hope is that some readers will start looking at things differently. Through my experience as a business owner my life view has changed. I have felt the heavy hand of government. That they can destroy a small business or destroy someone’s life, liberty and property is not some imagined threat. It is real. It has already happened to me. I managed to survive. But now that the sharks have ripped off one of my feet, I am much more careful as I swim in the water nowadays.<\/p>\n

What hurts small business hurts the workers. That really bothers me.<\/p>\n

Through this experience I started to read more and more on politics. Then I dug down to a layer where it was clear that I had to read more about economics and banking. I’m no expert. The more I read, the less informed I feel. However, the study of it has given me ideas for my business, and helped me to understand how things work.<\/p>\n

I no longer wish to trade glass beads for my life essence.<\/p>\n

I once read a book called “The Religion Worth Having”. The thesis of the book was that there is a way-the-universe-actually-is and that the more that a religion, or an individual, or a society conformed to the actual and real laws of that universe the more successful it would be. A ship can’t vote it’s way around the Strait of Magellan. It must have accurate maps and follow sound nautical principles. I think the founding fathers referred to this as “natural law”. That’s sort of a blank area for me right now.<\/p>\n

PS- some have noticed that I have comments turned off on my blog. I prefer to have people email me comments and then to post them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are a couple of worthwhile vids about living well. http:\/\/www.msnbc.msn.com\/id\/21134540\/vp\/31515125#31423980 And then there’s this guy, who is presented as a bit of an oddity, but to me seems like the seeing man in the valley of the blind: he’s sanehttp:\/\/www.msnbc.msn.com\/id\/21134540\/vp\/31515125#31405978 I’ve been thinking about this sort of thing recently: live like a king, die […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bluetablepainting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}