Share Ware Reform Coming Soon

We are getting used to being bombarded every day with news like "unexpectedly new homes sales drop," "unexpectedly unemployment claims rise," "unexpectedly consumer confidence takes a sharp drop," etc. I wrote about this a few weeks back and opined that only idiots would not have expected those things to happen. I will tell you what else you can expect happening unexpectedly in the near future: a share ware software reform will be undertaken by the Congress.

Why now? It is quite simple. The Recording Industry Association of America has been trying for years to make the Congress pass the law restricting or making illegal the peer-to-peer file sharing which was digging into their profits. To no avail. That is until now. Last week a junior staff member of the Congress ethics committee (the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct) saved onto his home hard drive details of the investigation against members of the defence appropriations committee. He had a file-sharing software on his home computer, and did not realize that this makes those documents available for others to download. As a result, this secret document was leaked to the press.

Basically, it is not an earth shattering document for anybody who expects the "unexpected." It just shows that the ethics committee is investigating members of the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee who have steered earmarks to clients of the lobbying firm which paid tens of thousands of dollars to those politicians' election campaigns. The exact list of names and donation amounts can be found here.

Same old, same old. Corrupted politicians accept bribes (and lobbying is a legalized form of bribing, don't kid yourselves) in exchange for contracts delivered to the donors. Defense contractors are usually the biggest beneficiaries, so some politicians even forgo their more prominent ranks on other subcommittees in order to get on the defence subcommittee where the money is, you know.

The only piece of news is really that this share ware software now touched too close to home, and that is why I anticipate the Congress to pass some legislation banning it pretty soon.

An American Hero

Matthew Hoh, a former Marine captain decorated for his bravery in combat, an recently a Foreign Service officer, resigns in a protest over the Afghan war. Having spent much time in Iraq and Afghanistan, both as an officer, and as a civilian, he came to the conclusion that our presence in Afghanistan only fuels the local guerrilla war against the invaders and strengthens the positions of the Taliban. He is convinced that not only we are fighting the war we cannon win, but that the results of our war in Afghanistan are opposite of what we were trying to achieve. It turns out that the level of violence actually surges when the American troops are present. One can win a war against some organized armed force, but not a war against much of the population which you failed to convince to support you. Americans are in essence fighting and dying in a local civil war between an secular urban citizens of Afghanistan and the religeous rural population. At this point the insurgency against the American presence is not managed from one "center" - it is spontaneous and omnipresent. We are much hated by the Afghan pepople also because we are supporting the corrupt government of Hamid Karzai. From his extensive experience, Matthew Hoh can no longer justify our military presence in Afghanistan. You can read more on the story here.

As one of the commentators noted on the Newsvine forum discussing this news, "The US WILL lose this war, just like every other war-mongering empire has lost a war in Afghanistan in the past and once again we will have learned absolutely nothing. In the process, thousands more American kids will die, thousands of innocent civilians will be slaughtered, and thousands more will be permanently scarred just so some defense contractor can make a profit, and a few people can get re-elected. "

Matthew Hoh - a true American Hero.

The French have the guts - sometimes

The Associated Press reports today that the French Immigration Minister is proposing a national debate which may lead to the ban on full-body burqas on French streets. You can read the whole article here. This is an attempt to crack down on Muslim fundamentalists in France. Kudos to the French for having the guts to raise the subject! They may not be brave enough to defend their country with arms when facing a military invasion, but right now they are the only Western country which is not intimidated by political correctness to protect itself from the insidious spread of the radical Islam. It is reported in the article, that earlier last week some illegal Afghan immigrants were sent back to Kabul on a charter plane. We in this country are so beaten into submission by the aggressive Civil Liberties Union that we don't even dare to publicly raise those issues. Well, I don't think that the proliferation of radical Islam is such a problem in the US as it is in France, so we may be more tolerant just until it endangers our survival. But it is still good to see that a Western democracy is capable of fighting back and assert the principles on which it is based without being too scared to "offend" the newcomers who have no interest in assimilating into the culture of the country kind (stupid?) enough to let them in.

Saving the Matrix

The Obama Administration has announced its plans to severely curb top executives' compensation at the largest banks which have received the bailout money. The rationale given was more or less to keep social justice. I have been thinking about the true reasons for this move and its timing.

The overall effect for the economy is going to be hardly noticeable. Whether these "brightest and most talented" crooks steal $5 million or $5 billion from us is not going to make a huge difference to any one of us. But it feels good to have them "feel the pain" where it hurts - in their pockets where they keep their hearts. So I had to come to the conclusion that the real reason for this populist decision was the desire to quell public anger. This shows that the people in power are becoming aware and afraid of the public sentiment. This is a small bone which Wall Street and their people in Washington are throwing to the people on Main Street. In old times, a prince could have rolled out barrels of wine for the mob to drink and be merry, or give out a witch who caused the drought for the crowd to quench its thirst for blood. The purpose is the same - to divert the anger from the rulers to some other cause or an individual. In our "civilized" times Washington sacrificed the top bankers.

The timing is very telling. Who is not going to be affected by this decision? Goldman Sachs which "paid the public" back the TARP money having helped themselves to the public riches handsomely. Goldman Sachs whose alumnae are prominently represented in the Administration. So Washington waited long enough till the people they wanted to save were saved, and then sacrificed the other "bad guys".

People in Wall Street want to preserve the American matrix and the circle which runs it. They realize that the public is waking up in their bubbles and starting to realize how this society truly works, and who pulls the strings. To realize that the role of the public is hardly more than that of aphids which are being milked by hungry ants, but are happily unaware of that. The matrix will do anything to save itself. And rightfully so! Unfortunately, the destruction of the matrix would bring a long period of extreme hardship upon everyone. The price would be simply too high to pay for social justice, or the illusory hope for attaining it.

The saying that ignorance is bliss has never rung more true. I want to go back into the matrix, and I wish I were not even aware of its existence. I want my pink glasses back!

Mayan Calendar and the End of the World

I read an interesting (maybe a bit crazy, but interesting nonetheless) article interpreting the Mayan calendar. It interprets the end date in that calendar not as the end of the world, the end of all time, but as the end of the cycles in our economy. Here is an excerpt:

"From this perspective, where we are approaching the end of cyclical changes and the highest quantum state of the universe, it is also logical that the economic meltdown that we are now in is not merely a “recession” or a “depression”, such as we know to have been precipitated in the past by nights in the calendar. The decline is instead the beginning of the end to the cycles of the economy. Yet, since we know from the study of the Mayan calendar that the time periods when the economy shrinks are the nights we can make some predictions as to how this end of the economic cycles is going to play out. The first pulse of bringing the growth economy down thus came with the fifth night and led to a rapid decrease in growth, a fall in stock values, and increases of lay-offs and foreclosures. We are currently in a period in between such nights, the sixth day (see Figure 2), when the same processes are continuing more slowly and may even temporarily be slightly reversed. Around the time that the Sixth night begins on November 8, 2009 we may however expect that the meltdown intensifies and the US dollar collapses and with it the established monetary system in the world. Many things may trigger such an event, but it is important to understand that whatever triggers it, and this may be some kind of political event, it is the energy of this night that will bring it about. This incidentally, is also why it is so important what will be made of the rebirth energy of the second half of the sixth day."

Read on...

Wealthy Americans Splurging Again!

Bloomberg agency is reporting today that wealthy Americans increased their spending by 29% in the third quarter of the year compared to the second quarter. The luxury confidence index has jumped from 40.3 in September of 2008 to 75.9 in September 2009. I suppose this is great news! The wealthy feel confident, so the party continues! I just hope that the US rich won't have the "let them have cake" answer when the hungry crowds come to demand bread.

The Land of the Free?

The New York Times published an article today titled "Bailout Helps Fuel a New Era of Wall Street Wealth." It was with astonishment that I read a phrase there: "It may come as a surprise that one of the most powerful forces driving the resurgence on Wall Street is not the banks but Washington. " SURPRISE? It may come as a SURPRISE? If this is true, I am afraid I have underestimated the gullibility and lack of sophistication in my fellow Americans. And that is shocking in and of itself.

This is what the government has been doing for the past year, hasn't it? I mean, saving Wall Street. So why would it come as a surprise that the source of new wealth on Wall Street was actually Washington? Beats me!

Here is what may come as a surprise to you, though. We learned a few days ago that our senior citizens won't get a Social Security payment increase next year due to lack of money in the budget. Let us do simple math here. AIG alone was given $182.5 billion in bailout money. Now, there are 35,241,000 seniors aged 65 and older who receive only Social Security from the government. If we had let the crooks at AIG fail, how much money could we then have given to our seniors instead? It turns out the amount which EVERY senior citizen could have received would be $5,178.63. Considering that an average monthly Social Security benefit is $1,061.50, this means that EVERY SENIOR CITIZEN in this country could have received an additional $100 a month for 4 straight years (roughly, a 10% raise compared to the current level) if the money we doled out to the fat cats at AIG ONLY were instead given to the country's elderly.

What does that tell you about our priorities and our morals? And the fact that there are no protests... What does that tell you about our sense of freedom? Nowhere in Europe a trick like that would have worked. People would have been out in the streets protesting. They would have paralyzed their countries with strikes, they would have forced the government to stop saving their own kin at the expense of the most vulnerable citizens. But not in America. As long as we have our "American Idol" and a hamburger, we don't care. Land of the Free? Don't make me laugh!

Let the Sleeping Dog Lie

This is our dog Tootsie snoring her heart out! This is a very short video, and she does wake up at the end, but she can go on snoring for hours and hours.

What you WON'T HEAR in Our News

Nino Burdzhanadze, the leader of the opposition in Georgia wrote an article in "The Guardian" on October 7 of this year. In it, she discusses the implications of the recent EU report which found Georgia to be the country which started the war with Ossetia last year. That report made lack of freedom of press painfully obvious in Georgia, if only the world which now finances approximately half of the annual budget of that country were to listen.

Here are some excerpts from her article:

"The Tagliavini report states in black and white that our armed forces broke international law in firing first and attacking peacekeeping troops. Our president – the man who gave the illegal order to launch the attack – simply says it does not. Our media do not call him out as a liar, but repeat his propaganda word for word. [...]

Heidi Tagliavini's report rightly condemns the use of nationalist and xenophobic rhetoric by politicians in the run-up to the war; we in Georgia were deluged with it throughout 2008. But that political sewage also required a sewer, and that was found in a Georgian broadcast media that, at a national level, is under the complete control of the government.

Tbilisi has a thriving media and some Internet access and opposition voices can get a hearing in newspapers and cable TV. But for two-thirds of the country, our three national TV channels are the only mass media available. And all are directed by the president's inner circle.

Our public television channel is explicitly government controlled. The second station is partly owned by a government MP and, it has been said, if it had been in Berlin and not Tbilisi Germans would still think they had won the war. Our third station used to be independent but was seized by special forces in 2007 and later handed over to cronies of the regime. [...]

Today, basing his argument on the lie that somehow he had no choice, Saakashvili boasts he would indeed do the same again if he got the chance. [...]

EU and US money are now vital to our economy. It's time western taxpayers insisted that it was not being used to prop up authoritarianism and it is time for Saakashvili to pay the price his responsibility demands and to go."

Read the complete text of The Guardian article here. Make sure you also read the comments to the article. In them, many people argue Nino Burdzhanadze's point that the West, unlike Georgia, has a truly free press. They point out to the fact that what we were fed by the "news" media as the war was unravelling was nothing short of propaganda. I am glad that at least people in the UK are aware of that.

It is interesting that according to Burdzhanadze, Saakashvili maintains that given the same situation he would do the same again. Well... I sure hope he won't ask me to contribute towards another billion dollars to prop up his regime.

We be of one blood, ye and I

A very heart warming news came from Moscow, Russia. Nearly 60 employees of the US Embassy in Moscow including ambassador John Beyrle participated in the blood drive on October 9. About 30 liters of blood were collected and donated to the Russian Blood Bank. The Medical Officer at the Embassy, Dr. Larry Padget said, "We live and work in this city, and we wanted to do something for it." Thanks, America!

Goldman-Sachs Allumni in the US Administration

I recently had an argument on one of the Internet forums with a rather recent Russian immigrant into the US who still has rose glasses on. He believed the President does not only mean, but will actually do everything he promised, he trusted that there is no corruption in the US government, he was convinced that our domestic and foreign policy is always dictated by the considerations of the common good. I maintained that the current Administration is so heavily dominated by people with the closest possible links to the Wall Street, that Washington turned into a Wall Street instrument of political power, and that all efforts so far have been aimed at saving only the top players in the financial sphere. Here is a concise list of people previously closely connected to one firm only, Goldman Sachs, who are serving or have served in a variety of leadership positions in the current and past Administration. This is just a quick reference guide in case you would need to look it up.

Epiphany from Ben Bernanke

This is a compilation of quotes by Ben Bernanke collected by Gerald Celente. A couple of months ago, on this website I shared my concerns that Mr. Bernanke would be re-appointed despite his woeful lack of qualifications and skills for the job (or maybe, brain or conscience - pick what you like more). He did get reappointed. He was recently reassuring the Congress that the recession is over and that we are returning to the pattern of growth. How much trust can be put in his words, can be seen from this document:

Economic Forecasts from
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
2007 & 2008

May 17, 2007: “The effects of the troubles in the subprime sector on the broader housing market will likely be limited, and we do not expect significant spillovers from the subprime market to the rest of the economy, or to the financial system.”

October 15, 2007: “The banking system is healthy… Rather than becoming more crisis prone, the financial system is likely to emerge from this episode healthier and more stable than before.”

November 8, 2007: “We have not calculated the probability of a recession. Our assessment is for slower growth, but positive growth going into next year. We think that by the spring, early next year, that, as these credit problems resolve and as, we hope, the housing market begins to find a bottom, that the broader resiliency of the economy, which we are seeing in other areas outside of housing, will take control and will help the economy recover to a more reasonable growth pace.”

January 10, 2008: “Thus, notwithstanding the effects of multi-billion dollar write-downs on the earnings and share prices of some large institutions, the banking system remains sound… The Federal Reserve is not currently forecasting a recession.”

April 2, 2008: “Monetary and fiscal politics are in train that should support a return to growth in the second half of this year and next year.”

June 3, 2008: “We may see somewhat better economic conditions during the second half of 2008, reflecting the effects of monetary and fiscal stimulus, reduced drag from residential construction, further progress in the repair of financial and credit markets, and still solid demand from abroad. This baseline forecast is consistent with our recently released projections, which also see growth picking up further in 2009. Futures markets continue to predict that commodity prices will level out.”

Clearly, we have the brightest and the most qualified leading us out of the recession which they could not even see and recognize.

Celente in Support of the Arts

Gerald Celente of the Trends Institute just released the new report forecasting the development of the world crisis. He anticipates the situation worsening significantly before it gets better. He does believe in the eventual American Renaissance, though, which would include economic and political revival of the country. But there is more to it. And here comes an unusual address to the readers from this very sober analyst:

"No Renaissance can occur without building its foundation upon the arts. Art is not entertainment or just a business. Art is a way of finding the true meaning of the human spirit. A comprehensive understanding and appreciation of art, in its most profound manifestation … aesthetic, religious, cosmic … defined every great civilization of the past and without it there will be no great civilization of the future.

For America to experience its Renaissance, it is incumbent upon everyone to do what they can within their means. For the wealthy, buy from and support living artists for the value of how the work hits the heart, not for its eventual resale value. For everyone else, give a holiday, birthday, wedding, graduation gift that is artisan made, not manufactured in a Chinese factory. And when buying for children, give gifts that will further their creative talents in arts and crafts rather than occupy their minds with disposable toys and electronic games."

The Deal is Closed!

Just wanted to report that the real estate deal I was working on a few days before did close. To recap: the house was sold for $84,000 in 2000. It went into a foreclosure, and was listed by the bank for $17,400. 3Br/1.5Ba on a quarter of acre of land with a fenced back yard. Vinyl siding, new vinyl windows, new copper water pipes, updated electric, hardwood floors underneath a very trashed carpet. My client actually offered $15,400, and the bank accepted. The bank further offered us the opportunity to use their attorney which brought the cost of the closing to $250, and the bank paid for the cost of the Title insurance. Do your math!

My client plans on replacing the carpet in the entire house, and repaint the inside. There is also about $100 worth of repairs needed on the furnace fan, and $450 to do a termite treatment for the inactive infestation. After that my client is going to rent it out.

This sure feels like the good old days when they were giving land away for free in America to anyone who would work it.

A Sham Prize

The biggest news of the day: Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. I would be happy for him except I think the meaning of this prize is so hollow that it simply boils down to ... money, really. On the one hand, I do not know anybody in the recent year who did more for easing up tensions in the world than Obama. Who else was a better candidate for the prize? Angelina Jolie? Mikheil Saakashvili? Sarah Palin? Give me a break! They had no better choice! So no, I do not begrudge the person who received the prize this year.

On the other hand, the company he finds himself in is questionable at best. Think about it: Al Gore was awarded the same prize 2 years ago for his invention of a man-made global warming. Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded this prize a number of years back even though his policies led to the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union and the unprecedented number of military conflicts and deaths on the territory of the former Soviet Republics. Even Yasser Arafat got awarded that prize! And we all know how instrumental he was for the peace process in the Middle East.

Oh, and did you know that for a brief time Adolf Hitler was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1939 by a member of the Swedish parliament?

So for all practical purposed, in my mind the Nobel Peace Prize is completely meaningless, if not a bit embarrassing.

If this movie is not anti-Russian, I will eat my hat

Hollywood director Renni Harlin ("Die Hard 2," "Cliffhanger," "Exorcist: The Beginning") has started filming a movie about last year's Russian-Georgian military conflict in South Ossetia. The director claims that the movie is not going to be anti-Russian or anti-Georgian, but instead will be anti-war.

According to Georgian news sources, actor Andy Garcia ("The Godfather. Part III," "The Untouchables," "Ocean's Twelve and Thirteen")) will play the role of Georgian President Saakashvili. I hope he already started practicing his skills in eating his tie, which Mr. Georgian President famously did in the live news coverage on BBC (watch here). I don't see how you can convincingly portray this complex individual without such scene. In fact, we have obtained a photo from the rehearsals for this episode:

And here is the scene where Andy Garcia is practicing his skills running away from the Russian planes which are "out to get him."

And if the movie proves to not have an anti-Russian bias, I will personally eat my hat. Especially if the BBC comes to film me.

Sunrise in Blue Ridge Mountains

Here are a few pictures taken by my son at his camp in Blue Ridge Mountains this summer. One night they hiked on top of the mountain and greeted the sunrise there. No photoshop editing was applied to these shots.

"The Dancers Aren't Complaining"

Today, "The Independent" in Britain came out with the following headline: "The demise of the dollar. In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading."

The article continues:

"In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars. [...]

Brazil has shown interest in collaborating in non-dollar oil payments, along with India. Indeed, China appears to be the most enthusiastic of all the financial powers involved, not least because of its enormous trade with the Middle East. [...]

"These plans will change the face of international financial transactions," one Chinese banker said. "America and Britain must be very worried. You will know how worried by the thunder of denials this news will generate."

Iran announced late last month that its foreign currency reserves would henceforth be held in euros rather than dollars. Bankers remember, of course, what happened to the last Middle East oil producer to sell its oil in euros rather than dollars. A few months after Saddam Hussein trumpeted his decision, the Americans and British invaded Iraq."

To read the complete article, use this link.

I did not see anything about this most interesting and relevant information on MSNBC, and Fox News has the story ways down under behind all the blah-blah about our glorious war on terrorism and a fascinating story of corruption at ACORN. The Fox News twist is that the story is not true because it was denied by official sources in the countries named by the Independent. Sure, we all heard denials from official sources that Madonna is not getting a divorce, etc., etc. If these powerful countries are planning to pull the rug from under American financial supremacy, it would be a bit dumb of them to officially announce their course, wouldn't it? It would be stupid and complacent on our part to take their assurances at face value and instead continue being zombied by the likes of Ben Bernanke into thinking that we are on the mend, and that all is definitely under control.

The US reaction to this news reminded me of a recent experience we had here in North Carolina. For the first time ever in history, the Bolshoi Ballet came to Carolina. The Bolshoi said that until recently it was not even aware that anything existed in the vast space between Washington, DC and Miami. Lo and behold, they were coming to Chapel Hill, and we were up for a treat! They brought two performances, "Don Quixote" and the "Swan Lake." Tickets were sold out months and months in advance. We went to see both shows. "Don Quixote" was a rapture to watch despite the fact that the stage was obviously too small for this production, and at one point the soloist had to push away from the wall. Two nights later we were watching "The Swan Lake." I do not remember another ballet performance which I watched with a similarly sick feeling. In my mind, it was nothing short of a disaster. The stage was covered with some substance which obviously made it too slippery for the dancers, and it also produced a horrible squeaking sound each time they had to twist a foot on it, which was, essentially, all the time. About 5 dancers actually fell or slipped and nearly fell during the ballet. At one point the kneeling soloist had to make a visible effort to lift the foot he was resting on off the floor for his tricot stuck to the stage. It felt like the performers were dancing over a Coke spilled floor. We sat with a knot in our stomachs cringing at the squeaks, and filled with apprehension of future slips and falls. Anybody who is familiar with the Bolshoi would know that for a dancer to fall during their performance is a next to impossible event.

Anyway, during the intermission, we ran looking for a stage manager to see if the slippery covering could somehow been ameliorated during the short break. This was the evening when a red carpet reception for the patrons of the arts preceded the actual show. As a result, the theater was filled with ladies of all ages donning evening gowns. The lady we were told to talk to, was also fancily dressed up, and we apparently interrupted her small talk with an important guest. She sized me up (I failed to impress her), and after I related my concerns to her, she replied in a condescending manner that this was a special stuff they put on the stage surface for a ballet performance. Then when I assured her that (obviously, unlike her) I have been to many a ballet performance, and the stage never sounded this way, she gave me her last trump argument: "The dancers aren't complaining!" The performance concluded with the same accompaniment of squeaks and slips.

I later read in a published interview how concerned the dancers were about the slippery conditions on the stage that night. It was very evident that this was the first and last encounter of that stage manager's with the caliber of the ballet the Bolshoi offers. I am sure the troupe were very glad to leave the hospitable Carolina with no broken legs, and are probably convinced that there was a good reason why they were oblivious to the existence of human civilization between DC and Miami.

The parallel I am drawing here is in the attitude. The stage manager was convinced there was no trouble since she did not hear the dancers complain. The US media sources are also trying to placate us in this matter of vital importance to our collective "dance" that "the artists are not complaining," and therefore there is no cause for concern. Well, the artists may be plotting an escape to another troupe altogether. Ever heard about the BRIC countries? That may be the name of a new theater. I am not sure that when it opens we will have enough disposable income left in the currency they accept to purchase tickets to their performances.

What's in Your Prayer?

The Sunday newspaper supplement "Parade" just published the results of their exclusive poll on spirituality. Here are some of their findings:

• Only 5% of respondents didn't believe in God
• 7% weren't sure about the existence of God
• 12% didn't believe in afterlife
• 62% expected that when they die, they will join the loved ones who have passed away before them
• 51% of respondents said they pray daily, of those 21% prayed for money and other material things.

A simple math calculation which I am not sure those 51% or 21% of the respondents are capable of will let us see that 10% (or 1 in 10) Americans are on their knees nightly praying to God for ... money!!! The article was named "How Spiritual Are We?" Really! How spiritual we are! I hope God grants them their wishes of financial gain very soon so that they could turn their gaze to loftier goals.

A Big World in a Small Pool

When I was growing up in Russia, the world began and ended at the borders of the Soviet Union. Granted, it was a large space, but you could not venture beyond. You sort of knew about the world outside of the borders, but it was not very real. Like we know of the Universe out there, but since you can't actually go and touch it and experience it, it is still an abstract notion that we are spinning and flying through the space at a tremendous speed, that the stars we see may have died millions of years ago, etc. And even an occasional charred piece of an asteroid you see in some Science Museum does not make that outer space any more real. That is how we in the Soviet Union felt about the world abroad.

Then our family moved to the US. This was a tangible experience of the "outer world," yet it was still confined in itself. We were not free to travel outside of this new reality and then come back to it. This was sort of like flying to the International Space Station. Sure, you made a step into the universe, but your interaction with the universe was still severely limited. The first time I felt like a citizen of a larger world was when I decided to buy a poster of one of my husband's and mine favorite paintings by Pieter Bruegel "The Hunters in the Snow." The year was 1991, and Al Gore has not invented the Internet yet (and we did not even have a computer). (When they were young, my children have asked me if I was alive at the age of the dinasaurs, and it does feel that way sometimes.) I first checked out the local poster catalogs and book stores and found out that I could only buy an 11"x13" size poster for about $35. This was not acceptable. I did not want to also buy a magnifying glass to enjoy the painting. Then I got a hold of an art book and found out that the original was displayed in an art museum in Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum). I got the name of the museum, found out what their address was, and I wrote a letter to them asking if they had a poster of this painting in their gift shop. To me this was akin to sending a letter to Mars. Imagine my shock when shortly afterwards I received a reply with their catalog enclosed. I proceeded to ordering the almost full-size poster which cost me around $15 including the shipping cost. The savings are unimportant in this case. It was the shock that Mars does exist, and someone that from there would honor my inquiry with a reply, let alone by sending me an artefact from their world.

This summer I took my son and his friend to our neighborhood pool. There were very few people there. See, it is a small pool with just about 60 families belonging. Besides the three of us, there were two young women with a couple of toddlers. My child is 100% Russian, his friend has a German Dad and a Russian Mom, but, like my son, she was born in the US, so the language both children most fluently speak is English. The two young women turned out to be babysitters from Brazil who talked in Portuguese among themselves and even to the children, one of whom, as we found out later, was half German, half American and spoke those two languages at home. The only American American at the pool was a middle aged woman who came a bit later and was fascinated asking everybody where they were from.

This was a small pool indeed, with a large world fitting right into it. I am very glad that I feel free to travel almost anywhere in the world, that my daughter loves England, and that my son said that he thinks he would prefer to live in Europe when he grows up. I am really glad that I lived long enough to see my children feel like citizens of the world. The large world.

Investing in Real Estate

I am far from thinking that the crisis is over. I think it will still take the best of us. Yet now is the moment I feel when buying investment real estate may really make sense. Here is why.

With the government printing additional $2 trillion, we know for a fact that the inflation is going to hit us some time soon. Everything will become more expensive, including mortgages and home prices. Regardless of the fact if the prices of the real estate market have bottomed out in each individual case or not, they are overall pretty close to the bottom. If you buy now, you can get a loan at around 5%, and it will remain a 5% interest loan for 30 years if you get a fixed rate (which you absolutely should). So your mortgage payment will remain the same whereas rental prices will be climbing inexorably and doubtlessly. Your income will be on the rise, too, with the inflation adjustments (it probably won't keep up with the inflation because now that they have pumped so much money into the system, they need to get it back, and they will be getting it back from us). So the payment on that very low interest rate mortgage will consume an ever smaller portion of your paycheck, or of the rental payment you receive from this investment property. And the price of the property will be increasing, along with the price of everything else.

During the inflation it makes no sense to simply save money. You need to invest it in some commodity to prevent it from losing value. They say that gold will be an excellent way of wealth preservation. I do not know about that. Gold is a thing that you have to buy and pay to store hoping it will appreciate. Whereas if you buy a piece of real estate, you can a) leverage your purchase, and b) put it to work for you deriving income from it as you wait for it to appreciate.

Right now I am helping a client of mine purchase a property in North Carolina which is listed for $17,400.00. That is right, just seventeen thousand dollars! It sold 9 years ago for $84,000 with a bank issuing a loan for that amount. Yes, it is a foreclosure. No, it is not in the best part of town. Yet, it has 3 Br/1.5 Ba sitting on a quarter of an acre of land with a fenced back yard. New vinyl siding, new vinyl windows, new copper pipes, and updated electrical system complete the picture. You better believe that this is going to be a good investment.

I just feel that with the approach of the inflation, loan rates are going to be considerably higher, and property prices will rise along with everything else. Now is the time to take advantage of the low prices and low mortgage rates to lock in your super low monthly payments for the 30 years to come.

By the way, I am about to launch a new website where you can search for NC foreclosures for free (this is a rare thing for those of you who tried searching for foreclosed properties online). The site is http://www.ncinforeclosure.com/. But this is not a self-promoting post. A nationwide free website for foreclosed properties is http://www.allhud.com/. Go ahead and work with any realtor you like. I just thought I would share what was on my mind.