Slander

A prosecutable crime in a court of law, slander has become as  common as house flies.   Multi-million dollar industries flourish by virtue of those who have perfected the fine art of selling slander in the printed and video media.  Every time we buy groceries there are tabloids to remind us of all the exaggerated and imagined scandals of the rich and famous.

Family members compete for large estates of aging relatives and one of the most powerful tools in their arsenal is slander.  The death of an aging parent can spark all out war among adult siblings vying for the rights to the family fortune.  The winners of these mud slinging feuds are many times determined by the ones most skilled at the fine art of slander.

Politicians have highly paid professional consultants carefully crafting dialogue that will chip away at the reputation of their rivals.  Subtlety is the name of the game.   They must be careful to assassinate the character  of their competitor in such a way that the public believes that it is being done for the common good of the voters.

One large bank failure was recently blamed on someone suggesting financial weakness and by doing so triggered a run on the bank.  When enough people believe something is bad and start saying it is bad, it will become bad whether it started that way or not.  How much of our current economic problems have been caused by negative comments?

Gossip is the fuel that feeds slander.  Seemingly innocent conversation can do serious harm to others.  We have to think about our words.  Is this something I would like others to say about me?  If this person were present, would this be an encouragement to them?   In short,  the best policy is the Golden Rule, doing to others what we would want them to do to us.

Gossip and slander flourish under the cover of darkness and secrecy.  The next time a friend or co-worker comes to you with a juicy tidbit, ask them if it is all right if you share this with the subject person.  Or better yet, see if they would like to go to lunch with the person and discuss their concerns.   If you do this, you will find yourself dropped from the grapevine or the communication highway for gossip.

Do your part to stop gossip and slander in the social circles you are a part of and make the world a better and kinder place to live in.

Like

My daughter, a college student and retired cheerleader,  loves to use the word, “like.”   When she is with her friends, it gets worse.  I don’t know how to explain it.  It’s like really like so hard with like words and everything.  You get the idea.

So, I invented a “like alarm” so that every time her or her friends use the word, “like,”  I imitate the sound of a buzzer at the end of a basketetball game.   It drives them crazy.  Soon they are laughing and begging me to quit.

How did we get to this place where every fourth or fifth word is “like?”  I think that like is a replacement for the verbal pause we call “uh.”   It is like definitely an improvement on “uuuuuuhhhhhhh.”

One has to wonder who was the person who started the like thing.  They are truly a trend-setter.  Now that is a person I can admire, a trendsetter.   Did they like use it a couple of times and like got in a habit or something?

I don’t know who started this, but I don’t like it.

Pickens’ Plan

T. Boone Pickens is an answer to our prayers. Finally, a leader who has a plan and is taking action. This icon of an oil man understands the problem and has realistic solutions. Make no mistake, this is not an old man’s pipe dream. This is a world class business man who knows how to get things done on a global scale. He observes that we are presently witnessing the largest wealth transfer in world history, over 700 billion a year pouring out of the U.S. into overseas markets.

His approach is upbeat and positive. He identifies the United States as the Saudi Arabia of wind power. Our Mid-West is one of the largest windy areas on earth. Pickens is presently building the largest wind farm with his own money.

Another key in Pickens’ war against foreign oil is natural gas. He points out that we already have 8 million vehicles powered by natural gas which is abundant and affordable in North America. Other forms of energy are listed as part of the solution, but Pickens feels that wind power and natural gas need to be given priority quickly to buy us time in our transition away from foreign oil.

Perhaps the most powerful tool that Pickens has is the army of volunteers being drafted into his alternative energy campaign. I joined up, it just seemed right down patriotic. This is a cause that conservatives and liberals alike can join hands together and sing koom-by-ah about.

Go to www.pickensplan.com for complete info or to be a volunteer.

Substitution

There is a way out of our current financial mess tied to oil.  Legendary oilman, T. Boone Pickens,  is championing the substitution of alternative energy sources for oil.   Our country has a destructive addiction to oil that is creating the largest transfer of wealth in world history, over 700 billion dollars a year.  Terrorist organizations receive large contributions from these oil rich mideastern nations.   In Iran, we are even bankrolling the manufacture of nuclear missles that could potentially reach our mainland.

We have alternatives, substitutes if you will.   By substituting other things for foreign oil, we destroy some of the demand that drives the runaway prices.   Oil will eventually crash anyway.  Why not in the interest of our national economy and national securtiy just stop buying oil stocks and futures and sell what you have?  It’s a smart move financially.  It is a patriotic move.

The U.S. is the largest user of crude oil.  A patriotic move by investors and consumers could pull us out of an eventual depression.  We have the power to do this.   Do we have the will?

The silver lining in this dark cloud is that the pain at the pump is creating a resolve in the general public to replace oil.  I’m seeing electric cars on the road.   More people are buying scooters for short trips around town.  Long distance vacations are being replaced by creative stay-at-home vacations.  Telecommuting jobs are in big demand.

The oil market has created permanent enemies with the painfully high prices.  The goose that laid the golden egg (the public demand) is terminally ill.   Gasoline is endured now, no longer embraced.  The public mindset has been historically and permanently altered.

When addicts go to a residential treatment facility, they make a clean break with their addictive substance and begin the painful process of de-tox.  We need a clean break with foreign oil and then let the withdrawl pains run their course.   This problem cannot be solved without sacrifice and pain.  It’s time to get America off the park bench and throw the bottle in the garbage.

Financial Lessons

The past eight years has taught me some important lessons about money, the markets, and life in general. In reflection, there are three main truths that I have gleaned from this experience:

1. Nothing goes up forever. I remember several people who had walked the planet longer than I telling me that. I didn’t really believe them because my reality was based on my own experience with the real estate market that began in 1980 as a salesman and a field appraiser. As a life-long second generation Realtor, I remember confidently declaring that if the whole country went down the tubes, real estate values would remain stable.

Oil prices seem to have no top, but some analysts are warning that demand could be reaching its peak. Even OPEC is discussing demand destruction. I’ve noticed here in Florida where I live that the storms that roll in quickly also leave quickly. Oil cannot rise forever. Oil’s rise will become it’s own demise. Just like real estate and every other financial entity, oil will come crashing down just as fast and hard as it went up.

2. Anything can happen at any time in financial markets. It was the new millennium and hopes were running high. I had just started trading on line and I knew I would soon be rich. I watched the financial channel with the wide-eyed optimism. Day in and day out everyone was buying Enron the hottest stock on the market. I was buying and selling other things and I felt that I was missing the opportunity of a decade, perhaps of the century.

So one day, when I could stand it no more, I sold all my positions and went all-in, no holds barred, all I had, invested in Enron. Now I was running with the big boys. I knew I could ride this wave all the way to a life of riches.

Two weeks later, Enron bit the dust. I felt really stupid and ignorant (which is a good place to start learning from). People in the know told me that I had been duped along with managers of mulit-million dollar investment funds. The lesson was learned the hard way. Anything can happen in the markets at any given time. Risk must be tempered with this truth in mind.

3. Nothing goes down forever. This is the lesson that I believe we are all learning now. My guess-timate is that real estate values are either at the bottom or very near the bottom. Investors are starting to buy. Lenders are running more ads. I see new housing and commercial developments coming out of the ground and prospering. I’ve even seen a few ads for real estate sales positions.

Economists know that our nation’s economy has traveled in 14 year economic cycles regardless of politics or wars. We’d like to believe that the person in charge has the power to control these cycles, but history has proven that they don’t. There is no knight in shining armor. We are simply in a cycle.

The overriding principle in all of these lessons is that as individuals we have to keep a balance of optimism and caution. Whatever economic cycle we find ourselves in, we must remain pro-active and not get paralyzed with fear. When thunderstorms roll through, my 3 year old daughter says something learned from her grandmother, ” God is taking my picture.” The storms of life will come and go, and even pause to take our picture, but be assured, the sun will always shine again.

Fear

We are in a war against fear. I’m not talking about the war in Iraq. I’m talking about the reason we went to Iraq. I’m one of the ones who believes it was the right decision. The reality is that we go to war, any war, for fear of the consequences if we don’t.

Fear is driving the present economy. The buyers and sellers are motivated by fear of loss. The markets are literally gripped by fear right now. A quick look at CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, or Investor’s Business Daily will confirm that a wave of mass fear has gripped our financial systems.

Fear, redefined as phobias, is what keeps most mental health facilities full. Fear has a destructive, paralyzing power that can override our logic and creativity in our daily lives. How many opportunities have been lost, how many fortunes missed, by fear.

Relationships can be destroyed by fear. Jealousy is a fear that the one you care for may meet someone they like better and not be loyal to you. No relationship can withstand a constant barrage of jealous emotional outbursts and accusations. Fear and jealousy destroys trust and then you have nothing left.

Much of our social interaction outside of our close family and friends is small talk. I’ve been observing how much of our daily chit chat focuses on our fears. Whatever you let your thoughts dwell on will eventually come out of you mouth in words. We spend a lot of time reinforcing fearful emotions and digging our pit of failure even deeper.

We can fight back against fear. We need to practice the discipline of self-control over our thoughts, emotions, and conversations. We get in the habit of speaking defeat and gloom. Those who study psychology tell us that the human mind does not think in text or words, but in pictures. We visualize our future, good or bad, according to our expectations. Let’s get a new picture and encourage others who have a negative outlook on the future. Let’s base our thought pictures on success, not failure.

Perhaps it is really true that the only thing to be truly feared is fear itself.