In this issue:
Product Highlight |
Brainpower | Finances | Security | Health/Fitness | Miscellany | Thought for the Day
|
1. Product Highlight
Scan Text into
Your Computer |
The I.R.I.S. Express 6 scanning pen allows you to
capture text and images directly into your computer, via USB
connection. Use it just like a
highlighter to to electronically transfer any printed text into any
Windows or Mac application.
Save time, save money, avoid frustration,
and optimize your productivity! |
Discontinued. |
|
2. Brainpower tip
Because our lives are so short, the depth of our experience
is more along the lines of a gopher hole than any kind of major excavation.
Consequently, our experiences seem new or even unique. And to us,
individually, that is often the case. This adds a sense of drama, but it
also limits our thinking on the subject. The
next time you have a problem with a neighbor, coworker, in-law, or spouse,
remember that someone living 3,000 years ago had the same problem (but
obviously with a different neighbor, coworker, in-law, or spouse). Sure, the
details might be different (3,000 years ago, politicians lied in person
instead of on television) but the basic problem is the same.
In addition to being relatively shallow, our
perspective is also relatively narrow. Think of some personal problem you had
yesterday, and odds are that several million other people had that very same
problem yesterday. More importantly, several million people had that problem
the week before and many of them solved it.
Whatever problem you encounter, whatever situation you're in, whatever
challenge you face--someone has been there before. Probably more "someones"
than there are people living in China today.
You're not the first with this issue, and you won't be the last. In fact,
probably several million other people have this problem or one similar to it
at this very moment.
What does this have to do with brainpower? Plenty. One of the things I've
discovered to be a grossly limiting factor in the use of brainpower is a
sense of defeat. I come across this time and time again. Underlying it every
time is the limited perspective we just talked about.
If you find yourself in "limited brainpower mode," feeling defeated by
what is facing you, stop. Consider that things are not as they seem. Someone
else has solved this before, and so can you.
You
have many options at this point, such as:
- Gird yourself in the knowledge that this problem has been seen and
solved before, except perhaps for the details of it. Then, forge ahead
with confidence and renewed commitment to get past it.
- If the problem appears solvable, it has already been solved. Realize
that the solution to this problem exists. Go out and find it, rather
than come up with it yourself. Update the details as needed, and you
have your solution.
- If the problem is one that can't be solved, for example, changing
human nature or ridding government of corruption, stop agonizing over
it. Realize that a means of coping with it exists. Find out how others
have made peace with the situation or turned it around to their
advantage. Apply what works for you.
Opening up your perspective can open up new possibilities for you, by
tapping the brainpower of others. Or simply providing you with the
confidence to tap deeper into your own brainpower. |
3. Finance tip
Preface: I wrote the following piece for
this issue, before this past Friday (03OCT). That was the day CONgress inflicted
upon America the 450-page pork-barrel spending bill that
incidentally contained a bailout. This was a bailout of an industry
that committed fraud due to what this same CONgress did during the
dark Clinton years (not to be confused with the dark Bush years).
The domino effect of this bill (members of CONgress trading even
more favors in the future) will serve as a multiplier on the
original amount of theft (there is no other word for it) committed
via this bill.As I don't understand
that entire issue of the bailout (which is a minor part of this
bill) and erroneously thought larceny was illegal (and larceny is
448/450ths or about 99.56% of this bill ), I will not attempt to
comment on it further. Other than to say the cost per person is
staggering. A trillion is a million
million. Divide a trillion by 100 million wage earners, and the cost
is a "gasp when grasp it" thing. You have personally been
robbed of this much money. In one day. How long will you have to
work to replace that money?
If you vote Demopublican this November, you send a message to these crooks that
it's OK to steal years of your wages in a single day. On top of the
other taxes you pay. Isn't it about time we all used our power to
object, since we don't have the power to elect?
And now, the piece I had originally composed
for this issue....
Many people have a heightened concerned about the
economy, right now. It's spiked by the Freddie/Fannie bailout that we
can't afford, plus the other financial lunacy that the mudstream media
is finally noticing.
Never mind that the people who caused the
Freddie/Fannie fiasco slunk away with
their multi-million dollar bonuses and the govt fat cats who let them do
it have awesome retirement packages waiting for them. This kind of
skullduggery is nothing new. A handful of federal employees quietly made
$103 million disappear while helping defraud 4300 investors in the Hoyt
Fiasco.
Corruption is normal. The fact the mudstream media
happen to actually notice it and report on it and actually get some
details right for a change doesn't mean the economy is suddenly in a
freefall. Even the New York Times got most of the details
correct, but that isn't a sign of Armageddon despite being spectacularly
unusual.
Let's keep a sense of perspective, here. The US
economy has been in the toilet for decades. Since the end of World War
II, the US federal govt has debased the currency an astounding 95%. Mull
that over, for a moment. The implications are staggering.
During the Johnson
misadministration, we got saddled with costly, defective social programs
that destroyed families and produced other ills. There was that
senseless invasion of Vietnam, too. Since then, the federal debt has
been getting worse and worse, as the disease of Keynesian economics has
been an excuse for gross mismanagement and fiduciary irresponsibility. Today,
our federal debt is approaching $10 trillion. And
that's only one aspect of what's wrong with our economy.
All of the problems are long-term. All of the
solutions are long-term, as well.
Perhaps our worst problem is that wealth transfer
organization known as the US CONgress. The people who misrepresent us in
CONgress are constantly spending our money in ways they shouldn't. Every
dollar they mis-spend is a dollar of tax because the money has to come
from somewhere and it's not growing on trees. Whether you pay tax via
the inflation tax, the credit crowding tax, or some other tax, your
taxes go up whenever CONgress spends anything.
This practice of spending insensibly is why our
economy is suffering. All of that spending didn't happen overnight.
Thus, the problems with our economy didn't suddenly just appear. They
have been with us for a very long time.
The regular taxpayer is powerless to stop this
looting, so what can you do? Well, if you look at what CONgress has done
it becomes pretty clear. Do the opposite of what they do. Spend within
your means, under the assumption you have to behave in a responsible
manner and not like someone with a compulsive spending disorder.
Most of all, don't get rattled. Yes, things are bad.
But they have been working their way to bad for over half a century. |
4. Security tip
More about protecting your identity....
Waiting until your security is compromised and your
identity stolen is a costly approach to identity protection. It's like
closing the proverbial barn door after your daughter and her boyfriend
have snuck in there for the night, er, I mean after the horse got out.
With online banking and credit card management,
you can check your various accounts every day or maybe on a less
rigorous schedule if you prefer. Look for things that are out of place,
such as charges you don't recognize.
It's also a good idea to check your Credit Report every 8 months or
so. You are legally entitled to a free report from each of the three
nationwide credit reporting companies, once per year. Getting one report
from each of them on a rotating basis every 8 months means you tap each
of them once every 24 months.
You probably know who these folks are. But in case you don't, they
are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Look them up online and request
away.
If you're particularly paranoid, you can sign up with a credit
monitoring company. But that isn't cheap. You're looking at around two
hundred bucks or so a year. With the current inflation rate, that will
be your entire daily lunch budget by 2010.
Where the real danger lies
The most important place for Americans to engage in identity
protection is the most hated (dis)organization they know. And, of
course, I need not mention them by name (similar organizations victimize
people in other countries, for example the Inland Revenue Department in
the UK). I am not as familiar with the criminal activities of similar (dis)organizations
in other countries, but I do read the GAO reports and other information
on the collection of criminals particular to the USA. This is all public
information, but most of the voting public doesn't read it.
Yes, there are a few decent folks who take a job with this bunch and
are somehow convinced they work for the good guys. Count yourself lucky
if you end up dealing with one of them, and be sure to treat them with
the utmost courtesy and respect. They aren't the ones you want to stress
out into finding another line of work.
But the evidence that huge numbers of the employees see their jobs as
a way to lead a rewarding, risk-free life of crime is overwhelming and
well-documented by the government's own investigators. This does not
bode well for you.
Government inspectors uncover all kinds of criminal behavior in
government agencies, not just this one. Nothing gets done about it, but
it gets uncovered nonetheless.
For example, the Department of the Interior (DOI) oversees the
Minerals Management Service (MMS). The MMS supervises oil and gas
company work on federal lands. In mid-September of this year, the
Inspector General of the Interior Department revealed that MMS employees
engaged in sex with oil company employees, used cocaine, and accepted
thousands of dollars of gifts from the oil industry. His report said "a
culture of ethical failure" prevailed in the MMS.
This "culture of ethical failure" is what governs how you are dealt
with by the aforementioned most hated (dis)organization. Your first line
of defense is to ask them to send you your transcript and to do so
quarterly. Learn what the codes mean and look for
anything that reeks of "past due."
Why is your transcript so important? Because these folks are known for hiding
your tax problems, even if you write to them and ask if there are any.
Having a letter on file on their stationary saying they've investigated
(whatever you wrote them about) and that and you will have no personal
tax liabilities arising from (whatever you wrote them about) is no
defense. They simply say they made a mistake and you should have caught
it. They will say that you should have reviewed your transcript, and
since they provide it free of charge for the asking there is no reason
for you not to have done this. And the ruling will always go in their
favor for this reason.
It doesn't matter how ridiculous the actual situation is. In one
case, they waited a quarter century before assessing the taxes
(they have many ways around the Statute of Limitations) and then hit the
victim with ungodly enormous interest and penalties. The taxpayer
produced a letter stating he didn't have any personal liabilities from
the root transaction for which he was now liable, but there was that
transcript defense. The letter was ruled irrelevant.
In thousands of cases, this waiting like a snake in the grass has
allowed them to hit the victims with tax bills greater than a decade of
wages. Which, of course,
people have to pay because they no longer have the records they would
use to defend themselves.
A $2,000 tax debt that you actually never owed can suddenly result in
a 10-day notice of asset seizure along with a note that you owe half a million dollars.
Arriving a few days after said seizure takes place.
This isn't idle speculation. This kind of crap is what
happened to thousands of people caught up in the AMCOR and Hoyt scams
conducted by rogue employees of this particular organization that CONgress,
in complete defiance of logic, entrusts with collecting money.
How can a huge tax debt appear, if you always pay your federal income tax?
Any of a long list of ways, including identity theft. Employees
of this highly hated (dis)organization routinely steal several thousand computers from their own offices each year
(source: GAO). There is no way that any of your personal information is
safe when such people have access to it.
CONgress won't do anything about the rampant crime within this
particular (dis)organization, or about the exposure of your personal
information to the criminals who are on its payroll. Your
misrepresentatives in CONgress aren't accountable to you, because they
are beholden to the lobbyists who are their de facto employers and who
reward them quite generously. Ever wonder how so many members of
CONgress end up being millionaires? They are too busy running their own
personal scams to actually do the job they are elected to do, and so the
criminals have a great deal of freedom to commit crimes. It's not
absolute, but it the limits aren't exactly tight either.
This isn't conspiracy theory. It's a summary of the massive amount of
criminal activity the government's own inspectors uncover and document
every day.
You can't stop problems through prudent protection of your
information from these criminals, because you are legally required to
provide it. But you can
prevent any small problems that arise from causing your ruin decades
down the road.
Get that transcript, and review it. Do this quarterly.
If you find a
problem, hire a tax attorney to follow up on it. If you decide to "save
money" by dealing with these folks yourself, you will end up
volunteering information they can use against you. Just as anyone
accused of a crime should never talk to the police, anyone with a tax
problem should never talk directly with these folks either.
If you
commit a crime, you have some legal protections such as Miranda,
discovery, burden of proof, presumption of innocence, and so forth. Not
so when dealing with these folks. You start out with a presumption of
guilt and the burden of proof is entirely on you. That includes proving
a negative, even though that's impossible. Just ask Ted Elzinga, who
retired to his ranch and then was hit with backtaxes on income he never
earned because he couldn't prove he didn't earn it. If he'd been
checking his transcript, he could have limited the damage to one quarter
instead of being hit with several years of accumulation. |
5. Health tip/Fitness tips
6. Miscellany
- Hawaii's Mount Waialeale is the wettest place in the world. It rains
throughout the year and about 460 inches per annum. But this is nothing
compared to how the US taxpayer gets soaked every day.
We don't run ads in our newsletter. We do get
inquiries from advertisers, all the time. To keep this eNL coming, go to
www.mindconnection.com and do your
shopping from there (as appropriate). Please forward this eNL to others.
|
7. Thought for the Day
Do you worry about things you can't control, or do
you look for the best way to deal with them? |
Wishing you the best,
Mark Lamendola
Mindconnection
Authorship
The views expressed in this e-newsletter are generally not shared by criminals, zombies, or brainwashed individuals.
Except where noted, this e-newsletter is entirely the work of Mark Lamendola. Anything presented as fact can be independently verified. Often, sources are given; but where not given, they are readily available to anyone who makes the effort.
Mark provides information from either research or his own areas of established expertise. Sometimes, what appears to be a personal opinion is the only possibility when applying sound logic--reason it out before judging! (That said, some personal opinions do appear on occasion).
The purpose of this publication is to inform and empower its readers (and save you money!).
Personal note from Mark: I value each and every one of you, and I hope that shows in the diligent effort I put into writing this e-newsletter. Thank you for being a faithful reader.
To subscribe, change your e-mail address, offer your own tidbit, tell
us how much you love this eNL, ask how to put us in your will <grin> or to (gasp) unsubscribe, write to
comments @ mindconnection.com (paste that into your e-mail client, and remove
the spaces).
Let other potential
readers know what you think of this e-zine, by rating it at the Cumuli Ezine
Finder: http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/ra22225.rate
|