Strangle Options Strategy

Review

“An excellent guide for learning how to trade option spreads. Saliba offers in-depth discussions on how and when to employ these advanced strategies and to manage the risk of each position.” Peter LipskyTrader, Pan Capital

Review

Hands down the definitive guide on spread trading. Must reading for any professional who wants to learn directly from one of the top leaders in the options industry.” —Larry Connors, CEO TradingMarkets.com “An excellent guide for learning how to trade option spreads. Saliba offers in-depth discussions on how and when to employ these advanced strategies and how to manage the risk of each position.” —Peter Lipski, trader Pan Capital “Option Spread Strategies: Trading Up, Down, and Sideways Markets is an invaluable addition to any market resource collection. The book concisely walks through the dynamics of spread strategies and guides the reader though the return and risk metrics of the t (more…)

No description for this product could be found, but have a look over at Amazon for reviews and other information.

If you are like most people, you view your computer as a fair-weather friend who usually treats you well, but may randomly choose to give you the cold shoulder. “Kaput!” Is the other word that comes to mind. Computers will crash, usually when we need them the most, and this adds to the prevalent feeling that yes, your computer is smarter than you are.

How can you feel greater control over the little box that is becoming such a large part of your life? Hours will be spent with this box, or fair-weather friend, however you choose to call it. Most likely, you work, play, and communicate on the computer. So here are some fun and practical ideas on how to regain control of this thing that is taking over everyone’s world.

  Stop calling it by name. Notice how I call it “it.” Some people have a pet name for their computer, but attributing human characteristics to any object is creepy, and just invites it to take on a life of its own. Drop the cute names, and keep it in the “object” category, not in the “primary relationship” slot.

  Get smarter. You’ve got to get at least as smart as your computer, and if you can swing it, smarter. Taking a computer programming course would be a sure way to conquor it, but if the thought of code makes you cry tears of boredom, there are other options. You could read a single article about some aspect of computer technology, in the news or on Wikipedia. I’m sure even Playboy has articles on computers, if you must stoop to that level. Feed your brain with computer knowledge, any way you can stomach it. You’ll feel more powerful with just a little more understanding of how the thing works.

  Take Control of the Hardware. When your computer arrives in its box, it includes all the basic hardware you would need. Most people just set it up and let it run, supplementing their hardware with only the most basic objects, like mini speakers, printers and scanners. The computer itself can seem like a physical body that you should respect, and not mess with. It can be an intimidating ensemble of chords and wires, all looking so perfectly matched and smoothly coordinated. Therefore, it is a supreme pleasure to screw it all up by trading some of the computer’s hardware for your own hardware. That’s right, show your computer who’s boss by installing a different mouse or keyboard. Upgrade to a mouse with capacitive sensor technology, or get an advanced touchscreen with character recognition capabilities. These products are less expensive than you think, and the companies selling them are happy to walk you through the process of installing and dominating your computer more fully.

  Take Computer Diets. Does the addiction of email keep you checking back to “it” every few hours? It can be quite liberating to take a full day or a full weekend’s vacation from your computer.

  Keep it Clean. Have you been avoiding the removal of that dust between the keys? If you have a passive aggressive complex about your computer as I do, you don’t want to give him the satisfaction of becoming his cleaning lady, on top of everything else. But keeping your computer tidy is a reminder that this is just an instrument who’s wellbeing you ultimately control.  Get a Website. Jump on the bandwagon, start a website. You will learn a lot about how the Web works, and the Web is one of the central purposes for computers. By owning your very own website, you will gain a new feeling of power.

  Chuck it. When it is time to replace your computer, just do it. Recycle it kindly, but as you do it, don’t feel any guilt about letting go. After all, your computer isn’t a friend you must stay loyal to, it’s just an “it.”

Wow I have lost count of how many times I have had this emailed to me. Can you make money online free. Hmmm.
Well I guess the short answer is yes you can make money online free but there are a few problems with trying to do this. For example if you are not injecting money into your online business you are injecting time, lots of it. When people first start out trying to earn money online they normally give it up as they do not see any reward for their work. So yes you can make money online free but there is a massive debt to pay in time.
Let me just examine this a little closer in the areas where I have some expertise.
Affiliate Marketing Programs, Ok if you wanted to go into the affiliate game then you can of course try it out free of charge by placing free ads all over the place until you have lost the will to live. I have tried this and it is not pleasant, 2 days of placing ads for a measly $50. Affiliate marketing is much more productive by using adwords to promote your products but guess what this is going to cost you money. You may be lucky enough to have a website with buying traffic but your still paying your server and domain costs so that isn t exactly free.
Blogging, Another area that I am completely addicted to is blogging and guess what again you can do this free. First ensure you blog is updated on a daily basis with quality content, then you need backlinks, I ll say that again you need backlinks. Now you can hunt around the net every day for six months to get them, or you can spend hours and hours writing articles and distributing them one at a time to each directory. Again to do this free is going to take a lot of your time. You can spend money and get article distribution software or even pay some one to do the article writing for you (which is my preferred option) but this is all going to cost you between $50 – $200 depending what your market is.
So to sum it up yes you can make money online without spending a dime however you may also struggle making a dime. If you truly believe making money online is for you then you will invest in that belief either in time or money and those who dont will give up and leave all that lovely money for the guy who persists.

Most consumers would think that coffee is coffee and that it wouldn’t matter if it’s instant or brewed as long as it tastes okay and wakes them up. While that is all fine and dandy, it is worth noting that picking the best beans according to your preference can result in a coffee which will be most looked forward to every morning. And if you own a grinder or a grind and brew coffee maker, you will notice the difference once you start thinking about your options and you will be glad that you did.
1. Do Coffee Species Matter?
There are different species of coffee plants like Coffea arabica, Coffea benghalensis, Coffea canephora, Coffea congensis, Coffea excelsa, Coffea gallienii, Coffea bonnieri, Coffea mogeneti, Coffea liberica, and Coffea stenophylla. Each species produce beans that have certain different characteristics and distinct flavor profiles.
Around 75% of the world’s coffee trade is comprised of Coffee Arabica, the reason being its preferred flavor and ability to thrive in most areas. Arabica beans are coveted for the deep aroma and great flavor that can go with most coffee additives like cream, sugar, and so on. This is something that most coffee drinkers agree on with good reason. You can never go wrong with a high quality brand of 100% Arabica with a medium roast.
2.Which Roast Is The Best?
There are different types of roast, depending on how long the beans are roasted. It can be determined by different degrees of darkness. There are four main types of roasts – Light (Cinnamon Roast, Half City, New England), Medium (Full city, American, Regular, Breakfast, Brown), Dark (High, Viennese, Italian Espresso, Continental), and Darkest (Italian, French, Spanish).
Describing the taste of different roasts is as subjective as that of wine. There is no substitute to judging them with your own palate as only you can decide what your personal taste is. Choosing a type of roast is mostly on personal preference, but most people do like medium roast for its balanced flavor and sweetness.
3. How Important Is The Origin?
Coffee beans are distinct in their terrier, or capturing the place in where they were grown. While differences in flavor can be subtle, beans grown in Hawaii and Central America are more of snappy and vibrant variety, while those from East Africa and Yemen are deeper in bitterness, and those grown in Indonesia and Sumatra are even more complex in flavor.
4. Storing Coffee Beans
When open to air and light, roasted coffee beans can lose their flavor and go stale quite quickly. The best way to store beans is with an opaque airtight canister at room temperature. Theoretically, refrigeration can help preserve the beans longer, but with frequent opening of containers for use creating condensation, the moisture can tamper with the beans’ flavor.
When purchasing beans, make sure to get those stored in a sealed bag with a one-way valve laminated on it, which lets carbon dioxide out and keeping outside air from entering. Upon roasting, coffee beans produce prodigious amounts of carbon dioxide, so such valves are necessary for initial storage. Either that or frequent opening of jars for venting as done by most coffee shops. Do not go for beans stored in open beans as they would mostly be stale.
5. Grinding It Right
The perfect grind size is crucial so that the right amount of the flavor is extracted from the beans without going to far, which will take excess bitterness along for the ride. The smaller the grind size, the more surface area there is and over extraction is a big possibility. Too big of a grind size will just keep the hot water from getting enough flavor. Most people would say that they don’t like strong coffee, while the reality is that they don’t like bitter coffee. With coffee, strong doesn’t really have to mean bitter.
If your coffee maker comes with a grinder, then use it. Experiment with different grind sizes to find your preference. If there is no grinder along with your coffee maker, then a small coffee grinder with pulse action will do the job just fine. Grinding your own is best as it is better to draw out the flavors closer to brewing time than having them ground in the shop. Most find a 15-20 second grind best while espresso calls for a finer grind.
Selecting and storing the beans right can have a great impact on the flavor of your coffee, a difference of changing the mediocre coffee from your coffee machine to a restaurant quality one in the comforts of your own home. So next time you are grocery shopping for coffee give coffee beans choice some thought.

Using the Autopilot system to make money online is starting to be a hot commodity. With the crash of the economy, many people are trying to figure out new ways and methods to making money; most people have turned to the option of making money online. A new system called, Autopilot, has spiked the interest of potential money makers. For anyone who has a Clickbank account, making free money is as easy as pie.

Autopilot is basically a machine that ranks in profit for you without the need of a human. In other words, it is a plug-and-play turnkey machine which works like crazy to provide you with instant profits.

For anyone who has a business and is looking to make money online; via affiliate programs, Clickbank, etc will find this system pleasing because it allows people to make free money.

Here is how the autopilot system works: The machine takes care of the marketing part by finding a crowd that may be interested in your business and/or product. So you don’t have to worry about going out to search for prospective clients and customers because the autopilot system does it for you!

The system sets up easily on your computer (software), so in less than 24 hours you will be increasing your traffic to your business soon. Now, let us take a breather to understand something called conversation rate; According to marketing gurus, the conversation rate is the ratio or amount of sales you will get from the amount of traffic you product to your business or website. It goes something like this: For every 200 visitors to your website, you will rank at least 1-2 sales. In other words; 1:200 is the sale to traffic ratio.

The problem that most business owners or marketers have is; they try to pull in traffic from a variety of people to make a sale. If I sale software and pull in 200 visitors to my website that do not own a computer, more than likely, I will not make a sale! The autopilot technique takes care of that problem, by pulling in traffic for your business so you can make money online easily and more efficiently.

In conclusion, the autopilot system is very beneficial for those who are looking to make some serious free money online. I have tried it myself and have to say it is whole lot better than trying to pull in traffic from people who will never be interested in my product. For a free report on the autopilot system click here:

A lot of people have heard of the term mold. It is a term that has become relatively popular in our society as a menace, such as the case with the “toxic black mold” that made headlines in the early to mid 1990s when 34 cases of pulmonary hemorrhaging (lung bleeding) and hemosiderosis among infants in and around Cleveland, Ohio was reported.  The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) originally performed a study of these cases. In their reports the CDC stated that “the evidence does not provide strong support for the reported association of toxigenic S. (Stachybotrys) atra and other fungi with AIPH (“acute idiopathic pulmonary hemorrhage”)”, suggesting the primary cause of the infant’s complication was a result of flooding that took place in August of 1994. (Reference “CDC. Update: Pulmonary Hemorrhage/Hemosiderosis Among Infants – Cleveland, Ohio, 1993 – 1996″ and “CDC. Report of the CDC Working Group on Pulmonary Hmorrhage/Hemosiderosis, June 17, 1999″.) But the studies by the CDC were met with some scrutiny and criticisms. Weaknesses in the study were outlined, while controversy over “toxic black mold”, Stachybotrys, and mold in general became so complex and confusing that the general public was left wondering, “Should mold be considered a health concern?” or “Is this all just an agenda by some to make some quick money?”. Afterall, “If mold is such a big deal, why are we just hearing about it?” and “Why has it only now become such a big deal?”.  Mold exists everywhere and has been a topic of both good use and bad times as long has man has written about his world. Food and drink fermented by mold and bacteria, such as fermented honey, cheese, and wine, has been prepared and documented all over the world. Housing and health concerns were also recorded early. The Bible is full of such illustrations regarding fermented foods, offers detailed documentation of housing and health concerns, and discusses how the problems of their time were to be handled. For example, in Leviticus 14 we read, “If the priest, on examining it, finds that the infection on the walls of the house consists of greenish or reddish depressions which seem to go deeper than the surface of the wall, he shall close the door of the house behind him and quarantine the house for seven days. On the seventh day the priest shall return to examine the house again. If he finds that the infection has spread on the walls, he shall order the infected stones to be pulled out and cast in an unclean place outside the city. The whole inside of the house shall then be scraped, and the mortar that has been scraped off shall be dumped in an unclean place outside the city. Then new stones shall be brought and put in the place of the old stones, and new mortar shall be made and plastered on the house.” Some of the reasons we hear so much more about mold today than we did years ago can be contributed to changes in the building materials used in our homes (like the move toward drywall in the seventies), building construction methods and the lack of family owned and generationally passed-down trades, publication today is so diverse and information is available to more people in more ways than ever before (both good and bad ones), guidelines and standards that regulate professional behavior have come into place over the last one hundred years, and, of course, our medical understanding of our world and health have become greater.  So, “Should mold be considered a health concern?” The honest answer is that that depends on your unique relationship to your environment; your body’s response to a given dose of mold and/or its byproducts. Exposure to moist and moldy environments may cause a variety of health effects, or none at all. Looking at the growth area, color, or past responses to mold infestation indoors are not sufficient in understanding the condition of the indoor environment and what effect that environment may have on your health. If you have a mold problem in your home or office, the mold should be cleaned up promptly and any water problems should be corrected in a way that protects everyone’s health and safety. Mold’s health effects can be summarized as: allergy, irritation, infection, and toxicity.  This is not to say that there haven’t been people in our industry that have come along just to make a quick buck, but there are guidelines, standards, even regulations in some states to protect consumers from improper business practices, and there are Councils and Institutes that educate, evaluate, and certify inspectors and remediators.  ”Where do you find a good mold remediator?” When looking for a microbial remediator, a good place to start is with the American Indoor Air Quality Council (AmIAQ) at iaqcouncil.org and click on “Find a Council-certified Professional”; or go to the Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) website at iaq.org and click on “Find a Professional”. You will want to look for a Council-certified Microbial Remediation Supervisor (CMRS) or a Council-certified Microbial Remediator (CMR). The AmIAQ website has a great link to insured companies too, so you not only get Council-certified Individuals – you get them working within companies with the appropriate insurance. There are times and places where you may find yourself in a position where there isn’t a CMRS or CMR available to help you remedy, or remediate, the mold problem in your home or office. SOLUTIONS Indoor Environmental Consulting offers project management services to help those in need of a CMRS on remediation projects. We do not remediate the building, but we can work with your contractor on-site and manage the remediation process with you. If you feel like there is no one close enough to your area to manage the remediators on your microbial remediation project contact us and we’ll be happy to assist you. The good news is that most mold infestations in your home or office can be prevented with routine maintenance and moisture control. Here are a few suggestions:

“How do you know if you should be concerned with the mold in your home or office?” A good building diagnosis by a Council-certified Indoor Environmental Consultant (CIEC) can provide you some laboratory work and description of the conditions in your home or office. That information can be taken to your doctor for a better understanding of your relationship to those species in the indoor environment in which you will be exposed.  If you smell “musty, earthy” odors, have allergic-type symptoms while in your home or office that improve when you leave those areas, or suspect the presence of mold growth anywhere in your home or office, having one of our CIECs inspect your home or office can give you a better understanding of the indoor environment’s condition. SOLUTIONS Indoor Environmental Consulting offers a wide variety of testing options to fit your specific needs. From air sampling for either viable or non-viable analysis to direct surface extraction methods, we can help. We’ll be more than happy to assist you. 

For more information about moisture and mold check out the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “A Brief Guide to Moisture, Mold, and Your Home”.

Justice Litle, Editorial Director, Taipan Publishing Group

In part two of “Turbo Timmy’s Sneaky Scam,” Justice looks at the ways and means by which a giant Treasury-orchestrated con job might succeed.

In part one of this series on Friday, we talked about why the Geithner “rescue plan” can’t work as advertised… and why any honest attempt to implement this thing is doomed to fail (as a number of credentialed economists are predicting will happen).

But we closed part one with the following caveat (more or less): While no honest version of this turkey will fly, a flat-out con job might actually succeed.

There are lots of ways to skin a cat… or a U.S. taxpayer, as it were. To explain what I mean, we’ll turn to analogy one more time…

A Classic Con

As the great housing bubble turned to bust, ugly stories arose of slick con men (and women) ripping off community bankers, wide-eyed innocents, and pretty much anyone else they could steal from, with targeted real estate scams.

These scams typically revolved around phony or fraudulent transactions – deliberately inflating the value of a property, then initiating a bogus exchange between buyer and seller with later intent to defraud.

There were many different variations on the scam, but the endgame was always the same. The original buyer, the original seller, and or sometimes even both with the appraiser thrown in for good measure, were revealed to be on the take. The charlatans would keep a low profile, get paid as discreetly as possible, and try to be long gone by the time the truth came to light.

How does this apply to the Geithner rescue plan?

Well, remember the crux of the problem: The “public-private” partnership is a nonstarter because honest investors have no natural compunction to throw good money after bad. They won’t make the high bids necessary to keep the banks solvent. (What we have here, by the way, is not a liquidity problem but a solvency problem – something that Turbo Timmy, Sheila Bair at the FDIC, and Team Obama on the whole refuse to admit.)

So honest private investors would tell Turbo Timmy to forget it. But dishonest investors… well now, that’s another story.

Dishonest investors just might be willing to buy up the banks’ bad assets at inflated prices, knowingly setting themselves up for a loss… with further knowledge that the real payoff will come later.

Remember Franky Flipper from Friday? Once again, Franky, your pal, is in trouble, and you are a government official.

Did I mention you are a very powerful government official? So you call up your friend Harry Hedgie – a big-shot private investor – and this is what you say:

“Say, Harry old buddy! How’s things? Listen Harry, have I got a deal for you. You’re gonna love this, I  promise… Our mutual friend Franky – you know Franky – is in a real bind. So here’s what I need you to do. I need you to buy a couple spec houses off him, and I need you to mark up your bid good and high… pay him a very nice price. I know it’s a fire-sale market, but a fire-sale bid won’t do. Franky is good people and we just can’t let him go under. He’s a bit too connected himself if you know what I mean. What kind of bid price are we talking, you ask? Well let’s see. He got in to these dogs around $300K apiece… so I need you to bid, say, $270-$280K  minimum, maybe even a touch more.

“Whoa, whoa! Don’t yell into the phone Harry, I’m right here. Believe me, I know. I know the properties are crap. I know they might not even be worth half what I’m asking you to bid. And I know you wouldn’t flush money down the toilet on purpose. That’s why you’re Harry Hedgie, the big-shot investor that you are. But give me a little credit too, huh? Would I even be calling you without a way to make it worth your while?

“So here’s the deal… all we need to do is give Franky the appearance of solvency. Once he’s looking good again, we’ll have time and room to shuffle money around to the serious benefit of a few connected folks – including you, Harry ol’ pal. If you take a small guaranteed loss on this set-up, I’ll make it well worth your while. You’ll only have to put up a tiny fraction of the total price – we’re talking less than $25,000 per house. That little slice is the most you’ll be at risk for. All the other leverage, roughly 85% of the losses, are for Uncle Sam and John Q. Taxpayer to worry about.

“You’ll probably wind up losing your upfront collateral. That’s how it goes with making an inflated bid… eventually the true value of the asset comes out in the wash. But Harry old buddy, if you do this, if you take this short-term hit, then  I swear I’ll make it worth your while.

“If you hold your nose and make this bid for me, Harry my friend, in my capacity as a government official I will make sure you get a sweet return on your investment in some other, shall we say, ‘alternative’ way. I’m a pretty powerful guy… getting more powerful by the day too… so  you know there are all kinds of things I can do for you. Think of all the different ways we could put that money back in your pocket. Heck, we can dream up some payback plans before you even give me a verbal. What do you say?”

The Cloak of Complexity

Once the fix is in, with both sides clued in to the sham and the government enabling it, the rest is just detail work.

After all, Congress and the public are all too easy to hoodwink. Just keep ‘em distracted with a bunch of populist guff about bonuses… throw a high profile scapegoat or two (like the head of AIG) to the media wolves… then get on to the real business of grand larceny and financial highway robbery under the cover of boring acronyms and complicated spreadsheet manipulations.

Just think of all the angles crafty mortgage cons came up with to milk the housing boom. Then think about the fact that those guys were small time, without the benefit of Ivy League business school training or decades of immersion in the esoterica of high finance.

In other words: When you get Wall Street’s best and brightest motivated to put money in their pockets under cover of darkness, the prestidigitation that follows could put David Copperfield to shame.

My general expectation, if things go according to Turbo Timmy’s liking, is that the rescue plan will be billed as more or less a success. There will be strange numbers, strange accounting, and dubious happenings popping up here and there, but by and large it won’t be enough to cause a media problem. A few sharp-eyed observers might squawk… but overall the public’s eyes will glaze over.

And then, if Nouriel Roubini’s present assessment is correct – that the banks are still stuffed with rotten apple assets – most of those rotten apples will be transferred directly into the taxpayer’s lap.

The thrust of the Geithner plan is to give the private participants 14X leverage (roughly 7 cents out of every dollar). The government provides the leverage and takes liability (on behalf of the taxpayer) for the rest. That means for every dollar that vaporizes, you and I as taxpayers will pay almost 93 cents.

If we see a further blowup later this year or next year, as Roubini expects, the total bill could come to trillions of additional dollars. Under more honest circumstances, this would count as more (lots more) additional bailout money the Fed and Treasury would have to request from Congress.

But thanks to the bait-and-switch rescue plan – scam that it is, with the private investors functioning as paid shills – Turbo Timmy has set things up so that the American people have no more say in the matter. The banks will be saved in very slick fashion… including the current crop of shareholders, bondholders and executives… while you and I pay through the nose on a scale that makes the AIG bonuses look like a fight over a stick of bubblegum.

A Pretty Good Scam

So that’s my take on the Geithner rescue plan. I didn’t bother with the specific details because you can read about those in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and what have you.

Understanding the scam-like nature of this thing might also account for the different notes being struck in the media… take guys like Paul Krugman and James K. Galbraith for example. These two are as left-wing liberal as they come.

I’m not insulting Krugman or Galbraith in saying that – it’s simply an open orientation and a point of pride for them. Krugman’s blog is even called “the conscience of a liberal.” Being proud left-wingers, they are natural Team Obama fans. If anyone were in the “hope and change” camp, it would be them.

And yet, these guys (Krugman and Galbraith) loathe and despise the Geithner plan because they see it for what it is… an utter betrayal of the shining left-wing idealism Barack Obama’s whole candidacy represented to committed idealists like them.

Krugman and Galbraith know that the only two fair moral assessments of the Geithner plan are “bad” and “worse:” Either the thing just flat out fails to work, or if it does work, it works by selling out all the principles that a good left-wing idealist stand for.

And then you have cynical, gleeful hand-rubbers like Bill Gross, a.k.a. “the Bond King.” Gross heads up PIMCO, one of the largest bond houses and money management operations in the world.

I used to like Bill Gross, and I made a point of reading his monthly commentary on a regular basis. I still read him, but I no longer like him, because as far as I’m concerned Gross has completely and totally sold out America in pursuit of his bottom line.

Bill Gross has gone on record basically calling the Geithner plan great, wonderful, fantastic, all those joyful buzzwords… and why?

Because, in your editor’s humble opinion, Bill Gross knows that PIMCO is going to make an ungodly amount of money from this scheme, and he is absolutely licking his chops over it – like a cartoon wolf with fork and knife in hand. Again, that windfall won’t come through the front door, mind you, via PIMCO paying inflated prices for garbage assets… but through the back door, by way of all the back-scratching and dues-paying and asset-inflating that PIMCO will enjoy in exchange for helping Turbo Timmy out of a jam.

Blackrock, one of “the world’s largest publicly traded investment management firms,” is another huge money house set to make a shamelesss killing off the Geithner plan – likely shearing and slaughtering taxpayers in the process.

Some traders have taken to lumping the two massive entities of Pimco and Blackrock together and calling them PIMROCK. Is it a surprise Blackrock was founded by a guy named Larry Fink? Hmm… Fink and Gross. Probably just coincidence rather than cosmic irony, but who knows.

A Truly Sad Thing

The good news is, if Geithner & Co. manage to pull this trick off, the markets really and truly could find a better short-term footing because of it.

That is to say, if Turbo Timmy and his gang of colluders manage to hoodwink the public with a successful shell game maneuver, with all backs scratched and wallets padded according to plan, then the notion that “hooray the banks are saved” might well propel markets higher, put bank valuations back into the black, and restore a feeling of confidence to the country.

But if that happens, one has to ask: At what cost?

At what cost do we not only refuse to punish the old crony-ridden, smoke-filled-room regimes that got us into this mess, but even take measures to restore their health and make them even more powerful than before?

If it weren’t so sad it would be hilarious. All this hoopla and hype and rage over a stupid $165 million in bonuses at AIG, and here we are on the cusp of being hoodwinked for hundreds of billions to TRILLIONS, and people are smiling and nodding happily about it. (Lots of people anyway… not all.)

The mind boggles… I mean thanks to the blow-hard antics of Congress, we now have lunatics sending death threats to puzzled and terrified AIG execs, many of whom had nothing to do with the credit-default-swap fiasco that brought AIG to its knees (the company had many lines of business, only a few of them fraudulent)… and meanwhile America is on the cusp, yet again, of being kidney-punched and robbed blind by the same group of smug white collar bastards who brought her to her knees in the first place, and we aren’t even paying attention.

Shaking Hands With the Devil

Team Obama member Larry Summers – a christened “wise man” of the highest financial order – was reportedly “gratified” to see the market’s huge rally last Monday in response to the Geithner plan.

And to that I say: Well sure, Larry, I mean, don’t you know how this kind of thing works? When you sell your soul to the devil, good things generally happen in the short term. It’s the long term you have to worry about.

And let me be clear, it’s the long term rather than the short term that I’m worried about too here.

As far as I’m concerned, the entire Obama administration has made a deal with the devil, and Turbo Timmy is just the guy working out the contract details. (I don’t know where the President himself stands in all this, but there can only be one of two verdicts: Complicit or Ignorant. Mr. Obama knows and approves, or he’s a pawn. I wish there were another option, but he’s the chief. What else could it be?)

By conceding that Wall Street must stay by and large “as is,” by leaving the power structures alone, we are setting ourselves up to get right back in the same soup later on.

New regulatory efforts won’t mean a hill of beans… expecting Congress to rein in Wall Street is like asking the Keystone Cops to chase down Lex Luthor. Worse still, I strongly suspect that all the guff about “never again” and a new regulatory regime is just more smoke screen – more means to placate a gullible public while concentrating ever more power in the hands of the powerful.

And so, in the short term, maybe they put some sweet spin on this thing and the markets keep moving higher. Maybe we take another step towards recovery with all the guilty players feeling flush, enjoying their by-and-large restored health.

And maybe then too, instead of actually taking this chance we’ve been given to rebuild a corrupt, festering, crony-driven financial system into something better, we stick with just what we had before… and get ridden into the ground by the same group of slavering, greedy masters just like before… and sign up for an even bigger, uglier day of reckoning at some point down the road.

Whew… time to decompress and go have a drink and some laughs. If you’ve read this far, maybe you need a drink too.

And let me know what you think: Am I wrong in my assessment of the Geithner plan (that it has to be an inside job, that a scam on the taxpayer is the only way that makes sense)? If I’m right that Team Obama is striking a pact with the devil, can that deal somehow be justified in light of the economic stakes, or is it simply beyond the pale?

And, last but not least, is there anything else we can do as citizens, besides staying vigilant and protecting and growing our own wealth in the face of all this madness?  You know the e-mail: justice@taipandaily.com

Hi my name is Prince Samuels. I\’m an internet network marketer.  This is what I love to do, and had been involved with network marketing for five years now.  One reason I\’m writing about this topic is to make people understand that it\’s ok to be finacially independent, and being in control of your own destiny.  It\’s all about choices.  When you have money and time you have many choices, to buy what you want, travel where you want, with whom you want, without time and money worry.  This give you many options.  I want you understand something my friends.  In this great country we have many freedom, but a person is not totally free until he or she is economically free.

 In network marketing we have something called passive or residual income.  This means you build a business walk away you don\’t have to do the same thing over and over, and you\’ll make money  month after month.  You can go vacation for two or three months the business will continue running and keep making profits.  The good thing is you also pass this business on to  your  children\’s children.  This is what finacial freedom is all about.  Not going to some job you hate, but have to be there just to maintain the bills.  You see when your time and money is control by another person you aren\’t free at all.

The sad news is only 5% of the population has this lifestyle.  95% of the population is either employee or self employed.  first of all let\’s give more explanation what finacial freedom is.  According to Robert Kyosaki, the famous author of rich dad poor dad, said finacial freedom is when you don\’t have to worry about time and money.  He also said making enormous amount of money without selling your time.  This means you dont have to wake up to an alarm clock every morning to go to a job you already hate.  By the way the self employed and employee both have something in common.  They must selling their time to make money.  If they don\’t show up for work, they\’ll not survive economically.  They must work conutless works in order to maintain thier their positions.

 Well, why are we in this position of finacial struggle?  The reason is we live in a society where we were taught to go to college study hard, get a degree, work hard, and we\’ll be finacially set for the future.  This kind of thinking isn\’t working today for the generation of the information age.  That might had worked for the industry age 50 or 100 years ago.  In this age people losing their jobs, companies are moving over sea for cheaper production, people are changing jobs two to three times in a year.  There is no such thing as job security anymore my friends.  We need to start thinking outside the box now before it\’s too late.  This is a worldwide crisis we must confront for all peopple.  We can help, teach, and educate people on how to be finacially independent.  It\’s our only choice now because the false promises of job security does not exist anymore.

In conclusion we must think of finacial freedom as more than just making lots of money.  It\’s the whole package.  Time and money is what it will take to get there people.  Making lots of money don\’t necessaritly guaranteed  economic freedom.  As we know doctors, lawyers, merchanic shop owners, convient stores owners all make good money, but if they don\’t show up their businesses will not survive.  They\’re slaves to their businesses.  Working 14 to 18 hours a day.  Like Robert Kyosaki said, we must let our money work for us. We can only do that by becoming a 5% not 95% of the population.  Let\’s dream big and take back the American dream because it had been stolen.  May success come your way and keep dreaming. For more information please go to my resource box, or email: psam_leadership@hotmail.com,  phone# 612-306-4920 http://www.mlmeducationblog.com