Adrian Shepherd wrote on 02/25/09 8:33 AM

I read somewhere that in good economies that the rich get richer but in bad economies the rich get even richer. Make no mistake about it, just because the stock market has taken a major nose dive and people are at a loss with what to do, there are still people out there preparing for what could very well be the greatest wealth transference in history.

2 days ago Bernanke told the American public that the economy could possibly recover this year and the stock market jumped. Today it's down again. Talk about a vote of confidence, it lasted a whole day. The nation seems to be hanging on the words of one man. But why wait for their response, you can take action yourself.

Too many people are wallowing in self-pity. Me, I'm waking up each day grateful I am alive and not wasting my time complaining but rather using it to educate myself; on the market , on gold , on business, on myself. In the end I can only control my life and I intend to make the most of it. Regardless of what you choose to invest in the one thing you should always do is invest in yourself, it's the one asset people tend to overlook.

Network marketing, franchises, your own business, websites...this is the age of opportunity not demise. People see what they want to see, most, now, see fear and find it whenever they turn on the news. I choose to see opportunity. Now is not the time to be fearful but brave. Once the rubble settles those that chose to be brave will be standing stronger than ever.

Seymour wrote on 02/25/09 8:51 AM

for as much business acumen as i felt you once had ... quoting ken rockwell ... made me rethink that.

Ron K wrote on 02/25/09 9:32 AM

Seymour, not only are you are the wrong side of logic if you disagree with Ken Rockwell's piece (read it yet?), but not a great positive attitude you have, I'm afraid..but good luck to you.

Dean Zatkowsky wrote on 02/25/09 9:43 AM

My friends, I'm happy to approve most comments to this blog, but please add to the on-topic conversation rather than taking slaps at other people. How is the economic crisis affecting communities outside of major media centers? Does 10% unemployment mean that 90% of the workforce is still drawing a paycheck? What strategies might individuals employ to survive and even thrive during the transformation of the economy? That's what we'd prefer to discuss. Thanks, Z

Jim Mitchell wrote on 02/25/09 11:32 AM

Dean,

I came to you from Ken Rockwell's amusingly provocative, highly personal and completely common sense site. You are, on the evidence of your writing, equally direct. I support the thinking in your Feb 24th blog entirely. We are too used to turning to the Government for answers and having our thinking moulded by the media. Government laxity and media complicity could be said to have lead us down the path to disaster. Of course it is up to us to innovate to create to work and think our way out of the present troubles, government can do no more than to create propitious conditions or stay out of the way of those who want to get off their arses. I write from New Zealand where we face the same problems and a government which seems, unlike its predecessor to understand exactly this. Sadly our media are as just as shallow and sensation driven as yours. But again it is up to us to ferret out the truth. Blogs like yours encourage the right idea!

Al Majauskas wrote on 02/25/09 8:09 PM

Rockwell thinks his grandma realtor could move all those millions of homes that have no real value, just because she's so darned good. Yes, 95% of realtors are part-time, inexperienced, untrained dreamers who waste home owner equity by being allowed to enter into transactions that can reach into the millions. And that is a real problem.
But let's not get carried away thinking that a good realtor can sell all those devalued and over-abundant properties. That is not the case because of reasons that Rockwell cannot comprehend in his hypberbolic rants.
Hard working entrepreneurs will help fix the broken global economy. But remember it is hard working entrepreneurs that got greedy and through lax and non-existing government regulations managed to get rich while millions lost everything.
While it is private enterprise that will eventually get things on track, nobody is going to embrace total laissaiz faire economics and leave it to these cowboys to wreck the economy again. Government's role is to regulate and keep greed under control.
No single entrepreneur, or CEO is worth the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars they get paid for their jobs. That will now change and they will get paid well but something less than the extortionist rates of compensation of the last decade. There are more than a handful of CEOs sitting in jail now because they put self before everything else and destroyed their companies, their employees and investors. Is that who you want in charge of getting things going again?
It was rampant, unregulated, private enterprise that created this mess. And, while it is capable of creating new great wealth, when unchained and allowed to run free it has shown that it has no conscience or limits to how far it will go to enrich itself while millions of investors and other naive trusting individuals are robbed of their life savings.
Be careful about simplistic Rockwell other website philosophers whose main appeal is in their folksy logic and easy anwers.

Liza wrote on 02/26/09 12:09 AM

None of this changes the fact that the Federal Reserve and the Federal Government have done a bang up job of destroying this economy and are busy working to bring about a second great depression.

Its not whining to point out that a mugger has just stolen your wallet. Sure, you get up the next day and you go earn money to replace what was stolen.

But since these thefts are getting bigger and increasing in frequency-- and the only people with any political power to change it are big businesses-- I want to hear you putting your money behind getting a posse together to put these muggers out of power.

Not telling me that I should enjoy the pistol whipping I got and should stop "whining" about it.

Paul R wrote on 02/26/09 12:11 AM

I could not have said it better than Al Majauskas- your piece Dean forgot completely the real culprits, and in fact seems to suggest we should let them do it all over again.

The comment on concentrating our attention on the 90% having still jobs is simply callous. The 10% who do not have jobs include those who were already on the brim of poverty, and who now will not see any way out for themselves and their families. And many others, whose only guilt was working in one of the companies the scumdog millionaires let go belly up.

Suggestion: read "Nickel and dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich- a very illuminating piece of investigative journalism about the life of the poor in the US.

Liza wrote on 02/26/09 12:14 AM

"But remember it is hard working entrepreneurs that got greedy and through lax and non-existing government regulations managed to get rich while millions lost everything. "

These are the words of the mugger I was talking about. Of course these words are easy to find in any newspaper, on Television-- at any media outlet that parrots the government message.

Since so many of the population believe that this catastrophe is due to the "greed" of "private enterprise" they are lining us up to be mugged again.

We need "Whining" to make it well known that Capitalism is the victim of this catastrophe, not the cause of it.

If anyone debates this point, I invite them to visit www.mises.org and read the articles on this event written by actual economists. (As opposed to the politicians masquerading as economists like Ben Bernake.)

IF you do that, you'll see that this was a government heist, pure and simple.

James McCulloch wrote on 02/26/09 3:34 AM

A few quotes from my uncle who gave me of his snippets of wisdom freely without let or hindrance.

"Never believe the papers or what ever they say unless you are the editior"
"A bird in the hand is never two in the bush, but the eggs it lays will be your fortune"
" A rolling stone gatthers no moss unless it was on something else to start with"
"Once a precedence is set it is only a war that can overthrow the same"
"Wealthy bankers are never satisfied with ther salaries, only with their interest rates"

Yes I have read Ken Rockwell's blogs along with others who are certain to add their mirth and wisdom to the general masses who happily read them.

My mantra is simple and very effective
"Be known for what you are not what you can become"

Depfot wrote on 02/26/09 6:54 AM

Haha!
Coming here to Hungary dear Ken’s Grandma and try it!

Rakesh Malik wrote on 02/26/09 9:35 AM

"Rockwell thinks his grandma realtor could move all those millions of homes that have no real value, just because she's so darned good. "

No, he said that a good realtor is one who takes the time to determine what price the house CAN sell at and promotes it so that it will sell. He didn't say or imply that she'd be able to sell an over-valued house just because she's good.

What he described is nothing mythical or magical, it's simply a case of putting in the effort to do one's job, and using one's experience to good advantage.

Ken Chan wrote on 02/26/09 10:37 AM

How can millions of homes have no real value? If someone is handing out a free home, please let me know. The real reason why homes aren't selling is that sellers are asking for more than buyers are willing to pay. And, a good realtor will educate the seller and market the house at the right price instead of indulging the seller by pricing a house at 2007 prices.

Ed Muzika wrote on 02/26/09 1:53 PM

People are not whining because they cannot sell their houses; they are "whining" because all the markets except a few commodities, tumbled destroying even some of the most clever real estate investors, banks, traders, insurance companies, etc. Even some of the smartest were taken in by Madoff.

Their concern is backruptcy, the loss of their 401 K, the loss of their house due to losing their jobs, foreclosure, etc. There are stories of 90 year old men and woman foreced to go back to work because they lost everything.

Yes, this transformation may be an opportunity for smart investors, but the toll on the average Joe--the middle and lower 95% in terms of money and brains, is becoming catastrophic.

Even the toll on animals is horrendous. Hundreds of thousands more of cats and dogs are being dumped on the streets or turned over to shelter that cannot adopt them and they are being killed. Hundreds of thousands. In L.A., the kill rate has gone up 30% since last June, 6,000 animals.

Animal sanctuaries, such as for wildlife, farm animals, and pets are having to kill animals because of dried up donations.

Guys like Orfalea are only talking about how brilliant they are in order to not get caught, and about blowing their horns about how great they have done and will do compared to the average whiner.