Obama's Congress One Year Later

It has been one year since Obama and his powerful democratic congress was elected. Let’s see where they have taken us and what the citizens think of it.

The famous pollster Scott Rasmussen is predicting that Obama better hope things improve over the next calendar year or the Democrats are in trouble for the midterm election. I agree with him. It is not difficult to predict. Following are the TOP-10 reasons, as I see them (in no particular order).

First off, it is normal for the minority party to gain seats in the midterm elections. There are only four exceptions: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Clinton and GW Bush.

Second, the Dems benefited from Mr. Obama’s popularity in 2008 but since he does not run in midterms the tag-along voters won’t be voting. The History News Network explains it well.

Third, according to popular UK publisher, Telegraph News, Obama’s own poll numbers are fading faster than any other drop in last 50 years. Independents and Blue Dog Democrats are less likely to show up let alone vote for the party they currently blame for things getting worse.

Fourth, Obama’s popularity was not all that substantial to begin with. To the surprise of many, he only received 52.9 % of the popular vote. That is unimpressive considering the overwhelming media bias, the grossly lopsided fund raising (nearly two to one), the questionable tactics of Acorn and the relatively weak opponents: McCain and Palin.

Fifth, according to another Rasmussen poll, nearly 70% of the population is for drilling for oil and refining more of it to escape the clutches of foreign nations. Even in the wacky East Coast land of greenies, there are more people for off-shore drilling than oppose it. But the Dems have done precious little about it during the four years they have had control of the Congress. If the price of a gallon of gas should return to $4 per gallon, heads are going to roll on election day. Naturally, the democratic politicians will blame “Greedy Oil Companies” but more and more people are coming to realize that the Feds themselves steal over twice as much money from us (18.4 cents per gallon), when we buy a gallon of gas, than the oil companies do (approximately 8 cents). Chart of your own state’s gasoline tax.

Sixth, the bulk of people are opposed to bail outs. But we have watched the auto industry, AIG Insurance, the banks and Wall Street Big Shots pocket billions of our dollars. Gallup tells us that 6 out of ten were opposed to auto bailouts and the numbers are nearly identical for all of the other industries discussed. Throw in a bunch of refinancing programs for people who cannot pay their home loans and a “Cash for Clunkers” program and it is easy to understand that responsible Americans are tired of subsidizing misbehavior. And, to compound the foolishness, the faster the President’s poll numbers decline, the harder his push to ram crazy spending plans through. Even the liberal CBS recognizes the pattern with the current Health bill. For those who have had enough of bailouts and back-room paper-shuffling, there is one sure-fire way of filing a protest: VOTE!

Seventh, 10% unemployment rate. Bush may have some blame here but Obama’s policies have clearly made things worse. More jobs have been lost in the first 8 months of Obama’s administration than all of 2007 and 2008 combined. Absent some miraculous turn-around, this will be the worst year for job losses since 1945. Practically everybody can finish this paragraph with a personal story of somebody who they know that is out of work but had a job under Bush.

Eighth, The unions have lost power because they have abused the country and their own members. The Auto Workers Union and the Teachers Unions have been huge pluses for the Dems over the past few decades, but there is change in the wind. I know of teachers who don’t even belong to the union any longer. They despise the protection of their mediocre counterparts and the schools are not turning out a very impressive product. Truly motivated teachers are seeking alternatives to the union–driven Public School System. As far as the Auto Workers are concerned, it was they who had egg on their collective faces when the auto bail-out discussions were in full swing. Americans were shocked to find out how much cushy union contracts have added to the price of our cars. Now we are all losers and we don’t like it. Real ”change” is in order.

Ninth, Most Americans love their country, or at least like it, and so do the common folks whom I have met from other countries. But some governments and radicals, both here and abroad, take pleasure in bashing our way of life. Obama misread the importance of standing up for his citizens and he has traveled the globe trying to find favor by demeaning us. He assumed that other countries would appreciate his humility and align with us on various national issues, but instead they have perceived us as weak. Even David Frum sees the signs. Many Americans think any perceived weakness is an invitation to disaster via terrorists and they will show up on election-day to address their fear.

Tenth, over a dozen “czars” and other officials have been granted unprecedented power without accountability. Government power-grabs are the product of Marxists not a Democratic-Republic. Our country was founded on the important idea that the government derives its power from the people, not the other way around. This power-taking will not be tolerated, beyond election-day 2010.

These are the forces that are already in place and causing Tea Parties and other unrest. At the moment we are in the heat of a discussion regarding health insurance. The President and his supporters seem to forget, or at least ignore, the fact that we went down this road with the Clintons. As long as this program is perceived as just another way to grow government, the sentiment will remain as it was in the 90’s. If such a bill is passed, this will amount to throwing millions of barrels of oil on the current fire, but it won’t be our own oil.

We don’t have much of that.

Comments welcomed!

WHEN I WAS A KID

WHEN I WAS A KID, I hated it when adults began any sentence by saying, “When I was a kid…” Another adult comment which I disliked was, “I remember you when you were just this big.” I wanted to say something back to them like, “Yeah, well I remember you when you were not so damn fat” but, I didn’t dare say anything like that. I guess I just grunted in defeat. Now, I fall into the same traps. I see my niece and nephews every few months and they seem to grow like weeds. I have to bite my tongue.

WHEN I WAS A KID, I remember the adults telling me about the holidays when they were kids. Halloween was particularly interesting. My step-dad told us that people who were disliked by the kids were especially vulnerable. The year was around 1927. The adults could get in the proverbial dog house if they were mean throughout the year or just because they failed to give away popcorn balls or candy apples or other sufficient treats for the holidays. Apparently, in those days, the kids took the “Trick” part of “Trick or Treat” much more seriously. It was a form of blackmail.

Translated, it would be, “Give us something good or you will be punished.” And they meant it. If the adults failed the little goblins they were subjected to pranks such as having their home TP’d or their windows soaped (write on them with bars of soap). But my step-father and his friends had even worse plans for the people who deserved a more severe “punishment”. He tells me that one time they pushed over a cranky old man when he was in his outhouse and on several occasions they would gather up some dog poop (or their own) and put it in a paper sack. Then they would sneak up on their victim’s porch and light the bag on fire and ring the doorbell and run away. Apparently the victim would open the door, see the fire and stomp on the bag to put it out. My step-dad laughed so hard when he told us the story I thought he was going to cry.

WHEN I WAS A KID, we had a different version of Halloween. Outhouses had all been replaced by indoor plumbing and packaged candy replaced home-made popcorn balls and candy apples. We were less interested in “Tricks” and more interested in “Treats”; lots and lots of treats. After school we ran home and turned our pillow cases into large storage sacks. We started banging on doors by about 5:30. The object was to get to as many as houses as we could before people turned their lights out. We worked our way from our lower-middle class neighborhood toward the better neighborhoods that were a mile or so away. The object was to get to about two-hundred homes. On the way back we remembered the homes that had the better treats and we hit them again. We stayed out until about 10:00 hitting any house which still had a porch light on.

WHEN I WAS A KID, television was just getting popular and every year some kook in some faraway place would do something stupid like put razor blades in apples or poison in some home-made cookies. The media loved the stories because they created ratings and they scared the hell out of overprotective and overreacting mothers. Halloween morphed once more, this time for the worst.

WHEN I WAS A KID, the best holidays for kids (4th of July, Halloween, field day)were more fun than they are now. All of the mischief is out of Halloween and firecrackers are out of the 4th of July, and ribbons don't mean anything any longer. We might as well take the kid out of the kids.

WHEN I WAS A KID Halloween wasn't so sterile, but it is still one of my favorite holidays and just because the kids have to behave themselves is no reason for me to completely behave myself. See my previous article for some of the traditions that we have adopted.

If you would like to look up some

audio stories about Halloween or other topics click here.

Don’t be afraid to tell a few ghost stories.

Haunted house stories can be found here.

don't be AFRAID to BOO for us

Trick or Treat

I don’t know about you, but I get a kick out of Halloween. We usually get our first visitors at sundown and the action is slow but steady until about 9:00 p.m. By the end of the evening, we enjoy the company of approximately one-hundred of the little monsters.

I answer the door about 80% of the time and Patty catches the remainder. I usually like to measure the age of the youngsters and engage them in some appropriate banter or prank for their age. I basically just encourage the first-timers by telling them how cute they look.

For the kids that are about 6-7 I know that they have been out on Halloween a few times so I just try to catch them off-guard. I tell them that at our home they have to give me candy. I get some good responses.

I have a special prank for the next older group, say ages 7-9. It is more effective as the evening progresses a bit. Somewhere around 8:00, I get out a can of tuna fish and a raw onion. I tell the kids I am out of candy and these are the only things I have left; then, I ask them which they prefer. One kid said in a disappointed voice, “Ahh, I guess I’ll just take the tuna fish.”

A few times each evening, I fold up two bucks and hide it in my hand behind the onion. Then I ask a couple of older kids if they would rather have candy or the onion. Naturally they almost always pick the candy but there have been two times when a smart-alecky teenager picked the onion and he was rewarded with the two-bucks as well. I only employ this gag a few times an evening because the youngsters are sharp enough to come back again and again if they figure out what is going on.

This year I plan on getting some catsup, plus an old shirt and a large knife. I will soak the front of the shirt in catsup (or do you prefer Ketchup?) and break the blade off of the knife. Then I will open the door and hold the knife to my stomach as if I have been stabbed and then beg for mercy. This will probably be best suited to the girls ages 6-10.

I am also considering throwing a few strands of TP in one of my own trees and then blame select young kids for it.

The next time I can get somebody to help me I would like to hide behind the bushes with a chain saw and when the victims are busy at the front door and distracted I will let out a menacing laugh and start the chainsaw (you can remove the chain, but the kids don’t need to know that) then I will act as if I am going to attack them.

In preparation for this article I did a little research to see what pranks other people like. Quite honestly, I am surprised how many people think vandalism is funny. I guess those are the people who laugh when somebody trips a blind person.

Anyway, there were some fascinating ideas and stories that I enjoyed reading.

A common idea has several variations. You dress up as a really fat scarecrow or some other character and take a seat near your front door with a full bowl of candy in your lap. Stay motionless so you look like a decoration. When the goblins come to the door they are tempted to take all of the candy but just as they reach for the bowl you yell and jump out at them and teach them a lesson.

Dress up as a hospital patient and answer the door screaming things like “I didn’t do it, or I only killed one of them.”

These folks have a few ideas. Here is a variation of one of them. Make several home-made headstones and place them in the yard as if it is a cemetery. Make a couple of dummies and dress up like a corpse. Then lay the dummies near the headsotnes and you lay very still on the ground near one that is close to your front door. When a goblin gets too close jump up and scare the dickens out of them.

The Prank Institute has quite a few. Here is their main site:

For a cool three step program to draw them in, divert their attention and then scare the bedickens out of them click here.

One of the best stops for prank stories is at ZUG They even had a contest and here are the Top 5 winners. These are pretty good.

If you would like to send some FREE e-Halloween Cards just visit these guys.

It seems like there are all sorts of odd things people do on pumpkin day. If you cannot think of anything original, you might just try cutting off your own toes and giving them away as surprise treats. That ought to keep the neighborhood buzzing for a while.

What are your favorite memories?

Peer Group Pressure

Peer Group Pressure

The other night my wife and i were watching one of those nightly documentary-type news programs on TV. As the true story goes, there were several young fellows ranging from 15 to 16 years old. The oldest one seemed to have a spell over the others. At first the younger lads resisted the power-crazy leader but as time slipped by, peer group pressure and fear dragged them deeper and deeper into some very ominous activities. The whole thing ending with the death of 3 people, including another innocent friend of the boys. A similar story has 4 teens killing a woman for no reason.

As the whole thing played out in court, the weaker boys were charged as adults, which is much more serious, and they were sentenced to 50 years in prison. All of this happened because they were not strong enough to resist the pressure of the peer group leader.

There have been countless other examples of crime from peer group pressure. Sometimes the crimes are less threatening. The Charles Manson “family” comes to mind and so does the horrible events at Columbine High School. And then there was this fellow called Adolf Hitler. All of those tragedies could have been averted if only the weaker people would have known how to stand up to the evil minds of their unintended leaders.

On a more personal level, I know a friend of a friend who was caught up in a similarly bleak dilemma to the one mentioned on TV. When the young man was barely out of high school, he and a couple buddies found themselves entangled with an older man who picked up some girls and slipped them a date-rape drug. As it worked out, they never did rape the girls but one of the women did indeed die and another one almost did. It appears that the younger fellows knew nothing about the drug until it was too late, but they have still spent about 8 years in jail because they waited too long to help the girls. My friend's friend gets out of jail later this year.

Peer group pressure can be very powerful. I experienced it myself, first hand, when on the road to college. There were five of us in a powerful car which one of my buddies was driving. In order to impress everybody, he quickly took the car to well over 100 miles per hour. This is dangerous anywhere, but we were on a scary mountain pass in South Park (Yes the real South Park of cartoon fame). I told my buddies that I wanted out but they didn’t take me seriously. Besides, I wasn’t really sure I wanted out on the top of a mountain pass in the middle of the winter. Anyway, they ignored me and it all ended up okay. But later that year, that same driver lost control of the same car and drove off the side of a mountain. Once again, he escaped injury.

Six months later, some of my college buddies got in a drag race. There were 6 fellows in one car and 2 in the other. They got their cars up to 120 miles per hour on a winding mountain road. The fuller car spun out, crashed into a mountain, flipped end over end and landed upside down with one of the passengers pinned underneath the car and on railroad tracks. I was the first person to arrive at the scene. Blood was everywhere, several of the guys had serious injuries and the driver died.

When it comes to peer group pressure, it can be very difficult to resist. Sometimes it takes incredible courage to stand up to a boy’s advances or to friends offering drugs or alcohol. The thrill of being one of the gang has sent many nice people to jail or worse. Just think of the pressure that today’s gang members must endure.

As for me, I was too weak to get out of a car when I should have. I hope you are smarter than I was.

Comments?

The Real Cost of Conveniences

What is the most you would pay for a cup of coffee?

By 7:00 a.m. this morning, I was at the local Albertsons. There is a Starbucks inside and several people were already in line. I have been to that store many times and they have quite a few regulars.

I bought the biggest and best and most expensive cup of coffee they had. It was a Large Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino with four shots of espresso. Get your own recipe here. It had a healthy dose of whipped cream and some cinnamon sprinkled on top. It was chilled, like a fantastic malt. For the next forty-five minutes, I savored every sip!!!

The YUMMY purchase was research for a new book which I am writing: Stop Flushing Your Money Down the Drain. It is a financial planning book, mostly designed for people who never really learned the ins and outs of financial decisions. In it, there are good discussions of insurance, lenders, auto purchases, the cost of raising children and pets, how to get better jobs, why formal education is overrated, and much, much more.

There is also a substantial section covering "The Worst Things we Spend Our Money On" (excuse the poor grammar). One of the first parts of that section is "Conveniences." In that section I point out that many people pay through their noses for convenience. The examples are everywhere: Carwashes, drive through foods, convenience stores (imagine that), going out to dinner, packaged items...and gourmet coffee.

I go on to illustrate that if a person wastes $4 per day on conveniences (or anything else), he losses an incredible amount of money, over time. I show my readers that if they would have used that money to pay off other debt or to invest it, after 40 years (a typical adult-life, before retiring) the consumer would have accumulated a whopping $465,0000, counting interest. I think that is dumbfounding!!!

So, what does all of this have to do with that particular awesome cup of coffee? Since I have only bought one other cup of gourmet coffee in my lifetime, this cup was very special. In this case, I wanted to find out exactly what is the very best experience somebody could have with such a purchase. For $7.75 I spent 45 minutes in coffee heaven. But, now the coffee is gone and so is the $7.75. And I can say without any doubt, it was NOT worth it. To compound my misfortune, I will be paying interest on that money forever. I will explain why in a moment.

It is easy to justify such convenient purchases with self assuring comments like "I deserve this" or "It is only a few dollars" or "I can always cut back tomorrow." These are the kind of justifications that lead otherwise smart people to financial ruin.

I am not suggesting that there is anything wrong with an occasional treat, such as the Frappaccino which I cherished, but rather I am talking about the habit of making allowances for routine extravagant purchases.

Worse yet, are the poor souls who compound their monetary woes by using their credit cards for such purchases. This can be another sin of convenience. Nearly everybody knows that plastic cards are not free money, but when those impulsive opportunities present themselves sometimes the plastic money is just too easy to get; consequences be damned.

I suppose a great debater might be able to persuade me that using a credit card is okay if the consumer budgeted for the purchase in the first place; and if he pays off the card each month without any interest charges being added to the loss - but I doubt if more than 10% of those using credit cards in this way fall into both categories.

The reason that impulsive purchases and conveniences are so damaging is that EVERY SINGLE PURCHASE WE MAKE BRINGS WITH IT A LIFE-TIME OF INTEREST EXPENSES, EVEN IF THE PURCHASER PAYS CASH FOR THE ITEMS. Let me use food to illustrate my point.

When you pay somebody else to prepare your meal for you, either at McDonald’s or some fancy restaurant, some of your cost is a convenience fee. For example, if you could grill a burger at home for $1 but you pay Burger King $3 instead, you are paying them $2 to do the work for you. From that moment on you will have an interest cost on your wasted $2... FOREVER!!!!! That is right: Forever!

That is because you could have used that $2 to pay off some other debt you have. If you have an unpaid credit card, you could have paid some of your debt down and saved the interest charge on that debt, perhaps 12% or higher. If you had a car loan but did not pay it down with your $2, interest continues on $2 at the rate of that loan. What is the interest on your mortgage loan? You could have saved that interest rate on $2 by paying down your loan by that amount.

Any loan that remains outstanding has an interest expense that you could have avoided. Even if you are completely debt free, you could have invested the $2 and received interest income forever, but by forgoing that opportunity there is an eternal interest loss and therefore a FOREVER expense.

Now add to this that people who buy impulsive and convenient hamburgers or coffee, don’t do it just once. They do it day after day. If they are not wasting their money on coffee or hamburgers, it is excessive insurance premiums, cigarettes, ATM fees, extravagant TV packages, lottery tickets or any number of other unwise choices.

As stated earlier, if a person only flushes $4 per day or $120 per month in any combination of these things, he or she is losing $465,000 over forty years (assuming 7% interest).

I am not trying to take away your pleasures. After all, what good is it to arrive at old age with a drawer full of money, if you have no life experiences to compliment your years? I am simply attempting to point out the real cost of our choices, so that we can make more wise ones.

In my new book, I lay out a list of categories in which most people are already wasting more than $4 per day and the simple things they can do to end up with a lot of "extra money" just by paying attention to their choices and redirecting some of the money they already make.

So I suggest you budget for your gourmet coffee or other convenience purchases. It is okay to order a pizza to be delivered if it fits within a budget, but do not succumb to the habit of paying for convenience over and over and over. Kathy agrees with me. And worse yet, do not put those purchases on credit cards unless you can pay off the card when the statement arrives.

Now that you understand the real cost of convenient coffee (and other purchases) I hope you will be able to make smarter choices. If you only buy one Frappaccino per lifetime, I can assure you that it really is special but if you get one every day because "I deserve this" then you are flushing $465,000 down the drain. Even a complete idiot would know that no cup of coffee is worth that.

Perhaps something in between will make sense for you.

What Say You?

Positive Attitudes

Positive Attitudes

Recently, my thoughtful and charming niece, Heather, sent me a story that she liked about “how attitudes can affect the lives of others”. She suggested that I post it or write something similar. Interestingly, I have also made that observation and I have also written about the concept in my book, Instant Experience for Real Estate Agents. In both cases I employed an analogy using lemons and cookies.

A couple of years ago, I was thinking about selling one of my apartment buildings, so I met with several potential brokers. They all told me that my building was underperforming based on similar buildings and I could get more money out of it if I improved the cash flow.

Their news perplexed me because my property had better street appeal than the competing properties. My rents were lower and I was doing more promotions than any other owners in the area. I was certain we were doing the correct things, but still I had a higher vacancy rate than any of them. That night, I thought and thought about what the problem might be.

The next day I visited the property early to figure it out. As I was investigating the possibilities the phone rang and I realized the answer was right in front of me. It was my receptionist.

The woman had worked for me for 10 years and her attitude had been steadily slipping. The building mostly catered to entry-level tenants who need a little more supervision from time to time and she resented that. Once in a while the police would get called in and that would anger her. Other times the tenant’s visitors would make noise and when she encouraged them to quiet down they would rudely yell at her. Over time, she came to perceive the tenants as a bunch of misbehaving children rather than as her customers. From then on she handled their maintenance requests as if they were interfering in her day rather than with the seriousness they deserved.

Naturally, I had noticed all of this before, but I never really figured it would play such a prominent role in the operation of the building. Once I realized what the problem was, we had a talk and determined she just did not have the temperament for the property any longer. A change was in order.

The next week we had a new manager and I called all of the staff into a meeting. At the entrance to the room I placed a large plate of gourmet cookies and another large plate of fresh plump lemons. As the maintenance people, the management team and the resident mangers walked in, nearly all of them grabbed a cookie and said things like, “Oh boy, cookies!”

To begin the meeting I asked how many enjoyed a cookie. Nearly all of them raised their hands. Then I asked how many had a lemon. No hands went up. “The point is” I said, “is that everybody prefers cookies to lemons and that include our tenants. When they come in the door does your attitude reflect the sweetness of a cookie or the sour lemon?” I went on to say, “Our tenants are not an inconvenience, they are the reason we are here. They are our customers; the reason you have a job. When they misbehave, do not get drawn into drama. Solve the problem with a good spirit and they will be more likely to respond the way you would wish.”

The message was clear: Everybody prefers dealing with people who have a Positive Attitude.

We decided to keep a tray of cookies and a plate full of lemons in the office until further notice. I told them that anybody who came into the office could have a cookie or a lemon if they wanted and that included them. I went on to explain that whenever they noticed somebody taking a cookie it was to serve as a reminder that our customers prefer cookies to lemons…just like they do. They all got the point. Several of them grabbed another cookie on their way out the door. Scott grabbed a lemon just to be different.

Within 10 weeks we went from 20 vacancies down to 6. Tenants came in and told us how happy they were to meet the new managers and we went through a lot of cookies. To this day we still have refreshments in our office for our friends, staff and customers. Oddly, I never did sell that building after all.

Positive Attitudes can be very powerful. They can affect weight loss, motivation and sales figures.

Here are a few great quotes regarding positive attitude.

Russ Dalbey will tell you how a Positive Attitude will help you make a lot of money

One of my favorite motivators is Zig Ziglar A couple of his excellent quotes regarding attitude are 1) Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street (2 If you go looking for a friend, you're going to find they're very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you'll find them everywhere. Here are a whole bunch more of Zig’s quotes.

I want to thank Heather for introducing the idea. We can all benefit by adopting a Positive Attitude.

Comments?

Free Money for Me and You; Part II

Free Money for Me and You; Part II

(note: This is the last half of a two-part story. It will make more sense if you read the first part before this one. To do so, simply scroll down below the monkey and below my profile (no wise-guy comments) and click on it.)

Yesterday I told you about a far away King who wants to share his millions with me. Scoff though you may, sometimes these things are real. To prove my point, I was telling about a true story that I experienced personally. It started out the same way the King notified me. A little research revealed that I was entailed to $2,700 and a whole lot more. Now I will continue where I left off.

Colorado had just set up a program called The Great Colorado Payback / a few years earlier designed to hold unclaimed money which people were entitled to. There are literally thousands of people with unclaimed assets and I was one of those people.

With my identification in hand, I was fairly excited to find out what the story was. Naturally, the boys were just as pumped up because if the story was true, they were going to split about $500 just for figuring out where the treasure was hidden.

When we found the office of the State Agency, we first had to dispense with all sorts of paper work to prove that I was indeed the fellow I said I was; that done, the facts were revealed.

Way back in 1972 I worked for King Soopers www.kingsoopers.com (a large local grocery chain) for a little over a year. I was 22 years old at the time. In my orientation process there was a form which asked if I wanted to buy company stock with a part of each pay check. Now I was only making about $6 per hour, so how much money could I have had withheld for stock? It had to be a very modest sum.

Eventually, Patty and I decided to move to San Diego for a short time (little did we know, that area would prove to be a home away from home for the rest of our lives). At the time we had just been married about a year and we did not have kids or a home. We decided if we were ever going to see how the other half lived we better do it at that time, so off we went. We stayed there about 15 months and then returned to Denver where we have lived ever since.

While we were gone, the grocery chain sent a letter to our last known address asking us what we wanted to do with the modest sum of stock I had accumulated while I was working there. But they must have sent the letter sometime after the forwarding process at the Post Office had expired and we never did get the letter. Not knowing what else to do, the grocery chain handed our little account over to Merril/Lynch, the well known stock brokerage firm. And there it sat for 24 years.

After 20 years, Merril/Lynch turned the account over to the state who will sit on the money until it is claimed. After 4 additional years they allow private investigators to see if they can find the parties. That is how the writer of the original letter found me.

In my case 24 years had passed and King Soopers went through several ownership changes. Along the way they were either bought up of joined forces with Fry's Foods, Dillons and Kroger Companies. Sometimes the stock went up in value. Other times it split and more shares were distributed. By the time I discovered my old lost stock the dividends were indeed $2,700 and the stocks value was 10 times that amount. Altogether I picked up a check for $30,000. The amazing part is that I only made about $10,000 a year when I worked in that store and I only set aside a few dollars per pay check. It is dumbfounding that it reached such an impressive amount.

After pocketing $30,000, I couldn’t help but think about the lady who prompted me to investigate in the first place. I considered the facts and concluded that if I had signed the original agreement she would have received 30% of $2,700 or approximately $1,000. I decided if she would be reasonable, I could still give her that amount.

So, I called her and did not tell her what I had found out. I told her I was thinking about looking for the money myself, but I wanted to verify one thing with her. I asked her “If I agree to work through you will you limit your fee to $1,000?” She was so quick to say, "no" that I was fairly certain that she already knew that the account was a lot more than the $2,700 that she mentioned in her first letter. After all, she was a private investigator.

Her refusal to compromise meant she was willing to take her chances in hopes she would get 30% of the entire amount, which would have been about $9,000. Since I found the money myself (or at least Justin did) and it is likely I would have found it someday anyway, I decided that she did not deserve the full amount, if anything. Her greed did her in. Still, I felt like some sort of finder’s fee was in order. I wrote her a check for $100 and sent it to her anyway.

As far as the state program was concerned my claim was the 2nd biggest one they had ever paid out. Interestingly there was a man in Kansas who was said to have more than twice that much due to him but he just didn’t believe anybody that told him about it. I don’t know if he ever did figure it out.

One of the things that makes this story so weird is we lived in Denver all that time, except for the few months we were in San Diego Our names were in the phone book the whole time that Merril/Lynch held our account, but nobody ever tried to find us.

After we put the money in the bank we went back to the website and began looking up all of the people we could think of. We found a handful of people whose names were identified as having some money due to them. We had a ball the next few nights calling all of those people and telling them the news and sharing our story. Several of them later got their own refunds.

Over the years the states got much better at logging the money but as far as I know they still don’t expend much money trying to find the people who have unclaimed assets. A couple of years ago, Patty found nearly two thousand dollars in Iowa in the name of her mom and dad. There was also some money for one of her aunts.

If you want to know if you have a pot of gold waiting for you and if you live in Colorado, just visit this link and check it out. If you live in some other state or have lived there in the past, I am sure a quick Google search will reveal the state run agency in your area. Guess what I recommend you do.

Now, as far as the email from the rich king who is desperately trying to find some nice person to help him spend his millions, I can’t help but wonder who responds to those letters and what is the catch? I am tempted to follow one just to see at what point they want my bank account information and my social security numbers. On the other hand, I am afraid if I respond at all they will sell my name along with those of other responders. They probably refer to those names as the best list of stupid people.

But before we decide to eliminate all such emails, remember this: In 1993, I got an email that looked a lot like it.

Comments welcomed

Free Money for me and You

Free Money For Me and You

Today I am especially excited because I received an incredible email. It seems that a king in a far away country, which I never heard of before, has got many millions of dollars and he desperately needs somebody to take a bunch of it off his hands. I could barely believe that this wonderful man has selected me to share in his fortunes. I don’t know what I did to attract his attention, but I am not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. You may be a bit skeptical but when I tell you the following true story you might reconsider your position.

Sometime around 1992, I got a similar email. Computers weren’t very sophisticated then and my knowledge of them was even worse. The letter said that I had $2,700.00 in some secret hiding place. The sender of the letter left a phone number so I called it and spoke to a woman who said she could get the mystery treasure for me, but I would have to pay her 30% of the waiting funds. I almost told her to go fly a kite, but I had her send me her paperwork anyway.

The letter arrived a few days later and it had a little surprise. She was not asking me to give her anything up front. Instead, she said she would get the money first and pay me my share. Only then would she get her money. Well, that made me think that there might actually be something to her claim. I then proceeded to reflect on past years of my life to see if I could figure out what her offer was really all about.

I imagined all sorts of things including insurance policies, elderly relatives who might have left me something in a will and other fantasies. I came up with a couple of possibilities. Then I called her back and said I was going to try and figure it out on my own and if unsuccessful I would take her up on her offer.

That evening, I told my sons, who were 12 to 14 at the time, that I wanted them to do some research and if they could find my missing pot of gold, I would share it with them on the same basis that the lady wanted. They were both very familiar with computers already so they were willing to give it a try.

A couple hours later Justin found it.

All he could find out was it had something to do with stocks, which was weird because I had very little experience playing the market. I could not tell you the difference between the Nasdaq and the Dow/Jones Industrials I had a very modest sum in a mutual fund with Janus but there was no reason for me to have any secret money with them When we called the people in charge, we were in for an even bigger surprise.

As it turned out, the $2,700 that I was entitled to was only part of my new-found riches. In fact, that money was just the dividends that were paid on some mystery stock that I also apparently owned. I couldn’t help but wonder if the dividends are only part of the treasure, how much is the stock itself actually worth? The managers would not tell me any more over the phone. I had to go to their place of business and bring my identification.

Tomorrow, I will conclude the story

Your Comments are invited

What's in a Name?

What’s in a name?

My niece recently had her 4th daughter.

She named the lovely new baby Serafina Therese: pronounced “Sera Feena Ter Ees” Her older sisters also have creative names with lots of syllables.

My, how names have changed. What ever happened to names like Tom, Dick, Harry, Sally and Susan?

I am a baby boomer. Names were simple in my generation. Here are the names of my closest family members and a few of my best friends. Patty, Adam, Justin, Janet, Carol, Sarah, Margie, Cherlyn, Jeanine, Shirley, Gale, Albert, Keith, Ruth, Beverly, Roy, Ivan, Ed, George, Lee, Mariruth, Michelle, Scott, Tracy, Genise, Brett, Bruce. Carl, Michael, Randy, Denise, Phyllis, Jodi. My spell checker only highlighted one name from that group.

I suppose young parents of today would say all of those names are boring, and I guess they are, but why do names need to be creative anyway? When I whisper sweet nothin’s in my baby’s ear, I would at least like to be able to remember her name.

“Wow, Patty you sure smell nice. Have you been eating tuna fish? “

Not “I love you too, ah...er...ah.. Whoeveryouare” See what a mood breaker that is!

And. what happens when all of these young people meet each other for the first time? If you are like me you forget easy name just a few minutes after somebody is introduced to you. All the memory tricks in the book won’t help you if you go to a party and meet people with names like Zzyzx or Donellabet or The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. Here is a site with a bunch of goofy names, like Clavicle or Colin (body parts).

My niece is not alone in the endless quest to out-imagine other parents in the name game. I hear new names all of the time, made up names: I feel sorry for teachers and coaches. Here are a couple things you might hear them say today: “Hey there, Shabaderos, sit over here.” Or ‘Tobalukus’ is it? Go out for a pass”

In my day kids were more likely to hear something like this “No David, I don’t want to smell your finger” Or, “David Alan, if you keep doing that your eyes will stick together.” See how much easier that is!? The adults were free to concentrate on the misdeed rather than trying to remember a creative name.

People tell me that names go in cycles. I sure hope so, but by the time we all go back to the simple names that I should be able to remember, I will probably be too old and senile to remember them anyway. I guess this is how things will get.

Some future youngster: “You remember me, grandpa David. I am Adam. I have the same name as your son”

Grouchy old me: “Who the hell is Yorsun?”

In the mean time, I have got to practice my great niece’s new name while I still have a few of my marbles left. All together, now.

“Sera Feena Ter Ees” “Sera Feena Ter Ees” “Sera Feena Ter Ees”

I hope they will just let me call her “Sarah”

Comments Welcomed

Carol's Death

Carol’s Death

What the heck is the matter with us?

My sister, Carol, passed away recently. She was the third person whom I have loved that died from a bout with cancer. I was at the bedside of the other two people I mentioned when they died, but I was not with Carol when she had her final moment. I did however hold her hand for an hour, just 12 hours earlier.

Carol was first advised of her illness about 17 yeas ago, so it is both a blessing and a miracle that she lasted so long. I am thankful we had that time with her.

I am old enough to understand that death follows every life and that some deaths are more unpleasant than others, but after watching the third death of this type I am coming to believe in assisted suicide. I know it sounds gruesome, but hear me out because I think we treat others better than we treat the people we love.

For starters let’s talk about our pets. When our pets reach their last days, and we know they can no longer experience an acceptable quality of life, we face reality and spare them the discomfort of unnecessary suffering. Nobody considers it to be animal cruelty when we opt for a passionate and brief death. In other words we show our pets (loved ones) mercy at the end.

The government also shows compassion when they are in charge of executions. After centuries of moral debate, nearly every type of state-sponsored killing has been allowed. Now, Texas is considered the most aggressive state in carrying out the death penalty, but they do not torture the condemned. They only use lethal injections.

When people face death by cancer, there usually comes a point when the medical experts allow for the withdrawal of medicine, food tubes and water. From that point on, the patient is only given large doses of pain medication. Thereafter, we are essentially choosing to let the person die from dehydration. That seems cruel to me.

According to Survivalist News it is possible to die within the first 24 hours of going without water, but ordinarily a person can survive for a few days. Eventually, the final moment comes, but not before a long and slow decline.

Regardless of whether you are against the death penalty or not, you would know the difference between a humane demise and a cruel execution, so why don’t we seek a quick and humane death for our loved ones rather than the slow torture of dehydration? If you have ever seen anybody pass on that way, you know what I mean. Is that really necessary?

In an attempt to make some sense out of the usual practice, one nice person said that suffering is necessary to let us know what Christ went through, but I find several flaws with that argument. First, if it is important to experience a Christ-like death, then why don’t we torture the patient for a while before we "pull the plug?" Obviously we would not do that. Second, I do not recall any Bible versus that suggest we ought to suffer in our deaths. Third, if suffering is a spiritual experience, then why do some people have instant deaths from heart attacks and accidents? Shouldn’t they also enjoy the theoretical benefits of suffering?

Somebody else said we are not supposed to play God, but compassion for the sick seems God-like to me. Besides, isn’t it "playing God" when we elect to treat people for diseases that would otherwise kill them or when we pull the plug, or even if we decide not to pull it? After all, we are still making life and death decisions. And aren’t we playing God when we administer medicine or create a baby or water a garden? Furthermore, if God is actually deciding when everybody should die, then God uses the hand of man to help in many cases. Are people who cause life-ending car wrecks, murders, wars and other situations helping God to accomplish His will? If so, isn’t it possible that God would also use loved ones to carry out His will with the terminally ill?

In a different religious twist, others site the 6th commandment (Ex. 20:13) and say we are not supposed to kill, and that includes the taking of our own lives; but, I have read several versions of the 6th commandment and none of them said that or even implied it. The underlying message has to do with hatred and murder, not suicide.

I have indeed heard religious experts, such as Bethel Church of God, make the case against suicide, but they post no scripture to support "their own" position. Another blog tries to make the case, but I think they are stretching the actual words in I Cor 6:19 to meet their own belief. It seems to me that if an earthly father would not want to see his children suffer, the Heavenly Father would also want to help his children avoid unnecessary suffering.

As my mind works through the possibilities, I just cannot come up with a good reason to force dehydration on our loved ones. We would consider that cruel and unusual punishment if we did that to a prisoner. The lethal injection is instantaneous and painless for them. It seems our loved ones deserve at least the same consideration.

Another detail gives me pause. I wonder how such a decision would be made. It is easy to see how somebody would want grandpa to "go away" if a big inheritance was on the table. There would have to be good checks and balances to prevent abuse, but our law makers ought to be able to figure out the details. It would certainly open up new chapters of the pro-life vs. pro-choice debate.

In the final analysis, assisted suicide should not be adopted in haste, but the more I consider it the more I support Dr Kevorkian, who went to jail for 8 years for assisting the terminally ill to end their lives without unnecessary suffering.

Our society handles the final moments of pets and prisoners with appropriate compassion and swiftness (Even so, I am opposed to the death penalty) and I am quickly coming to the conclusion that the same compassion ought to be afforded our human loved-ones.

Somebody tell me what I am missing.

Comments welcomed