Free Household Goods From China

Apologies to my non-US readers because this is only possible in the US.  For US readers, this is a great example of how to capitalize on the good intentions but basic ignorance of the government.

The current US Government is "the gift that keeps on giving".  I dread the fact that they may not get re-elected making it so much harder to make money.   But for now, you need to take advantage of every opportunity presented.

To the less informed, President Barack Obama this week will announce a series of actions to help the economy that will not require congressional approval, including an initiative to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages, according to a White House official. Read it here.

Another profit windfall is now presented to you on a platter.   This is a little bit complicated so I will over simplify:

1. Form a US Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) created for the purpose of owning, occupying and refurbishing real estate property.
2. Fund your new corporation with $100.  (yes only $100).
3. For $100 you buy a HUD (Housing and Urban Development) sponsored home provided you agree to take over the existing mortgage.
4. Don't make any mortgage payments.  The property was probably in default anyway and it will take 6 to 9 months before anyone contacts you about your late payments and tries to foreclose.
5. Under this government program, you immediately qualify for an FHA 203K loan that can be used for "repairs and renovations".  You should be able to leverage up to $2,000 of loan for every $100 you place into the property.
6. So let's say for each property you do this at $1000 so you can borrow $20,000.  And do this for 5 properties to borrow $100,000.
7. With that $100,000, purchase a truck to enable the repairs and refurbishing.  Maybe buy some nice tools including that table saw you always wanted. An iPhone to keep in contact with people doing the refurbishing.  Perhaps buy some major appliances for yourself and family.  You get the idea....
8. Now don't be stupid.  You need to also make an attempt to repair and refurbish the property you just bought under this government program.   The problem is that you are not very good as  a repair man and you are an even worse business man.
9. Your corporation is forced to declare bankruptcy.   You default on the mortgage.  You default on the loans.  You keep the tools, truck and appliances because it is the US tax payer that is backstopping your loan because this was a government program to jump start the housing market.

WARNING: I have greatly over simplified this.  Not all housing qualifies.  Not every US state is participating.  203K loans do have some rules and regulations. BUT... the new rules go into effect in November and will be in place of 1 year.  Techniques were used to bypass the US legislature so no laws were written-- this was via executive order.

What we do know is this:

1. The government has put out the "free money" sign.
2. Hordes of clever people will flood the government offices.
3. The overload will ensure government employees focus merely on getting the workload "off their desk" ensuring little if any review of the applications.
4. This is a US election cycle so government money will flow freely.
5. Certain groups are well organized to capitalize on this "window".

So you are probably asking, "where does China fit into all this?".   Well, the US government is backstopping the purchases you made with the loan you never intended to repay.  The US government is also borrowing $1 for every $2 it spend from the Chinese government and the US government doesn't plan to repay the Chinese either. 

Perhaps you can see now how it is your patriotic duty to capitalize on this program.

We All Swim In The Same Pool...

...gene pool, that is.  We have so much in common that seeking common ground should be easy.  Let me illustrate.

Occupy Wall Street is amassing substantial funds through donations.  With that much money, do you know what you have to do?  Easy... set up a bureaucracy and set up a bank... And guess what happens... even in the OWS movement there are now the haves and have-nots.  Read it here.

The US criticizes nations that treat their people poorly (human rights) yet feels perectly comfortable using a drone to kill a US citizen that it doesn't like.   The act is clearly illegal but apparently if you do it in another country and make the kill from long distance it is ok-- even if you take a few other people to their death at the same time (but they weren't US citizens, so it doesn't count as much).

Other countries criticize the US for allowing its monetary policies and regulated financial system to bring the financial world to the brink of disaster in 2008.  The fact that the US government forced its banks to lend to people who could never pay back their loans is absolutely outrageous!   Now we sit and wait as the EU will give (it is not a loan because they will never pay it back) Greece another $8B to pay next months bills.

Western countries (EU and US) delight in their participation in the removal of evil, murderous dictators in Middle Eastern and Northern Africa nations only to have those despots replaced by groups of murderous mobs.

China is criticized for manipulating its currency while at the same time the US Federal Reserve floods the world with trillions of newly printed dollars.

Todays financial markets are schizophrenic because of "all the uncertainty".  This is absurb.  The sequence of events for the future are obvious.  Make you plans accordingly.  The world is very predictable because we are all the same, behaving in the same way, thinking the same thoughts, and  dreaming the same dreams. 

Is Everything In Position?

Needless to say, I was disturbed about the recent decision to "go public" about the Iranian Terror Plot.
I say this because I believe that these plots are going on all the time and are addressed without fanfare and in some cases appropriate secrecy.   So why is it important now to put this in the news?  Why go public about the incident?

Perhaps it is time for another war.  NATO got its much needed practice in Libya (nothing beats war games like a real war).  Isreal has moved its warships off the coast of Egypt (apparently the Muslim Brotherhood has significant Naval capacity).  And now for the US Navy...

The most recently released public information about deployment is shown below:

Click to Enlarge

An amateur would assess the situation as follows:
(1) The two battle groups in western pacific have their home port in Japan.  However it looks like they are out and about making sure China knows we are paying attention to what is going on.
(2) Three battle groups are poised off the coast of Iran for obvious reasons.
(3) The rest of the battle groups are defending the East and West coasts of US.  The greatest risk to the US is for some Iranian frieghter to launch a missle with EMP payload thus driving the US back to the stone age.

If things get really bad, perhaps the US will suspend the 2012 elections due to the emergency and we won't have to be burdened by those ridiculous political TV commercials that interrupt our zeitgeist.

Owed to a Grecian Earn

Apologies in advance to John Keats....

Interesting article from Der Spiegel.  If your German is a little weak, let me summarize for you:

(1) Greek government warns EU that if they don't get their bailout money by mid-October they are going to default as a country.


(2) Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg and President of the EU Group, announced on Tuesday that the next installment of the bailout package wouldn't be paid before mid November.


(3) No problem, said Evangelos Venizelos, Finance Minister of Greece, and announced that his government had suddenly found €1.5 billion in a bank stabilization fund that was set up during the crisis of 2008. Enough to keep Greece liquid until mid November.




Theatre of the Absurd, wouldn't you agree?

News from Greece: The Check is in the Mail

Greece can't implement new austerity tax plans because they ran out of ink to print the forms...
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Greece can't implement new austerity tax plans because tax collectors plan to go on strike due to additional work load and threats of lay offs...
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Greek Citizens block access to Finance Ministry not allowing European officials to examine "the financial books" of Greece to see if they are cheating on their promises...
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The last story is almost too much to believe.  EU officials actually need to see hard copy documents?  You mean Greece does all its accounting on paper and there are no faxes?  You mean EU officials couldn't access the Greek Government Systems? They had to travel to Greece personally?

This must explain why there was no ink left to print new tax forms it all went to printing government records on paper.

That is the problem with the Euro... if Greece had their own currency they could use all their ink printing money instead of paper records and tax forms.  Rather than borrowing money from the EU and IMF, they could just keep printing money and giving it to their people-- it's the American way.