A Dollar And A Dream? Or Is It A Nightmare?

Yes this was the title in the New Haven Register today as Geneveve Salvatore and Mayor Richetelli engaged in a new program to address the "Millions" of square feet in vacant retail space.

While the dollar is merely a figurative amount to keep an account open the dream is real, but for who is this dream real. If you look to the article below (Property Transfers), dreams and dollars are not exactly what go together these days.

When a house sells for a $1.00 that means the property was foreclosed, the owners evicted and their American Dream shattered. Milford has about two to three people a week losing their homes for a dollar.

This metaphor has an unintended consequence of being being in poor taste and offensive to those who lost their properties for a Dollar. My neighbor lost his retail space/business to undocumented and illegal workers giving away their services at prices that no legal business can compete with.

The city has a good idea in wanting to help businesses, the first thing that can be done to fill retail spaces is report undocumented workers to the INS, IRS, and Local police so legal businesses can stay in business, with registered cars, fair wages, and payment of taxes.

The next thing the city can do, is to remove the oppressive property tax that taxes businesses for their unused inventory, tables, chairs, paintings, computers etc. instead of auditing them to raise revenue.

One other thing that would be very helpful would be to streamline the permitting process, lower fees, and implement a program that does not disparage a person from wanting to even consider opening a business in Milford.

The last thing that I would personally do, would be to implement a grant program, much like other cities do, to help businesses obtain start up capital, and subsidized employees like those rendered by the Department of Social Services.

One last point, offer landlords tax breaks if 100% of their space is fully leased for two or more years. This will provide them with an incentive to keep rents low, and negotiate good leases.

Should a successful program prevail, brag about it. Advertise Milford as a "business friendly town," this would be much better than constantly looking at billboards full of conniving lying politicians. People want to visit Milford because something is here for them, like a movie theater, perhaps a future Maritime Museum, Pirate Ship or like attraction.

Until then the only thing a Dollar is going to buy in this town, is a foreclosed home and someone elses shattered dreams.

Wall Street Has A Record Day

The market gyrations have spun the other way today, the news on wall street although in my opinion not that exciting spurred some impressive gains. Many "bullish" investors felt the market was undervalued and the FED easing liquidity in the markets sent stocks surging higher. Even in lieu of the fact that oil hit a new record high.

While everyone on wall street is happy with the incredible run up in gains, some experts are still pessimistic and feel that this up down trend is nothing to celebrate. The markets have been unusually wild due to many factors and the news changes every hour. Investors are still urged to look at the "big picture" including the economy. Market "bulls" still need to keep tabs on the Consumer Price Index, as well as inflation and M3 the money supply.

Gold is still hovering just under $1,000.00 dollars after it has had an impressive run up, the US Dollar is still lingering in record low territory and consumer debt is till dangerously high at 2.4 Trillion. In order for such impressive gains to have meaningful weight several of these troubling conditions must reverse themselves. One indicator that has "all eyes focused" is the jobs report and in light of Citibank's 30,000 person layoff accompanied by a difficult housing sector, may make today's market victory a Pyrrhic one likened to a "bottom" bounce. In either way, and wether you are a "Bull" or a "Bear" I am no financial advisor, so consult your professionals for their take on your specific investment strategies.

But it is my opinion that one good day is no indication of a trend, although I do hope it ends up being just that... a upward trend. Time will tell and I certainly was happy to see Wall street regain some lost ground.

Gold At $1,000.00 Per Ounce? What Does It Mean?

Experts at a variety of commodities firms have been sharing their opinion about why the price of Gold has been surging to record levels. To explain from the best of my memory from each of the many conversations with professionals I have had, conclusively I can say that there are three recurring themes that I hear again and again.

These investment opinions, are derived from the fact that there are powerful forces driving up the price of Gold. These factors are each working in tandem to escalate the price almost daily.

The first factor is the Declining value of the U.S. Dollar on the world market, to put this simply the dollar, on average is worth one half as much today as it did 6 years ago. This reduces its purchasing power, and since gold is on the world market, as the dollar is worth less Gold appears to be priced higher.

The second factor, is that the market sentiment, and with no help from the Federal Reserve system, is that inflation is unusually high. While the CPI or Consumer Price Index suggests inflation to be contained, the cost of basic commodities like food and energy suggest otherwise. A common investment strategy, to hedge against inflation, has always been adding apx. 20%-30% of Gold as an investment in portfolios. Many professional investors are doing this.

The third most common factor, is that in lieu of the recent run up, there have been countless speculative investors looking to jump in on the profit bandwagon. Consequentially Gold has gone up nearly 400% in a few short years, investors also feel secure in Gold, but some professionals feel that in light of the recent spike Gold may be becoming a "bubble." If and when the "Gold Bubble" Pops will be entirely dependent on how fast the US economy recovers and to what extent. The current market sentiment however, has seen gold rise in value at a rate that is twice that of the declining dollar.

Should Gold continue to rise past $1,000.00 and possibly as high as $2,000.00 the U.S. Dollar had better be trading at 1/2 of what it is today. Should that not happen the next great loss on investment just may be the "Gold Bubble" guaranteed to pop shortly after Jobs return, and the Economy is strong again.

My personal opinion, and for the record I am no financial advisor, that short of a belief that the U.S. Dollar will continue its downward spiral to even greater record lows, accompanied by stagflation it has become a bet that has great profit potential against the "doom and gloom" of any future economic calamity.

The biggest concern any Gold Investors should have at the moment is the actions of the IMF (International Monetary Fund). Should the IMF continue to dump massive amounts of their Gold reserves via the worlds central banks, Gold would see an implosion and panic that could drive it back to $400 per ounce. If the IMF started doing this today, that $400 dollar price would be upon us by April or May of 2008. Just something to think about.

The IMF holds Apx 100 Billion Dollars worth of Gold, and is mired with financial problems. The IMF has been selling some gold, and as their problems precipitate further they could end up selling much more.

Buy Gold if you think our economy is "Finished." Dump your Gold if you think the U.S. Economy and Dollar is about to recover "Greater Than Before." The Graphs below give a historical account of the rising price of Gold relative to the the Dollar.

Gold
U.S. Dollar Index

What Is Killing American's

Over the last several years I have taken part in watching countless documentaries on everything from Genetically engineered foods to the casualties caused by fast food and the tobacco industry. In todays blog I decided to compile some statistics for everyone to see. This is because we all know that there are greedy profiteers out there that will feed us and sell us anything for a buck regardless of the impact it has on our lives.

Most people being naive, believe the claims made by these big industries, who despite the facts have told us their products are safe, wonderful, and urged you to become part of the growing trend. As you watch every cheeseburger, cheap foreign product, medicine and widget come across your television to the tune of about 20-30 commercials per hour, your mind is being shaped for the benefit of the big corporations who care not a damm about anything other than selling you.

The way these companies sell you is by making their products as delicious, and addictive as possible. The aim is to keep you coming back again and again as a customer until eventually over a prolonged exposure to the plethora of health damaging products lands you sick in a hospital. The big corporations do not care about your health, but rather their bottom line... how much have they sold and how much money is there in profit. In summary they get rich, you get indebted, jobless, sick and then prematurely die, hopefully this helps you get the picture.

Something to think about while you are at home (fat and in debt), watching a foreign made T.V. with a bag of fast food on your lap.

A: Tobacco Products Kill Apx. 500,000 people every 364 Days.

B: Obesity Related Deaths Apx. 400,000 people every 364 Days.

C: American's Owe Apx. 1,000,000,000,000.00 On their Credit cards alone.

D: There are 250,000 new cases of Diabetes each year 8 Million may have it already.

E: The average Kid watches T.V. 24 hours a week.

F: America Lost Apx. 3 Million Jobs overseas.

G: Nutrasweet Discovered To Cause Brain Cancer.

H: Apx 60% Of All Marriages Ended In Divorce.

And the biggest of them all, last year the American dream of owning a home resulted in foreclosures jumping upward to a 75% increase.

America is now in your hands, this country can only be saved from the bottom up. And in the words of a famous other. "Seek to become the change you want to see in the world."

To learn more about this epidemic, read Peter Strupp's hilarious book. Fat Dumb And Ugly

Standing up for CT

Today, I was traveling in my car and up came a new form of campaigning. This took form in the shape of a typical campaign sign depicting a slogan "nothing left to give." Never before have I seen a sign like this. A sign that was actually working to get votes. This sign to me is rather peculiar and yet a sad testament to the atmosphere of struggle we are facing in our town.

Several times I have written that a political party paradigm is not going to fix our problems here at home. Milford's financial problems are the result of neither Democrats or Republicans, Conservatives nor Liberals.

The fault lies right there in your mirror each morning, you and all people like you, who laid down your voices because you just want to fit in with popular culture. I apologize in advance for my callous remarks if this is not who you are, but I do take exception with anyone who feels their vote does not matter, or just criminalizes any talk of politics as taboo. I also take issue with anyone who fails to believe that "one person" cannot make a difference. Look at this lone Courageous Chinese man causing a column of tanks to stand down. Remember Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Etc.. Their commonality is that their voices can be heard reverberating around the world still to this day.
We must stop blaming, and taking issue with the first person we perceive to be the culprit of social malaise. Whether it be the tax man, our boss, our family, our local businesses and community leaders. The truth, as I see it, is that everyone is hurting in some way and yet no one knows or has any idea on how to change things for the better. All too often our leaders in town use economic and social misfortune as propaganda to win votes. Rarely do our leaders have any semblance of reality when it comes to macroeconomic policies. They just want you to believe that every problem in your life is because of their political opponent. Politicians count on you being shallow. Nothing is more pleasing to them than to have you believe the first thing they put in your mailbox as the truth.

This needs to end, because all levels of America and its cities are now under attack due to energy costs, devalued Dollars, inflation, high food costs, a fading middle class, hospital bills, and most recently fear of terror and fear of losing our homes. While we are crippled with fear, and struggle, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, the weak get weaker and the powerful get more control over our liberty. This all occurs by stealth and with the help of everything you see hear and watch on the television. To see what America lost just find some pictures by Norman Rockwell who encapsulated so nicely Americas post WWII culture.

The time to stand up for our state is more important than ever, believe you can make a difference and you will. Get off your anti-depressants, Turn off the Television/Pendulum and snap yourself and family out of the media trance.

Start to read quality books, and impartial news sources not controlled by Rupert Murdoc, Disney, Time Warner, or Microsoft. Talk to your neighbors, your friends. Make a promise to your loved ones to get involved in voicing your thoughts to secure their future freedom. Standing up for CT means breaking your relationship with a screen, and looking at the real world instead. You are the future, and changing yourself or one person alone is infact changing the future. Listen, Learn, Challenge, and most importantly question everything.