Business

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Last news: June 3, 2008 14:38:28

Mary Trochlil Larsen can help you start a financially successful redesign, redecorate or home staging business, or further develop your existing interior decorating business, gaining you more clients and more profits.

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Last news: June 13, 2008 23:08:43

Investor orientated commentary on economic and monetary issues from a free market perspective. Policies discussed include sound money on a gold standard and limited role of government. Investment research focuses primarily on both precious and base metal

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We help new and seasoned real estate investors purchase and own investment property in Minnesota.

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Satellite TV industry news, plus information on DVRs, HDTV and DISH Network.

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Adventures Within the New Space

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Last news: June 24, 2008 03:42:35

Last week, DISH Network’s DTVPal, was made available for purchase. DTVPal is an affordable digital-to-analog converter box required to watch broadcast TV with an analog TV after the Digital Transition on February 17, 2009. For those not familiar with the term, the Digital Transition is when digital TV broadcasts will replace analog TV broadcasts. If you use an antenna to pickup broadcast television, you’ll need a digital-to-analog converter box.

DTVPal has some great features:

The DTVPal was rated “Very good” by CNET. The review’s bottom line said:

Network DTVPal is a great DTV converter box with a best-in-class electronic program guide and should be your top choice, unless you value the simplicity and superior remote of the RCA DTA800.

Read the full CNET review.

Of note, the DTVPal features a fast electronic program guide (EPG), similar to that of a digital cable or TiVo box. It provides several days of data in a grid layout. Other DTVPal features include an event timer, programming search, parental controls, stereo audio output and a setup wizard.

The DTVPal can be purchased online directly through DISH Network.

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Whenever I am working with a buyer and we are looking at bank owned (or REO) properties, the question always comes up: “How low of an offer can we make on this foreclosed house”? Just like many other things in investment real estate, it depends. Typically, a “normal” offer will be 95% of list price. [...] - [Read more]

The first well-known widespread use of paper money was in China during the Tang (618-907 A.D.) dynasty in 800 A.D. Paper money spread to the city of Tabriz, Persia in 1294 and to parts of India and Japan between 1319 to 1331. In these regions the use was very short-lived. In Persia merchants refused to recognize the new money bringing trade to a standstill. By 1455, after over 500 years, the Chinese abandon paper money due to numerous problems of over issuance and hyperinflation. - [Read more]

Fiat money is not directly convertible into a physical commodity at a specified amount. It is a type of credit money through which a central bank issues notes in exchange for interest-paying bonds by the government. The interest on these bonds is paid by the government primarily through the process of taxation. That is to say, by you and me. Since the interest plus the principle always exceeds the initial amount borrowed, the government must continually borrow more money, at additional interest, in order to repay the central bank, thus beginning an ever-increasing spiral of debt. - [Read more]

This week the Federal Reserve took a step closer to acknowledging reality. Unfortunately it didnt let that admission move it from a policy course firmly guided by fantasy. In its policy statement, Bernanke & Co. took the important step in noting that inflation expectations had taken hold in the country at large. However, in asserting that it expects inflation to moderate this year and next, the Fed gave no indications that these heightened expectations are gaining traction within the Open market Committee itself. As a result, it signaled no likelihood that it was actually prepared to do something to fight a problem which it doesnt really believe exists in the first place. In fact, by indicating that they expect inflation to moderate, the Fed is saying that elevated expectations are unwarranted. In other words, Bernanke claims that despite the fact that so many people are carry umbrellas, he still believes it will be a sunny day. The takeaway from the statement is that no rate hike is forthcoming. The markets saw this position for what it is....capitulation to inflation and a weakening dollar. No surprise then that the gold responded with the biggest single day gain in more than 20 years! - [Read more]

(If you have an unlicensed rental property in Minneapolis) Maybe I am last to know, but I just heard that Minneapolis has hired two “unlicensed property finders”. These inspectors will drive up and down the streets, search Craig’s list, and Rentals.com looking for properties for rent. They will then check their lists and see [...] - [Read more]

When listening to the typical, television-based, Wall Street cheerleader work themselves up into a bull market frenzy, one is tempted to wonder if they ever bother to compare the movie that is rolling along in their heads to the one that is occurring in the outside world. Perhaps for those living in a media bubble, the only reality that matters is the one reflected in the camera lens. Over the past nine months, we have seen increasing signs of economic contraction and falling corporate earnings in America. Although the financials, airlines, auto manufacturers, and retailers have grabbed the headlines, few American sectors are immune from the pain. Meanwhile, the cheerleaders and market pundits have advised that recession fears are overblown and that investors should buy "unnecessarily" beaten down American stocks. Their advice is founded on some shallow mantras. - [Read more]

Ludwig von Mises observed that fiat money can be inflated as long as people think it will end one day. However, if people begin to think inflation will continue forever or, worse yet, if they think it will accelerate, its "game over" for the scumbag thieves who are in the process of robbing honest, hardworking people, who actually create wealth. Who are the scumbag thieves I speak of? Primarily, they are the bankers and politicians, who form this unholy alliance of thieves. Politicians are always seeking to get elected by giving as many things away to voters as possible, without taxing them. The Federal Reserve-backed banking system provides the cover for the economic lies and dishonesty of our elected officials. They trick voters into thinking they are getting something for nothing while they are having their pockets picked by $135 oil prices caused mostly by an increase in the money supply used to finance the exact giveaway programs that get these clowns elected time after time! - [Read more]

Nathan asked a question on my post “Give Me Your Investment Property Questions“: “What is the fastest way to acquire 10 investment properties?” I think there are several questions and a couple answers to this question: Questions: Why do you want to own 10 properties? Are you looking to leave your day job and work on your investment real estate [...] - [Read more]

Fiat money is an oxymoron. Traditionally, money has been both a storehouse of value and a medium of exchange. Fiat money exists by mimicking both; but when its ability to do so ends, fiat money exposed for what it is, reverts to what it is--government issued coupons with expiration dates printed in invisible ink. Fiat money distorts the time value of money and in so doing destroys both money and the economies that use it. Real money like gold and silver has value over time, the greater its value and the longer it endures, the more likely it will be accepted as money. - [Read more]

Economic fallacies are like dormant microbes, sooner or later they once again become active. However, the view that wages can cause inflation is one fallacy that never seems to go away. There are economists in the US, the UK and Australia warning that wage rises could trigger an inflationary surge. Nothing new here. In early 2005 Mark Whitehouse and Kemba Dunham of the Wall Street Journal complained that too much job growth generated inflation. In their view good job numbers would probably "fuel fears of higher inflation and cause bond prices to fall and interest rates to rise". - [Read more]

I have elevated the status of my old "analytical nemesis" to that of the most dangerous monetary analyst in the country. He has been preaching inflationism for years now, and the more obvious the flaws in his framework the more creative he becomes in crafting his sermons. And hes become so adept at this game that many might actually buy into his flawed yet seductive logic. Essentially, if I am reading McCulley correctly, he is arguing that because of an unusual "trade shock" from rapidly escalating energy costs, the Fed must employ negative real interest rates to avoid a "modern day depression." I will continue to espouse the view that todays ridiculously low interest rates are part of the problem rather than the solution. - [Read more]

I am not sure where Joshua Dorkin at Bigger Pockets came up with this list, but it has to be the funniest one I have ever seen!.  It was even more sad that I could identify with probably 75 of the 101 ways personally.  Go check it out at the Bigger Pockets Forum.

Throughout history, governments have always used crises to justify blatant power grabs. Often the crisis subsides, but the expanded government powers remain. In America this week, the tendency came into sharp focus. Congress signaled that it is preparing to perpetuate the Bush Administrations domestic wiretapping program, and has even abandoned the pretense that warrantless surveillance be confined to terrorism. Similarly, even though our financial crisis has yet to reach full flower, Treasury Secretary Paulson announced plans to give the Federal Reserve new and explicit powers to oversee and regulate the financial services industry. However, a sober look at his plan reveals that it is tantamount to giving the fox complete autonomy to guard the henhouse. - [Read more]

John asked a great question to my post, “Give me your investment property questions“: “I recently had my tennant go to the county for a one time crisis assistant payment to keep from getting evicted. If you wanted to give whatever you know about that or the process it might be interesting. Seemed like [...] - [Read more]

Barring a financial accident or a market meltdown, the European Central Bank looks set to raise interest rates by a quarter point on July 3. The question, though, is whether one or two small rate increases will be enough to arrest the powerful global trend toward higher prices. The euro zones consumer price index is currently up 3.7% -- the highest in 16 years. It will likely rise above 4% this summer, twice the level the ECB deems compatible with price stability. And there is no end in sight. Most forecasts, including the ECBs own staff projections, assume that inflation is unlikely to return to the comfort zone this year or next. - [Read more]

(From the Wall Street Journal) By MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN June 17, 2008; Page A3 WASHINGTON — Top mortgage lenders and servicers have agreed to speed up their efforts to help struggling homeowners, after coming under pressure from U.S. lawmakers and regulators. The agreement among companies in the Hope Now coalition says for the first time that lenders should accommodate borrowers seeking [...] - [Read more]

What is the importance of the war in Iraq relative to other current issues? This is a question I am often asked, especially as Americans continue to become increasingly aware that something is very wrong with the economy. The difficulty with the way the question is often asked relates to the perception that we are somehow able to divide such issues, or to isolate the cost of war into arbitrarily defined areas such as national security or international relations. War is an all-encompassing governmental activity. The impact of war on our ability to defend ourselves from future attack, and upon Americas standing in the world, is only a mere fraction of the total overall effect that war has on our nation and the policies of its government. - [Read more]

A lot of the worlds problems stem from the abilities of the government and the banking system (the central bank and the private banks) to inflate the supply of money. This is because the inflation: a) distorts price signals, leading to the misdirection of valuable resources and slower economic growth, b) supports the expansion of government power and thus leads to a less-free society, c) benefits leveraged speculators and the asset-rich at the expense of conservative savers and the asset-poor, leading to greater wealth disparities than would otherwise exist and to resentment amongst those who are on fixed incomes or at the bottom half of the economic ladder, and d) supports the militaristic objectives of governments. The problem of inflation would not occur, however, if gold were the general medium of exchange because governments and banks cannot create gold. This prompts the following questions... - [Read more]