Taj Mahal, India

Don’t get me wrong, I have no objection at all to us helping out other countries, even though we’re in pretty dire straits ourselves here in the UK.  The thing that gets my goat is the fact that India have said they don’t want the money but the UK have insisted they take it!

The good, honest people of India, instead of grasping it with both hands, actually turned down the offer that had been foisted upon them and India’s finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee even went so far as to say it was “a peanut” that wasn’t needed as India’s economy was growing with some speed and would, in all likelihood, overtake our own in the not too distant future. 

Pranab Mukherjee

There are people here desperately trying to make ends meet; homes are being repossessed, our public services and our forces are being cut back, our government benefits are being “trimmed” which means that the less well off members of our society are suffering which, in turn, affects the disabled, lesser paid adults, particularly those with families to support, and the elderly. 

It’s also been revealed that this year we’ve set aside a budget of £8.1 billion for foreign aid in general and this is due to rise to an incredible £11.5 billion in 2015.  We’ve always been inclined to help out other countries in their hour of need but, with our coffers almost down to rock bottom, it’s utterly ludicrous to give part of this budget to a country that’s already said it doesn’t need it, thanks very much.

As you can imagine, the revelation has upset numerous MPs and, of course, us hard strapped tax payers.

By all accounts, the Indian economy is growing by 10% a year and, within the next 10 years will overtake that of the UK.  In fact, India has set up its own aid budget to help out struggling countries so presumably in a couple of years time India will be helping to dig the UK out of a financial hole!

The International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell, has said, in defence of the “donation” to India  “there are states the size of Britain where half the children suffer from malnutrition”.  That may well be true, but if the Indian government have stated they now have plenty of money in their bank vaults I’m assuming some of this will eventually find its way to support lesser well off people.  If that isn’t the case, then rather than pump more money into an obviously financially stable government, wouldn’t it be more sensible to filter some of the money through to charities such as the Red Cross, Oxfam, Save the Children, Age Concern, etc etc so that they can actually get the money direct to those people that need it most?

When did he ever have to scrimp and save a every penny to make ends meet?.He has nothing in common with the some of the people he claims to represent.According to www.direct.gov.uk:Your human rights include:

the right to life.

The right not to be discriminated against in respect of these rights and freedoms.

The plain and simple truth is,there are not enough jobs to go around and/or people lack the necessary skills in either maintaining or retraining in their jobs.I myself am unemployed and at 41 it seems like there is no hope,all i seem to do is fill out endless job applications where it seems there are 30 persons also applying for the same job.In some cases it would seem to be either over qualified for a humble position in a company or too old to be retrained,of course this is never disclosed to you as it would come under discrimination.My recommendation is to cut all this inadequate red tape questions at interview.’Why do you want to work here?’.'What are your strengths and weaknesses?’. ‘What can you bring to the company?’. Amongst other nonsensical questions.I do understand that companies have to know certain things about you but some of the questions i have been asked at interview by a 22 year old who themselves have been in their job for a short period borders on stupidity.

Today’s Britain is far from what is was when my father was working and mother was a housewife.You could only have what you could afford and that went for food,appliances etc;.

In today’s culture people want it now and they don’t care how they obtain it (in some cases).

I am sorry if i have gone a little off topic it’s just my opinion.

Thankyou.

Although the Treaty of Versailles was meant to prevent Europe from entering any future warfare, it was instead used by the Allied Powers of France and Britain to take revenge upon Germany. The Allied Powers spread propaganda against the Germans excessively during wartime. Germans were portrayed as complete monsters, rapists, barbarians, etc. It was no surprise that Britain and France of the Allies wanted revenge against Germany, who was pinned the blame of the thirty-five million lives lost throughout the war, more than half which were civilian deaths. Ferdinand Foch, a prestigious French Commander during the First World War, said “This is not peace. It is an armistice for thirty years,” after he analyzed the Treaty of Versailles (Foch’s prediction was almost perfect, as the WWII occurred about twenty years and almost a month after the Treaty of Versailles). George Clemenceau and David Lloyd George, the French Primer and British Prime Minister, respectively, disagreed with many of the fourteen points and wanted Germany to sign the War Guilt Clause of the Treaty of Versailles, meaning the War was the Germans’ fault (which was not, as the was erupted after Austria blamed Serbia on the assassination of Austrian Prince Francis Ferdinand and his wife, causing other countries of the two alliances to join the War). Furthermore Germany was forced to pay reparations to the Allies amounting toward thirty-three billion dollars, further intensify the country’s deep debt, and was stripped of an active military. Land was taken from Germany, a large territory forming Poland as well as a small but valuable mining territory becoming territory of France. Although Wilson’s League of Nations was formed, it did not possess as much power as the United Nations in which we have today: it was not politically influential, had no active military, and did not pay attention to the guidelines of the Treaty of Versailles, as when Adolf Hitler avoided all of the Treaty’s appeasements, forming a large and active military. The biggest flaw to the League of Nations was that the United States did not join it. The U.S., now with the potential to become a world power, returned to becoming an isolationist country, leaving Europe to cope with a nation-wide post-war crisis.

Another major cause of World War II was the frustrations faced by people throughout the world after the First World War ended. In France, Germany, and a small area of Russia near the eastern front, many farmers who began to plow their crops once again after the war became accustomed with the corpses and bones of deceased soldiers that fell victim to the war. In France, Germany, and Britain, ten percent or more of the population in each country were casualties. It was no surprise that every person was affected by the war in losing family members or friends. Because young men were enlisted, many families lost sons, and because young men were important to industry, manufactures and large businesses of Europe faltered. Europe and most of the countries including the U.S. entered a recession not soon after the War. While the United States managed to return to it’s feet in economy in 1922, entering a period of U.S. History called the Roaring Twenties, a period of new culture, entertainment, and lifestyle in America, Europe continued in the road of economic distress. Germany fared the worst of all European countries: once a major economic powerhouse, but it now faced nationwide debt and a possessed a weak government, called the Weimar Republic, which possessed a Parliamentary Republic instead of the once-powerful Imperial government, the German Empire (Deutsches Reich). Under the Weimar Republic, Germans faced economic inflation, meaning the worth of German currency, the Marc, was worth less than before the war, due partially to the war reparations. American loans that the Germans received in order to help the German economy was helpful for a short amount of time. Unemployment was on the rise; in 1926 unemployment was ten percent but in 1932, only 6 years later, unemployment rose to thirty percent. Like the Depression faced by the Americans, the Germans faced psychological stresses. Many Germans lost faith in their nation. People gave up their jobs in exchange to simple pleasures such as alcohol or prostitution. To make matters worse, Britain and France refused to trade with Germany after the war because of anti-German sentiment that lasted after the war. Many Germans began to form radical parties, leading often violent anti-Weimar demonstrations. Adolf Hitler was the a World War I veteran and a key member of the German Workers’ Party, a radical nationalist group. He was imprisoned after a failed coup d’eat, and wrote a memoir that were based of of his nationalist and prejudiced views. After he was released he gained widespread support for his promise to the German people to have jobs and future success. In 1933 Hitler, along with the Nazi Party (National Soicalist Workers’ Party), the successor to the German Workers’ Party, managed to successfully coup d’eat the Weimar Republic, replacing it with a single-power totalitarian dictatorship government, a nation under complete power of Hitler and the Nazi Party. Similar to the Nazis’ Socialist and Totalitarian government, Italian radicals were disappointed by their threatment in the Treaty of Versailles and their failing economy. The Kingdom of Italy faced a coup ‘d’eat by Benito Mussolini leading the Nationalist Fascist Party in 1922. Likewise, the Japanese general Hideki Tojo, favoring fascism, easily influenced the Taisho Imperial Family as well as the parliament-like government and shaped the nation into a militarist-expansionist government. These countries, desperate for lives to return to former glory or to find new opportunities, turned their heads to powerful and militant figures that promised them hope.

The formation of the new political powers that rose in Europe and Japan became a threat to the rest of the world, and issued a number of terrorist acts and battles that forced European nations as well as the United States to respond with force. The three new world powers consisting of Japan, Germany, and Italy, eventually formed the Axis Powers, an alliance unlike the Central Powers of WWI. Although the League of Nations should have intervened because the Treaty of Versailles as well as the fourteen points stated that Alliances would not be formed, the League merely warned the Axis and sent ambassadors. A french ambassador, André-Francois Poncet commented on Hitler: “He was a ice-cold realist, a profoundly calculating person (Quotes About Hitler)”. While the Axis Nations appeared to be thriving from hard work, the nations were actually building their military (something the Treaty of Versailles had forbid Germany from doing). Adolf Hitler had redefined the once depressed Germany and offered the nation jobs in industry and manufacture. A majority of the German industry was military production. In the late 1930s and the 1940s Germany was the world’s second largest war industry, next to the United States. In 1944 Germany spent more than four hundred billion dollars on arms production. The Japanese, too planned for war– in 1937 the Japanese invaded the republic of China. In 1936, Germany invaded the Rhineland. Later in 1939, Nazi Germany unexpectedly invaded and occupied Poland, which according to Adolf Hitler was had belonged to Germany’s Reich. This action, similar to Germany’s occupation of Belgium, triggered the immediate outrage of Britain and France. The Germans used an advanced form of warfare called “Blitzkrieg”, literally meaning lightning war. It took advantage of all terrain vehicles, tanks, and airplanes in order to quickly overwhelm unprepared armies. The Nazi’s occupation stretched to North Africa in 1940 and France in 1944. Fearing further Nazi influence, a new Allied Powers not unlike the allies of World War I was formed led by Britain, France, Poland, as well as Australia, Canada, South African Union and the Soviet Union (who left the Axis powers after Hitler occupied parts of Russia). Eventually the United States, which now faced a nationwide depression was persuaded to join the war after President Franklin Roosevelt announced his proposition to leave isolationism because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the nation’s fear of fascism affecting the state of Democracy as well as Capitalism.

Even though it can be argued that World War II could have been avoided if the Treaty of Versailles could have been in more acceptable terms for Germany, but that was not a reality as France and Britain would never accept, because what they wanted was to blame Germany for World War I. Although today is is generally accepted that World War I was not caused by any individual country, it is often agreed that it is that the Second World War was Germany’s response to the mistreatment they faced in the Treaty of Versailles. However it was not only the Germans’ militarization that caused the War. Because the Axis Powers were a severe threat to the livelihood and economy of America and the Allies, especially France which had been occupied, the Allied countries had to defend themselves in order to stop the Nazi Party from gaining control over too much of Europe.

Unfortunately, most folks never make that transformation. In truth, most stay unfulfilled of their job every single year. As spending so much time actually seems easier than thinking hard! We somehow feel “secure” within our workplace, although we know inflation is raging, unemployment is rampant, and down-sizing might happen whenever you want in our workplace! Listen, each one of these things add up to one undeniable fact: The next step is to do this, to start planning your throw off your insecure job, from your demanding bosses who would like an increasing number of within you, laying off your co-workers, and adding their workload done to you.

Sure, it is just a scary proposition, knowing you’re liable for attracting the money for food, clothing, the mortgage, car payments, etc, without that steady paycheck. I realize, I have already been there. But you don’t know scary until you have been “down-sized.” When the cold realization sinks in, it’s like you’re immersed in freezing water, your heart pounding in your chest, your lungs gasping for breath! Man, that’s scary! Do not let it arrive at that. The current recession is real, it is often real for a long time and it’s going to take years to get better.NOW is the time to see everything you can, Learn any girl, Practice all you are able, and Ready yourself to the greatest independence you may ever know, Self-Employment. This is what “STUCK” within a job felt prefer to me…

1. Getting up early every morning, hating the noise of the alarm.

2. Studying the morning routine, stuck in traffic, hoping to get moving promptly.

3. Considering, and perhaps, dreading, my upcoming day.

4. Doing pretty much exactly the same thing for eight approximately hours until quitting time.

5. Driving range in that miserable traffic, having dinner, catching just a little TV before bedtime, getting up only to begin anew.

Sounds pretty routine, even boring, doesn’t it? Yes I realize, because I lived that routine for several years. It’s what I knew, and I was expecting to learn moving forward. Then I discovered an advertisement within a publication and was intrigued through the world of self-employment. And even though system advertised wasn’t personally, it spurred me to do this. On that day something stirred something inside me and i also made the transformation from spending so much time to working smart.

This is what the “TRANSFORMATION” was choosing to me…

1. Standing up early everyday and jotting down killer test blog some ideas precisely to become self-employed, before leaving for work.

2. Being placed in my car at lunch break, expanding on my ideas.

3. Working hard at my job for hours on end; I might feel guilty only spent ALL my time at work thinking about my future.

 4. Running through new ideas i believe for my first business venture while driving home.

5. Cutting long ago on my TV time so I could spend 3 to 4 hours, nearly every night, on my computer researching niches, documenting my ideas and finding out how to create my projects.

Now, look closely at the two situations. In reality, they aren’t too different, could they be? I didn’t quit my job without delay; not until my new income grew bigger than my 9 to five, I still worked a complete day. I became capable of motivate my brain to be more creative when I began to figure out how to use time more wisely. All I truly did was make first baby steps to success. After I first commenced, I resolved to reach your goals, but success was a vague goal. I didn’t leave my old job until I had been making more around my online marketers, and yes it wasn’t that long until I used to be making twice that amount! Then, six figures 1 year, sure, low six figures to begin with, nevertheless it just keeps getting larger when I work smarter — not harder. I also had no idea what few hours 7 days I might need to invest to help keep my great living.

Now I wake up while i desire to — no noisy alarms. I’ve a leisurely breakfast, or brunch!, then spend a few moments checking on money which came to me when asleep. Yes, almost all of my businesses are powered by auto-pilot and produce money 24-7. Next, I may work towards a fresh project or watch the big game. Mostly I enjoy work on my businesses late in the day or shortly before bedtime — quite simply Very often find when I want to, because I’m working smarter not harder. We eat out often, and often take vacations impulsively. My businesses do not require my daily input, in case something requires my attention, I could get online from anywhere. I live a lifestyle I never dreamed I’d achieve when I was stuck in this old job. However it happened because in a single Second I decided to vary my thinking and check out a new challenge. That is the step many people never take.

May I ask, do you think you’re spending so much time or working smarter? Have you been employed by your individual gain, or for somebody else? The sure way to beat any recession is always to rely only on you for ones financial well-being. Only then are you considering capable to create income while you demand it. Beneath the thick concern yourself with layoffs, or recessions. The true secret for your success is usually to take that initiative and transform the method lab certification blog that you think. There’s a PATH to your financial freedom, and as importantly, the freedom of your time for everybody. Why don’t you start taking on your path today. I wish you much success and we do hope you look for a relaxing, rewarding lifestyle within your future.2011 Ed Aslinger

In June 2006, the real estate market in my home town took a nose dive.  It looked a lot like an airplane falling from the sky, ready to crash land into the ground and burst into flames.  Oh, is this too dramatic a picture?  After all we are talking about real estate, not air disasters. 

Many will say it was unexpected.  More will say “it had to happen; the real estate bubble had to burst”. Few were prepared for how much and how hard the world would fall.  I too thought it would never hit this hard.  After all the press always blew things out of proportion.  I went to sleep one night in 2006 with a great, but frustrating job, lots of pay, a new software in development which was my husband’s path to our future and woke up 18 months later with that same job paying 60% less, no investors in our software company, up to our eyeballs in business debt, a house 60% upside down and our lives totally out of control!

What do you say when things like this happen?  You say WOW; we must work on a different path.  We say, let’s try it on our own.  Let’s try swimming upstream.  Honestly, I don’t even know how we navigated those next five years.

Many people in my community, in communities around the country spent the last five years in a daze.  Did we know where the next bit of work would come from?  Did we know if we were improving or getting worse? Some turned to their faith for answers, others to “the government will be my savior”, others to whole new career paths.  I just went back to basics.

The big question is “did we learn from this experience?”  Some will say yes.  I am now saving 10% of everything I make, no matter what (read “The Richest Man in Babylon”).  Some say no, as soon as they were able they started charging up new credit cards that replaced the old ones.  What do you say?

I say what a wakeup call.  I really didn’t expect this to be more than 5 years worth of worry and stress and discovery.  I wish I had all the answers, even now with all the lessons on the table, I am not sure I have learned all that I need to move forward.  I do know that it’s time for my spirit to return.  It is time for my inspiration to build and for my writing to return.

There are many out there that have lived through this last five years and are so much better for the struggle.  What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger!  I have heard that before and I do believe we are given the tools to make us stronger; we just have to use them.

So this is the first chapter in a very long path.  I could say “back to who I was,” but that would be a mistake.  I think it’s a path to who I can be.  So if you would like to join me on this journey, just keep an eye out for the next chapter. 

If you like, comment to me on your journey and we can move forward together.  Certainly 2012 has potential?  What do you think?

Only recently, the Chinese economy overtook that of Japan’s and took up the position of the second largest economy in the world with over $2.3 trillion. The Chinese economy has been nothing less than a spectacle with people studying it with awe as a country manages to lift out its people from poverty at such a large scale.

Again, the sheer size of the economy makes it hard for Chinese economists to manage it with the minimum number of problems. China practises a policy known as “One country, two systems”. Under this policy, the lesser developed western side of the country follows communism completely where all means of production is taken up by the state, however in the eastern part of the country, especially on the coast which is fairly more developed, a fairly liberalized form of economy is practised. Most of China’s growth has been centralized in the eastern part especially in cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and other cities.

Foreign firms usually have their production facilities here and such a system is followed precisely to bring in foreign investment from abroad by promising them Special Economic Zones where there would be good infrastructure and cheap labour and access to huge markets. With more employment generated with higher investments, we see many people being lifted out of poverty and into the middle class. Their savings started shooting up and more and more people started investing. The housing shortage in China prompted a steady increase in real estate prices. With more and more people having the purchasing power, the real estate prices started soaring. Construction and real estate boomed. More and more people started buying real estate for speculative purposes. This has come to such a large extent that 10% of China’s GDP comes from the real estate sector.

Again, this attributes to basic demand and supply economics. But the problem is that such a model is a big risk. This was how the recession started in the United States. This was exactly went wrong with Dubai and brought it down to its knees. The real estate sector in China constitutes 10% of its GDP annually. So in case this bubble bursts, there is going to be a lot of trouble.

So what is going to happen in case the real estate sector in China bursts?

The global economy is going to suffer without a doubt. However, the Chinese economy is strong with a big industrial base and it has big foreign exchange reserves in case something goes wrong. Besides, its 1.3 Billion population provides itself with a huge internal market and therefore the shocks won’t be too jolting. However, the pinch is going to be definitely felt worldwide. Worldwide trade with China will be hurt obviously.

If you take a closer look at the kind of goods China imports, you will notice it is mainly raw material. Steel, concrete, oil and other raw materials top its list of imports.

With a slowdown in the construction sector, there won’t be demand for raw materials for new construction. China will be able to provide for that small scale of construction with its own reserves of raw material. Since the demand during the boom was so high, many countries benefited immensely with its exports. Especially many countries like India, Australia, South Africa and other countries. Trade is going to be imbalanced.

This will affect employment in these countries because of reduced demand. There may be pay cuts or even lay-offs. It will affect the countries exporting steel, cement and other raw materials the most. China has never needed labour from abroad for its construction sector so we see that remittances may not be affected at all.

Though many experts predict that the bubble might burst soon, the ramifications won’t be so bad for the sole fact that the Chinese economy is run on an industrial base which is growing really fast. Its industrial base acts as the economy’s own insurance.

In fact, if the bubble does burst, and the prices of real estate comes down, then more and more people will be able to afford homes, thereby mitigating the housing crisis China faces today. Again, this is in no way endorsing that the bubble should burst, it is merely stating the silver lining in the dark cloud.

The only worry is the workers that may be laid off as a result of the crash. With their purchasing power greatly diminished, they won’t be able to spend money and accommodating them in the other sectors of the economy will take a while. The reduce in demand will affect China and the global economy in a way.

To sum it all up, the news of a bubble crash is still, as of now, a prediction. We don’t know how far that will be true. We can all pray that it won’t be true, but in case it does, the world need not worry about it a lot.

Copyright © 2012 Ashwath Komath

Expanding the mind doesn’t require drugs.  It requires the mind to broaden its base in principles, and that requires learning.  Most people find learning an undesirable task and it keeps their reality narrow.   It is easier to follow others without a broadened value system.  They must know what they are doing, right?  You are wishing through an assumption.  The path of the follower is very abundant.  Group corruptibility is determined by this multitude.  Guess what?  That leaves a lot of decrepitude.  This source of society is a master bargain hunter’s dream.  Should you fall under the heading of simple, your represent a spur of the moment reactionary dictated through the environments occurring naturally and the ambient created for you.  You haven’t any choice, but to react.

The mind of a person is where reality resides.  Physical objects are real and reality exists solely in the human mind.  The water, the air, a fire and the rock are real.  The earth is real.  The mind encompasses the real to generate a reality.  You have other skills in your reality like math.  The earth has seven billion people on it.  Each person has a head, a nose, a mouth, a couple of feet hopefully and a sensor network of nerves.  Every person’s information comes from their surroundings, but no two people are using the same eyes, the same nose, etc., etc.  People are genetically built with the same material but with different building blocks.  There isn’t a single mind controlling all people and since reality rest in the mind there are seven billion realities.  Each of those realities is tweaked a little differently.

The question is can people use reality during a conversation or a speech for the general public and know what the person is saying?  It is a politician’s term to bring citizens together with the “Big Reality” speech.  George Bush said that the Director of the CIA, George Tenant, lied to him.  Director Tenant resigned in short order.  It was twenty-eight days later President George Bush gave George Tenant the highest civilian medal.  Where is the reality in that?  The President must of said, take the blame and all our problems are over.  We have Iraq and no President can toss the country back without endangering our allies.  Bush didn’t think about the costs and the economy.  His statement was he had an accountant working on his budget.  George must have been thinking; the next President will need to take care it, because I will be gone.

The World Recession and creative accounting!

As the new year keeps knocking at our doors, what comes in our minds? Food needs, school fees needs, Shelter needs, Traveling needs, Clothing needs, Healthcare needs and many more unpredictable needs. All these can make someone wish the year is not ending because of huddles ahead, but we have to face it as it comes.

For those people who travel to upcountry homes just before Christmas festive season should think twice. At this moment one should expect the Bus fare to increase, as in Kenya right now, Bus fare has doubled plus and still counting- Why should you waste money when you need every cent accounted for something positive? . Sometimes I ask myself, why should I travel during rush hour when I can save the money and travel when anyone else is at rest? This is calculation time and everything we do should be done mathematically. Just to minimize the cost of living.

Happy Festive Moment.

Farmville

In August, Adam Hamnett of Greater Manchester went on trial for robbing a blind man so he could afford to buy virtual animals on Farmville before murdering a friend who threatened to report him.  The nonsense surrounding Farmville, however, doesn’t stop there.  Take CEO Mark Pincusof Zynga, the company behind Farmville, who will ‘Pass Go’ and collect nearly $1 billion dollars in revenue at the end of this year.  Pincus is the Scrooge behind a series of shady money plays in Zynga.  Back in March, he walked away with $109 million dollars when he sold nearly 8 million shares back to the company at a rate of 40% higher than the set IPO.  Sure, entrepreneurship should be awarded, but I’m not quite sure virtual farming falls under that umbrella. 

Alec Baldwin

Baldwin’s petty circus act on American Airlines wasted fuel, cost time, hampered others’ travels, and, not to mention, was downright childish.  Lil Wayne finally got nailed with a $1.1 million dollar tax lien for dodging the IRS, as if he can’t afford a small cut.  The list goes on and on when it comes to celeb idiocy.  Why celebrities continue to get away with absurdity and still make millions a year off of pretending to be someone else on the big screen is beyond me.  Perhaps Occupy and everyone else complaining about the economy should start boycotting films and albums produced by and involving celebrities who do just as much damage to our economy as Bush did to our national reputation and Unsolved Mysteries to our trust in strangers. 

Girls Gone Wild

Sexis an old, booming industry.  Funny thing is, during bad times, it’s industries like booze and porn that flourish. Sad fact.  Estimates put the porn industry at a total value of around $10 billion dollars annually.  Big hotels like Hilton and Marriot reported last year that 50 percent of their guests purchased pay-per-view adult entertainment, totaling nearly 70 percent of in-room profits.  Sites like XTube rake in about $150,000 dollars in cuts and fees (not work- cuts and fees) monthly from amateur porn flicks.  Next take billionaire Joe Francis, godfather of Girls Gone Wild, who owes 30 million dollars in taxes and by now you should be wondering what the hell is going on.  Americans are busy whining about the economy (with 50% in the low-income bracket) and how they can’t afford basic necessities but it looks like they’ve got enough fiscal padding to afford a nightly coach-down.  Occupy the peep show maybe? 

Animal Inheritance

You’d think people would start second-guessing the way our entire world works when you read up on animal inheritance.  In 2007, billionaire Leona Helmsley left $12 million dollars to her Maltese.  Oprah Winfrey has reportedly left $30 million dollars in care to her dogs when she kicks the bucket.  Drew Barrymore willed a $3 million dollar house to her dog when it apparently saved her life in a house fire.  We have poverty and economic issues everywhere but tolerate people turning their pets into millionaires… what gives.

Comfort – Need Vs. Want

American society is litigious because people have become increasingly whiney. Why? Because comfort is an assumed right, no matter affordability or excess.  If comfort was meant to be an inalienable right the weather would have come with an HVAC system.  Comfort is fine and dandy, but wasting money on massaging mattresses, 30 minute hot showers, and big screen TVs so one can feel like a feudal overload is overkill.  Even Darth Vader didn’t have that kind of luxury on the Death Star.  Senior Magazine contributor Craig Nathanson makes a brilliant point in the difference between ‘need’ and ‘want’. 

“We need food, clothing, shelter, reliable transportation, education, enrichment, and the technology necessary to do our work. Also, we need the occasional small indulgence to treat our children and ourselves.

We do not need 500 cable TV channels, brand new luxury cars, 5,000-square-foot homes in exclusive neighborhoods, lavish ski vacations, and smart phones that do everything but think for us.”

Bad Habits

I’m a dipper, but I’ve got no sympathy for tobacco users.  Wasting money on a product that increases your chances of cancer falls under plain stupid.  According to the ACDE, more than 47 million people in the US smoke.  That’s roughly 1 in 4 people.  Yet at the same time, Americans want affordable health care for everyone.  Hard to provide affordable health care to anyone when a quarter of your population intentionally adopts bad health habits.  According to the Gallup-Healthways Index, 63% of adult Americans are overweight or obese.  Again, what makes you entitled to affordable health care if you don’t bother taking care of yourself?  Plus, if Americans can afford to indulge, economically we’re truly not hurting, now are we…  Occupy should consider moving out of Freedom Plaza and into buffets and stores that sell XXL. 

You have most probably been made redundant and are living on unemployment benefits. We know that these don’t go a long way. After paying few bills and buying some food, most of the money has gone. Christmas arrive and you probably think it is going to be a bleak one, because you won’t be able to buy good presents for all. You can’t afford your turkey with all the trimmings and a lot of food everywhere in your kitchen. You may probably say that you aren’t in the mood to celebrate. What’s the use if you can’t join in countless parties and shop for all what you wish? You may say.

However, if you are still getting unemployment benefits or an income of some sorts, you can count yourself as a lucky person. Christmas isn’t only about shopping, buying expensive presents for all and partying away.

Food

You probably think that this year you can’t afford your turkey with all the trimmings, but as far I know these trimmings are different vegetables and a stuffing. How do you make a stuffing? There are many ways to do it and not all them are costly. It is a matter of knowing how to cook, using imagination. The veggies and spuds are still affordable, thanks God! You may go to the big supermarket or you may shop for food locally in farmers markets. If after all, you think you can’t afford your turkey with all the trimmings, why does it have to be turkey year in and year out? There are loads of recipes which are just as delicious to share with your family. After all what matters is getting together around a table to enjoy a meal to play and to sing carols afterwards.

Presents

In past years, we’ve taken into the trend to buy expensive presents influenced as we have been by TV commercials. Your children may want the latest gadget and you may wish to treat your folks with gift vouchers in these day trendy spas, or a fur coat or whatever. But the best thing of receiving a present is the present itself -not the price of it. 

Gatherings

It is fine to reunite with friends and colleagues few days before Christmas Day, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be in a posh hotel. You may get together in the local pub or even at home. Every participant may collaborate with some money to buy drinks and snacks. You can play Cd’s to listen together or to dance away. What matters is getting together to have a good time.

Santa, the Three Kings, children and their presents

You may have small children that of course they still think that Santa or the three Wise Men aren’t you. They will write their letters asking many things that you won’t be able to afford. It is time to talk with them. You don’t have to unveil them the secret, but you can tell them that… It is up to you what story you tell them, but this will be a lot better that seeing your children with a sour face when they find on the next morning that they haven’t received what they had asked for. Children have to know that times aren’t as good as they were and Santa or the three Wise Men are having some financial difficulties. They will understand, because they are more understanding than we may think.

Outside home

In every city or town, streets are joyously decorated with countless coloured lights. Carols sound endlessly out of every shop. Go out for the sake of going out to have a good stroll. You don’t have to shop for anything -just strolls to look around.  You may go with your family or you may go alone. There are also plenty of activities such as Christmas concerts, exhibitions to join in and many of them are free. Search for what’s in town at Christmas that won’t break your bank

There is no reason whatsoever to be in a mood or sad, because you can’t celebrate as you did in past years. As I say,  if you are getting an income of some sorts no matter how small it is you can count yourself a fortunate one -there are many others that don’t even have what you have.