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Sunday Morn Musings: On Money, Taxes and the Rich

Jun 13

Posted by Valentina in Making Money, Sunday Morn Musings | 1 Comment

income tax chartMoney, money, money
Always sunny
It’s a rich man’s world

… so the song goes.

Money’s a funny thing – it seems that everyone wants it but at the same time they have a low opinion of the rich.  It’s not uncommon to hear “…those filthy money grubbing bastards!” and lately with all the shenanigans on Wall Street it’s open season on the rich.

Now I am not rushing to the defense of the rich, but really, isn’t it time we stopped all this rich bashing?  I think it’s a good thing that there are rich people and truth be told yes, I’d love to join their ranks, I mean, let’s be honest, why else do we buy lottery tickets and even line up to plonk down our precious after tax earnings in exchange for a little scrap of paper that, odds against odds, will be the winning number and thus  open the magic door to the vault of wealth to us?  The larger the pot, the more people buy.

I like money.  There I said it!

Somehow in our society it is considered somewhat gauche to own up to liking money.  Money is evil, money is crass, money is bad, money does not bring happiness, money corrupts … the list is endless.  It’s usually people who don’t have money who say these things, but I find that it really isn’t entirely their fault; as much as I can figure it out they were brought up that way.

I wasn’t.  I was not born in North America nor did I grow up here.  True, in my family we did not discuss money but inherently we knew it was a desirable instrument to have.  When dad would come home from his business trips, he would sit at the table counting the money he got paid by his customers.  I loved watching him count it.  He would place a pack in one hand and then much like a croupier sorting his deck of cards, he counted  and placed different amounts into different bundles.  One bundle was for mom to run the household.  I always knew from the size of that bundle whether the business trip was a successful one or not.  The size of “mom’s” packet often determined how we ate and whether the shoes had to wait for another month or not.  If it was a good trip I would get a money note to spend.   So to me, money was always good.

Later, when I went to work in the corporate world, my pay packet was always delivered to me at my desk by a clerk from accounting and it was always in cash.   I did my own counting when I got home.  I loved it.   It was only when I came to Canada that payment was by check.  To his day, I prefer to have cash in my wallet and use it for my day to day purchases, leaving the credit card for big ticket items.

But the rich?  Oh yes.

The people we love to hate and secretly wish to be.

Why?

I did a little bit of snooping and Googling.  I think it’s a very good thing that there are rich people, you see, if it weren’t for them you can bet your bottom dollar that the rest of us  would be paying higher taxes.  I have always suspected this but now there is empirical data to support my suspicions.

The top 1 percent of income earners paid 40 percent of all federal income taxes in 2007, while the bottom 50 percent paid only 3 percent. More than one-third of U.S. earners paid no federal income tax at all.

Source:  Internal Revenue Service

Another interesting statistic is that the top 10% earners paid 71% of all income taxes.  Now the 10% includes the merely high income earners at $100K and above .  Depending on where you live that can merely be a good income or put you into the upper middle class category, but still it is above the  U.S. household median of $60K.

As with everything in life, there are some who are better, better at sports, better at math, better at sciences, better, better and more better – and there are some that are better at making money.   I read that if all the wealth in the world were equally dispersed amongst the 6 billion on earth, each man, woman and child would have $1.6 billion in his back pocket.  That was a while back.  The total wealth of the world in terms of money has increased since then.  What was interesting about that read was the observation by the author that within 6 years or less, the money would return to the same concentration levels as before the division.

The main reason being is that not only are some people better at making money, they are also better managers of money.  Think about lottery winners.  While there appears to be no real hard data as to the exact figures, most lottery winners return to their previous financial status whether that be comfortable middle class or below broke.  The most common soft figure is 70% return to their previous status sometimes within as short a time as one year.  Lottery is a regressive tax. You generally have to understand money in order to accumulate it. The same goes for the redistribution of world wealth.

I also think that stewardship of money is given to those who do more with it.  The rich get a bum rap.   They support charities, fund cultural events, help educate the less fortunate, set up foundations and serve as valuable mentors.  Before the cynical jump on the soapbox and say that the disadvantaged would not need the largesse of the rich if  they had the $1.6 B in their back pocket – I point again to the lotto winners.  Others will point to the tax benefits that such donations give to the rich – yeah?  What’s the point?  I don’t think that governments would put the money to the same good use but then I again cite the statistic that 1% pay 40% of  all federal income taxes collected.   Seems to me like they’re paying well enough.

I think the next best thing to being a rich person is having rich people in our society.

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Sunday Morn Musings: The Ordinary Man

May 30

Posted by Valentina in Miscellaneous, Sunday Morn Musings | 2 Comments

"The Little Engine That Could"

The Little Engine That Could

Welcome to Sunday Morn Musings.  This is my weekly free fall – writing about whatever it is that occupies the mind on a Sunday Morn.  The idea of a “no topic” posting is the stepchild to a blog I used to write:  Four O’Clock Thursdays which is still up there if you want to check it out – more likely, I will repurpose and republish some of those posts here over time.  On Sunday Morn Musings the topic may be about blogging but just as likely it may not.


My last post here was on Frank Kern’s State of the internet address.  Today  I republish an article which first appeared on my Four O’Clock Thursdays.  That was a year ago.   The words were about the man.  The article about life.  I hope you enjoy the read:


Dateline:  May 07 2009


…The trip to San Diego was fabulous.  I had dinner with a friend I have not seen since my days in Japan and it was just so cool to do catch up…we were just like kids!  So much fun.


The reason I went to San Diego however, was to attend an internet marketing seminar.  If I have never mentioned it here, that is what I do: internet marketing.  As with any profession it is important to keep up, learn new things and meet colleagues and peers in your line of work. To that end the weekend did not disappoint.


I loved the venue which was at the Hard Rock Hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego.  The whole area is uber chi chi. At the seminar of 500 or maybe 600, I met a lot of people from all parts of the world.  We had time to chat, and scope out business opportunities and joint venture options and just make new friends.  Life is good.


What completely blew me away at this seminar however, was the opening address by the host.  Frank Kern is a surf dude, extraordinarily successful in internet marketing and showed a side of human depth that he does not often display – at least not publicly.  I had the privilege to briefly chat with him and you know how you get a certain feeling about someone?  The feeling I got was that this young man is a very kind human being.


In his opening address Frank spoke of the Average Man and how the average man is no longer average. Summarized in my own words, which do little justice to the original:


Back when the average man went out to work, to get a job done, to feed, clothe and house his family, being an average man meant something.  The average man took responsibility  for his well being and did not sit around listening to excuses as to why he was no further along in his life than he was.  He put in an honest day’s work and looked forward to putting in another with the hope in his heart to do better and to give more tomorrow.  Being average was something to be proud of.


Yes there was always more to aspire to.  The average man in those days did not buy into excuses peddled by feel good professionals.  He did not think there was anything wrong with him and if occasionally the world was not rosy, well that was life and in time things improved.


Today a new industry has blossomed – the feel good industry, the instant fix for whatever is wrong with you.   The media is awash with psychiatrists, psychologists, and self anointed professionals who tell the average man that indeed  there is much that is wrong with him but not to worry, it is not his fault and if he but listen to them they will fix that which is wrong with him.  He is sat down to an aptitude test which tells him what he can be when he grows up:  a doctor, lawyer, garbage collector.  Don’t worry, nothing wrong with garbage collector – it is not your fault if this is all that you are suited for, it is not your fault if:


-  You can’t read – In the US 27% are functionally illiterate

-  You are able to read just enough to get by – 25% – 30% in the US fall into this category.


That makes more than 50% of Americans who can barely read. But that’s not their fault.  They are probably dyslexic, have ADD or ADHD or their parents did not love them enough.


Today the average man

- spends 20% of his time at work making non-work related phone calls

- 38% of those calls are job hunting (now that makes for an excellent employee)


But that’s ok … it’s not the average man’s fault.  The job is not meaningful, the boss demands too much and pays too little.  Why would the average man not steal some time from the man who pays him for a job he hates to look for another job?


And get this … the average American household watches on average 8.35 hours of TV every day.  Needed escapist therapy to handle the boredom and tedium of a life that seems to be going nowhere.


Systemically the feel good industry of “Hey you’re OK, I’m OK – its not your fault that yada, yada, yada”  … systemically the average man has succumbed to a litany of lies that say


“it is not your fault…”

“..you are entitled to”

“…it is your right…”


and so the  standards of the average man have been dumbed  down.   Today the average man is no longer proud of who he is and is not willing to do anything about it.  The average man is no longer average, is bereft of the values of his forebears.


This is not who we want to be, to aspire to.  Today’s average man is not who we want to hang out with.


“If you want to do the things that other people can’t do, simply do the few things that other people won’t do”


Frank was diagnosed as being dyslexic, and to compound that “problem” he was pronounced to be ADD which, when the experts became even more knowledgeable, was upgraded to ADHD!  Meds were the answer.  For a while life was absent of chaos and internal turmoil, it flowed smoothly if somewhat artificially.  The rose  colored glasses he was given to wear, were, hey, OK!


Got him into college. Performed abysmally.  Sure enough the aptitude test confirmed that he was not suited for higher learning, indeed collecting garbage was more like the kind of life he should be aspiring to.


Fortunately there was enough of a contrarian still lurking in Frank’s body.  He took off the rose colored glasses.  Collecting garbage did not appeal to him.  He refused to accept what others had decided for him and made his own decision:  to take responsibility for himself.


Today Frank is not only wildly successful, but a bright and articulate man and all because he refused to be an average man nor to accept the pablum that was being fed to him.

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Sunday Morn Musings: Create Your Own Economy

May 2

Posted by Valentina in Making Money, Sunday Morn Musings | 1 Comment

Welcome to Sunday Morn Musings.  This is my weekly free fall – writing about whatever it is that occupies the mind on a Sunday Morn.  The idea of a “no topic” posting is the stepchild to a blog I used to write:  Four O’Clock Thursdays which is still up there if you want to check it out – more likely, I will repurpose and republish some of those posts here over time.  On Sunday Morn Musings the topic may be about blogging but just as likely it may not.


Last night I was listening to a radio talk show – a money talk show.  I like to tune into this show as a way of keeping myself somewhat current with what is happening in the world of finance.  This is a show that is targeted to the average person, people like you and me; not bankers, not economists.  Tuning into this show does not make me an expert but at least I get a good layman’s perspective on the world economy and how that impacts my country on a larger scale of things and me on a minute scale of things –  I also get some good tips on how to manage money.  It’s my way of improving my financial IQ.


On yesterday’s show the host challenged us to create our own economy.


Create my own economy?


As I listened I realized how powerful that challenge was.


I also realized that without knowing it I was already creating my own economy and could do a lot more to make it a much healthier one.


The more I listened, the more the idea of a personal economy appealed to me.  The imagery is far more powerful than the one that comes to mind when you say budget.


But an economy is more than just a budget.


Creating your own economy is just another term for personal finances which includes income, budget, asset growth, net worth, wealth preservation and that most sought after position of all:  the cashflow. Cashflow is the money you have left over after the bills are paid.


The talk show host went on to say that in your economy, everything you own should cashflow.


Well, there it was.  Pure and simple.  That is why my net worth suffers from anemia.  Most everything I own drains and costs rather than contributes and that it seems, is also the main problem with the world economy right now, but there are bright spots, countries like Brazil and China are enjoying good economies compared to most other countries; he posited these two countries vs what is now being termed as the Greek Tragedy.


You can’t do much to make a difference to the world economy, but you can to make a difference in your own.


To create a healthy personal economy you have to turn the tables and start thinking differently.


Whether you are employed or are in business for yourself, how much of your money do you put to work for you?  For that matter how much do you pay yourself?  You see it appears that most of us don’t do a good job of our income and outgo.  We get the money and pay bills.  We may contribute to some sort of a retirement plan and perhaps put a few dollars into a savings account.  The reality is that most of us don’t even do these bare minimums, let alone grow our net worth.  Even high earners are up to debt in their alligators.  Now according to the talk show host, debt does not necessarily have to be a bad four letter word, there is such a thing as good debt, and that is when the debt incurred actually produces cashflow. Most personal debt produces outgo.


That got me thinking.  The concept is not new to me and I am sure it is not to you.  But it got me knoodling.


I wrote out my financials.


Not a pretty picture.


Too much red ink.


Now in my case a lot of the red ink is tax deductable.  Items such as communication, transportation, insurances, accommodation and utilities are partially if not completely tax deductable as my businesses are  run from my home office and each qualifies as a home based business.   Still, when examined with microscopic attention the economy on the home front needs a lot of restructuring.


The biggest gaping hole was that the “economy” was not set up for preservation of capital.   That according to the talk show host should be job one because preserved capital grows, and as it grows it can be put to better and higher use so that the resulting cashflow is passive rather than linear.


Aha!  But isn`t that what you and are trying to do with internet marketing?


Yup!

We’re on the right track.


But don’t you just love the concept of creating your own economy?


Somehow the sound of  “creating your own economy” has a much more powerful ring to it than budgeting


Are you ready to set out and create your own economy?  A buoyant one?  Let’s go for it.

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Sunday Morn Musings: Screw It, Let’s Do It!

Apr 25

Posted by Valentina in Sunday Morn Musings | 7 Comments

Welcome to Sunday Morn Musings.  This is my weekly free fall – writing about whatever it is that occupies the mind on a Sunday Morn.  The idea of a “no topic” posting is the stepchild to a blog I used to write:  Four O’Clock Thursdays which is still up there if you want to check it out – more likely, I will repurpose and republish some of those posts here over time.  On Sunday Morn Musings the topic may be about blogging but just as likely it may not.

I am a toastmaster. Recently I gave a speech and the opening line was “Screw It, Let’s Do It”. If you know anything about Toastmasters this would ordinarily be one of those out of bounds moments and I would have been cited for this sort of unacceptable language. But the club I belong to is not your ordinary run of the mill club, noooooo… we are an irreverent bunch, we call our club Politically Speaking and pride ourselves on banishing political correctness into the doldrums where it belongs – well you get the idea, so they thought that  I was merely swearing!

Actually “Screw It, Let’s Do It” is a book. The author is Richard Branson my favorite billionaire.  Sir Richard lives life writ large and in this autobiographical book he does not disappoint as he treats us to an insider’s view to his many obstacles, his adventures, and to his ultimate success. His life is a magic brew worthy of Harry Potter and his cohorts. What keeps this brew from turning rancid is Branson’s innate desire to make something worthwhile happen, that is to look for a way to make the seemingly impossible, possible.

Fourteen chapters in all. Each chapter a life lesson. I loved each one but if I had to pick a favorite then it would be chapter 2: Have fun for Life is too short to be unhappy. That got me thinking. How is it or why is it that so many are content to live a life below the greatness of this gift that we were given? People complain. They complain about the lousy job they have, the rotten boss they work for, the crooked politicians they never vote for; the weather is too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet. They had an unhappy childhood and their adult life isn’t any better, wouldn’t you know it but then what else can one expect when the universe conspires against everything they do!

STOP IT! Life is too short and no one said it was going to be fair.

No matter what your disposition is make a point of having some fun – every day, little bits of fun type of fun. Indulge in a little bit of decadence. Go have an ice cream cone, double scoop it – oh hey! make that a triple scoop and in a waffle cone, please. Visit your city. Huh! Yes. Play tourist, I mean really play tourist. Go to all the tourist attractions and find out what it is about them that makes them an attraction – why is the park famous, why was that statue erected, watch the martial arts students practice on the green and if there is a horse drawn carriage where you live, take a spin around the block or two and tip the horse driver handsomely. You’ll feel good.

Is there something you’ve always wanted to do and just never got off your keester? Fencing? Rowing? Dancing? Get a bunch of your friends together … not the moaners and groaners, but the ones who always seem to have a smile on their face, speak with energy in their voice, have a sense of curiosity, yeah, get together with them and go do something that will make you laugh, something silly. Isn’t that what you did when you were kids? And if you don’t have these types of friends go out and make some.

Sure the problems will still be there, maybe even some new ones, its life get over it. But having fun lifts your spirits and builds your inner strength muscles and soon – and this is a guarantee – soon you’ll be able to meet those problems head on, you’ll find a way to tackle them, you’ll go through them, around them or over them. This you will do for sure – you will live through it, come out stronger, and the world will look like a much better place than you thought it was. When you were born you were given the greatest gift of all – LIFE. Live it, love it – screw it, just do it!

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Sunday Morn Musings: On Overused Words.

Apr 11

Posted by Valentina in Sunday Morn Musings | 5 Comments

Welcome to Sunday Morn Musings.  This is my weekly free fall – writing about whatever it is that occupies the mind on a Sunday Morn.  The idea of a “no topic” posting is the stepchild to a blog I used to write:  Four O’Clock Thursdays which is still up there if you want to check it out – more likely, I will repurpose and republish some of those posts here over time.  On Sunday Morn Musings the topic may be about blogging but just as likely it may not.

It’s time to retire certain words and phrases from the English language – or at least, give them a rest, a long rest.  Perfectly good, honest,  strong and hard working words that have become hackneyed through overuse, often spoken by well meaning people who really don’t understand the full meaning of those words, or, who having some acquaintance with the word and now liberally sprinkle their speech with it  in the same manner an apprentice  chef might make use of the salt shaker.  The result is the same: too much of a good thing and the effect is spoiled.

In no particular order I submit a list of candidates.

LAW OF ATTRACTION

Ever since The Secret hit the mainstream, even those who have neither watched nor read The Secret or any of its preceding books or essays are now expert on the Law of Attraction.  Have you ever had this experience?   You are in conversation with someone, the topic is irrelevant and whether it is a conversation between just you and one other or in a group setting, suddenly you hear:

“… well, you know, it’s all about the law of attraction, put it out there and the universe will deliver ….”

I don’t know which rankles me more, the use of the term “law of attraction” or, “put it out there and the universe will deliver.”  I know!  What rankles me most is that the speaker has no bloody idea what the hell he is talking about ­– he thinks he does and has fallen into the trap of mainstream speak.

Equally annoying is the pregnant pause followed by “… you have seen The Secret?  Right?”

This phrase is often accompanied with a look of disdain; an unmistakable implication that you are a social plebe.  Clearly you’ve missed the latest personal growth trend train and haven’t picked up the lingo of that which separates those balancing on the enlightened self actualization high beam from the rest who are merely still entrenched in the troughs of basic human needs.

Give it a rest already!

PASSION/PASSIONATE

The indiscriminate use of passion or passionate – often used interchangeably – has the nails on a chalkboard effect on me.

Save me from the newly converted who have found passion and now march in the passion parade.  They are legions.  Most wouldn’t know passion if they tripped over it.

Passion is an extremely strong and evocative word and few are the mortals who live their lives in this most rare state of being.  At some point or another, every human, I hope, experiences some form of unbridled passion.  It is both heady and seductive and can be emotionally draining yet satiating.   Passion at best drives a vision, at the least is a fleeting moment of heat and lest your mind instantly jumps to sex, the heat can be any strong emotional feeling including hate, rage, contempt and yes, sexual.  It is by  interpretation an intense emotion.

Intensity cannot be sustained for long.  It would leave you limp as a ragged doll unable to function in the dull day to day minutia of the living of  life.

To the leaders of the passion parade that shout  “Find your passion and the money will follow”  I say Bullshit!   Shame on you!  You are doing a great disservice.

I recently spoke with an enlightened teacher.  She is a career counselor at the high school where she is employed.  She told me that when she sits down with her students she helps them discover their passion and then points them in the right direction.

Excuse me.

You don’t help someone “discover” their passion.  They either have it or they don’t.   Given, a good mentor can help  fans the flames into a roaring fire but the spark needed for the flame is internal and deep down one already knows it, feels it.  Those who know it must also “have” it, that is they have to have something in their being that drives them to achieve in the face of adversity – and trust me, all the greats have faced adversity that would have crushed the merely talented.

Passion isn’t injected.

Passion isn’t developed.

Passion isn’t imbued or fired up by some external force or person … I have another word for those who succumb to the charms and beguilements of a Svengali and it has nothing to do with passion.

I would have been happier had the teacher said that she helped students uncover their latent talents – what are they naturally good at, what are they pre-disposed to do well in.  A dormant talent uncovered may eventually lead to a passionate relationship with a career thus chosen but I’ll place my bet on not.

This teacher was merely parroting what is in vogue – a passionate career.

AGGRESSIVE vs ASSERTIVE.

Social engineers have been hard at work here and it is not so much for the retirement of either aggressive or assertive that I am setting a case for, but for re-instituting the word aggressive to be used in proper context.   A recent exchange went something like this:

First Person (FP):  Business in Toronto is different from how it’s done here in Vancouver

Second Person(SP):  Yes.  Toronto is far more aggressive in approach

FP:  Well no, relationship building is more important

SP:  True.  But in Toronto there is an unspoken understanding that we are both busy, so lets stop with the kissy face and get down to brass tacks.  In Vancouver the tendency is to first dance before sitting down to earnest business discussions.  So in that context I would say that Toronto is more aggressive.

FP:  Well maybe more assertive/

SP: Assertive?  Let me ask you:  do you run assertive or aggressive marketing campaigns?

FP:  Well, which would you rather be perceived as, aggressive or assertive?

HUH!

(let’s leave the exchange here … it got ugly)

Liberal social engineers have labelled aggressive as a word that should be struck from our language, it is associated with warlike activities and we, after all, love peace and not war, therefore, much like smoking in public, it has become socially inept and unacceptable to be aggressive.

Corporations bowing to changing social mores, traipse out the travelling dog and pony shows for hire and unleash them on their unsuspecting employees to ensure that all are properly briefed on what is and what is not acceptable verbiage in the workplace.

The word assertive isn’t exactly a pussycat either and may even be interpreted as being more sinister.  I would say that aggressive and assertive are two words that are just a different shade of pale and interestingly enough are listed as synonyms in the dictionary.  Just as you would apply the proper shade of paint for a particular ambience you want to achieve in a room so too you should use the proper “shade” of word to denote your true meaning.

Are there words that you would like to add to this list?  Words you would like to send off on a hiatus to be returned years or even decades later so that once again they can be given the due respect they deserve?   The list is not exhaustive.  What words bug you and why.  It would be interesting to have a discussion here.

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Sunday Morn Musings: Big Is NOT Beautiful!

Mar 21

Posted by Valentina in Sunday Morn Musings | 5 Comments

Welcome to Sunday Morn Musings.  This is my weekly free fall – writing about whatever it is that occupies the mind on a Sunday Morn.  The idea of a “no topic” posting is the stepchild to a blog I used to write:  Four O’Clock Thursdays which is still up there if you want to check it out – more likely, I will repurpose and republish some of those posts here over time.  On Sunday Morn Musings the topic may be about blogging but just as likely it may not.

Social engineers are at it again.  As usual they employ semantics as their tool of choice and preach from the platform of political correctness.   They want us to think that “Big” is beautiful.  Read that as FAT is beautiful.

BALDERDASH!

Big is not beautiful and no amount of pressure by the fat brigade should make it so.  Shame on you, you scurrilous I’m Ok You’re OK evangelists.  You’re doing a disservice to the ever widening girth population you are championing and to society at large.

I’ve sat and tsk tsk’d  each year as the stats are rolled out on the percentage of the overweight .  I’ve watched the figures go from 30% something to now 58% in Canada and I would daresay that the US is holding its end (yes, pun intended) up very well. It’s no longer “overweight” but “overweight or obese” and just as the overweight stats kept climbing upwards, a casual eyeball survey of pedestrians at your favorite mall will confirm that obesity is definitely on the rise.

Now I’ll admit that I am not the svelte young lass I used to be and if truth be told, shaving off some of that avoirdupois would do me a lot of good.  To that end I have signed up at the local gym and take this bod for a walk on a daily basis.

This week I couldn’t take it anymore.

There I am catching a bit of TV and suddenly I am watching the ugliest image of a human body you could possibly imagine – rolls of fat cascading down the body of a young woman, the belly fold is now over her thighs and they are interviewing her!  I shake my head.  Did I hear right?

This woman is 600 lbs.

She eats over 12,000 calories a day.

She wants to reach 1000 – you read that right – 1000 lbs!

She isn’t just obese – there is something terribly wrong with her.  She needs a psychiatrist.  Shame on the media for pandering to the fat brigade and giving her her 15 minutes of fame.  I want to know, when she gets diabetes, heart problems and other weight related diseases, who is going to pay?  Should she fly – and god only knows how she would get herself to the check in counter let alone the airplane – will she demand 3 seats for the price of one or cry discrimination?

Watched the Academy Awards.  You know where I am going.  Now Gabourey Sidibe may be a talented young actor but she sure ain’t no poster child for a picture of health and for Oprah to congratulate the Academy for making a difficult choice – and we know she wasn’t referring to Gabourey being black, or a first time nominee, she was alluding to the less than Hollywood ideal body that Gabourey sports – was uncalled for, in fact irresponsible. We all know that the queen of the Kumbayah Society has herself had to deal with fat, but there she is giving her unspoken stamp of approval.

Then there is the perpetual whiner – Kirstie Alley, who it appears is an athlete and an actor, or at least she once was an athlete: a swimmer.  How she allowed herself to balloon from her svelte and admittedly sexy bod to 220 lbs is beyond me.    She became the spokeswoman for Jenny Craig but that gig didn’t seem to work out as intended so the contract was either cancelled or simply not renewed.  But get this, Kirstie is now going to have her own show, Big Life!   Yeah! Right!  This time she is going to lose weight and did I hear that?  Did she say that she is going to lose weight through a new system that she developed?   The trailers show her team of personal trainers and nutritionists. Now that’s a duplicatable system if I’ve ever seen one!  Give me a break!

The first time I became aware of the fattening of America was some ten years ago, it was in Florida at DisneyWorld.  I was taking a break from the hours of walking and took the opportunity to enjoy an ice cream cone under the welcoming shade of a tree.  First I noticed that there were a lot of overweight people.  Then it seemed as though I was witness to a fat parade – waves of overweight families; mother, father and children literally waddled by me with super sized pop drinks in one hand and a family sized bag of chips in the other- not for the family, but for each one.   It was not a pretty picture.

Yesterday I was at the butcher’s buying some meat.  I asked that he not trim the fat.  I find that unless it is a filet mignon fat makes the steak taste better, moreover, the medical profession has now reversed its previous position on fat.  In 2001 the Journal of the American College of Nutrition released a new finding

“…it is now recognized that the low-fat campaign has been based on little scientific evidence and may have caused unintended health consequences….”

This is not an article on the benefits of fat but dietary fat carries fat-soluble vitamins from your food into your body.  It helps maintain healthy hair and skin, protects vital organs, keeps your body insulated and provides a sense of fullness after meals.   Now don’t go bananas and start eating lots of fat, a little of something good does not mean that a lot of it is better.

The butcher’s wife was there at the time that I asked for my sirloin intact with the cap.  She laughed.  Apparently the message from the College of Nutrition hasn’t filtered down to everyone yet as she told me that their clientele almost always wants all the fat trimmed off the meat, and then she sees those same people, with children in tow at the local MacDonalds – yeah!  Supersize that order and yes to the French fries.

Ads are always a good indication of how successful the social engineering campaigns on anything are.  Have you noticed that ads now include not only a normal sized human, but often a fat (not overweight, I mean FAT) person?  The ad companies will defend that as saying that they are merely mirroring society.  Well that’s a damn poor mirror and the message it’s sending is that hey, its OK to be fat.

We have all read about the implications that being fat will have on the overall health of a human.  Today is a critical day in the US.  Obama’s crusade to implement universal health care is up for approval by the senate.  Should it pass, have no fear, those that develop weight related diseases at an early age will not have to worry about their health care, the government will look after them, rolls of belly fat cascading down their bodies and all.

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Sunday Morn Musings: Reading and Independent Thinking.

Mar 7

Posted by Valentina in Making Money, Sunday Morn Musings | 5 Comments

Welcome to Sunday Morn Musings.  This is my weekly free fall – writing about whatever it is that occupies the mind on a Sunday Morn.  The idea of a “no topic” posting is the stepchild to a blog I used to write:  Four O’Clock Thursdays which is still up there if you want to check it out – more likely, I will republish some of those posts here over time.  On Sunday Morn Musings the topic may be about blogging but just as likely it may not.

In a recent conversation an interesting thought was lobbed to the small group of us.   We all professed to enjoy reading.  Everyone had their favorites.  Then someone said that yes, he liked to read – a lot but had recently moved away from spending as much time on reading as he had before.  Why?  Because someone else had said something to the effect that if you spend a lot of time reading, you are reading someone else’s thoughts, their ideas, that your own thoughts and ideas are fashioned by that of others and that you do not, therefore, think for yourself.

Now there’s an original thought – at least it is the first time I heard it, so to me it was original.  At first blush it seems to make sense.  But on closer examination, does it?

Just how original is anything?  It is said that there is nothing new or original under the sun, just interpretations, applications and adaptations and what we do with or how we put to use that which is not new at all.

I love reading.  Always have.  Fairytales and fables were a favourite staple of mine in the early years of schooling.  I think I learned to speak English much faster because I learned from something that I enjoyed.  The stories were rich in imagery, the language simple.  It seemed to me at the time that anything was possible and even though I was keenly aware that these were just stories, it was easy to take on the role of the hero or heroine of the story.  In short, they lit a fire in my belly.

One of my teachers in grade three was Miss Natalia.  She was one of the few lay teachers the school had and we children just simply adored her.  She was at once beautiful, smart, and because she did not wear a nun’s habit, relatable.  Her job was to teach us how to write proper sentences and perhaps we may have even gone to writing paragraphs at the time – but certainly no essays as yet.  At the end of the year she gave each of us a book, a different one for each child.  How she decided on the book I don’t know, just that she must have given much thought to each choice.  Mine was Lorna Doone, by Richard Doddridge Blackmore, first published in 1869.  According to Wikipedia, it has never been out of print.

Every summer we escaped the sultry heat of Yokohama and spent the months with my grandparents in the mountainous resort of Karuizawa. That year I took my book with me and over the course of two months read and re-read this classic tale of romance, intrigue, collusion, treachery, war and finally victory by the right, the good. Of course the hero and heroine lived happily ever after!  I was hooked.

From then on the local library became a weekly destination for me.  I went there every Saturday after completing my chores to return books and borrow new ones.  I got to know the librarian very well and she always had some suggestions.  She introduced me to magazines and other genres of writing such as mystery, adventure and science fiction.  As the years tumbled one after the other, if the library was not busy, we would even spend some time talking about a special article, or an author. That along with what I learned at school fashioned my thinking, which, according to the observation of my colleague’s friend above was not mine at all, that perhaps just plain brainwashing.

Hmmm.  Is none of us brainwashed?

But what if instead of brainwashed we used another word?  Schooled?  Well informed?  Knowledgeable?  Expert?

Ah, the beauty of semantics.

It seems that at different times in my life, a different read presented itself.  When my children were toddlers there I was immersed in fairytales again reading tales of Snow White and Puss in Boots and such at bedtime to my children.  Simultaneously my children and I were introduced to Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak whose iconic book Where the Wild Things Are particularly endeared itself to my son.

Raising a family and eventually working outside the home left little time for personal reading, at least for books.  I found that I could snatch an hour here and there and that was plenty for reading articles in magazines.  My favourites became The New Yorker, Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair – god, once again I fell in love, this time with Vanity Fair.  At first I dismissed it as yet another T&A publication on  the magazine stands – certainly the covers do nothing to dispell the casual observer from this initial dismissal and it does indeed share shelf space with other magazines of that genre.

These days I have time to read books again.  They are not always literary tomes – in fact, hardly ever are.  No, these days I am more likely to have my nose immersed in the pages of How I Made My First Million On The Internet by Ewen Chia, or F.U. Money by my friend Dan Lok.  I also like to read anything by Malcolm Gladwell. I have all his books.

Malcolm Gladwell was first thrust into the limelight with his best seller The Tipping Point.  I don’t necessarily reach for best sellers, they are often nothing more than the end result of a well conceived and orchestrated marketing campaign – but might we, internet marketers take a page from that observation?  Nevertheless, pick it up I did. Immediately I was mesmerized by this author.

There was something completely different about Malcolm Gladwell.  His writing style wasn’t exactly riveting.  Paragraphs run on for in some instances a whole page and often I found I had to reread something to get the gist of it.  No. It certainly wasn’t his writing style that captured my attention, it was well, that he was different.  He did not think like most.  Like an engineer or a scientist, he looks at things and sees what others do not, but unlike engineers and scientists he writes in a layman’s language, so even though his paragraphs may be cumbersome at times, they are completely understandable.  Malcolm digs deep, questions everything, presents his point of view without necessarily being judgemental.

So what has this got to do with independent thinking or the lack of it when all you do is read what others write?  I am currently reading Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw.  It is a collection of his original essays that were published in The New Yorker Magazine where he has been a staff writer since 1996.  Each chapter is such an essay.  I read one here and there, in between my other readings.  I like them because they are thought provoking and as such need time for proper digestion.

This morning, before sitting down at the computer to write this post I read the chapter “Something Borrowed.  Should a charge of plagiarism ruin your life?”  Ironically it is about originality and just how original is original.  He talks about copyrights and stolen intellectual property.  It is far too complex to discuss here, but essentially, we come back to the saying that nothing is new or original under the sun so indeed, if we read just what others write, do we think for ourselves or do we just parrot that which has been ingrained in our sponge like brain?

I think that it’s both.  Reading what others write opens up horizons.  Moreover, the more we read the more likely we are to run into opposing opinions which then hopefully, engage our brain into thinking for ourselves.  At the very basic, while I enjoy reading the articles in Vanity Fair, I do not always agree with the slant taken on the topic by the journalist.  I acknowledge that a journalist is not devoid of subjective content and has earned his or her stripes to be so, having graduated from being a reporter to that elevated distinction of being a journalist.  So to bastardize Nitzsche’s “I think therefore I am”, I’ll say that “I disagree therefore I am independent”

Of course our values and philosophies have been fashioned by much in life, that what we read being just one of them.  But if we were to subscribe to everything we read, we would be mere robots making no distinction between the different washings that our brains undergo

… or how else would you explain  the Malcolm Gladwells of the world?

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Sunday Morn Musings: Valentine’s, Gung Hay Fat Choy & The Smell of Gold

Feb 14

Posted by Valentina in Sunday Morn Musings | 5 Comments

Welcome to Sunday Morn Musings.  This is my weekly free fall – writing about whatever it is that occupies the mind on a Sunday Morn.  The idea of a “no topic” posting is the stepchild to a blog I used to write:  Four O’Clock Thursdays which is still up there if you want to check it out – more likely, I will republish some of those posts here over time.  On Sunday Morn Musings the topic may be about blogging but just as likely it may not.

Valentine’s Day! Gung Hay Fat Choy! Smell of Gold!  Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana playing in the background. … more like odds and sodds today.

Happy Valentine’s Day
1150240_abstract_loveValentine’s Day!  Images of lace and hearts and chocolates and flowers and lovers and  poor ol’ Charlie Brown with nary a card … and then last night between surfings on the telly, veiled muslim women in black burning cardboard hearts and cards as a hateful infiltration of western culture upon theirs.  Whatever.

It is my birthday this week.  Yes I am a February child.  An Aquarius if on the cusp, but an Aquarius nonetheless.  No.  I was not born on St. Valentine’s day.  I was christened on St. Valentine’s Day … whoa!  If my birthday is still to come how could I have been christened today?  I was not.  Stay with me.

My background is Russian.  I am Eastern Orthodox.  When the rest of the Christian world moved from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian, Russia’s Eastern Orthodox did not –  that is why the Russians celebrate Christmas on January 07.  It is the custom in the Russian Eastern Orthodox to christen children on the feast of the saint for whom they want to name their child so St. Valentine is my patron saint.  My friend Cheryll gave me an early birthday present:  Red Mitts!

Gung  Hay Fat Choy
1139962_big_cat_series_3.jpg tigerThat’s Happy New Year in Chinese.  Yes, today is also the Chinese New Year.  Enter the year of the Tiger.  I looked up the Chinese Zodiac to read up more on the characteristics of this sign.   The Tiger is said to be lucky, vivid, lively and engaging. Another attribute of the Tiger is his incredible bravery, evidenced in his willingness to engage in battle or his undying courage. Western counterpart zodiac sign: Aquarius (not to be confused with your own Chinese Zodiac sign based on your birth year)! Hey!  I like that.

A few weeks ago I was enjoying a feast of delicious dim sum with my friend Lee at one of the many Chinese restaurants in Richmond.  He was off in a week to Malaysia for a month or so to visit with his family.  Eventually our conversation turned to Valentines.  He told me that the Chinese have an equivalent and it falls on Chinese New Year’s day which this year coincides with St. Valentine’s.

Chinese history goes back over 6000 years.  Centuries and centuries ago, men and women did not mingle.  As in so many other cultures men went off to hunt and fight wars to provide for their families and keep them safe.  Women stayed at home. There was little opportunity for young men and women to meet except for New Year’s day.  It was decreed back then that men and women should be out together to welcome the new year.  Lee told me that that was the one day when boy meets girl stories were born.  That tradition is still carried on today … if from a somewhat different perspective.

Olympics
5 ringsDay three of the Olympics. The podium has honored athletes from eleven countries so far with their wins.  Plenty more to come.  Earlier in the week I had the pleasure of seeing Chris Farstad speak at my monthly real estate MasterMind Group.  Chris is a former bobsleigh Olympian.  He competed in Albertville and Lillehammer Olympics.  It was interesting to hear him speak about how the athletes are feeling right now.  He knows. He was there.  But then he told us something that shocked me – he took us back to when he was competing.  Athletes when interviewed always put on a positive face for the cameras and the press, but back in the athlete’s village, when alone speaking with each other in hushed tones they whispered the unspoken and that was  that they did not believe in their heart of hearts that they were good enough to win.

Not believing is the kiss of death.

Coaches bring out the best in an athlete but they have not been where the athlete wants to go, they do not know what it is like to rub shoulders with your competitors, to face the moment of truth whilst staring down a slope, stepping on the ice or skiing cross country with rifle in hand to aim and fire.  Neither have sports psychologists.  In the eyes of an athlete talk and training are cheap in the moment of heat.

Not any more.  In addition to coaches and sports psychologists, athletes now have a mentor, a former Olympian who has felt the adrenalin rush before the run, smelled the octane fuel of victory, had feelings of doubt and dealt with them.  They have been exactly where today’s athlete is and where he wants to go and are able to talk them through the walk.  He thinks that this will have made a difference to Canada’s athlete’s this year.  Yeah!  They’re a gutsy lot and I love them all.

Carmina Burana?  Every Sunday as I write my musings, I have the CBC FM on.  The music is most often spiritual.  It is right for a Sunday morning.  Today it is Carmina Burana, which is strong in sound and heroic and victorious.  It has been a favorite of mine for a very long time – today, I think it is most appropriate;  for the athletes: yes,   for you and me: absolutely!

Sun is bright.  Over and out.  Have a great day!

Valentina

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