Reames Financial

The Ying and Yang of the US Taxpayer

No BS Weekly Update  8/6/2012

In This Issue
Looking in the Mirror
Cool Stuff
Secret Lives of Links
Good Eats

QOTD

 

"Never appeal to a man's 'better nature.' He may not have one. Invoking his self-interest gives you more leverage." -Robert A. Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long  

 

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Dear  ,

  

The Ying and Yang of the US Taxpayer


There were a couple of articles this week that caught my attention.  Take a look at this first one.

Atlanat
(Click to read article)

More and more often we are seeing special tax requests such as this one getting voted down, quite often by significant margins.  Why is that?  As with many complex issues there are many reasons but one of the main ones right now in my opinion is lack of trust in government to spend the money wisely.  Where does this lack of trust come from?

 

 

Cali
(Click to read article)

 

Could it be that the broken promises like the ones in the article above, coupled with the tough economic times we have been through the past few years has made the US taxpayer much more vigilant about how their money is being misused and abused?

 
So what, connect the dots please!

 

This next article is the reason I bring this up. 
Upheaval
(Click to read article)
How many of you are old enough to remember the violence and rioting in the streets all across this country in the 60's?  Could we see that type of social upheaval again?  Now I don't know what the exact timing will be but I expect it to happen.  Let me explain why.

Coming to Loggerheads

We have a situation in this country where roughly 50% of the people in this pay Federal Income taxes and 50% don't.  There have been a lot of promises made to our citizens by the government at the Federal, State, and local levels and we quite simply don't have the money to fulfill all of those promises.  The people that actually pay the taxes are getting fed up by being asked to pay ever more as evidenced by the article above.

On the other side of the issue we have people that were promised things and they are not going to simply accept that they can't have what they were promised.  As evidence of this all you have to do is look at the riots that have broken out in Greece and Spain as those governments have had to tell their citizens that they won't get all that was promised to them.

Something Has to Give

We have now had 18 cities go bankrupt this year in the United States.  There are many states that are in trouble financially, California and Illinois are both at the top of the list.  And we know that the Federal Government borrows approximately 43 cents of every dollar it spends.

Something has to change, and when it is change of this magnitude, I expect it to get messy.  Why do I bring this up?  Because what I just described to you creates several financial planning opportunities.  Do you recognize what they are?  If not, then why not give us a call and we'll explain them to you.

European Kabuki Continues

Just a quick update from Europe.  Before I get to the most recent story on Greece I wanted to let you know that there probably won't be a lot of news coming out of Europe this month.  August is traditionally a big vacation month in Europe and so don't expect a lot of official business to be happening until September.
Now here is the latest about Greece.
Greece
(Click to read article)
As you may or may not recall Greece was bailed out again this early spring but then the people of Greece started getting really fed up with the financial suffering they were enduring because of the austerity demands of the loans that bailed them out and they decided that they weren't going to abide by them.
 
So now instead of calling the loans and making Greece pay the price for violating the agreements, the ECB has more than doubled the money that's available to Greece to keep them from defaulting.  Just another example of what I call Bailout Kabuki.  It's all window dressing.  Don't be deceived folks; the crisis in Europe isn't anywhere close to being over in my opinion.

And as we have said many times, "Crisis creates opportunity for those who are prepared".  Would you like some ideas on how to take advantage of the some of the opportunities that this crisis is creating?  If so, give us a call!
 
Until next week , Protect Your Wealth! 

 

Sincerely,
Phil's signature in blue

 

 

 

 

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Week In Review
Secular Bull and Bear Markets in Perspective(TBP)

RF: Couple of interesting charts. Not sure what they mean? Give us a call.

Walker: US Should Aim for 60% Debt-to-GDP Ratio(Moneynews)

RF: Many of you may remember the David Walker video we used to show. Mr. Walker used to be the Comptroller of the US, the head accountant if you will. It's a good article and a worthy goal. Will we as a country ever do it? Not voluntarily in my opinion. Not until we default and are forced to, just like every other country. We'll talk about it and scream about it but when push comes to shove, no one wants to give up the "free stuff". Unfortunately I can't find a country in history that has ever volunteered to veer from this path and save themselves.

Does that mean I think America is finished? Not at all! I think things will get really ugly for a while but those who are prepared will come out of this stronger than ever. We are on the verge of one of the greatest buying opportunities in history in my opinion. Things are about to get very exciting!

As I say at the end of the No BS Weekly Update, Protect Your Wealth!

Michael Malone: A Century of Eagle Scouts (Wallstreet Journal)

RF: Congrats to all Eagle Scouts!

Postal Service Nears Historic Default on $5.5 Billion Payment(AP)

RF: Wow, not sure how this is going to work out. $5.5B due tomorrow that they can't pay and another $5.6B due in September that they can't pay.

Eurozone Crisis Heads for September Crunch(Reuters)

RF: Good illustration of the scope of the problem.

Laughter

DownDaily 9-22-2011  
 

cod
(www.chartoftheday.com)

Growth
 
Power of the Market - The Pencil
Power of the Market - The Pencil

Link 
 
Dare to take the mystery link challenge? 

 

We can't be held responsible for the time you waste or the knowledge you gain by clicking this link!

 

CLICK HERE IF YOU DARE!

Good Eats
I'm not sure why God made the whole chicken when the only part worth eating is the wings.  Here's an easy, unique recipe for chicken wings on the grill.
recipe
(Click for rest of recipe and to print)

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Reames Financial

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