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Personal Money Planning's Newsletter
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Now that the Olympics are over, I can get off the couch and get moving myself, instead of watching all of the athletes on television. This will surely have better health benefits. In the meantime, I continue to follow Russia in a different way, as you will read
Also, I'd like to introduce you to The Money Diet, a new blog by Michelle Kuehner, our Chief Compliance Officer and in-house financial health counselor (she's certified and everything). Check in for future posts, or enter your email address on her blog where it says "follow by email." Have a great week! |
Gary's Soapbox
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 Some of you may have heard that Russia has invaded the Ukraine. While Russia doesn't call it an invasion, I'm guessing that if you saw Canadian troops rolling into Maine, taking over the communication and transport facilities, and demanding that all U.S. troops leave their bases (and leave their equipment behind), you'd probably call it an invasion. And there is not much anyone can do about it.
This is a classic case of chasing short-term advantages at the expense of long-term strategic ones. For instance, the United States, if they want to use the International Space Station, has two ways to get up there: 1) The Chinese, who's space program is in its infancy and who don't belong to the coalition that run the station, and 2) the Russians. We currently do not have the capability of transporting a person there ourselves.
Much of Europe is in more of a mess. Take Germany. They get about one-third of their natural gas from Russia. If they try to put pressure on Moscow and Moscow in turn shuts off the gas supply, then people will get cold, electricity grids will fail, and factories will shut down in Germany. (As for their electrical grid, they decided to shut down their nuclear plants after the Japan disaster, making them even more dependent.)
Heck, even the Ukraine gets most of their petrochemicals from Russia. In fact, I believe that this is why Putin has his forces there in the first place. Russia's economy depends on people buying their natural resources, especially gas and oil. Much of the supply they sell to Europe runs through the Ukraine. With the recent toppling of the pro-Russian government there, they saw a threat to their exports and therefore their economy. Since their efforts to convince and then bribe their way into the Ukraine's favor didn't work, they used the rather ancient technique of military force. It will probably work.
And, other than posturing, there's not a lot the rest of the world can do about it. At least not without causing themselves as much pain as they are trying to give Russia. As the paranoid and cynical have warned, when it comes to need-to-have items, it's nice to have a home-grown source for them. That's why I'm very happy seeing the U.S. getting to be energy independent, able to feed our own citizens, and the leader in many areas of technology.
--Gary
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Gary's Latest Articles
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From the Times Record News
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Donations to Charity
This article finishes up a 2-part series about donating stocks to charity (read part one here) and gives you information on Donor Advised Funds) Read More...
A Second Look
There's been much talk about programs that seemingly "take from the rich and give to the poor," mostly in the form of complaining. But, should we be complaining, that is, if we strive to obey God's commands? Read More...
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Money 101:
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Our own Michelle Kuehner has started to blog about different
 ways to save money. While she may not be an Extreme Cheapskate, sh e has some not-so-extreme ways to save on Internet and cable in this post. Read More |
"Spring Forward"
Remember to change your clocks this weekend! In celebration of this, here's an article that looks at the origins of Daylight Saving Time, including a letter from Ben Franklin, who suggested something similar in 1784, but meant it as a joke.
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