Friday, August 12, 2011
One Nation Under The ‘MORE’ god– A Nation of MOREons.
One Nation Under The ‘MORE’ god– A Nation of MOREons.
The stock market whipsawed and slide 500 points up 400 points another day to only be down again 500+ points the next day
And I got calls – though out of practice 16 years.
One case of a retired couple selling their house and buying up another $150k for another house. This $600K plus would be dead money (to the income needs of their goal which they need now in retirement. After a discussion of reverse annuitization to create income with this otherwise dead money, what were the questions about? The goal? Nope – how to make more – and they know better than to ask me those type of questions that I haven’t answered in 36 years.
Another called about timing? Should I sell now – are we close to the bottom – is it going down further – what should I reposition to?
The More god.
Then there is the apologetic call, ‘I know I should have. I know I told you before I would, but this time I will, if you will just tell me, what should I do – are interest rates going up so I should short my bonds?
The More god.
Another who doesn’t have sufficient income nor assets convertible to income production, called about gold and silver. I told the individual it doesn’t make sense relative to his goal (as these metals are insurance/ hedges for goals and he is far away from the income he needs). Besides you can’t eat gold or silver. He persisted. I indicated what I did using these hedges as insurance – how volatile they are but if someone is going to do the wrong thing – the better way to play it was a particular silver royalty company on the big board. I reiterated, even then, this would be, at best, doing the wrong thing right. And again, I repeated gold and silver didn’t fit his goals. He did it anyway. Then, he complained at me (not to me) on the way down bringing seemingly forgetting what I told him not to do, and when it went up – he didn’t sell and when it was volatile (up and down) I reminded him of what I said during his denied complaining.
What did I get for my efforts (besides his bitching which he denies) accusation that I was ‘patronizing him.’
Managing goals instead of assets – patronizing?
The More god.
The More god extracts the sacrificing of what one needs for what one doesn’t need from its more-on followers.
The More god’s blessing: more, more, more becomes less, worse later..
Now I’m sure I’ll hear how I’m being hard hearted as people are scared. Markets go up and down – sometimes with extreme volatility – and not just in 2008 and today. People forget the Arab oil embargo or 1987 – saying ‘this is different.’
Hard hearted or realist – that The More god is what not just the US but this world be it socialist, communist or capitalist – the religious or the atheist worship as the savior.
The root cause goes back to Cain & Able & man’s fear & belief that his bodily physical demise will be his extinction in contrast to one scapegoating caller blaming business (which will be a subject of a subsequent blog entry).
This fear of extinction (and desire of imMOREtality) gives rise to the delusional primal strategy of acquisition to palliate, ‘hinder, delay’ and defraud (if it would work) necessary ‘defraud’ the inevitable physical death. (As comedian Timmie Rodgers would sing on Ed Sullivan, ‘everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.’
The derivative of acquisition (Cain in Hebrew is acquisition) is More.
Whereas Shaddai (God, God Almighty, God All Sufficient, Enough) was Enough for Able, Cain /Acquisition had to have his nut covered before he made his sacrifices to God (which while greater than Able’s were not ‘the first yearlings’)
The More god of Cain – The Citizen Cain/Kane.
The culture of the More god never ceases to amaze me.
When the economy is good and we are ‘in the pink’ (a precursor to ‘in the red?’), there is never enough. Papagallo is out Jimmy Choo is in; Dewars is out; McCallister is in. One Louis Vuitton isn’t enough – 12 is needed for accessorizing and ‘besides, it’s an investment.’
And then when the economy goes south, we bargain. In 70’s the phrase was ‘please God, one more good economy and I promise I won’t piss it away.’ The 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s had similar phrases all promising again not to urinate it away – and sacrificing it away to the More god.
Ironically, with each downturn, the concept of Enough I’ve preached now for 36 years becomes popular and even though retired from practice 16 years, I get calls about Enough. The personal financial planning calls are ‘how to get more so I can have enough which I don’t know what enough is to begin with.’ Masked in the calls are the Moreonic hail Schwartzie prayer questions: ‘so what should I sell or buy and where are interest rates going’ rather than focusing on what is their goals and resources.
Sneaky planners – regardless fee or commission- and who are really just asset gatherers in personal financial planning clothing -calls are the most disingenuous. These putzes are just trying to get the lingo of Enough to repackage themselves with an envelop of Enough still selling/ worshipping at the Golden Calf idol of the More god .
In the end, this 36 years of Enough(sm) has proven to me that we may say we really believe in despite rosary beads, going to religious services weekly, sending kids to Hebrew, Catholic school etc, New Age Blather etc is NOT God, NOR Jesus as the redeemer, or a greater force nor Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, etc but in:
• More as our savior
• The More the merrier
• Believe in MORE and MORE will set your free.
MORE is god – represented (no coincidence) by the Bull at Wall Street & Broad in New York. In biblical times, Baal (the bull) was worshipped in one ceremony where the congregants threw their defecation at Baal and then fornicated. (The derivation of Baal/Bull Sh*t: More???
It’s not In God We Trust but In More We Trust.
So please, don’t wear one’s faith on one’s sleeve when it’s in the thickness of one’s wallet.
These and other recent incidents have hermetically sealed my personal financial life planning hermitization.
Without regards,
Pinchas * Schwartz
*Pinchas shish kabobed (impaled) both Cozbi and Zimri for their idolization defecation Baal Sh*t worship with one spear..
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Going Down From The Bimah: An Enough Story
Going Down From The Bimah: An Enough Story
Judaic thinking has it that greater help should be given to the rich – wealthy who lose it than those who are poor to begin with. How come?
A Jewish fable.
One of the traditional perks for the President of the Synagogue is to sit next to the Rabbi on the bimah (the raised platform/”stage” in the synagogue from which the Torah is read and services are led). When the President’s term of office was up, so was his perk sitting next to the Rabbi on the bimah where the newly elected President now would sit.
It seems, once out of office, the former President didn’t adjust to well to not being the Synagogue President as he made life difficult for the new President at almost every juncture – causing splits in the congregation.
Finally, the Rabbi got the two together and revolved the situation after much inner squabbling and difficulty. (Rumor has it the title of President Emeritus was created as well as a prominently displayed photo of this past president and all past Synagogue presidents now adorns a wall outside the sanctuary.)
The morals of the story: it is easier to go up to the ‘bimah’ than to come down from it; it is harder to go from wealth to loss of wealth versus not having wealth to begin with.
Given our more, more, more culture accentuated by the Obama Administration spend, spend, spend (shop till you drop) multiple trillion deficits (spun as investment), the bill (less, worse, later) & coming down from the bimah has come due.
In more, more, more culture transforms spending oughtas and nicetas into must required ‘gottas.’ The prospect of less –means that those gotta nouveau nicetas and oughtas are reduced or eliminated. The oughtas and nicetas come down from the bimah for most but for others they stay on & are elevated on the bimah via theft & confiscation euphemized as ‘social justice, hope and change, socialism via regulation and redistribution of wealth).
It’s ‘enough’ to drive one to drinking Jim Beam-ah..
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The Ant & The Grasshopper Why Republicans Are Losing the Deficit Debate They Should be Winning: A Story of More vs Enough: More or Less
The Ant & The Grasshopper
Why Republicans Are Losing the Deficit Debate They Should be Winning:
A Story of More vs Enough: More or Less
As is:
• Medicare & Medicaid are unsustainable
• In 10 years or less the deficit will be 100% of the GNP – New Worth of the Country
• Social Security will see major cutbacks
And all the while, unemployment is 9.2% and despite Obamacare, health insurance costs are dramatically up – and yet the Republicans are losing the debate on deficit reduction and the debt ceiling.
Why?
The Democrats sell more NOW and the Republicans are selling less rather than sufficiency/sustainability – enough later .
No one wants less – now – even with the prospect of ‘more’ in the future. To get less means one isn’t right, isn’t better, is worse. To get more – one is right, better, and good – worthy.
And America is a culturally a country of ‘more, better, now’ not wanting to face the prospect of less, worse, later even if more is unsustainable.
And the R’s haven’t been able to demonstrate there will be less – much less going forward.
And that is why the Republicans are enduring MORE-tal wounds in this debate.
Until, the prospect of LESS – benefits not being there – are not just words – but created as visceral images, fuzzy spin words ‘like framework’ and non specificity will win for the Democrats.
Herein is the challenge: how EMOTIONALLY to demonstrate both how less will become more better yet enough (the ant) yet the consequence of continued live for today spending (the grasshopper) will create less tomorrow. This message must be viscerally felt at the gut level – like a gun at the head to get this message through (which is exactly what the Grasshopper Democrats do anyway.)
The Republicans have to force the Democrats to demonstrate ‘where’s the beef’ of their non proposal proposals while showing the alternative in the future: Little Caesar’s Cat Food.
PS: The Democrats are Ant Eaters.
Why Republicans Are Losing the Deficit Debate They Should be Winning:
A Story of More vs Enough: More or Less
As is:
• Medicare & Medicaid are unsustainable
• In 10 years or less the deficit will be 100% of the GNP – New Worth of the Country
• Social Security will see major cutbacks
And all the while, unemployment is 9.2% and despite Obamacare, health insurance costs are dramatically up – and yet the Republicans are losing the debate on deficit reduction and the debt ceiling.
Why?
The Democrats sell more NOW and the Republicans are selling less rather than sufficiency/sustainability – enough later .
No one wants less – now – even with the prospect of ‘more’ in the future. To get less means one isn’t right, isn’t better, is worse. To get more – one is right, better, and good – worthy.
And America is a culturally a country of ‘more, better, now’ not wanting to face the prospect of less, worse, later even if more is unsustainable.
And the R’s haven’t been able to demonstrate there will be less – much less going forward.
And that is why the Republicans are enduring MORE-tal wounds in this debate.
Until, the prospect of LESS – benefits not being there – are not just words – but created as visceral images, fuzzy spin words ‘like framework’ and non specificity will win for the Democrats.
Herein is the challenge: how EMOTIONALLY to demonstrate both how less will become more better yet enough (the ant) yet the consequence of continued live for today spending (the grasshopper) will create less tomorrow. This message must be viscerally felt at the gut level – like a gun at the head to get this message through (which is exactly what the Grasshopper Democrats do anyway.)
The Republicans have to force the Democrats to demonstrate ‘where’s the beef’ of their non proposal proposals while showing the alternative in the future: Little Caesar’s Cat Food.
PS: The Democrats are Ant Eaters.
Monday, July 11, 2011
“Revenue Enhancements, Shared Sacrifice, Gov’t Spending To Invest’ aka LESS II
“Revenue Enhancements, Shared Sacrifice, Gov’t Spending To Invest’
aka LESS II
The Democrats employ euphemisms. Instead of increasing taxes, it is revenue enhancements and closing loopholes. Instead, of increased spending, investment is the word used. Columnists like Fred Brown of the Denver Post to avoid admitting property tax increases, state the tax rate remains the same, though the property value has declined and the amount of tax remains the same. (This is, to ironically use Brown’s own term, definitional drift. And, Brown, one can suffocate & die in high drifts).
These are words of mass distortion by 14kt phonies who are gutless linguistically dishonest weenies who never meet a parsing they didn’t love.
And both the Republicans and Democrats employ the phrase – shared sacrifice.
What do the words and phrases revenue enhancement, shared sacrifice, and government investment have in common?
The avoidance of the reality of LESS.
more sells, LESS doesn’t.
We don’t want LESS.
To have ‘LESS’ means we are ‘LESS’ – LESS worthy.
How so?
In our society/culture, if:
• one is right (more so than others), he gets more (if not) he gets LESS
• if he gets ‘more’ he is better, if not he is ‘worse’
• if he is better, he is good, if not he isn’t good or bad
And good, is one ‘o’ away from God.
Further’more’, if one gets ‘more’ – his net (assets less liabilities) is greater resulting in a higher ‘net worth.’ Thus, he is more ‘worthy’ – more worthwhile. The LESS one has in comparison, the LESS worthy – worthwhile one is.
Per this heuristic, more validates; LESS invalidates worthiness.
We get what we deserve. And as a result, we get the Fred Browns, and spin of increased taxes into revenue enhancement, increased spending into investment, and other words of mass distortion to avoid the reality of LESS .
Worthiness or lack thereof tied to more or LESS – and that’s the LESSon of lies, damn lies, and the linguistic dishonesty of our politicians (and many too many columnists).
The real factor to consider is ‘what is ENOUGH?’ – but that’s another futile discussion.
Post Scripture: There will be LESS – the difference today is instead of the politicos promising a chicken in every pot, they will promise ‘pot’ with every chicken – as they play chicken.
aka LESS II
The Democrats employ euphemisms. Instead of increasing taxes, it is revenue enhancements and closing loopholes. Instead, of increased spending, investment is the word used. Columnists like Fred Brown of the Denver Post to avoid admitting property tax increases, state the tax rate remains the same, though the property value has declined and the amount of tax remains the same. (This is, to ironically use Brown’s own term, definitional drift. And, Brown, one can suffocate & die in high drifts).
These are words of mass distortion by 14kt phonies who are gutless linguistically dishonest weenies who never meet a parsing they didn’t love.
And both the Republicans and Democrats employ the phrase – shared sacrifice.
What do the words and phrases revenue enhancement, shared sacrifice, and government investment have in common?
The avoidance of the reality of LESS.
more sells, LESS doesn’t.
We don’t want LESS.
To have ‘LESS’ means we are ‘LESS’ – LESS worthy.
How so?
In our society/culture, if:
• one is right (more so than others), he gets more (if not) he gets LESS
• if he gets ‘more’ he is better, if not he is ‘worse’
• if he is better, he is good, if not he isn’t good or bad
And good, is one ‘o’ away from God.
Further’more’, if one gets ‘more’ – his net (assets less liabilities) is greater resulting in a higher ‘net worth.’ Thus, he is more ‘worthy’ – more worthwhile. The LESS one has in comparison, the LESS worthy – worthwhile one is.
Per this heuristic, more validates; LESS invalidates worthiness.
We get what we deserve. And as a result, we get the Fred Browns, and spin of increased taxes into revenue enhancement, increased spending into investment, and other words of mass distortion to avoid the reality of LESS .
Worthiness or lack thereof tied to more or LESS – and that’s the LESSon of lies, damn lies, and the linguistic dishonesty of our politicians (and many too many columnists).
The real factor to consider is ‘what is ENOUGH?’ – but that’s another futile discussion.
Post Scripture: There will be LESS – the difference today is instead of the politicos promising a chicken in every pot, they will promise ‘pot’ with every chicken – as they play chicken.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Fear, Less & Fear/LESS
Fear, Less & Fear/LESS
MORE is all about the fear & avoidance of LESS be it:
• compared to others,
• the prospect of diminished of the quality of life
• the extinction of sense of self which is identified as body.
It’s all about LESS (masked as MORE) also because:
• too ‘much of MORE’ was promised or implied
• and if one gets LESS they are ‘less’ worthy
And that’s the LESS-ON
(ENOUGH Already!)
MORE is all about the fear & avoidance of LESS be it:
• compared to others,
• the prospect of diminished of the quality of life
• the extinction of sense of self which is identified as body.
It’s all about LESS (masked as MORE) also because:
• too ‘much of MORE’ was promised or implied
• and if one gets LESS they are ‘less’ worthy
And that’s the LESS-ON
(ENOUGH Already!)
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Why MORE Prevails Over ENOUGH (4)
(Back by Unpopular Demand)
Why MORE Prevails Over ENOUGH (4)
The hope (1) of prevailing over death (2) through acquisition(3)
(But you can’t purchase immortality)
Thus MORE & MOREONS prevail
(1) Hope – ‘deferred disappointment’ (Ambrose Bierce)
(2) The extinction of the physical body which ‘moreso’ than not is identified as oneself.
(3) Cain, in Hebrew, also mean ‘acquisition’
(4) And Shaddai, in Hebrew, also means God, God Almighty, God All Sufficient, Enough.
Why MORE Prevails Over ENOUGH (4)
The hope (1) of prevailing over death (2) through acquisition(3)
(But you can’t purchase immortality)
Thus MORE & MOREONS prevail
(1) Hope – ‘deferred disappointment’ (Ambrose Bierce)
(2) The extinction of the physical body which ‘moreso’ than not is identified as oneself.
(3) Cain, in Hebrew, also mean ‘acquisition’
(4) And Shaddai, in Hebrew, also means God, God Almighty, God All Sufficient, Enough.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Personal Financial Planner Synonym for MORE-tician
Personal Financial Planner Synonym for MORE-tician
MORE, MOREs, MORE-ality, & IM-MORE-tality
If per Krishnamurti, ‘hope is the absence of happiness,’ more (for more sake) is the absence of meaning).
More is the palliating band aid that diverts examination and the search for meaning IN one’s life.
More, a derivative of acquisition, which is veil redirecting, distracting, filling time while crowding out questions of meaning and significance IN one’s life, bleeds into our MOREes (which are appropriately named in pun terms).
And it is consistent that personal financial planning is about more (regardless how much lipstick is put on that pig) practiced by MORE-ons (including fee only planners compensated by a percentage of assets under management).
MORE-tician should become a synonym for personal financial planner.
MORE, MOREs, MORE-ality, & IM-MORE-tality
If per Krishnamurti, ‘hope is the absence of happiness,’ more (for more sake) is the absence of meaning).
More is the palliating band aid that diverts examination and the search for meaning IN one’s life.
More, a derivative of acquisition, which is veil redirecting, distracting, filling time while crowding out questions of meaning and significance IN one’s life, bleeds into our MOREes (which are appropriately named in pun terms).
And it is consistent that personal financial planning is about more (regardless how much lipstick is put on that pig) practiced by MORE-ons (including fee only planners compensated by a percentage of assets under management).
MORE-tician should become a synonym for personal financial planner.
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