Credit Card Debt

Right now, you should only pay your credit cards if you can. If it hurts at all to pay the card, do not pay the card.

Ignore the bill collectors. The only time you are in real trouble is if you get a summons. See my website for how this works.

Once you get a summons, you can play with them. I have lots of ideas, but do not want to put them all up now.

I bet if you know a good attorney, he/she has figured out what to do. I will post links here when I get them.

Homelessness

Actually, I had a pretty good time when I was homeless. I had money, but the internet boom had made rentals unavailable so I could not find a good place. One of the places I found almost burned down. So I spent the summer camping and staying in hotels.

I will never forget riding my wheelchair to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The moon had turned the forest completely silver. It was totally magical.

However, my cat did NOT like moving around all of the time. He REALLY hated going to BayCon.

I can ALWAYS find a place to live. There is always a landlord somewhere who is pissed off at the system.

Care and Feeding of Geniuses -- Children

Genius children need to spend a lot of time playing with other children. It is one of the ways they learn. Genius children always recognize each other and play games of pretend. If they are not alone, they will not do this.

ADULTS CANNOT RECOGNIZE OTHER GENIUS CHILDREN. This is because sometime the genius is non verbal.

Be careful with too much organized sports. We had a lot more fun with a bat and a ball in a field. Read Peanuts. 

I think the 'stolen children' thing is bullshit. Look at the statistics and see that I am right.

They are making us imprison our own children and they are using fear to do this.

Do not get too mad at the kids if they make a mistake. To quote MathNet, 'Mistakes are the reason that they put erasers on pencils.' Just tell them that the way to tell a grownup is how they fix the mistakes they make.

You will not BELIEVE how much fun it is to play with your own children.

When the kids get bored with public high school, send them to Junior College. There is a high school equivalancy exam that is given twice a year by the State Board of Education.

We need private boarding schools and private school for the kids we need to protect. The Catholic Church does this the best, but I am sure there are other private schools that have scholarships for these kids. Call and ask.

It is also important to LET THE CHILDREN WIN sometimes. Winning a game against you is great fun. Let them do this every time they won through logic. Be sure to make them clean the bathroom as punishment if you let them win a game that was too stupid to play. But let them know they won, before they have to clean the bathroom.

LET THE CHILDREN PLAY!

Smart children need at least one parent to be home if you can manage to do this. Otherwise, let a stay at home mom or dad run a 'safe house' for the other kids. Help that person with money, snacks, and computer games. I hear there is a new Lucas Game out.

Hillary Clinton said, 'It takes a village to raise a child.' She meant that we ALL have to watch out for our children. That way, we can let them play.

Let the children take care of the bullies. You will NEVER see the petty harassment that is being used out of meanness.

 

IF A CHILD ASKS FOR HELP, help him/her.

I taught my children that they should alway go to a person in uniform if they needed help. Policepersons, security guards, firepersons are all friends to children.

If a person in a uniform messes with out children, he/she will be sorry.

President Obama says 'increase demand'

It turns out that when the people play, they create demand for the things they play with. Now President Obama says that we need to create demand.

Gosh, I do not think I can COPE with this assignment!  %>) [This is a smiley face with glasses. Turn it sideways.]

So what we need to do is go shopping. Please shop wisely.

If I had any serious money, I would be buying a new wheelchair van, because a new one will NEVER be any cheaper than they are now. I have stopped dreaming about a house, but now is the time to get one of those also.

If you are doing any shopping, get well made things, no matter what country makes it. Get things that you know will amuse you for a significant period of time. 

SEE THE REST OF MY BLOG AS TO HOW TO GET LOANS AND HOW TO BUY A HOUSE.

I am off to the bookstore for the third time in a week. Saving the economy requires SUCH sacrifice. I think I might also get some chocolate mouse. Life is SO hard.

BTW, we have food. Victory gardens were to get more food to the soldiers. Gardens are almost always more expensive than buying the food. If you want great food, go to a farmer's market.

THE WATCHMEN

Watch the movie, 'The Watchmen'. Some of you will not understand it because you are lacking the background knowledge.

Fiction is how to tell the truth when telling the truth would get you sued or imprisoned.

Books to read:

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Stranger in a Strange Land

Shockwave Rider

Timescoop

Modesty Blaise

To Ride Pegasus

The Raven Ring

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles

So You Want To Be A Hero?

All of Harry Potter

Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

DRUGS & HEALTH CARE

Let us tax all drugs currently on the schedules of prohibited drugs unless the user was prescribed the drug by a medical practitioner.

Then, we can use the tax money to fund universal health care.

I am tired of watching friends die because they had no money to get regular checkups.

CASTRO & CUBA

Can we please stop punishing Castro for being right? He has done a good job in Cuba. He fed everyone when we were trying to make them starve. He not only fed everyone, but he gave them education and health care.

Cubans. Please remember that Castro did not put you up against the wall and shoot you. He let you fly away.

Movie Mogul

I am a Movie Mogul. %>) 

OK, I executive produced a straight to DVD movie, 'The Last', a Puig Sechrist Production, not available in the US. (Shameless plug.)

I also helped organize a documentary called 'Arising Light', about B.R. Ambedkar, an untouchable contemporary of Gandhi, which is for sale on a website somewhere.

I am also helping to organize a movie called 'Choices', which shot in the SF Bay Area and in India. (I was so PROUD to be called Auntie!)

I do NOT normally work for free, so buy an attorney written production book and use their contracts, like I did.

WIZARD OF WOZ

Those skinny, beautiful people were mean to The Woz.

It is important in game shows to know the rules. The folks who wrote the rules have never seen 'Real Genius'.

ASSETS: Toxic, bad or ???

Overvalued assets.

Barry Bonds

Prosecuting Barry Bonds is like pissing into the wind. 

NO JUDGE, not even a judge in Yuma, Arizona, would find the drug test information to be admissible.

I know this because a narcotics officer in Yuma, Arizona, had 1500 hits of LSD mailed to the jail's PO Box. The drug dealer, my client, was a stupid kid who needed money. Since 1500 hits of LSD was one hit for every 10 people then living in Yuma, of course the stupid kid sold directly to a narc. The kid would still be in prison, if the narc had not had him mail the LSD to the jail, and forgot to tell the jail to expect the package.

Turns out that you cannot keep drugs in a desk drawer accessible to everyone and still admit the drugs into evidence.  This is called maintaining the chain of evidence and is why the CSIs on TV are always signing the evidence in and out.

BTW, have you noticed how often the prosecutions that seem strange are prosecutions of people of color?

EFFECT OF WAR

The worst side effect of the War On (Some) Drugs is that our prosecutors are the kind of people who would prosecute a person for something they themselves did. Or else they are the kind of people who were never even in a room containing prohibited drugs.

Because many judges are former prosecutors, many of our judges are the kind of people who would convict a person for something they themselves did. Or else they are the kind of people who were never even in a room containing prohibited drugs.

No wonder some of our courts are no longer working.

CHILD ABUSE

We have got to stop believing that children never lie. They lie from the moment they say, "I didn't do that, Mommy." The hard part is getting them to tell the truth.

I am NOT advocating ignoring a charge of child abuse. I am saying that all complaints regarding a crime need to be INVESTIGATED. 

INTERNET FRAUD AND WORMS

Every week we hear of a new way that people are abusing the internet. Thieves, scams, viruses, and worms abound.

All communities need a way to make collective decisions. This is usually called a government.

We in the internet community need a government. Our government can be voluntary, with members displaying a flag to show they belong.

We need to protect privacy and prevent theft and fraud.

How would you do that?

BAD DRUGS

You want to tell me that some drugs are too bad to sell.

You forget that we have the most rabid product safety and personal injury attorneys. If it is a drug that causes worse damage than alcohol, someone could win millions suing the sellers.

HEALTH INSURANCE

I dream that Kaiser Permanente could just become the US Department of Health Services.

Since Kaiser cannot expand quickly enough to run health services for us all, we should give MediCare to everyone. Once everyone has MediCare, they can then buy supplemental insurance, like Kaiser's Senior Advantage ($60 a month), which comes with Dental Care for $20.00 more a month.

This will keep the medical/industrial complex working until we can convince doctors that it is better to pay doctors than to pay paper pushers.

GETTING A LOAN, Part 2

You will not believe this, but usually you will get a better loan from a bank that you have never used before.

So, when getting a loan, you should go to at least three banks. Banks usually give a better deal to people who are NOT currently a customer, because bankers get rewarded for new customers. I hear that the smaller banks have more money to loan, because they were smart or they were gone.

The new bank will almost certainly require that you transfer all your accounts to them. Be aware that banks can take money out of one of your accounts and transfer the money into an overdrawn account without even telling you about it.

THE BETTER LOAN WILL NOT BE THAT MUCH BETTER. However, every little bit helps.

Unless your small business is large enough to, without question, survive your death, you WILL be required to personally guaruntee the loan. Personal guaruntees used to be a common practice. It was stupid (banking-wise) to not require them.

LIES, AND DAMNED LIES, PART 2

I believe that the following statements are lies.

1. I think that it is a lie that there are health effects of second hand smoke. I think that it takes a pack a day habit for at least 10 years to cause lung cancer. Just because old smoke smells horrible, does not give you the right to do shoddy research.

2. I think it is a lie that normal people can train an abused dog to be good with children. Most of us can barely train a well bred dog.

3. I think that it is a lie that normal people can train a dog bred for fighting well enough that the dog will not revert to instincts and maim someone when the dog is under stress.

4. I think it was a lie that the Bush Administration was good to soldiers. Did you know that soldiers were brought back from combat one day before they would qualify for the GI Bill?

HOW THIS MESS STARTED

As baby boomers started having children and buying houses, the price of homes, especially those near major metropolitan areas, began to escalate.

The actual start of this mess was when Republicans refused to raise the FHA loan limit past $417,000.  They actually had a good reason, which was to try to hold down the prices of homes, so people could afford to buy them.

It turns out that there is a LOT of money in selling expensive loans to people who want to buy a home.

Soon there were seminars on "How to Make a Killing in the Real Estate Market".  And it worked. People made a LOT of money.

In order to keep this profitable loan scam (sorry, helpful loans so we could buy houses) going, all that was required was to refuse to keep the FHA loan amount from going up.

People who wanted just a nice, normal home signed loan papers they knew could cost them dearly if interest rates went up. If they wanted a house, there was no other choice.

But the greed increased and soon there were seminars on "How to Use the Equity in YOUR HOME to Make Money as a Day Trader". I actually think the people who spent their equity on gold jewelry made a better choice.

The insurance idea was a last ditch effort to keep all of this going because people with brains started to get concerned about investing in these risky mortgages.

A PROPOSED NEW LAW

It is a violation of the civil rights of the audience to tell a lie in a public forum.

A lie told in a public forum shall be the legal equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater.

In proving that something was a lie, one must prove that no recognized expert, using research methods that have been approved by his/her peers, would find the statement to be true.

LIES, AND DAMNED LIES

I believe that we are in a real mess, because we have ignored the scientific research that we have carefully ordered to be done to help us decide things.

For instance, I hear that those warning us about global warming are ignoring research, and requiring expensive solutions which will have only a small effect on global warning when there are less expensive solutions available.

I was told that it is important to NOT use water cooling of power plants as water vapor is a huge component of global warning. 

If you understand thermal dynamics, go to www.global-heat.net. 

We no longer have the money to implement every possible solution. We need to implement the solutions that will have the greatest impact for the least money.

TOYS I LOVE, TOYS I LUST AFTER

High definition TVs are worth every penny. Even the travel shows are fun to watch. A DVR (digital video recorder) changes the TV experience. Suddenly, it is not always a waste of time.

It is important to get a DVR with lots of hard drive space. I am unable to keep an entire season of 'Burn Notice' on my DVR and still tape the shows I want to watch. I had to decide to wait for the DVD of 'Eureka'.

I lust after the new little iPod. I am held back by the price of songs. One dollar for a song sounds fair until you consider that it would cost a thousand dollars to fill up the new iPod.

Games can be great family fun. My children and I played all of the 'King's Quest' games, and all of the 'Monkey Island' games. We started with 'Loom' on the first model of the IBM color PC. The best game was 'Seventh Guest' as it allowed you to skip some puzzles and took all three of us to solve.

I think the new Wii sounds fun, especially the exercise game.

I cannot play games anymore, because I am too slow on the keyboard to play the games requiring quick reaction. My children grew up and are no longer around to kill the bad guy at the end of the game.

TOXIC ASSETS

Stop using the term, "toxic assets". These are homes in Oxnard, not swamp land in Florida.

BANKER LOGIC

The people who are fixing the economic problem are going to make some very irritating choices.

Bankers are not very good with political correctness. They are like scientists, only worse. In science, you can argue about Darwin. In banking, if you say 2 + 2 = 5, you are suddenly no longer a banker.

Do NOT confuse the term "banker" with the term "investment advisor". As far as I can tell, anyone can call themselves an investment adviser.

DO WE NEED REGULATION?

Well, no, in a perfect world we would not need any laws or regulations. 

Unfortunately, this world is not perfect. This world contains people who would sell poison to babies, who would sell peanuts contaminated with disease, who would sell investments and not even bother to make any of the promised investments.

Thieves and con artists who do large scale financial fraud are really smart and have the best lawyers available.  The laws need to be carefully defined and water tight in order to convict them for their crimes.

I would not presume to know how to write the laws and regulations that we are going to need. Let the bankers tell us the laws we need, and pass the laws and regulations they recommend.

Otherwise, we will have more Madoffs.  It should be noted that Madoff could not have pulled off his scam all by himself. He could never even have had a certified audit of his company. An audit would have exposed his problems, because Madoff never bought a single share of stock, he just pretended to buy stock. Someone at the stock exchanged must have noticed that Madoff did not buy any stock. The SEC  must have been asleep at the switch.

My concern is that no one other than Madoff has been indicted.  This is an indication that even an ambitious prosecutor does not believe the law is written in such a way that he can convict those who helped Madoff.

If Madoff was smuggling drugs, the government would be going after the 'ill gotten gains' held by his children, and held by executives of his company.

If our laws cannot convict the people who helped Madoff, our laws need to be rewritten. If our laws cannot take the 'ill gotten gains' from Madoff's relatives, our laws need to be rewritten.

Our laws also need to stop the selling of defective products. To stop this, I suggest that we allow a nation to have the 'most favored nation' status revoked if it can be proven that over 1% of the products sold by that nation are proven to be defective.  It is time we stopped allowing people to sell us car parts that break down, and computer chips that cause devices to stop working.

Longer Term Capitol Gain

We need to stop the forces that make a CEO care more about the quarterly financial statements than about the long term growth and health of his/her company.

I think we can do that quickly and easily by using the capital gains tax break to encourage holding stock for a long time.

We keep the current long term capitol gains tax.

We institute a longer and longest term capitol gain.  

Longer term capitol gain is an investment that is held for at least five years. Longest term capital gain is an investment that is held for at least ten years.  At five years, your taxes will be 50% of the tax for long term capitol gains. At ten years, your taxes will be nothing. The tax savings between 5 and 10 years should change at a daily rate which decreases on a linear scale to be no tax in 10 years.

This will work to change perceptions about long term growth. People do really crazy things to save taxes. We can encourage people to do wise things by allowing them to save taxes by doing something wise.

World Wide Financial Earthquake is OVER

The world's bankers have fixed the supply of money problem, which held the possibility of a "world wide financial meltdown", which will NOT now happen.

We still have to deal with the consequences of the crisis.  How long we will be in a recession is up to us all.

Here is how you can help the economy and yourself:

1. If you had a deal approved, but it died for lack of financing, TRY TO RESET UP THE DEAL. 

In the past, if a deal was dead, you walked away. Now, the banks are looking for deals they can give money to RIGHT NOW. This means they would prefer to be brought a deal which was already approved.

2. If your deal was close to approval, but it died for lack of financing, TRY TO RESET UP THE DEAL.

I am assured that the world is awash in money.  So the above advice also applies to venture capitalists.

If you do this, you will be second in line for financing.  First in line will be those people, like GM, who saw this happen before I did.

PROHIBITION OF DRUGS IS A WASTE OF MONEY

"Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it."

The United States discovered that prohibiting the sale of alcohol did not stop the sale of alcohol. In fact, the country was awash in alcohol, some of which was poison.  Prohibition of alcohol fueled horrendous violence in cities from Chicago to New York. It took the Great Depression to end prohibition of alcohol. The end of prohibition did not cause any new social problems, and allowed the police to concentrate on other crimes, like theft and murder.

By prohibiting recreational drugs, we are ignoring the lessons we learned during the prohibition of alcohol.

When we prohibit the use of a drug, we make the drug expensive and worth smuggling. The amount of money a drug dealer can make means that it is worth fighting and killing over the right to be able to sell drugs.

The amount of money to be made from illegal drugs makes it worthwhile to bribe police and customs officers. 

The amount of money to be made from illegal drugs makes it worthwhile for the drug dealers to fight any attempt at ending the prohibition of drugs.

An in depth discussion of this is available at www.nationalreview.com/12feb96/drug.html.  I especially admire the sections of the article written by a former police chief and a federal judge.

We are now in a Great Recession. We do not have the money to waste on failed policies. We need to use our money wisely. Let us end the prohibition of drugs, tax the sale of recreational drugs, and use the money we save and earn to provide treatment to those people who need help to control their overuse of alcohol and/or drugs.

TRUE COURAGE

It takes courage to immigrate to another county. It takes even more courage to stay home and fix the problems in your native land.

Sometimes it is impossible to stay in your own country. People who try to fix problems in their own country can be tortured and killed.

But somehow, the people of each county have to learn how to become a place where people want to live. Fixing a country is dangerous, hard work. I do not know when I have admired members of my profession more than when the lawyers in Pakistan marched in the streets demanding reform.

In my opinion, democracy is not enough.  There must also be an independent, trustworthy court system to decide disputes.  The government must enforce the decisions of these courts.  But most important is to guarantee civil rights to each citizen. People must feel secure to be themselves, whoever they are and whatever they believe. People must feel secure in their homes. People must be able to worship how they believe. People must have health care.

Fixing a government should never be left to the people who are unhappy with the government. The rich and powerful, the educated professionals and the intellectuals should also participate in the governmental process, using their wealth and education to insure that their government provides an environment where all people can thrive.

If you leave the fixing of your county to those who are angry and unhappy, you may not like the results. Often, leaving problems unfixed can lead to violent revolution, and years of repression. Violent revolutionaries often burn the homes of the rich and imprison the intellectuals.

The US found that allowing minorities to live in slums, with no police services, resulted in dangerous riots.  Years of governmental help to these areas have made things better, but not perfect.

The work it takes to provide good government is never done. 

HOW LUCKY WE ARE

Those of us who live in industrialized democratic countries are extremely lucky.

If you do not believe me, take a drive though one of our slums. Then watch "Slumdog Millionaire" to compare our slums to the slums of the poorer nations.

My waitress said the slums in Slumdog reminded her of the slums of Mexico City.  She said, "You do not know how we feel. We feel that we left the dark, and are now living in the light."

To Get A Business Loan

Money is now available.  If you were turned down for a business loan, you should ask again.

The first question banks ask is how you intend to service the loan. This means, "Do you have the money to make the monthly payments?"

When you ask for the loan, be prepared.  Bankers need to justify your loan to their superiors.  In order to make it easier for the loan officer to justify giving you the loan, you should:

Prepare a short business plan, which should include a description of your business.

Prepare a spread sheet of the last five years of your business.  Be certain to include the amount of gross revenue by year.  Have the income taxes which support this copied to give to the banker.

Provide an Income and Expense statement.  Your accounting program should do this for you.  Chose the I & E which covers an entire year and which can be printed on one or two pages.  Do NOT use the more detailed I & E.  Do this I & E for each of the last 5 years.

Make certain that you include a copy of your business property lease, if you have one.

DO NOT WORRY if your business has decreased since January 2008.  It is well known that the recession started then.

Give the banker any other requested information.

IF YOU ARE STARTING A BUSINESS, or if the bank refuses your loan request, the U.S. Small Business Administration has loans, especially for women and minorities.  There is a lot of paperwork associated with these loans, and the loans take time to process.  Once you become an officially approved minority or woman owned business you can also get priority for government contracts.

Good luck!

Save Your Home

If you are paying more than 31% of your gross income in mortgage payments, you need to call your bank and request a modification.

Banks are modifying the length of the loan, the total amount of the loan, forgiving missed payments, and changing the interest rate.  The rule of thumb is that you should be paying about 31% of your income for your monthly mortgage payments.

Even if you were told by your bank that they could not help you, you need to call and talk to your bank again.  Even if you do not qualify under the new Obama administration modifications, because you do not have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan, you still need to talk to your bank.

You probably should be checking with your bank every two weeks, because things are changing rapidly, and the banks do not want to foreclose on property, especially owner occupied property. Call the phone number on your payment stubs or call the number posted on the internet for loan modification requests.

The bank is not going to yell at you.  They will be polite and helpful.  

Be prepared to provide the bank with your paystubs and/or income tax returns.

Good luck.

STOP FEAR AND PANIC

Right now, it is easy to read or watch the news and become fearful of the future.  When you begin to feel fear and panic, try to remember that the US is still rich and strong.  The things we built are still there.  We have roads, theaters, houses, good government, and a trustworthy court system.  No one is bombing us daily, like happened to Britain in the Blitz.  If Britain can survive the Blitz, we can get through this recession.  To quote Churchill, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

HOW TO STOP FEAR AND PANIC 

Have a party.  You do not have to spend much money to get together with your friends and have fun.  I recommend that the person providing the house for the party should not have to do anything but clear some seating.  People should bring homemade food, and inexpensive drink. My dad would make a punch of fruit juice, soda water and vodka, which is cheap and good.  I use guava juice, mineral water and vodka, which always gets compliments.  Agree who will bring what, so you have food and drink for all.  Then, talk, sing, play games or watch a video.

Help another person or volunteer for something.  Many people are always in a worse situation than you are.  If you are reading this, you have access to a computer.  It is unlikely that you are sleeping under a bridge.  If you make even the smallest effort to help the unfortunate, you will feel better.

Make something.  My mother said she liked to make soap when she was feeling depressed because making soap always worked.  I like to decorate my shirts with dragons or other art. Make a rag doll for a child or make dinner for your friends.  

Fix something.  I live in Silicon Valley.  Most engineers I know feel better if they fix something. They especially like to fix electronics.  So do them a favor and give them something to fix.

GET A GRIP 

When I had two knee operations, a divorce, and two kids in college, my money disappeared.  I still live in a one bedroom apartment and have very little savings and no retirement.  But I enjoy what I do, and I enjoy life.  

SPREADING FEAR AND PANIC IS GOING TO MAKE THE SITUATION WORSE 

Financial markets run on trust.  Without trust there is no market.  People was are fearful do not trust well.  

ARBITRATION -- JUST SAY NO

NEVER AGREE TO BINDING ARBITRATION. Arbitration is one of those ideas that sounds great, but turns out to be a very bad idea, especially for people who have little money. Here is why:

ARBITRATION IS EXPENSIVE. You have to pay to arbitrate something. Usually, you have to pay one half of the full costs of the arbitration, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. To file in a court of law, you pay less than $500.00.

ARBITRATION CAN BE UNFAIR. Arbitration is a business. If realtors bring an arbitrator a lot of business, the arbitrator may tend to side with the realtors. Sometimes credit card companies set up their own arbitration systems, which can be loaded against a person who owes money on a credit card.

ONE PERSON MAKES THE DECISION, WHICH IS FINAL. You cannot appeal a decision made under a binding arbitration agreement. This means that if you get an arbitrary arbitrator, you are stuck with the decision. Judges are sensitive to the possibility of being overturned on appeal, and therefore try to be fair. An arbitrator can make any decision he/she wants secure in the knowledge that no one can change his/her decision.

IN CALIFORNIA, YOU CANNOT BE FORCED TO ARBITRATE. If your credit card company or your cell phone company has made you agree to binding arbitration as a condition of using their services, you can still sue them in court. If you sue them in small claims court, you should use the following statement of California Law:

Under California Law, arbitration agreements are considered to be unenforceable if they are unconscionable and/or contracts of adhesion. The California courts have declared that “take it or leave it” agreements, required of consumers as part of accepting services, are unconscionable and contracts of adhesion. Gatton v. T-Mobil USA, Inc. (2007), 152 Cal.App.4th 571; Discover Bank v. Superior Court (2005) 36 Cal. 4th 148; Martinez v Master Protection Corp. (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 107; California Code of Civil Procedure sections 1281, 1281.2 (b), 1670.5. The arbitration agreement attached to the claim is a “take it or leave it” agreement required as part of accepting services.

IT IS TIME TO BUY A HOUSE

Now is the time to buy a house, if you have a job that pays a decent wage.

The banks are now offering amazing loan modifications in order to keep people in their houses. A recent modification that I saw forgave $100,000 of the mortgage and also forgave almost $20,000 in unpaid monthly payments. The loan was unpaid for 8 months. Even a year ago, the owner could have kissed his/her house good-by after missing 4 months or would have had to totally catch up on missed payments, late fees and attorneys fees in a lump sum payment in order to keep his/her home.

So the banks are not foreclosing, which means the good deals are going away.

TO GET THE GOOD DEALS. Tell a real estate agent with access to the local multiple listing to give you a list of bank owned properties in the areas you want to live. Look at every house on the list, inside and out. Decide on one of the houses and buy it if you can.

You can get a loan if the loan payment will be no more than 31% of your gross income. Get an FHA loan, if you can. There are very few approved FHA loan officers in California, so you may have to apply on the computer. FHA is offering 30 year fixed price loans, with 3% down. They are not very interested in your credit rating, but want you to have been employed for the last two years.

GOOD LUCK and enjoy your new home.

DO NOT SELL YOUR STOCK

Please do not panic and sell your stock even though the stock market has tanked. Generally, in times like these, the large institutional investors are making money by betting the stock market will go down. In order to win that bet, they have to create panic among the small investors. The institutional investor will make money and the small investor will never get his/her money back because they sold their stock at or close to the bottom of the market.

I think, if you hang in there, a large portion of the value of your stock will return. I am not the only one who thinks this. Investment advisors are also giving this advice.