The economy is crashing

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Fast and Furious Failure

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Where are the Democrats plans?

How high can Obama count?

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Foreign Oil

A PLEDGE TO AMERICA

A PLEDGE TO AMERICA

America is more than a country.  

America is an idea – an idea that free people can govern themselves, that government's powers are derived from 

the consent of the governed, that each of us is endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights to life, 

liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. America is the belief that any man or woman can – given economic, 

political, and religious liberty – advance themselves, their families, and the common good.

America is an inspiration to those who yearn to be free and have the ability and the dignity to determine their 

own destiny. 

Whenever the agenda of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to institute 

a new governing agenda and set a different course.

These first principles were proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, enshrined in the Constitution, and 

have endured through hard sacrifice and commitment by generations of Americans. 

In a self-governing society, the only bulwark against the power of the state is the consent of the governed, and 

regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent.  .

An unchecked  executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the 

will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down long-standing laws and institutions 

and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people.

An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts 

laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many.   

Rising joblessness, crushing debt, and a polarizing political environment are fraying the bonds among our 

people and blurring our sense of national purpose.

Like free peoples of the past, our citizens refuse to accommodate a government that believes it can replace the 

will of the people with its own.  The American people are speaking out, demanding that we realign our country's 

compass with its founding principles and apply those principles to solve our common problems for the common 

good.  

The need for urgent action to repair our economy and reclaim our government for the people cannot be 

overstated.  

With this document, we pledge to dedicate ourselves to the task of reconnecting our highest aspirations to the 

permanent truths of our founding by keeping faith with the values our nation was founded on, the principles we 

stand for, and the priorities of our people.  This is our Pledge to America.

We pledge to honor the Constitution as constructed by its framers and honor the original intent of those 

precepts that have been consistently ignored – particularly the Tenth Amendment, which grants that all powers 

not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the 

states respectively, or to the people.

We pledge to advance policies that promote greater liberty, wider opportunity, a robust defense, and national 

economic prosperity.

We pledge to honor families, traditional marriage, life, and the private and faith-based organizations that form 

the core of our American values. 

We pledge to make government more transparent in its actions, careful in its stewardship, and honest in its 

dealings.  

We pledge to uphold the purpose and promise of a better America, knowing that to whom much is given, much 

is expected and that the blessings of our liberty buoy the hopes of mankind.

We make this pledge bearing true faith and allegiance to the people we re

The Declaration of Independce

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connecte3d them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the cause's which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among,\ men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, then to right themselves by abloslig\shing the forms to which they are accustomed.  But when a long train of abuses and usurpation, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is  their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.  Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government.

The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states.  To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary of the public good.
He has forbidden his governnors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large district's of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has endeavored to present the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has made judges depedent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

The Bill of Rights - Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Ayn Rand

Social Networking, Toss the Rules and Get Real

Social Networking, Toss the Rules and Get Real

A number of rule lists, portrayed as inviolable, are circulating for how to properly use social media networks to build business. I have a problem with these “rules” because social media is evolving so fast, the list seems outdated before you have a chance to apply it. In this light, I offer the following observations on social media networking.

1.      Think of your social media network as a business party. Here is a chance to interact with a lot of people in a fairly casual setting, who might be good business contacts in the future. Behave accordingly, this is a getting to know you a little more intimately chance, not a sales seminar or the moment to tell anyone everything about you.

2.      Parties and conventions can lead to lots of new business and ideas, or can be a complete waste of time. Working almost always leads to more work, so work first, party later on a limited basis.

3.      As in any casual business gathering, sales and results usually come slowly over time. And those successes are generally built on somewhat random chance encounters. Increase your odds by selectively limiting your network and interactions to those that are likely to pay-off, but patience and being ready for opportunity count most.

4.      Direct sales pitches are supposedly forbidden on social media. Forget this notion. Regional businesses have used Twitter, Facebook and MySpace with great success for special events and promotions. This is the trick, don’t try to disguise a direct sales appeal as social interaction. Know the difference and be honest and upfront about it. If you can create a killer sales campaign delivered on social networks, go for it, just don’t try to disguise it as chit chat.

5.      Don’t think chit chat is selling or will lead to sales. It might. But unless you are Oprah, nobody cares where you ate lunch.

6.      Control your exposure. When you post yourself on a social media network, you expose yourself to the world. Polish that image, remember this is a big business party, your house slippers and sweats aren’t appropriate, nor are nutty family details.

7.      Don’t combine family and close friends on the same site as business. Even if you have the most absolutely lovely photogenic perfect family. Keep business and family life separate to keep both sides happy.

In summary. The rules for social networking aren’t new. They are the same rules that have governed interpersonal communications for centuries. When presenting yourself as a businessperson, pay at least a little attention to crafting the best image possible. If it is a casual getting to know you kind of site or communication, don’t be a pushy sales person. When you are doing a direct sales appeal, don’t try to pretend that you are just sharing the details of your marvelously cool life. It’s all about honesty, treating others in a fair and considerate manner, and understanding the difference between your personal life, business life, and those areas where the lines begin to blur.

7 Commodity Stocks Worth a Look - Seeking Alpha

7 Commodity Stocks Worth a Look - Seeking Alpha: "

Quote from Jim Rogers

“I am long commodities, long currencies, and short stocks. But we will see what happens. You should invest in only what you know, otherwise keep your money in cash. The reason people lose money is because they keep jumping around investing in things they don’t have a clue what they are doing. Normal people should just wait. Wait until there are good opportunities and take advantage of them. There are plenty of opportunities besides banks. Cotton is going through the roof, corn is making all time highs. Invest in farmers. Invest in agriculture. I think agriculture is going to be one of the great industries of our time.”"

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

The FED under pressure to get Obama Re-elected in November 2012

The FED under pressure to get Obama Re-elected in November 2012

Jim Rogers said: 

"Mr Bernanke he has been out of ideas since he went to Washington , what's wrong with you , you kidding , why do people think that he knows anything for God's sake and he has never been right , please go back you should have somebody do a study how wrong he has been for the past seven or eight years so yes he says everything is OK but he also says he is going to stop QE2 I take him at his word cause he said it so many times but what's going to happen is when thing starting going tough again later in the year or next year when they are going to come back with more the same because that's all they know it's the wrong the wrong thing to do but they do not know any better , remember there is an election in 2012 and he knows where is his bread and his butter and Mr Obama knows there is an election in 2012 enormous pressure to get Obama reelected , Hold it ( The economy ) together for November 2012 that's everybody's plan right now , not my plan but their plan - in Yahoo Finance"

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Dividend Income

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Larry Henson
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

YAHOO! FINANCE TRADING RESOURCES

YAHOO! FINANCE TRADING RESOURCES

• Biggest Gainers
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• Global Economic Calendar
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Dividend Income

You Made The News

Twitter

Larry Henson
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Master Limited Partnership (CLICK for list of MLP's)

Three Good Buys
Possibly Play
Attractive Yield
Big Payout Good Prospects
List of MLP 


Master limited partnerships are restricted by the U.S. government to natural resource companies and some real estate enterprises. However, there are certain indirect methods of investing in MLPs and avoiding the tax complications. The MLP Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) also has a counterpart called Kinder Morgan Management (KMR) that holds units of KMP and whose quarterly payout is treated like a regular dividend instead of a partnership distribution. Another alternative is closed-end funds like Kayne Anderson MLP (KYN) and BlackRock Global Energy and Resources Trust (BGR). KYN is currently trading at a 15.22% premium to net asset value (NAV) and a yield of 9.17%. In contrast BGR is trading at a 13.16% discount to NAV and a yield of 8.61%.

Most MLPs tend to be concentrated in the energy sector but there are always exceptions such as the private equity firms The Blackstone Group (BX) and Fortress Investment Group (FIG), which also happen to be set up as MLPs.

As an MLP, KMP must distrubute at least 90% of its income from qualifying sources such as natural resource activities, interest, dividends, real estate rents, income from sale of real property, gain on sale of assets, and income and gain from commodities or commodity futures. Much of the distrubution is typically treated as 'return of capital', which causes a downward adjustment to U.S. taxable investor's cost basis. It is not taxable in the year it is recieved, but increases capital gains taxes in the year the MLP units are sold.

Where a company does business (e.g. owns/manages pipelines) in many states; owners may be required to file income tax returns in each state in which the MLP conducts business, even when no taxes are owed.

MLPs aren't suitable for U.S. investor's IRA accounts because earnings above $1,000 will be considered unrelated business taxable income by the IRS. Tax consequences for foreign owners are generally onerous.

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Memorial Day cookout will cost you 29% more this year thanks to inflation | Mail Online

Memorial Day cookout will cost you 29% more this year thanks to inflation | Mail Online

Who besides Democrats, Obama, and Pelosi do we have to thank for the high prices this Memorial Day?

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

Fidelity Investment Information for Investors

Why wait for interest rates to rise before putting your cash to work?

Not long ago, the conventional wisdom was that interest rates had nowhere to go but up. Then, a series of crises—from euro zone debt woes to conflict in the Middle East and North Africa to the Japanese earthquake—unleashed a flight to quality that actually helped keep rates low, illustrating the difficulty of predicting interest rates, even for veteran investors. That's why, says Ford O'Neil, co-portfolio manager of three Fidelity bond funds, "we haven't made big short-term interest rate bets."

Nor should other investors, in our opinion. But that is exactly what people may inadvertently be doing by leaving too much cash for too long in savings accounts or money market funds, where interest rates are historically low and unlikely to go much lower. Of course, most people need an emergency fund to deal with life's unexpected demands. Others have obligations coming due shortly. Still others need to offset very volatile investments with very stable ones. And for those needs, low-yielding but highly liquid accounts can work well. But if you are an income-focused investor, there are many potentially higher yielding options to consider for money you won't need for three to five years.

What are you waiting for?

So why are investors holding near-record levels of cash in low-yielding accounts? Some may still feel paralyzed from the 2008 market meltdown. Others may have ridden the rebound that took the S&P up 80% from its March 9, 2009, bottom to its April 23, 2010, high, but sought safety in cash during any pullbacks.

If you're one of them, consider this: Since 1926, cash underperformed investment-grade bonds in 66% of all 84 one-year periods, and stocks nearly 68% of the time, according to Fidelity's Market Analysis, Research and Education Group (see chart below). Meanwhile, cash outpaced both stocks and bonds in just 12% of all those one-year periods.

So, ask yourself: Are you holding too much cash? Take the time to revisit your investment mix by using Fidelity's Portfolio Review¹ to help make sure your allocation to stocks, bonds, and cash is consistent with your risk tolerance, investment time frame, and overall financial situation.

Other fixed-income investors may be waiting for interest rates to rise to capture higher yields. Many look at today's low yields, currently about 2.05% for a five-year Treasury bond, and conclude it's hardly worth the effort to move their money out of a very liquid account to lock in such a low rate for such a relatively long time. But at least for the cash you won't need in the next three to five years, the cost of waiting too long in low-yielding accounts may be steeper than many realize—unless rates rise sharply and quickly.

Let's do the numbers

Imagine you have $100,000 to invest, and won't need it for five years. Let's say you kept that money in an extremely liquid investment like a money market fund earning 0.07%. After five years, assuming those rates rose 0.2 percentage points every six months, the $100,000 would be worth $105,580. If you factor in inflation, which is now about 2%, you'd actually be losing money.

Let's suppose, hypothetically, that the money is invested in a five-year Treasury bill, currently yielding 2.05%. If you sell it after holding it five years, it would be worth $110,736 (assuming interest is reinvested annually at 2.05%), enough to keep pace with inflation. But locking up your money for five years at such a low rate bugs you, since you think rates are more likely to rise than fall. (Of course, rates could also go down, but at such low levels currently, they don't have much farther to drop.) So, you leave the money in the savings account with the expectation that you'll shift into higher yielding securities when rates rise and potentially do better over the five-year period.

The problem is there can be a high cost to waiting.

As the table to the right shows, the only way to make money by waiting is if rates go up fast—and even then, you don't come out that much better (see shaded green boxes). For example, if interest rates jump two percentage points in a year, the $100,000 invested would be worth $117,733 after five years, $6,997 more than if you had invested immediately at 2.05%.

But how confident are you that rates will jump that far that fast? After all, the Federal Reserve has been holding interest rates low. Wait two years for rates to rise one percentage point, and the investment would be worth $110,577, $159 less than what you'd have earned if you had bought the hypothetical investment immediately. Wait three years for a one-point rate hike and the hypothetical investment is worth only $108,451, $2,285 less than with an immediate purchase of the five-year Treasury.

If rates don't go up, or they don't go up quickly, you may need to find increasingly higher yields just to generate the same 2.05% return as the five-year Treasury bill. As the graph below right illustrates, if you wait a year, you'd need a rate of 2.48% for the following four years to break even. That's not so implausible. But if you wait two years earning money market rates (which we assume increase 0.2% every six months), the break-even rate for the next three years on the Treasury yielding 2.05% goes up to 3.40%. At three years, it's up to 4.08%, and at four years, 6.67%.

As the graph shows, if you wait a year before investing in a five-year corporate bond, you'd need to earn 3.78% just to break even. Wait two years, and that rate goes to 4.81%. At three years, it's 6.68% and four years 11.89%. Of course, you are taking on more risk with a corporate bond than a Treasury bond.

Consider the alternatives

So what are your options for that longer-term cash that you won't need for three to five years? Like most things, there are trade-offs; in this case, a higher yield may mean lower credit quality as well as less stability and liquidity.

Want high liquidity and safety?

For high liquidity and safety, there are bank checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts. You can withdraw funds quickly. They can be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank. And the value is stable. As of April 26, Bankrate.com reported that rates on money market deposit and savings accounts were averaging 0.672%. But that number includes teaser rates, so money held longer term in these accounts is likely to earn even less. Many checking accounts do not pay interest at all, though there are exceptions.

Or consider money market mutual funds, which are not insured or guaranteed by the FDIC or any other government agency. Money market funds are highly liquid, but generally stable. Though it is possible to lose money in a money market fund, it's rare. Over the 35 years they have been in existence, there have been only two instances of a money market fund "breaking the buck"—that is, paying less than $1.00 per share. But yields tend to track the Fed's target interest rate, which remains in a historically low range. The average retail taxable money market fund yield was 0.3% as of April 26, according to iMoneyNet.

Willing to trade less liquidity for potentially higher yield?

Consider short-term Treasury bonds, which are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Yields are higher than for shorter-maturity instruments like savings accounts or money market funds, with the five-year Treasury at 2.05%. And you can sell these prior to maturity, though you may end up with less than the face value if interest rates on newly issued bonds have risen.

Another popular option: certificates of deposit (CDs). Bank-issued CDs are FDIC insured, and rates are relatively high: 1.71% for an average five-year CD as of April 26, according to Bankrate, though you can currently find them as high as 2.65%. But they cannot be redeemed prior to maturity without an interest penalty—generally six months' worth. Brokerage firms typically offer brokered CDs, which are deposits at a bank and FDIC insured. While there is no early redemption penalty, brokered CDs will incur a trading charge if sold prior to maturity.

Willing to take on even more risk?

Then you could consider investment-grade corporate bonds. Five-year AA bonds were yielding an average 2.968% as of April 26, according to Bloomberg. Of course, like Treasuries, these carry interest rate risk: if rates rise, prices of existing bonds fall. Corporate bonds also carry credit risk, the risk that the issuer will default and fail to pay coupons and principal as expected. If credit risk rises, the price of the bond in the secondary market would fall. So it's important to keep to very high quality bonds for this strategy.

With individual bonds, you can build a ladder of varying maturities, say, one to five years. That way, if rates rise, you can roll the maturing bonds into higher yielding ones, potentially increasing your total return potential. Of course, if rates fall, you would get lower rates on the new bonds, but you would have locked in the higher rates on the longer-term bonds. Use our online bond ladder tool to help create your own bond ladder by answering a few straightforward questions.

Or, consider a short- or intermediate-term bond fund where professional managers use laddering strategies to help smooth out income and total return potential. An added advantage of a bond fund: you get automatic reinvestment of interest, which is easy to forget when you are managing individual bonds but can add up over time. You also get professional management, diversification, and in the vast majority of cases, lower implementation costs. However, with a bond fund you don't own the bonds outright. If rates rise, the net asset value of the fund is likely to fall.

Likewise, high-bracket taxpayers might consider short-term municipal bonds or bond funds, where interest is free of federal taxes and, in many cases, state taxes too.

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

How to Find the Safest Dividend in S&P 500 | Investing Answers

How to Find the Safest Dividend in S&P 500 | Investing Answers

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

YouTube - Ryan Condemns Divisive Class Warfare

YouTube - Ryan Condemns Divisive Class Warfare

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

YouTube - Federally Funded NASA 'Educates' Children About Global Warming on 'Climate Kids' Web Site

YouTube - Federally Funded NASA 'Educates' Children About Global Warming on 'Climate Kids' Web Site

Propaganda of our children with our tax dollars!

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness

YouTube - 'KISS-off' of Pre-1967 Israeli Borders

YouTube - 'KISS-off' of Pre-1967 Israeli Borders

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness