“After all that is said and done…there is more said then is done.”
June 3, 2007
Each one of us seeks to allocate resources in such a manner as to gain the greatest possible return. How we determine our investments, and the criteria of evaluation is where thing start to fall apart.
Of all the items that people seek to buy real estate and specifically the home is by far the single worst investment. This is where mathematics helps to clear the air about the “American Dream”. That dream is a Madison Avenue/Banking/National Association of Realtors marketing propaganda. I submit for your consideration the videos selection below.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2640239019877885520&q=anderson+school+housing&hl=en
June 4, 2007
I was just cleaning up some junk and came across some papers and booklet that deal with “The Wealth Expo” (The Learning Annex). For those of you outside the U.S. the expo was a big gathering of so called “experts” that gave weekend long seminars on how to get rich quick.
Needless to say the majority of there efforts dealt with real estate. In fact this program was so popular that PBS(Public Broadcasting Station, http://www.pbs.org) affiliated station used the expo as an incentive to donate to the station which is how I got to attend.
Many of the greats in the realm of so call pseudo finance appeared.
These included but by no means was limited to, Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Suze Orman, these are the big names used to give the “rif-raf” the semblance of credibility.
I recall what looked like ten of thousand of people standing in lines to attend mini seminars. The main hall at the L.A Convention Center took on a feel and looked of a high school” pep-rally” with someone talking and everyone cheering as they drive the tribal feeding frenzy ever higher.
Ah but back to these “mini seminars” this is where the real selling would start. I recall that the talk was fast the numbers in the discussion took giant leaps and the data was lacking. The first time I saw numbers grow that fast was in a physics class that covered the chain reaction of thermo-nuclear devices.
While at these mini events at some point someone would come out and say something to the effect “we only have 50 kits but there is 5000 of you so for those of you who are ready to make your commitment to your first million please go to the back of the room, and the associates will take care of you”. Needless to say that that announcement cured me of sitting in the back of the room, suddenly I found myself staring at butt of all sizes and shape’s. What was so impressive is these people could supply kits to all 5000. Man if you could get these guys together we could solve world hunger.
I’m writing this because in the months if not year(s) that have gone by I have not seen any more ads concerning getting rich. Doesn’t anyone want to be rich any more? Lately the advertising I see and hear is concerning bill consolidation and tax help. I guess the bomb did go off.