economy Archives

Happy Halloween Horror Show!

Mummy Mortgage Rates Rising Like A Bat Out Of Hell

Ever actually see a Bat Out of Hell? Me neither. But these week-to-week increases in home mortgage interest rates would give that fella a run for his money. And how!

How much higher can rates go? Much much higher. So here’s your weekly dose of reality. Read ‘em and weep:

“Repulsive Revolting Rates Mean We’ll Never Afford Our Bloody Bungalow!”

Creepy Consumer Prices Popping

“I Vant To Suck Your Blood
I Prefer Cheeseburger But Too Expensive!”

“I Vill Haft To Stay Home…”

So expensive to eat out! Let’s stay home and read the newspaper. How about some buttered toast? And a steaming cup of coffee? Sounds great… economical too! Not so fast… The cost of bakery products is up over 16%. Same goes for your Cheerios… And the butter? That’s up 16% too… like the milk for your Cheerios… or is it Special K for you? Look on the bright side… those eggs are only up 8%. Yay. Unfortunately, alcoholic beverages are up an unlucky 13%. Well, you wanted to go on a diet anyhow…

And Now A Sneak Peek At 2023: Looks Like More Of The Same…

“The Rent Is Too Damn High!”

Kong Is Korrect! Rent Is Up 7.2%!

Looks like he found a roommate to share the increased rental expense. Good strategy! But with Transportation services up by almost 15%, perhaps the happy couple should invest in a bicycle built for two? Just a suggestion.

“Please… No More Charts! Too Horrifying!”

Trick Or Treat!

Did You Want Your Estate Plan To Be A Nasty Trick?
Is It Wrong To Leave Your Family A Treat?

Why Should The Government Get All Your Halloween Candy?

Why Estate Planning Fails And How To Be A Winner

Traditional estate planning is concerned with avoiding probate, saving taxes, and dumping your leftover stuff on your beneficiaries. After you die. Nobody cares what happens to you while you are alive. How does that help anyone? Stupid.

Traditional estate planning fails because the overwhelming majority of us will need long-term skilled care. 70% of us. For an average of 3 years. And we will go broke paying for it.

Is it surprising that thousands of recreation properties: cottages, cabins, hunting land, are lost to pay for long-term care? Why is your estate planner hurting you and your family? It is evil intent? Or stupidity?

LifePlanning™ defeats Nursing Home Poverty. Keep your stuff. Get the care you have already paid for. Good for you. Good for your family. Good example for society.

When my mother suffered from the dementia which led to her death, over 10 years ago, their estate plan preserved their lifesavings. Mom’s months in the nursing home did not mean Dad’s impoverishment. Dad spent the last years with security and peace of mind.

Is Now A Bad Time For A Real Solution?

Perhaps you think you already have an answer to this problem. Maybe you do not see this as a problem at all. It is possible that you do not believe in the passage of time or its effects on you.

Peace of mind and financial security are waiting for everyone who practices LifePlanning™. You know that peace only begins with financial security. Are legal documents the most important? Is avoiding probate the best you can do for yourself or your loved ones? Is family about inheritance? Or are these things only significant to support the foundation of your family?

Do you think finding the best care is easy? Do you want to get lost in the overwhelming flood of claims and promises? Or would you like straight answers?

Well, here you are. Now you know. No excuses. Get the information, insight, inspiration. It is your turn. Ignore the message? Invite poverty? Or get the freely offered information. To make wise decisions. For you. For your loved ones.

The LifePlan™ Workshop has been the first step on the path to security and peace for thousands of families. Why not your family?

NO POVERTY. NO CHARITY. NO WASTE.
It is not chance. It is choice. Your choice.

Get Information Now. (800) 317-2812

October 24, 2022

U.S. Suffering An Economic Recession

Blog

Read the Print Version

Latest Federal Government Numbers Confirm. Let’s Stop Arguing, It’s Obvious

Bureau Of Economic Analysis Department Of Commerce

A picture is worth a thousand words. Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. Recovery is when grifting politicians lose theirs. This is the most predictable recession in history. Everybody knows that when America displays weakness, things get out of hand. In Europe. In the Middle East. No surprise. Everybody knows that when you print trillions of dollars, you get inflation. When you promise to wave a magic wand and make hundreds of billions of dollars in loans just… disappear, you demoralize everyone who played by the rules. And cause more inflation. We can all see that when prominent politicians try to criminalize other Americans, based on their political views, you get strife. And we all know that if there is no consequence to crime, we will all get a lot more crime.

Is it ridiculous to protect yourself and your family first? How can the government command respect when it fails in its most basic obligations: security, peace, safety? Is this a bad time to stop kidding ourselves? Is now too soon to restore some sanity? If not now, when? If not you, who?

Government Newspaper, Washington Post, Supports Government
Don’t Worry — Recession Is Good! — Be Happy
In Other News: Dog Bites Man

Once upon a time, newspapers and the government had a healthy rivalry.

Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman was clear. ““I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast.”

First Amendment Founding Father Thomas Jefferson was equally blunt. “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.”

Today of course, great, metropolitan newspapers, like the Washington Post, bravely toe the party line. Providing cover for clownish political poltroons who cannot remember what they are doing in the room or how to get off the stage…

Would it make you happy to know that devastating recessions have seven (7) silver linings? Your retirement has been gutted. Your shopping cart is empty. Your grandkids would not know what to do with a job if it bit them on the behind. Inflation is up. Gross Domestic

Product shrinks. Then, just as you were feeling a little stressed, the Washington Post pops up with a timely tale worthy of Shakespeare!

Forget about 7 Deadly Sins, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, or the Magnificent Seven… Here are:

7 Silver Linings To The Recession

1. Housing prices may finally come down to reasonable levels. Interest rates have skyrocketed for six straight weeks so you won’t be able to afford the monthly payment. And there’s No Money Left Behind after you pay for groceries, but lookit that low low price!

2. Savings rates are up. Your inflated, wall- paper dollars don’t buy anything anymore. So, you may as well save ‘em!

3. I bonds interest rate might go even higher. I Series Savings Bonds adjust the interest rate for inflation. There’s been so much inflation, the interest rate is high as an elephant’s eye. Almost as high as inflation. Ha ha, you still lose.

4. The dollar is king. Inflation is high. Interest rates are high. The U.S. Dollar exchange rate is high. Now you can go visit the King. In England. So cheap! And you have plenty of time to go. Dollars are so expensive, no one can afford “Made In America” stuff. So you are out of a job. Cheerio!

5. Unemployment is still relatively low. More kids living at home with Mom and Dad. And enjoying it. Fewer workers. Same jobs. Lower unemployment.

6. Your used car is worth more. Hope you like your old clunker! The average cost of a new car is $48,043. So you ain’t getting’ one! Thank you, Kelly Blue Book.

7. Student loan forgiveness is coming. Another Trillion Dollar giveaway from the working people of America to the pot-smoking, latte-sipping, firebomb-throwing misfits who turned college into an 8-year vacation. Why shouldn’t it be free?

Why Don’t You Deserve A Little Payback For All The Taxes You Paid In?
Why Do You Want To Spend Your Last Nickel On Long-Term Care?
Why Shouldn’t The Government Spend Your Money For You?

Traditional estate planning is concerned with avoiding probate, saving taxes, and dumping your leftover stuff on your beneficiaries. After you die. Nobody cares what happens to you while you are alive. How does that help anyone? Stupid.

Traditional estate planning fails because the overwhelming majority of us will need long-term skilled care. 70% of us. For an average of 3 years. And we will go broke paying for it.

Is it surprising that thousands of recreation properties: cottages, cabins, hunting land, are lost to pay for long-term care? Why is your estate planner hurting you and your family? It is evil intent? Or stupidity?

LifePlanning™ defeats Nursing Home Poverty. Keep your stuff. Get the care you have already paid for. Good for you. Good for your family. Good example for society,

When my mother suffered from the dementia which led to her death, over 10 years ago, their estate plan preserved their lifesavings. Mom’s months in the nursing home did not mean Dad’s impoverishment. Dad spent the last years with security and peace of mind.

Is Now A Bad Time For A Real Solution?

Perhaps you think you already have an answer to this problem. Maybe you do not see this as a problem at all. It is possible that you do not believe in the passage of time or its effects on you.

Peace of mind and financial security are waiting for everyone who practices LifePlanning™. You know that peace only begins with financial security. Are legal documents the most important? Is avoiding probate the best you can do for yourself or your loved ones? Is family about inheritance? Or are these things only significant to support the foundation of your family?

Do you think finding the best care is easy? Do you want to get lost in the overwhelming flood of claims and promises? Or would you like straight answers?

Well, here you are. Now you know. No excuses. Get the information, insight, inspiration. It is your turn. Ignore the message? Invite poverty? Or get the freely offered information. To make wise decisions. For you. For your loved ones.

The LifePlan™ Workshop has been the first step on the path to security and peace for thousands of families. Why not your family?

NO POVERTY. NO CHARITY. NO WASTE.
It is not chance. It is choice. Your choice.

Get Information Now. (800) 317-2812

October 3, 2022

22 Months Of “Bad Luck” Explained

Blog

Read the Print Version

Baffled, Bemused, Bebothered, Bewildered? Photographic Proof From Library Of Congress

Disastrous Afghanistan Skedaddle

Historic Inflation, Consumer And Wholesale

Recession

Russia Ukraine Diplomacy

China Taiwan Diplomacy

Infant Formula Fiasco

Iran Nuclear Surrender

Trillion Dollar Rich-Kid Student Loan Giveaway

Falling Off Stationary Bicycle

2 Trillion Dollar Spending Spree
“American Rescue Plan” “Inflation Reduction Act”

And All The Rest… Add Your Favorite Here

Except As Noted, All Images Credit To Library Of Congress

Government Empties Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Shuts Down U.S. Oil And Gas Production

Funnels Hundreds Of Billions To Corrupt Climate Cronies

How Did Americans Travel Before They Had Horses?

They Had Trucks

How Did Americans Read Before They Had Candles?

They Had Electric Lights

Credit: Wikimedia
Images Credit To Library Of Congress

New Numbers: Inflation Train Wreck Continues

(Still Not Making This Stuff Up)

Want to know how bad it is? Ask the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Forget the hype, the spin, the Washington fandango. Here’s what they admit!

Good News! Social Security payments increasing!

Not nearly so much as your Medicare premiums and the cost of everything else. So you will fall farther behind. But hey! Social Security payments are up. Hurrah.

Is It A Bad Idea To Get Some Payback On Your Taxes?

Vaporized Like A Snowflake On A Hot Griddle

Is It Fun To See Your Lifesavings Imploding At $12,000 Per Month?

America is getting older. So are you.

There are fewer young people. More older people.

Older people need care. Older people need younger people to provide that care. But there are fewer younger people.

Demand for care is up. Supply of caregivers is down. Prices for care are skyrocketing.

Everyone knows someone who has gone broke. Not from the casino. Not from credit card debt. Not from too many toys. Someone who has gone broke from long-term care.

Basic at home care: $30+/hour. Nursing care at home: $60+hour.
Basic Assisted Living: $6000/month
Basic Nursing Home: $10,000-12,000-15,000+/ month

Everyone knows that care is expensive and getting worse.

Simple steps taken now will preserve your lifesavings, home, dignity and provide well for your surviving spouse.

But some foolish folks ignore their own lives. Whistling past the graveyard. Focus on death… who gets my stuff? No care for their surviving spouse.

Is it wrong to get some payback for the tax dollars that you have paid in?

Are you opposed to making the rest of your life the best it can be?

Is it fair to burden your spouse, family, or friends when help is right there for the asking?

Has your success in life come from burying your head in the sand?

Why hasn’t your estate planner, lawyer, financial advisor informed you? Why have you been misinformed?

Is Now A Bad Time To Explore Lifeplanning™?

Thousands and thousands of local families have already experienced the benefits. Do you deserve nursing home poverty? Do you wish to leave nothing for your family? Is it a ridiculous idea that you should get the care you have already paid for?

IS NOW A BAD TIME FOR A REAL SOLUTION?

No one has all the answers but is this the wrong time to start asking questions?

Is finding the best care easy? Is getting lost in the overwhelming flood of claims and promises a good idea? Are you opposed to straight answers?

Ignore the message? Invite poverty? Or get the freely offered information. To make wise decisions. For you. For your loved ones.

The LifePlan™ Workshop has been the first step on the path to security and peace for thousands of others. Why not you?

NO POVERTY. NO CHARITY. NO WASTE.
It is not chance. It is choice. Your choice.

Get Information Now. (800) 317-2812

September 19, 2022

Mail Bag Of Madness!

Blog

Read the Print Version

Truth Stranger Than Fiction… Could We Make This Up? Who Has That Much Imagination?

Inflation Is Whipped! Gas Prices Down!
Easter Bunny & Santa Claus Spotted On Main Street!

How are you enjoying the non-recession? What do you think of the non-war in Europe? Have you heard about the non-raid on the 45th President’s house? At least this non-winter weather remains warm…

Gosh! Suddenly, things are getting better! They tell us inflation is down! Gas prices are down, so they say. Those unbiased, helpful, informative TV Experts® are telling us so! And here’s proof:

But wait a minute! TV Experts say “Gas Prices Are Coming Down!” Here’s proof from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (Your Tax Dollars At Work):

See over there by the big red arrow? Gas prices coming down! Still the highest in 25 years, except for the last couple of months… Buy hey! Whaddaya want? Eggs in yer beer? Stop complaining, you complainer!

Would you like to know more? Would you like to know why gas prices are coming down? Perhaps it is the wise and beneficent policies of our Great Helmsman in D.C. Calmly guiding the ship of state from danger to safety. Sure, that could be it.

Maybe you might want to think about considering some other numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

Remember July and August of 2020? Global pandemic? Surely you remember the virus that definitely did not come from a country that shall not be named. Ringing any bells? Well, there was this wholly natural pandemic, not a bioweapon at all, with no funding whatsoever from Dr. Fauci. To selfishly satisfy their grandiose delusions stop the spread, follow the science, and be good people, American popinjays desperately seized sweeping dictatorial powers public servants reluctantly assumed limited emergency measures. Which tanked the most successful economy in world history. Millions of newly working Americans were thrown under the bus. Economic growth ground to a halt. People stopped driving.

And yet, during this horrible time in 2020, Americans demanded and used more gasoline than in July and August of 2022. That’s what the gummint’s own numbers say. What does it mean?

Perhaps it means that there is even less economic activity now than during the height of the mysterious killer flu. When demand goes away and supply remains, prices go down. Our Dear Leader in D.C. has flooded trillions of Monopoly Money™ dollars into the economy. Other Really Smart Folks in D.C. just voted hundreds of billions more phony baloney bucks in giveaways.

It is bad enough to pump up inflation with fake currency. Inflation is demoralizing. Inflation robs the middle class of our desire to build and save. But this evil legislation also kicks the legs out of anyone trying to build their own business without being an employee. It kills the American Dream, then mutilates the body. Awful.

But Didn’t Inflation Go Away?

Nope. Producer Price Index shows that soul- robbing, wallet-snatching, budget-busting inflation will be with us for quite a while.

But surely the Consumer Price Index tells a different tale? Not according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Despite all the crowing about gas prices and slowdown in the rate of increase of inflation, the bitter truth is that our Great Helmsman and his merry band of pirates has flung the ship of state on the rocks! Terrible.

Can you rely on Washington to fix what it has broken? Are the Washington politicians looking out for you? If the government can smash and grab its way into the homes of retired politicians, and seize property from currently serving elected officials, what hope is there for you? Unless you shut up and knuckle under…Is this the America where you grew up? Is this the America you thought you were living in? Me neither.

The way out. Perseverance in basic virtues: compassion, honesty, caring, friendship, personal accountability. Maybe these simple things can be the foundation stones, as they have in the past, for a new birth of freedom. How can we refuse our duty, our responsibility?

August 16, 2022

The Thrill Of Victory, The Agony Of Defeat

Blog

Read the Print Version

Spanning The Globe To Bring You The Constant Variety Of Statistics

Everything is too expensive. It is getting worse. It will continue to get worse. Until it gets better. When? God alone knows.

But wait a minute! TV Experts say “Gas Prices Are Coming Down!” Here’s proof:

Wow! Looky there! Gas so cheap at $4.50 per gallon! (except Californians still paying $5.75). Selling off our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to those who hate us… Brilliant! Prices going down! A bit. A little bit. A teeny, tiny little bit. But that’s just phony baloney. Look at the long-term numbers they don’t want you to see:

Well, whaddaya know? Gosh, it looks like gasoline prices are at or near all-time highs. But surely there’s good news somewhere… Let’s look at consumer prices, shall we?

Oh no! More bad news from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Where’s the Beef? Not on your plate! Cost of putting bread on the table expanded by a yeasty 10+% over the last year. Hope you like beans and rice, rice and beans. Hold the hamburger.

Energy Expenses Exploding? Ka-boom! Up over 40% in the last year. How did we get here? Revoke drilling permits, cancel oil leases, shut down pipelines, badmouth everyone and everything related to reliable energy. That’s how!

Good News! It’s cheaper if you sit still and starve. Don’t eat and don’t move… your inflation rate is less than 10%! Oh Happy Day.

Consumer Price Inflation is still setting historic highs. But surely there is good news on the horizon? Nope. Inflation is baked in the (too expensive for you) cake. Here’s the Producer Price Index:

Looking to buy a house? Refinance? Sell? Hope you like high interest rates! By the way, is the housing bubble just about to pop? Hello 2008!

Everywhere you look, it looks like bad news. Yeah, well. Pucker up Buttercup, it ain’t over yet. Private sector money gurus continue to sprinkle fairy dust and sparkly snowflakes through their economic reporting and forecasting. But even the “Blue Chip Consensus” has begun to recognize the rancid stink of the economic corpse foisted upon us by our political potentates. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta provides this handy-dandy summary:

The Atlanta Fed GDPNow graph is based solely on reported numbers. Not wishes or dreams, just the facts, ma’am. The Blue Chippers with their rose-colored glasses, not so much.

Traditionally, a recession means two quarters of Gross Domestic Product shrinkage. At least when the bad political party is in the White House. First quarter of 2022, GDP down by 1.6%. Second quarter? More shrinkage!

Given the stonewalling, obfuscation, denial, selective prosecution, abuse of discretion, outright lying, misdirection, self- congratulating, posturing, and overweening, incomprehensible, hysterical righteousness that you have observed over the past couple of years, do you expect honesty now? Will they finally level with the American people? Regular folks who get things done. Ordinary men and women. Living ordinary lives. Achieving goals of human dimensions. Finding joy in friendship and family. How could they? Admit their failures? Admit the false foundations of their arrogance and sinful pride?

Is it more likely that they’ll serve up their usual hash of psychobabble? Selective focus? Like any stage magician, grifter, or street pickpocket, aren’t they experts at misdirection?

Perseverance in basic virtues: compassion, honesty, caring, friendship, personal accountability. Maybe these simple things can be the foundation stones, as they have in the past, for a new birth of freedom. How can we refuse our duty, our responsibility?

Traditional Trust Planning Failure A Scam?

Who’s Betting On Death?

Say It Ain’t So!

Traditional estate planning is supposed to avoid probate, save taxes, and dump your leftover stuff on your beneficiaries. After you die. Nobody cares what happens to you while you are alive. How does that help anyone? Stupid.

Traditional estate planning fails because the overwhelming majority of us will need long- term skilled care. 70% of us. For an average of 3 years. And we will go broke paying for it.

Is it surprising that thousands of recreation properties: cottages, cabins, hunting land, are lost to pay for long-term care? Why is your estate planner hurting you and your family? It is evil intent? Or stupidity?

LifePlanning™ defeats Nursing Home Poverty. Keep your stuff. Get the care you have already paid for. Good for you. Good for your family. Good example for society.

When my mother suffered from the dementia which led to her death, over 10 years ago, their estate plan preserved their lifesavings. Mom’s months in the nursing home did not mean Dad’s impoverishment. Dad spent the last years with security and peace of mind.

Is Now A Bad Time For A Real Solution?

Perhaps you think you already have an answer to this problem. Maybe you do not see this as a problem at all. It is possible that you do not believe in the passage of time or its effects on you.

Peace of mind and financial security are waiting for everyone who practices LifePlanning™. You know that peace only begins with financial security. Are legal documents the most important? Is avoiding probate the best you can do for yourself or your loved ones? Is family about inheritance? Or are these things only significant to support the foundation of your family?

Do you think finding the best care is easy? Do you want to get lost in the overwhelming flood of claims and promises? Or would you like straight answers?

Well, here you are. Now you know. No excuses. Get the information, insight, inspiration. It is your turn. Ignore the message? Invite poverty? Or get the freely offered information. To make wise decisions. For you. For your loved ones.

The LifePlan™ Workshop has been the first step on the path to security and peace for thousands of families. Why not your family?

NO POVERTY. NO CHARITY. NO WASTE.
It is not chance. It is choice. Your choice.

Get Information Now.
(800) 317-2812

July 27, 2022

You Don’t Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows

Blog

Read the Print Version

16+% Wholesale Inflation – Again! 10.1% Cost Of Food Inflation

Nostalgic For The Good Old Days Of Jimmy Carter? Me Too.

More good news from our friends at the Bureau of Labor Statistics! Consumer Price Inflation is setting new 40-year records. Again.

Energy prices are up. Way, way up. And that’s easy to solve. Simply stop driving anywhere. Stay at home. Problem solved.

Now that summer is finally here, you may wish to turn on your air conditioning. Do not. Your cost of cool is up 35%. Fortunately, sweat is still free. And it is all natural. Probably gluten-free, too. So, stay home, in the dark, with the air conditioning off. It is the New American thing to do.

Also, you can forget about going to the pool. No lifeguards. According to that paragon of virtue, National Public Radio: “the National Recreation and Parks Association says 8 out of 10 parks and rec departments can’t find enough staff.” “Tens of thousands of pools across the country are closed…”

Everybody complaining about gas prices. Is that the worst? No. Gas prices are not the worst part. So what is the worst? Since you have not read or heard it anywhere else, it falls to your Elder Law Reporter to point out the worst. Food Inflation. Food Inflation is in double-digit territory. Food costs 10.1% more now. You can stay home and save gas. Can you stay home and not eat? For how long? Little Orphan Annie said, “The sun’ll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there’ll be sun!” Little Orphan Annie has not been watching the Producer Price Index.

Every time you go to the store, you experience the Consumer Price Index. The CPI is how the government measures misery today.

Future pain is predicted by the Producer Price Index. The PPI measures wholesale inflation, before it gets to your local store. Wholesale inflation is once again at a 40-year high. 16.6%. Did you think 10% Food Inflation was bad? How about 16.6%? That is what’s coming tomorrow. For Goods. Wholesale inflation for services is only 7.6%. Feel better?

Hey Annie! Wake up and smell the coffee! Whoops, according to the Wall Street Journal, thanks to “extreme weather and supply-chain disruptions,” we have a coffee shortage and prices are up 76%. Yeah, we got a chart for that.

Homebuyers! Do not feel left out. Home mortgage interest rates are still climbing, according to Freddie Mac (formerly known as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation), now up about 300% since Christmas. Pass the eggnog! Merry? Merry? Investors! Guess what… the market is tanking. Down 17% this year. So far. But you already knew that.

What’s It All About? Six Keys To Happiness

How do you survive when the best-case scenario is: Horrifically Worse Than Jimmy Carter, But At Least No Thermonuclear War? Follow the Six Steps:

Stay home. Do not move about. Do not turn on the A/C. Do not eat. Do not buy another house. Do not look at your investments. Bonus Step: Go to a LifePlan™ Workshop. Drink our coffee. Have a oatmeal raisin cookie on us! Cheers… Easy!

Is Traditional Trust Planning Failure A Scam?
Why Is Your Estate Plan A Death Trap
Can Widespread Failure Be Explained By Incompetence And Indifference?

Traditional estate planning is supposed to avoid probate, save taxes, and dump your leftover stuff on your beneficiaries. After you die. Nobody cares what happens to you while you are alive. How does that help anyone? Stupid.

Traditional estate planning fails because the overwhelming majority of us will need long-term skilled care. 70% of us. For an average of 3 years. And we will go broke paying for it.

Is it surprising that thousands of recreation properties: cottages, cabins, hunting land, are lost to pay for long- term care? Why is your estate planner hurting you and your family? It is evil intent? Or stupidity?

LifePlanning™ defeats Nursing Home Poverty. Keep your stuff. Get the care you have already paid for. Good for you. Good for your family. Good example for society.

When my mother suffered from the dementia which led to her death, over 10 years ago, their estate plan preserved their lifesavings. Mom’s months in the nursing home did not mean Dad’s impoverishment. Dad spent the last years with security and peace of mind.

Is Now A Bad Time For A Real Solution?

Perhaps you think you already have an answer to this problem. Maybe you do not see this as a problem at all. It is possible that you do not believe in the passage of time or its effects on you.

Peace of mind and financial security are waiting for everyone who practices LifePlanning™. You know that peace only begins with financial security. Are legal documents the most important? Is avoiding probate the best you can do for yourself or your loved ones? Is family about inheritance? Or are these things only significant to support the foundation of your family?

Do you think finding the best care is easy? Do you want to get lost in the overwhelming flood of claims and promises? Or would you like straight answers?

Well, here you are. Now you know. No excuses. Get the information, insight, inspiration. It is your turn. Ignore the message? Invite poverty? Or get the freely offered information. To make wise decisions. For you. For your loved ones.

The LifePlan™ Workshop has been the first step on the path to security and peace for thousands of families. Why not your family?

No Poverty. No Charity. No Waste.
It is not chance. It is choice. Your choice.

Get Information Now. (800) 317-2812

July 11, 2022

Fish Gotta Swim, Birds Gotta Fly, Writers Gotta Write

Blog

Read the Print Version

Clanging For 65 Years!
(Not Edited For Spelling Or Punctuation Or Anything Else) (Warning: Not Legal Advice!)

Though I Speak With The Tongues Of Men And Of Angels, And Have Not Charity,
I Am Become As Sounding Brass, Or A Tinkling Cymbal.

—1 Corinthians 13:1

Question: Would an adult child be responsible for an elderly parents’ nursing home expenses?

A low income, elderlycouple (85+) have been living independently for over 20 years. Their adult child (not an in-state resident ) provided their living expenses for the past 20 years. Due to illness, the adult child is only able to provide very limited living expenses for them.

In 2021, they both were hospitalized due to life threatening illnesses. They do not have any relatives in state and do not have money. At a doctor’s request, adult protection services and some social workers helped them move into a nursing facility due to their low-income status.

One person is qualified for Medicaid. The other one is not.

However, they do not have any money.

The question is, would the adult child be responsible for their elderly parents’ nursing facility medical and living expenses?

Short Answer: Maybe. Most states have filial responsibility laws that impose financial responsibility for parents on the kids. But not in Michigan. Used to be that if your parent wound up in the Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital (known at its opening in 1859 as the Michigan Asylum for the Insane), you would get the bill. But not anymore. In Michigan.

Most states do not enforce their filial responsibility laws, but Pennsylvania is an exception. A recent appellate court ruling upheld the constitutionality and enforceability of the law. And Pennsylvania does come after the kids. Sometimes.

Long Answer: Beware when you “sign in” your parent to a nursing home or other facility. At least glance at the papers before you sign them. Better yet, read them. Even better, have your friendly, neighborhood elder law attorney take a gander before you sign.

Back in the day, it was not at all unusual to find a personal guarantee of fees buried in the mound of paperwork that the facility asked you to sign. And people did sign them. And facilities did enforce them. And it was a mess. Which is probably why the practice has pretty much died out. But not entirely, so buyer beware. Or get a little elder law assistance.

When long-term care costs $200-850/day (that is per day!), can you afford to just sign everything?

Imagine you are placing a loved one in a residential care facility. Do you think it is easy? Easy for the loved one? Easy for you? Most folks get overwhelmed. Crushing need for help and inability to provide care at home. Anger and frustration of the loved one. Guilt and helplessness of the caregiver forced to take this drastic step. And how do we break the promise: “You’ll never to to a nursing home!” Does it matter that you made that promise without knowing the reality of 24-hour, 7-day, 52-week care?

No wonder people sign documents without understanding what they are reading. Perhaps it might be helpful to have someone who has been down this path before…

Question: My boyfriend of 10 yrs just passed and now I got 30 days to get out it just don’t seem right. Is this how it is?

I was working he needed me at home. Before we could look in to caregiving he passed. His sister is 50% on the deed… something like that. So I got 30 days to get out 10 yrs of my life peacefully and she will give me his car and 2500$ I guess that’s the way they do it.

Short Answer: It is harsh to say, but you are probably not entitled to the money or car. Some states have “common law” marriage or “palimony.” In those states, you might have a claim. But not in Michigan.

Long Answer: Seems like sister is “on the deed”, maybe as joint tenant. Since you are definitely not on the deed, you have no title.

Michigan takes a hard line on marriage. Either you are married, with license and ceremony, or you are not. Marriages that were contracted in other states or territories that were valid in those locations are recognized and given effect in Michigan. But that is as far as it goes.

You probably received a 30-day Notice To Quit. This document is the first step in eviction. You may comply and leave, or fight the eviction or force the sister to go through the entire process. There are several ways this could go.

First, you up and leave. You get the car and the money.

Second, you fight. Not sure what basis you have for fighting, so the judge may get annoyed and assess damages for frivolous defenses. Plus you have lost the car and the money.

Third, you insist on every step of the eviction process being followed exactly. This may slow things to a crawl. Or you may get a judge who briskly moves cases through. Eventually, you will be forced to leave. And you may lose the car and money.

Marriage has consequences. Like inheriting property. Like entitlement to spousal share rights. Marriage is not a bed of roses and if it were, you’d find plenty of thorns. But there are benefits to marriage as well. Something to bear in mind.

16+% Wholesale Inflation – Again! | 10.1% Cost Of Food Inflation

You Don’t Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows

Nostalgic For The Good Old Days Of Jimmy Carter? Me Too.

More good news from our friends at the Bureau of Labor Statistics! Consumer Price Inflation is setting new 40-year records. Again.

Energy prices are up. Way, way up. And that’s easy to solve. Simply stop driving anywhere. Stay at home. Problem solved.

Now that summer is finally here, you may wish to turn on your air conditioning. Do not. Your cost of cool is up 35%. Fortunately, sweat is still free. And it is all natural. Probably gluten-free, too. So, stay home, in the dark, with the air conditioning off. It is the New American thing to do.

Also, you can forget about going to the pool. No lifeguards. According to that paragon of virtue, National Public Radio: “the National Recreation and Parks Association says 8 out of 10 parks and rec departments can’t find enough staff.” “Tens of thousands of pools across the country are closed…”

Everybody complaining about gas prices. Is that the worst? No. Gas prices are not the worst part. So what is the worst? Since you have not read or heard it anywhere else, it falls to your Elder Law Reporter to point out the worst. Food Inflation. Food Inflation is in double-digit territory. Food costs 10.1% more now. You can stay home and save gas. Can you stay home and not eat? For how long?

Little Orphan Annie said, “The sun’ll come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there’ll be sun!”

Little Orphan Annie has not been watching the Producer Price Index.

Every time you go to the store, you experience the Consumer Price Index. The CPI is how the government measures misery today.

Future pain is predicted by the Producer Credit: Pacific Comics Club Price Index. The PPI measures wholesale inflation, before it gets to your local store. Wholesale inflation is once again at a 40-year high. 16.6%.

Did you think 10% Food Inflation was bad? How about 16.6%?

That is what’s coming tomorrow.

Hey Annie! Wake up and smell the coffee! Whoops, according to the Wall Street Journal, thanks to “extreme weather and supply-chain disruptions,” we have a coffee shortage and prices are up 76%. Yeah, we got a chart for that.

Homebuyers! Do not feel left out. Home mortgage interest rates are still climbing, according to Freddie Mac (formerly known as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation):

Investors! Guess what… the market is tanking. Down 17% this year. So far. But you already knew that.

What’s It All About? Six Keys To Happiness

How do you survive when the best-case scenario is: Horrifically Worse Than Jimmy Carter, But At Least No Thermonuclear War? Follow the Six Steps:

Stay home. Do not move about. Do not turn on the A/C. Do not eat. Do not buy another house. Do not look at your investments. Easy!

Is traditional trust planning failure a scam…
Your Estate Plan Is A Death Trap
Or Can It Be Explained By Incompetence And Indifference?

Traditional estate planning is supposed to avoid probate, save taxes, and dump your leftover stuff on your beneficiaries. After you die. Nobody cares what happens to you while you are alive. How does that help anyone? Stupid.

Traditional estate planning fails because the overwhelming majority of us will need long-term skilled care. 70% of us. For an average of 3 years. And we will go broke paying for it.

Is it surprising that thousands of recreation properties: cottages, cabins, hunting land, are lost to pay for long-term care? Why is your estate planner hurting you and your family? It is evil intent? Or stupidity?

LifePlanning™ defeats Nursing Home Poverty. Keep your stuff. Get the care you have already paid for. Good for you. Good for your family. Good example for society.

When my mother suffered from the dementia which led to her death, over 10 years ago, their estate plan preserved their lifesavings. Mom’s months in the nursing home did not mean Dad’s impoverishment. Dad spent the last years with security and peace of mind.

Is Now A Bad Time For A Real Solution?

Perhaps you think you already have an answer to this problem. Maybe you do not see this as a problem at all. It is possible that you do not believe in the passage of time or its effects on you.

Peace of mind and financial security are waiting for everyone who practices LifePlanning™. You know that peace only begins with financial security. Are legal documents the most important? Is avoiding probate the best you can do for yourself or your loved ones? Is family about inheritance? Or are these things only significant to support the foundation of your family?

Do you think finding the best care is easy? Do you want to get lost in the overwhelming flood of claims and promises? Or would you like straight answers?

Well, here you are. Now you know. No excuses. Get the information, insight, inspiration. It is your turn. Ignore the message? Invite poverty? Or get the freely offered information. To make wise decisions. For you. For your loved ones.

The LifePlan™ Workshop has been the first step on the path to security and peace for thousands of families. Why not your family?

NO POVERTY. NO CHARITY. NO WASTE.
It is not chance. It is choice. Your choice.

Get Information Now. (800) 800317-2812

June 17, 2022

How Did It All Go So Wrong, So Quickly?

Blog

Read the Print Version

I’m As Mad As Hell And I’m Not Going To Take This Anymore!

—Howard Beale, Network, 1976

We’re Not Gonna Take It, No, We Ain’t Gonna Take It, We’re Not Gonna Take It Anymore!

—Dee Snider, Twisted Sister, 1984

USA! USA! USA!

It was not that long ago. A year or so? America was recovering from the COVID. Economic growth was rebounding. Interest rates continued at historic low levels. Minimal inflation. Energy affordable and secure. Americans doing what Americans do. Getting on with it. Making the best of the situation. Recovering.

Remember before-COVID? Best economy ever for working Americans of all ages and racial groups. Record employment. At the highest real wages in history.

COVID and the response to the pandemic was a body blow. Confronted with a virus of mysterious origin. COVID deaths were 90+% among older folks with other ailments but affected us all. Lockdowns, economic paralysis, “No gardening for you!”.

Yet there was some desperate pride in adversity. Frontline healthcare workers’ extraordinary courageous efforts. Army field hospitals established overnight in Central Park. Navy hospital ships designed to treat battle-wounded soldiers converted at incredible speed to COVID treatment. Car factories suddenly manufacturing complex ventilators. Personal Protection Equipment production ramped up. Scientific research and vaccine development at “warp speed”.

Some sought political advantage. Blame Game. Extraordinary stresses resulted from lockdowns, masking, different therapeutic and preventive approaches to dealing with the pandemic. Some violence was excused. Other violence exaggerated and hysterically condemned. Rules for thee, but not for me? Raise your hand if you are surprised by politicians’ hypocrisy. Me neither.

And yet. Despite all the blame-gaming. Whatever your personal politics. Whomever you think is at fault. Let’s look over the edge of this foxhole. Aren’t there are some undeniable realities, some inconvenient truths?

Inflation is at 40-year highs. And getting worse.

Interest rates doubling, tripling. Home ownership out of reach. What do you think higher interest rates will do to the deficit?
Energy dependence is our future. America pleads with oil potentates who refuse our President’s phone calls and verbally abuse his envoys. “Strategic Petroleum Reserve” is pumped out to temporarily mask reality.

Crime and murder rates are skyrocketing back to the bad old days. Carnage in the streets.

Economic gains erased. Recession talk is back. Recession reality about to bite. Stagnation looms.

No borders for the U.S. Millions already crossed over. Given a joke legal document. And a cell phone. And a ticket to your town. To compete with you and your neighbors.

America is on edge. Agitated and anxious. Withdrawn and passive. Contradictory emotions and impulses. Remember Jimmy Carter? Malaise? Anything feel familiar nowadays?

How did we get here? Where do we go now?

Russia Russia Russia

Early 2022. Russia’s main rival (that’s us!) dazed and confused. Some American politicians and partisans credit Russia with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Russia chooses America’s president. Some believed this. Others said it for political advantage.

Russia riding high. Europe, with fresh America approval, agreed to new pipelines from Russian oil and gas fields. Europe cast away its independence. Europe invites the Russian boot upon its neck.

Russia’s Chief Crime Boss believed the American politicians. And the American newspapers. And his generals. Russian Chief Crime Boss thought he was really something. Also thought he had a real military.

Chief Crime Boss thought, “Now’s the time!” And invaded another country. Threatens others.

How’s that working out? Tens of thousands of dead or missing Russian soldiers. Thousands of dead Ukrainians. Billions of destroyed civilian and military property. Sunk ships. Millions of wrecked dreams. Years of effort demolished overnight with artillery shells, missiles, and bombs. Medieval brutality. Standard Operating Procedure for Russia, from czarist times to the time you read this. No surprise to anyone familiar with any ancient or modern Russian military adventure.

But Europe has had enough. Petroleum extortion blackmail is okay but killing people and breaking things… too much!

Henchmen of Chief Russian Crime Boss lied to him. Military was for show, not go. Crime Boss losing. But Crime Boss can never lose. Now Chief Russian Crime Boss threatens nuclear weapons.

How did this happen? What now?

USA vs Russia

There is no easy way out. No effortless solutions. We are past that now. Yet there is hope. America still has Americans. People who do not like being lied to. People who want to say what they want to say. We are a talkative bunch. We do not like to be shut up. We like to irritate our betters. We like to shake things up. That is what the First Amendment is all about.

Russia has the Russian system. Shut up or die. Shut up and die. No way out. No Exit. No solution when your country is run by a Chief Crime Boss and his henchmen. For as long as the Crime Boss lives. History provides countless examples. Napoleon: France. Hitler: Germany. Idi Amin: Uganda. Pol Pot: Cambodia. Franco: Spain.

Sadly, some Americans like the Russian Way. Some Americans are afraid of other people talking. So afraid that the government is setting up a “Disinformation Governance Board” staffed by political appointees. To govern “Disinformation”? Who decides which information is true blue, all-American, reliable, sanctified, and Government- Approved Information? Who decides which is evil, bad, horrible, no-good Disinformation? How can anything like this be consistent with the First Amendment? Can it be reconciled? Of course not.

Fortunately, many American immigrants seem to understand the importance of free discourse better than some of us born here. One immigrant, naturalized American has even spent some of his own money to buy a communications company. He promises to make it available to all. We shall see.

And that is the difference. We have our troubles, but the American Way of free speech, without fear or favor, will eventually enable us to solve our problems. If we continue to believe and act as Americans.

This is not a new issue with us. About a hundred years ago, in Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927), the Supreme Court upheld a conviction for dangerous speech. Forty years later, the Court, in Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969), overruled that precedent and forcefully upheld free speech under the First Amendment.

Who wants to turn the clock back? Who wants to suppress, prosecute, and imprison their fellow Americans for speaking on political issues? Why do they fear talk? Are their ideas so weak? Do they have no confidence in their fellow citizens? Are they so smart that no one else need express any thought? Who are these people? Why do they reject the American Way and embrace the Russian Way?

Although it appears nowhere in his writings, Winston Churchill is often credited with saying:

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.

The Russian Way leads to death and destruction. The American Way leads to disagreement, discomfort, annoyance, and a better future and outcome for us all. We tried a mild variation on the Russian Way. And threw it out. Let’s stick to the American Way!

Is Now A Bad Time For A True Estate Planning Solution?

LifePlanning™ Is A Real Solution Traditional estate planning is concerned with avoiding probate, saving taxes, and dumping your leftover stuff on your beneficiaries.

After you die. Nobody cares what happens to you while you are alive. How does that help anyone? Stupid.