Tag Archive for: inflation

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

Bureau Of Economic Analysis Department Of Commerce

bureau of economic analysis recession chart

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!

mortgage rates september 2022

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.

I bond interest rates

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!

english pound versus dollar chart

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.

new vehicle prices chart

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

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

Disastrous Afghanistan Skedaddle
afghanistan withdrawal train wreck

Historic Inflation, Consumer And Wholesale
inflation and economy train wreck

Recession
recession and economy train wreck

Russia Ukraine Diplomacy
russia ukraine diplomacy train wreck

China Taiwan Diplomacy
china taiwan diplomacy train wreck

Infant Formula Fiasco
baby formula fiasco train wreck

Iran Nuclear Surrender
iran nuclear surrender train wreck

Trillion Dollar Rich-Kid Student Loan Giveaway
student loan forgiveness train wreck

Falling Off Stationary Bicycle
biden bike fall train wreck

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

inflation reduction act train wreck

And All The Rest… Add Your Favorite Here
government train wrecks

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?
early american travel horse and wagons

They Had Trucks
american travel pickup trucks

How Did Americans Read Before They Had Candles?
early american light by candles

They Had Electric Lights
early american electric light lamp

Credit: Wikimedia
Images Credit To Library Of Congress

 


 

New Numbers: Inflation Train Wreck Continues

(Still Not Making This Stuff Up)

producer price index ppi august 2022

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.

consumer price index cpi august 2022

 


 

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

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$750 Billion Is Hi-Test Gasoline On The Inflation Bonfire

Inflation Is Baked In The Cake – You Knew That
Destruction Of 60 Million Independent Contractor Businesses– See That Coming?

America dodged a several trillion-dollar bullet when the Build Back Better plan was rejected. Did rampant inflation caused by trillions in spending already approved by Congress play a role? We can only hope. Now we have the IRA, which everyone agrees will do nothing to reduce inflation. Seven hundred fifty billion of new spending. For a football stadium full of IRS agents. Enforcing new rules that they are pretending are the old rules. But they are not.

Government does not like independent contractors, freelancers, small businesses, gig workers, or others who do not operate within highly regulated industry structures. Nontraditional workers are too hard to find, tax, and regulate. Everything a bureaucrat hates.

Independent workers, who are small businesses unto themselves, are about 35% of American workers, in whole or part. That’s about 60 million Americans. Sixty million small businesses. And that is about to change. Why do you think they want another 87,000 IRS agents? To go after rich people? Ho ho ho. And hah!

Americans like working independently. Especially younger Americans. For flexibility. To be your own boss. Other good, American-type reasons.

And if you are worried about the younger generation… and who isn’t? You might find some hope in the fact that they seem even more dedicated to personal responsibility in their employment.

It is too soon to tell how bad all this will be. But it will be bad. Very bad. Just look at California which implemented this scheme in 2020. Why is the supply chain so screwed up? Could whacking 70,000 owner/operator truckers with new taxes, fees, and regulations by reclassifying them as employees rather than independent businesses have some effect? Millions more are suffering. From yoga instructors to hairdressers. Entrepreneurs who rent space for their business are now employees.

The American Dream is under assault as never before. From inflation to stifling regulation, to inviting low-cost labor competition by abandoning our borders. Middle class Americans must fight back. Your children want the independence of their own business. We must work together to keep that dream a reality.

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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):

retail gasoline prices august 2022

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.

weekly u.s. ending stocks of total gasoline in thousands of barrels august 2022

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.

producer price index chart august 2022

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

consumer price index chart august 2022

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?

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:

regular gasoline prices chart july 2022

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:

u.s. all grades all formulations retail gasoline prices projection

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 index chart june 2022

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:

producer price index chart june 2022

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!

mortgage rates chart july 2022

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:

atlanta fed gdp chart

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

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

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.

consumer price index chart may 2022

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%?

producer price index chart may 2022

coffee price chart

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):

mortgage market survey chart

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

dow jones industrial average chart june 2022

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

Read the Print Version

Just The Facts Ma’am. All Good Stuff Without Bad Fluff

Is The World Changing? What Can You Do To Succeed?

You yourself are getting older. You expect to live longer. And healthier. Than any generation ever. In the history of the world. And you are correct. Has there ever been a generation quite like this one? Higher expectations. Greater achievement. Self-confidence. Ambition. Generosity.

Thanks to you, America is getting older. We grew up in an era of large families. Today a large family is three. Many of your kids have no kids. Maybe one or two. How often do you see a family of five? Youngsters are a shrinking slice of the population pie.

As folks get older, they have greater needs. No surprise. Physical and mental capabilities decline. It happens. But not at age 60 or 70, anymore. However, when we get to our mid-80’s, about half of us are going to need a hand. Who will be there to lend the hand?

Nurses are sick. And tired. Sick and tired of nursing. Hundreds of thousands have left the profession. Despite high pay. And bonuses. Other caregivers are under stress too. Good help is hard to find. My father had 8 kids (and a long-suffering son-in-law). Willing and able to spend 2-to-4 week turns with our active, ornery, mentally alert, Dad. For the last two years of his 96 years on this planet. How many of us have that many kids? How many are able? How many are willing? Who will fill the gap? How will those caregivers be paid?

Prices are going up. Way up. Way way up. No one should be fooled by the three-card monte scam being run out of Washington, D.C. Inflation is not just gasoline. Inflation is not just “transitory.” Or the Russians’ fault. Or the “supply chain.” Inflation destroys savings. Your savings. You thought you had enough to pay the caregivers. Maybe you should think again?

Is this tiresome and boring? After all, everybody knows these things. You know this is the truth. Go to the gas station or grocery store. Talk to your friends and neighbors, at church or the club. Why deny the evidence of your own eyes? And wallet?

Pathetic politicians and profiteering professionals pretend nothing has changed. Same old, same old. Their ideas failed when everything was easier. That’s all they’ve got. No new thinking. No response to the changing world.

Retreads. Like Russia hauling 60-year-old tanks out of cold storage to keep invading a country that is armed with modern weapons Anything to keep playing the old game. Blind stupidity: failed with our new stuff, so let’s fail again with our old stuff. Keep up the charade long enough to fleece another few suckers. Why does anyone fall for it?

Can’t we be brutally honest? Can’t we look around with clear eyes, good hearts, and a fierce determination to keep our independence, our right to choose our lives, and to make a better world for our families? Who says we must accept decline? Who says we must put up with this nonsense? Who says we must follow the well-trod path? Can’t we choose the “road less-taken”? You have forged your own way through this life with grace, compassion, and generosity, why stop now?

Just a few pebbles start a landslide. A little snowball launches an avalanche. Small changes in thinking about your future, acting and planning for your life to come, can change everything over time. Are you opposed to making the next 10, 20, 30 years the best they can be? Are you against securing your own future and that of your family? Do you believe that “Ignorance is Bliss”? Do you reject that “Knowledge is Power”?

No one would blame you for thinking this is all a lot of blather. But everything above is backed up by the facts. Laid out below. You don’t need clever talk. Just the facts. And here they are:

covid death spikes

You Are Going To Be Around A Lot Longer Than You Think

Doesn’t everybody know Americans are living longer? Murder rates are up, but that’s mostly 20 to 30-year-olds killing other 20 to 30-year-olds. COVID, the Elder Plague, did kill more older folks. From 2020 to 2021, an extra million Americans died. Blip.

However, the overall trend to longer life continues. And that means you. You are living longer. Good for you. Right? Why shouldn’t you plan to live until 80? 85? 90? Or more? Get used to it, you are living longer. And so are your friends and neighbors.

life expectancy graph

If people are living longer, will they need more resources? If you are living longer, will you need to make your own savings last longer? Or will you happily accept poverty? Or a government handout?

There Will Be A Lot More Older Folks In America And Fewer Young Ones

Everybody knows, as life expectancies increase, there are more and more older Americans. Despite the Elder Plague of COVID, which overwhelmingly killed older folks. And given the lower birth rate, not only will there be more seniors, but seniors will be a greater proportion of the population.

It is unusual, but sometimes government information confirms common sense.

older adult population

Isn’t it simple math: if older retired folks make up a larger and larger percentage, then younger, working people must be a smaller and smaller slice of the population pie?

You Are Not Getting Older, You Are Getting Better!
Up To A Point About Age 80, Then You Fall Off The Cliff…

Modern medical miracles are miraculous. But we all know that as we age, various things start to become troublesome. As lifetimes increase, there are more and more older Americans. Is it crazy to think that as there are more and more older Americans, there might be more and more disabled Americans? That’s what the numbers say.

disabilities by age and type chart

Where Have All The Nurses Gone?

Is anyone surprised that as more Americans need more nursing assistance, we will look to America’s nurses? But where have all the nurses gone? Even now, historically high wages, signing bonuses, premium pay, special benefits, and a smorgasbord of other goodies cannot keep nurses nursing.

Hundreds of thousands have dropped out of the profession in the last few years. Only 41% of practicing nurses are committed to remaining in service. 27% saying it was “very unlikely” they would quit. 14% flatly stated that they were “not leaving.” The rest range from “definitely leaving” to “somewhat unlikely” to depart.

When you need a nurse, who will be there? When you need a caregiver, who will answer the call? And how much will you have to pay? Can you?

nursing survey
Source: McKinsey November 2021 Frontline Workforce Survey

Inflation – Bad And Getting Worse. Much Worse

Gone to the gas station or grocery store recently? Then you already have the bad news on inflation. Prices going up, up, up. It is not an illusion. Hard at work spending your tax dollars, the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides the following melancholy reminder that your consumer dollars are melting away like snowflakes on a hot griddle.

And that is bad. What is worse, is the next chart. Take a look!

consumer price index chart

What is worse than prices at the pump skyrocketing? Future prices streaking to the stratosphere, that’s what! Thanks to the geniuses in Washington, you are already paying lots more than last year for your stuff. About 8.5% more. What about next year?

The “Producer Price Index” shows what raw materials cost. How do you manufacture finished goods? You start with raw materials. Raw materials now cost 16.3% more than a year ago. Do you believe that inflation is going away? Do you believe that the geniuses have it all under control? Do you believe in the Easter Bunny, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Lost City of Atlantis?

producer price index

If everything is more expensive, will the costs of long-term care be more expensive? Is it ridiculous to think that ignoring the devastation of inflation will ruin your retirement?

Secure Your Future, Avoid Nursing Home Poverty

Too much brutal honesty? Don’t want to see with clear eyes, good hearts, and a fierce determination to keep your independence? Choose your own life? Make this a better world for your family?

Must you accept decline? Must you put up with this nonsense? Why should you follow mindless path? Why not choose the “road less- taken”? Having forged your own way through this life with grace, compassion, and generosity, why would you stop now?

Why are you opposed to making the next 10, 20, 30 years the best they can be? Why are you against securing your own future and that of your family? Why do you believe that “Ignorance is Bliss”? Why reject that “Knowledge is Power”?

Why not come to a LifePlan™ Workshop? What do you have to lose? Besides everything?

 


 

Letters, We Get Letters!

Lady Byng Trophy* Withdrawn Marquess Of Queensbury Rules** Repealed And Anonymous Emails Too!

What, Me Throw Stones? Challenge Accepted!

We like to think we are genteel, well-mannered, calm, “with the milk of human kindness by the quart in every vein.” Shattering this self-delusion, a dear anonymous email correspondent recently suggested that your Reporter must live in a stainless-steel abode. After all, was not The Reporter throwing too many stones for his own good? Probably meant as a gentle warning. Food for thought!

On the other hand, as John Bunyan observed in 1650: “He that is down needs fear no fall, He that is low no pride…” With a lively appreciation of The Reporter’s own faults, foibles, and failings (multitudinous!) therefore, we soldier on. Without fear or favor!

*Annually, the Lady Byng Trophy is awarded to the National Hockey League player best exhibiting “sportsmanship and gentlemanly behavior.”

**In 1867, the M of Q Rules for boxing were intended to reduce death and maiming of English pugilists. Mike Tyson unavailable for comment.

Avoid Probate, Save Taxes, Get To Kids?
Traditional Planning Is Death Planning
And When You Die Broke, Drained By Long-Term Care, Probate Is Irrelevant

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

Read the Print Version

Breaking News! EXTRA EXTRA – Read All About It!

Gargantuan Globemaster C-17s
– Full Of Formula For Forlorn Foreigners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Never let it be said that The Reporter is a Gloomy Gus or Debbie Downer. At the slightest inkling of good news, you, good reader, will be informed. Today is such a day.

Our crackerjack squad of mild-mannered reporters were researching momentous issues of the day. By watching TV. One alert reporter (see photo) pointed out the newsworthiest item of the day. Details are still coming in, but clearly, the U.S. has stepped up to the rescue, yet again.

vintage family around television from smithsonian magazine
Our Crackerjack Team Gathering Essential Information Credit: Smithsonian Magazine

Apparently, somehow, some way, Ireland and Germany managed to botch production of baby formula. That’s the white powdery substance that you mix with water for infants to drink. Infants do not have teeth, so they need this liquid stuff. Also, they are infants and not good with silverware. Can you imagine such a thing? Modern countries unable to provide for their own baby citizens? Having to rely on the kindness of strangers to feed the most precious and vulnerable? It boggles the mind that any modern nation with a shred of self- respect could allow it. Red-faced embarrassment, indeed!

Anyway, our gaggle of reporters reported that the TV showed pictures of U.S. Air Force cargo planes just loaded with this highly nutritious, if not delicious, essential cargo. In Germany. And Ireland.

c-17 us air force
C-17 Globemaster Aircraft of the Foreign Country Charity Baby Formula Force
Credit: US Air Force

Lucky for them that the old ole US of A was ready, willing, and able to help out once again. Gosh we are just the best. Stay tuned as we bring you all the details…

And while we are waiting for those additional details, we must ask the question, “How could this have happened? To modern, well-governed, intelligent nation-states?”

Just guessing here, as we await further details, but the cause of this sad blunder is no doubt linked to their benighted nondemocratic, royalist histories.

It appears that two formula-drinking babies died of infection. So imperialistic, unthinking Irish and German bureaucrats, drunk with authority and power, ignorantly shut down the baby formula factory that produced some huge percentage of the national baby formula supply. Then, the factory proved scientifically and without question that the tragic deaths had nothing to do with the factory. Or the formula.

And this is where the superiority of the American Way blazes like a supernova beacon in the night! In America, kindly, competent public servants would have evaluated the evidence, made corrections where needed, and with a heartfelt concern for their fellow-citizens, reopened that factory lickety- split! That’s the can-do spirit! Let’s show the whole world how to get the job done!

Not so for those poor Europeans! Oh no, not so. Those folks puttered around for months while supplies ran out. Their second-string newspapers reported shortages last November 2021. Even their government-approved, Establishment-sanctioned, politically correct mouthpieces (the Euro- equivalent of the New York Times and Washington Post) reported impending doom in January 2022. And still their governments did nothing. Sad.

Stand By For Additional Up-To-The-Minute Reporting From Roving Reporters

Our A-Team of Reliable Sources continues to investigate Old Europe’s shameful tragi-comic failure of every government’s most basic duties. By intently watching more TV. This time in black and white because black and white is more serious.

Now reading our Truth Squad’s follow-up report… The Squad states that our initial reports were wrong… we were too optimistic. Situation far far worse than could be imagined. Oh, the Humanity! What have those Germans and Irish done? Uh oh…

It’s Howdy Doody Time!

Hmmm. Well, it appears that, as we have always said, because we are never to blame for any misstatements however gross or negligent, it is not our fault. Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates all agree: “Reporting means never having to say you’re sorry.”

Turns out those heroic Air Force cargo planes were loading infant formula from Germany and Ireland. For delivery to Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. It was American bureaucrats who shut down factories, ignored scientific evidence, sparked panic buying, and moved with the charming speed of an exhausted three-toed sloth. A drunk, debauched, exhausted three-toed sloth. With the shakes. Dismissed the warnings from months ago. Pooh-poohed the damage and suffering. Gosh darn those unelected, unfeeling nabobs!

plane flying over crowd department of defense
Grateful Americans Anxiously Awaiting Generous Germans. And Irish.
Credit: Department of Defense

At least our elected political leaders have the good grace to be embarrassed, apologetic, and eager to set things right. They need our votes, after all. Certainly, they would never exploit parents’ anxiety or babies’ hunger for political expedience. Our statesmen and stateswomen have far too much respect for the intelligence of the American People and their own sense of honor and class to try covering up their failures and attempting to spin this humiliating episode as some sort of victory. Or not.

biden baby formula tweet

Records Set For New Regulations Not Just Inflation, Mortgage Interest Rates, And Gas Prices Anymore

U.S. politicians and government bureaucrats continue to set records that are unlikely to ever be challenged, let alone surpassed. In the last year, 69 brand new, major regulations. 72,000 pages of executive orders, regulations, and legalese. One think tank (probably evil or Russian or both) says this new red tape will cost over $200 billion. Another tank claims that 131 million more hours will be spent bending the proverbial knee to our do-gooding busybody federal potentates. No wonder it is tough to get good help!

boxes of paperwork
New Paperwork Required to Operate a 7-11 Convenience Store
Credit: Raiders of the Lost Ark

Did you know some say every 15% increase in federal regulations leads to a 1% increase in inflation? Me neither. Thank goodness inflation is so low we do not have to worry about that sort of thing. Whew!

Oh yeah. And the stock market is crashing too. Cheers!

Traditional Planning Is Death Planning

Avoid Probate, Save Taxes, Get To Kids?
And When You Die Broke, Drained By Long-Term Care, Probate Is Irrelevant

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

Download the Print Version

Multi-Verse Of Madness? A Random Walk Through The Valley Of The Shadow Of Incompetence

The Original Three Stooges, At Least, Were Funny

Why is our world run by 3 old men with health issues and questionable mental capability? Three geezers with sufficient atomic and hydrogen bombs to erase humanity? Two of them with sugar plum visions of long-lost imperial splendor dancing in their heads. Willing to slaughter other folks wholesale. Two greedy, stuffed-up potentates. Dozens of minor characters in supporting roles have similar grandiose cloud cuckoo land delusions. Complete the picture with a cast of thousands eager to murder for earthly paradise.

Is it surprising that totalitarian tyrannies spew forth thieving tyrants? Isn’t that pretty much what they do? Murder, conquest, plunder, looting, and pillaging are part and parcel of the tyrannical deal. Successful crime proves that the “mandate of heaven” rests on the tyrant.

A couple hundred years ago, a few, very few, people decided to chart a different course. To depend on one another. And vigorous, unrestrained debate. Government based on the consent of the governed. A radical idea that regular folks had something to say. A nation free of tyrants. Composed of free people. Thinking, speaking, and acting freely. Naturally, “smart” people have been desperately fighting against this dangerous idea ever since.

The good and the wise know that too much talking is bad for the peasants. Commoners need a Ministry of Truth, Commission for the Public Good, Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, “Disinformation Governance Board.” Intellectual leading lights from Ivy League universities must ensure you do not think the wrong thoughts or say the wrong words. Or hear anyone who does.

Can the third decrepit old gentleman really be blamed for much of anything? As a two-bit grifting politician, he sold out for cheap long ago. Enabling family members’ dirty dealing with foreign countries and powerful corporations. Selling influence and access. Kickbacks to the “big guy”. Penniless politician to Bruce Wayne multimillionaire. His only surviving son condemned to a maelstrom of drugs and paid-for sex. Pitiful really. Charley McCarthy in the White House. Merely a marionette. Pathetic puppet, dancing to strange tunes.

Yet this superannuated reprobate has performed a valuable service. He proved the obvious: when America retreats, tyranny fills the void. Ask Finland. Ask Sweden. Two countries with centuries of neutrality. Comfortably secure under the American umbrella. Until now. Today they frantically clamor to join the NATO Neighborhood Watch.

Harry Potter Is To Blame!
Or Maybe It Is Doctor Strange’s Fault

Remember the Marvel superhero movie, Ironman? A science guy builds himself a metal suit that flies and blows bad guy stuff up. Cool. Remember Spiderman? Radioactive spider bite, science-science, teenager with spider powers.

Beats bad guys up. Even Superman had the whole red sun/yellow sun science explanation for superpowers. Not anymore. Today superheroes are all magic.

Remember the Harry Potter books and movies? How about the vampire and werewolf books and movies? Say or think the right thing and stuff just happens. All magic. All the time. Magical!

Have you noticed that magical thinking has taken over? Men become women by simply saying so. You don’t even need a fancy spell. Or surgery. Why tampons in the Mens Room? Because men now menstruate. And give birth. How does a man have ovaries and a uterus? Perhaps it helps to start as a woman. Astounding new world records in women’s sports? Perhaps starting as a man helps. Not even Supreme Court Justices can tell the difference. Abracadabra indeed!

Imagine an old, broken-down horse. Shabby. Weak. Shuffling. Re-living its days as a foal. Kept around from pity. Would you enter that horse in the Kentucky Derby? Or the county fair? You might if you believed in the power of magical thinking. You would just tell yourself, and everyone else, that your nag is really a thoroughbred racehorse at the peak of its powers. And if anyone disagreed, you and your friends could shout them down. Fairness requires hobbling all the other horses, since their actual talents and abilities are “unfair” to the nag. Who would enjoy such a race? What would the outcome be?

Is it ridiculous to think that magical thinking in the real world leads to disaster across the board? Would you like to drive across a magical bridge? Live in a magical apartment house? Why not? It’s only fair.

Magical Thinking: Consequences

BASIC PRICE INFLATION. In April 2022, the United States failed to set a new 40-year record high for inflation. At least it stayed above 8%, though, so all of you buying groceries on your credit cards… keep it up, you will have to…

Ivy League Necromancers first blamed the magic inflation on too many people buying treadmills. Then Congressional Conjurers claimed it was temporary. Next Sorcerers Senatorial blamed it on Russia’s Mad Monk Rasputin. Now our trusted Thaumaturges assert something else, but frankly, we have lost track.

Good News! The Ginger Oracle’s Replacement says Inflation will be cured! By raising taxes. We swear we are not making this stuff up. Here is what the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics says:

cpi consumer price index chart

MORTGAGE INTEREST RATES. Mortgage rates continue to astonish, but the American Dream lives! “Homebuyers continue to show resilience even though rising mortgage rates are causing monthly payments to increase by about one-third as compared to a year ago,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. Thank you, Sam! Great to see our public servants serving the public!

Hey Home Sellers! Interest rate increases caused monthly payments go up by ONE-THIRD… Could HOME PRICES be affected? What do YOU think? Can you pull a Homebuyer out of a hat? You may have to….

freddie mac mortgage rate chart

ONE MILLION DEAD FROM ELDER PLAGUE. Do you remember a politician who claimed he would stop COVID? Neither does the Washington Post. Or New York Times. Or the politician himself. He even forgot he was vaccinated. Oh well. Elections are supposed to be magic!

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than a MILLION AMERICANS have died from the virus of unknown origin. Widespread hysteria about the kids was manufactured by people who did not go to work, but still got paid. Fortunately for the children, the virus of unknown origin DOES NOT (hardly at all) KILL KIDS, but it is deadly to older folks. Almost exclusively.

From the very beginning the Reporter has described COVID as the “Elder Plague.” And that has NEVER changed. Here’s the current official CDC chart. Notice anything about deaths among kids ages 0-17? 0-29?

cdc covid death by age chart

NEW RUSSIAN BEACH FRONT RESORT. In Ukraine, on the Black Sea, is a steel plant. You may have heard of it. Bombed for months. Blasted to smithereens. Now your best Russian friend and mine, Crazy Vlad, is repurposing this fixer-upper opportunity as beach resort. Come for Time Share Presentation, leave with new set of steak knives! Wow! Magic solves everything, no?

TOP 10 AMERICAN THEME PARKS. Because inquiring minds want to know, USA Today, a “newspaper” asked regular folks which were the BEST THEME PARKS. #1 is an aquarium which used to have whales in a tank, but not anymore. Winners include a brewery-sponsored park, another that smells like chocolate, and two with country music themes. But the “Happiest Place on Earth” was shut out. Maybe normal folks have had enough of rich people insults. Maybe, finally, “Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Children of All Ages!” isn’t the only thing headed for the garbage dump. Did they think they could magically wish away their customers? Guess so!

Why Can’t You Live In The Magic Kingdom?

Why are the magical thinkers so unhappy? Why does everything they touch turn to crap? Why are they angry? Why are they unable to hear anyone but themselves?

Are you opposed to living in the real world? Are you against your actions having consequences? Do you live to blame other people for your own faults and failings? Do the real abilities and accomplishments of others fill you with jealousy and rage? Are you so special that the world owes you a living? Are you a precious snowflake that all must admire? Are you happy and secure in your own talents and abilities and appreciative of others? Does Magical Thinking work for you? Do you think it would work for your kids?

Is it ridiculous to think that primitive humans, whose lives were “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short,” were still more grounded in reality than the politicians, intellectuals, and other talking heads who insist on one absurd foolishness after another?

It is a blessing to be middle class. No one worships you. You do not inspire fear, anxiety, or dread. Others will tell you the truth. And demand truth from you. We have our challenges to be sure. And the good news is that we are not surrounded by toadies lying to us about those challenges. Lucky you! Lucky me.


 

Traditional Planning Is Death Planning

Avoid Probate, Save Taxes, Get To Kids? And When You Die Broke, Drained By Long-Term Care, Probate Is Irrelevant

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

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