On the Economy; Peter Schiff...

...listen and look at this...copy and paste this link.

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=91&task=videodirectlink&id=1003

It's very much worth a watch...

Riddles

I was just sitting there looking at the screen when I felt something wrapping itself around my right arm. Startled, I looked down and there was a cobra staring at me; not threatening, just looking.
With thoughts it said, “What will you do?”
With thoughts I said, “I don’t know.”
“You summoned me,” said the cobra.
“Are you sure?” said I.
“Oh, yes, otherwise I would not have come,” said the cobra.
“Then please tell me; what did I summon?” said I.
“You summoned me,” said the cobra.
“Did I summon life, or death?” said I.
“You only summoned me and I hold both, the choice is yours,” said the cobra.
“How is it we ponder the choices of life and death and we understand neither?” said I.
“I don’t know, because for me there is no choice; it’s one or the other, neither a choice, ever,” said the cobra.
“We humans spend a life time trying to answer the riddle of life and death,” said I.
“We non-humans live until we die; we don’t commit suicide, and there is no riddle regarding life and death,” said the cobra.
“Please, bite me,” said I.
As the cobra glided its undulating body away, across the floor, dead was I; free of the life not lived.

Air conditioning; yes or no?

Summer is coming, fast, and the temperature is once again climbing into the mid 30's.
My first year here (Thailand, Ratchaburi) I had an air con hotel room (yes, a year in a hotel/long story) and worked in an air con office at an American toy factory. As a result; for the first year, I never acclimated and was always hot and less than completely comfortable. After I quit the factory (another long story) I avoided air con and to this day I don't have it. The school I taught at for 5 years didn't have air con either; so now, even in our home, we don't have it. I am now and have been for years happy as hell to just have a fan and almost never feel "too hot". I complain less about the heat than my Thai wife does, which is a good laugh for both of us (I can also eat the hottest foods that she cannot touch). She claims I'm becoming Thai and she's becoming a farang, LOL. We do have a laugh. The only air con we use is in the car, that's just common sense. So, my counsel is to avoid air con and you'll enjoy your stay here no matter how hot it gets. My friend Andy lives in Nong Bua Lamphu (Isaan) and didn't put air con in his house either and the word is; he's a poor farang, LOL. I wonder if that's the opinion in my village as well? We're one of the only houses without it, LOL.

Wealth vs income; what's the difference?

I think it's very important to understand the difference between wealth and a large income. To wit;

"Wealth is an abundance of valuable material possessions or resources. The word is derived from the old English wela, which is from an Indo-European word stem. [1] An individual, community, region, or country possessing an abundance of such possessions or resources is called wealthy."
"The concept of wealth is of great importance in economics, especially development economics, yet the definition of wealth is not straightforward and there is no universally agreed-upon definition. Different definitions and concepts of wealth have been put forth by different authors and in different contexts.[2] The choice of a definition of wealth can normative and have ethical implications, since wealth maximization is often seen as a goal or put forth as a normative principle of its own."[3] (From Wikipedia)

Recently a couple of people I know, who depend on "wealthy" clients, have told me they have no worries in this economic "downturn" because their clients are wealthy. Both have seen their businesses decline seriously to almost nothing. Why? Because their clients are having "cash flow" problems. So, their clients are not wealthy; they just have/had large incomes subject to the vagaries of the economy. There is a huge difference between wealth and a large income. True wealth isn't dependent on monthly cash flow; a large income is not wealth if there are no substantial cash reserves to back it up. This delusional insistence that a large income is wealth is at the root of our denial and the seed of this economic disaster.
The people who will survive this have no allegiance to any government, dogma, or ism of any kind; only to life and family itself and will, as people have for millennia, migrate to the place they can survive. Don't wait too long, the window is not open for long.

True wealth is happiness.

There is no place to rest...