I’ve updated to Wordpress recently, and it’s been the most destructive thing I’ve done to this site so far.
Well, kind of.
The thing is, with blogger, the site was organized in a specific way. Google had my old links up, and i’d get a 404 error message someone would click the link (searches for “Finanzas Forex” would drive a lot of traffic to my site). Hopefully that will be resolved soon, and Google will put my updated links up.
Even more hopefully, I’ll post something new. There have been some interesting developments in different forex companies (notably FFx and TIRN), but the legwork required to do a quality post has had me avoiding it.
However simplistic that example may have been, that’s what’s going on to our dollar right now.
With trillion-dollar bailouts and expensive wars going on, the dollar is being cheapened every day by the printing presses at the Federal Reserve.
How is it that we don’t feel it, you ask? Here’s the short answer: We’re in a depression. People have begun saving again and paying off bills, banks are loaning less and NOT circulating the dollars. So while many, many dollars are being pumped into the system, not a lot of them are being spent.
Just like a bunch of Mickey Mantle cards in storage, no one feels the effects of uncirculated dollars.
This is why an economic recovery is going to be the worst thing imaginable for dollar holders
As the markets thaw out, and consumers start spending again, people are going to realize that there’s a whole lot more paper dollars floating around than before. About a week ago, as rumors started floating around that we were on our way out of this slump, the dollar fell. Coincidence? No way.
This is how Obama is going to cut the federal deficit in half
Loans don’t adjust for inflation (yet). Pres. Obama is going to pay off debts with cheap dollars. The dollar is already at risk of losing its AAA rating, and China, our biggest debt holder, is taking notice.
The important thing is to have something that has value in and of itself. The dollar is worth something because the US Government says it does. That’s no good — this is where gold comes in. It’s real, it doesn’t inflate, it can be stored, sold, bought, melted down and can be transported easily.
Well, the transportability issue isn’t really all that accurate, since we don’t even deal with cash much anymore– we’re used to the digital buying and selling of dollar-backed credits. Fortunately, I found an awesome site called GoldMoney.com. they have their own currency, called GoldGrams, which are 100 percent backed by gold. They function like a bank, allowing you to make payments on things online and transfer from GoldGrams to dollars quickly (for a small fee). The best thing is that the money is independent of the dollar, so the more the dollar tanks, the more buying power you have. Just these last few weeks, one GoldGram went up in value by 3 dollars. The more dollars begin to circulate, the lower they’ll go in value, while gold goes up. Gold is about to hit 1,000 dollars an ounce. The time to get into gold is now.
If you like sensible economics, and good monetary advice, check out Richard Maybury’s free bulletins. Honestly, his books changed how I see the world.
Think fast:
Someone tells you that they’re making a fortune doing something that another guy with a fortune told you to do, because God told him to do it.
Welcome to the strange world of Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing, and the strange re-interpretation of a website called SuFortunaDVD.com.
First off, I think it’s impossible to have a company name with more industry buzz-words.
Fortune High Tech Marketing. It’s like calling a cereal Yummy Crunchy Tasty-Puffs.
I don’t doubt that the founder, Paul Orberson, has found incredible success as a salesman (here’s an article to prove it), but in his business plan, success is only to be found at the very top.
Regardless of that, it seems like things get a little convoluted when translated to Spanish.
Enter SuFortunaDVD.com, a website that is tailor-made for Prosperity-Gospel Christian latin Americans. In the middle of the video, the short man tells of Paul Orberson’s claims that God told him to create a company that would allow him to share his fabulous wealth with everyone (last I checked, that was called a charity). At the home page is a thirty-minute long video where a short man with white hair explains the way the company works. Here’s what I gathered:
You have to sign up three people as salesmen, then sign on customers that subscribe to 10 of these products. The money is made by subscribing these customers to “customer loyalty” programs. The problem is that if you only have 17 programs to pick from! Try convincing someone in this capitalist market that they’ll be locked into a loyalty program.
With such a poor business strategy, where does this company make their money?
This is where the 300 dollar entrance fee comes in. For licensing and other “startup costs”, Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing will charge 300 dollars from the starting block. SuFortunaDVD gets by this prickly subject quickly by saying that by signing up just a few people, you’ll be able to recoup that cash, and more.
SuFortunaDVD.com doesn’t seem to convince, either. The website is slapped together, made with Joomla, an automatic drag-and-drop website maker.
The Problem: To be sucessful in this business, you have to make sure that everyone in your “downline” is actively working. You have to babysit everyone below you.
At the end of the video, the short man talking re-introduces himself as Pastor Juan Ayala, the Executive Manager of all of Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing. Why he would want to present himself as a religious leader instead of a business professional shows that he has a very focused audience. When clicking on the “radio” button, a playlist comes up of christian songs proclaiming wealth and success, interspersed with testimonies.
It seems like this business is more about faith than work.
The last time I realized I was making money with Google ads, I made the ad space bigger.
This appears to have worked. I’ve made more in the last two months than I’ve made in the whole year-and-a-half existence of this blog. And I haven’t posted anything for two and a half months!
That being said, I’ve been able to pay for hosting for this year, and hopefully I’ll receive my check in the mail.
I have to keep writing.
I got a strange letter in the mail last week. It had my name and address printed out and glued to the envelope, and the return address said “finanzas forex”, and MY address. The letter was bulky, and scotch-taped on one side. I honestly expected there to be a cloud of white powder when I opened it. Going against my better judgment, I opened it. The letter was a bunch of printed-out internet articles from a website that purportedly exposes MLM schemes. It was page after page of Finanzas Forex flames and the dangers of it. The letter really concerned me, not because it was talking badly about FFx, but because someone actually took the time to do a WHOIS search of my website, copy my address, and send me something to my house. I think a simple comment would have sufficed, my snail-mail-stalker-buddy. Needless to say, I’ve made the WHOIS information private.
Holy crap!
I’ve risen the Google ranks to become the fourth site listed for “finanzas forex”! If anyone looks over my first posts, they’ll see that this boost in internet stardom is a far cry from my humble beginnings. There are even people quoting me! Like PhD students and Polish guys and even robots! I must say that I’ve become somewhat of a celebrity on the pseudo-investment-pundit-blogosphere.
Being true to my roots, I’m going to increase the space alloted for google ads. Maybe I’ll finally turn a profit.
Note: My apologies to Christine Folch, the PhD student, whose blog I linked to for the sole purpose of progressing my own selfish agenda. Because the forum I linked to above may have not been written in Polish, I also extend my aplologies to my Polish (or Slovenian or Czech or whatever) friends.
Thankful for God’s blessings every day, even for the things I take for granted. Good turkey, too.
This post is in response to the 53rd comment on my “Entrepreneurs” entry of December 15th, 2007. The comment made reference to a wireless company “My Wireless Rep”, and called it a scam.
I beg to differ.
There have been whole empires built on the quote, “There’s a sucker born every minute”. For Chinese companies that make iPod knockoffs that end up breaking after two months, the suckers are the cheap consumers that think they’re getting a deal. For companies like My Wireless Rep, Mona-Vie, Amway, YourTravelBiz and other companies, the suckers are the “representatives”.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s ways to make money in companies like those (obviously, someone up the line is), but if, to sell the product, you have to mention to the client that HE TOO can turn around and become a seller of this wonderful product, it’s probably because you’re pushing something that can’t stand on its own two legs. Take Mona-Vie, for example. A friend introduced me to this product… It’s made from the Brazilian Acai fruit, and supposedly works miracles for everything in your body (Makes you lose weight AND fights anorexia!). The thing is, it tastes HORRIBLE! The only way people will buy the 40 dollar bottle of nastiness is if they can somehow be convinced that they will be able to sell it to THEIR gullible friends.
The same thing goes for that wireless company– on their website, they take the number of total wireless customers in the WORLD (255 million), and tell you that if you can just snag 10,000 of them to sign up for your wireless plan, you’d be banking 24,000 dollars a month.
Sure, the math makes sense, but, honestly– how many people have you ever convinced to switch their wireless plan? One? Three at the most? The suckers are the representatives, and the head honchos bank the cash. In the end, these aren’t scams, just improbable business ideas that require insane amounts of effort to break a profit. Just remember: the bigger the rainbow they paint, the longer the walk is to the pot of gold.
By the way, I’m starting a company, it’s called EverMud. I’m selling bags of nutrient-rich mud from the pristine Everglades National Park– it does wonders for your skin! Rejuvinates, Restores and Revitalizes. PLUS, you get 5 percent of whatever you sell. Be your own boss! 5 oz bags are starting at $19.95. Want in?
There’s so much on the internet, screaming for attention. Everyone wants a piece of the action– to bank on the fast-paced feeding frenzy of distracted Webaholics. But how to get past the noise? How does someone get their message past the closed circles of friends and out to the general public? Here’s my take on things:
1) You actually need to have an interesting message. No one cares about how badly things are going from you (unless you have really juicy details, like the guy from iamfacingforclosure.com did). If it’s going to be personal, be prepared to make your life very, very public.
2) People’s time is getting sliced into smaller and smaller fractions. Give me the most information in the shortest amount of time possible. You probably haven’t read this far, because you’re busy websurfing on another open window. Video blogging seems to be the best way to go right now. Heck, just look at YouTube.
That’s all I can come up with for now. Hopefully i’ll try these things out, and see how they work
Let’s take a look at gas prices from a few years back, and current prices. Notice that the difference between gas grades remains the same: ten cents. Back in the day, a ten cent difference meant almost a tenth of your total gas purchase, but as we’re hitting 4 dollars a gallon, it really doesn’t matter much anymore.
I’d heard that premium gas was better for your car, and it would give you better gas mileage, so i decided to give it a try. My tank takes about 15 gallons, and when filled with regular gas, it gives me approximately 300 miles to the tank (20 mpg). Using the price from the Mobil picture, a full tank of regular gas would cost me $52.50, or 17 cents per mile driven. When I filled my tank with premium gas ( for 57 dollars), apart from getting a smoother-running engine, i got about 360 miles to the tank. This translates to 15 cents per mile driven. The added gas efficiency made the switch to premium gas worthwhile. Now, if I had done those calculations with the old prices, it wouldn’t have been such a big advantage– they both come out the same: 6 cents per mile driven.
So for 4.50 extra, I can have a cleaner running engine, and save money in the long run. I’m switching to premium.