If You Can Keep Your Head
Archives: Daily Issues
Issue #2271
- WEALTHY: Are banks the bargain that they seem? (Andrew Gordon)
- HEALTHY: When exercise is the last thing you want, try these 6 steps (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: Nietzsche on insanity
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- The best way to protect yourself from chaos (Robert Ringer)
- The wrong way to make comparisons (Bob Bly)
- It’s Good to Know… about the worst air travel delays
- Add "supervene" to your vocabulary
Over 500 Years Ago Marco Polo Made His Fortune Just Like This.
Recently Joe Kennedy Used This Business to Make His Fortune As Well. It’s One of the World’s Oldest Professions (No, Not That One).
The famous explorer Marco Polo risked life and limb traveling 5,600 miles through Mongol-held territory just to bring spices from China to Europe. In the process he became a very rich and powerful man.
All from spices… I know it doesn’t sound glamorous, but boy did it pay well.
Now, 683 years after his death, a window of opportunity has once again opened up in China that will allow you to do the same. Will you take action? Or will you be standing in the way of your own success… again? Click here for more…
Crying All the Way to the Bank
Who would want to leave the cushy OPM (Other People’s Money) club? Not charities, governments, foundations, or the U.N. They’re longtime members. So were banks… but not anymore. They dropped out about a decade ago. Back then, they made most of their profit by taking other people’s money and using it to trade stocks or float bonds for them. No risk there.
Now they have "proprietary" trading desks. (That’s just bank lingo for playing the markets with their own money for their own profit.) They also sell debt and instruments coming from debt (debt derivatives) that they’ve recently had to take back when they turned bad.
In other words, banks engage in some of the same risky market practices as hedge funds. They’re no longer the conservative, risk-averse, play-everything-by-the-book institutions we used to know. And it’s caught up to them. Their share prices are way down. Enough so that you may think they’re a bargain. They’re not.
Banks are cheap because they’ve turned into risky loosey-goosey establishments. Let the rich sheiks pour billions into these falling assets. The banks are broken. Stay away.
[Ed. Note: ETR's Investment Director, Andrew Gordon, is the editor of INCOME, a monthly financial advisory service that uncovers income-generating stocks that promise safety (first and foremost), along with much-higher-than-average profit potential.]
"Insanity in individuals is something rare, but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs it is the rule."
Friedrich Nietzsche
If You Can Keep Your Head
In a fit of insanity, I relented. I let my wife talk me into stopping off at a supermarket on the way back from D.C. You would think that, as a professional social observer, I would enjoy wandering through supermarkets. Not so. In fact, I would prefer a visit to my urologist.
As we were checking out (behind a woman who was writing a personal check to pay for her groceries!), I glanced at the magazine/tabloid rack. And there it was – that paragon of journalistic excellence: the National Examiner. Splattered across the front of this literary masterpiece were the following headlines:
In her own words: DI LETTER REVEALS CHARLES’ PLOT TO KILL HER!
There’s something about the name Charles that makes me suspicious. Charles Manson… Charles de Gaulle… but, most of all, the Prince himself – Charles Philip Arthur George. How can you trust a guy with four first names?
REGIS-KELLY FEUD EXPLODES!… nasty insults spark battle
Who’s Kelly? What happened to Kathie Lee? What year is this, anyway? I wish someone would put me back in the time machine so I could get back to where I belong.
WIN $3,700 IN PUZZLES & GIVEAWAYS
Sounds like more of a sport than NASCAR. Which, admittedly, isn’t saying much.
STUDY: BOOZE BEATS ALZHEIMER’S
Finally, alcoholics have a foolproof excuse for getting tanked.
LOSE 11 LBS IN 7 DAYS – on amazing peanut butter diet!
Yes! Alcoholics have nothing on me. This is the excuse I’ve been looking for all my life. I couldn’t wait to get home and head for the pantry.
But the most meaningful headline of all was for the feature cover story:
WHO’S GAY… and who’s NOT among Hollywood ’s female stars
Below were photos of Martha Stewart (still backlashing after finding her husband making love to their babysitter years ago?), Queen Latifah (Queen who?), Vanna White (the talent of the century), Mariska Hargitay (never heard of her), Jodie Foster (old news), Angelina Jolie (No! You’re kidding!), and two gals, Drew Barrymore and Liv Tyler (another one I’ve never heard of), poised to kiss each other. (Arghhh!)
It gets better. Stamped on Vanna White’s picture was a sunburst that said:
PLUS GAY SERIAL KILLERS!… ROUNDUP
Gay serial killers? Are they the guys who sing "Don we now our gay apparel" as they prepare to escape from prison? Hmm. Maybe I’m confused about that.
So, can we learn anything from headlines like these?
I would assume that most people already know that most Americans are addicted to nonsensical garbage in all forms – print, radio, TV, and Internet. Nothing new there.
We pretty much know why the Hollywood crowd is so screwed up: too much fame and fortune, usually achieved too quickly and almost always with too little real work. We’ve seen it over and over again, from Marilyn to Anna Nicole, from Elvis to John Belushi.
Yes, the rich and famous have an excuse. But what’s the average American’s excuse? Why is he so addicted to silliness, nonstop sports, trivia, perversion, thrill seekers, people in pain, and, above all, unreality?
One reason, of course, is that most people don’t have a meaningful purpose in life. But I think it goes way beyond that.
We are taught, from a very early age, to believe in that which is unreal – known in street parlance as B.S. It becomes so ingrained in us that we jeer those who try to talk straight. Nothing can make a person more unpopular more quickly than daring to be truthful – especially when the truth threatens the instant gratification of others. "Woe to him," cautioned Will Durant, "who teaches men faster than they can learn."
Who wants to hear that the 60-year-old "Mideast peace process" (yawn) is an aberration that helps make U.S. presidents look important?
Who wants to hear that the only way to fix Social Security is to abolish it?
Who wants to hear that it’s not the government’s duty – or right – to "get the economy moving," create jobs, or redistribute wealth?
Which leads to the presidential primaries that have hijacked our TV sets. Who wants to hear that today’s current crop of presidential candidates (with the exception of Ron Paul) are varying shades of charlatans?
If you want reality, try this: The Western world – and the U.S., in particular – has lost its collective mind. Which is very profitable for politicians and big corporations. Politicians promise to keep spreading the wealth, which gives big corporations an ever-expanding market of addicted buyers for their electronic gadgets and other toys.
That being the case, my advice to you is this: If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, that is your best insurance policy to protect yourself from the financial and societal chaos that lies ahead.
If you happen to be one of those people who believe that today’s world is a spinning insane asylum, be sure to stick around for another 20 years. I’ve already made a number of mental trips back to the future, and… well, I’ll refrain from saying anything that might cause you to lose interest in whatever it is that you’re watching on TV.
Heck, the Geico lizard and Aflac duck may be running for president by 2028. And, from what I’ve been seeing and hearing on television, they might just be a big improvement over the turkeys who are now on display.
Thanks for bearing with me after I carelessly stumbled out of my time machine. Now that I’m safely back on board, I’ll do my best to stay away from supermarkets. It’s a dangerous activity that could lead to my becoming addicted to the National Examiner.
[Ed. Note: If you're ready for a treasure chest of proven ideas, strategies, and techniques that are guaranteed to dramatically improve your dealmaking skills - and, in the process, increase your income many times over - you won't want to miss out on Robert Ringer's best-selling dealmaking audio series, A Dealmaker's Dream.
And sign up for his Voice of Sanity e-letter here.]
You Already Know Fortunes Are Made from Trading. The Question Is: WHAT Are "They" Trading Most? (And It’s Not Shares or Commodities!)
… Thirty times more trading going on than the stock market and mostly investment banks doing it. Ummm… Maybe "they" know something you don’t? Click here to learn more…
Praise for Ready, Fire, Aim : " This book will surely be a helpful tool for all entrepreneurs, everywhere! "
"Michael has written a power-packed book that will surely ignite both the aspiring entrepreneurs along with the seasoned entrepreneurs. I have been a serial entrepreneur since high school, and have learned a lot along the way. This book will now be part of my recommended required reading. To sum it up, Ready, Fire, Aim is an energy-filled book that shares some proven and effective strategies on how to be a successful entrepreneur. This book is an authentic, to-the-point guide that will surely be a helpful tool for all entrepreneurs, everywhere!"
- Adam Toren
Co-founder/President
YoungEntrepreneur.com
277 Percent Better
By Bob Bly
A TV commercial for Zone Pilates said the product is "277 percent more effective."
277 percent more effective than what?
Other Pilates machines? Ordinary Pilates with no equipment? Sit-ups? Going to the gym? Richard Simmons?
When you compare something, you have to say what you are comparing it to.
My rewrite: "Zones Pilates are 277 percent more effective than doing ordinary Pilates."
Now, isn’t that better?
[Ed Note: Bob Bly is a contributor to ETR's Internet Money Club, where we'll help build you an online business within the next 12 months. The club's memberships were 100% filled up last month - but we've just opened up a small handful of slots for a very limited time. To check on availability, click here.
Sign up for Bob's free monthly e-zine, The Direct Response Letter, and get more than $100 in free bonuses.]
How to Get Motivated to Work Out
Sometimes you just don’t feel like doing your workout. It even happens to me, and I’m a pro! But I know that I feel like a million bucks after my workout. And I know I can’t let myself get "soft" and start skipping sessions.
I have to lead by example. But what about you?
If you are set on achieving your fitness goals, you’ve got to grit your teeth and do the job. So here are some suggestions to inspire you.
- Reward yourself when you finish a workout. Treat yourself to a magazine, a TV show, some extra time with your family, some new songs for your iPod, or even a little extra time for yourself.
- Punish yourself when you miss one. Skip the workout, put $20 into a jar to spend on home repairs. (Make sure your spouse controls the jar.)
- Review your goals every day and every night. Keeping your goals fresh in your mind will help you stay on track.
- Realize that the hardest part of the workout is often getting your butt to the gym. Once you get five minutes into it, you will be over the hump. So tell yourself, "I’ll just go in and do one set of the first two exercises. Then I can leave." Next thing you know, you’ll have done the entire workout.
- Visualize yourself performing a great workout and finishing strong. Get yourself mentally prepared, and you will have better workouts every time.
- Crank the tunes. Seriously. Nothing motivates like music.
Now get out there and kick the fat to the curb!
[Ed. Note: Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne is the creator of the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss system. For a free online source of information, motivation, and social support to help you improve your health, lose weight, and get fit, sign up for ETR's free natural health e-letter.]
It’s Good to Know: The Worst Air Travel Delays
Delays are an inevitable part of flying. And there is nothing much that you can do about it except try to avoid airports and airlines with bad on-time records.
To help you with your travel plans, here’s a list of the worst ones:
Airlines (% of flights that left on time in 2007)
Atlantic Southeast: 63%
Comair: 66.3%
US Airways: 67.8%
Jetblue: 67.9%
American Eagle: 68.5%
Airports (% of flights that left at least 15 minutes late in 2007)
New York, JFK: 35%
Chicago, O’Hare: 35%
Newark : 34%
Philadelphia : 33%
Charlotte : 32%
(Source: Travel and Leisure )
They’ll Wonder How You Got So Much Time And Money On Your Hands
If an immigrant can start a business with less than $100 and almost no effort…start making a great deal of money by the end of the week…then turn around and sell it for a massive profit within the year… surely you can, too.
Kim Martowski says " I was able to use this system to build a large business… that could sometimes make as high as $7200 in a month."
Paolo Torres adds "I studied your strategies and, although this isn’t usual, this month I actually earned over $15,000 in commissions."
They’re living the American Dream! Now it’s time for you to start living it too.
- Charlie Byrne
Word to the Wise: Supervene
To "supervene" (soo-pur-VEEN) is to occur as something additional, extraneous, or unexpected. The word is from the Latin for "over" + "to come."
Example (as used by Robert McCrum in The Observer): "Perhaps it was inevitable that, after the magical extravaganza of the Eighties, a day-after-the-feast mood should supervene."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
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