More Ron Paul Videos & A Review of My Stock Picks

Ron Paul on Health Reform and the Economy

Here's another fantastic interview with Congressman Ron Paul, MD on the Democrat's plan for health care reform, the individual's right to health care, and the costs of a governmental single-payer system.

"They've never been right on projections of medical programs," referring to his colleagues in Congress, "they're always off by 100%, 200%. It always costs a lot more."

If viewing in a reader click through to view the video.

Read the whole story at Yahoo's Tech Ticker

...and while I'm at it check out his answers to the economy and what he would and wouldn't have done had he won the presidential races rather than Obama.



Read the story here.

My Stock Picks

By the way, I know I haven't been providing monthly stock picks as I have in the past. This is mostly because I want to come up with a better way to do it. I have however been following up on my picks from last Spring and Summer.

I had a few months of horrific picks (Oct '07, Nov. '07, Jan. '08, & May '08) but as my mindset on the economy started to change as the summer kicked in last year my selections started beating the market as they did before the crisis. I'm fairly proud of that even though I too got sucked into the decline thoroughly in the very begging peaking with my terrible results from my January 2008 selections which dropped a combined 52.3 percent.

Take a look at my final results for the months, May 2008, June 2008, and July 2008 and you'll see a nice gradual return to my beating the market. Even in all of the subsequent months since July 2008, which still remain active, I'm beating the overall market, that's seven months of selections in a row. My choices definitely look pretty good despite the complete market collapse in the Fall of 2008. :)

One day in the hopefully near future I'll iron out a new way of tracking my stock picks. When that time comes I'll let you know here.

Ron Paul's Audit of the Federal Reserve

A little over a week has passed since I last offered the dire outlook for the American dollar as posed by the misc people who produce quality YouTube videos. That video posed the possibility of hyperinflation. This video via Yahoo's Tech Ticker is another along the same lines. Though it doesn't talk specifically about the consequences of current policy it does discuss Ron Paul's attempt to audit the fed. This makes sense to me as I am an auditor by trade and especially since these are extreme times economically. Ron Paul has been warning of these kinds of actions for years now and it's interesting to see him getting more and more publicity as I think many people are finding his thoughts to be plausible.

In a related note, Peter Schiff is considering running for office for the 2010 Senate elections. This just goes to show us that the credibility of those that warned us of financial disaster is growing day by day.

Ron Paul's Attempt To Audit The Fed

Peter Schiff says Hyperinflation Is Right Around the Corner

This series of videos on hyperinflation - skewed opinions as they are - are the most riveting analytical pieces on the current state of American economic theory that I have seen to date. Peter Schiff, Ron Paul, Jim Rogers, Tom Woods, Gerald Celente, etc. say it like it is and warn of impending doom. One might find their theories on economic collapse, hyperinflation, and financial Armageddon to be fear mongering but they were the few (Peter Schiff & Ron Paul especially) who called the market collapse long before it ever happened.

Personally; I'm not convinced that hyperinflation is coming unless deficits continue to climb year after year at the current rate. US debt owed is still only around 75 percent* or so of national GDP (which is darned high); the only problem is that debt is rising and GPD is falling. 100 percent seems right around the corner with the way Obama is spending money... It's a crazy world we live in. I'm getting into commodities once the next leg down occurs... and if this debt to GDP ratio starts getting above 100 percent I will have a hard time not getting into the hyperinfation boat.

*Update 7/3/09: The debt to national output (GDP) is actually 80 percent now. MOUNTAIN OF DEBT: Rising debt may be next crisis: "The overall debt is now slightly over 80 percent of the annual output of the entire U.S. economy, as measured by the gross domestic product."

Enjoy the following videos.

Hyperinflation Video - Part 1

Hyperinflation Video - Part 2

Hyperinflation Video - Part 3

The Palm Pre Is A Beautiful Thing

The Palm Pre Is A Beautiful Thing

Check out Flor on her new toy.

Flor On Her New Palm Pre!

Flor On Her New Palm Pre!

La Mesa Oktoberfest 2008

When I was a kid I lived (for a time) in Nurnberg, Germany. When I was in college I lived (for a time) in Vienna, Austria. In both of those places the locals speak German, they drink beer, and they eat sausages.

I learned just today that there is a big multitude of transplanted Germans living in Lakeside from my coworker who used to live there. This population probably is one of the reasons that Oktoberfest in La Mesa has been so popular for so long. It seems to be regarded as the best San Diego location for Oktoberfest and since it is right off the trolley line just 20 minutes from our condo by public transit we figured this would be a great outing to kick start the weekend.

Now I know Flor doesn’t drink beer but seriously; how could you turn down all those great sausages and liederhosen? :) Here’s to a great night out on the town. Who said married folk can’t get out and have a good time? The Mars Volta one night followed up with Polka the next. Prost!

How do we fix the markets?

I'm going to get a little political here so bear with me. I've decided that of all the presidential candidates I'm going to be supporting Ron Paul during this electoral season. Mostly because he is a Libertarian and shares very similar views as I do.

I've decided that the Republican vs. Democratic system just doesn't work for people like me. Fiscally speaking I'm very conservative which bodes well with the Republicans but socially speaking I'm fairly liberal which bodes well with the Democrats. Basically if I choose sides within the two-party system I'm choosing one of my belief systems over the other and that's just not cool.

Anyway, Paul, though running as Republican, hits both sides of my political beliefs as he is fiscally conservative and socially liberal... and most importantly very capitalistic. He's perfect for me... except he's a little bit more anti-foreign involvement than I care for but I can overlook that.

So with all the market turmoil these days he has just published his "Comprehensive Economic Revitalization Plan". I encourage you to read it as it will drastically differ from all other candidates. The main difference is (generally speaking) Paul looks to revitalize the economy for decades instead of quarters. All this short-term stimulus stuff that everybody is talking about is just that, short term... and really short term. Although I'd like to receive a check this tax season for an extra $300-$1,200 dollars I'd also like the dollar to buy 1.5 Canadian Dollars again or 1.2 Euros again. I'd like commodity inflation to stop. I'd like government to stop spending us into greater deficits as that makes life tougher for me in the future.

In the end, a little market slowdown vs. recession today means next to nothing to me compared to a stronger US economy 20-30 years from now. I believe Paul's reforms could bring us the latter and that will mean something significant to anybody despite their beliefs.

In addition to Paul's plan (linked above) I'd encourage you to take a look at his Campaign Blog and subscribe to it. It is updated roughly 5 times a day but it's an easy and enlightening read.

Colbert '08

So I am a regular viewer of The Daily Show followed by The Colbert Report on Comedy Central every night and I must say I've been slacking off this week as I haven't watched any of the episodes in about 3 or 4 days but as I was logging into my computer this morning I came across this article regarding my very own beloved Steven Colbert.

He has decided to enter the presidential race running as both a Republican and Democrat, possibly on the ticket as Colbert - Colbert. And on Tuesday's Colbert Report he finally officially announced his candidacy even one upping late-comer Fred Thompson. He of course will fill the void in the race as he states quite bluntly in an earlier interview in Sunday's New York Times:

"I am not ready to announce yet — even though it's clear that the voters are desperate for a white, male, middle-aged, Jesus-trumpeting alternative."

This wold is finally in for some truly good things. :)

Book Review: Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

I finished reading last Friday Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope. Again I read this via audio book in my car while commuting so I pushed through it somewhat fast. I don't really classify myself as a democrat or a republican so I don't find myself loving or hating Obama. I tend to believe in a more Libertarian or Capitalistic political approach so there were some things that I really didn't agree with in this book but on the other hand there were many elements to Obama's philosophy that I couldn't help but love.

In this book Obama pretty much just skimmed over his beliefs on just about every possible subject while sporadically including thoughts and stories from his own childhood and adult life. It was very interesting to learn of the growth of Barack from relative anonymousness to political super stardom. I had never heard of him until last fall even. Mostly I found I loved his speaking ability and the quality of his voice and vocal inflections as he read. He seemed inspiring even when I didn't fully agree with what he had to say. Funny, but true.

Honestly, I think he would be a fine president that I could support but for now I won't be voting for him, there are to many other candidates that I might find more attractive. If anyone wants to learn about Barack then this is the book / 5 CDs to to do it.

Wolfowitz And His Girlfriend

I must admit that I haven't quite caught up on current events during the week of my trip to Missouri but I just read this post that sums up a lot of the corruption scandal at the World Bank regarding Wolfowitz and his girlfriend.

Apparently he went around routine HR practices to secure his girlfriend a $60,000 annual tax-free raise and prescribed annual 8% tax-free raises going forward amounting to huge sums of tax-free money. This becomes particularly scandalous because he is a Bush appointee and the president of the World Bank whose primary mission is to provide loans and banking services to poor and underdeveloped countries, countries which are typically troubled with large amounts of corruption and poverty.

Anyway, it a lot to read and I haven't even taken it all in yet but this is much more interesting and news-worthy than all this Imus In The Morning garbage.

Side note: I can't believe Imus got Time's cover. Ugh!

Really, Really, Old

Ever since I was young I wanted to grow to be really old. I've always wanted to live well into my hundreds but kind of stopped thinking much about it until recently but I still can't help to be compelled to 'try' to live really long. I came across this article on BBC linked from the Healthbolt. The article tells the tale of a man turning 116 today and how he thinks he got to be that old.

"Hryhoriy, who still has a full head of hair, says that being single has kept him feeling young. He recommends a diet of milk, cheese and potatoes as well as the occasional shot of vodka."

How about that, huh? Who knew it was so easy? ...ohh yeah, he also worked on a farm until he turned 100. That hard labor probably kept him fit too. Maybe it isn't that easy after all.

2007 - Another Year Begins

Just thought I'd make an entry here 'cause it's a new year and I haven't made an entry in about a thousand years. Happy New Years everybody! In case anyone still checks this feel free to say hello. For now I leave you with a picture from my new years celebration.

Indecision 2004

Well the eastern state’s voting booths are closed now. And seeing that the “swing” states are predominantly Eastern and Central the election is for the most part over. The votes must only be counted… and counted… and counted a third time. Finally some more votes will be added, a few others will be subtracted, Bush will mention 9/11, Kerry will mention Vietnam, Rather will mention some fake UFO documents that Bush has tried to hide, Savage will declare all “blue” states French Traitors, O’Reily will join Clinton for a little intimate time with the candidate’s daughters, Arnold will write his own name in as an alternative to the two presidents, and Gore will make a desperate plea for a real job. It all starts now. SNL will be great for the next two months.