2011

A HOUSE OF CARDS

financial house of cards

IT'S IN THE CARDS
&
THE CARDS ARE STACKED

 

compiled by Dee Finney

 

4-8-10

I've never had a specific dated dream about 2011. I got these visions this morning.

I was awake, but closed my eyes - very relaxed.

I saw the date, written very small on a black background - 2011 written in white.

I said to spirit: "I don't know anything about 2011."

I saw the words: WHATDOYOU? on top of a deck of pink playing cards face down
with the word DREAM in very large letters between the WHATDOYOU? and the cards.


I said to spirit:, "I've never dreamed anything about 2011."

Immediately I saw the cards again, the first half turned over with numbers on them -
and the rest were still face down.

The first row of cards 6 were face up.
The second row - five were turned up.
The third row - four were turned up.
The fourth row - three were turned up.
The fifth row - two were turned up
The sixth row - only one was turned up.

There were no face cards, just numbers like dates. The only number I really saw was 11.

NOTE: 
There were three number crunchers who responded to my query about the numbers.

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Some kind of a "countdown"? I'm just flat out guessing here, but that was what popped into my little pea brain as I read your message.
His Harper

Numbers usually fit more than a single way.
For example there were six rows.
Also, they add up to 21, could that mean 2/1 or 6/21 or some such combo?
You'll have to get the answer; it won't be right any other way.

Another reader noticed that since a deck of cards has 52 cards plus a joker.  I didn't see any face cards, but I did see the number 11.

53 cards minus 21 cards is  32

If I take away the face cards = 32 - 12 = 20

Response from Joe Mason:

Dee's dream visions about 2011 set off my number crunching bells.
I saw a 777777 in it --

<< The first row of cards - 6 were face up. ... (1 + 6 = 7)
The second row - five were turned up. ... (2 + 5 = 7)
The third row - four were turned up. ... (3 + 4 = 7)
The fourth row - three were turned up. ... (4 + 3 = 7)
The fifth row - two were turned up ... (5 + 2 = 7)
The sixth row - only one was turned up. ... (6 + 1 = 7) >>

It reminds me of a concept about the chakras that I saw in a Joseph Campbell video. The idea is that a person who reaches
the upper chakras, has the choice of moving on to another dimension of reality or staying on the earth plane. If the choice
is made to stay, the person comes back down to the fourth (heart) chakra, and the seven chakras take on an arrangement that can
figure as 888 --

4
3 5 ... 3 + 5 = 8
2 6 ... 2 + 6 = 8
1 7 ... 1 + 7 = 8

Certain crop circles may be suggesting such an arrangement,
for example, this colorized graphic --

http://www.greatdreams.com/crop/2007ccs/chkopen.gif

This is a photograph of the formation --

Easton Royal, Wiltshire, 2007
http://www.lucypringle.co.uk/photos/2007/uk2007ao.shtml

The chakra colors and numbers are indicated by this graphic --

http://www.greatdreams.com/crop/2007ccs/7colnum.gif

An interesting date in 2011 is November the 11th, or 11-11-11.

One hundred years ago on that day, 11-11-1911, an unusual event happened --

The Great Blue Norther of 11/11/11
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Blue_Norther_of_11/11/11

"The Great Blue Norther of 11/11/11 was a cold snap that affected the central United States on Saturday, November 11, 1911. Many
cities broke record highs early that afternoon. By nightfall, cities were dealing with single-digit temperatures on the Fahrenheit scale.
This is the only day in many midwest cities' weather bureau jurisdictions where the record highs and lows were broken for the
same day. Some cities experienced tornadoes on Saturday and a blizzard on Sunday."

In my theory, this is a possible symbolic event, like a portent of terrible times coming in the 20th Century. Another possible
symbolic event happened 155 days later, on April 14, 1912 -- the sinking of the Titanic. That event was predicted in a book
called, "Futility," 14 years prior --

Futility Or The Wreck Of The Titan
http://www.scenario.sc/futility.php

The days between dates can be determined using this page --

Calculate duration between two dates
http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html

World War I was declared on July 28, 1914. That year had been predicted decades before by a lay preacher as being the start of
the Apocalypse, based on the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel.

An armistice was signed, ending the war, at 11 AM, on the "eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918. This is celebrated
each year on November 11th, as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day. Note that the armistice was signed exactly seven years
after the Great Blue Norther of 11/11/11.

Most of you probably know that Dee and I have been keeping track of the "11:11 coincidences" for many years. A collection
of reports start on this page --

COINCIDENCE AND 11:11
http://www.greatdreams.com/11coin.htm

The triplet numbers, such as 777 and 888, are also reported by many as appearing in coincidental ways. The number coincidences
can be verified via a google search. Biblical connections are explored in this article --

Bible Prophecy Numbers of 111-222-333-444-555-666-777-888-999
http://www.1260-1290-days-bible-prophecy.org/111-
222-333-444-555-666-777-888-999.htm

After I heard Dee's dream, I remembered that the date, 11-11-2011  had a possible 111 relation to the Mayan end date, December 12,
2012. There are 406 days between, which is 1 year, 1 month, 10 days. This can be pictured as 1110.

From the Great Blue Norther of 11/11/11, to the Mayan end date, it will be 101 years, 1 month, 10 days. This can be pictured as
101110.

Coincidentally, it was originally reported that the Mayan end will be at 11:11 AM Universal Time on the Winter Solstice, December 21,
2012. More recently it was rounded up to 11:12 AM. See --

Earth's Seasons - Equinoxes, Solstices 2000-2020
http://tinyurl.com/ycxyecq

The years-months-days format may also be indicated in Revelation 9:15, which tells of the four angels released after being held ready
for one year, one month, one day, and one hour. That can figure as a 1111.

As I was composing this e-mail, another number coincidence popped up. As noted above, there will be 406 days between
11-11-2011 and the Mayan end date, December 12, 2012. This also figures as 58 weeks. The coincidence is that I read an
article last week that included the numbers 58 and 406 --

A Hope for all Humankind through the New Jerusalem - chapter 2
http://www.global-report.com/thehope/a85-chapter-2-parshat-noa%
E1%B8%A5-gen-6-9-11-32

[Excerpt]

<< The Gematria of the name "Noah" is 58. Noah "walked with God" (hithalekh et haElohim) – talked with God as "thou – Atah.
The deepest inter-subjective relationship is the Atah - "I-Thou"  relationship, as taught by the philosopher Martin Buber in his
classical book "I and Thou", and God is essentially "the Eternal Thou". Atah is the first Name of God, as is expressed in any
Jewish benediction: "barukh Atah YHWH our God the Master of the Universe who… ". The most important divinity is "Atah", and
the other Holy Names are just titles. And behold, the Gematria value of the word "Atah" is 406, that is seven times 58 (58 x 7 = 406). >>
[End of excerpt]

The article is a portion of the works of Dr. Yitzhaq (Isaac) Hayut-Man, a scholar and professor in Jerusalem involved in many unifying
projects. The article is part of a book that explores the Book of Genesis in depth, including the meanings of the original words.
His great insight is that the Book of Genesis is prophetic and meant for our times, where the reconstruction of humankind-Adam
takes place at the end of the Sixth Millennium, corresponding to the Sixth Day of Genesis.

********************************

I had another vision while trying to go to sleep.
 
I saw a young man sitting in a kitchen on a yellow wooden chair at a yellow table.
 
He was eating dinner off of yellow dishes.
 
On this right - which was on the left of the picture
 
in a black rectangular box
 
was the word Terrorism
and below that word
was at least 30 dates
 
which tells me that someone is going to deliberately poison food as an act of terrorism.
 
If we remember last year, there were quite a few incidents where people died from eating normal foods, like lettuce, spinach, peanut butter,
 
Evidently this is not a new concept:
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&rlz=1R2ACGW_enUS361&q=poison+in+food+terrorism&aq=&aqi=&aql=&oq=poison+in+food+terrorism&gs_rfai=&fp=467c3568f2eec009
 
NOTE:  Someone commented that with all the yellow in the dream, the food poisoning could likely come from China.

****************************
4-9-10 - DREAM - I was living in an apartment on the second floor.  I had three friends who were sisters who worked at a bar. Each one wore a uniform of vertical fine stripes - one wore light green, one wore light blue, and one wore pink.  I thought about working at the same bar they did, but I noticed that each one's face had very fine wrinkles on their faces - also vertical and there were thousands of them.  It must have been a really hard job to do, so I had to think about it again.

I was talking to my friend Michelle and waiting for the school bus to take Ian to school.  I was sitting in the car in the back seat.  Finally the school bus came to pick Ian up, and Michelle and a brown and white dog got back in the car to drive back home.

I was then in my new house with my husband and looking in the dresser drawer for something to wear because I didn't have any clothes.  I had to wear his clothes.

 (Jesus said, "I will teach women to be men", in the book of Mary Magdalene.

I picked out a bright green thin T shirt, I knew could be seen through unfortunately, and a brown pair of jeans.  Thats what I'd wear until I did the laundry.

I wasn't dressed yet, and my husband's friend came over and I could see only part of him sitting on a kitchen chair, with a big beer bottle in his hand. They started talking about work for the day.

I was standing in the bedroom with just a blue blanket around myself, still picking out my clolthes, and didn't know how to get past the man with the beer bottle so I could go to the bathroom which was through a door next to the beer bottle man.

******************
4-10-10 - YOU GOTTA LAUGH - This dream is about a group of TV stars, from two different families on the same station.   Both men in the dream are named Jack - one from each show.

DREAM.   I was in a high-rise business office, overseeing a meeting that was supposed to start and conclude quite quickly as soon as some documents were signed.  Jack from "As the World Turns" was the only one sitting at the desk (not in the seat of authority)  waiting for the others to show up.  He wanted to get home because there was a family gathering going to happen with three sisters and two brothers. 

I understood his anxiety to want to get the meeting over so he could get home.

While we were waiting for the others to arrive, I made sure there was plenty of water in the fish tank that was taller than it was wide.  The fish tank sat rather precariously on the edge of the sink - the water was rather warm to the touch, and it needed some more water added.  The fish in this tank were rather small - like guppies.

By mistake, I took a drink of the fish tank water -  it was rather sweet tasting, and I think I may have swallowed a small fish that was floating on the top of the tank.  I added some water to the tank, then turned my attention to Jack who wanted to go home after the meeting.

I turned and found myself in the house of Jack, from "The Young and the Restless" - who was waiting for the others from the family to arrive so they could have a leisurely dinner and enjoy each other's company.

Jack was looking out the window to our right and I heard him say, "It's so nice to be able to live in the country and have a quiet afternoon at home."

Just then, I saw a freight train go by on tracks that were not very far from the house.  (One could have thrown a rock from the house to the train)

Just as the train went by, a dump truck came off the highway and starting dumping gravel on the driveway about a foot deep.

No sooner did the dump truck go by, when a huge 100 passenger tour bus pulled into the driveway and pulled in front of the house.

So much for a quiet afternoon at home with the family.

Note -The three sisters in the night sky are the stars comprising the Orions belt namely Alnilam, Alnitak and Mintaka. Alnilam is the star on the left under Betelguese the alpha star in orion constellation, Alnitak is the middle and Mintaka the star in the right side.

Some folk know them as the Three Kings, or the Three Sisters.  (The three sisters could be the dream about the women I wanted to work with in a bar)  (The three Sisters can be seen only from November thru February - but from all over the world as they are on the equator)

 

orion constellation

If you're facing northeast, look to the left of Orion for the bright pale-red star Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus the Bull. If you look through binoculars and place Aldebaran on the extreme right edge of your field, you'll see a large V-shaped grouping of stars filling your field of view, with Aldebaran at the one tip of the V. If your skies are dark enough, you can see this star cluster, called the Hyades, with the naked eye.



three sisters

Aurora, Orion and the Three Sisters

Submitted by: JOHNRFLINN@aol.com at Sun Apr 3 00:34:01 2005 UTC

The geomagnetic storm of Nov 7-8, 2004 created spectacular auroral displays over the Oregon Cascades. Wave upon wave of light rippled overhead. The bright red and yellow front of light seemed to come to a stop over the Three Sisters volcanoes as Orion rose in the East. Nikon FM2 w/ 20mm Nikor at F 3.0 and about 15 seconds using Provia 400F pushed 1.5 stops. JOHNRFLINN@aol.com or CelestialScenics.com

Tuesday April 17, 2007
south sisterClose friends of the Three Sisters, a cluster of young volcanoes in the Oregon Cascades, have known that the group has been bulging for roughly the last ten years. Last week the U.S. Geological Survey issued an update in its monitoring program to say that the rise is less in the last two years, but still continues. The rate of inflation has gone from about 25 millimeters per year to half that. Such motions seem to reflect movements of deep-seated magma and are not necessarily troubling, just interesting for now. You can follow developments at the USGS's special page for the Three Sisters project

Orion includes the prominent asterism known as the Belt of Orion: three bright stars in a row. Surrounding the belt at roughly similar distances are four bright stars, which are considered to represent the outline of the hunter's body. Apparently descending from the 'belt' is a smaller line of three stars (the middle of which is in fact not a star but the Orion Nebula), known as the hunter's 'sword'.

In artistic renderings, the surrounding constellations are sometimes related to Orion: he is depicted standing next to the river Eridanus with his two hunting dogs Canis Major and Canis Minor, fighting Taurus the bull. He is sometimes depicted hunting Lepus the hare.

There are alternative ways to visualize Orion. From the Southern Hemisphere, Orion is oriented differently, and the belt and sword are sometimes called the Saucepan, or Pot in Australia/New Zealand. Orion's Belt is called Drie Konings (Three Kings) or the Drie Susters (Three Sisters) by Afrikaans speakers in South Africa,[2] and are referred to as les Trois Rois (the Three Kings) in Daudet's Lettres de Mon Moulin (1866). The appellation Driekoningen (the Three Kings) is also often found in 17th- and 18th-century Dutch star charts and seaman's guides. The same three stars are known in Spain and Latin America as "The Three Marys."

In the tropics (less than 23.4° from the equator) the constellation transits in the zenith which is best seen in Nov-Feb each year. In the northern hemisphere it is a winter constellation, when it is summer in the southern hemisphere. However, in Antarctica it is best seen in winter as in summer the Sun does not set and therefore no stars are visible. In winter (May-July), Orion is in the 'daytime' sky, however for most of Antarctica, the Sun is below the horizon even at midday, so stars (and thus Orion) are visible in at most twilight sky.'

Stars

  • Betelgeuse, known alternatively by its Bayer designation Alpha Orionis, is a massive M-type red supergiant star nearing the end of its life. When it explodes it will even be visible during the day. It is the second brightest star in Orion, and is a semiregular variable star[4]. It serves as the "right shoulder" of the hunter it represents (assuming that he is facing the observer), and is the twelfth brightest star in the night sky.[5]
  • Rigel, which is also known as Beta Orionis, is a B-type blue supergiant that is the sixth brightest star in the night sky. Similar to Betelguese, Rigel is fusing heavy elements in its core and will pass its supergiant stage soon (on an astronomical timescale), either collapsing in the case of a supernova or shedding its outer layers and turning into a white dwarf. It serves as the left foot of Orion, the hunter.[6]
  • Bellatrix was designated Gamma Orionis by Johann Bayer, but is known colloquially as the "Amazon Star;" it is the twenty-second brightest star in the night sky.[7] Bellatrix is considered a B-type blue giant, though it is too small to explode in a supernova. Bellatrix's luminosity is derived from its high temperature rather than its radius,[8] a factor that defines Betelguese.[4] Bellatrix serves as Orion's left shoulder.[8]
  • Mintaka garnered the name Delta Orionis from Bayer, even though it is the faintest of the three stars in Orion's Belt. It is a multiple star system, composed of a large B-type blue giant and a more massive O-type white star. The Mintaka system constitutes an eclipsing binary variable star, where the eclipse of one star over the other creates a dip in brightness. Mintaka is the westernmost of the three stars that constitute Orion's Belt.[9]
  • Alnilam was named Epsilon Orionis, a consequence of Bayer's wish to name the three stars in Orion's Belt (from north to south) in alphabetical order. Alnilam is a B-type blue supergiant, despite being nearly twice as far from the Sun as Mintaka and Alnitak, the other two belt stars, its luminosity makes it nearly equal in magnitude. Alnilam is losing mass quickly, a consequence of its size;[10] approximately four million years old [10].
  • Saiph was designated Kappa Orionis by Bayer, and serves as Orion's right foot. It is of a similar distance and size to Rigel, but appears much fainter, as its hot surface temperature (46,000°F or 26,000°C) causes it to emit most of its light in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum.

Of the lesser stars, Hatsya (or Iota Orionis) forms the tip of Orion's sword, whilst Meissa (or Lambda Orionis) forms Orion's head. In common with many other bright stars, the names Betelgeuse, Rigel, Saiph, Alnitak, Mintaka, Alnilam, Hatsya and Meissa originate from the Arabic language.

 Belt

Orion's Belt or The Belt of Orion is an astronomical asterism in the constellation Orion. It consists of the three bright stars ζ Ori (Alnitak), ε Ori (Alnilam), and δ Ori (Mintaka). Alnitak is approximately 800 light years away from earth and considering ultraviolet radiation, which human eye can not see, Alnitak is 100,000 more luminous than Sun[11]. Alnilam is approximately 1340 light years away from earth and shines with magnitude 1.70. Considering ultraviolet light Alnilam is 375,000 times more luminous than Sun [12]. Mintaka is 915 light years away and shines with magnitude 2.21. Mintaka is 90,000 times more luminous than Sun. Mintaka is double star. Both stars orbit around each other every 5.73 days. [13] Looking for Orion's Belt in the night sky is the easiest way to locate constellation Orion in the sky. In the Northern hemisphere, Orion's Belt is best visible in the night sky during the month of January at around 9.00 PM when it is approximately around local meridian.[14]

The same three stars are known in Latin America as "The Three Marys".[15] They also mark the northern night sky when the sun is at its lowest point, and were a clear marker for ancient timekeeping.

From Brazil, "The Three Marys" (Orion's Belt- pattern of stars in the constellation consisted of three bright stars), shine in the sky between November and February each year. Delicate and beautiful, Tres Marias lifts up the spirits of all who sees them.

Richard Hinckley Allen lists many folk names for the Belt of Orion. The English ones include: Jacob's Rod or Staff; Peter's Staff; the Golden Yard-arm; the L, or Ell; the Ell and Yard; the Yard-stick, and the Yard-wand; the Ellwand; Our Lady's Wand; the Magi; the Three Kings; the Three Marys; or simply the Three Stars.

Orion, the mythical Hunter, can be seen anywhere on Earth. The three conspicuous “belt stars” straddle the Celestial Equator. This imagined line encircles the sky midway from the North Celestial Pole, where the North Star resides right nearby, and the South Celestial Pole, seen Down Under. In other words, if you were on the ice of the North Polar Cap, right at the North Pole, the Celestial Equator exactly follows your horizon, and the North Star gleams almost exactly straight overhead. Orion’s northern half will be seen riding around the horizon as the 24 hours of night proceeds.

At sunset in the autumn, Orion's belt appears to rise straight up on the horizon.

However, for early risers it is visible all summer. Ancient Greeks marked the Mediterranean harvest seasons with Orion's positions. The poet Hesiod admonished his nephew farmer to watch for the early summer rising of Orion at sunrise: "Forget not, when Orion first appears, To make your servants thresh the sacred ears..." Late in summer, at the time of the grape harvest, Orion rises at midnight. And when Orion rises at sunset in autumn, sailors knew that the time had come to bring their ships to port.

Orion can be seen in the summer - if you live in the Southern Hemisphere. Remember, if it's Winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it's Summer in the Southern Hemisphere. By the time it's Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, our planet is on the other side of the sun. Which means that Orion is up during the day and the sunlight makes it impossible to see.

Due to the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, the constellations seen in the night sky change throughout the year. The constellations Orion and Scorpius are located at opposite sides of the Celestial Sphere (an imaginary sphere of stars that surrounds our Solar System). So as Orion sets in the west, Scorpius rises in the east and vice versa. During the Southern Hemisphere summer, when the South Pole of the Earth is pointed towards the Sun, the Earth is positioned between the constellation of Orion and the Sun. This is why Orion can be seen in our night sky during summer evenings. As the Earth continues to move around the Sun throughout the year, Orion is observed low in the eastern sky during the evening from December, sits overhead throughout February, and sinks low in the western sky come April.

Since Orion's belt of three bright stars lies upon the celestial equator, Orion is visible from every inhabited part of the globe.

The constellation Orion rises in November, the end of the sailing season, and was associated with stormy weather

Likewise, in July when night covers Antarctica, from the South Pole you would see Orion’s southern half ride the horizon, upside down from what you are used to seeing from the United States.

The three belt stars of Orion are actually part of a loose stellar association, a wide-open star cluster with a common origin, moving in space in tandem. From left to right, the stars have Arabic names: Alnitak (”Girdle”), Alnilam (”Belt of Pearls”) and Mintaka (”Belt”).

These stars are at nearly the same distance from us (from left, 800, 1,000 and 900 light years). They are blue-white giant stars, each about 20 times the mass of the sun. They shine at +2nd magnitude (+6th is the usual lower limit of visibility to unaided eyes).

Look for Mintaka’s +7th magnitude companion star, with binoculars. Long-exposure photographs reveal that Alnitak is bathed in a faint cosmic cloud, or nebula, which includes the famous “Horsehead Nebula.” The cloud of black dust, superimposed on background nebula that is lit by star shine, its equine silhouette is unmistakable. Large backyard telescopes (10-inch aperture and bigger) can reveal it under very good sky conditions, and it is one my goals to catch this horsey!

Look also for an S-shaped line of stars that starts above Mintaka and sweeps down and ends between Alnilam and Alnitak. Binoculars are needed if moonlight is an issue.

A group of stars seem to hang below Alnitak and are known as Orion’s Sword. The middle “star” appears fuzzy in binoculars; this is the Great Nebula of Orion (also known as M42), breathtaking in even a small telescope. Stars are being formed within this nebula.

Other principal stars in Orion is the brilliant blue-white Rigel at lower right of the Belt and the fiery red-orange, brilliant Betelgeuse at upper left of the Belt. They mark corners of a huge, rough rectangle, with the Belt in the middle.

While we think of Orion as a mythical Hunter, thanks to the Greeks, the Belt Stars are referred to as the Saucepan (with the Sword stars) in Australia and New Zealand; as the Three Marys in Latin America; and as the Three Kings or Three Sisters in South Africa. The Bible refers to Orion in Job 9:9, Job 38:31 and Amos 5:8.

Contact the writer at pbecker@wayneindependent.com.

Keep looking up!

The passage "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" is found in the Bible's Book of Job.

NOTE:  It came to me that if I combined the 'Jack/Jack' dream to the 2011 dream which contained a deck of cards, 
the Jack = 11, so Jack/Jack would equall 11/11.

The dream above was about three women who were probably the three sisters.


****************************
MORE:  MEDITATION:  i was in a room and a toy red fire truck about 3 feet long flew through the air and set down on a table right behind me.

I then was in a rather dark empty dance hall watching who I thought was Mrs Obama dancing with a tall, thin, young woman - her oldest daughter -   they were dancing sideways -  and a pair of young men were standing behind them in tandem.  The two women twirled and became a frothy, lacy pale green cloud and merged with the two young men on the dance floor.

I then saw a long document on white shiny paper with very fine print on it and 3/4th of the way down the page was the words, very clear "The grail".

I then went into a dream, and I was with my young cousin Robert and another boy and I started telling them my dream about the two Jacks -

and suddenly, in the room was Dr. Robin Falkov (Hoagland's girlfriend-partner) tellng me she had heard the story about Jack from the Young and the Restless telling the audience that he had had a dream while this was all going on, and while she was trying to tell me Jack's dream, I was trying to tell her the dream about the two Jacks and she started confusing me, and I woke up, trying to remember what I saw in the right order.

http://moon.mit.edu
About GRAIL
The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. It is scheduled to launched in 2011. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field in unprecedented detail. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

Scientists will use the gravity field information from the two satellites to X-ray the moon from crust to core to reveal the moon's subsurface structures and, indirectly, its thermal history.

The measurement technique that GRAIL will use was pioneered by the joint U.S.-German Earth observing Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, mission launched in 2002. The GRACE satellites measure gravity changes related to the movement of mass within Earth, such as the melting of ice at the poles and changes in ocean circulation. As with GRACE, both GRAIL spacecraft will be launched on a single launch vehicle.

GRAIL's principal investigator is Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Zuber's team of expert scientists and engineers includes former NASA astronaut Sally Ride, who will lead the mission's public outreach efforts. Up to five cameras aboard each spacecraft will allow students and the public to participate in GRAIL’s mission of lunar exploration. Each GRAIL spacecraft will carry the cameras to document their views from lunar orbits.

GRAIL will support NASA's exploration goals as the agency plans to returns humans to the Moon. In 2008, the agency will launch the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, to circle the Moon for at least a year and take measurements to identify future robotic and human landing sites. The orbiter also will look for potential lunar resources and document aspects of the lunar radiation environment. After a 30-year hiatus, LRO represents NASA's first step toward returning humans to the Moon. GRAIL’s high-resolution gravity measurements will complement LRO’s high-resolution observations of the lunar surface.


4-11-2010 - DREAM - I was working on the 8th floor of a large office building, apparently as an office clerk, secretary.

One of the men I worked for was Jack (from As the World Turns tv show) He was doing something important and then left in a hurry to do something else, leaving his wife Carly and myself in the office alone.   (The meaning of the name Carly is 'Free man')  (The meaning of the name Jack is 'God is gracious')

Carly was making copies on a copier machine and when she left, I noticed that there was a fire in the copy machine, somewhere down in the gearing.

There was no one around I could call for help, so I followed the protocol for fire situations, I started to holler, 'FIRE, FIRE, FIRE", and allerted all the other secretaries on my floor that they should leave the building.

Everyone rushed for the elevator, and I stood in the hallway, pulling on a cord that rang the main alarm bell.  As I woke up, I was still pulling on this cord that just kept coming out of the wall, and not alerting the fire department.

I woke up briefly, remembered the dream, then went back to sleep and found myself again on the 8th floor of the same office building.

Now, there was something wrong with the elevator and the door wouldn't open. 

I had a long stick in my hands and was trying to pry a folding door aside and was making only slight progress when the maintenance man arrived, and then Jack (from As The World Turns) arrived back at work to help fix the elevator door.

While they were working, they pried open a trap door into the attic.  I was watching them work, and they moved a very large piece of 8 x 8 ft square board and secured it behind some black holders, then came back down into the hallway.

That's when I noticed that the maintenance man was Beau (from One Life to Live TV show) and he was dressed like a diver and when he jumped down from the attic, he crossed his arms acrosss his chest like a woman might do to protect herself from getting hurt, and I noticed he was wearing some really strange rubber boots like a skiier does in the Olympics and he leaned way forward in those boots like the men do when they jump off the long ski jump.  He then walked down the hall leaning forward like that.

At that point, Jack was still working on something in the office, and I was doing some work, getting ready to send flowers to someone who was in bereavement.

A young man came into the office and he came over to me with one of those little cards that someone attaches to a bouquet of flowers for a funeral.

The young man said, "My family received this in 1952 and I wanted to come and thank you for doing that. The name Brickman was on the card and it was written apparently by myself in my scrawling penmanship I had when I was in 8th grade at that time.
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&rlz=1R2ACGW_enUS361&q=Brickman+1952+obituary&start=20&sa=N&fp=467c3568f2eec009

He sat next to me on a bench, and I was being very sympathetic to him for the death in his family and asked him who had died. 

He didn't answer me right away, but sat there looking sad, and I said to him, "I was just about to send out another card just like that, but the flowers died."

The young man never did respond and I went outside to water the flowers, and went behind the building and turned on the water spigot.

I noticed that the water was running really hard and that someone had completely relandscaped the area and that nothing was growing at all, not even grass, and there was a dirt bridge built over the waterway that the water was running under.  I immediately turned off the water before the bridge collapsed and I would have no way out of there.  There was no point running the water where nothing was growing at all.

NOTE: There are three 8's evidenced in this dream. It also points to a large office building fire, a drought situation, and a possible bridge collapse.
**************

4-13-10 -  Three dreams in a row where I was supposed to go on a date, and I didn't really want to go.  In the last dream, we were just kids and had to wear roller skates, and several of the kids had playing cards for suits and they were spades.  None of us could remember how to roller skate. Spades can represent death.

4-14-10 -   I had three dreams in a row that I was crocheting a deck of cards, starting with the King in Red and in each dream, when I was done crocheting the deck, there were some cards messed up at the bottom - mostly face cards, but some numbers as well.

4-14-10 -11:30 p.m.  DREAM - I  was again working with the cards, and I saw that I had missed a couple cards, and moved my hands to cake care of that, when my perspective pulled back from the cards so I was farther away, and I saw that there were way more cards than I thought there were, and as I tried to figure out where to start working with the cards, my perspective pulled back even further, and it looked like it was going to be impossible to secure all the cards like I was trying to do.  The harder I tried to figuure it out, the more cards Isaw that I couldn't even get to, to secure them.

NOTE:  I was listening to the internet radio in the afternoon and he was talking about our economy about how it is all balanced between countries now - not just the United States, and that is a HOUSE OF CARDS.

Remember what happens to the house of cards - it always ends up falling down

HOUSE OF CARDS  - VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nTFjVm9sTQ

WHAT IS A HOUSE OF CARDS?

A house of cards (also known as a card tower) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other. House of cards is also an expression for a structure or argument built on a shaky foundation or one that will collapse if a necessary (but possibly overlooked or unappreciated) element is removed.

THE CREDIT CARD HOUSE OF CARDS

Posted by Steve Tuck | 13 Oct 2008

Propping up the house of cards

HOUSE OF CARDS

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that the world financial system is on “the brink of systemic meltdown”; Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat spokesman describes the situation as a “bank tsunami”; the City is talking about a potential banking “armageddon”.  The unprecedented global financial crisis has left us all reeling; where were the

regulators when we needed them?

Ken Clarke, former Chancellor of the Exchequer put it quite succinctly on last week’s edition of the BBC’s Question Time: “the regulators were useless and the new regulation system didn’t work,” he said. After years preparing and implementing Basel II, a regulation regime that was supposed to ensure the capital adequacy of financial institutions and reduce risk, we’ve seen bank failure after bank failure as the true state of their liquidity is revealed.

Vince Cable talks about the need for a new regulatory deal with the financial community, but warns that this “should not be done when the public mood is understandably for hanging, drawing and quartering anyone connected with banking… The priority now is disaster management.”  On that front, it’s good to see a broadly united front from governments as they pump money (our money) into the financial system in an attempt to restore confidence and stabilise things. There’s more finger-crossing and touching wood going on than most of us would like, I’m sure; hope is a key part of the strategy as they try to prop up this house of cards.

Banks have traded in increasingly complex financial instruments without a clear understanding of the market and credit risk. They owe it to their shareholders and the public at large (who may, in any case, become significant shareholders whether they like it or not) to take new measures to scientifically assess and mitigate risk.

The data that financial institutions hold should be put under the microscope for forensic analysis.
How many banks, I wonder, rely on incomplete, inconsistent or out-of-date information for their risk assessments? Consider a couple of examples from the retail banking world. A 95%, interest only mortgage a year ago will have turned into a 110% mortgage today. Self-certified or historic income details may have been sufficient to lend money in a time of rapidly rising house prices, but it’s the customer’s current income that matters.

Here are three data-centric suggestions to help financial institutions identify their current risk exposure:

  1. Perform a regular data audit of all key customer information, including calculated fields, to identify errors and anomalies that indicate credit or market risk.
  2. Ensure that KYC (Know Your Customer) checks are rigorously applied and customers are regularly screened against enhanced due-diligence lists to reduce operational and reputational risk.
  3. If you don’t have a single view of your customers, GET ONE NOW. Understanding the complete relationship you have with your customers will allow you to measure your risk exposure in relation to individual entities and enable your marketing department to reduce attrition by targeting customers at risk.

This last point applies to all institutions, but is particularly salient for those institutions involved in a stressed merger.  I’m not talking here about migrating legacy systems or implementing a grandiose Customer Data Integration strategy – those things can happen in due course, but now is not the time to be contemplating your navel about an IT project that might take 2-5 years to complete.  I’m talking about cutting through the political wrangling and technology bigotry and delivering the information that the business needs to survive today. If that’s not clear, call me now!

2 Responses to “Propping up the house of cards”

  1. Sandra P says:

    I don’t think that data quality is the answer to all of the banks’ current woes, Steve, but I’m sure you have a point. I’ve been involved in a number of Basel II data warehouse implementations and they could all have benefitted from having better information going in to them. The clients never saw it as a priority at the time and I’m sure some of them will be rueing that decision now.

  2. Nice post Steve,

    It’s interesting that in a recent interview with DQ expert Tom Redman (www.dataqualitypro.com/tom-redman-interview), he voiced the opinion that Sarbanes Oxley has failed and I have to agree.

    I do question how much the credit crunch is down to poor DQ. I think competitive practices and lack of regulatory control from the government are probably bigger issues but I also agree that there needs to be far more transparency and visibility that DQ can afford, as Tom mentions in the same article, banks simply don’t trust each others statements.

    I remember 3 years ago a close friend of mine who had been made bankrupt in the past, defaulted on his previous mortgage 5 times and was then granted a self-cert mortgage for x4 times his salary. He’s struggling to keep afloat today.

    I remember thinking at the time, this kind of practice is going to have ramifications down the line, and it clearly has. Millions of these mortgages have been sold in a competitive frenzy with companies hedging their bets that the economy would remain stable.

    The thing is, the mortgage company knew all about my friends history. They knew he was a bad risk yet they still made that decision because of the market forces. I feel that is the type of situation we need to prevent in the future, DQ can help but if a company flies in the face of it then there is little we can do.

 

4-15-10 - It seems like each time I close my eyes, I get a idea!  This time it was, "It's in the cards!' :-)

Since we are on the topic of economy - I found this:

O’Connor: Whitman to Brown – “Beware the Ides of March”

By Colleen O'ConnorSDNN
Monday, March 15, 2010

Editor’s Note: SDNN columnist Colleen O’Connor will write about women throughout the month of March in recognition of Women’s History Month.  Join us as we recognize Women’s History Month by sending in your stories too and checking SDNN every day for stories from other women in our region. Happy Women’s History Month!

San Diego: SDNN Opinion3The truth is.  No one knows.

No one knows who the next governor of California will be.

Once upon a time, Oracles, Seers and the Planets held the answers for wannabe Masters of the Universe.

Even Shakespeare’s Soothsayer warned Julius Caesar, “Beware the Ides of March.”

Then along came political pollsters.  However, their accuracy has suffered of late.

Hence, the need to look at a candidate’s history and the current hands they have been dealt.

Look at the cards former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has been dealt.

First blush looks impressive.

Already the presumptive Republican nominee Whitman is within striking distance of former Governor, and 40 year Democratic career politician Jerry Brown.

According to likely voters polled by Rasmussen Reports, Brown and Whitman are tied at 43 percent each.

While a Daily Kos Research 2000, poll among likely voters, showed Brown at 44 percent and Whitman at 41 percent.

How can a political novice be so close?

Whitman’s high cards

  • She is a woman, in a state predisposed to elect women to higher office (unlike Massachusetts); and with a significant number still angry at Hillary Clinton’s loss.  California women, as Whitman has acknowledged, have provided the margin of victory in most statewide races for the last 20 years.
  • Whitman would be the first woman ever elected Governor of California.
  • She is a non-incumbent, riding a non-incumbent wave.
  • She is a billionaire, spending a goodly amount of her own fortune to finance her campaign; thus enabling her to catapult past her Republican challenger Steve Poizner, and concentrate on Brown.
  • She understands the sophisticated, albeit sometimes shifty financial instruments called derivatives, credit default swaps, off-book accounting, etc. that have produced so much red ink in so many states’ budgets.  Simply put, she can count in a state where the budget is at least $20 billion out of whack.
  • She has run a successful global company in an increasingly global economy.  Meaning, perhaps she can run California as a globally competitive nation-state, rather than a parochial city-state.
  • She is highly educated: Princeton degree in economics; MBA from Harvard Business School. Perhaps she will hire bright, can-do people into her circle.
  • She is young; 53 years old, so the bone crushing duties of a campaign and governing might not crush her spirit.
  • She is tech savvy, in an Internet Age, when ideas, terabytes and digital democracy move faster than the speed of money.
  • And, she is highly competitive; the necessary political draw card.

 

San Diego: Meg Whitman, who is running for governor of California, attends a meeting at the Union Pacific railroad offices in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, March 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Meg Whitman, who is running for governor of California, attends a meeting at the Union Pacific railroad offices in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, March 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Whitman’s low cards

  • She is neither telegenic nor charismatic. As she admitted to writer Amy Wallace, her friends might describe her as, “frumpy, but she gets the job done.”
  • Her knowledge of the state bureaucracy is limited to intensive study and quick mastery of political jargon, spin cycles, and a simple agenda of “create new jobs, cut government spending, and fix our schools.”  Hardly inspirational.  But, then, hope and change were last election’s slogans.
  • She is a billionaire.  Class war is bound to break out in this highly charged, severely depressed state economy.  Whether the anger is directed against the rich, or the middle class’ entitlements, has yet to be determined. Shorthand: bankers, bailouts, and Goldman Sachs vs. unions, state workers’ health care and pension benefits.
  • As a newcomer to the political slug fest—though obviously familiar with the ruthlessness of the corporate world—Whitman is more prone to a costly mistake.  She appears comfortable in front of cameras and reporters, but political opposition hecklers, plants, and “dirty tricksters,” could well derail her message.
  • She stumbled badly by ignoring the press; but reversed course quickly, scheduling more one-on-one interviews; answering reporters’ questions—for over an hour—at the California Republican convention; and taking jabs at Brown.
  • She rarely voted, but answers convincingly, “I was head down, building eBay, with two teenage sons and a neurosurgeon husband, and traveling half the time.”
  • Whitman’s opponents, via Independent Committees, have launched a crowd-sourcing, rumor mill, called “WikiMeg,” to recruit opposition research and damaging information her.  Thus far, the site is more a rage-venting vehicle than a driver of damaging hard evidence.
    Every major campaign employs whole war rooms of bloggers to write negative put-down comments about their opponents, hoping to intimidate them into silence.  This is not confined to politics.  In fact, the nasty rumor mill in the financial world is even more destructive.
  • Whitman carries the baggage of big name Republican supporters that have helped her lead in the primary, but may produce a drag during the general election. They each have legions of detractors and supporters.
  • Finally, Whitman is a Republican in a state that registers heavily Democratic, (44 -31 percent) though increasingly Independent.

Plus, every one, including Obama fan and political columnist, Joe Klein, is giving her advice.

Add to these uncertainties, the explosive mix of ballot initiatives that will drive voters in the primary and general elections, and one can appreciate the difficulty of any prediction.

The trump cards

  • The Democratic base is less enthused than the Republicans.
  • The initiative to legalize marijuana aims to bring out that discouraged base.
  • The initiative to make the state legislature a part-time body will bring out the Independents and those angry at Sacramento’s follies.
  • Attempts to overturn Proposition 8 (that defines “marriage” as between a man and a woman) will bring back the California coalition that voted 52 percent to 47 percent against gay marriage.  Namely, Christians, Mormons, Hispanics, Roman Catholics, and Blacks; i.e., the Reagan Democrats.  This in a state that President Obama carried 60 percent to 37 percent.
  • Unemployment will remain stubbornly high—even with temporary census workers hiring.
  • The budget will remain hugely out of balance.  The state’s credit rating will rank near the lowest in the country; the number of welfare recipients among the highest, and high school dropout rates among the highest.

Whitman’s astrological, not astronomical fortune

No one knows which candidate will play their cards best and become the next Governor of California. They are statistically tied now.

So, I turn to the oldest predictor of fortunes. Not a toss of the coin, but a reading of the stars. After all, if it was good enough for former President Ronald Reagan, it is good enough for us.

According to Jonathan Cainer’s Zodiac Fortune, Meg Whitman, a Leo, is cautioned to “Pick wisely and well, though, and when you get what you are after in 2010, you’ll be glad of it, forever.”

Cainer’s forecast continues, “you’ll spend the second half of 2010 making some of your wisest, most rewarding moves ever.”

So there. Now we know that Shakespeare was right.

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars. But in ourselves.”

Colleen M. O’Connor is a former college history professor, the director of the “Faces of San Diego 2000″ family photographic history project and co-editor of Eleanor Roosevelt: An American Journey.  She is an SDNN political columnist and can be reached at CoConnor15x(a)Yahoo.com

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Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-03-15/columns/oconnor-whitman-to-brown-beware-the-ides-of-march#ixzz0lDydIFzJ

March 16, 2010 at 11:31:24
:

Capitalism Is Dying a Natural Death

By Siv O'Neall (about the author)    

For OpEdNews: Siv O'Neall - Writer



The curtain is going down on the lone-superpower world we know and it is now a most urgent question if and when and how forces for true democracy, human rights, peace and civilization can come out and dissipate the cloud that has spread over what was once an almost decent way of life.

The long-time descent into totalitarian capitalism and neglect for anything but corporate profit has just about finished its course. The party is over. Bankruptcy is next. What we don't know yet is how far-reaching this economic freefall is going to be.

Predecessors such as the German Reich are brought to mind, but the similarities are far from parallel. The inhumanity is on the same scale but the hypocrisy is even worse than in the worst fascist regime. Hypocrisy rules the world. No slogans the rulers of the United States or the rest of the Western world pronounce as their ideologies and goals can be taken for their face value. Lies are the only things that come out of the mouths of our so-called leaders and that is the way they have set up the sordid game to their own advantage.

We the people are not supposed to be aware of how we are being treated like dregs to be discarded. The powers that be imagine that, as long as we are not told the truth about how we are being cheated out of our birth rights, we will lie down like whipped dogs and lick the feet of our torturers.

How far we have come from the somewhat civilized society that the Founding Fathers had in mind for the people of the thirteen states can only be measured if we consider the abysmal lack of basic needs and basic rights that is now the norm in the United States. In fact, there are no areas left in the year 2010 that have been spared from the general decline, cultural, economic or humane. Human rights are in tatters, the standard of living for the vast majority of American families can go nowhere but further downhill, the voices of the people are left unheard, the standard of cultural institutions, quality education and all the privileges that are linked to it are being starved out of existence.

The prostitutes of the right-wing media are making the utmost possible din so as to effectively drown the voices of reason. The general sluggishness of people is being enhanced by the non-stop propaganda fed them through the mass media, the fake view of the world as a place where satisfaction can only be had from over-consumption and from participating in the violence that is constantly displayed to us as a model of life via these mass media, the artificial uppers and downers that are offered to us by the entertainment industry to fill in the void of our souls.

The environment is being plundered savagely with no concern whatsoever for the survival of mankind, the survival of the planet and all its millions of different species. Biodiversity is a forgotten concept, except for the rare rebels who go against the stream and try to make their life-saving voices heard over the din of the machines of the killer corporations. Those predators are clearly only out to maximize their profits without the slightest concern for the catastrophic effects on the environment.

The majority of people never see what the real world is all about. How can they? The distorted "values' that money can buy are the only ones that are real to them.

A sunrise over the ocean, a maple leaf swirling in clear spring water, the little hand touching your cheek, the beauty of words coming from a writer's soul what happened to the marvels of life? What happened to the real world?

So how did this Ersatz world come about?

Capitalism, the way it is playing out today, is incompatible with true democracy. This insanity, this absurd form of capitalism is altogether negating a humane system of running the world with any consideration at all for the people on the planet.

Free Market capitalism, the Chicago School of Economics professor, Milton Friedman's brainchild[1], globalization, the catchword for the Empire's total domination over the rest of the world, Washington's New World Order, enriching the very few and strangling the masses call it what you like but it's a fantasy that is now finally crumbling. It all amounts to "screw the people' and "greed is the power that makes the world go round'. The religion in the U.S.A. is greed and it's the only true religion there is.

However, the giant is crumbling. A fast-spreading gangrene is eating away at the interior of the nation, its elite-oriented and half-starved educational system, its sad excuse for a working healthcare system, its decaying infrastructure. The very souls of the people are withering away, as their jobs are lost, their homes are foreclosed, their constitutional freedoms no longer respected, civil rights being increasingly downplayed by the police and federal authorities.

All this is adding to and interacting with the economic meltdown and the destruction of the environment, which at this point doesn't even guarantee a livable future for the coming generations.

A multi-lateral world can not be stopped, as the giant is playing out its last trumps in case it has any left. Emerging countries are becoming emerged countries. There have not been many signs of awareness of this evolution of the geopolitical reality from President Obama, but rather a continuation of the Neocon imperialism, which will, if allowed a free rein, lead the planet to disaster. It will render the environment unlivable and thus destroy the way of life of the billions of people all over the world. With the environment in ruins, there is just no way back. The corporations whose greed is responsible for the current situation do not seem to realize or care about the direction in which they are steering our planet.

The Free Market was set up with unilateral power for the giant in the West and unheard of wealth for the very few as its unique goal. The tools would be the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which were working on the single track of stealing the national resources of the greatest number of countries possible and squeezing money out of financially strapped nations by lending their governments money at a high interest rate. The ultimate condition for the nations in dire economic straits, was always the cutting back on social services, devaluing the national currency and increasing taxes on the already half-strangled people, thus starving the beast. Such is the ever-present major strategy of these Washington henchmen; the super-tools for U.S. world domination. And, of course, along came the accumulation of further wealth to add to the already astronomic wealth of the corporations. Madness! To what end?

Countries which had previously enjoyed a fairly good standard of living, but had gotten squeezed by the Free Market economy, free trade agreements, such as NAFTA, CAFTA, FTAA [2] and bilateral agreements, saw their relatively comfortable lives wither away, such as many Asian nations in the nineties during the Asian financial crisis [3]. Poor 3rd World nations were suddenly rendered more impoverished than ever before, having their national resources taken over by the multinational hydras. Wherever the heavy boots of the IMF and the World Bank get a foothold in a financially troubled nation, they manage to suck the blood out of the nation's resources and their financial independence.

Free-market capitalism can not possibly go along with true democracy. The concepts represent opposite poles in the running of the economic systems of the world. The most outstanding mark of run-away capitalism is its denial of any civic and human rights to the working people. Privatization, which is the principal gospel of this decadent world order will eventually make us pay for the air we breathe and the polluted water we drink.

If national elections are allowed to survive in order to make for a semblance of democracy, it is only because they have no real meaning the way they are run today. They constitute no real danger to the system that is running the world since they are strictly controlled by corporations that are hand in glove with the imperialists. They are part of the system.

And yet, a majority of U.S. citizens are under the impression that their votes count for something in the running of internal and external politics. They seem to be slowly waking up, however, to the fact that their opposition to the ongoing wars and the tax cuts for the wealthy count for nothing.

The creation of the lone superpower

At the end of World War II, with Europe exhausted and virtually powerless as a commercial partner, the U.S government saw clearly that they would have to shore up the war-damaged European countries in order to create a market place for their newfound wealth. The Great Depression was over at last thanks to the boost to the economy that the war had brought to the nation. Now the U.S. needed commercial partners. So the Marshall Plan was born. Later on came the Hollywood Superman Ronald Reagan and as his megalomaniac and expansionist plans for the country were set in motion, the kernel of the Neoconservative movement was simultaneously taking shape.

During all this time a handy bogeyman was created in the Communist fiend. From the McCarthy era in the fifties to the Kennedy fiasco of the Bay of Pigs attempt to invade Southern Cuba in 1961, to the horror of the Vietnam war, to the criminal meddling in various Central American and Latin American countries, it was always the Communist threat that served as a pretext for invasions of countries that stood in the way for U.S. power and expansionism. Those countries that could not be bought up or propagandized into cooperating with the Empire were simply invaded and taken over. A blaring exception was of course the great embarrassment of the Vietnam War, when no country was ever taken over. But that didn't even teach the imperialists a lesson. The people, yes, but the psychotic neocons, no. If anything, the lesson drawn by the neocons from that insane war was on the contrary that the U.S. had to show the world that it was still the Lord of the planet, including outer space.

Invade, crush, kill and take over national resources was the trademark of U.S. foreign policies. Until the Soviet Union imploded and the vastly overblown propaganda about the giant in the east that was threatening to end the supremacy of the number one superpower finally became open for all to see. Ever since the end of World War II, with a powerful boost given to it by the Kennedy brothers, the Communist scare has been hovering over the Western world, based on a minimum of reality but above all hysterical propaganda. It was the octopus that was spreading its tentacles all over the world. If the Soviet military power was in fact impressive, it was because they put all their rubles into the arms industry and neglected the well-being of their people.

Fear and eternal war are the capitalist tools

When the Soviet Union disintegrated, the U.S. suddenly found itself bereft of a handy target to blame the evils of the world on. A new enemy had to be created and we all know how the "War on Terror' came about, based on the absurd theory, touted hysterically, that the Muslims were now all set to take over the Western world. Al Qaeda may well have been a creation by Washington but, as could be expected, it then became a reality [4]. Continuous war is of the essence to a superpower to sustain the fear that is necessary to keep the people in blinders. Hysteria and ignorance are the sine qua non for an eternal war. Non-stop propaganda is also a major tool without which the slogan "Pax Americana' would have been a laughing stock from its very creation. And of course the mass media played the game since they were being paid to do so.

Fear was the tool that was needed in order to fool the people of the world and draw a veil of emotional blindness over their minds. What made the creation of this visceral fear and anger at all possible was of course the attack on the World Trade Center and the following 9/11 hysteria. Without this enormous propaganda tool, the major wars that have followed, the total contempt for U.S. citizens' constitutional rights and the U.S. Constitution in general would have been just wishful thinking by the neocon thugs.

Of course we can't know how much longer the "lone superpower' is still going to be breathing. It is now on life support and we can only vaguely guess what the world is going to be like after the colossus stops breathing. No words of reconciliation to the rest of the world by President Obama will save the shipwreck that is the United States of America.

What arrogance, what hubris, to believe that the United States would be able to create the millenary Reich where all other nations would be willing allies, due to the propagandized "cultural, moral and military superiority' of the Master behemoth. If not allies, they would become subdued and subservient because they would have lost their internal strength, as was the intention with Iraq, Afghanistan and probably now also with Pakistan. The Empire was going to appear so unbeatable that no other nation would ever be able to go against their formidable power. They were to be God on earth and everybody who looked into the shining light of their claim to divine power was going to see that resistance would be useless.

Wait a minute haven't we seen this before? It seems to be a lesson never learned that even an Empire is bound for a swift fall when the winds turn and the scales fall from the eyes of the people in the rest of the world. And, as is perfectly obvious, the hubris was not born with the Neocons plotting in the underground during the Reagan presidency. It goes all the way back to the cruel near wiping-out of the native American population. Nobody can stand against the superpower. It is the bearer of God-given authority to rule the continent, to rule over war-torn Europe, to rule over the Americas, to rule over the resource-rich countries, to rule the world.

The psychopaths who created this absurd fantasy should by all rights be the first victims of the downfall of the Empire. In the long row of history's empires, has there ever been one that so misjudged the power of national pride and the firm decision by the invaded people to go on running their own nation, running their own lives on territories that had been theirs for millennia?

Asia is coming together

The world is changing however. We will find out one day if it is already too late or if there is still a chance that people and the environment might be saved.

Asia is organizing to become increasingly independent of the West. They are creating their own economic cooperation organizations, such as AFTA [5] (ASEAN Free Trade Area), born out of ASEAN, the "Association of Southeast Asian Nations', a"geo-politicaland economic organization of ten countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, thePhilippines, SingaporeandThailand". This organization now includes ten countries located in Southeast Asia.[6]

The AFTA project was launched in 1993 with the objective of creating a Free Trade Area in eastern Asia. It undertook some bold measures during the Asian financial crisis in the nineties, which clearly showed up the need for mutual economic interdependence between Southeast and Northeast Asia.

In November 2001 an ambitious plan was submitted to create a regional bloc. It recommended that East Asia would move from a region of nations to a cohesive regional community where collective efforts would be made for peace, prosperity, and progress. They identified the following sectors for cooperation: economic, financial, security, environmental, social and cultural. [7]

China, the next superpower?

China's economy is the third-largest in the world and it is the biggest holder of U.S. Treasury bonds. It is the top owner of U.S. government debt and it is also one of the "emerging nations' that can be said to have already emerged. It is now in a full-fledged position to become a superpower. The day the United States of America declares bankruptcy, China will probably be ready to take over in conjunction with other developed nations.

Right now, China is giving Obama the cold shoulder. It is a fact that trade with the U.S. has recently picked up, but basically China is economically so much ahead of the former superpower that they can well shrug their shoulders at the hypocritical demands that Washington puts forth. Who is to urge China to respect civil rights and to diminish pollution to save the environment? Or to convince China that there should be more equality of living conditions? Washington's hypocrisy knows no limits.

Obviously we can not be looking forward to a world where one inhuman superpower would be replaced by another one. We are not blind to the kind of life we would be living under Chinese rule. But such a thought seems so far from realistic that the solution we have to look forward to as a new World Order would rather be a multi-lateral organization where no one power would have too much influence over the rest of the world.

As for the other emerging nations, such as India and Brazil, they still have a way to go. A low quality of education, an average low standard of living, faulty healthcare, a sadly insufficient fight against pollution and contempt for human rights are among the major problems for these countries, as well as for China. However, the United States could well be pointed to as equally lacking in every one of these areas. There is also a horrifying lack of equality in all these countries, but then again, the richest country of them all, the U.S. of A. shares the guilt of these only relatively wealthy countries.

Latin America Is Gathering Strength

In another part of the world, there is Latin America that is currently fighting for its independence from the Empire. The birth of Mercosur, the Common Market of the South, took place on March 26, 1991. Since its creation including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, Venezuela also joined on 17 June 2006. Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru currently have associate member status.

Panama and Mexico have also announced their intention to join Mercosur.

On the other hand, Venezuela has also initiated ALBA (a symbolic acronym since alba means dawn), Venezueal's answer to imperialist free trade agreements ("Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas' or "Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América'), which, to begin with, comprised Venezuela and Cuba. Later, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua have joined the alliance. Some islands in the Caribbean are also members. Honduras became a member in August 2008, but, interestingly enough, after the coup in June 2009 to overthrow President Manuel Zelaya, its membership was withdrawn.

"On December 16, 2009, the Honduran congress met to withdraw the country from the ALBA, claiming a "lack of respect" from Venezuela since the country's joining in 2008, citing in particular Hugo Chavez' remarks about a potential invasion of Honduras to restore Manuel Zelaya to office, after he was removed on 28 June 2009 in the2009 Honduran coup d'état. Withdrawal from ALBA was ratified by the Honduran Congress on January 13, 2010. Economic relations with Venezuela continue, including via Petrocaribe.

Mercosur and ALBA are the Latin American answer to NAFTA, CAFTA and FTAA, the U.S.- sponsored so-called free trade agreements, which are for anything but free trade, constantly raising trade barriers against foreign nations for the profit of the United States.

Conclusion

The United States, the lone superpower is no more. The sooner the leaders realize this, the softer will be the fall when the giant finally breaks down. Barack Obama gave Europeans and many others some kind of hope for a change of path by the callous behemoth. But no such thing has happened and no such thing will happen. Only the downfall of the Empire can now save the world. Unless it is already too late.

Are we seeing the emergence of another kind of New World Order, one of less arrogance, one of multi-lateral cooperation? The world is crying out for a new order where life-and-death issues will be handled by all the world's nations and not trampled on by one greedy colossus that imagines it is the monarch of the planet.



[1] "Friedman's political philosophy, which he considered classically liberal and libertarian, emphasized the advantages of free market economics and the disadvantages of government intervention and regulation, strongly influencing the opinions of American conservatives and libertarians." His influential book Capitalism and Freedom was published in 1962.

[2] La Riva/Puryear: Abolish NAFTA, CAFTA, FTAA, WTO, IMF, World Bank. Also see NAFTA/FTAA/CAFTA page

[3]Asia's financial crisis - There is no basis for the claim that the Asian financial crisis was due to a lack of sound economic fundamentals. The currencies of the affected countries were forcibly devalued and their financial systems were brought to ruin by the activities of speculators. The crisis has, however, revealed one glaring weakness: the absence of a lender of last resort for the region. (by Chandra Hardy)

More about the Asian financial crisis at Third World Network

[4] The name "is now just a loose label for a movement that seems to ta rget the west", says Marc Sageman, a psychiatrist who has long studied terrorism networks. "There is no umbrella organisation. We like to create a mythical entity called [al-Qaeda] in our minds but that is not the reality we are dealing with." (The Financial Times)

[5] "From the inception of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967 to 1991 economic cooperation among its members was virtually non-existent. However, in January 1992 the leaders of the member states agreed to work towards an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). Following an uncertain initial phase the leaders rededicated themselves in 1995 to an accelerated implementation of the AFTA agreement."

[6] More about this geo-political and economic organization at Wikipedia

[7] More information about ASEAN and AFTA at What Is Integration

Siv O'Neall was born and raised in Sweden where she graduated from Lund University. She has lived in Paris, France and New Rochelle, N.Y. and traveled extensively throughout Europe, the U.S. and other continents, mainly several trips to India. Siv (more...)



THE CARDS ARE STACKED

if the cards are stacked against someone, they are not at all likely to succeed in a particular situation because they have a lot of problems He fought a brilliant campaign, but the cards were stacked against him from the start.

Depression 2010 – Western Fiat Money Finished?

  • It is not pleasant to be all doom and gloom. Unfortunately, that is how the cards are stacked against the world. I try to tell it like it is. Optimism is great as long as it is not delusional. The facts on the ground say: global monetary crisis, the confidence fiat money game has just about run its course! The Daily Bell reports:
     
    Is the Western world struggling through a bad patch? Our argument, voiced with various levels of clarity at various times, is that the West is currently living through a failure of fiat money – specifically a failure of the global anchor currency: the greenback. The dollar is on its way out not because people want it to be necessarily (though some do) but simply because it is failing as a fiat currency. Central bank fiat currencies always fail. China had a number of fiat episodes and the populace was so scarred that fiat money was reportedly even banned in the 1800s. ….
       ……
    Interestingly, we can see in the above observations that fiat money first created a wonderland of progress and amusement. That’s just what fiat money has done in the West and in Japan as well. It is now happening in China. Wherever fiat money travels it brings tremendous euphoria in its wake, though only to begin with. Cities are energized with false booms. Farm children flock to the urban environment to take jobs in factories producing ephemeral goods or work at useless government jobs – that are created from tax revenues during the boom time. Initially, because fiat money inevitably has a relationship to government, much of the perfection of society is attributed to a wise, fair-minded bureaucracy. The bureaucracy, by the way, believes it.
     
    Monetary stimulation can go on for years. In America, it’s been going on for nearly a century – which is probably the far end of what can be expected. But people can live and die under a central banking regime – which is usually a fiat regime (or ends up that way, anyway). Yes, it cannot be emphasized enough that fiat money (along with its enabler, central banking) is a foundational curse. Just as in China, it funds wars, makes the government look wonderfully efficient and even omnipotent, fools people into believing that the non-essential jobs they have are actually essential “modern” work – and sets the stage inevitably for regulatory regimes that must eventually descend into madness and ruin.
     
    Fiat money empowers corporatism (in the modern age anyway) and distorts civilization by helping to implode agrarian republicanism. It is no coincidence that Thomas Jefferson despised central banking – and was in fact the most famous and influential agrarian republican. We can see the remnants of this sort of society in Switzerland, which has passed laws to maintain small farms. It is difficult to create a totalitarian society – even an ephemeral one – in a land of sturdy farmers. Such individuals grow their own food, have access to water and are willing to defend their land. America was a bit like Switzerland before the Civil War but is not now.
     
    But today, dear reader, we would propose that the West, and the entire globe, is living through a fiat money collapse. Economies all over the world have been inflated to their fullest and people can buy no more useless gadgets and work at no more superfluous jobs. Too many useful endeavors have been marginalized and phony ones have been elevated. An implosion is taking place. The world is reverting to a kind of mathematical practicality. In America, car companies have shrunk because there are too many cars, and houses are not being built because there are too many houses. Banks are not doing deals because too many deals have been done. All that is working overtime are the printing presses. While the greenback is exceptionally at risk we would argue that the same thing is occurring, to a greater or lesser degree, in Europe, in Japan, and even in China – despite all the happy talk about the Chinese miracle. Here’s a famous investor on the subject of China:
     
    Contrarian Investor Sees Economic Crash in China … James S. Chanos built one of the largest fortunes on Wall Street by foreseeing the collapse of Enron and other highflying companies whose stories were too good to be true. Now Mr. Chanos, a wealthy hedge fund investor, is working to bust the myth of the biggest conglomerate of all: China Inc. As most of the world bets on China to help lift the global economy out of recession, Mr. Chanos is warning that China’s hyper-stimulated economy is headed for a crash, rather than the sustained boom that most economists predict. Its surging real estate sector, buoyed by a flood of speculative capital, looks like “Dubai times 1,000 — or worse,” he frets. He even suspects that Beijing is cooking its books, faking, among other things, its eye-popping growth rates of more than 8 percent. “Bubbles are best identified by credit excesses, not valuation excesses,” he said in a recent appearance on CNBC. “And there’s no bigger credit excess than in China.” (- New York Times)
     
    Everywhere, major economies are having difficulty. We do not believe by the way that it is absolute serendipity. The
    power elite knows very well how fiat money and central banking work. Those at the top of the economic food chain readily anticipated more power falling into their laps – and ultimately facilitating a worldwide economic regime. But we have to re-emphasize that these same powerful people apparently did not take the Internet into account. This is most important.
     
    Conclusion: By putting in place the mechanisms that guarantee endless quasi-collapses, the power elite profits inordinately. By not understanding that this time around the entire circus would be available for endless replays on the Internet, the power elite has put the system into tremendous jeopardy. Too many have run across free-market arguments on the Internet and come to believe (this time around) that the system is unfair and even impractical. Too many have witnessed and comprehended the full gamut of central banking’s apparent destructive tendencies. None of this was in the game plan, in our opinion. Yet this seeming unraveling of financial certainty has tremendous ramifications for your portfolios, dear reader. We might suggest a modicum of gold and silver as you watch various fiat money economies of the world, especially the dollar, sputter and sink.

FROM:  http://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/depression-2010-western-fiat-money-finished/

Jack Canfield

Posted: October 14, 2009 08:45 AM

Will Your Life Work The Way You Want In 2010?

Read More: 2010, Jack Canfield, New Year, Success, Successful People, The Inner Life, Living News

It's never too early to start planning for next year, especially now that we've marked 2009 as one of recession and things may turn brighter in future months. This year carried with it uncertainty and unsettling economic news, but I say these circumstances compel us to take a deeper breath and pause to think about our lives. Are they moving in the direction we want them to be? Will you be ready to embrace 2010 when it arrives in a mere months?

When people ask me about the single most important ingredient to success, I always share the same response: realizing what's making you achieve success, and then realizing what is stifling your success. Sometimes recognizing the things that are NOT working in your life can be painful, yet more powerful to shaping the life you want. Don't try to rationalize them, make excuses for them, or hide them. This is when it's even more critical to take personal inventory and evict those excuses, rationalizations, and hidden habits that don't serve you. Let me give you some examples:

• Do you want to be active, fit, and strong? Then you have to stop making excuses about your weight, diet choices, and lack of exercise.

• Do you want to embrace Monday mornings and feel excited about going to work every day? Then you have to stop hiding your true passions and go after whatever it is you really want to be doing day in and day out.

• Do you want to lose the debt forever? Then you have to stop ignoring your spending habits and get real about a budget that will pull you out of debt and allow you to reach financial freedom.

• Do you want to feel more connected to the people in your life, such as your partner, children, friends, and colleagues? Then you have to stop complaining about your poor relationships and figure out why you don't feel as connected as you'd like to be.

Successful people do not waste time in denial (or complain or make excuses for that matter). They face situations like a warrior. It's okay to identify a problem even though you haven't a clue about solving it right away. The first step is just recognizing the issue, and then having faith that you'll figure it out with careful attention to it.

Following are the three things to do constantly in pursuit of your successes, however big or small:

1) Awareness: Life tells you things every day. Do this. Don't do that. Think about this. Try me. Forget that. We live in a world that seemingly encourages us to live on autopilot. Successful people fly manually every day and so should you. When those feedback signals come in, listen to them and use them in planning your next step.

2) Commitment: Commit to finding out why things aren't working and learn what will fix them. Once you start the process it will be much easier to continue. Nothing fruitful stems from inaction.

3) Trust: Trust that making changes to the situation will ultimately bring about the best results. Sure you might go through a bit of discomfort during the change, and some unlikely or unwanted outcomes, but in the end you will triumph!

So are you ready to admit the things that just are not working out?

Make a list of the things in your life that are working against your success and ask how the situation can be improved. If you need help organizing those "things" in your life, try using the following list of categories. I recommend reflecting on each of the these 7 areas and ask yourself, what's not working here in each one?

1. Financial Goals
2. Career/Business Goals
3. Free Time/Family Time
4. Health/Appearance Goals
5. Relationship Goals
6. Personal Growth
7. Making a Difference

Remember, by facing what is not working, you can only improve your life!

And if you don't know where to begin, just start writing. I have a set of handy worksheets for you that can help you make plans. Click here to download these free resources and start creating all that you want from your life.

© 2009 Jack Canfield

Jack Canfield is America's #1 Success Coach, co-founder of the billion-dollar Chicken Soup for the Soul brand, and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to be more accomplished and have more fun in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessPrinciples.com.

You Can Get Ahead of the Game in Today’s Economy

January 8th, 2010

It may feel like the cards are stacked against you, with high unemployment, pay cuts, employers forcing workers to do more with less resources, increased taxes, and rising costs of living. But there is hope if you act smart and do not give in to financial pressures that seem to make life feel like a losing battle. There are ways to cut costs and increase your income, which is exactly what people need to do to get ahead of the game in today’s economy.

When people feel hopeless about their financial situation, they tend to just give up; like an ostrich sticking his head in the sand. “I know… if I pretend the problem does not exist; then there is no problem, right?!” “Out of sight, out of mind…” so to speak. This is exactly the opposite of what they should be doing. Remember that Americans are strong and resilient people and when facing financial problems need to get tough, face the issue head on, and deal with it in the most aggressive and intelligent way, possible. How else do you think that America got to be such a great country? There are many ways to deal with a financial predicament; however the two most obvious ways are to cut expenses and increase revenues.

In order to cut costs, first it is necessary to take a closer look at all of the common monthly expenses that the typical household incurs. It is important for people to know their expenses, create a monthly budget, and determine monthly income before they can learn to be financially responsible. Financial responsibility is a key component of getting ahead of the game. See the following list that shows common household expenses.

  • Rent/Mortgage
  • Home Owners Insurance
  • Home Repairs
  • Groceries
  • Medical
  • Household Supplies
  • Clothing
  • Utilities – Nat. Gas, Oil, Electricity, Water, Sewer
  • Auto Loan
  • Auto Insurance
  • Fuel – Gasoline/Diesel
  • Auto Repairs
  • Phone, Cable, Internet
  • Cell Phones
  • Taxes
  • Credit Cards
  • Other Loans

Once a person has their monthly expenses organized on paper (not in their head; if a person is not willing to commit to paper and get organized, then they are going to have a really tough time winning the game), then it is time to look at each individual expense and begin to strategize ways to reduce that expense. Look at the following ideas to cut some of these costs.

Let’s look at Automobile Insurance. Shop around to many different Insurance companies for a better rate. Even if someone can only save $10 a month, it’s $10 bucks in their pocket to pay down debt, or invest.

If a person is having problems with credit cards, they are not alone. There are many agencies that will help them get a handle on their debt, reduce fees, interest rates, and rebuild their credit rating. However, I would recommend a person be cautious about the agency they contact because there are rumored to be some unscrupulous persons out there that will be happy to take people’s monthly payments and pay nothing to the creditors. Consumer Credit Counseling Service is highly recommended and they are a non-profit organization, operating on government grants and funding. They help persons with credit problems turn things around and remove financial stress from their lives.

Here are some ideas on other ways to reduce expenses:

Switch from cable to satellite TV; cut coupons; shop around for better deals on groceries and clothing; make your own cleaning supplies; make your own gifts; super insulate your home from the cold; install solar panels and/or wind generators to reduce electricity costs; buy local produce and meats directly from farmers; repair your vehicle yourself with the help of a friend; make less unnecessary trips by car, be more efficient with your driving; keep your car’s oil and air filter changed regularly, and inflate your tires to proper pressure; turn lights off in your home and only use what is necessary; do laundry at night after peak energy hours; refinance your home, if market rates are agreeable to this; call creditors and ask for better terms.

There are many ways to reduce monthly household expenses and hopefully these ideas will help provide motivation to think of even more. Reducing expenses are an important part of the equation towards getting ahead of the game. However, what is even more important is generating more revenue or income. Now let’s focus on the discussion of ways to get ahead of the game by increasing income.

Perhaps cutting costs does not thrill you. Ok, that is understandable. Even though cutting just $350 per month is a boat payment or $21,000 in five years. Maybe it’s not the most exciting subject, however generating more revenue or making more money is exciting, especially when it really starts to happen. Let’s talk about ways to increase your income to help win the battle for financial freedom.

The second half of the discussion is generating more income and therefore is focused on different plans to make more money. I’m sure that since the inception of the internet, the epiphanic question to search engines was “How can I make more Money?” It is still today, one of the most popular searches on the internet and rightfully so; because the question needs to be answered to everyone who is having financial difficulties. “How do I make more money?”

It boils down to two distinct categories: Sell a Product, or Sell a Service. Anyone telling you “you don’t have to sell a thing…” or “no selling involved…” is selling you. If you want to make more, then you will need to sell something, whether it’s selling your products at a craft show or selling your service like carpet cleaning. You still need to sell, but don’t get hung up on the word “Selling”. Selling is merely the term we use to define: talking with people about what you can do for them to make their life easier or better. You can sell items on Ebay, Craigs list, Classifed Section, or on your own website. You can also sell items out of your garage or in a rummage sale. You may be surprised at how much money you can make having a garage sale; enough to pay off a debt or take a small vacation.

Here is a list of ideas for products that anyone can sell to increase their income:

  • Video Games
  • Cars
  • Houses
  • Dog Treats
  • Wood Crafts
  • Candles
  • Kites & Flags
  • Wholesale Products
  • Wooden Furniture
  • Crafts
  • Books
  • Solar Panels & Wind Generators
  • Worms & Bait
  • Tiki Bars
  • Clocks
  • Wind Chimes
  • Leather Crafts
  • Log Beds
  • Hot Dogs
  • Jewelry
  • Wood Pellets

Here is a list of services that anyone can provide to increase their income:

  • Restaurant
  • Car Wash
  • Carpet Cleaning
  • Window Cleaning
  • Photography
  • Lawn Care
  • Office Cleaning
  • Home Staging
  • Dog Training
  • Patio Installation
  • Writing
  • Painting
  • Video Game Beta Testing
  • House Sitting
  • Daycare
  • Catering
  • Battery Reconditioning

So it may feel some days like the cards are stacked against you, but don’t give up. If you are smart about your financial situation, get a handle on your expenses, cut costs, and start a part time home business to increase your income; you can win the battle. Do not hide from your problems, face them head on and tackle them. Remember that Americans are strong and resilient people and get tough when faced with difficult situations. There are ways to cut costs and increase your income and that is exactly what people need to do to get ahead of the game in today’s economy.

written by Author: Daniel J Goldsmith

FROM: http://wooden-gameseblog.co.cc/you-can-get-ahead-of-the-game-in-todays-economy/

 

What are tax consequences of bartering?

Filed under: Tax

barterCash is hard to come by these days. So it's not unusual to see barter arrangements between taxpayers.

You've probably even done a little of this yourself: You've designed someone's Web site in exchange for "free" handyman services, or you've done someone's taxes in exchange for a new Coach briefcase. In either case, whether it's the exchange of goods or services for other goods or services, it's a barter.

No money actually changes hands, so it's almost as if the transaction didn't happen, right? Not exactly. The fair market value of goods and services that you receive in exchange for goods or services you provide must be included as income on your tax return even though you don't receive payment in a traditional way.

Think of barter just like cash: If it would be taxable if paid in cash, it's taxable if paid in goods or services. If you receive value for goods or services that would normally be taxable to you personally but not as part of a trade or business (such as babysitting income), report it as "other income" on line 21 of your form 1040. If the exchange was part of your trade or business, report the transaction, including income and expenses, on a Schedule C on your form 1040.

The fair market value of goods and services can be subjective. A good rule of thumb: It's the price that a "willing buyer" would pay for the goods or services from a "willing seller." In other words, what would the cost of that Coach briefcase be on the open market? How much would you normally charge to do someone's taxes? Those answers determine the fair market value of the transaction.

It's not a one-sided transaction, though. You're not simply left with income to report and nothing to show for it. As with a more traditional, cash transaction, the cost of producing the good or service given away in a bartered transaction can be deducted as a business expense. The business-related expense is key to the deduction: You can deduct business expenses on your tax return, but not personal expenses (like the cost of mowing the lawn).

Similarly, if you use barter to provide bonuses, incentives, or other compensation to employees or other personnel, you would report it just as it if was paid in cash. You'll take the proper deductions as expenses to your business and include the associated income to your employees or contractors. Bartering to compensate an independent contractor would be included on the contractor's form 1099; for employees, use a form W-2 and withhold the appropriate payroll taxes.

The bottom line is that, whether or not cash changes hands, you'll treat a barter just as you would any other business transaction. That means that you need to keep good records of the transaction -- both what you bartered away and what you received. You may want to consult with a tax professional if you're not sure about reporting requirements or how to best value your services.

If you're not sure how to start bartering, or if the reporting requirements feel bit overwhelming, consider participating in a barter exchange company. A barter exchange is generally an organization with members that contract with each other to jointly trade or barter property or services for credits. Many of these barter exchanges are available on the Internet. The best part is that, since they are strictly regulated by the IRS, you'll receive a form 1099-B from the exchange indicating the amount of income to be reported. If you're skittish about valuing your services for purposes of income, a third party can offer additional perspective.

It's clear that you don't get any special tax benefits from bartering your services. But there are no tax penalties, either. In most cases, it's exactly like a traditional, cash transaction. So then, why bother?

The obvious answer is that bartering allows you to exchange your goods or services for something you need when you might not have the cash to otherwise pay for it. It also allows you to get rid of extra inventory or take advantage of "down time" in exchange for reducing your cash outlay for business expenses. In this economy, it can be a smart move.

 



 

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.

cards

Who hasn’t picked up a deck of playing cards and wondered about their beginnings? Perhaps your grandmother used to read cards at family gatherings, or maybe a friend./p>

No one is entirely sure as to the exact origins of playing cards. It is thought they perhaps started as the Minor Arcana of the Tarot, with the Joker being akin to the Major Arcana Tarot card, The Fool. What we do know, though, is that using a pack of playing cards as a tool for psychic exploration is as time honored as the cards themselves. Meanings of cards are immortalized in such songs as ‘Desperado’ by the Eagles, ‘Shape of My Heart’ by Sting, and ‘Ace of Spades’ by Motorhead. Watch closely, and you will find them being used as props in many supernatural thriller films and television programs.

Playing cards have always demanded respect, and this can be proven by the amount of superstition that surrounds them. I remember playing euchre with my family as a teenager and my dad would always blow on the cards if we were losing. Sometimes he would put a hat pin in my shirt over my collar bone or get me to stand up and walk around my chair for luck, and I remember Uncle Ernie would sit straddling his chair backwards for luck if he was more than 4 points behind in a game.

Some religions forbid the use of playing cards by anyone, even for just a game of rummy. Playing cards – like Tarot – are sometimes called ‘The Devil’s Pictures,’ or ‘The Devil’s Picture Book.’ My husband is from a fishing family; he always said the old fishermen would never take a deck of cards on a boat lest it bring them bad fortune.

9 of Diamonds
There were a lot of Scots people who played Cribbage at the local pub we frequented when we lived in England. They called the Nine of Diamonds card ‘The Curse of Scotland’. It is said that this card was used as a cue to instigate the Massacre of Glencoe, and that a message ordering the Battle of Culloden was written on the Nine of Diamonds.

4 of Clubs
The Four of Clubs is another card that has a bad reputation. It is believed that this card will bring bad luck to other cards in the deck. Some sources for reading playing cards see this as the worst card in the deck. The way I was taught to read, though, there really are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ cards when doing a reading for someone; there are only opportunities.

Respecting the Cards
While it can be a lot of fun reading playing cards, Tarot cards, crystals, or any other tool, we must remain respectful of the responsibility we assume when we peer into other people’s lives. Many times in the course of my work people will say to me, “I wish I could do what you are doing,” and I think, “No, you don’t.” Many times people see the wonderment, the magic, or the mysticism, and neglect to see the responsibility that people accept when they agree to read the cards for someone.

As well as respecting the people for whom we perform our services, it is also important that we respect the tools we are using. If we are going to be serious about reading playing cards, I feel it is best to use a deck specifically for reading, rather than one that is also going to be used for playing card games. We might choose one of the newer ‘themed’ decks, whose pictures are based on a film, or flowers or animals. This is not necessary though. Playing cards can be purchased from most bargain stores such as The Dollar Tree or Dollar General or Poundstretcher, and they can cost as little as two decks for a dollar.

Learning to read the cards doesn’t have to be difficult, costly, or time consuming. It came easily to me, having learned to read the Tarot first, but that is not necessary. Many people read playing cards, some as a parlor game and some as a guide to the situations in their lives. Have you ever had any experience with reading playing cards?

FROM: http://www.psychicsource.com/blog/index.php/1835/tarot/its-in-the-cards-by-psychic-rainbow/


*****





ECONOMY DATABASE ON THIS SITE

CARDS - DATABASE ON THIS SITE - INCLUDES TAROT CARDS AND CREDIT CARDS

NUMBERS DATABASE ON THIS SITE

ORION DATABASE ON THIS SITE

GRAIL DATABASE ON THIS SITE

2011 DATABASE ON THIS SITE (THIS WILL GROW OVER TIME)

DREAMS OF THE GREAT EARTCHANGES - MAIN INDEX

 

A POSITIVE  11:11:11 EVENT  http://www.firethegrid.com/eng09/FTGI-2011.htm