New Blog Location

http://inthon.wordpress.com/

I will transfer over existing posts in the coming weeks.

Goal Setting Methodology

I normally jot down some goals for the New Year in no particular order, however, this year I am doing something different and setting goals based on their order of their importance.

Relationship/Family goals are coming first, followed by Work Goals, then Health Goals, and then the rest.

I realize there are benefits and detriments to writing down goals, however, I feel that seeing these goals on a daily basis will help me remember my priorities. I have too great of a relationship and a family to screw it up with complacency.

Thanks for reading.

Short Selling

A gem from Mish

Amazing, isn't it? Investment banks can scream and shout, call press conferences and fabricate stories and it literally buys them time while they scramble to raise capital.

Mish does a fantastic job of breaking down the spin and carefully explaining why things are falling apart. I consider his well-reasoned insights more valuable than any college class.

Have a wonderful Holiday season.

Opacity versus Conspiracy

There are numerous examples of deliberate opacity at work in the current crisis.

Some are more obvious than others...

1) Government hiding what assets are being purchased by the TARP.
2) CEO's talking talking tough while frantically raising capital.

To make accurate predictions and uncover the truth, where do we draw the line at opacity versus conspiracy?

There is no shortage of webpages proclaiming the Fed as a giant conspiracy. Whether or not it is a conspiracy or illegal has little to do with how it affects individuals in planning for the future. What does matter is finding out what actions the Fed will be taking and profiting from them.

As I educate myself about the Fed's operations and how they affect the market, I will attempt to separate simple opacity and confusion from conspiracy, in order to find the truth.

Thanks for reading.

Mutual Search for Truth

I have started this site in order to further my discovery and understanding of the truth as well as share my limited wisdom with others.

Many sites on the Internet are heavily skewed towards defending an existing ideology, however, I am interested in engaging others in a mutual search for truth rather than defending any ideologies.

While I have previously fallen in love with certain ideologies (libertarianism, free markets), I often find there to be different points of view which have valid points which I had not considered. While libertarian/free-market viewpoints still seem to me to be the most logical and valid, I find that reading debates or refutations of those viewpoints often provide food for thought.

Most of my growth and learning has come from reading and reflecting upon what I disagree with. In future posts, I plan on sharing some statist versus libertarian conundrums which I have thought about.

Thanks for reading.

Letter to my sister

I have slowly built up a good relationship with my sister and while I visited her on Thanksgiving, we had a healthy discussion about politics/economics.

One of our stark differences was on the subject of education. She is getting her MBA and so am I. I was of the opinion that education is free and that you don't need to spend thousands of dollars to get a top quality education. I also argued that she (and all individuals) can learn a lot more about political issues simply by reading things we disagree with.

Just reading the most opinionated, logical arguments from all viewpoints (democrat, republican, socialist, libertarian, centrist) goes a lot further than watching a vanilla news program or reading an Associated Press article. Raw, unvarnished opinions provide different ways of interpreting a current event and give people food for thought.

I've sent my sister about two long emails about the automotive bailout and I just sent her this quick one after the Fed cut the target rate to 0 - 0.25%

Rather than taking a sarcastic tone, I tried to appeal to her social justice side. She is a Democrat and I'm trying to see if I can get her to wake up and see that Wall Street banks are socialist institutions that are using their money and influence to get away with things individuals would never be able to do (borrow at 0.5% at the discount window with outrageous amounts of leverage).

Here is what I sent her:
***************
Citigroup, which would have been bankrupt(!!) last week if the government hadn't stepped in, now gets to borrow at one half of one percent and has full backing by the TARP.

Socialism is alive and well.

Again, no one questions the ethics behind any of this. It's not ok for you or I to do it, just wall st.

Ask yourself why investment banks are given the privilege of getting such generous borrowing terms. Really, think about it.

It is obvious that they aren't playing by the same rules and they are able to get away with it since no one knows how money is created in our system and people have been fooled into thinking paper based money can create prosperity.

As long as there is a large government that can be manipulated, it will be manipulated by people with money. Period.

The reason libertarianism maintains the highest moral ground of any ideology is because of the fact that they realize that any institution of great power and force (government and the ability to print money out of thin air) should be extremely limited in its scope and power.

Ron Paul is the only man speaking out against any of this insanity since he is the only one with any inkling of what is going on.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul498.html
***************

In retrospect, I shouldn't have tried to plug any sort of ideology or politician since that might distract or taint the argument I was trying to make. I also should avoid exclamation points or sweeping generalizations. The more clear and coherent, the better.

She has promised to write me back after her exams and I will try to do my best to rationalize and speak to her on her terms. I will continue to tinker around and see what works in shaping her opinion. This should be a great learning experience in communication and "selling" of ideas.

Maybe I can even earn some MBA credit! :-D

Thanks for reading.

Success at Work and Home

I have been able to build a loving relationship with my significant other due to an intrinsic desire to care for and nurture her in return for the love she shows me. Doing the nitty-gritty work like housework, or listening to her stories from work, or providing a shoulder to cry on never seem to tax me or present insurmountable hurdles. Things are not perfect or magical, but the work put into the relationship clearly pays off. This fact is so obvious to me that I know that relationship with my significant other is my number one priority and I am consciously trying to improve myself and make myself a more tolerable person to live with.

Work seems to present more of a challenge. I would be lying if I said it was engaging, engrossing or provided great value to anyone. I doubt that anyone would miss my work if I left. To be honest with myself, the work I perform is replaceable with the correct person. This realization seems to be a major source of frustration throughout the workday.

One of my happiest memories from Chicago (where I lived for the last two years) was when I came across a man trying to lift something heavy on all his own. I immediately jumped in and helped him make it to his doorway. He reached into his pocket to try and compensate me, but I just shook his hand with a big smile and left. Little did he know how much that task reinvigorated me and reminded me of the joy of helping others.

I came home later that day and called my girlfriend to tell her about the experience. It seemed so real and genuine to help someone out who was struggling. My sense of happiness might have been derived from the fact that at my past job I spent 10+ hours a day generating financial reports no one seemed to cared about. I doubt more than a handful of people, over the span of two years, actually read the work I spend hours of my life producing. Spending 10 hours a day, five days a week for two and half years doing work no one bothered to read was so demoralizing, I would literally have to push the thought out of my mind in order to concentrate.

Even nowadays at my far more humane job, I find difficulty finding motivation to excel when I find the work not serving a useful purpose and the nitty-gritty skills to success do not come easily or do not present any fulfilling payoff, unlike a real relationship.

I often think about the circumstances of coal miners who had to work uncomfortable jobs for their families and themselves. I certainly have it much better than they did, so I should be thankful and grateful for my circumstances. On the other hand, I know I am capable of providing more value to others, even if it is something as simple as reading to a child.

I often remind myself I am lucky to have any job in this economy, let alone a well-suited “stimulating” job, however, I can't help but think there has got to be a way to provide value for others and earn a wonderful living at the same time.

First post

I have wanted to set up a "professional" looking blog for over two years and I have decided to just go ahead and get started without all the fancy setup. I have dutifully written down all of my important (and unimportant) thoughts in folders, Word files, and post-it notes and I am eager to share them with others who might reflect upon my them and benefit from them.

This blog, for now, will not be of much value to the passing observer other than functioning as a depot for my thoughts about everything from economics, politics, relationships and humor.

With some practice, I will hopefully present more meaningful posts which will help others avoid mistakes I have made.

Thanks for stopping by.