College Scam

I knew there was a reason that I love John Stossel. He has a great article on Fox News contemplating the value of a college education. It seems totally unnatural to me, now, to have a society where the best years of a person's life are spent mostly on vacation with some time spent sitting in classrooms to take exams.

Fix It

A great post over on There I Fixed It. Part of the Natural Life I crave to live is a self-reliance for basic repairs of basic appliances. This struck a chord with me after I finally repaired the dryer. It has been serving us well for 8 years now and its scratch-and-dent price tag was very favorable. I hope to work my way up to basic automotive repairs like oil changes but for now I am satisfied to tinker with appliances, carpentry, and electrical. I feel like I'm finally starting to own this new house because I don't believe that sweat equity simply improves the bottom line. I believe that everything that I claim stewardship for on this Earth deserves my sweat.

Via Media

Sad, depressed, think you need more to be happy? Thanks to Get Rich Slowly, I saw this great article tying financial measures to happiness. Read it and celebrate!

Hood Robbin'

Get Rich Slowly has a post on how credit cards help the rich get richer, mainly through rewards programs and the stores having to boost prices to cover the fees for using the credit card machine. And here I thought that they just crush small businesses.

Regulations hurt the little man

So, I finally set aside time and remembered to go to Prosper.com to set myself up as a micro-lender. I was hoping to make a better rate than my savings account and help some troubled people get out of dire straits. Instead, I find out that Prosper is not licensed in my state. I hope this situation is remedied soon.

What's missing?

A Christian, homeschooling, parody songwriter who is for limited government; what's not to like about Tim Hawkins?

Eat It

From Yeoman Farmer, comes this great article on urban farming. I suppose that growing a significant portion of my own food is a dream that I will never realize, but it would be awesome to provide for for myself and my family while working from home as a small business.

Small business, local food.

Happy Fourth!

Since I won't be able to attend a TEA Party in person, I publish this link and offer my support to those who are fighting to keep my money in my pocket. I also pray that the fiscal conservatives will not abandon the social conservatives in the next election, like they did in the last one. I also pray that fiscal conservatives will not abandon their principles in office, like President George W. Bush did.

I'm TEA'd, too!

How to cut your taxes, English

This article is awesome and it shows me how to finally avoid the entitlement taxes which will give me nothing in return.

Subsidiarity in Practice

I hope to dwell more on this topic as I consider small businesses, the economy, and Catholicism. Actually, I better read more about the topic before I open my yap. But here is a Sardonic Catholic Dad with less compunction.

Conveniently, here is the Curt Jester with some actual research on sudsidiarity. It is my sincere prayer that this idea be embraced by all members of society and we get back to doing the work that needs to be done, instead of buying the Homer Simpson campaign promise, "Can't someone else do it?"

Too Long

Wow! I can't believe that I haven't written in so long. Thanks to all my trusty followers who have been checking in to look for something new, especially if you use Google Reader. My dearest has found a spectacular article at First Things which neatly summarizes the point of this blog.

As a wise woman once sang, "Children are our future." The first world has a rapidly declining population of children with a consequential lack of labor. In short, there are too many savers competing for too few investments so the returns are dropping like stones. Read the whole thing.

I offer a shower of thanks to Robert Kiyosaki for teaching me that my house is not an investment. I am also grateful to have chosen a home-based business which will help the elderly, instead of choosing real estate as my primary investment.

I am a Free Press

Since the major media outlets have not picked up on the protests surrounding tomorrow's tax deadline, I will report them here.

The TEA parties are actual grassroots protesters who detest the wasteful government spending in recent memory. Like me, they are frustrated with the massive bailout that was hurriedly passed by this Democratic House and President. Like me, they are also frustrated with the gigantic bailout passed by the previous presidential administration which opened the floodgates to the socialization of the banking system. In short, we know that we can spend our money better than the government. For example, I am trying to start my own business and potentially invest in real estate, while keeping my 401k growing. Any money the government gives me, goes to these ends. Instead, the government doesn't even trust me with an $800 stimulus all in one shot so they disburse it throughout the year.

So much for middle class support that was repeatedly promised in the campaign.

Homesteading

Since everyone is trying to save money, Get Rich Slowly pulled out some great links to a homesteading magazine. If you want to be more financially secure, why not do it yourself? Even the Obamas have gotten around to gardening.

Trash to Treasure

As part of being a good steward of my resources which is my main goal in living a natural family life, I have been searching for ways to save money on recurring expenses besides dropping the quality of my food. It seems to me that eliminating waste is part of the job of a good steward. For example, the replacing of cable with Netflix resulted in a net savings of approximately $40 per month. My next mission success in eliminating waste was in waste elimination (I'm so nerdy).

I have switched from Allied Waste Services to G&C Waste Services for a savings of approximately $10 per month. We will see if my quality of service stays the same but I have been eager to ditch AWS since the "Fuel Recovery Fee" was instituted. If AWS was a good steward they would manage their own costs instead of forcing the burden on to me.

Free Wisdom

I was going to pay for Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder letters and here they are, free and reproduced with permission. Posting may be light for the next year, while I try to read all this good stuff.

Because I Hate Bad Science

I forward a brilliant compilation of the various and voluminous refutations of man-made global warming.

No doubt, our educated and erudite government will take these voices into account before issuing destructive carbon emission rules for vehicles.

Have Babies!

I know this has been floating around for a billion years, but I finally watched it at the urging of a good friend. It is a great compilation of some of the things I've been thinking for years. This rapid population implosion is disastrous for society on every level, and things are only beginning to get worse.

Most interestingly, it backs the conclusion that a strict Darwinist is forced to admit that Religion and Faith are proven to be evolutionarily selected. Darwinism states that traits which are better adapted for survival will lead to more offspring from those members of the species who contain those traits. Therefore, since more offspring come from people of faith, faith is better adapted to survival than secular humanism or atheism or any other worldview.

I think I read something like that in a book. Something like, "The meek shall inherit the earth."

What the Free Market teaches about the Faith

My dear Magyar has a post recording an excellent homily which he recently heard at Mass. A suggested interpretation of the parable of the three servants who were responsible for the Master's talents while He was away. In brief, we aren't merely to use the talents we are given; we are to trade those talents that we have to get newer, more valuable ones. This type of trading is the basis of the free market system, as the humble Magyar points out.

Suddenly I feel much better about risking advancement in my corporate career to start a new business. I pray the Lord deems these talents more valuable.

Buy-Buy-Buy!

You may hate me, but it ain't no lie, baby. Buy! Buy! Buy!

If there is anything I have learned in my investing studies so far, now is probably the best opportunity to buy American equities that will ever exist in my lifetime. I just wish I had started learning about investing, and socking away my cash, about a year earlier than I did. Now is the time to up your 401k payments, now is the time to fully fund your Roth IRA!

And the real estate market looks ripe for the buying too...

This Way Seems Compatable with His Way

Book review of The Warren Buffett Way

As I have been exploring economics from a variety of perspectives, it seemed only natural to read a book about one of the greatest investors of our time. I was pleasantly surprised by this book to learn that investing well was a rational and intelligent process and not just random chance.

Obviously, there are those who dispute that statement but I believe that the weight of Mr. Buffett's success is a powerful argument against them. I also believe that his value investing strategy is highly compatible with the Christian life. As his recent buying spree proves, value investing helps out companies, and consequently keeps thousands of people employed, when they are down and it punishes investors that artificially raise stock prices by selling companies that get too expensive. This process of buying at undervalued points and selling at overvalued points moderates the growth of a company, consequently reducing instability and maintaining a rational environment for the securities market. Given the recent market plummet, I'd rather let billionaires keep the market afloat than my tax dollars.