OK so all the Bears and Pessimists are coming out of the woodwork. It’s easy considering the current state of our world. The ones that are telling you I told you so are the ones to stay away from. These self-proclaimed experts are just further marketing their personal agenda. I for one would be seeking out the ones we don’t hear about. These quiet settlers looking to take over the Range by using their leverage and puppets to do the dirty work. This might be a little conspiring, as I’m not sure there is this group out there controlling the world; rather it might be true on a smaller scale. And that the smaller groups have the same mentality, feeling of supremacy and that the moral natures of these groups are woven together and thus creates this monster we call "them".

So what is going on? Are we asking what is happening, and what did I do wrong. I for one have followed the path straight and true. I went to a good school. Thanks to my parents whom actually moved just for the school district. I went to a good College. Well, I had to change for financial reasons. But in the end, I graduated. I was not fortunate enough to follow the route as some of my peers and close friends and relatives as they went to Ivy League route. I suppose I have some prejudice about this but nonetheless I accomplished the “path”. I worked; I worked hard and true and got to where I wanted to be. Growing up, I was fascinated by Wall Street. I read all the books and learned of the culture and “the” money. I read books like “Bonfire of the Vanities”, “Den of Thieves” and “Liars Poker”. These books animated the real life characters and popular culture further famed them in “Wall Street” and Gordon Gecko “Greed is good”. So where did I end up? Yes, Wall Street. Not as a banker but IT. For me I was home. I was where Michael Milken the Junk Bond King rose and fell. So, I made a good living. Lived in what I felt was the capital of the world and started a family. We did well, well enough. We were in the top percentile, although this is highly skewed, as the median household income in the United States is something like thirty six thousand a year. I paid more in taxes! Yes, I followed the rules. I paid my taxes and I contributed and I ran the rat race and I was a good citizen and I consumed. It was flawless!

Things began to change; noticing now in hindsight it has been changing for at least the past ten years. The beginning was when I began noticing a creeping rise in the cost of services As the years progressed our income was getting chipped at a little here and a little there. The alternative minimum tax sucked. Taxes rose slowly, unnoticeably and we were suppose to give thanks for the tax rebate check that simply faded as soon as you got them. I know this because I would track local, state and federal taxes. We have to be extremely educated consumers and personal advisers to combat this creep. I would research and purchase everything I could with pre-tax dollars. And every service that we required to maintain a household, get to work, service the home and provide for our young children all began to rise all under the preface of rising energy costs. Actually the purchasing of products still remained low. I actually still find products to be very inexpensive relatively. But I do think that inflation will absolutely be setting in soon. All the increases in services happen very justifiably. Business knows how to push the right tone across to the consumer, passing the buck. In so many instances, the services we required increased because they were able to put a twist around itemizing expenditures that we would have to absorb. This applied to cable, electricity, cell phone service, telephone service, etc. This creep was very mischievous in my opinion. Gone are the days that business provides a service to the customer at a cost, a competitive cost and adjusts it’s own operations to maintain that competency all the while absorbing all the costs of doing business. It’s like the consumer is expected to be a partner when in reality we don’t care. This itemization in our business culture is extremely effective, but it should be completely transparent to the consumer. This works because there is competition. When there is no competition, I can understand having to justify to the consumer. But the reality is that there is no justification. Take for example the de-monopolization of energy. It didn’t help the consumer in the end because in the end it was not economically feasible to enter certain markets and so the local energy market stayed a free market with a single provider.

It was a constant tug of war to balance the rising cost of services. In some cases it was easy, for example beating the local phone carrier was easy with VOIP or with the aggressive competition in insurance you could easily find coverage that was less expensive. Same goes with financing; how did all this liquidity just dry up?The wool has been pulled from under our feet. We have been shepherd to the slaughterhouse. The circulation and accumulation of wealth is disparate. How do we get it back in the hands of the people? The whole shifting of the economic scenery may be a painful blessing. Think about it, everything was put into a handful of baskets. You know the expression “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”? Well that is what was happening. Seems contrarien to think so, but corporate America was consolidated and we worked for companies employing tens of thousands, and everything was franchised. So now when business goes bust, it hits more and more of us. I for one think it is OK; I don’t need another one of them. I have enough with the handful of companies that I know and trust. I say let the survivors adjust and “Grow” again. And maybe revert back to what they do best instead of trying to be competitive. And in the meantime, spawn back the mom and pops and the days of service and quality, where you didn’t have to advertise and market this; you just got it and you knew it because you felt comfortable. You felt the service, not the Bullshit scripted customer service crap that sounds down right condescending. But of course it is absolutely required because “this phone call may be recorded for training purposes”. These changing times, Now is the time to change your hat, rethink what you want to do, what you want to be. Do you want to deal with intangibles, intrinsic value, intellectual property and proprietary knowledge? Or would you like to own something that is tangible? I’m heading in this direction. Empower the change! I am trying to gain control of my future.