Sunday, June 12, 2016

Learning

You've heard this before: Don't believe everything you read. It is especially true now. Every entity - whether the news media or commercial ventures - wants you to read their stuff so that they can sell ads. Me too. In the process of doing so, they sensationalize everything as much as possible. They also want to be the first out there with whatever news there is to report; therefore, they cut corners and their stories are not always factual. In fact, the "facts" can be outright fabrications. The New York Times likes doing that a lot. Take every little morsel with a grain of salt. Don't believe everything you hear either. 

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Petchili bonds

About three years ago, a craze in Mexican historical bonds took off. Owners of these old (junk) bonds became super anxious to unload their bonds because they were led to believe that (non-existent) bond "buyers" would pay millions for them. The truth was that crooked Swiss bankers (swindlers) simply wanted to collect the items to use as collateral for short term loans. The real beneficiaries (besides the crooked Swiss bankers) were the loan applicants and the people in charge of collecting all relevant data from the bond owners. The bond owners would innocently sign over ownership of their bonds to the middlemen in exchange for IOUs. Of course, escape clauses in these contracts enabled the swindlers to legally perpetrate their swindles. Bond owners almost never got paid and, when they did, they collected pennies on the dollar. Many investors actually purchased bonds for thousands of dollars thinking they could flip them for millions. I posted a small article about a Petchili bond seller I knew (in this very blog) and it got 4273 views in one day. Such was the anxiety. 

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Learning

It is easier - and much better - to rake the leaves every day than every thirty days. It's like showering or exercising or practicing piano. Of course, if you are one of millions of people with rock landscaping, all you can do is re-arrange the rocks - or stare at them. Grass and trees are better. At least they provide oxygen - rocks don't.  

Friday, June 3, 2016

Still alive

This is a pro-forma post. I'm just writing it to document I'm still active - the person posting this is still active but it's not necessarily me. For the record.  June 3, 2016