Theme of the Week

Last week on Twitter I started something, I declared the theme of the week. Last week it was to ENGAGE. Go out there and engage someone one (friend, family member, or even still a customer). It didn't matter who just ENGAGE.

This week I continued the theme of the week and declared that this week's theme is to EVOLVE. To become the person you always wanted to be. So how does one evolve? Well, first off, people do it all the time. They do it subconsciously, they know after one time of touching a hot stove that the next time will certainly involve burning flesh. Thus they have evolved. While most evolution is not that blatant, some have taken hundreds of thousands of years, unfortunately we don't have that much time.

So what's a normal human being to do? Simple; achieve consciousness, wake up and get to know who you are. Know that you define yourself and not others. Know that at the end of the day its you that you are going to be with. Know that when you look in the mirror, you know exactly who you are looking at.

With that being said, once you know who you are, you should know who you want to be. In order to achieve that you then have to recognize the challenges and opportunities that will encounter along the way. Along that way you will then start to identify your capabilities and the benefits that those capabilities inherently bring. Then the unknown.

The unknown then comes at a price. That price is waiting. Waiting for something that may or may not come is the price you pay. However, something almost magical happens while waiting for the unknown; you grow, you mature, you have evolved into the person you always wanted to be.

Pipedream? I don't think so. While I was vague in my description but that was for a reason. I wrote that you define yourself and not others, and that means that I recognize that we are all different, what might work for me might not you. Therefore, for me to sit here and say this is the path you must take to become the person you always wanted to be would be downright rude. Therefore, my only advice to you is to know who you are and do something about it. That's truly the only way you can evolve and become that person.

Tags: evolve, evolution, self-aware, personal growth, maturity, you, capabilities

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What are CDOs and why should you be worried?

In case you didn't know, there is something called a CDO (Collateralized Debt Obligation) and if your retirement system, investment firm, or even you own them, you better start worrying.

First, a CDO is an "investment-grade security backed by a pool of bonds, loans and other assets."(investopedia.com) In this case, the CDO is one way for the issuer to relieve themselves of the debt by selling off the assets in the form of small manageable segments. Should there be a default on the original note, the loss to the individual segment holders will be negligible. So what's the big deal?

The big deal is that the original owner, in order to lessen the load/burden of carrying a note(s) that has the potential of failure, sell off the note or a pool of notes to someone who is not looking at the potential for loss but the confidence that the obligation will be met and the return will be more than what they paid for.

The issuers are able to sell the pool that has been broken down into manageable units. As mentioned, that way they can sell to multiple parties and the load is diminished that a loss on the original note will not be felt as much as someone who is carrying the entire note. The allure of a return, by the new owner, is backed by the fact that the original issuer is selling the note at the current value and not at its Net Future Value (without discounted cash flow). The NFV then becomes the selling point and people buy.

What they are buying is "an investment in the future" but isn't that what U.S. Savings bonds are? However, they also believe that if they buy a little piece of a big pie their loss is almost not important, it is a risk that they are willing to take. A risk? but a who's expense?

So who is buying the CDOs?
Unfortunately, many people are buying. The mystique of a little bit has them looking at buying a lot. Let's see who's buying; Bllomberg reports "The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the nation's largest public pension fund, has invested $140 million in such unrated CDO portions", while the Teachers Retirement System of Texas purchased just "$62.8 million" of the CDOs, and the New Mexico State Investment Council, which funds education and government services for children, has purchased $222.5 million and recently acquired another $300 million. That is a lot of money dumped into the riskiest of investments, and that's a lot of people that will be out something they were expecting to get, something they believed their retirement program was going to give them, especially after contributing all these years.

So what happens if they default?
A lot. Aside from organizations being out millions the confidence of those organizations to make sound investment decisions in the future will be questioned every step of the way, by not just the people that were hoping to use the returns for their golden years, but you can bet your bottom dollar the government will be knocking on someone's door. But it does not stop there.

The word will get out and across the board two things will happen...
One, under increased scrutiny financial lending institutions will restrict any form of subprime lending (thus creating the risky investments) and re-do the lending structure for prime lending. This will then shift the borrower status. Those that were considered Prime, but on the fringe, are now definitely considered Sub-Prime.

Two: consumer confidence in the value of any financial organization will be considerably low. This is especially so, in those that made the decisions to buy those risky (and unrated) CDOs. Additionally, the consumer confidence of the lending institution will be lower as well. This is because they will be perceived as the root of all this evil. They are the ones who created the bad/risky debt then pawned it off on someone else.

While the investing confidence of an individual will not be lost, in fact it will be strengthened as the individual will start to realize that if they can control their own financial future then they can blame no one but themselves. Therefore, this will then launch a new era of the "consumer-investor" They will not only invest on their own but do the homework to get the better deal.

A BETTER FUTURE?
Will this happen again? You bet it will. If there is a risk, someone will take it. As Deloitte & Touche Internal Auditor Eric Hespenheid and Rick Funsten recently said in a Deloitte Insights Podcast that Risk is the foundation of the entrepreneurial spirit. Knowing this does not excuse the actions of those that make bad decisions. I am not saying that if an investment goes south it was a bad one. This means that if there is too much of an inherent risk and steps aren't taken to minimize the risk then you get what you got coming.

Go into any deal with the knowledge that one day it will end, whether through default or the note is paid in full, it will end. Preparing for both will minimize the risk should something bad happening. Lastly, understanding that in this day and age stakeholders rule. They will drive what happens to their interests. However, there is no greater stake than cold hard cash, especially the cash that they plan to live off in retirement and if it is not there when they need it, they will not be happy campers.

So dear reader, why wait until something bad happens? Do something now, be aware of the consequences of what could happen to your money. Get informed NOW and not when it is too late. It is your money and you do have a right to do something about it.

KNOW WHAT INVESTMENTS YOUR FUTURE IS IN!!!



Reference:
Investopedia.com
Bloomberg.com

Sprint Logic

Over the past few days I have been picking up more and more chatter about the dismissal of 1,000 Sprint customers for "excessive" customer support calls and the couple hundred U.S. Army Soldiers that are being cutoff for "excessive" roaming. Yet these guys have been courting new business all over the media: TV, Print, and Internet. So they want new business and but not if you are going to make waves.

What kind of business sense is that?
I understand that there are times that customers have to be fired, I have done that on occasion. However, I have talked to the customers and let them know why the end of the road is fast approaching. I ended the business not because they were excessive callers or that they used the free services in an excessive manner, I ended the business relationship because I could no longer support them. However, I did leave things open such as if they ever needed my services, they would get it at the same price we parted ways at. I still call them to see how they are doing and they are still on my Christmas Card list, just to let them know that even though I don't see them as much as I have, I still value them.

Now, I am not asking Sprint to start handwriting Christmas cards. What I am asking is for them to be civil. What I am asking is for them to ensure that those they cut-off be given an opportunity to return, provided they learned their lesson of "excessive" support calls. However as for the SOLDIERS.

Talk about shooting yourselves in the foot. In case you didn't know SOLDIERS ROAM! That's what Soldiers do and you cannot change that. So, if you cannot deal with that fact, then you are right in cutting them loose. Just be sure you let them port their numbers when they take their money to the competition.

Do you think its best to so dramatically get rid of customers while you are courting new customers? The logic behind this action (or inaction) completely escapes me.

One Bad Organic Apple or One Bad Organic Narcissist

Yesterday on CNBC, I heard about the CEO of "Whole Foods Market posted messages on a Yahoo! chat forum under an alias for years, talking up his own company while predicting a bleak future for Wild Oats Markets, the rival it has since sought to acquire." (CNBC.com, 2007)

It seems that this guy took a play on his wife's name and made it his screen name. Then he proceeded to rip apart Wild Oats Markets while under that other persona.

What was this guy thinking?
He had a great thing going on at Whole Foods and he shot himself in the foot. Seems like some people are not happy unless they are stirring the pot. I personally LIVE for the stirring the pot. However, I do it when it has to be done and not for the sake of just doing it.

Moving on, so you ask how did he shoot himself in the foot?
Well it seems that he wants Whole Foods Market to acquire Wild Oats Markets. OK, so what's the big deal one company wants another company? The big deal is that this guy got caught making statements about a company that he wants to acquire. Why? To drive down the value thus drive down the price.

Isn't this the American way?
It may have been in your father's day but in a post- Enron world you can bet your ass it ain't the American Way. The American Way is to be open, transparent, and be above board with everything you do. Failing to do that, as John Mackey is finding out will lead him down a difficult path. The FTC has sued to prevent the acquisition from going through. Whole Foods Markets stakeholders, both internal and external, are wondering if his actions were illegal because they most certainly were unethical.

So where is the narcissism?
This guy really thought he would not get caught. Now that he is caught he acts like the FTC trapped him, was out to get him, and he should not be held accountable for the something he wrote in private. He event as far as saying "posted on Yahoo! under a pseudonym because I had fun doing it. Many people post on bulletin boards using pseudonyms."(CNBC.com, 2007) Sounds like he truly believes he has done nothing more than have a little fun. Meanwhile, this just proves that one bad ORGANIC apple does spoil the whole bunch.

Nice try buddy, next time how about recruiting some of the competition's customers and let them sink that ship, if it is as bad as you say.

You can check out the story at: http://www.cnbc.com/id/19700361

NEWSFLASH: DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE SIGNED

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

---

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

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courtesy: http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration_transcript.html