Financial Crisis Short lived.

The banking system was put into an upheaval.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac virtually disappeared overnight.  Major banks went under.  One day they were vibrant and the next day a bigger bank purchased the remaining assets for small amounts.  An insurance company linked with mortgage securities also went under. 

In the meantime the securities industry or should I say the stock markets in the United States and also abroad collapsed and then the next day they had an all time high for a day.  Joy and sadness, up and down.  Can anything come to the rescue.

Yes, our rescue is coming in November around the Thanksgiving time.  Stories of the turnaround will resonate for milleniums on how quickly the turnaround happened.  Innovations.  Innovations.  Innovations.  Alternative Fuel sources which were being worked on have finally claimed the headlines.  The price of oil thus is plummenting.  Happy are all in the world because the United States is happy.  Well, some in the world who are depending upon oil are not happy.  Is this temporary or this is permanent.   They are speculating.  Some airlines are worried.  They speculated on the price of oil remaining high.  They lost when the price of oil came down.  Their only hope now may be bankruptcy.  Will it work.  Can someone else in the airline industry buy them.  No, the contract is too ironclad.  No one will try.  Can the assets be purchased.  Can the landing rights be purchased.  Can the jets be purchased.  What is the new going rate. 

Detroit is working on advancing production of the GM Volt but production is scheduled for the 2010 model year.  Ford has other ideas which they are ready to put into production for the current model year.  Will this date put the Volt out-of-date.   Are the innovations from Ford going to bankrupt GM.  Will Ford buy GM.  Does GM have other innovations to apply to its list of new car development.  Will the new innovations eliminate the need for tires completely.   

Other innovations are encouraging speculators to invest in new technologies.  Will the alternative fuel industry remain alive if the price of oil goes to “rock-bottom”. 

Funneling of cash to terroist organizations seems to have stopped while individuals attempt to recover personally from years of oil production of which now has a low value.  Terrorist organizations have made advances toward a peace truce.  Can this be real.  The price of oil.  Will it hit $20 or $30 per barrel again. 

The government has started a huge project in solar to build a 20 by 20 miles solar panel in a desert.  Bids are out to the states for cooperation.  Will the final coverage be 10 by 10.  A 20 square mile coverage is supposed to be able to supply all of the electrical needs of the United States.  If 10 by 10 then other sources of electricity will be able to be encouraged for production.  Internal security I believe dictates scattered placement of electrical venues.  Electical cars will demand more and more electrical needs.  Innovative homeowners have now been allowed to pull money out of their IRAs or Roth/IRAs for home solar cell electricity sources. 

A national disaster has turned into cooperation between the political parties.  Everyone is now on board.  The unity was strengthen when two countries tried to rattle their sabers.  The unity was deafening.  They backed off.  The strength of a United United States was too much for them to overcome.

It only took a short time for years of struggling innovations to come in the forefront of completion. 

Medical innovations or alternative medical innovations have also been developed and abundant amount of cures to once struggling medical science will soon be common place cures.  Who needs to worry about health insurance.  It is almost like you just need to eat an apple.  The solutions are readily available. 

The greatest times of the United States are yet to come.  Keep innovation compounding.  And if you don’t believe this then pray God will quickly answer your prayers.  When a nation prays, God listens.   Or better yet look at www.kimclement.com for a more precise knowledge of what “will” happen.

Unconstitutional Bailout!!

The Constitution of the United States specifically mentioned that all bills concerning taxes and revenues shall initiative first out of the House of Representatives.  From what I have heard from the radio there are tax and revenue provisions and the Senate has passed and sent a copy of their bill for the Mortgage Interest meltdown to the House of Representatives.  This is Unconstitutional and all members of the House should vote NO-NO-NO!!! on this bill. 

If they do not then this could be considered as a precedence for the Senate writing tax and revenue law in an emergency session because the House does not run fast enough.  It takes less effort for 100 to agree than a massive 400 + to agree.

Beware of the precedence.

Section 7. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other Bills.

Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.

Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill.

Financial Crisis II

When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock they set up a system whereby the strong and the weak shared equally in the bounty produced during the prior year.  After many deaths the next year the families which produced the most kept the most. 

Communism was tried in America.  It has been proven to fail.  This bailout plan is a direct repeat of the first year experiment at Plymouth Rock.  If a set-up from a free market system is set-up this will make America stronger and the individual stronger.  The strong produce and if they want to help the weak then that is up to the individual or private organizations which get contributions by the individual.  At Plymouth Rock the strong produced more and all collectively produced more.       

No bailout for the weak.  They really won’t die but actually they will become stronger and not weaker.

The free enterprise system worked at Plymouth Rock and the weak were stronger and produced a minimum for themselves.  The strong produced more than what they individually needed for their family.  Abundance succeeded from the free market system and abundance failed from the communistic system of sharing equally.

Financial Crisis Alternative Solution – Maybe!!

 Financial Crisis Alternative Solution – Maybe!!

The exact inside workings of the “Financial Crisis” I am not fully aware of. Options, sub-prime mortgage alternatives, derivatives and the other likely investment vehicles from the news media seem to be staggering.

But

I have not heard any specific “free-market” alternatives issued to solve the problem.

Here is my solution based upon the free market:

* Have investors draw money out from their IRA, Roth IRA and pension plans for a sub-prime mortgage investment.

* For maximum risk reduction limit the sub-prime mortgage exposure to 10-20% of the total portfolio value. (It would be more prudent to limit the exposure to 10% or even 5%.

* The limitation of the investment allowed would be a maximum of $20,000. This would allow enough of an investment by an individual who does not have that much in but wants to take a higher risk because of the low amount in the account.

* A new mutual fund industry could exist or in some fashion or like Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

* For reduction of risk exposure assumes the value of the investment will fail. Structure the dividend or interest income return so the value of the account will remain even with no return. This is the same technique which is used with high risk investments but with the other portion of the portfolio being in guaranteed no-risk government bonds. The interest from the bonds would over say ten years yield a return on investment equal to the loss of the account. This would affectively zero out any loss from the account but obviously would not return any investment return as well. The observance of BETA management should be strictly accounted for. Examples of rounding out a portfolio through Collar Investing as outlined by Thomas J. Schwab of Summit Portfolio Investing, LLC www.summitportfolioadvisors.com may be a good strong way to reduce risk and be aggressive at the same time to help in reducing risk associated with aggressive portfolio management and also lowering the risk aspects generally associated with high risk investment portfolios in other portions of the investment portfolio.

* To offset this potential risk factor the U.S. Government would give an up-front 10% tax credit.

* The tax credit if the investment was inside of an IRA or Roth-IRA or Pension Plan would be able to be taken off on the individuals personal income tax return for 2007 or 2008. The reason for the 2007 is to stimulate activities from an amended return (I do realize that the IRS is loaded down with over 1MM amended returns at the present time from the Economic Stimulus Payments as well at this time.) Or a separate 1040-IRA could be filed at the rate of 15% by the government. The trustees would submit a separate form for the pension holders. An election would be submitted to the sponsoring company if the 2007 was elected. Otherwise the normal course would be for a 2008 tax return for the credit amount.

* If after five years the investment failed then the government would come up with another 10% tax credit or when the investment was sold. The credit would go to the IRA/Pension in this case instead.

* At withdrawal the increase in value of the account would be considered as part of the basis and no income tax would be due on early withdrawal.

* If early withdrawal did happen then no 10% penalty would be accessed against the portion of the interest gain. This would be allowed if the IRA/Pension amounts were kept separate either from an accounting standpoint by the Pension trustee or the IRA trustee. An individual could keep the information separate by opening a separate IRA or Roth-IRA account. If the later is done then the IRS would pay the first five years of the IRA account fees through a tax credit.

* Use of the funds when withdrawn could be used for home construction of solar cell panels on a home. If additional funds were needed beyond the basis and interest income of the invested sub-prime mortgage funds then these funds could be withdrawn without a 10% penalty and the with additional funds would be taxed at the capital gains rate rather than the ordinary rate for the cost of the domicile primary residence solar cell panel investment only.

* The objective here is to leave out the government or at least as much as possible. Tax credits would act as a social manipulation and stimulus.

* This style of stimulation would also leave funds with the United States government to stimulate other sources of alternative energy. An example of this would be the funds could be used to create a 20 X 20 miles solar cell farm in the Arizona or New Mexico desert. Maybe even an algae farm of equal size for the creation of an alternative source of biofuel created from algae. Is there a river close by.

* The available source of Pension, IRA and Roth/IRA funds would not distract from returns on investment but rather a stimulus of ownership would be crucial in resolving world markets. A solution without the possibility of the government going broke would stabilize world markets. This also could stimulate employers to release additional funds to a pension plan because of the enthusiasm of the employees. A restriction of investment through employers pensions could be made if the pension is less than 100% funded. This would be true if the funds were from a defined benefit plan for the tax credit of course.

* Additional funding sources could be from Annuities. A restriction of the March 2007 date may need to be imposed to not allow investment of funds just to get a personal income tax credit.

* Ease of the withdrawal requirements from these types of investments would need to be put in place also. Withdrawal of funds after April 1 of the 70 1/2 birthday would not be calculated for the RMD (Required Minimum Distribution) until after the maturity or the refinancing of the underlying mortgage. Two options would be needed for this calculation by the trustee. Either after all mortgage backed sub-prime mortgages would have to be liquidated (this test may need to be age sensitive) or with a minimum of 5% per year for the withdrawal. Assuming a 20 payout. The other alternative would have to allow a February 15th calculation by the trustee and a withdrawal of additional funds by March 30th for the request. If funds would need to be re-deposited in a 60 day window from April 15th should be allowed. No late fees or penalties for the requirement. Thus older taxpayers would need until June 15th to file their income tax returns.

* States may need to comply and modify their income tax filing seasons and requirements. Most states for state income tax returns take the numbers from the federal returns for purposes of pensions and IRAs. The 10% penalty is usually a percentage of the federal amount. California takes an additional 2.5% of the penalty as an example. Capital gains treatment of pension or IRA withdrawals would need to be changed in the state laws to conform with federal treatment. Federal laws could be adjusted to change the reporting of the capital gains portion under Schedule D rather than the Form 1040 page 1 section. This may be difficult for a federal requirement but the asset would have to be held for one year anyways.

* Again, from the mortgage side of this mess I can see a huge problem but I do not see as much of a down side with this type of a plan as I do with the one-owner concept of the federal government. Administration of existing mortgages would remain a constant. The citizens and world markets may be able to participate in this style or structure of investment. IRA or Roth/IRAs may be considered for foreign investors. If funds were input into a Roth/IRA format and kept separate then a no tax credit would be available for the foreign investor but a maximum of $125,000 could be invested. This would be in essence a foreign cushion and if they are over 59 1/2 at the time of the withdrawal no income tax would be do. An additional withdrawal of the interest and Roth/IRA would have to be allowed due to the restrictions on withdrawal at the border of $125,000 at the present time due to estate tax purposes. Relief of the withdrawal of $10,000 of reporting would have to be waived for transfers of funds out or into the country as well. The 10,000 restriction is in place to detect movement of terrorist funds. An individual to trustee or bank to trustee account should meet this requirement and the receiving trustee would make the appropriate declarations.

* Amounts above the 10% and not inside of an IRA or Roth/IRA up to 20% of ones investment portfolio could be invested in these sub-prime mortgage back securities and the tax treatment would be that of an insurance policy. The maximum amount would could be included would be $10,000,000. The estate tax treatment would be tax free and the gift tax per year would be tax free for the interest income portion.

Let’s knaw on something like the above and keep the government solvent. Many individuals bearing the risk spreads the risk and lowers the individual percentage of loss. We have had numerous large company merge due to large collective amounts being in one place. The last thing we need is for the largest organization to go under. A 5% or 10% loss over ten years by many is less than one large organization which we all depend upon going under. The safer investments from the many will come out even with risks spread and no equity lost or gained over time. The loss by one which depends upon all of us contributing for its stability would be catistrophic for all.

Sincerely,

Keith Ljunghammar, EA

 

 

 

 

Thanks God!! A mortgage failure silver lining??

Thanks God!

What else are we supposed to do when the mortgage finance industry goes down. What else are we supposed to do when the New Orleans levies break. What else are we supposed to do when hurricanes smash our cities. What else are we supposed to do when Indonesia, etc gets smashed by a tsunami. What else.

Are we supposed to sit back and assume this is part of God’s taxing system.

When the IRS wants to get taxpayer’s attention they take bank accounts, garnish wages and generally cause mischief. Has God really been trying to get our attention. Or is there some other plan which is being dealt to us.

When the IRS does get our attention a plan of repayment is devised. The full payment over a series of months or years. The IRS does not want to take our possessions but merely to get our attention so the non-payment issue can be addressed and eventually satisfied.

The mortgage sub-prime situation is this different or about the same. I heard today that in some areas of California where a large population of illegal immigrants live that over 25% of the subprime paper involves illegal immigrant underpayment or foreclosure proceedings. One may consider this to be the problem but the other 75% is still there so the problem would still exist if the 25% illegal immigrant portion did not exist. So I will be discounting the 25% as not being the cause.  The illegal immigrants would have been encouraged and not discouraged in getting a mortgage.  The legislation is not the fault of the illegal immigrant but the shame, shame of the legislature and the mortgage industry.   Yes, part of the problem but not the cause.

There has to be some other portion of the macro economy which is the cause. Credit card interest rates, adjustable rate mortgages, no income verification, unethical mortgage lending practices, fraud, high interest rates in comparison to levels of income, credit scores, etc. Yes, all of the above.

One thing I see as a cause is the change in legislation two years ago. The bankruptcy laws were levied at individuals for payment of credit card debt for a 5 year period of time. In the meantime prior to bankruptcy credit card interest rates were increased substantially from a maybe normal 8 – 15% interest rate to a 29.9% interest rate if another credit card was missed. The missed payment could have been from a credit card in dispute or a mortgage which was a little bit late or from a credit card companies policy of processing incoming mail at a snails pace so late fees could be charged. Disputes from another credit card thus would not be allowed in this situation whereas prior to this legislation they could be disputed and non-payment would be allowed. Double jeopardy thus was allowed to the punishment of the consumer.

No, I would not say that God was responsible for creating the mortgage industry or credit card issuer meltdown. It is either as a result of unethical power brokers in business and the mortgage and credit card industry tied with the legislative greed of the Congressional Leaders and Senators of the elected official of the United States.

Should anyone have warned of this poor legislation. Keep your ears tuned to the news media for a completely biased report on what is and has happened during this Presidential Campaign Season. Corruption and politics was the payoff and now the results have come home to roost.

Although I am sure that God has noticed this meltdown the meltdown was not His objective. Getting rid of the corruption and the bickering in the Legislative branch and having the Godly solutions put back into place was the objective. Now the question is who will pay for the solution and what should the solution be.

My solution. The legislative branch of Congress has been talking about a $700 Billion dollar bailout. I hear the legislature saying they will buy out paper which is or has been defaulted on at a deep discount. But really this is not punitive to the unethical and unscruptulous finance industries. In fact I believe some of the financial portions of the finance industry may have bought fraudulent paper without their knowledge and thus would be innocent and financially burdened as well. I would take the credit card interest payments which are in reality part of the problem in the mortgage industry due to the bankruptcy law change legislation and force all of the credit card companies to replace the interest rate charge for up to six years back with a across the board six percent interest rate. Eliminate all of the penalties of any kind. The difference then would be used to reduce or eliminate the credit card bill which the credit card holders would have. Any excess would not go back to the consumer but would be used to eliminate other credit card payment amount from other issued credit cards. The reduction would be even if the consumer was unable to pay the credit card interest rate. But the credit card bill would only be allowed up the the zeroeing out of the credit card or mortgage interest owed.

There. My solution. Punishment of greed must be paid for. Caution in lending must be back in vogue. Unethical and fraudulent practices even if legal need to be punished and unscruptulous lenders eliminated from the financial industry.

So the silver lining might be that our differences are eliminated and the Congress can finally start to work together and not bash each other.  My legislation is better than your attitude has got to stop.  What is good for the citizens is why we have elected officials in the first place.  In 1776 everything suddenly came together when they prayed.  Maybe a stronger practice of prayer would be a good solution for this problem.  A little bit of a higher pay grade sometimes (always) is needed. 

My Financial Planning Viewpoint

Keith Ljunghammar

 

 

 

 

 

Financial Disaster

The current path to Financial Disaster seems to be imminent.  Today the Fed did not raise the interest rate.  This seems to be a repeat of what happened in the President Dwight D. Eisenhower era.  But the economy was stable during that time and President Eisenhower wanted stable interest rates so the Federal Interstate road system could be built at a reasonable cost. 

Normally interest rates are raised to either 1)  Stave off inflation or 2)  Create an incentive for foreign investors to bring foreign currencies into our markets in order to stimulate the economy.

If we have inflation – well our prices at the pump are going down because our economy or the strength of the dollar is a little bit better but we still need a lot of strength in our currency.  When I am talking with taxpayers they still have not seen a turn-around for them personally in the economy.  New jobs have not been created lately but jobs are on the decrease.  This is only from a recent vantage point however.  I am not seeing any signs of inflation as of the last two months. 

If I was a foreign investor would I put money into U.S. currency or into another foreign currency.  The dollar rate between foreign currencies and U.S. currency has been getting closer as of lately.  Some currencies have been remaining relatively stable between the U.S. and the foreign currency.   Canada has been having a wider spread.  If the dollar increases in value the Canadian currencies decreases in value.  Canada’s economy is extremely dependent upon wood, natural gas, and oil.  As the price of gas goes down the price of the Canadian dollar goes down against the U.S. $.

I believe in the economy everyone should be looking at solid industrialized currencies even if only an investment in a bank CD is the ultimate individual investors objectives.  As our world shrinks our needs to know what is happening must expand.  No longer can an investment or should I say a stashing place for cash have no due diligence basis.  Every aspect of the investment field is suspect to needing a knowledge base and a complete understanding of the integral variables in other types of mobile investment strategies.  This strategies of speculative, junk status, emerging markets, gold, other metal, commodities, derivatives, options, futures, real estate, land, tax liens, and etc. all are part of what the banks look at when determining what the CD rate will be.  Then again add the same mix put from every major country in the world and how their economies are moving.

With the recent disasters in the Mortgage, Investment Banking, Banking, and soon to be Life Insurance fields caution is all around us. 

If another bank fails I believe it will be purely from a bank run and not a balance sheet bailout problem. 

WAMU has a CD for 8 months @ 4.25%.  Is this a warning sign or is it a way to get fixed cash amounts into the bank.  Are they expecting their balance sheet to have problems for the next six months and then everything could be great after that.  Or do the banks need to publicize their income and profit reports monthly and the balance sheets monthly for assurances to the banking investor of the solid nature of a particular bank.  Then again I do see other banks offering something similiar to this also.  FDIC insured to $100,000 and FDIC insured to $250,000 is just fine but if insolvent I believe no interest is paid for about 6 to 9 months.  And if it is then it does or would take about six to nine months for the FDIC sytem to straighten the system out. 

I really do see this entire system being created by Senator Biden and his change to the credit card system.  After the bankruptcy change old credit cards which were not submitted to the bankruptcy system would have had a large default rate.  If you cannot pay your credit cards you will pay your mortgage first.  But the credit cards now are allowed to boost your interest rate up to a high of 29% and this is even if you have not missed a payment on your credit card.  The your ARM is coming due and you try to refinance and with all of the credit card debt and missed payments many homeowners are now going to pay an extra premium because of their credit cards.  A decrease in value of the credit cards and the new mortgage cannot absorb the credit card debt and then a larger interest rate is charge.  Can’t refinance and can’t sale a home.  This really does sound like stalemate from a chess players standpoint.  But this is not just a game. 

My solution would be to undo the credit card debt laws and eliminate the credit cards.  If a law creates chaos and the law was lobbied by an institution then the instituation must pay the price.  If a taxpayer cannot repay credit card debts and redo a mortgage then the credit card debt should be completely forgiven up to the point of the new re-assessed value of the house. 

The IRS has values and formulas for basic standards of living.  These formulas could be used as a backup in determining if a taxpayer is insolvent.  The bankruptcy courts also use a system to determine if someone is insolvent.  This could be used as well. 

The assumption when the house of purchased was that the homeowner would be able to pay the mortgage with everything being equal.  Whether the homeowner was under a 30% or a 35% or a 50% or higher income equation on the original mortgage then this could also be the criteria for determining the value of the amount which should be required to be paid.

Watch out for the falling economy even if you are only investing in CDs.

I thing before this is all done foreign governments will have to send money to U.S. credit card holders.  They probably would have to send this to credit card companies as gifts to pay off maybe $2000 in credit card debt to the creditors.  Above that the debtor would have to pay.  For instance, it may be in China’s best interest to get the U.S. economy going again by sending money to the U.S. so they can keep their people employed.  Just a thought and I doubt this will happen.

Maybe a mattress is the only sound investment these days.

Invention

     Was traveling around the 46th Legislative District and from one house I looked at something.  Well, from this I had an idea and after the election I will be trying to modify what I saw and possibly make an invention out of it.  I believe it would be of a greater function after I get done with the changes which would be needed.

     When I was 13 I found out that my great uncle invented one type of washing machine.  It was the one which had the squeeze rollers at the top.  This was used to ring out some of the excess water.  He never worked another day in his life.  I almost got the tools for making a ball inside of a ball inside of a wooden ball inside of a ball which he designed himself.  These balls are seen predominantly in European museaums which is where he also received the idea.

     What type of candidate for office do you want.  One who thinks continually or one who takes the garbage from the party power brokers.  Which will help your bottom line, your communities and your county and your state? 

     Both of my opponents I have not seen a single original idea from their “gossip” websites.  No original ideas.  They are just repeated what someone else has said.  Your vote counts more than ever in the general election and now even more in the primary.

Improving the Economy

Keith Ljunghammar, EA, CFP

How to Cut the Recession and Improve the Economy.

When I was selling securities at a brokerage house the primary client had money that was about to move. An inheritance, under performing investments, or an increase in personal income through a promotion or graduating from college.

When I was exploring the mortgage industry my schooling said to look at a mortgage purchase approaching or recently passing a two year timeframe. Also a credit rating improving and lower interest rates can be a double plus for the homeowner. Both counted together or separately can be potential clients.
When helping to preparer tax returns I noticed my income can improve when I prepare more tax forms. This would be either by paying attention to the taxpayer or advising for tax changes which the taxpayer would benefit from and have a smaller tax bite and more than likely more forms for tax reporting.

When insurance agents interview clients the degree of support and the reduction of risk or spreading of risk is what is being offered.

When Congress wishes to influence the flow of funds either for helping the economy or moving social concerns tax manipulation is the tool Congress uses with great enthusiasm. Home mortgage interest, education credits, mortgage interest credit, tax-free interest, low-income housing credit, lower capital gains rates and more are the tools which Congress has used in the past to help in establishing National goals.

In order for Congress to truly recognize what is ailing the economy they must see where the weakness is in the macro economy and see what type of tools have or could be used or create to help the macro and the micro weaknesses strengthen. What can stimulate. What can help.

First what can be strengthened with a little bit of effort and have the greatest amount of pull. Can the solution for the macro be concentrating in a few segments of the micro. But the conclusion from finding what can strengthen the problems in the economy must be seen. What or where are the weaknesses.

The frustration in the economy as I see it was created in the mortgage industry. Now the mortgage industry is hurting and another industry related to the mortgage industry is the construction industry. The creation of a mortgage document does not create wealth but the actual construction process so let’s look at the construction industry.

Weakness in the construction industry can be seen by the months of inventory waiting to be sold. At the present time six months is the length of time between a house being on the market and sold. When this happens the construction industry may go to home improvements if the home owners have the money to do this. The homeowner who has extra money but is not moving may want a little bit more room. Then they are happy. More on this later.

One other industry which when it moves from weakness to strength move with little effort. This is in both directions. Good to Bad and from Bad to Good. Historically when the overall economy moves by five percent the durable goods industry can move by fifty percent.

One of the booming industries at the present time is the energy industry. From oil and now to farming. Farming is a new contender. Segments of the energy industry are; oil, gas, dams, nuclear, corn or similar, coal, shale oil, ethanol, methanol, heating oil, solar, wind, water wave power, geo-thermal. All of these and more have attached infrastructures and are steady and in great demand as the economy improves. They slip as the economy goes down.

Dynamic changes in the macro economy are not stagnant and will never be stagnant ever again. China and India are increasing demands of oil. So even if our economy traditionally decreases instead of the price of oil decreasing it will increase and our economy will slip further and this dynamic change will decrease our economy even more.

If our economy needs pushing can there be some type of a tool where by using the tool the economy will not be hurt and ideally helped. Is there some method where the risk of consuming “oil” will not hurt our economy. What will stregthen without causing risk. Can something be moved from one area of the economy without causing things like wage-push, inflation, deflation, exhaustion of a segment of the economy. Is the risk low. Can the move create taxes by stimulating one are without taxing in another area. Any solution which hurts the helping segment cannot be a solution. Can the solution reduce imports or reliance of goods and services of finances from foreign governments or foreign investors. Can this be done safely and as close to risk-free as possible.

One major caveot is to make sure the U.S. dollar does not weaken further. Traditionally one way the federal reserve increases the value of the dollar is to increase the federal reserve rate so loan interest reates are higher. But then durable goods manufactured in the U.S. cost more in foreign countries. As our $ improves the foreign governments currency decreases.

Reviewing all of this and comping up with an economic solution – oh my. Is there a palace in the economy which can do all of this.

Yes, there is.

The alternative energy industry has had dynamic discoveries in the recent past. A group of MIT reserchers are in the process of developing an ion battery which can give a 450 mile electric car battery performance and a recharge time of fifteen minutes. Solar celll discoveries have recently increased the effectiveness by ten times. From the start of the wind industry efficiencies have increased effectiveness by five times. These discoveries are like finding a major oil deposit and they renewable and not depleting.

This can help some of the energy segment and some of the construction industry and some of the durable goods industry. But can this be thrown into the dynamic arena without taking away that much from another area. What area is moving slowly and if it moved faster would not be hurt.

Let’s consider funds which are setting in a low return area. Traditional IRAs, pensions and Roth IRAs. Not moving and not expected to move. But not just moving from one security to another will not move an industry in a dynamic fashion. Increasing the supply without moving the demand only decreases the cost of the supply. Moving demand and supply at the same time can be the only solution. It must by dynamic.

The alternative energy segment demand should be stimulated but by the homeowner. Construction and the construction industry needs a stimulus. Taking money out of a pension, IRA or Roth IRA for installing alternative sources can be the only solution. Homeowners can manufacture their own sources of heat and electricity and sell the extra back to the energy industry. Thus the taxpayer/homeowner can make money, reduce taxes, have no tax consequences, stimulate the durable goods industry, hire excess cosntruction workers capacity, not harm or decrease the value of the dollar, increase alternative fuel energy durable goods industrial base capacity, lower the price of alternative fuel because of the increased capacity and supply and helps in increased capacity to be sold overseas and helping our economy and strengthens the economy. And finally it gets stagnant money to move this stimulating more than the economy. Every dollar made equals $12 in the economy.

But to do this no tax consequences would have to be showing on the individuals return. No withdrawal income tax or ten percent penalty. If no taxes then a repayment schedule would have to be legalized. If it costs $15,000 to $20,000 for the house construction then a $1000 per year repayment should not be a harmful affect to the economy. Allow income from the creation of excess energy rebates to pay the “loan” back to themselves needs to be written into the law. Or repayment of the “loan” at the time of the selling of the homeowners house. No harm, no foul.

Let’s do it. Move the money. Stimulate an efficient source of energy. Reduce the cost of living. Get the construction and alternative fuel source industries active and increase the strong dynamic aspects of exports.

Thanks

Reducing Credit Card Interest Rates

Excessive Credit Card Interest and How to Maximize our Economy.

Am contemplating suggesting Washington State law be changed.  Please respond if you think I will be going in the right direction.

1)  Require all credit collection agencies be licensed and bonded by Washington State.  Same laws as in the construction industry would apply.  If not bonded then the debtor would not have to pay the fees and would be able to collect back the fees plus $1000 in punitive damages and attorney fees would be paid by the collection agency upfront.  No bond then the collection agency is assumed to be wrong.  Also, the collection agency would have to pay off the entire balance of the credit card attempting to be collected.  Fraud laws would be enforced against collection agencies and thus collection agencies and the owners would not be allowed to file bankruptcy protection.  All assets of the collection agency and all personal assets would have to be sold to satisfy the debt.  Piercing of the corporate vail would be allowed.

2)  No collection agency will be able to collect interest while a debt is in collection.

3)  Maximum interest rate which can be collected by a credit card is 12% interest.  See above also.

4)  Installment companies can charge a maximum of 18% interest.  If no other credit cards exist at the time of signing the maximum installment rate would be 12% interest.

5)  Maximum time of payout for a credit card is one year.

6)  Payout time will be based upon FIFO (First-in First-out) accounting between credit cards.

7)  If one credit card is late or overdue on a payment then notice by one credit card must be sent to other creditors.  No additional credit will be allowed by the late credit card until the credit card is completely paid off to zero.  Other credit cards must not go over the limit of the balance established in that month plus $200 until the previous credit card(s) is paid down to zero.  New credit cards may not be issued until the balance is paid to zero.  Installment plans may be used but at an 18% interest rate.  Credit card notification would be between credit card affiliates only.  So VISA to VISA and MasterCard to MasterCard and Discover to Discover and American Express to American Express and Diners Club to Diners Club.  Notification from VISA to American Express would not be necessary.

8)  If other credit cards are issued prior to payoff then a zero interest rate can be charged.  New credit cards will have a secondary payoff rate or schedule.

9)  The objective of this is to limit the usage of credit cards.

10)  Multiple solicitation by credit card companies would thus take a lower priority.

11)  Cash backed credit cards would become more prevalent.

12)  Debit card usage would become more common and lower seller fees would be charged.  So instead of a 3%-4%-5% credit card fee this would encourage 30 cent fees for debit transactions.

13)  Would allow the consumer to pay less because sellers costs would be lower and bank losses would actually be lower.

14)  This would create a short credit sales crunch but the consumers would adjust to a healthier level of non-interest pre-funded available consumption.  The present economy presently has low consumer confidence and thus lower consumer spending so the ideal time to introduce this type of legislation is when the lowest possible consumer effect would take place.

15)  Overall this would be healthier for our overall competiveness in the world economy.  Lower overall consumer purchases would lead to a higher level of consumption previously allocated to interest rates which generate no economic stimulus benefit.  The lower interest rate on consumers would stimulate the growth of the value of the dollar and thus consumer prices would be lower due to this additional affect also.  More excess disposable income generated means the macro consumer would be healthy for Washington State consumers.

16)  The need for unproductive employees in the national economy would be extremely reduced due to the consumers more prudent purchasing powers.  Thus a shift from non-productive to other productive processes would elevate our economy to producing employees and make our macro economy stronger and indeed healthier.

17)  Washington State tax revenues would increase dramatically because the consumers have excess disposable income for the actual purchasing of additional goods and services which would be taxed at a higher rate.  Sales tax would be collected on this excess disposable income used for additional purchases rather than no sales tax being collected on the interest rate being charged.

18)  Interest rates would not be able to be punitive in nature.  No individual company should be allowed to collect punitive income just based upon the low credit repayment capabilities of the end consumer.  Limiting the capability of excessive spending will benefit all other consumers and lower price scales will be the generally established pricing logic of consumer based retail establishments. The micro adjustments between the end consumer and the macro economy stimulus would be complimentary.  Mentioned another way the pricing practices of the larger manufacturers would be modified to a higher production capacity and a lower $ micro economic policy.  Profits would be the same as previously.  Pricing policies would not need to be adjusted as dramatically for non-payment of manufactured goods by the retail establishment.  Cost of Goods Sold and maximizing consumer penetration policies would still be used but the movement of the economic graph would be discounted due to the shift and lowering of risk.  This would show both in manufacturing and in the retail markets.

19) Excessive non-risk income by credit collectors would not be as rampant as it is now.  The capability of the end consumer to get to a level of credit card non-compliance would be limited and restricted.  A shift to lower cost debit or prepaid credit cards would be a major macro economic phenomenon.

20)  Excessive disposable income and more consumer cash on hand would not make the federal reserve defensive by lowering the interest rate but the interest rate would be increased.  A more stable economy generates higher profits in the micro businesses where the adjusting of economic factors is lower.  Big  businesses would need to be more competitive and adjust prices downward in order to maintain market share.  Profits thus for big business would be lower but not excessive due to cost adjusting factors already priced into a product for losses due to non-payment.  This thus would allow our senior citizens who have major amounts of cash and investment assets to enjoy higher interest rates due to manipulation by the federal reserve.  The inflation factor structure into interest rates would of course be lower but the relative power of the principle of the senior citizen would not be as dramatically eroded as previously priced into consumer prices and into interest rates.  The strength of the pricing models both from macro and micro aspects will lower the relative risk priced into bank interest rates paid the bank account consumers.

Thanks

Keith Ljunghammar, EA, CFP