An Update for 2011 Fall~~~

Hello Sweet Things,

Well some of you and especially you my Dear Sweet Fram, have asked me for any specific updates, and if I've attended any Gun Shows.

On the Gun Show front, I am sorry to say I have not.

Things at work have been very hectic and very crazy on the European front, the stock Market, the economy in general, with all it's crazy fluctuations, that I had a hard time even taking one full day to go to a gun show and I'm feeling very, VERY deprived.

Even when I was on a vacation trip with Baby Sis(yes we did go to Disneyland), I had to use my laptop and the wi-fi service to stay in touch with the office. Fortunately my clients have gone with my suggestions to be conservative and moderate and go for slow growth.

But if I didn't take some time away from things, I think I'd have a nervous breakdown.

Right now I have to be constantly on top of things, so no more trips for a while, I'm staying "close to home" so to speak.

Since most of my clients are older, I've been able to steer them into things that will keep their investments solvent and aid them in their retirement years. My younger one's are more the risk takers, but I constantly tell them, don't invest more than what you can afford to lose.

And the volatility of the European market especially with Greece is a constantly fluid situation.

Joe is exhausted and frustrated with the situation in Oakland the "Occupy Oakland Crazies" as he calls them. Of course the Mayor is making things worse by not being decisive on the situation.

When the violent agitators were smashing things, some of the police force were injured, far more than what the newscasters let on. Joe is very proud of Phil Tamagi for getting out his shotgun to protect his building---More than ever we need to protect our 2nd amendment rights against Anarchists whose only intention is Chaos and destruction.

And the "Occupy Oakland" group is not helping either, when anyone from City Hall asks the alleged spokespersons for "Occupy Oakland" what do they want? No one has an answer, no one is coming forth with demands or ideas.

With that I would tend to view this situation as non-productive, it is just a rant to let out frustrations about the jobless market and I have agree that the bailouts that were done on the banks because of the untenable mortgage situation and loans at inflated values is the result of basic "Greed", but also greed played upon the greediness of the people.

And I even mean the working person, the desire to have one's own house at any cost, the white picket fence, the two-plus children and the 3 car garage and the cat and the dog. What happens? Everyone suffers including the cat and the dog.

But the worse of it is outsourcing jobs over seas, again greed, and the demand for cheap goods, everyone wants the huge screen T.V.'s their Ipods, cell phones with ridiculous apps.

We need to be a nation of builders again, we need to stop outsourcing work, we need to bring the jobs back and we need to be realistic about the cost of goods. Stop being a throw-away nation, we did it to ourselves.

We do need to look at the tax code but I know too many people who rely on their tax refund to help with paying their property taxes, so some of those tax breaks do need to be kept, a flat tax is totally inequitable it will put more burden on the poor. And some of those tax proposals expounded by some of the Republican candidates will put a double tax on the purchasing of goods, so that one will be paying a state tax and a federal tax; for example if one pays a 10% state tax on goods, there will be another 10% federal sales tax on top of that so you'd be paying 20% on a product.

Lillian has been saying to me "better to vote back in the Devil you Know, than the Devil you don't know." I'm inclined to think that way too.

But I'm keeping my decisions fluid, and I have to admit I'm over simplifying an extremely complicated problem. But frankly where would I start? I'd start by bringing the jobs back to the United States and making the corporations be penalized for outsourcing. But in doing so, it would wake up the people to the value of goods and it most likely make them slow down in wasteful spending.

I would seek to give tax breaks and incentives to small businesses, and mandate to all financial institutions to stop the foreclosures and work with homeowners to create affordable mortgages to keep them in their homes, investors will not get the returns they'd like to have but they will get something.

And the people will need to be re-educated into how to live more wisely. I'd also look at why other countries have a better health programs than we do, a better education system than we do and seek to implement them.

But the people, the investors, the "banks", and Corporations all need to be aware that they cannot have their cake and be able to eat it too.

I do not see this improving over a short period of time, this is going to take at least a decade to turn it around and show signs of improvement.

What what also has me concerned is new sources of power and I mean electric, gas etc. and also new ways to get fresh water, we need it for food, we need it for our health, we cannot waste it and we are. We need to look at making the earth well again to create an environment that will generate water sources, instead of dust bowls.

Alright Sweet Things---I've done my rant. I don't have answers and I maybe viewing things wrongly, but we as a nation need to start somewhere. The attitude of the liberal love generation is not working, we need the "can-do" attitude of the greatest generation when we were facing WWII.

And Mayor Quan's 1970's attitude and flip-flopping is not working. But neither is "Occupy Oakland" they are not giving answers or demands, they have created another "Hooverville", and many of the destructive ones are not from Oakland, but from out of the city and out of state, some are professional agitators.

O.K. you want to work, then start sweeping streets, pick up garbage, recycling, painting over graffiti walls, cementing broken sidewalks, cleaning sewers and toilets, take old, dilapidated buildings and rejuvenate them to make them habitual and usable; you'll be doing it for minimum wages but it's a start. See about going to school and learning a trade, not everyone can be a doctor, lawyer, or a glib politician, we need people who are mechanics, plumbers, electricians, craftsmen. And it will show you're willing to work, and not just demanding a handout.

Joe is sleeping right now, he is exhausted, much of the police resources are going to monitoring the "Occupy Oakland" group, he has his 25 in. He's been so frustrated by what the Mayor has done and not done, by not working with the former police chief and the programs he wanted to implement and she is not being supportive with her current one. He's started looking at other places to work, it will mean his leaving the Bay Area, it may mean my leaving the Bay Area, but we shall see.

Frankly Joe said that maybe De LaFuentes or Perata would have been the better Mayors for this troubled city and that the voting process for Oakland is more harmful than good. That is should be overhauled so that the better candidate with the highest votes win.

Heather is here right now, she is just so frustrated with Occupy Oakland, she had to have Lillian drive her to college by avoiding all the downtown marches and vandalism, she couldn't take the buses because of all the disruption.

And she's mad at some of her teachers who instead of teaching classes have joined the protests, thereby costing her a chance to complete her degree, she's has gotten some of the other students together and have informed those teachers that if they do not hold extra classes to help them that they will sue them and they have a lawyer who is very good and will do it "pro bono" (well I did tell him I would pay for some of his expenses).

She told me that she doesn't care if she's a "starving artist" she will find and get a job, she doesn't need the 2 and a half story house, white picket fence, 2 and a half kids, 3 car garage, a BMW and a cat and a dog (although she is a sucker for soft brown eyes and flippy-doddle ears), and she can buy a gently used, pre-owned car. She will not give up.

Heather said to me "Those people are cowards, they don't have the guts and determination to get out there, there are ways to avoid living in one's car, they just didn't look, they didn't accept the fact that sometimes you have to give up something to gain something more important, many of them fought to keep an overly expensive home, instead of reassessing their situation and being realists."

I like her attitude, she may not have it all right about things, even I'm not sure I have it right either, but in looking at her I saw a determined "Scarlet O'Hara" who was so down, that she grabbed a rotted carrot to eat and threw up and from that moment own she swore she would never be hungry again.

We all need to be that way.

As for me? I have clients who trust me and I have to protect them. I have a man that I love, sleeping in my bedroom, exhausted, that I need to be supportive of. I have a college student and a dear sweet and feisty old lady who need a sounding board and a friend. I have a family and friends who are doing their own best in difficult times, to love and cheer on. And from all of them I receive their love and friendship that energizes me to keep going.

Until later, Kisses Sweet Things