God Speaks

God Speaks

Lord when did it start, where did we fail

It seem the whole earth is being whirled by its tail.

The wars, and the earth quakes, they are coming so fast

How long lord, do we wait, for the one final blast.

You have our attention, if you will just show us your hand

There are times we feel so defeated, and drug through the sand.

We have prayed so intensely lord, now what must be done.

To get your attention Lord, and get back to the fun.

Now son hold your thought there, just for a bit.

The world looks much different from where I am set.

I have given you the Bible, and my only son.

You pray like you love him, then turn and run.

You want your prayers answered, then listen to me

Give up yourself, and lean totally on me.

Give up the temporal things, or I will take them away.

I made everything, they are all mine anyway.

Be the kind of man, I created you to be

Full of power and might, from all fear be set free.

Stand in the gap life isn't too long you will see

But you do as I choose, and you will have all eternity.

See now young man, it isn't as bad as some think.

All that needs done will be done in a blink.

So stop playing around, and get back to my task

Disconnect from the world, and connect to what last.

The world is a temporary home at its best.

I have a place fore you , that is more than you guest.

A home that is eternal, splendid, and fair.

I am just doing my best to make sure you are all there.

Rev. Robert Fry

Building a Church for God not men

Hebrews 8:5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

WHY????? WHY was Moses to build it according to the pattern shown to him by God??

What if he build it bigger, making it more attractive to the masses, and dumbed it down so those who really did not believe would be more comfortable, or at least would not be turned off by its presence.

I wonder if God would have shown his presence, if Moses did it his own way.

I don't think so, there was only one way to build it. The tabernacle was the image of Christ and his atonement.

It could only be one way, and that was by devine instruction.

The Church is the body of Christ, it can only be built one way, and Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

We need to build the Church so God will show his presence, and spend less time on thinking about what will make people come to the Church.

Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." This is repeated later, in Prov. 16:25 "THERE IS A WAY THAT SEEMS RIGHT TO A MAN, BUT ITS END IS THE WAY OF DEATH."

Men build Dead Churches, God builds churches that are alive.

How do we know the differance? First we must seek God, not a program, not a style, but a God that demands that we deny ourselves, and pick up his cross.

For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God... The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." (Romans 8:14,16).

There is no substitute for, rightiousness, holy living, and a desire to serve him, rather than ourselves.

The Church must be built to please God, and men must conform to his immage.

Growing a established Church

When becoming a pastor of a established church, one thing is a constant 20% do most of the work and give most of the money.

The first thing most pastors do is try to inspire the leadership, and teach them new way, remember new ways come hard, even harder if some of those ways work. Change is always difficult.

The second thing most pastors do is try to go out and find new people, and new leaders. That isn't a bad thing, but we all know it is difficult to bring new leadership into a established church, no matter how low the attendance.

Even if successful at bringing new folks in, bringing them to a position of leadership is almost imposable.

It is no wonder many ministers want to start a Church from scratch, taking a established church is like starting from itch, that is before scratch

The question needs to be ask why are 80% of the people that attend doing nothing, and giving even less. These people have made a commitment, to attend, but for some reason they do not move beyond the attendance point of commitment.

You will find these things to be true, if you do a slow interview process with the 80%.

Some have been through difficult times, and feel disqualified from working, I have found this could be a child born out of wedlock 35 years ago that disqualifies both the mother and child, a divorce 20 years ago. There are many things that makes one feel disqualified, usually it is a devils lie to keep them on the side lines. I have found that this lie is usually confirmed and enforced by the 20% in leadership.

Others may be considered too new, they married into the church family, and just are not considered as a insider quite yet, even though they have been married for 15 to 20 years. They also are a little outspoken, and the 20% do not like that, it could threaten the way they have always done things.

I have always made it a point to try and pastor all of the people, and hearing their stories have always helped me in decision making.

A old pastor told me when taking a new church wait two years before making any real changes, he was a wise man. He was telling me to get to know the people. Read and understand the by-laws. After two years you should have a vision what is happening, and a vision on how to make things move ahead for Gods glory.

The 80% that are there committed, and willing to help, but never ask, never considered, because a established church has its leadership, and it is passed down from generation to generation, and always with less real commitment to God or the real vision of the Church. We would call that denominationalism, dedicated to the movement, but not dedicated to what built the movement, or the spirit that inspired the movement.

First get as many of the 80% working, find them jobs, no need to take old jobs from those serving, just add new work, new ministries.

The first thing I have done, and suggest to all new pastors, have a group you can lead, I called it pastoral ministries, it worked outside of the committees, I could start them staff them, and in order for anyone to attack them, they had to go through me, that protected the new leadership, and the others were busy doing what they always did. Never put new wine in old skins or new ministries under old committees, they will die, I learned that the hard way.

As the 80% feel accepted and are working, they will develop into acceptable leaders, and will catch the vision of growth. They are teachable, and will grow in the Lord. They will not take ownership, but will take responsibility the ministry they are leading.

There will be some battles, most will be along the lines of selfishness, and

self-righteousnesses.

As the old move off the scene, move the new real leaders into positions of leadership, they will accept the new people God sends to the church. They will make sure they are treated with respect, you trained them.

The biggest challenge is a game children play, and it is easy to spot. It is played like this. (Pastor: I know I may be only one of the few that want this, but I need your influence so I can get my way with the majority.) It will be more covert, but you will hear it loud and clear. Two things, one they already know they do not have the influence they had, and two they are trying to see if you are still working for them.

Remember it is your influence, not theirs to be used, you earned it, so use it wisely.

If you do not do as they ask, it will be a battle, but remember who called you, and he will always be faithful. In times like this, I have seen God hand move, he always sends replacements if they leave always, you can bank on that. These are the hardest times for any minister, watching someone that can work, give, and lead, just walk away. It will happen, ownership of the Church is only by God himself, not anyone else. When they leave they will go to another established church and most ministers are willing to accept them, and this can cause hard feeling between ministers. Do your best to keep those doors open, you too will accept those from other churches. I personally do my best not to side with those who come but accept them, and help them to move on, and keep a healthy relationship with the church and pastor. Hatred has no place in any church.

Try to fine people with spiritual gifts in the areas you need leadership. There is a real anointing that goes with Gods work, allow him to help you start ministries that are need based, and when people have a passion for their work. Look beyond the worlds qualifications, and look for a spirit of love joy peace long-suffering gentleness. Make sure these people are being used, they are like Maple trees, once they are tapped they just keep putting out sweetness.

Move the Church to a point that seeing someone saved is the best thing in the world to see, nothing is better. This will bring the church to its mission, and teach all to be better Christians, this will attract others, to Christ and to his Church.

Prayer is touching God and his power, submitting to prayer is easy if we have submitted to God himself. Prayer is the most powerful thing we have, when building a church, prayer changes us so we can be used by him.

Every young minister want to pastor a established church, and most young ministers do not get a chance to do that, unless the attendance is embarrassing, and the church needs life support.

I have pastored two established Church, and both had a train wreck before I came.

Established churches are click orientated, if you as a pastor are accepted that is good, but remember if you change too much they will reject you, especially if their positions are threatened.

The 20% will stay when a church wins no souls, when the pastors mess up, and when the hand writing is on the wall about the death of the church.

They will leave when their positions are threatened, even if the church is winning souls, growing, and the spirit of the lord is present at all services. I have seen many come back, and embrace the Church, many I am sorry to say do not.

Make sure you welcome them back if they come back, they are not bad people, they have just done what they have always done, and many times when they leave they will be successful in another church were they can not take ownership, they would be considered the new kid on the block, so pray for them, but never let what happened in the past mess with the present, it is never personal, even though Satan tries to make you think it is personal. I have been called many times to the side of a death bed, by those who had left usually upset. I always go, and the time has always been rich, and rewarding.

Building a successful ministry is just that, ministering. Be constant in season and out of season, you never know when God will call you into account, in everything pray. Keep good notes, I have always kept a journal of the hard decisions and the process I went through to make that decision. I have found that others try to paint you as they want others to see you, and a journal will help to keep what you knew and when you knew it in line. I always ask for more information, when someone says many or several people think this, I always ask who, and many time I ask them to write down what that person says, so I have a hard copy of all the information on a difficult decision I am about to make.

Lives are at stake, we have no time to play Church, it is time to do something.

I ramble a little, sorry for that, but I pray this gets in the hands of someone who needs it. God Bless you

Pastor R.L. Fry

The church

Why was Abraham chosen? He was a good man, that we know, but he sure wasn't perfect, we all have read the Bible. He did give us a prophetic line about the birth of Jesus who is the Christ. That line followed through David, and then the Virgin Birth.

God could have chosen anyone, but the real story is about the linage of Jesus the Christ, not Abraham.

The documented evidence, that Jesus was not just a man, but he was the promised visit of God himself.

The Tabernacle that Moses built, and the Temple that Solomon build were both in modern day terms a embassy so God could show his presents.

John the Baptist said when Jesus came to be baptized, behold the kingdom of God is at hand.

Gods kingdom was and is all inclusive, not to a nation, as some believe, but to all who believe. The Bible says whosoever will may come.

He said to all believers that we are a chosen people, sanctified unto God,and those who do not believe are already condemned.

Today the world is doing its best to define the Church as any other organization, and not a holy organism headed by God himself. The churches leaders God said are called by him, anointed by him, and lead by him.

Ephesians 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.

Many miss seeing the Church for what it is, because they miss what the Bible teaches about its holiness, and power.

We see leadership only as another person, we see the church only as another organization to join.

Remember those who hung Jesus, those who beat him, those who betrayed him, those who scoffed him, only saw a man. They even know the scriptures but they were blinded by their own will.

I pray that all believers can see the Church, and even though it looks like most other organizations, even with its shortcomings, it is a holy union with Jesus Christ, and in it there is a supernatural power.

Not because of us but because of him.

Two Moose Day

A Two Moose Day

Dr. James Dobson tells the story of the “two moose day” that seems relevant to most of us. It’s about a Vermont man on his way to work one foggy morning when a 700-lb. moose steps into the road in front of him.

He hits the moose, which comes up over the hood and mashes the roof of the car. The moose is killed. Though his injuries a minor the driver is taken to the hospital. Later that day the man is driving home from the hospital in his pickup truck.

You might have seen this coming: another moose, this one a bit larger than the first, is in the roadway. Our driver stops, but the moose charges the truck. When it’s over, both moose and truck are totaled.

That’s a two moose day. I especially like the story because on more than one occasion when I was stationed in Alaska years ago an entire line of vehicles would be held up while a moose decided when and if it would move off the roadway. Fighter jets cleared for take-off would wait impatiently until a moose wandered off the runway.

We all have to wait for the moose sometimes. It’s annoying, but not fatal. When we hit the moose, it gets more serious. And sometimes it will just be a two moose day no matter what we do to avoid it.

The trick is to remember that moose are relatively solitary creatures. There’s no vast moose herd out there in the woods waiting to overwhelm me. I’ve dealt with two moose days before. You have, too. So far, we’re still on the road.

Keep driving. Just watch for the “Moose Crossing” signs.

Money as Debt

The “Bottom Line

"Stock prices have resumed their historic decline; and foreign currencies, precious metals, oil, and other commodities have also resumed their declines which, along with real estate prices, will likely prove crushing to most investors. Declining monetary aggregates and rising interest rates on all but the highest quality short-term debt are resuming as the credit crisis returns amidst a scramble for liquidity in the emerging “Greater Depression”.

ALL prudent investors, who are not astute traders, should now be out of stocks and bonds. Expect stock prices to decline farther and faster than they did in the Fall and Winter of 2008-09 and than they declined in 1929-32.

While U.S. Treasury bond yields may drop somewhat as stocks sell off stongly, interest rates must continue their rise over time as the finances of the U.S. and most other nations become increasing unwieldy.

This may be investors’ last chance to get their assets out of harm’s way. Those who are properly prepared may yet profit and live in relative abundance as global wealth is devastated and chaos reigns.

Economic Fundamentals Remain Very Weak

Home sales, consumer debt, and rising unemployment/underemployment offer brutal evidence that the economy here and globally is still, more or less, flat on its back. 43 states saw rising unemployment in December, sharply up from 36 in November. Nationally, many workers are not being tallied in unemployment statistics because they are discouraged from looking for work (600,000 in December). True U.S. unemployment is approaching 20%. Many are seeing their unemployment benefits run out.

An estimate of $350 billion for the States’ fiscal 2010 deficits will surely be revised higher. Also, those deficits are artificially reduced by Federal stimulus which, itself, will soon have to be withdrawn. As I reminded in the August 31 Bulletin, persistently rising consumer credit and real estate problems and growing weakness in commercial real estate, along with steadily rising unemployment and underemployment will eventually and cumulatively reassert sufficient gravity that will also cause hopes for recovery to turn to fear and then to panic. Those concerns are growing.

Growing inability of nations to borrow and spend to support their economies and also to remain solvent will result in more of their “stimulus” programs being reduced before long. Reported growth in economies is largely due to such borrowing and spending. (U.S. GDP statistics do not disclose the source of sector spending.) Spending by government – that can only consume or redistribute and cannot produce wealth – cannot build productive wealth of nations or of their citizens.

In the U.S. all reported economic growth is the result of these irresponsible and short-sighted practices.

Meanwhile, the real collateral and capital base of nations necessary for their borrowings and growth is dissipating at accelerating rates. Nations, not just homeowners and businesses, are becoming “upside down”. Severe recession and deflation devour tax revenues at all levels of government so expect their deficits to become even more problematic and alarming.

How could real prospects be positive when government interventions are draining our substance and strangling incentives of producers, frustrating efficient and profitable asset allocation, and encouraging foolish and unproductive investment and spending decisions within our economy? And when mountains of debt in all sectors of the global economy are unserviceable and deflating? And when the fierce but futile efforts by government and financial system to keep prices and wages high will extend and deepen the “Greater Depression” ahead.

Lack of confidence is growing in mythical “green shoots” economic recovery. Recognized inabilities of governments and their central banks to borrow, spend, and inflate their way back to prosperity is returning and will predictably turn from extremes of unfounded optimism to panic as deflationary declines accelerate. Securities valuations are increasingly seen as optimistic given economic performance that is, at best, soft; and markets – stocks, bonds, commodities – are poised for sharp declines.

Creditworthiness of national governments is showing increasing signs of fracture. Dubai, Greece and Portugal, France and others in the Eurozone plus Great Britain are the latest names to add to Iceland, Ireland, and Eastern Europe. Bailouts of the largest financial institutions and of governments, such as Dubai recently, reveal the global enormity of our harm’s way economic crisis. I discuss the looming “debt trap” of historic proportions in Harm’s Way Financial Planning and Asset Management.

Japan, the second largest national economy, has far higher debt levels than any major country, and with their interest burden at near zero rates has nowhere to go but to dramatically larger borrowing costs and deficits. Indeed, that is the future for most large countries, including the U.S. China has overreached on stimulating their own economy and is seeing customers for their exports struggling. Nations are adopting protectionist policies back home that will further reduce economies of major exporters like China and isolate them from global trade. To assume that China will continue to hold large amounts of debt of the U.S. and others is foolish.

While the U.S. benefits from “flight to quality” with both dollar strength and demand for our (especially shorter maturity) Treasury debt, the U.S. debt crisis remains just over the horizon.

Deflation is again raising its ugly head. Deflation, deleveraging, and global economic decline are resuming here and globally as the broadest measures of the money supply contract. Deflation reigns despite frantic efforts to reinflate through governments’ “stimulus” borrowing of massive amounts and through the Fed and other central banks buying that debt and debts of others in order to create new “money” in their economies. Nonetheless, broad measures of money and credit are dropping, and the “global village” is under great pressure.
The total bank credit shows that the economic sluggishness is consistent with the new downtrend in money and near-money assets.

M3, the broadest monetary aggregate, plus total bank credit trends turning down show that that the deflationary threat is very real. It includes large time deposits, institutional money funds, and other large liquid assets along with narrower aggregates that include coin and currency and deposits of consumer, business, and government deposits in the banking system (M1 and M2).

EWI does not expect inflation to return until, at least 2012, and probably not until at least 2014. The signs are saying that a more rapid and powerful decline in the current Primary Wave 3 bear market leg could end sooner the most powerful portion of the deflationary decline. Possible shortages in food and other key commodities, like energy, could cause those prices to rise in crisis. Commodity prices react to fear of shortages and not to optimistic social mood. Indeed, panic can fuel powerful spikes in commodity prices, hence the need to prepare for shortages of critical tangibles.

High global debt levels are both financially destructive and deflationary because they require increasingly scarce cash to pay interest, much less principal. How can real growth occur as assets and incomes are deflating, debts are turning sour and people save and shrink debts instead of spend and invest? People have been realizing that their cash is more valuable to them than what they can buy with it. This reality should be seen even more powerfully in months ahead.

Since “money” is borrowed into existence by the banking system, shrinking bank deposits and credit outstanding equals deflation and economic decline.

Market and Economic Analysis Highlights

The break of the 10-month trendline of the Dow Jones Industrials Average from its March lows indicates the next major decline of the greatest bear market in at least 290 years has begun. That rally in stock prices reached highs (10,729.90 in the Dow) on January 19th. Just two days later, the Dow index closed decisively beneath its uptrend line on an increase in volume and the strongest downside breadth (issues sold greater than bought) in the last two months. The decline continues and, despite rallies, such as a counter-trend bounce that began today, should accelerate to the downside. Such rallies provide opportunities to exit or go short.

Recent declines also broke the late-November and mid-December lows, erasing 10 weeks of gains in just three days as prices in all indexes declined impulsively. The rally ending satisfied many analytical price and time targets. Market internals have been weakening for months as optimism, by some measures, was even stronger than at the October 2007 highs. of Investor optimism extremes signal significant tops. Optimism has begun to decline as the crowd begins to grasp reality and market volatility increases.

Expect that, for several reasons, the Primary Wave 3 decline which appears to be in its earliest stages, will drop farther and faster than did the 1930-32 decline, though we should also experience powerful snap back rallies along the way as I illustrated in the October 31st Bulletin for 1929-32. Each rally, however, should be more than fully retraced as stock prices continue to work their way lower. Expect that pattern to be similar to the 5-vave impulsive decline seen above in the second chart that tracked the Dow’s 17-month Primary Wave 1 decline into the March lows of last year.

In the global scramble for liquidity as over-priced and over-financed assets deflate, the dollar has begun a major advance against other currencies that will likely last through 2010. Dollar strength corresponds to valuation declines in gold and silver, oil, and in other commodities which are also under pressure because global demand resumes its decline as recession becomes depression. The Elliott Wave Int’l price target for gold is “below $680 per ounce”.

Be Ready for the “Big One”
Before this extremely large degree Primary Wave 3 down ends, the Dow should be below 4000, perhaps even below 1000, as the following projection chart by EWI suggests. After a relatively weak rally then, Primary Wave 5 down should eventually find a final bottom below Dow 1000. EWI’s target is “below Dow 400”. Expect stocks to be crushed for many years.


Expect the current first leg down in Primary Wave 3 (Intermediate wave 1) to break the March low of 6470, or at least roughly 40% below the final January 19th high of Dow 10,729.90. Dow 4000 would be 63% below that high and more than 70% below the final bull market high reached in October 2007. While broader stock indexes, such as the NASDAQ and smaller capitalization issues, fell further, they also tended to rally more but should now again experience even greater declines than the Dow.

We cannot know how long the decline will take or its final bottom, but we can be confident that investor pessimism will be significantly more negative than in late 2008 and early 2009. The most powerful point of decline should occur at its center (at the center of wave 3 declines of various degrees). At that point, investors will stop focusing on possible upside potential for the markets and start worrying about how far down it will go.

This “point of recognition” occurrence (“Prechter Point”) should be stunning enough to set all-time records for financial panic. Thereafter, pessimism becomes the dominant expression of social mood. EWI’s projections for reaching the all-time lows in social mood are around 2016. Regardless of when pessimism bottoms, be prepared for meaningful recovery to be deferred for much longer".

There is a whole lot of shaken going on.

Whatever Can Be Shaken Will Be Shaken‘For thus says the Lord of hosts; Yet once more I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations’ (Haggai 2:6). ‘Yet once more I will shake the earth and also the heavens. Now this expression, “Yet once more”, indicates the final transformation of all that can be shaken – that is, of that which has been created in order that what cannot be shaken may remain. Let us therefore, receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship’ (Hebrews 12:25 to 28). God is not only shaking things on earth – He is also shaking things in heaven. ‘All the foundations of the earth are shaking’ (Psalm 82:5). ‘The powers of the heavens will be shaken’ (Matthew 24:29 & 30). Every Christian needs to be prepared to be shaken, and that is not easy.

Why would God shake His people? To purify us for theKingdom of God (Titus 2:14); to separate the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:32).Remember, this Gospel is a Gospel of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 24:14); it is the power unto salvation. The Kingdom of God is the only thing that can never be shaken, andChristians who make Jesus their Rock and Fortress will not be greatly shaken. ‘He is my Rock and my Salvation, my Defence and my Fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken’(Psalm 62:2 & 6). God is at work in all the world, shaking everyone and everything everywhere.

There is no use asking God not to shake us, because it is in His will and power to do it. ‘Our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases’ (Psalm 115:3). It is His purpose to shake everything so that only the things that cannot be shaken will be left. What can be shaken? Empires, nations, governments, monarchies, banks, businesses,churches, families, individuals and anything else that is not eternal. The only way we can cope with God’s shaking, is to commit ourselves into the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:6).He is the only security mankind has (Psalm 91). We are told very firmly not to love the world or the things in it (1 John 2:15 to 17). We cannot mix the love of God with the love ofthe world. If our hearts are set on the world and the things the world can offer, the love ofthe Father is not in us; that means we would love the world more than we love God. The love of things in the world are not of the Father – that is they are not of God. The three sins that lead to eternal destruction; the lust of flesh, the lust of the eyes and pride of life – of which pride is the single biggest problem – These are sins from the world, and can keep us trapped and bound to the things we have in the world.

This world along with some of heaven, is eventually going to pass away and be burned up (2 Peter 3:10).

Nobody has a permanent home here on earth. If we try to make our home in this world,then we will be greatly shaken, but he who does the will of God lives forever. Even when we are shaken, if we are founded on the Rock (Jesus) and are doing the will of God, we will not be swept away (Matthew 7:25 to 27).

Dirty Hands

It seems that everywhere you look we see hand sanitizers. It seems that every thing and every one we touch anymore, has germs.

Sickness is passed just by a person touching someone, yet the Bible tells us if there are any sick, to lay hands on them and pray for their healing.

It is only logical if sickness can be passed through touch, why cant healing be passed by the same means. Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

If a man or woman is holy, I mean they have clean hands before God, then something should pass through them that is grater than any sickness the world seem to put upon us.

We live in a day where it would be difficult to know when people at church lay their hands on us if we will get sick or healed.

I pray we have holy hands,

I pray we pass on life not death by our touch.

I pray we can see gods hands when we lay on our hands,

I pray we see the sick healed, but most of all

I pray for men and women to have holy hands.

Dose God make you angry?

I talk to many people who are upset with God, they say he didn't answer prayer, or he took their child or wife.

Why would anyone think that Gods ways are our way, when the bible teaches just the opposite.

Who are we to argue with the one who with his breath breathed out the stars in heaven.

Who are we to contend with the almighty God.

The bottom line is not that God didn't answer, but our faith is weak, so weak that we think God is our servant rather than our King. We think in lines of time, and limit ourselves, as well as our vision of God.

Everything we have and work for on this earth will perish, only what we do for him will last forever.

My dad told me to always buy the best, because it last longer, he said never get caught up in fads, as they just fade away.

I want to make my investments into that which last, and eternity seem like it would last a long long time..

Faith, not anger, faith. You just might see a mountain move with it. God is a big big God.

How to have peace in your life

We live in a world that is always in a hurry, whether going or coming home, we are always rushed.

We live in a world that is filled with people wanting what they want when they want it.

We live in a world that is filled with sorrow, heart ache, and death.

Yet the bible teaches that we can have a peace that passes all understanding, but if we focus on the problems of our day, we know any peace would be beyond our understanding.

If we could fist look at ourselves and find all of our selfishness, every ounce of it, we would find the truth about what angers us, and what is always stealing the peace from our lives.

A selfish person is a lonely person, a selfish person is always wanting more, and never content with anything. Paul said I have learned to be content. Contentment with life, understanding that God himself knows where we are, what we have, and why we are in the circumstances we are in.

Trusting God, and denying ourself, is the key to living a peaceful life.

Try it, after all, our selfish nature, always thinks that if it gets its way, that will bring peace.

How is that working out for you?

Try denying yourself and accepting the contentment god can bring through faith. God Bless

Lawmaker says SEC hindering House's Madoff probe

WASHINGTON – House lawmakers on Wednesday accused the Securities and Exchange Commission of impeding their probe into the agency's failure to uncover the alleged $50 billion Bernard Madoff fraud.

The clash between lawmakers and high-ranking SEC officials at a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing came after the man who waged a decade-long campaign to alert the regulators to problems in Madoff's operations denounced the agency for its inaction. Whistleblower Harry Markopolos also said he had feared for his physical safety and would turn over new evidence that Madoff had not acted alone.

In loud, angry exchanges, lawmakers threatened to issue subpoenas to SEC officials to compel their testimony in the case.

Pennsylvania Democrat Paul Kanjorski, the panel's chairman, vented frustration after the SEC's acting general counsel said the five officials appearing at the hearing couldn't answer lawmakers' questions about the Madoff case because it's under investigation. The five SEC commissioners voted earlier to assert a privilege in not having officials answer lawmakers' questions.

Kanjorski accused the agency of impeding the panel's investigation, calling it a "lack of cooperation" and an "abuse of authority."

Linda Thomsen, the agency's enforcement director, said the SEC takes the Madoff case very seriously, but asserted there were confidential areas related to the ongoing investigation that could not be publicly discussed.

The SEC officials said the agency is looking at possible changes in the wake of the scandal, including more frequent examinations of investment advisers and improving its process for assessing risk.

Because of the SEC's inaction, "I became fearful for the safety of my family," Markopolos said.

"The SEC is ... captive to the industry it regulates and is afraid" to bring big cases against prominent individuals, Markopolos said. The agency "roars like a lion and bites like a flea" and "is busy protecting the big financial predators from investors."

While the SEC is incompetent, the securities industry's self-policing organization, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is "very corrupt," Markopolos charged. That organization was headed until December by Mary Schapiro, President Barack Obama's new SEC chief.

Markopolos discovered additional funds that funneled money to Madoff — whose managers he said willfully turned a blind eye to his improprieties because they were paid generous fees. Markopolos said he will present his findings to the SEC's inspector general. If proven, they would substantiate the assertions of many analysts that the alleged fraud was far too large for Madoff to have conducted alone.

In New York, a trustee liquidating Madoff's investment firm told a federal judge Wednesday that nearly $950 million in cash and securities has been recovered for investors. Trustee Irving Picard said $111.4 million in cash had been recovered from financial institutions and about $300 million in securities were identified although it was unclear what they were worth.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. last week said they would transfer a combined $534.9 million from Madoff's investment firm accounts to Picard. Investors have until July 2 to place their claims.

European investors who feared they lost millions investing with Madoff have a chance to recoup some or all of their money from the banks that marketed the stricken funds, according to lawyers in Europe who are preparing a possible U.S.-style class-action lawsuit.

Back in Washington, the SEC has been sustaining volleys of criticism from lawmakers and investor advocates over its failure to discover Madoff's alleged $50 billion fraud, which could be the biggest Ponzi scheme ever, despite the credible allegations brought to it over years. Against the backdrop of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, the SEC is being accused of further eroding investor confidence and lawmakers of both parties are calling for a shake-up of the agency.

Madoff, a prominent Wall Street figure, was arrested in December after allegedly confessing to bilking investors in what the authorities say was a giant Ponzi scheme, possibly the largest ever. His repeated warnings to SEC staff that Madoff was running a massive pyramid scheme have cast Markopolos as an unheeded prophet in the scandal.

"The SEC was never capable of catching Mr. Madoff. He could have gone to $100 billion" without being discovered, Markopolos testified. "It took me about five minutes to figure out he was a fraud."

Markopolos, a former securities industry executive and fraud investigator, brought his allegations to the SEC about improprieties in Madoff's business starting in 2000 after determining there was no way Madoff could have been making the consistent returns he claimed using the trading strategy he touted to prospective investors.

Markopolos and his team of four investigators fruitlessly pursued the quest through this decade with agency staff from Boston to New York to Washington, raising 29 specific red flags regarding Madoff's operations. But the SEC never acted.

Now thousands of victims who lost money investing in Madoff's fund, which was separate from his securities brokerage business, have been identified. Among them are ordinary people and Hollywood celebrities — as well as big hedge funds, international banks and charities in the U.S., Europe and Asia. At least one investor apparently was pushed to commit suicide.

Markopolos disclosed that he anonymously conveyed a package of documents on Madoff to former New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer, but noted Spitzer took no action. Spitzer's family trust was among the victims that lost money investing with Madoff.

Markopolos also suggested that senior editors at The Wall Street Journal may have prevented a reporter from pursuing leads he provided because the newspaper "respected and feared" Madoff.

Madoff, who was at one point chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market and sat on SEC advisory committees, was "one of the most powerful men on Wall Street and in a position to easily end our careers or worse," Markopolos said.

Markopolos recommended ways to revamp the SEC, including replacing its senior staff and establishing a central office to receive complaints from whistleblowers.

In December, Christopher Cox, then the SEC chairman, pinned the blame on the agency's career staff for the failure over a decade to detect what Madoff was doing. He ordered the SEC's inspector general, H. David Kotz, to determine what went wrong. Kotz has expanded his inquiry to examine the operations of the divisions led by Thomsen, who has been the enforcement chief since mid-2005, and Lori Richards, who has headed the inspections division since mid-1995.

Schapiro has said that because Madoff carried out the scheme through his investment business and FINRA was empowered to inspect only the brokerage operation, it wasn't possible for the organization to discover it.

This is a great first step

WASHINGTON -- Human rights activists and advocates of open government are cheering U.S. President Barack Obama's decisions to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center and to signal the start of a new era of clean government by signing strict new rules on transparency and ethics.

His actions on January 21 -- his first full day in office -- overturned policies enacted during the administration of George W. Bush that cloaked the government in secrecy and prevented reporters from obtaining information. Obama declared that his administration is making a "clean break from business as usual."

With a stroke of his pen, the new U.S. president froze the salaries of his top aides, limited the influence of lobbyists, and opened government agencies to public scrutiny.

It was a fulfillment of his campaign promise to change the way Washington operates and make government more accountable to the people.

"Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," Obama said. "Our commitment to openness means more than simply informing the American people about how decisions are made. It means recognizing that government does not have all the answers and that public officials need to draw on what citizens know."

'That Era Is Now Over'

Obama's two executive orders and three presidential memorandums reversed controversial policies enacted by his predecessor, George W. Bush, that made it easier for the government to deny requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act and to keep secret the papers and records of former presidents.

...the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism, and we are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values.Obama called the Freedom of Information Act "perhaps the most powerful instrument we have for making our government honest and transparent, and for holding it accountable." He said he expects members of his administration to carry out not just the letter, but the spirit, of the law.

"For a long time now, there has been too much secrecy in this city. The old rules said that if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed," Obama said. "That era is now over. Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known."

Obama signed the orders in a room filled with his cabinet members and new staff, and told the group that public service is about "advancing the interests of Americans," not themselves.

That philosophy underpinned his decision to eliminate what is known as the "revolving door" in Washington, a lucrative practice rife with conflict-of-interest concerns that involves former government officials working as lobbyists, and former lobbyists working in government.

Obama said he decided to freeze the salaries of his top aides because most Americans have had to make financial sacrifices and his administration should not be exempt from the same hardship.

'Optimistic Start'

Ann Weismann, chief counsel of Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility In Government -- a Washington group that promotes ethics and accountability in government -- said Obama has set a clear tone of transparency by taking such sweeping action so quickly.

"We were especially thrilled that he [signed] all of these openness initiatives on his first day of office," Weismann said. "It just really highlights the serious commitment he seems to have and his administration will have towards transparency. So we thought it was an enormously important and optimistic start to the administration."

She said for the past eight years, the Bush administration had thrown up "a blanket of secrecy" around its actions and the work of governmental agencies, and Obama has made a "radical break" with the past.

"There was essentially a presumption of withholding during George W. Bush's administration, his eight years in office. And his attorney general had issued a memorandum that said, 'We'll defend your withholding'," Weismann said. "I think what this is signaling is the complete opposite, which is the presumption of disclosure, and really the burden now is going to be not on the [Freedom of Information Act] requester, but on the agency, in the process, to justify why it needs to withhold something. So I think it's a 180-degree shift."

Batteries Not Included

How many time have we bought something and then we read batteries not included?
Then we make another trip to the store and make another purchase, and buy the batteries.
This is a good analogy of life itself.
We are born into this world, bone of the flesh. It looks like we have everything we need.
Yet there always seems to be something missing.
We think life should not work like this, life is too hard, to depressing, to difficult.
Then we hear about the new birth, the second purchase.
Being born of the spirit, seeing God for who he is, and our life in a whole new light.
Receiving the power source that will see us through the hard times in life.
Lift us above the difficulties.
You must be born again, because at your first birth the batteries were not included.

If you give your child a toy, and you do not tell them about the batteries, they will play with the toy, they will know something is missing, but what is missing,
and how would the toy work if it had the power it was designed to have.
It is our job as parents and grandparents, to make sure our kids know about the second purchase. The second birth.

This year let's all live with the light shining through us, so everyone can see there is a power source. Let the world see us using it to guide our lives.
Whosoever shall call on the name of the lord shall be saved.
God Bless

A Rich Man

A rich man is a man.
That his wife loves him.
His children respect him.
His grandchildren admire him.
and His community trust him.

What more would anyone want.

Are you a Bible believer? a little test.

The word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
That says that the word and Jesus Christ are one.
Let me ask a few questions.
The answer to all questions are yes or no.
The answer for all Christians should be yes.

Do you believe the bible?
Do you believe in a real heaven?
Do you believe David was king of Israel?
Do you believe that Jesus ministry changed the world?

These may be a little harder, because the world can not accept or explain these,
they take faith to believe.

Do you believe Jesus was born of a virgin?
Do you believe Jesus healed the blind man?
Do you believe Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead?
Do you believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Do you believe in creation?

These are the hardest, because they take more than just believing,
they take sacrifice on your part. Faith without works is dead.

Do you believe as a Christian you should turn your cheek when assaulted?
Do you believe in attending Church?
Jesus said forsake not the assembling together.
Do you believe in tithing your income, that is 10%.
The Bible say where have we robbed God in our tithes and offerings.
Do you believe in telling others about Jesus Christ?
Jesus gave the great commission to everyone.
Have you been baptized, since you believed?
One the day of Pentecost three thousand were saved, baptized, and added to the church.

If you answered yes to all the questions, then you do believe the Bible.
If you answered no to any of the questions,
then you can not honestly say you are a Bible believer.

The Bible is a book that you either believe it is Gods book, or you do not, there is no in-between.
Let your yes be yes and your no be no.
If you choose which Scriptures you believe, and some you do not,
then you have done what Revelation warns against.
You have added to, or detracted from the Bible, and there is a Stern warning against doing that.

I pray that all believe the Bible.
I pray that all who say they believe the Bible, honestly do, even when it calls for sacrifice.

Election of President Elect Obama

I am an American, I count it a privilege to have the right to vote.
I will pray daily for President Elect Obama, as I have for the Presidents before him.
I pray God will give him wisdom, and a clear path to follow.
We are all Americans, we are all different.
With those differences, we become what America is all about.
I Believe God has had and will continue to have his hand on America.
The freedom of speech has given us the ability to be the greatest nation in the world.
May God help the mending of relationships, that have been strained,
because of differences, in our views of who has the best policies for America.
Blessed are the peace makers, it is time to accept the election, and move forward.
The road ahead is not easy, it is never easy,
it will take a united America to face the challenges ahead.
United we will stand, divided we will always fail.
May God Bless President Elect Obama.
May God keep him safe, is my sincere prayer.
May God Bless America.

Jett born at 23 weeks, 1 Lb 7 Ozs, he is now 9.

When will banks give loans: Joe Nocera Oct 24,2008

“Chase recently received $25 billion in federal funding. What effect will that have on the business side and will it change our strategic lending policy?” Oct. 17, just four days after JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, agreed to take a $25 billion capital injection courtesy of the United States government, when a JPMorgan employee asked that question. It came toward the end of an employee-only conference call that had been largely devoted to meshing certain divisions of JPMorgan with its new acquisition, Washington Mutual. Which, of course, it also got thanks to the federal government. Christmas came early at JPMorgan Chase.The JPMorgan executive who was moderating the employee conference call didn’t hesitate to answer a question that was pretty politically sensitive given the events of the previous few weeks. Given the way, that is, that Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had decided to use the first installment of the $700 billion bailout money to recapitalize banks instead of buying up their toxic securities, which he had then sold to Congress and the American people as the best and fastest way to get the banks to start making loans again, and help prevent this recession from getting much, much worse. In point of fact, the dirty little secret of the banking industry is that it has no intention of using the money to make new loans. But this executive was the first insider who’s been indiscreet enough to say it within earshot of a journalist. (He didn’t mean to, of course, but I obtained the call-in number and listened to a recording.) “Twenty-five billion dollars is obviously going to help the folks who are struggling more than Chase,” he began. “What we do think it will help us do is perhaps be a little bit more active on the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling. And I would not assume that we are done on the acquisition side just because of the Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns mergers. I think there are going to be some great opportunities for us to grow in this environment, and I think we have an opportunity to use that $25 billion in that way and obviously depending on whether recession turns into depression or what happens in the future, you know, we have that as a backstop.” Read that answer as many times as you want — you are not going to find a single word in there about making loans to help the American economy. On the contrary: at another point in the conference call, the same executive (who I’m not naming because he didn’t know I would be listening in) explained that “loan dollars are down significantly.” He added, “We would think that loan volume will continue to go down as we continue to tighten credit to fully reflect the high cost of pricing on the loan side.” In other words JPMorgan has no intention of turning on the lending spigot.It is starting to appear as if one of Treasury’s key rationales for the recapitalization program — namely, that it will cause banks to start lending again — is a fig leaf, Treasury’s version of the weapons of mass destruction. In fact, Treasury wants banks to acquire each other and is using its power to inject capital to force a new and wrenching round of bank consolidation. As Mark Landler reported in The New York Times earlier this week, “the government wants not only to stabilize the industry, but also to reshape it.” Now they tell us.Indeed, Mr. Landler’s story noted that Treasury would even funnel some of the bailout money to help banks buy other banks. And, in an almost unnoticed move, it recently put in place a new tax break, worth billions to the banking industry, that has only one purpose: to encourage bank mergers. As a tax expert, Robert Willens, put it: “It couldn’t be clearer if they had taken out an ad.”Friday delivered the first piece of evidence that this is, indeed, the plan. PNC announced that it was purchasing National City, an acquisition that will be greatly aided by the new tax break, which will allow it to immediately deduct any losses on National City’s books. As part of the deal, it is also tapping the bailout fund for $7.7 billion, giving the government preferred stock in return. At least some of that $7.7 billion would have gone to NatCity if the government had deemed it worth saving. In other words, the government is giving PNC money that might otherwise have gone to NatCity as a reward for taking over NatCity.I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to feel as if we’ve been sold a bill of goods.The markets had another brutal day Friday. The Asian markets got crushed. Germany and England were down more than 5 percent. In the hours before the United States markets opened, all the signals suggested it was going to be the worst day yet in the crisis. The Dow dropped more than 400 points at the opening, but thankfully it never got any worse.There are lots of reasons the markets remain unstable — fears of a global recession, companies offering poor profit projections for the rest of the year, and the continuing uncertainties brought on by the credit crisis. But another reason, I now believe, is that investors no longer trust Treasury. First it says it has to have $700 billion to buy back toxic mortgage-backed securities. Then, as Mr. Paulson divulged to The Times this week, it turns out that even before the bill passed the House, he told his staff to start drawing up a plan for capital injections. Fearing Congress’s reaction, he didn’t tell the Hill about his change of heart. , he’s shifted gears again, and is directing Treasury to use the money to force bank acquisitions. Sneaking in the tax break isn’t exactly confidence-inspiring, either. (And let’s not even get into the less-than-credible, after-the-fact rationalizations for letting Lehman default, which stands as the single worst mistake the government has made in the crisis.)On Thursday, at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee, the chairman, Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, pushed Neel Kashkari, the young Treasury official who is Mr. Paulson’s point man on the bailout plan, on the subject of banks’ continuing reluctance to make loans. How, Senator Dodd asked, was Treasury going to ensure that banks used their new government capital to make loans — “besides rhetorically begging them?”“We share your view,” Mr. Kashkari replied. “We want our banks to be lending in our communities.”Senator Dodd: “Are you insisting upon it?”Mr. Kashkari: “We are insisting upon it in all our actions.”But they are doing no such thing. Unlike the British government, which is mandating lending requirements in return for capital injections, our government seems afraid to do anything except plead. And those pleas, in this environment, are falling on deaf ears.Yes, there are times when a troubled bank needs to be acquired by a stronger bank. Given that the federal government insures deposits, it has an abiding interest in seeing that such mergers take place as smoothly as possible. Nobody is saying those kinds of deals shouldn’t take place. But Citigroup, at this point, probably falls into the category of troubled bank, and nobody seems to be arguing that it should be taken over. It is in the “too big to fail” category, and the government will ensure that it gets back on its feet, no matter how much money it takes. One reason Mr. Paulson forced all of the nine biggest banks to take government money was to mask the fact that some of them are much weaker than others.We have long been a country that has treasured its diversity of banks; up until the 1980s, in fact, there were no national banks at all. If Treasury is using the bailout bill to turn the banking system into the oligopoly of giant national institutions, it is hard to see how that will help anybody. Except, of course, the giant banks that are declared the winners by Treasury.JPMorgan is going to be one of the winners — and deservedly so. Mr. Dimon managed the company so well during the housing bubble that it is saddled with very few of the problems that have crippled competitors like Citi. The government handed it Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual because it was strong enough to swallow both institutions without so much as a burp. Of all the banking executives in that room with Mr. Paulson a few weeks ago, none needed the government’s money less than Mr. Dimon. A company spokesman told me, “We accepted the money for the good of the entire financial system.” He added that JP Morgan would use the money “to do good for customers and shareholders. We are disciplined to try to make loans that people can repay.”Nobody is saying it should make loans that people can’t repay. What I am saying is that Mr. Dimon took the $25 billion on the condition that his institution would start making loans. There are plenty of small and medium-size businesses that are choking because they have no access to capital — and are perfectly capable of repaying the money. How about a loan program for them, Mr. Dimon?Late Thursday afternoon, I caught up with Senator Dodd, and asked him what he was going to do if the loan situation didn’t improve. “All I can tell you is that we are going to have the bankers up here, probably in another couple of weeks and we are going to have a very blunt conversation,” he replied.He continued: “If it turns out that they are hoarding, you’ll have a revolution on your hands. People will be so livid and furious that their tax money is going to line their pockets instead of doing the right thing.
Let’s hope so

Now Enforce It.

RIN 3235-AK06"Naked" Short Selling Antifraud RuleAGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission.ACTION: Final rule.
SUMMARY: The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") is adopting an antifraud rule under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") to address fails to deliver securities that have been associated with "naked" short selling.
The rule will further evidence the liability of short sellers, including broker-dealers acting for their own accounts, who deceive specified persons about their intention or ability to deliver securities in time for settlement (including persons that deceive their broker-dealer about their locate source or ownership of shares) and that fail to deliver securities by settlement date.DATES: Effective Date: October 17, 2008.

Judas

Some thing we may want to keep in mind about Judas.
He was chosen by Jesus, in Matthew 10,
I wonder what he was thinking when Jesus called his name?
I wonder if he thought this guy lines up with my political views, I want Israel to be a independent state, not subjects of the Roman empire. Jesus will make this happen.
I wonder what Judas thought when he saw Nicodemus come to Jesus in John chapter 3.
Maybe he thought this was good now they have someone with some money to help with his personal agenda, and missed the message about being born again.
I wonder what Judas thought when he saw Jesus talking to the woman at the well,
perhaps he thought the Samaritans would be strong in numbers when the rebellion to Rome startes.
I wonder what Judas thought when he saw the lame man walk, and the blind man see,
maybe he thought many of these illnesses are just psychological, and Jesus is a good motivator.
I wonder where Judas was when Jesus walked on the water, I guess he was just asleep in the boat.
Judas the one who betrayed Jesus, the one who hanged himself,
Judas was there all the time, but missed the true purpose of Jesus ministry.
He missed it and it cost him eternity.
How many go to church today and never get the message, they are asleep in the boat,
because they are looking for a political angle, or a financial angle, or even just a friendly place to be.
The message of the church today has not changed the gospel.
You must be bone again, you must submit to him totally.
Do you want the abundant life? The peace that passes all understanding.
Ask him into your heart today, and put him first, do not try to change the Bible or the message,
allow the Bible and the message to change you.

Naked Short Selling That Toppled Wall Street

October 2nd, 2008 by Mark Mitchell
The Wall Street Journal stated in a lead editorial last week that the SEC was“reasonable” to “clamp down” on naked short selling. Well, that was progress ofsorts, though one wonders how it could have taken all these years for thenation’s most important newspaper to suggest that it might be “reasonable” toput an end to criminal activity that has eviscerated hundreds of companies anddestroyed countless lives.And now that this criminal activity has been implicated in the Humpty Dumptyingof our financial system, one grows wistful for the golden age of journalism wheneditorialists (people working for famous newspapers, not just cyber weirdos)would express a little outrage, demand that heads roll – muster something betterthan “reasonable” to describe the limpid “clamp down” of an SEC that bows inoily servitude to the very short-sellers who manhandled our markets.Alas, The Wall Street Journal is not angry about the scandal of naked shortselling. To the contrary, it devotes most of its editorial to tut-tutting theSEC for taking the mild step of requiring hedge funds to disclose their shortpositions. This, the Journal laments, means the government wants to “slap ascarlet letter on short sellers.” And (shed a tear) hedge funds will now have to“worry that their strategies will be put on display for the world to see.”Might the world like to see which hedge funds are employing the strategy ofillegal naked short selling – offloading huge chunks of stock that they do notpossess – phantom stock – in order to drive down prices? No, nothing to seethere, says the Journal. Having thoroughly investigated the matter, theeditorialist reports that there is “no evidence of widespread naked shorting offinancial stocks in this panic.” Indeed, the Journal assures us that there is noevidence that short sellers have engaged in any market manipulation whatsoever.That is a mighty bold claim. As the Wall Street Journal itself reported, the SEChas ordered two dozen hedge funds to turn over trading records as part of itsinvestigation into possible short-seller manipulation of six big financialinstitutions — American International Group, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers,Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, and Merrill Lynch.The SEC has never in history prosecuted a major case against a short seller, andthere is no reason to believe that it is actually going to nail someone now. Butit is not difficult to see why the SEC feels that is has no choice but toinvestigate.Read the rest of this story at http://americandream2009.angelfire.com

Naked In Wonderland Patrick Byrne

Recent concerns about short-selling have culminated in a regulatory flurry of emergency orders and amendments. What should be of concern, however, is not short-selling per se: As its devotees frequently remind us, short-selling is a vital and legitimate market activity. What should be of concern are specific types of stock manipulation that cloak themselves within legitimate activities such as shorting, and which, in one way or another, rely upon loopholes in our nation's system of stock settlement. "Settlement" is the moment in a stock trade when the seller receives money and the buyer receives stock. Our settlement system has gaping loopholes that allow sellers to sell shares but fail to deliver them. In such cases, the system creates IOUs for shares, and lets those "stock IOUs" circulate in the expectation the seller will soon correct his error. This is harmless--as long as the IOUs are inadvertent, temporary and few. Manipulators are exploiting these loopholes, however, selling stock they do not intend to deliver. This is often referred to as "naked short-selling" (short-selling because they feign selling borrowed shares; naked because they don't really borrow shares, but instead deliberately rely on loopholes to generate and hide stock IOUs). However, naked short-selling is just one form this manipulation takes. Other forms include failed long-sales, abuse of the option-market-maker exception, failed offshore deliveries and ex-clearing abuses. The common denominator of these manipulations is that they flood the system with stock IOUs that are deliberate, persistent and massive.By whatever name, these actions create small, medium and large problems. The small problem is that stock IOUs corrupt corporate democracy because the system has trouble distinguishing real stock with real votes from stock IOUs with fake votes. In 2006, Bloomberg Markets wrote, "A robust market for stock loans puts into circulation billions of borrowed shares that can create multiple votes that corrupt corporate elections." Bloomberg quoted Registrar & Transfer CEO Thomas Montrone: "It is an abomination. ... A lot of the time, we have no idea who's entitled to vote and who isn't. It's nothing short of criminal." Bloomberg suggested arbitrageurs are exploiting this, and concluded that until it is fixed, "double and triple voting on one share will continue to make a mockery of shareholder democracy." The medium problem is that manipulators selling millions of stock IOUs drive down share prices: If they choose the right target (e.g., a large financial firm already weakened by exposure to the mortgage crisis, or a small biotech company sipping at capital as it develops drugs), this can crash the firm. According to former Undersecretary of Commerce for Economics Dr. Robert Shapiro, "There is considerable evidence that market manipulation through the use of naked short-sales has been much more common than almost anyone has suspected, and certainly more widespread than most investors believe." His research turned up at least 200 companies that were destroyed, for "a combined market loss of more than $105 billion." Shapiro added, "we believe that this type of stock manipulation has occurred in many hundreds and perhaps thousands of cases over the last decade. ... Illicit short-sales on such a scale or anything approaching it point to grave inadequacies in the current regulatory regime." The large problem is that unsettled stock trades create systemic risk. Imagine that a hedge fund generates IOUs on 5 million shares of a $1 stock and carries this as a $5 million liability. To settle these IOUs, the fund must obtain stock. However, the act of buying 5 million shares of a thinly traded stock forces its price up (i.e., a "squeeze"). The fund must pay more than $1 per share, so the $5 million liability balloons. The Securities and Exchange Commission has revealed that, during the second quarter of 2008, there were $14.9 billion in stock IOUs at just the tip of the non-settlement iceberg. The commission refuses to reveal (and, in fact, may not know) the size of the whole iceberg. Public data suggests the entire bucket may be over $150 billion; settling it would cost more than $150 billion, but perhaps far, far more. Our settlement system lies within a black-box called the Depository Trust & Clearance Corporation. The DTCC is essentially unregulated, but is owned by those who benefit from seeing these activities continue--investment banks, which in return for prime brokerage fees, enable manipulative hedge funds. When these loopholes began to be exposed this winter, Wall Street started to eat its own. In a moment of Shakespearean irony, Bear Stearns--with its legendary willingness to provide cover to manipulative hedge funds--became the target. Stock IOUs in Bear Stearns spiked, as they subsequently did in Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH - news - people ), Merrill Lynch (nyse: MER - news - people ), Fannie Mae (nyse: FNM - news - people ) and Freddie Mac (nyse: FRE - news - people ). In an absurdity worthy of Lewis Carroll, the SEC promulgated a temporary (and now expired) emergency order against doing to these and 16 other firms what has been illegal for seven decades: selling non-existent stock and deliberately relying upon stock IOUs. That the 19 companies protected included prime brokers widely thought to be enabling naked shorting against other firms may only be described as "Kafkaesque." Since its Aug. 12 expiration, four of the 19 firms have been lost. The rest of the financial market balances on a precipice as the SEC temporizes, adopting half-measures with Nerf penalties, draconian measures (such as forbidding all shorting in financial stocks), contradictory measures (re-opening the option-market-maker exception for financial stocks), and "don't ask, don't tell" measures (such as yesterday's, requiring option-market makers not to sell puts to someone they think is increasing a net short position in a financial stock). While the SEC performs its best headless chicken imitation, we must not be distracted from the fundamental problem: Our system is rife with unsettled trades that are deliberate, persistent and massive. Commenting on this last year, Warren Buffett's partner, Charles Munger, said, "Those delays in delivering sometimes reflect tremendous slop in the clearance process. It is not good for a civilization to have huge slop. Sort of like how it isn't good to have a lot of slop in nuclear power plants." Charlie Munger is known for many things, but careless word choice is not one of them.Patrick M. Byrne is the chairman and chief executive officer of Overstock.com and writes for DeepCapture.com. http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/09/23/naked-shorting-trades-oped-cx_pb_0923byrne.html

True Assets

Calculating Your Net Worth
How does a person calculate their net wort?Many would say you start with real assets, the house, car, bank accounts.Then subtract your liabilities.What are your real assets? What is first on your list?Let's take a look at our real assets, the things you do not want to loose.The things you would never put a price on.Family, wife, husband, children, grandchildren, parents, friends.If you have ever lost any of these you know exactly what I am talking about.I have lost a brother, a grandson, and some really close friends.I have learned these are real assets, these are of real value. They can never be replaced.Money comes and goes, cars rust, houses need continual upkeep.Family and friends need our time, or values, or attention.Take some time and assess your true net worth.With these assets, there are few liabilities.

Short Selling abuse

It is so simple, but those wanting to feed off the beast can not see it.
If you own it you can sell it, if you do not own it, you have no right to sell it.
If you have a purchase agreement to buy it, you can sell it, but you must deliver,
no exceptions.
If you sell a company short and it goes BK, your debt becomes a asset to the owners of that company,and all debt needs to be collected. No more canceling stock in any company until all settlements are collected.
It is so simple, a preacher can understand it.
When you through ethics out the window, you only have anarchy left.
Oh; but we must make a market, tell me the difference between enron,
and the way the market is now doing business.
Everyone would love to sell things they do not own.
Hypothetically, if I know a restaurant that looks like it will fail. can I sell that restaurants equipment to you, and not own the equipment?
Then when when the restaurant goes BK, I owe you nothing.
Only in the stock market does it work that way,
IMO end it and end it now

I wrote this Jan 27th, look at wall street now.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Change the laws that govern our market
Can the US stock market be cleaned, can it restore the confidence needed to bring a vibrant market to earnest investors. A good market is built on rewarding companies that are successful, Rewarding investors that placed they earning in those companies.There is a old saying build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door.That is true of a private company, where the owner has complete control over earnings and expenditures. A private company knows its worth. If you sell a private company, how would you set a price, 2 1/2 times the gross income, 3 times the net. That would be entirely up to the seller, the owner seller has absolute control.In a public company it is different. If you own stock in a private company, and you do not want to sell, and say no one that owns shares in the company wants to sell. Then you would think as the demand for your company goes up so would the price per share.It isn't like that in the public market, see a broker can sell your shares to someone else, just by borrowing your shares. What if you do not want to loan them, no problem, he can borrow them and sell them anyway. That alone will devalue your ownership by 50%. They call that making a market. I call it making up a market. Selling something they do not own, so they can make commissions on a sale. The price goes down, you can not take that much loss, so you sell. The reason you sold for a loss was because someone without your permission, already had sold your shares.
Then there is the selling of shares you don't own. The short selling adds even more shares to the market, yet no one has sold, this is all buying, you buying first, then the market maker selling your shares they borrowed without you knowing, or approving, the short sellers see the price going down, and they jump in. They have no investment in the company and the own no shares, they sell with a promise to buy at some future time. The price continues to go down, and it picks up speed.The snowball rolls so fast that the short sellers, continue to sell, they may sell as many as 20 time the amount of total shares in the company float. The company fails. Those who have shorted never need to buy anything, the company has failed, those who invested lost all, to those who never invested, but just sold with a promise to invest later walk away with the money.
Let's do some math. Company A, has 1000 shares for sale. 500 preferred shares not for sale.you and a few friends buy 1000 shares, yep you own it all. $1 a share.The company does well, more people want to buy, but you do not want to sell.The price per share goes to $2, then $3, then $4 you still do not want to sell.The market maker sells anyway, he doesn't need your approval, he just borrowed your shares.Now he sells 1000 share that you own, for $4 a share to me. You did not sell, so you get no money, where does the $4000 go? good question. The answer to that is why they borrow your shares, and help destroy your company.It get even worse. The price drops to $3 because the number of shares have doubled.That attracts Short sellers, now they do not own anything, but they can sell shares in your company, after all, there needs to be a market, a unfair, a unethical, and a totally manipulated market. The short sellers sell 2 thousand shares, the price goes down even further to $2 a share, as long as it goes down the short Sellers sell. Why not, they get the money and have not invested anything in your company.That attracts another group, they see that the company is falling fast, so they sell short as long as anyone is buying they are selling. They may sell as much at 20,000 shares. How can they do that, there never was more than 1,000 shares and they were not for sale. no mater it is called making a market. The key is to drive the company into receivership and share prices into sup penny, yes sub-penny. now the parts per share is $.0001 and they buy all they shares they sold for $4,$3,$2, $1,$.50,$.10,$.01$.001, they buy all 21,000 share back.Most investors would love to buy something for $.0001 and sell for $4, but that is almost impossible, but selling for dollars and buying for pennies, is going on unchecked in our market every day.One more point, what if you still do not sell you 1000, and the other investor, that would be me, that paid $4 did not sell, then they would fail to deliver, and someone would be in trouble.First of all the failure to deliver laws as seldom enforced, and when they are it is always too late.Just in case there is a problem, the off shore hedge funds they usually naked short a company out of business, cut a deal with the owner of the 500 preferred shares, and in the fine print you will see that preferred shares can be converted to common shares, at the rate to 1000 to 1.Now you have plenty enough to knock out any real investors.The problem is most of this is looked on as legal in our market. The US market is not designed to build companies, it is designed to destroy the investors, and in so doing destroying the company.The laws we have need to be governed by ethics, a law with not ethical enforcement is not a law at all it is just a license to rob.We need some real changes, or our market is lost, people are catching on, and the investment dollars will soon dry up. and there will be no one left to rob.