Saturday, May 14, 2011

Money Talks






No one is more excited about the news of Bin Laden's death than me. Mainly because it knocked the damn Royal wedding out of the headlines. Hopefully I'll never have to hear about Prince William ever again. Just had to get that off my chest.

I was having a conversation with the landscaper at my job recently, he mentioned that he doesn't have a bank account and that he keeps all his savings at home. The rest of convo went as follows;

"You should really put your money in the bank."

"Why? What do I gain out of putting my money in a bank?"

"Well it gains interest for starters, its also insured when its in the bank."

"My money is insured at home."

"Not it isn't, God forbid your home burns down, your money burns with it."

"Yes sir it is, I have apt owners insurance, my money is covered."

" -_- "

To clarify, the only way to insure money is through the FDIC, which insures funds deposited with a financial institution(a bank). People often wonder how Whites, Jews, Asians and other cultures seem to able to start from seemingly nothing and make their way up the economic ladder so much faster than Blacks and Hispanics.



Think about an impoverished Black family that you know. Chances are Mama and Daddy were broke, Grandma and Grandpa and so on back. So why is it that an Asian family can be fresh off the boat from Beijing and build a wealthy estate for their children in one generation. They do so because they learned how the financial system in our country works and they use it to their advantage. Go to your local check cashing place, who's on line? Blacks and Hispanics, many of which don't have a checking accounts because they've never been taught the banking system and are as a result afraid of banks because of things they've heard in the news.

The local checking cashing place charges 3.1 % of the check in order to cash it. A person making 40k a year that cashes their checks has already lost over 1200 dollars before they even get the money in their hands. Compare that too a bank, in which a savings acct with a balance of 40k at a rate of 1.5% would net the account holder 600 dollars a year. I cannot tell you how many Blacks and Hispanics I've come across that have never learned to write checks, don't know the difference between fixed and variable interest rates. These are things that are vital to effectively functioning in our society.

It may seem as though I'm focusing on 2 ethnic groups when there are others that do the same. I do so because over the past 5 years working in the financial industry I've come across far more Blacks and Hispanics that were financially illiterate than any other ethnicity. From birth we're taught how to count and spend money, but few teach their children how money really works. Learning the basics of the financial system in this country is one of the keys to being successful.

Sunday, May 01, 2011

A wise man told me dont argue with fools...

A lot can be learned from the whole President Obama - Donald Trump birth certificate ordeal. To recap; There have long been conspiracy theorists that speculate that President Obama was not born on US soil an was therefore never eligible to run for President in the first place. They remained just that, conspiracy theories until Donald Trump decided to champion the "Obama ain't American" campaign. He spoke out publicly demanding that Obama provide proof that he was indeed born on US soil. The story slow gained attention until this week when Obama has the state of Hawaii release his birth certificate. Obama had remained relatively tight lipped about the situation until this week. The following is a video clip from the White House Correspondent's dinner last night.



Now before I continue, I have to tip my hat to President Obama and whoever helped him put this whole piece together. This was some funny shit. Not included was his entrance to "I'm a real American" (The Hulk Hogan theme music for those that don't know.) The lion King part was cute, but it really got funny when he started taking shots at Donald Trump. It takes alot of balls to unrelentingly shit on someone while they are in the audience. Trump clearly didn't find it funny at all, in fact he looked a little embrassed, and rightfully so. I think maybe the next person will think twice before the go running their mouth about Obama think he won't respond.

Which brings me too my main point. He responded. Over 5 mins of national airtime spent talking about bullshit. Barack Obama is the president of the United States, arguably the most powerful man on the planet. Who is Donald Trump? My 11 year old nephew had no idea who he was. Why waste the time and energy on a washed up real estate agent with a bad hair-do? Obama responding to Trump validates him. Had he completely ignored him the people would have as well. The Boss doesn't worry about what the kid in the mail room thinks. This just gives the next loser motivation to say something slick about the President knowing he takes on all comers, be them worthy or not. While it was funny as hell, I give Obama a C- on his handling of this situation.