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Greetings, Quotaholics:

In these hard economic times, what are we to do to sustain our standard of living? President Obama has created a new post to help with the economy. On February 6, 2009 Paul Volcker became the first Chair of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Mr. Volcker has a plan to help reduce stress on the Social Security system being placed upon it as the Baby Boomers approach retirement. Social Security in the US was created as part of the New Deal implemented by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Social Security Act was signed into law on August 14, 1935 making Roosevelt the first president to protect the elderly. At the time, there was controversy concerning the new scheme.

Many thought it would lead to job loss, but others pointed out the advantage of having older workers leaving the work force and giving up their jobs so younger family men would have employment. Most women and minorities were exclude from the system due to their job categories. Ida May Fuller was the first person to receive a Social Security check on January 31, 1940. She paid in a total of $24.75 during the previous three years. She lived to 100 and collected $22,888.92. Apparently no one saw this as a problem.

When undertaken by anyone other than the government, a plan where payouts now are funded by subsequent investors is illegal and called a Ponzi scheme, named after Charles Ponzi who funded his own lifestyle with this type of plan in the 1920s. The scheme itself is older, but Ponzi "popularized" here in the states.

Social Security is funded by future investors. I’ve been paying Social Security taxes since I began working at age 16. None of my money is anywhere to be found. It was paid out to those who retired in the 1970s and later (since that’s when I started paying in). Now that I’m approaching retirement age along with the rest of the Baby Boomers, it is becoming a problem. There aren’t enough new "investors" to actually make up my money the government has helpfully already spent.

Volcker’s plan is to keep us working longer so there won’t be a need to pay us back the money we paid in. Volcker himself is 82 and apparently loves working. He is advising President Obama to raise the retirement age by "maybe a year or so" so the money lasts. He then wants to "very gradually implement" this plan with a phase-in period over 15 to 20 years. The full retirement age in the US is 67 for those born in 1960 or after.

According to my math, this means my children will have to work longer in order to keep me from getting my Social Security payments back. Essentially, either the article at Business Week makes no sense, or Volcker makes no sense.

Volcker also believes mortgage rates should rise. "The mortgage market in the United States is in trouble. It’s totally dependent, heavily dependent on government participation," he said. "It shouldn’t be that way. That’s going to have to be re-constructed."

He blames the government-private hybrid lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the problems in today’s housing market. He claims their structure was doomed from the start. While Fannie Mae was created in 1938, it was turned into the government entity in 1968, two years before Freddie Mac was founded.

Volcker and Obama have been pushing the "Volcker Rule" which would limit bank size and prohibit against hedge funds or banks trading for their own accounts. It is being criticized by opponents as being too difficult to define. "Are you trading de novo in your own interest or are you responding to the customer’s desire to sell or buy? Now that distinction I think is reasonably clear," Volcker said in answer to the critics.

I tried to look up "trading de novo" so I could explain it to you. I can’t find a definition of the term, so I’m not sure how clear this actually is.

Mr. Volcker worked diligently in 1971 to halt the US from remaining on the gold convertibility standard which collapsed the Bretton Woods system and involved a shakeup in the International Monetary Fund. He was the fifth President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1975-79 and then took over as 12th Chairman of the Federal Reserve (1979-87). He has continued to work in banking and as an economist since 1987.

I hope I have made Volcker’s plans clear. First delay Social Security payments by delaying retirement; and second, make home mortgages more expensive while regulating the banks. The delay in retirement will not take place for 15-20 years, by which time some of the Baby Boomers will be older than Volcker is now. Our children will be working longer, taking away jobs from their children and grandchildren. And buying a house will cost more.

I have no idea how any of this is supposed to help the economy recover.

If you DO see how any of this will help, will you please explain it to us? For those outside the US, does your government have a Social Security system in place to take care of aging citizens? At what age are you able to collect benefits from the program? Are your systems as poorly funded as the one in the US?

If you are in the US, do you believe you will be able to receive the benefits you have been promised all your working life? Have you ever figured out how much money you have actually put into SSI? And if you had been able to invest it yourself, do you know how much you would have earned back on those investments? Do you think Mr. Volcker is too old to be in his position of power and needs to retire himself?

Wanting my own back,
 

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“People try to rain on your parade, because they have no parade of their own.” - Jeffrey Gitomer

“Don’t ever become a pessimist … A pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun-and neither can stop the march of events.” - Robert A. Heinlein

“God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless.”

“That is not to say that we can relax our readiness to defend ourselves. Our armament must be adequate to the needs, but our faith is not primarily in these machines of defense but in ourselves.”

“Of the Marines on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.” - All from U.S. admiral Chester W. Nimitz born on this date in 1885

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Challenges

In all aspects of life we face challenges. Some are imposed on us, as in quota or "goals" in our business life. Most are self-imposed goals of meeting certain criteria, benchmarks, or milestones in professional or private aspects of our lives.

In geocaching, challenges are a significant part of the game. Of course, there is the initial challenge to find the cache. With a good GPSr (Global Positioning System receiver) unit used by both the hider and the seeker, there is little "challenge" on most caches, however. There is the challenge to find as many caches on an outing as you can. Most cachers consider anything over "double digits" is a good caching day. Additionally, there is a running total of geocaches one has found. One isn’t even considered a seasoned geocacher without at least 1,000 finds.

But there are other challenges in geocaching. There are actual "challenge caches" which have prerequisites to achieve before you can claim a singular find for the challenge cache. One such is the "2000 Finds Challenge" in Ohio. Finding 2,000 caches is a challenge in and of itself, wouldn’t you agree? Good. It wasn’t that simple for the person creating this challenge. He felt that cachers should have to loosely duplicate his accomplishment. In doing so, he specified a certain number of each type of geocache that the challenger must have found. For some seasoned geocachers, the accomplishment would have already been achieved. However, this cache creator wanted to add to it so even those with more than 2,000 finds would have to go to some additional effort. A certain number of caches of various kinds had to be found after the date the cache was published.

Another challenge cache is based on the "Lost" television program. "4,8,15,16,23,42". These numbers may not mean a thing to you. They may mean a whole lot to you. That’s something only you will know. They were popularized by a pretty good TV show." On any given day, a cacher must find the exact number of caches for each of the numbers significant in those listed in the show. 4 on one day. 15 on another. 23 on another. 8 on yet another, etc. They do not have to be found in any order, only that the number of finds is exactly one of the numbers in the series. Cachers shoot for higher numbers on a day’s outing. And, to add to it, one of the caches on each day had to be something other than a "traditional" cache.

Taking on these challenges is strictly voluntary. After all, after accomplishing the prerequisites, you only get one additional find for all the effort.

Here’s your quiz:
What are some challenges you’ve imposed on yourself? Yes, New Year’s resolutions count.
What are some of your professional challenges?
What are some challenges in hobbies you’ve undertaken?

Challenges - You Can’t Avoid Them, Even In Play
Cliff (the High-Tech Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’)

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Nancy L in Ohio sent me an opening line.  See what you can do with it.  Thanks Nancy!

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