Archive for August, 2009

Good Business

August 26th, 2009

Since I’ve started on ToughMoney.com, I’ve intended to use it for talk about Personal Finance.  I think it’s important (important enough to write with capital letters), but I’m finding more and more that someone else really has already said what I’ve thought.

So, that makes this a “me, too” blog.  I don’t like “me, too” blogs, since someone else was there first.  Plus, I’m finding that I don’t really want to research detailed stuff like 529 plans when I have no kids.

Wow…that’s actually tough to say since I’ve spent hours thinking about and writing articles already.  But, it is true.  I like thinking about ideas and concepts.  New and creative things catch my eye.  And, I love good business.

I listened to a podcast yesterday that really hit home.  It suggested your blog should be about something you’re really passionate about.

If that’s true, it made me think…what am I really passionate about?  What makes me grin like a school girl? (No offense to girls of school age who grin excessively.)

Yes, I am passionate about personal finance.   But, I’m not so passionate about a lot of the research behind it.  And, I really mean, that I don’t want to be the one doing the research, though I don’t mind reading about the findings. I just find I am rehashing old, but proven material.

One of the things I really enjoyed doing in college was thinking on ideas.  And, I really loved the idea of putting a business together.  And, I really loved the idea of seeing a good business be successful.

I find myself grinning at places like Chick-fil-A where they have a simple menu, but have boat-loads of business.  And then there’s GE, where Jack Welch took a business that was old and holding itself up with a cane as it lumbered around…and he helped form it into a global powerhouse of high quality manufacturing and finance (and some other odds and ends).

There’s also great ideas like Guerrilla Marketing and the The 4-Hour Workweek
and Raving Fans.

I could just go on and on.

I find that I simply like personal finance.

But, I love good business.

So, for a bit, I’ll see if that fits me.  I’ll see if that is worth writing about and reading about and putting together articles for.  Yes, people write about business.  And, often they write about good businesses.  But, I have a little different mindset about it.

I’m not sure if I can put that mindset into words or not.  I’ll give it a shot and see what you think.

Does Anyone Praise Medicare?

August 5th, 2009

Just think about that question: “Does anyone praise Medicare?”  I know my grandparents never said it was the greatest thing they ever experienced.

Instead, I saw my mother fork over huge sums of money to pay for things that my grandparents needed that Medicare refused to pay for.

Now ask yourself, should we give the government more money and power to provide more health coverage that is sub-par?

How about one other simple solution: The government is going to spend several thousand dollars per person per year.  Why not give every man, woman, and child a $1,000 voucher for them to use on health care as they see fit?

How simple would that be?

Why here in America?

August 3rd, 2009

Health care is one of the top news stories for this past month.  Cap and Trade has disappeared somewhere in the mix.  Taxes are a follow up issue since more revenue for the goverment is needed for both the first two issues.

But, I ask: Why do we need health care paid by the government in the U.S.?  Why do we need to spread the wealth around from the rich to the poor?  Why do we need so much government involvement in our lives?  Why do we need more restrictions in each and every industry that often just punish the law abiding and create more loopholes for the criminals?

Why?

I can’t answer that question.  Is it because “We the People” of the United States have decided by majority vote that we need these changes?  Or, is it because a large number of people want things to be amazingly easy, and since they became adults they realized that life was hard and they’d rather be a kid again?

So, again, Why here in America?

There’s another option: go to Canada.  Go to Britain.  Both speak English, and you can have universal health care.  Try another European country.  There are others that even offer a mandatory 4-6 weeks of paid vacation time, and health care.

Many talk about Health Care as a right.  I’d like to mention that I feel like I have a greater right to the money in my wallet than you do.  I worked for it.  I earned it.  Do you want me to dig into your wallet when I decide that I have a right to your money to pay for gas all because I have a basic right to get to work?

I just humbly ask that if you truly feel like you deserve universal health care, paid by the rich (and the middle class), then try another country that has it.  Yes, let’s reform our current system, but let me pay for my own health care and you for yours.  That’s what I want…a simple right to choose where I spend my money.  Do you want that right as well?