Welcome to A Life That POPs, the public face and personality of CQ Financial Group.  We invest our time, our effort and our marketing expertise into every aspect of San Diego Real Estate.  From the buyers and sellers we represent to the agents we coach and the loan solutions we create: our passion is your success.

We strive to be a Renaissance Firm and our area of greatest contribution continues to be the INVESTOR.  We are writing the book on intelligent, useful strategies for wealth accumulation through real estate.  There has never been a better place to invest than San Diego and now there couldn’t be a better time.

It our sincere desire to help you achieve success.  Whether you are buying your first home or selling your tenth, looking for a transparent mortgage or investing in San Diego real estate, we appreciate the opportunity to earn your trust.  Your comments are welcome.  Your success is our passion.

Filed under: LIFE THAT POPs

On a Scale of 1 to 10…

USC is cleaning house after the Reggie Bush debacle.  (For those of you with real lives, Reggies Bush is a running back for the Saints who, while attending USC, was lucky enough to receive – no strings attached - a big, beautiful new home for his family here in San Diego…  It reportedly had nothing to do with his prowess on the football field.)  According to a recent AP story reported in the San Diego Union Tribune, USC will be sending Mr. Bush’s Heisman Trophy back to the Heisman Committee as an expression of their shame.  Apparently, they are no longer proud to display it along side the trophies of Mike Garrett, Matt Leinart, Carson Palmer, Charles White, Marcus Allen and … OJ Simpson.

 

I’m guessing the closed-door strategy session ended with something like this: “Yes, yes, he nearly severed two people’s heads… I mean he alledgedly nearly severed two people’s heads!  But Reggie cost us scholarships and bowl games.  Gentleman, I believe our course of action is clear.”

Filed under: HUMOR

No Day at the Beach

Yesterday was no day at the beach.  Okay, technically I suppose you could twist the facts around and put a major league, curve ball spin on it and call it a day at the beach.  You know, if you want to get hung up on little details like how I spent the entire day at the beach.  I packed up my two boys, an ice chest full of Cheetos and one large cantaloupe.  (I didn’t bring a knife and apparently you don’t eat those things like an apple, so I returned with one empty ice chest and one large cantaloupe.)  I met up with my good friend and occasional confessor Brian Brady and his lovely daughter.  We were later joined by his wife, whom I’ll just call Mrs. Lance Armstrong Brady for this story, and we spent an entire, glorious day at the beach.  But other than that, yesterday was no day at the beach.  Yeah, okay, I see your point.  Put it this way, it wasn’t a typical day at the beach.

 For me, a typical day at the beach would mainly involve long discussions with Brian on solving the world’s problems (ask us sometime… we’ve got the whole thing whittled down to a small pamphlet) and occasionally testing the sandy hardness of the ocean floor by falling off my boogie board.  (This is all done purposefully and as part of my larger interest in oceanography.  I could ride a wave on a boogie board if I wanted to…)  Sometimes, just to spice things up, I see how long I can hold in my gut without passing out in front of an attractive, bikini-clad woman.  They usually do a surprisingly good job of pretending to not even notice me, but we’re so close to Hollywood I assume most of them are just acting…  Anyway, that’s a typical day at the beach for me.  But not yesterday.  Yesterday I was distracted by a gigantic hole.  Yes, a hole… in the sand.  Like I said: not your typical day at the beach.

 My two boys and Brian’s daughter spent a good chunk of their morning – when they weren’t out on boogie boards catching waves and staying upright, as if that’s the only way to ride one of those things – digging a hole.  I know, that probably doesn’t sound like much fun, but you have to trust me: catching waves on a boogie board can be fun.  In any case, they dug themselves a pretty good hole.  It was big and deep and had a nice groove cut toward the ocean.  Once the tide came in, they’d have themselves a nice little hot tub just made for three.  (I actually overheard one of them… okay, it was one of my boys, say something about turning it into a jacuzzi.  I’m not sure how they planned on creating bubbles, but I figure what I don’t know won’t hurt me.)

 Sure enough, as the tide came in all their hard work started to pay off.  At first there was only a little water, but it was obvious that before long they’d have a first rate hot tub.  It was about this time I began to notice other boys and girls approach; as time passed more and more came until we had a regular Hole in the Beach Gang.  They thought this was the neatest thing they’d ever seen and soon began to splash in the hole too.  It didn’t occur to any of them to ask if they could play in the slowly filling “hot tub.”  I guess they figured holes were just something that appeared at the beach without any work; kind of a no-cost benefit they were all entitled to play in and enjoy.  Pretty soon, my boys and Brian’s daughter came over to us and pointed out that they weren’t getting to play in the hot tub they’d created because there were “all these kids in there who didn’t even help build it!”  I have to say I was shocked, shocked to learn my kids possessed a sense of ownership over this hole.  Why?  Because they got there early?  Because they worked long and hard on it?  Is that any kind of a justification for not sharing it with kids who were busy playing video games all morning and only stumbled into the hole on their way to the ice cream stand?  Being a philosopher, I sat down to formulate a deeply moving response to our children’s dilemma.  Brian on the other hand, ever the pragmatist, just looked at them  and said: “Life’s tough. Wear a helment,” and sent them off to clear jelly fish so he could enter the water for a bit.

I stayed and watched “the hole” though.  I’d become intrigued and I’m glad I did because the most interesting thing happened.  The original three creators of the hole, once they realized they weren’t going to be able to enjoy what they’d built, wandered off to find new adventures.  (At least, I think that’s what they did.  Look, it’s a big crowded beach surrounded by pounding surf and occasional rip tides.  It’s not like I can keep an eye on them every minute…)  The others though, the ones who jumped with both feet into the hole they didn’t create, they stayed and they played and they made that hole their own.  But a very strange thing began to happen.  With each surge of ocean water came a large deposit of sand and the hole became less and less of a hole (and less fun) as it filled with water. 

 Now here’s the really odd part: the kids all just looked at each other as it was happening.  They knew their hole was de-holing (don’t bother looking it up, I promise you it’s a word), but they didn’t know what to do about it.  The various shovels and buckets originally used to create the hole were all still there, lying on the outer edge, but no one thought to grab a shovel and contribute.  They just kept playing in less and less water, till one by one they began drifting away.  Maybe some found another magically appearing hole they could take as their own.  I imagined others discovering a blanket spread with hot dogs and chips… and helping themselves to the magic of a free lunch.  It wouldn’t surprise me if one or two went off in search of our three kids – the original builders of the hole – to complain about how it wasn’t built big enough and didn’t last long enough.  (I don’t know for sure where any of them went because that would have required me getting up out of my beach chair and I was, at that particular moment, testing another one of my scientific theories about compression of sand under extremely heavy loads.)

Toward the end of the day, my sons and Brian’s daughter came back around and looked at the hole, or rather: what was once a hole.  It was pretty filled in and the sides had crumbled under the weight of so many kids.  Their shovels and buckets were strewn about.  I asked if they were going to build another hole and they shook their heads no.  ”What’s the point?” my older son asked.  “Yeah,” my younger son chimed in, “if we do, we won’t get to play in it anyway.”  Brian’s daughter summed it up, saying: “I think our hole digging days are over.  We did all the work, but someone else got all the fun.”  Kids say the funniest things, don’t they?

 As we broke down the tents and packed the tools and tried to carry as much sand back to my recently detailed car as possible, I remember thinking to myself: I sure hope these little guys enjoyed themselves today, despite what happened with their hole.  And I certainly hope they’re not assimilating this one-time episode into any sort of large-scale, world view.  Deep down I hope that by the time they become adults they can look back on this day and say: ”Life is no day at the beach.”  Just in case though… wear a helmet.

 

Filed under: LIFE THAT POPs, POLITICAL & ECONOMIC FOLLY

There are Only Four Things Certain Since Social Progress Began

(alternatively entitled – with all due apologies)
Though I’ve Belted You and Flayed You, By the Livin’ Gawd That Made You;
You’ve Made a Worser Man of Me, Socialism

“And a woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke”  (from The Betrothed).  I have loved Rudyard Kipling from the very first time I read Gunga Din.  His pace and pattern appeal to me, as does his archaic sense of manhood.  I have argued before, and dare say would do so again quite successfully, that his poem If  is among the finest pieces ever written in the English language.  Of all the inspirational articles I have written and the many orations I have given, much time could have been saved had I simply gone in, recited If and walked out.  If you have never read it, stop what you are doing now and do so.  The answer to just about every event you may encounter in your life is contained in that poem.

This post, however, is not about Kipling’s great work If.  (If it were, I would certainly link to my own, real estate based homage to wisdom, and I’ve done no such thing.)  No, this post is about another poem Kipling wrote, one I am chagrined to admit I only recently discovered.  More mortifying still, I discovered it only because Glenn Beck is using a couple of lines from this poem to plug a new book of his.  (I’m not denigrating Mr. Beck, only lamenting the discovery of fine art through it’s crass commercialization.)

The poem refers to Copybook Headings and I was unsure what those were.  For the one or two of you out there as simple as I am, copybooks were primers used by school children to perfect their penmanship.  Across the top of each page was written a Biblical passage or similar lesson of moral imperative.  The children would copy the line over and over on the page below, thus improving their cursive and at the same internalizing certain truths.  Truths that, according to Mr. Kipling, are forgotten at our own peril.

Printed below in its entirety, this poem was written almost 100 years ago.  But you’d be amazed how little has changed in the theater of the absurd we call politics.  Mr. Obama and the Neo-Pros who share his religion are fairly called out in these words, but then so are we…

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Filed under: LIFE THAT POPs, POLITICAL & ECONOMIC FOLLY

The Mirror Effect

Do you ever wonder how to deal with someone else’s opinion of you – especially if it’s negative?  Not how to handle a negative or even rude opinion; early on you should have learned that politeness is how we handle almost any situation.  No, I’m asking if you have a mechanism or coping skill for those times when you discover what someone else thinks about you and it’s painful in some way?  This is not an uncommon experience and might be especially common for real estate agents!  (I’ll leave you to find your own context on that one.)  Personally, I’ve heard a number of answers to this question and they are usually similar to the one found in The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.  While not completely representative of everyone’s answer, it’s close enough. This solution seems to lie in finding ways to ignore, become indifferent to, or otherwise devalue the offending expression.  (Mr. Ruiz, for example, points out that when someone says something about us, we should remember they are limited by their own view of the world – their own prism – and realize what they say, says a lot more about them, than us.)  This is both obvious and oblivious.  May I suggest something a little different?

The Mirror Effect
Of course other people see things through their own prism; so what?  Their opinions can not – and do not – hurt me in the least. How could they?  They are only words and, depending on your philosophical bent, the person saying them may or may not even exist!  If I feel hurt or pain (or happiness for that matter), you can be sure I am the sole cause.  I hear the words, I interpret them (through my own prism Mr. Ruiz) and I create feelings in reaction to my interpretation.  I create…  That’s where the wonderful opportunity lies.  The negative or painful (or happy) feelings are created from within.  That’s not just a difference regarding who is in control (per Mr. Ruiz and the rest, I am to develop some ability that will counter the hurt caused by the words or expressions of others – thus giving them the control and me the dependent action).  It’s more than that.  It is how we evolve and become happier and more peaceful; how we become more succesful possibly, and more free definitely.

Suppose someone says to me: “Sean, you are not much of an athlete.”  I would not be stirred by this.  I know my athletic accomplishments.  I know my athletic abilities.  I am comfortable with who I am as an athlete.  I may believe this person to be mistaken or misinformed or ignorant, but I do not take their expression personally – I am not hurt by it. They could have also said: “You are not as good an athlete as Michael Jordan.”  Again, I would not be stirred by this.  Just as I know who I am as an athlete, I know who I am not and my self worth is not dimished by this comparison.  If, however, ten minutes later this exact same person said to me: “Sean, you are a bad father,” I may indeed walk away in pain.  I am divorced and a single dad; I have doubts about whether or not I am being everything my boys deserve.  So when I hear this I may feel angry or hurt; maybe I’ll want to argue and “convince” this person how wrong he is.  Why is that?  Why didn’t I want to convince him of how wrong he was ten minutes ago when he brought up my athleticism?   This is the same person after all, yet what he thought of me as an athlete had no affect and what he thought of me as a father did.  What changed?  Obviously, what changed was my interpretation; my reaction; my feelings on the subject at hand.  The problem does not lie with other people’s opinions, otherwise I would have been hurt both times.  No, the diffence in those two scenarios is… me.

When confronted by an opinion I knew to be false (or at least believed to be false), I was not bothered.  My vision of myself, athletically speaking, was in alignment with my day-to-day experience.  But that last opinion, the one about my being a bad father, that bothered me a great deal.  Why?  Because there is a truth to it – or at the very least I fear there is a truth to it – that I do not wish to face.  This is, in effect, a mirror held up to me – and I don’t like what I see.  That’s why we can’t cultivate an indifference; the indifference would be to ourselves.  That’s why Mr. Ruiz’s answer is so off track too: how do I devalue the prism when it is my own?  I cannot.  Even if I could… what an opportunity I would miss.  What a blessing upon myself I would be throwing away.

The Opportunity!
The next time someone lets you know what they think about you and it hurts, don’t argue with them or run away from the pain or try to devalue what was said.  What’s needed isn’t a coping method.  Instead, thank them!  Thank them and mean it.  (After all, they were merely the person holding the mirror and nothing more.   Besides, this has the added benefit of messing with their heads.)  Then walk away and realize you’ve just been blessed with an intimate look at yourself.  A look we don’t like, no question; we’re face to face with how badly our internal vision of ourselves does not match our external expression of ourselves.  But if we’re honest about it, that look is also a revelation – and a roadmap to greater happiness and success.

Live a Life that POPs

Filed under: BUYERS, INVESTORS, LENDERS, LIFE THAT POPs, REALTORS, SELLERS

Killer Real Estate Videos That Won’t Kill Your Budget

Yesterday I put up a post on Marketing Videos and Real Estate.  My plea was for more creativity and less facts.  My point? An agent who gets creative and starts using video wisely might just take down the Goliath agent in their neck of the woods.  Later that day, in answer to a question by someone who read the post, I sat down and jotted out a half dozen video ideas, then put the pad down and walked away.  When working with creative ideas, I usually find it’s a good idea to let them breathe for a while and come back later.  Often times, after rereading them, you discover even fresher and better ideas.  No such luck today though… you get the original ideas and all their rough edges.

The goal here is to throw some ideas out.  If we’re lucky, this could turn into a “mini-library” of video marketing ideas for real estate agents temporarily running low in the creativity tank and staring at an empty screen.  For me, it’s all about latching onto an aspect of the house and then running a little wild.  Oh, and I love to steal already well-established ideas from the big boys.

VISA Take-Off #1 - there are a number of ways to shoot this.  Show aspects of the house that shine and do the voice-over: “View of the mountains, $10,000; Jacuzzi tub in your masterbath, $3000; and so on.  Then come in with the conclusion everyone knows: “Owning your own home, priceless.”  The key is what you show during that line: Young husband carrying beautiful bride across threshold.  Or, husband painting vertical, purple stripes in the living room while the kids nod approvingly. Or, an exterior evening shot of the house with every window warmly lit while we see the sights and sounds of a fantastic party going on inside.  Single site web address appears at the bottom of the screen.

VISA Take-Off #2 – Same idea, but a child’s perspective (especially designed for a family home in a family neighborhood).  Filmed from a child’s height, but the voice over is the same idea: “Putting new child-proof latches on these beautiful oak cabinets, $100,” while panning the awesome kitchen.  “Putting (say your plumber’s name here), the best plumber in (your town here) on retainer, $500,” while showing a child’s eye view of putting a toy soldier in the toilet and flushing.  (Might get your plumber to incur some of the costs…) Continue with carpets or whatever is great about the house and allows you to work a child into it.  Then, the close.  “Giving your child a world of his own, priceless,”  said over video of a little boy running to the tree house or swing or whatever in the backyard.  Or how about “First step to Olympic glory, priceless,” and show a 6 year old girl in a starting position with a determined look on her face at the edge of the home’s pool.

Super-Agent – if the home is located in a terrific neighborhood, reinforce the idea of you as super agent (costume? depends on you) and take your clients on a Superman’s view of the local town and neighborhood.  (Strap camera to top of car or stand up in a convertible.)  The key is to make it obvious.  Make fun of the Superman aspect while showing off the awesome coffee house and local school.

Historic Home – While doing a voice over of the historic nature of the home, walk through and keep bumping into people in period costumes who talk about how fantastic it is… or how odd the contraptions are (which you conveniently explain to them and the viewer, e.g. Viking Oven which of course leads to a quick shriek in obvious fear of Vikings).  Better still, if some of the competing homes in the neighborhood aren’t historic (best opportunity: built in the 70s) keep the theme.  After talking to your historic figures, show some hippies coming out of the 70′s home for sale down the street and ask the viewer where they want to live.

Beer Commercial – Video shows people going in the beautiful kitchen and coming out thinner.  Or the owner’s friend comes over alone and leaves with a gorgeous bikini babe from the pool in back.  The voice over says something like: “You know how those beer commercials imply that if you drink their beer you’ll lose weight, be the life of the party and date the best looking guys and gals… well, this house is spectacular and at $250,000 a great value.  But will it deliver everything a good beer does?”  Then walk out from behind the camera and win a lottery or have a beautiful woman offer to marry you or whatever, turn back to the camera and wink: “I’m not saying… I’m just saying…”

Large – if the house or yard is really large, talk about it while a small car pulls up and the new buyers get out and remove the sign from the front yard.  Then they turn back to the car and greet an endless stream of children, friends, local merchants, etc. all getting out of the ”circus car.”  End with something clever about a big house or maybe about you, the agent.  “It may look like magic (a miracle, impossible, etc) to most people, but when you buy a home from (insert your own name here), we simply call it: doing our job.”

So, there’s a few ideas from the slightly off-center head of a Tin Foil Hat wearer.  Can you top ‘em?  Let’s get this library started!

Filed under: MARKETING, REALTORS, SELLERS, WORLD OF 2.0

The NAR Backs the FHA… Who’s Backing You?

Late last week the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5072, the so-called FHA Reform Bill.  One of the major components of that bill (you can read the text of the bill here), raises the monthly insurance premium for all FHA buyers.  What does that mean to your bottom line?

 

Currently, the FHA monthly premium is .55% and the new legislation Congress is looking at will raise the premium a wopping 272% to 1.5%.  What does this mean to your buyer?  If they are at the limit of their eligibility on a $300,000 purchase price now, they would have to lower their interest rate by over 1.25% to still qualify for that house.  In other words, if the current market rate is 5.00%, it would have to drop to 3.75%!  If you think you might have trouble locating a lender who will do 30 year fixed loans at 3.75%, don’t worry; you can also lower their purchase price to bring them back into eligibility.  Their new price would only have to drop 10%!  A buyer looking at $300,000 today will be looking at $265,000 to $270.000 as soon as this bill passes. Does that change your market opportunities for the better… or the worse?

 

I understand why the NAR supports this, it keeps FHA alive and well, doing sub-prime loans for people who can’t afford to buy a home, which in turn keeps dues paying agents busy and coughing up their fair share.  But why do agents support it?  It’s going to have a devestating affect on your clients, and therefore on you.  Do you support it?  Have you let anybody know?

Filed under: INVESTORS, LENDERS, POLITICAL & ECONOMIC FOLLY, REALTORS

Video Killed the Real Estate Star…

I love marketing.  I love the opportunity presented by a brand new marketing campaign to be creative and stand out from the day-to-day noise of everyone else.  Unfortunately, most agents don’t share my zeal for marketing.  At least, I assume they don’t; how else to explain the mind-numbing dreck I see every day.  Whether by email, on Twitter, over Facebook, online; even on flyers! (When there are flyers.)  Most agents seem to have attended the Detective Joe Friday school of marketing: “Just the facts, ma’am.”

Video affords us a new form of communication.  It includes multiple modalities that can reach – and interest – many more people than an equivalent, uni-dimensional form of communication.  Some people are predominantly visual, some auditory and some kinesthetic.  An email loses two of those groups, so does a radio spot.  But with video we can reach out to all three groups; we can create terrific visual, we can add sound and we can tell a story that creates emotion.  But even with all that going for it, there is still a limit on effectiveness: us.  In the computer world there is a maxim: garbage in, garbage out.  That can be true of video marketing too, but let’s give it a positive spin.  Here’s the maxim I suggest:

CREATIVITY IN, CASH OUT

I expect some might find that a little too crass, but never forget: the ultimate goal is skinnin’ cats.  In any case, my point is creativity.  Believe it or not, a marketing piece for a listing does NOT have to include all the details; that’s what the single site is for, right?  A marketing piece, and especially a video marketing piece, has as its purpose one real objective: TO STAND OUT FROM THE NOISE!  Be memorable, make someone laugh; if you’re really creative: go viral.  This serves the dual purpose of generating interest in what you’re marketing AND generating interest in you – the best damn agent that viewer has ever met.  Now that’s getting bang for your marketing buck.

Neither of the following two videos is about real estate.  Nor, really, are they much about their product.  But they are creative, they are memorable and they are viral.  Look at what they’re doing, steal some ideas for yourself, and think inside the box: the video box.

Filed under: MARKETING, REALTORS

Define the Tipping Point

The following began as a comment to a great post put up by Greg Swann recently, in which he excerpted a terrific article from Mark Steyn on income taxes and suckers:

…by 2004, 20% of U.S. households were getting about 75% of their income from the federal government… how receptive would they be to a pitch for lower taxes, which they don’t pay, or lower government spending, of which they are such fortunate beneficiaries? How receptive would another fifth of households, who get about 40% of their income from federal programs, be to such a pitch?

I believe My Styne is talking about the “tipping point” here, something I’ve also been talking about since before the election in 2008. Once enough people are dependent on the government, we reach a tipping point from which there is no purposeful return; only failure and rebirth. This is not news.

What’s interesting (at least to me) is the actual equation marking this tipping point. Obviously if more than 50% of the populace received 100% of their income (or benefits) from the government, we’d be over the tipping point. Not much of a stretch there, but not much of a definition either. I suggest the tipping point is well below the “50% get 100%” threshold.

So what is the level? This strikes me as a very important number – and concept – to know. Where is the line if it’s not “50% getting 100%:”? For argument’s sake, let’s say we have a voting block that will endorse politicians and policies which benefit themselves. Is receiving 75% of their income from entitlements enough to effect that vote? 60%? 45%? I suggest that the block crumbles at 20%, but is monolithic at 75%, so the answer lies somewhere in between. A 30% loss of income would be pretty bad for most people, but may not be bad enough that they would forsake their principles and beliefs. At 40% though… I think we’re dialing in the range.

On top of this, we should take into account the actual voting numbers of the population. How is the tipping point affected if only 60% of the population regularly votes? More importantly, what % of people – on the dole for at least 40% of their income – regularly votes?

I don’t have the economic access or statistical model to perform a proper study, but I’m surprised I haven’t seen something like this from one of the pro-capitalist think tanks. For instance, we may discover that once 40% of the total population receives, on average, more than 40% of their income from government sources, we’ve reached a tipping point. Translation: we could, at that point, reliably expect more than half of likely voters to vote in favor of maintaining their entitlements. Knowing this would provide a clear line in the sand of capitalism and democracy.

Perhaps we are already there. If I were to guess, I would say my 40/40 estimate is not far off. How close are we to 40 and 40? Politicians on both sides of the aisle have clearly understood this concept for some time. Today’s political campaigns run on only two real messages: “Here’s how much I’ll give you,” or “Here’s why the other candidate won’t be able to give you as much as me.” But what if we knew where the line was? Would it make a difference? Would we act on it? Is it too late?

Filed under: POLITICAL & ECONOMIC FOLLY

A Future By Halves vs. A Future of Have-Nots

Voluntaryism vs Social Democracy

Two quick polls: First, all those who enjoy belonging to a society that provides some minimal safety net for the least among us, please raise your hands… Ahh, I see some hands going up. Very good. Second, all those who occasionally enjoy being forced to do something against their will by threat of a gun, please raise your hands… Right, masochists aside I see no hands raised. Very good. The problem is, you cannot have one without the other. Thus spoke the Voluntaryists.

On Monday night I was invited by fellow Bloodhound Brian Brady to attend a debate entitled Voluntaryism/Market Anarchy vs. Democratic-Socialism held in a little hot bed of thought and cafe called Cafe Libertalia. It was an engaging evening spent listening to the point / counter-point discussion on the very legitimacy of government itself. You can gain a more detailed understanding of Voluntaryism here and of Social Democracy here. (Although if you’re a regular reader of BHB you’ve no doubt gained quite a bit of free-market, Voluntaryism philosophy from our Greek emeritus: Greg Swann.)

I must be honest in admitting that I know quite a bit less about Social Democracy philosophy than I do Voluntaryism, and the debate was of little help. The team on the Social Democracy side presented a less than cogent argument for a society wherein free markets and democracy exist in ever changing ratios, as dictated by the people themselves. When asked, the speakers could not name a single  society where this system currently exists.  When pressed, they admitted that the countries currently attempting it are abysmal failures.  But this did not dissuade them from the idea that it could exist. Their logic – such as it was – stemmed from the idea of pure democracy (one man, one vote) and concluded that the majority would decide which means of production should be left to the free markets and which to the nurturing womb of centralized government. “How can you be against that?” they asked.  “We’re not advocating government take-over; we’re saying it should be up to the whole of the people to decide government’s role in the economy.”  When asked what coercion should be applied to those in the minority who might disagree with the majority decision, they answered by questioning the meaning of coercion. I’m not sure if that’s a straw man argument or circular logic, but it leads nowhere either way.

Their crowning point was that coercion exists in a free market too, just as it does in a system of government. Example? If you don’t pay your property taxes (system of government problem), you are eventually led from your home at the point of a gun. Similarly, if you don’t pay your mortgage (free market problem) you are also eventually led from your home at the point of a gun. When the spuriousness of comparing an involuntary agreement such as taxes with a voluntary agreement such as mortgages was pointed out, this was their response: “If I were to video the outcome of both events and show them to you, you would not know which was which; therefore, they are the same in the end.” (Leave it to a theoretical physicist to conceptualize an experiment wherein the proximate cause of events can be excluded from an analysis of the outcome.) Truly embarrassing.

The Voluntaryists drove home their main argument: each of us is solely and 100% the owner of our selves. By logical extension, we are then also the owners of the fruits of our efforts. Thus: property rights – which are the core of true free market philosophy. With this I have no quarrel. If, at any point, you believe you have the right to take from me against my will then you must necessarily believe that we are not the sole and 100% owners of our selves. This leads to an obvious question: “How much of me do you believe you rightfully control?” This is not a difficult argument to win and by my estimation the Voluntaryists did so, despite some rather clunky analogies.

If you’re still with me, you might ask why I am posting on such an esoteric subject. Two reasons: first and foremost, if you are in the real estate industry you are a business owner (at least to some degree) and so this should not be esoteric to you at all. This is a subject matter that cuts to the very heart of entrepreneurial effort and reward. Again, Greg does a much better job than I at making this link clear, but clear it should be. There is a growing and manifestly important debate growing in our country, and whether the terms are used or not, that debate is over Voluntaryism vs. Social Democracy. My second reason, however, is more direct. Based on my title it should be obvious what result I foresee if we are to follow the philosophy of Social Democracy: an eventual citizenry comprised of have-nots (with the possible – probable? – exception of those elite by whom the means of production are directed). But what about the end game of the Voluntaryist philosophy?

To be more precise: even if we were to all agree that an absolute free market system is the desired outcome, is it attainable? I cannot bring to mind any society that has existed over time – on any acceptable large scale (nuns in a convent live in a very direct form of communism, but that does not prove the viability of communism on any scale) – which has not formed a government in deed if not word. In other words, if Voluntaryism is the ideal to which we aspire, is it actually attainable or is it more accurately a yard stick by which to measure progress. A progress necessarily gained by halves, but never in total?

Filed under: LIFE THAT POPs, POLITICAL & ECONOMIC FOLLY

The Only Thing We Have to Fear, is Ourselves

In my late twenties, as a trader on the floor of the options exchange, I was a “Master of the Universe”.  That’s a very common affliction down there.  Apparently, when you put a bunch of young, fearless, risk-takers together and give them the power to move markets around the world, you end up with a bit of a monster.  At one point I attended a symposium with my fellow traders; each of us secure in our status as Cowboy and Superman rolled into one very special gift for the world.  We listened to the latest market analysis systems and celebrated our shared royalty.  Amidst all the revelry was a speaker who didn’t have a financial background; he was more of a self-help, motivational kind of guy. (Believe me, the last thing that group needed was motivation!)  I remember not paying much attention to him – you know, being a “Master of the Universe” and all – but I wish I had.  He wasn’t there to motivate us, he was there to help us – to keep us from losing ourselves… an effort made mostly in vain.

Within days of the symposium all was blissfully forgotten; let’s face it, what could these talking heads possibly teach a “Master of the Universe?”  All, I should say, but this bit of wisdom from the self-help guru – the one who was so out of place.  This stuck with me and I damned him for it:

If you want to know who you really are, listen to that quiet voice you hear while driving home after a meeting, late at night and tired, with no one else in the car and the radio off.  That voice is who you really are… and the fears that voice brings forth are what you really fear.

Over time I was pretty sure I understood what he meant… but I didn’t.

I was thinking about this the other day.  I had just finished with a group of agents in my POPs Program, where we had been favorably comparing the stress AND the fun of being an options trader with that of being a real estate agent.  While driving home afterward, I was listening to that little voice and it hit me: I realized that my innermost fears are not really fears at all.

They’re a reflection – deep down inside – of my belief about what I do and do not deserve.

So, for instance, if you find that during those quietest of moments, when you listen to the little voice, you are fearful of never having enough money, it’s because deep down inside there’s a part of you that doesn’t believe you deserve wealth.  In the same way if you fear unhappiness or things that make you unhappy,  it’s because somewhere in there you don’t believe you deserve happiness.  Our quietest, deepest fears are really sign-posts to our belief systems… and this is great news!

Understanding this, we can rid ourselves of these fears.  Just the act of listening and understanding what fear is goes a long way toward that goal: “Fear flees from the light of understanding.”  But we can do more; we can take an easy, positive step by simply writing a statement of affirmation and reading it every morning.  Read it with conviction and without fail.  Never underestimate the power of consistency. Water running over a rock appears to have little affect, but water running over a rock over time, is the Grand Canyon! So, if your fear concerns scarcity and you realize that a part of you believes you don’t deserve wealth, simply write a statement of affirmation: “I am a successful and good person deserving of wealth.”  Read this every morning with conviction (that’s the real trick here) and sooner than you think you will overwrite the belief.  It is just that simple.  (Of course, there’s a good chance those fears will be replaced by some new and different fears… but that’s a story for another post!)

In the field of real estate, your beliefs about yourself are just as important to your ultimate success as your knowledge and expertise.  Listen to that little voice and face your fears.  Not only will this open the door to a flourishing career, it will lead to a greater understanding of who you are… and why each of us is truly a “Master of the Universe.”

Filed under: LIFE THAT POPs, REALTORS