FREEMAN-SPICER FINANCIAL SERVICES
Finance • Leasing • Accounting • Premium
316 South Eddy Street South Bend, IN 46617 / 574.234.0069 (V) • 574.234.6414 (F) • surekey@aol.com
Vol. 28, No. 11 • November, 2010 / www.Freeman-Spicer.com
Beginning January 1, 2011 . . . . . . . . . Whether you are for or against the Health Care Bill that is presently in place, here are the Health Care items that will go into force on the 1st of the year:
• No lifetime dollar limits or maximums
• Eligible dependent children up to the age 26 can now stay on your policy.
• No annual dollar limits on essential health benefits.
• No pre-existing condition limits for dependent children/policyholders under the age of 19.
• No cost-sharing for covered preventive care benefits received in-network.
Do you know what the actual bill is called? Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly known as health care reform. (Anthem Health)
Since We Are Talking About Policy . . . . . Why doesn’t the government sell off the gold in Fort Knox to pay off the national debt? For starters, there ain’t near enough. Fort Knox is estimated to have about $200 billion in gold. The government could sell the gold if it wanted to. All Congress has to do is vote. Since going off the gold standard, we no longer have to keep enough precious metal to back the dollar. Currency is now backed by government bonds - more pieces of paper promising that the government will pay up down the line. The old gold has become nothing more than money in the bank, a relatively small savings account. (Why Things Are)
Since We Are Talking About Policy . . . This comes from the Kiplinger Washington Newsletter:
“While awaiting the recommendations of Obama’s deficit commission....take a look at proposals from two other folks mulling the problem: William Galston of the Brookings Institution and Maya MacGuineas, president of the independent, nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Their guiding principles: Shared sacrifice, encouragement of growth, protection of those in need and acknowledgment of U.S. demographic shifts.
Key spending cuts proposed: Freeze domestic discretionary spending for three years and limit future increases to the rate of inflation. Trim spending on big ticket weapons programs and cover war costs after 2015 with a surtax. On Social Security, tie benefit hikes to a slower growing measure of inflation, set up a minimum benefit for low incomers, make higher incomers pay more in and get less out of the system, and create a bonus payment for people over age 85. Cut Medicare and higher Medicare premiums. Phase out farm subsidies, replacing them with catastrophic loss insurance. And restrain federal salaries. Key Revenue Raisers: Slash the maximum mortgage for which interest can be deducted in half, to $500,000. Phase out state and local tax deductions. Reduce targeted tax breaks by 10% and limit future growth. Enact a carbon tax. And for good measure, reform corporate taxes to broaden the base but cut the rate.
Just imagine the fireworks these proposals would spark in Congress. Now triple them for a hint of what’s in store when lawmakers get serious.
“You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich, You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.” Abraham Lincoln.
Enough Serious Stuff . . . . . . . . An elderly man in Louisiana had owned a large farm for several years. He had a large pond in the back. It was properly shaped for swimming, so he fixed it up nice with picnic tables, horseshoe courts, and some apple and peach trees. One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn’t been there for a while, and look it over. He grabbed a five-gallon bucket to bring back some fruit. As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer, he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond. He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end. One of the women shouted to him, “we’re not coming out until you leave!” The old man frowned, “I didn’t come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the pond naked.” Holding the bucket up he said, “I’m here to feed the alligator!” Some old men can still think fast. (Founier)
A Safer Route On The Roads In Indiana . . . . American roads are safer than ever, according to the Department of Transportation. But that positive development masks a more regrettable trend: once the world’s least dangerous place to drive, the U.S. is now 12th in its rate of road deaths per miles driven, a new International Transport Forum report shows. On a per capita basis, the U.S. falls to 28th, pinched between Cambodia and South Korea. While there are myriad factors in this slide, one in particular deserves a look. Roundabouts the circular alternatives to stoplights, are common abroad, where they eliminate one of driving’s most dangerous moves - the left turn against oncoming traffic - and can reduce fatal accidents by as much as 90 percent. Fortunately, the U.S. is also starting to think inside the circle. Maryland, Missouri, and Georgia have built dozens of roundabouts in recent years, and hundreds more are in the works nationwide. But Carmel, Ind., is leading the nation, having built about 60 since 2001. For a city that claims “one of the country’s first automatic stop-and-go traffic signals,” it’s saying something that the lights are now being torn down. The benefits, however, may say something more: in the revamped intersections, there has been an 80 percent drop in crashes involving injuries. (Tom Vandervilt in Newsweek)
Don’t Pay the Pirates . . . . . . . Q. Our computer recently wouldn’t work properly. A message said the “Security Tool” had found 26 problems and wanted $79.95 to fix it. Our efforts to fix the problem ourselves - trying to remove the program, use “system restore” and run a virus scan with Microsoft Security Essentials - didn’t work. I called Best Buy’s Geek Squad, and they suggested paying the $79.95. In desperation , we gave the Security Tool people our credit card number, and after that the problem ended. But now they’re asking us to confirm the transaction via e-mail or calling an 800 number. Is that the way virus protection works? It’s like paying the pirates to get your ship back. A. You’re the victim of well-known scam software that you picked up online. “Security Tool” reports bogus problems with your PC, charges you to fix them and resists efforts to remove itself. But there is a free way to wipe out Security Tool, and any repair service that suggested paying the scammer’s ransom ought to be ashamed. (Best Buy said it needed more details about what you said and any tests that were run in order to comment.) Follow these directions to make sure your PC is clean: For the non-techie, download and run the free version of Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware at www.malwarebytes.org/. For a more hands-on and tech-savvy solutions, see http://tinyurl.com/2db-ju3r/ or http://tinyurl.com/yhn-nu8a/. Clearly, Security Tool is not marketed the way legitimate virus protection software is sold. Typically, you pay an annual subscription fee of $40 or less for antivirus protection. You may want to contact your credit card company to dispute the charges. Ignore the e-mails and requests to an 800 number. (Steve Alexander in the Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Learn From Your Elders . . . . . . A good looking salesman and a senior citizen in her seventies are sitting next to each other on a long flight to Atlantic City. The sharp salesman is thinking that seniors are so dumb that he could get one over on any of them, easily. So the salesman asks if the senior lady would like to play a fun game. She is tired after knitting and just wants to take a nap, so she politely declines and tries to catch a few winks. The sly salesman persists, saying that the game is a lot of fun! I ask you a question, and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me only $5. Then you ask me one, and if I don’t know the answer, I will pay you $500, he says convincingly. This catches the old broad’s attention and to keep the salesman quiet, she agrees to play his game. The salesman asks the first question. “What’s the distance from Earth to the Moon?” The senior doesn’t say a word, but reaches into her pocketbook, pulls out a five-dollar bill and hands it to the salesman. Now it’s the senior’s turn. She asks the salesman, “What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?” The salesman uses his laptop and searches all references he could find on the Net. He sends e-mails to all the smart, con-men friends he knows; all to no avail. After an hour of searching, he finally gives up. He wakes the senior and hands her $500. The senior pockets the $500 and goes right back to sleep, snoring loudly. The salesman is going nuts not knowing the answer. He wakes the senior up and asks, “Well, so what goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?” The senior reaches into her pocket, hands the salesman $5 and goes back to sleep. (Fournier)
Appliance Life Span On Average (in years) . . . . .
• Compactors - 6
• Dehumidifiers - 7
• Air-Conditioners, room - 9
• Disposers, foot waste - 9
• Microwave ovens - 9
• Dishwashers - 10
• Air-conditioners, central - 11
• Freezers - 11
• Range / over hoods - 11
• Washers - 11
• Water Heaters, gas - 11
• Dryers, Electric - 12
• Dryers, gas - 12
• Heat Pumps - 12
• Refrigerators - 12
• Water Heaters, electric - 13
• Furnace, gas - 15
• Ranges, electric - 16
• Ranges, gas - 17
• Furnaces, oil - 17
• Boilers, gas - 20
Appliance Market Research Report
Bad Day . . . . . . There I was, sitting at the bar staring at my drink when a large trouble-making biker steps up next to me, grabs my drink and gulps it down in one swig. “Well, whatcha gonna do about it?” he says, menacingly, as I burst into tears. “Come on, man,” the biker says, “I didn’t think you’d CRY. I can’t stand to see a man crying.” “This is the worst day of my life,” I say. “I’m a complete failure. I was late to a meeting and my boss fired me. When I went to the parking lot, I found my car had been stolen and I don’t have any insurance. I left my wallet in the cab I took home. I found my old lady in bed with the gardener and then my dog bit me. So I came to this bar to work up the courage to put an end to it all, I buy a drink, I drop a capsule in and sit here watching the poison dissolve; then you, you jack-wagon, show up and drink the whole thing! But enough about me, how’s your day going?” (Foti)
“I sit here all day trying to persuade people to do the things they ought to have the sense to do without my persuading them.” Harry S. Truman
“Just because I don’t care doesn’t mean I don’t understand.” Homer Simpson
Sincerely,
Edward C. Levy
President