You 2.0

Granny

Situation Monday

Have you ever had to make a really hard decision?  I hope so because today’s question is a tough one.

You, your grandmother, and your son are walking downtown on a quiet Saturday afternoon.  You are really enjoying this day as you rarely get the chance to bring granny and You2.0 together for quality time.  During your stroll your phone goes off.  You look down at it for what seems like a split second.  When you look up granny and You2.0 are nowhere to be found.

Frantically you look around for them.  You run into the closest shop and scream their names out.  No response.  Your pulse is pounding.  You randomly ask strangers on the street for their whereabouts.  No one has seen your family.

After 10 minutes of searching you finally spot them crossing a busy intersection.  Granny drops her purse and You2.0 bends over to pick it up.  As You2.0 bends over to pick up the purse you notice a car heading for them full speed.  The driver is too deep into her Crackberry to notice.  You realize that you have time to sprint out into the road and save one family member.

Which one do you save?

Here is an excerpt from Senior Citizens Guide explaining reverse mortgages:

Homeowners 62 and older who have paid off their mortgages or have only small mortgage balances remaining are eligible to participate in HUD’s reverse mortgage program. The program allows homeowners to borrow against the equity in their homes.

Senior Homeowners can receive payments in a lump sum, on a monthly basis (for a fixed term or for as long as they live in the home), or on an occasional basis as a line of credit.

Homeowners whose circumstances change can restructure their payment options.

Unlike ordinary home equity loans, a HUD reverse mortgage does not require repayment as long as the borrower lives in the home. Lenders recover their principal, plus interest, when the home is sold or refinanced by the heirs. The remaining value of the home goes to the homeowner or to his or her survivors. If the sales proceeds are insufficient to pay the amount owed, HUD will pay the lender the amount of the shortfall. The Federal Housing Administration, which is part of HUD, collects an insurance premium from all borrowers to provide this coverage.

The size of reverse mortgage loans is determined by the borrower’s age, the interest rate, and the home’s value. The older a borrower, the larger the percentage of the home’s value that can be borrowed. For example, based on a loan at today’s low interest rates, a 65-year-old could borrow up to 60 percent of the home’s value, a 75-year-old could borrow up to 70 percent of the home’s value, and an 85-year-old could borrow almost to 80 percent of the home’s appraised value — up to the FHA loan limit for each city and county.”

Is this system designed to prey on the elderly?

LinkedIn recommendations…my oh my.  LinkedIn is one of the many social media websites taking over the internet.  LinkedIn serves many relevant purposes:

• Business Networking
• Re-connecting with work colleagues
• Providing Company Information
• Creating Target Lists for your business
• Recommending other people

In my humble opinion LinkedIn recommendations are one of the few things that devalue the site.  I’ve seen people who couldn’t clean a white board with a wet towel receive multiple glowing reviews on the site.  The sad thing about it is this…people use this trash to make hiring and promotion decisions.

I think LinkedIn should remove recommendations from the site altogether.  They add no value and a good portion of them are flat out lies.

Join me in the comments section and tell us what you think.

Ripoffreport.com is a consumer advocates website where people come to file complaints about companies.  The functionality of the site is simple.

1. Login
2. Write Your Report (often anonymous)
3. Leave

The stated goal of the site is to provide accurate reports on companies that rip people off.  The reports do not have to be investigated and there is no verification process.  As you can guess people’s opinions on this site vary widely.  Here are a few site reviews from alexa.com

“This website did great things to help resolve an issue with a very disingenuous charity. Sure there are people who might abuse the system. But that is for the consumer to research and understand. If a company or charity does good work, there will be ample evidence to offset any negative reports. it is the age of the internet, let the information flow!”

“RiOffReport_com positions itself as some sort of consumers champion, however the sad reality is that is enables people to make false and totally unsubstantiated claims against their competitors web sites knowing that because of the Google ranking system the report will often list high on the first page of the Google search results, with the effect of causing reputational damage. The concept is good, but I suspect that the creator quickly realized that they could make quite a bit of money out of having reports removed at a price (you can pay-if you negotiate). Thus this site has paradoxically become the rip-off. Note that you won’t find any ripoffreports about Google – the owners are careful with what they publish…”

What do you think?

The personal development industry is a multi-billion dollar titan.  The business of feeling good and setting goals has never been better.  Books such as Rich Dad Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki), The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People (Stephen Covey), Chicken Soup for the Soul (Mark Victor Hansen), and Unlimited Power (Tony Robbins) have fueled the industry to grow on a yearly basis.

No matter the title the majority of self-help personal development material centers on the following principles:

• Positivity
• Goal Setting
• Self-Affirmations
• Confidence
• Happiness

It would seem that any functioning adult could handle these aspects of life without paying another adult for advice.  Some people swear by this material and say that it turned there lives around.

What do you think? Does the personal development industry have a positive impact on the world or is it positively stupid?

Situation Monday

Opportunities to be a hero rarely present themselves.  When they do most people fold.  Imagine the following scenario.

You are coming out of a club with your friends after a great night.  As you come out you notice a man and a lady wrestling.  The struggle lasts for 30 seconds.  After 30 seconds you see the man punch the woman in the face and toss her into the bushes.  As she crumbles to the floor the man grabs her push and begins running in your direction.  The woman cries out in agony and her screams ring through the night.

With a devilish grin on his face the man sprints toward you and your friends.

Would you avenge the woman or let the crook run free?

Wikipedia offers the following insight on the topic of socialism:

Socialism is an economic and political theory based on public ownership or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources.^[1][2][3]

In a socialist economic system, production is carried out by a public association of producers to maximize use-values (instead of exchange-values), through economic planning of investment decisions, distribution of surplus, and the use of the means of production. Socialism is a set of social and economic arrangements based on a post-monetary system of calculation, such as labor time or energy units.^[4]

Socialists advocate a method of compensation based on individual merit or the amount of labor one contributes to society.^[5] They generally share the view that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and derives its wealth through a system of exploitation. They argue that this creates an unequal society that fails to provide equal opportunities for everyone to maximise their potential,^[6] and does not utilise technology and resources to their maximum potential in the interests of the public.^[7] Reformistand revolutionary socialists disagree on how a socialist economy should be established.

Doesn’t sound like such a raw deal to me.  What do you thnk?

This is what wikipedia says about today’s topic.

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found. Such a union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a wedding.

People marry for many reasons, most often including one or more of the following: legal, social, emotional, economical, spiritual, and religious. These might include arranged marriages, family obligations, the legal establishment of a nuclear family unit, the legal protection of children and public declaration of love.^[1][2]

Notice the words legal and religious pop up in the second paragraph.  Marriage has been defined has holy matrimony but everyone who gets married doesn’t subscribe to a religion.  The legal ramifications of marriage are much more concrete from a finance and property perspective.

So here is the question of the day.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Situations Monday

First off, Happy Memorial Day to all!

Memorial Day is a time to commemorate those who died while supporting the U.S. through military.  This leads somewhat into our post for today.

You’re getting ready to take that much needed summer vacation.  The friendly skies will be taking you to beautiful Miami.  You go through the normal airport processes.  Security where they take your lotion, toothpaste, and cologne (if it’s the good stuff) so they can throw it away.  Go in a few airport shops that charge $99 for Apple earphones since you left yours at home.

Finally, boarding time.  Zone 3 is called and you get in the steamy hot line that is held up because some lady is trying to fit a non-carry on bag in the overhead.  20 minutes later, you’re on board and in your seat.  Others are still strolling onto the plane.  As everyone hustles to get in their assigned seats, you notice some guy is constantly shifting and reaching in his coat.  Hmmmm, trip to Miami – coat????  Then wow, you see that this guy has a gun!!!!!  WTH!  But just as you notice the gun, he notices you taking notice of the gun.

He motions his index finger to his lips as to tell you to keep quiet.  Now what?!  Do you sit there because there’s no way this guy made it aboard with a gun.  After all – they took your lotion.  Do you tell someone because WTH! – he’s gotta gun!  Do you just put your earphones in, turn on the Black Eyed Peas, “Today’s gonna be a good day” and go to sleep?

You tell us….(Comments gladly accepted)

It has been said that you don’t need to be a very smart person.  Mark Lunsford Pryor, a United States Senator from Arkansas has corroborated this statement on film.

Traditionally, a person’s ability to persuade and influence people has been the most important factor in gaining public office.  This has led to a litany of poor legislators and backlash from the public.  Some (including yours truly) think that there should be an IQ requirement for public officials.

What do you think?