Have you ever taken a $100 dollar bill, ripped it in half and tried to purchase something with it at the supermarket?
It turns out, the store is not obligated to accept it.
Why not? Because you’ve just made the money “unfit” for use.
See, you can’t take a $100 bill, rip it in half (or even smaller pieces) and expect it to be accepted as money with the same value, or even for each piece to still be worth $100 dollars individually!
But in some ways… this is exactly what the Federal Reserve bank has done.
The only difference is that they are clever enough to rip just a tiny little 2% edge off of the dollar bill each year, so you and the merchant hopefully won’t notice, and you’ll still continue to use this toilet paper as legal tender.
Fun fact: In 2023, after the global pandemic, the inflation rate shot up to an average of 8%, but some individual products (housing, transportation, food) went as high as 25%. Those were some really big rips off the dollar bill in your pocket, that’s why you felt it. That’s why everything costs more now.
Disclaimer: This article was written for educational and entertainment purposes only. This is NOT financial advice. Always do your own research and please consult with a licensed attorney before making any serious investment. We are not responsible for any investment decisions that you choose to make.
In life, people only have two choices: either they can move forward, or start over.
Starting over could be something like accepting a new job, moving to a new area, or adjusting to life without persons who you used to spend it with. All of these could be challenging at first, but that doesn’t mean they are necessarily a bad thing.
Moving forward, for example could be getting promotions and pay raises at your job. Same can be said for asking a person of interest out on a date, or to dance. It’s basically moving from one page, (in that book called life) to the next.
However, both of those choices result in what people fear the most — the unknown — so sometimes people try to pick a third option, which is to stand still and simply do nothing.
The feeling of comfort and security that some people have from staying in one place and acting like there is no need to shift in any new direction (for fear of dealing with the unknown) is too great for them to even try something new. But regardless of what you do, there is always the possibility of rejection or failure.
But which choice – is the best choice?
The answer is that you should always move forward. Why is that? Because even if you choose to stand still, the world around you will continue to spin. Your parents will die, your kids will grow up, you yourself will get older, your car will depreciate, the cost of living will rise, need I go on?
So by all means, you should always move forward.
Everyone’s life is in motion
Even from an early age, we’re all taught that life is about moving forward. Kids enter pre-school, and then elementary school, middle school, high school, college and so on. Young adults want to get married, have kids, buy a home and so on.
And what happens when people are held back, when circumstances prevent them from moving forward? They become unhappy and feel dejected. And these feelings are perfectly normal.
Sometimes though, you have to start over in order to move forward. For example, if you would like to have a bigger salary, sometimes that requires you get up and change jobs, even if the job you have now is comfortable but they see no need to give you a bigger pay raise.
Or perhaps you no longer enjoy the city/town/area where you live. You want more excitement, a new circle of friends, and better opportunities for your family or for yourself. In order to move forward, you know that you have to start over.
In such situations, it becomes a matter of pushing aside fears of the unknown. It’s easy to mask your fears with a number of excuses. Yes, moving from one place to another will demand sacrifices and money but such a move may help you to move forward in ways that your current location cannot allow. People who are immigrants from foreign lands know this in ways that most citizens of the new country never can.
Buy an Umbrella
On the other hand, sometimes situations in life will force you to start over. Your house may burn down, you may unexpectedly lose your job, or you may have a sudden tragic loss of a loved one. But even after any one of these difficult circumstances, you move forward.
In regards to finances, this is one scenario where you absolutely DO want to move forward. It’s wise to plan ahead of time—to have things like sufficient life insurance for your family members, an emergency fund, and keeping your credit score up. All of these things can minimize the pain associated with a sudden tragic loss, if one were to happen.
It’s better to own an umbrella when the sun is still shining, because you may not be able to find one when the storm comes.
Try to have these things in place BEFORE life forces you to start over. Because starting over without enough insurance/savings or wealth makes a struggle harder than it needed to be. And there is no excuse, because right now you still have time to prepare for these things.
Don’t broadcast it!
Regardless of which choice you make; whether it’s to move forward or start over, be very cautious about who you tell this to. Other people may not like your choice, because more often than not it won’t involve them.
Some may even make excuses or try to discourage you from doing what you know to be the best choice for you. But you’ll soon recognize that those same people who told you to stand still, will move forward themselves. So its best to not be so quick to broadcast your decision.
At the end of the day you will either know, or soon learn who can be trusted with such information. And even if they can be trusted, ask yourself: Do they really NEED to know? Because if your plan to move forward or start over doesn’t involve them, it might become their mission to stop you or convince you to remain motionless.
On the flip side, sometimes we ourselves can also keep ourselves motionless.
Is it wise to allow one challenging time period, one job, one relationship, or one event to dominate the rest of your life?
weidelonwinning.com
Holding on the past can hold you back from moving forward. Never freeze yourself in time. Let go of “how it was supposed to go”, because this kind of thinking will prevent you from reaching goals and dreams that you may want for your future. You can’t move forward if you keep yourself stuck in the past. So stop analyzing and asking yourself what went wrong, just let it go and move forward. This is how you will reach living your best life here and now.
So when life takes you in a new direction and you’re wondering which way you should go – up, down, right or left – the correct answer, is always forward.[a]
Disclaimer: the information provided on this web site is for educational purposes only, and does not substitute for professional medical advice. The author of this blog is not a licensed dietitian or medical professional. Please consult with a licensed medical professional or healthcare provider if you are seeking medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. We are not responsible for any decisions that you choose to make.
Footnotes
[a] You can greatly benefit by moving forward when life takes you in a new direction but I don’t want you to take that out of context. Some situations don’t apply….. For example: If you are wondering if you should drive while being intoxicated, or have unsafe sex, or do something otherwise illegal- the answer is NOT to move forward. This blog post is not recommending for you to just blindly follow this advice to your detriment, or make a rash decision with the reasoning: “I should always move forward! “, because that would be foolish. This article is not encouraging you to make bad choices. Nor is it giving you an excuse to indulge in illegal or addictive behaviors. We only encourage positive and healthy behaviors.
The early American presidents had a very different view of money than most people today. We can still see their faces printed on the front of our bills, but their distant words of wisdom go mostly unheard.
They understood that having centralized control of an entire nations money supply is something that would not be in the best interest of the majority of people.
Thomas Jefferson once said,
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered…. I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies…. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
And he was right. That reality is already here.
40 million Americans are living on food stamps
Millions more are homeless living in tents
And 80% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck (in other words, broke).
Thomas Jefferson also said,
The modern theory of the perpetuation of debt has drenched the earth with blood and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating.
And how true these words are. The Federal Reserve bank does nothing more than continuously debase the currency by printing more and more dollars, and raising the debt ceiling to greater highs. Those who are the most impacted by this are the poor. Without fair and equal access to financial literacy, the only thing that most people will do is consume liabilities, and continue to get crushed under the ever increasing burden of debt.
Since private central banks control the creation of money, and smaller banks distribute loans and credit, bankers own two-thirds of the entire worlds money supply. The divide between those who are rich and poor is as wide as the grand canyon.
In total, the United States is now over $30 trillion dollars in debt, inflation keeps rising, and its getting worse every day. But who can pay this debt back? The truth is, this is a debt that can never be repaid. It’s beyond that now, it’s growing at an exponential rate. But the tax laws still obligates every single working individual to pay federal taxes regardless.
Abraham Lincoln once said,
The government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credit needed to satisfy the spending power of the government and the buying power of consumers. The privilege of creating and issuing money is not only the supreme prerogative of government, but it is the government’s greatest creative opportunity. The financing of all public enterprise, and the conduct of the treasury will become matters of practical administration. Money will cease to be master and will then become servant of humanity.
He believed that only the government (and not any central bank) should have control over the distribution of wealth.
I think many would argue against this view, but the core of his argument is the same; he knew that private centralized banking would lead to huge divides between the rich and the poor and humanity would ultimately suffer as a result.
During his presidency, Abe Lincoln also attempted to solve this problem by issuing greenbacks, a (now defunct) paper currency that was created by the United States government and not any bank. But his idea never became a reality because he took a bullet in the back for trying to give African-Americans equal rights.
Today, the money-creation process is solely the privilege of the Federal Reserve System. Most people don’t realize that they are not a government agency — they are a private organization that was created in secrecy, and history shows that they covertly stole the money-creating power from the American people.
The recent move towards decentralized digital currencies like Bitcoin, is however, a very small push back, it’s a stepping stone towards giving this power back to the people by creating value in virtual currencies that operate in a peer-to-peer fashion without the need for any kind of middlemen. But who’s to say if this will even happen. It most likely seems that the ruling authorities will destroy it before they allow money to ever become privately owned by citizens. But what do you think?
Do you agree with the dead presidents? What do you think about the Federal Reserve bank? And do you think a new kind of peoples money, (like Bitcoin) would help? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Disclaimer: This article was written for educational and entertainment purposes only. This is NOT financial advice. Always do your own research and please consult with a licensed attorney before making any serious investment. We are not responsible for any investment decisions that you choose to make.
Robotics and AI are creating a paradigm shift in how companies conduct business today. Why hire additional human labor when a robot can do the job with fewer errors and work 24/7 without the need for breaks or time off? It may sound like fiction, but that reality is already happening.
Blendid is a new startup using automation robotics and AI to transform the way food is prepared and served to meet the health and taste preferences for consumers.
Blendid offers autonomous, food robotics kiosks that use advanced technology – including robotics, machine vision, and artificial intelligence – to prepare and serve healthy, fresh, and delicious smoothies, known as Blends. Fruit blends are customized and made-to-order based on an individual’s preferences, using only fresh fruit and vegetables.
