The USD has been the world’s reserve currency for over 50 years. The Greenback is the most commonly used currency in all kinds of business deals, legal and otherwise. Foreign governments hold millions of USD due to its ease of use and nearly universal acceptance.

That being said in times of financial uncertainty, or outright currency collapse most investors go to what is safe, and what they know. So the USD would get even stronger due to increased demand.

If/When the Greeks abandon or are forced out of the Euro demand for the USD will skyrocket, I think we are already seeing the beginning of this trend. How would one profit from this? Well you could buy FX options on the USD, but there is no way I am willing to accept that kind of risk. The other is of course holding your assets in cash, and hold them in USD. Luckily as a citizen of the United States I get paid in dollars and have one or two stocked away I the bank.

Dolla Dolla bills ya'll

The 80/20 rule also known as a Pareto analysis basically says that by doing 20% of the tasks will get you 80% of the results.  This an be applied to almost anything:

20% of the people hold 80% of the wealth

20% of your customers provide 80% of your sales

And for this blog post 80% of your costs come from 20% of your expenses.

Approximately 50% of my costs are housing related. Between mortgage, taxes, home improvement and insurance it gets pretty pricey. You can see my 80/20 analysis of expenses below.

I choose to try to reduce my mortgage and my property taxes. By taking advantage of record low mortgage rates I was able to lock in a rate in the low 4’s, and contesting my local property taxes I was able to cut my monthly housing payment by a significant amount. These relatively easy steps are going to make a real difference to my bottom line.

All without giving up Starbucks.

Welcome to one of the biggest pork-spending boondoggle also known as the “3 C Corridor”  it will connect Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland.

This all sounds like a good idea in theory, except that every single person who does not live on the island of Manhattan actually owns a car and has no use for a train. Last time I check we just spent 10 billion on American car companies to keep them producing cars, maybe we should buy some of them? Amtrak estimates that it will take $17 million a year annually to subsidize a train that no one is going to ride.

Furthermore this plan is not going to be free. Even though it is also federal dollars they still have to come from somewhere. The cost is going to be around $400 Million dollars. Yes dollars, not yen, or rubles good ole American Greenbacks, all 400 million of them.

The third reason this is a terrible idea is that the trains are going to go 79 MPH*. Yes that sounds quite fast, maybe a little faster then you would drive in your car. This is the best reason I have heard so far for building a train, oh there is one little note. Factoring in all the stopping this train will be doing it will average about 39 MPH. So yes this train will have the same average speed as a Vespa! So a drive to Cincinnati from Columbus takes 1.5 hours, yet you can jump on a train for $20 and get relatively close to where you want to be in 3 hours.

So needless to say the idoits who run my state got their barrels of pork. For the price of $400 million we will get a train that:

1. Won’t get ridden

2. Wastes $400 Million

3. Goes about as fast as a senior citizen in the slow lane.

Moral of the story: I think buying 2 Million Ohioans IPhones would have more utility and a greater economic benefit then this train.

            For years buyers and sellers have relied heavily on realtors to move real estate.  No one tried the infamous FSBO it was usually viewed as the Hail Mary pass of selling a property. Realtors provided advice, guidance, and were just a good sounding board for nervous and inexperienced buyers.  In return for all this legwork, handholding, and research realtors took a hefty sum of 6% of the purchase price. Often this was split with the Sellers realtor as well.

            My personal favorite thing about real estate agents is the silly photo that every single one of them has. They are so similar they all must use the same photographer. I don’t know how they all look alike! The picture looks like the cross between their senior picture and a glamour shot.

            Well then this small little invention came along: The Internet.  I don’t know if you have heard of it, it involves signing onto this thing called AOL, and then getting  a busy signal about 43 times then on the 44^th time you can go to chat rooms, and send funny emails.  

            So I am buying my house without a realtor. I found it on my own, I researched it on my own, and I made the offer on my own. I will be closing soon.

            One of two things is going to happen: 1 I will buy this house without a realtor, save a bucket of money, and consider myself a genesis, OR Screw up the closing royally and consider myself a huge dumbass.

Time will tell.