Why America Will Fail

Having lived in the United States for 16 years now, and having been a great fan of this country for most of my life, it is with some sadness that I write these comments. But the fact of the matter is that the US in many aspects of life and structure is falling behind the rest of the world. It is not only plainly visible to most of us who live here, it has been falling on many of the global lists that track the performance of countries in a number of different areas. Whether it is poverty, education, healthcare or crime, the United States has been slipping down these global lists for several years now.

Of course, the main question is why is this happening? I will analyze a few reasons in this blog but there is one overall, overriding theme that appears everywhere – denial. In order to correct a problem it is important that we recognize the problem even exists. I can take healthcare as an example. I don’t know how many times I have watched politicians state categorically that the United States “has the best healthcare system in the world”.

I often get into heated debates when I even dare to criticize the US healthcare system with many of my American friends. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) ranks the United States as 37^th on their last global list of healthcare systems worldwide and yet we outspend all other countries as a percentage of GDP by a wide margin. On top of that, there are more than 50 million Americans who don’t have economic access to “the best healthcare system in the world”.

Now if the same people would say that the US has the best “illnesscare” system in the world they could be right. France has consistently been number one on the said WHO study but their focus is on prevention, not cure. This is where the corporate world rears its ugly head here in the US. Through their lobbying and campaign financing efforts they make sure that the FDA keeps control. What people don’t realize is the FDA has no interest in curing anyone. It would put themselves out of business. I happen to know there are many cures in the natural healthcare field for many of the major diseases but the FDA would never approve them. Pharmaceutical companies would go broke!

This brings me to one of the main causes of America failing. Capitalism. I am not talking about the capitalism America was founded upon; I am talking about capitalism 2011. I was just reading a blog on the USA Today website about the demise of America and one blogger was praising American capitalism saying that the world still buys American products and quotes Apple as an example. What he failed to point out was that none of the Apple products are made in the US. In fact Apple provides employment for far more people overseas than it does at home. Why is this?

Well, Apple is a corporation that has to make a profit, not provide social justice. So if it can make an extra buck by moving production to China, it will, irregardless of the pain and suffering it causes here at home. That leads to thousands of unemployed workers, the demise of a community and the destruction of complete families. But that is not Apple’s problem. To make it even worse, Apple makes sure that the profits it makes through the same overseas operation, stays overseas and is not even exposed to US taxes. In fact, Apple is providing social justice and work to a bunch of people in China at the expense of the people it expects to buy its products here at home. I have often wondered why America doesn’t wake up to this development and boycott any such products that are supporting a communist regime and destroying its own society.

So how did we get here? It is capitalism taking its natural course. Shareholders pushing for higher profits and more control has led to massive consolidation in most industries, the suppression of workers’ income and massive layoffs if it is cheaper to produce products somewhere else. This has caused the collapse of the old mom-and-pop businesses, the original capitalism, the formation of quasi-monopolies and the concentration of power in corporate boardrooms that has led to rampant dishonesty and, according to many, totally illegal behavior.

“The quick buck” has replaced social responsibility. This culminated in the 2008 collapse of the finance community. Corporations chasing huge profits at the expense of citizens. To make things worse, the finance community got away with it and were even rewarded by the government bailing them out with billions of our (taxpayers) dollars. There have been many reports that some of the mortgage transactions of the last decade were bordering on the illegal and yet there has not been one case of prosecution since the collapse of the finance community.

This leads us to the root cause of our demise – the control corporations have over our politicians. The paradox is corporations cannot vote. Politicians are voted into Washington by the people and then they proceed to nurture the interests of the business community. In fact, in most cases their entire election campaign is funded by capitalism and to add insult to injury, these campaign contributions are tax deductible! This has to change. If the people don’t claim back their politicians from the influence of capitalism, they will be run over by the Porsches and Ferraris of the top 1% of the population who does not have their interests at heart.

We keep hearing now that the solution to our economic woes is for government to get out of the way and let Corporate America take over. If that happens, the wealth gap between the richest 1% and the other 99% will increase at an ever-faster rate and the little social justice that we still have will fade away. I have never seen a line item called “social justice” on any corporate profit and loss statement. In fact, the US is one of the very few countries where education and healthcare are huge businesses with huge lobbies.

Education should be an investment in a nation’s future not a P&L statement for private industry. When China rolls out its engineers from college they start with zero debt. Here in the US students enter the business world at least $25,000 behind the start line. How long do you think it is going to take before China becomes the knowledge powerhouse in the world with its scientists focusing on the job at hand and not on paying off a huge debt? It seems obvious to most of the people I talk to and yet politicians here are hell bent in cutting funding for education and college tuition fees have skyrocketed through the roof. What makes things worse is there is no end in sight and it will probably get even worse.

So what is the solution? Here is a list of ideas that could be implemented immediately if only the politicians had the guts to do it:

1. Ban all corporate “contributions” to all political parties/candidates
2. Introduce term limits to all people in office. Max term should be 8 years
3. Outlaw the profession of lobbyist in politics
4. Reintroduce the people’s right to form unions on their own terms
5. Publicly fund all forms of education
6. Tax all corporations on their world income, regardless where it is earned
7. Repudiate the “super majority” rule in the Senate
8. Make the forming of new political parties easier and less expensive
9. Make Medicare available for everyone
10. Force plaintiffs to pay opposing party costs should they lose the case
11. Close down the IRS and introduce a simple, very progressive new flat tax
12. Eliminate all tax loopholes
13. Increase capital gains taxes to a flat rate of 25%
14. Prosecute Wall Street executives for illegal practices during the past decade
15. Change electoral process to include new elections only every four years
16. Outlaw private gun ownership
17. Provide all illegal immigrants a work permit for a monthly fee
18. Enforce laws already on the books against corporation who hire illegal’s
19. Cancel all of Congress’s fringe benefits and force politicians to use Medicare
20. Force all politicians to just get standard social security

This is just a start. These steps could be introduced swiftly with an up-or-down vote in both Houses of Congress. No long debates. Some of these measures could be put on the ballot at the next national election (2012) with a simple pass majority. They would help the citizens of America win back control of their own future and remove it from the grips of Corporate America and capitalism. It would force politicians to represent the people that voted them into office and not big business.

Common-Sense Economics

The discussion rages on in Washington DC about how to get the economy back on track. The position of the Democrats and the GOP could not be more polarized. The Democrats claim the only way to kick-start the economy is to infuse government money (actually our money) into the economy to create jobs, especially in public services such as the police force, teachers and firemen and by improving the country’s infrastructure. The GOP thinks the only way is to cut taxes, especially for the wealthy and corporations, arguing they are the ones that are able to create jobs. Leave it up to private enterprise.

Looking at the GOP proposals, I would like to ask a question. Let’s say you have a corporation, selling products or services, what would motivate you to hire more people? If your profits were to improve from $100,000 to $110,000 because of a tax break, are you likely to go out and use that extra money to hire more people? Or are you likely to stash that money away into your reserve fund for a rainy day? Or are you more likely to hire more people if you had more customers asking for your products/services? I have run many corporations in my time and I do not recall ever being motivated to increase hiring just because my profits increased. In fact it was a very common practice to fire employees to increase the bottom line.

If this doesn’t raise a question in your mind, what about real life proof to see if this GOP strategy is viable? If we take the George W. Bush presidency, this was his main strategy. He enacted some of the biggest tax cuts in US history. During his administration the country experienced to lowest economic growth since the Great Depression. Incomes of working Americans stagnated and never grew but corporate CEOs’ salaries quadrupled and non-financial corporate profits soared to the point where today they are sitting on the biggest hoard of cash ever – $2.0 trillion. So why are they not employing more people (the GOP strategy) and the unemployment rate stays stubbornly above 9%?

The only reason companies hire more people is if more customers turn up at the door and want to buy more products. For that to happen they have to have work. Even those that are gainfully employed are more cautious when they keep reading the doom and gloom of more than 9% unemployment. Looking now at the Democrats strategy, which includes spending our tax money to hire people to get certain things done. Building or repairing bridges and roads, keeping teachers and policemen employed, would seem to make more sense. Getting people off the unemployment lines and out to work where they earn and spend more money would in itself create more demand for products, which is what encourages corporations and small businesses to expand.

History is also on the side of this strategy. Many of the biggest expansions in history have come after periods of strife and war. This is when the government spends money on weapons and infrastructure. In the case of the Second World War, increased taxes that paid for the war funded one of the biggest economic expansions ever experienced in US history. So to say that decreasing taxes stimulates the economy has no factual or historical basis. Decreasing taxes results in government trying to cut back on expenses, further causing increased unemployment and a reduced tax base. It starts to become a vicious circle.

So if common sense cannot prevail in the GOP camp why are they so adamantly against the Obama plan that aims at stimulating the economy? It can only be political. They know and fear that such plans do work and will create jobs but they are terrified any good news on the unemployment front will kill their chances of winning the election next year. Arguing that taxing the rich will kill economic recovery doesn’t even sound right. Is it about time that the wealthy give back some of their enormous wealth to the very people who made them rich – the US consumer?

Precipice Politics

So, I am sitting down with my wife to discuss a major life event – my employer just cut my overtime and has even threatened to start all employees on a four-day workweek. I guess it is just a sign of the times as the economy isn’t recovering and my company has just decided to be on the defensive and prepare for the worst. The problem is this has now put my family in jeopardy. We are living on the edge as it is. Lots of credit card debt, a full mortgage payment and demands from the kids as they are just entering high school.

The question is: What shall we do to keep our heads above water? Well, the obvious plan starts with trying to reduce our costs, wherever we can. Can we refinance the mortgage to a lower rate? Do we need all of those cable channels? Do we really need two cars? Should we cancel our planned vacation? Cut, cut, and cut!

Having made the long list of painful decisions my wife asks the obvious question: Is there any way we can replace the income you lost? How about getting another job that pays more? Perhaps we can both get part-time jobs? We discovered that just cutting our expenses never really closed the budget gap we had and that more income, in addition to the cost cutting, was needed to get us to zero.

This is the sort of discussion that has been taking place across America during our current recession. This is what families have to do. So an important question seems to be: Why is it that our government is not able to do the same? In a situation where the country is on the brink of collapse, why are politicians taking political positions? Why are they not putting every option on the table to solve this real problem? The answer is probably “politics as usual” but this time it is not enough!

The reason we are in this predicament as a country is that we cut the government’s income and drastically increased spending.  The Bush tax cuts have to date reduced government income by about $2.8 trillion and entering two unfunded wars (Afghanistan and Iraq) increased government spending by $1.26 trillion. In my simple mathematics, that equals around $4 trillion in the hole and still excludes the interest cost of financing these deficits. Then, as the economy tanked at the end of Bush’s term, the income side of the ledger dropped even more and to try and stop the rapid decline the Obama Administration decided to pump money back into the economy to stimulate it again, creating an ever bigger gap.

Now I am not an educated economist but I have run some of the biggest corporations in the telecommunications industry and have been faced with similar budget problems. In the corporate world, if your budget problems are caused by a fall in revenue then that is the first thing you try and fix. Not ignore it. Should we spend more on advertising so we can sell more product? Are our products price sensitive? Could we increase the prices to compensate for the income loss? Should we replace old and outdated products with those more desirable? Income, income and income!

If the income problems are not reparable then you are forced to cut expenses. In most corporations, expenses are carefully monitored and cost cutting options might be few and there are many expenses that are difficult to dispose of. You have to have accounting and legal advice, a building to house employees and basic administrative personnel. There is a certain point where cutting expenses can start to impact the very existence of the corporation and more drastic options may have to be pursued.

These examples are no different than the case before us of the US government coming to terms with its deficit problems. The only difference is that with the government, as always, the political games are being played. Getting rid of the causes of the initial problem would seem to be a first step. Reverse the Bush tax cuts to where they were before Bush took office and the government was enjoying a $900 billion surplus and close down the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. What would be wrong with that? Go back to where we were before this became a problem. No deficits and a booming economy and very low unemployment.

That would seem easy right? Enter politics and a two-party system, which is totally polarized on many issues, and the problems begin. The Republican Party has a doctrine that wants to dismantle government wherever they can and hand over everything to private industry. The debt ceiling discussion has given them a tool to attack any form of government involvement and try and force a solution where the average Joe on the street is going have to sacrifice and they plan to enrich the wealthy even more. The people and corporations that fund their campaigns and the lobbyists who roam the corridors of power help “grease” the GOP machine to make decisions in their favor.

The main area for cutting that the GOP now focuses on is the “so-called” entitlements – Social Security and Medicare. For the first time in history the older portion of the population is facing major cutbacks to their very existence. Programs they have paid into for decades are suddenly not going to deliver on the things they were promised. The GOP is going to increase the retirement age to somewhere between 67 and 70, even though you cannot find a job past the age of 55. The monies we have paid into these two programs has been squandered by these politicians even though their own “entitlement” programs for retirement and healthcare are the best in the world. No pain there!

They have discovered they can take this country to the precipice called “the debt ceiling” which if ignored will destroy the United States into a status it will never recover from. They are willing to mix two totally different problems and hold everyone, the whole country, at ransom. The total US debt, which is money Congress has already spent, and the budget, which is a 10-year future problem. They are mixing the past and the future into one ultimatum and hoping they can blame the consequences on the Obama administration.

They are ignoring what any family or corporate management in the US would do – seek a balanced approach. Look at both the revenue and the cost side of this equation. Even the so-called wealthy have said they have no problem with going back to the tax rate levels they had under the booming Clinton years, the GOP is insisting that they be protected and then proceed to try and cut social security and Medicare, programs that any normal American needs to survive in retirement. The facts speak for themselves. Letting the Bush tax cuts expire completely would raise more than $4 trillion in revenue and would solve more than 75% of this country’s debt problem over the next 10 years.

Just this single fact shows us where the debt crisis originated from. But a selfish Republican political dogma is taking the upper hand and with precipice politics is taking one of the greatest countries in modern history to the brink of disaster. They are trying to blame Obama for this problem but they ignore the fact that the President doesn’t write one single check – they do. It is Congress that creates the budget, it is the Congress that allocates the funds and it is the Congress that spends the money, not Obama. Maybe the drop-dead date of August 2^nd is irrelevant as the rest of the world watches and plans to extract its money from our vaults long before and long after this date. I ask this question: Would you entrust your money to the US Congress?

Medicare – Healthcare For Everyone

The healthcare debate in this country is the epitome of why things are not working in America and why things are going downhill very quickly. It is the classic example of everyone taking positions, not discussing common ground and not coming to a conclusion that is both good for the country and its residents. Add to that the pure politics that intertwines every single opinion and debate and you finish up with a complete mess with facts and figures being thrown around that mean nothing to anyone except for the politicians who are trying to get (re) elected.

The healthcare problem is that we are trying to fix a system that is not working, is overly expensive with unsustainable rate increases, is extremely selective in who gets care, ignores preventive alternatives and is big business for both the drug companies, the surgeons and the lawyers. This means that any change, where these players have any influence at all, will keep all the negatives in the system that make them wealthy – which is the very reason we are seeking change in the first place.

Let’s deal with the politics first. The Republicans want to keep the status quo and even extend it so insurance companies also take over Medicare and Medicaid. The Democrats want to create a government-run alternative to keep the insurance companies in check with competition and make healthcare available for everyone, rich, poor and broke. So why not give the people a choice? Offer a public AND a private alternative. I thought that was what democracy was all about?

If the government, as most GOP politicians claim, is very inefficient and provides poor service, what are the insurance companies and their cronies afraid of? Every other western economy we compete against has a government-run healthcare plan as well as a private option. The way it is implemented is different from one place to another but in every case the consumer has a choice. Why not here?

Let me ask the question another way. The United States already has one of, if not the, biggest government-run healthcare system in the world. If we add all government employees, Medicare/Medicaid, and the VA system together, it amounts to more than 40 million people. Why not extend these benefits for everyone? When I listen to all those GOP politicians bashing any form of government-run program, my skin starts to creep. They are all on one of the best government-run programs in the world. This is the pinnacle of hypocrisy. They should all be required to relinquish their coverage and all go buy private insurance to experience what we experience.

One of the mistakes that Barack Obama made in this first term as President was not to present his own plan. He threw the ball to Congress and the Senate to come up with a solution. That’s when all the bickering started. In my view he should have created a Medicare alternative for everyone. Medicare Part E. The advantage would be that the structure of this already exists and the administrative overhead is less than 5%, much lower than private insurers.

The problem is that Medicare currently only takes care of the aging population, which is more prone to sickness, and it has to carry this burden. A larger number of younger, healthier Medicare patients who don’t get sick would contribute more favorably to the bottom line and reduce its deficit. Insurance companies love this as they are left insuring the healthier portion of the population and then try and eliminate or punish patients with problems. Let them take more risk and see what happens to their premiums.

It is also unfair that every employee is already paying a 1.45% Medicare tax anyway but cannot use the service until they retire. That amounts to approximately $25/month for someone earning $10/hour. Make it a true healthcare alternative and offer them immediate, full coverage for 5% or about $85/month. Include deductibles like every other country (doctor’s visits etc.). For someone earning $50,000/year it would provide Medicare coverage for just $200/month, a bargain compared to today’s private health insurance premiums. Based upon the median US income and 50% of the population choosing this Medicare Part E alternative, this would create an extra income well in excess of $150 billion/year or $1.5 trillion in the next decade and have a positive impact on the overall deficit picture.

This would solve the big Medicare deficit problem and at the same time put a lot more money into the take-home pay of consumers with the lower premiums. This would feel like a tax break, which they could spend and boost the economy (which in turn would increase tax revenues). There should be no exclusions for pre-existing conditions as many of those people today are forced to use Access, which the taxpayer pays for anyway and the costs of which are already included in the Medicare deficits. The other upside would be that private insurers would also have to become more competitive and price conscious. This in turn would reduce private health insurance premiums, again benefiting the consumer and the economy. Such a Medicare Part E plan would also reduce substantially the money spent on bankruptcies as a result of unpaid healthcare bills and take money away from attorneys and put it back into the economy.

Of course, one of the reasons such a proposal will never emerge is that it is probably too simple. The fact that most other countries have such a solution is probably a good reason why it will never be adopted here. Everything in America is better than the rest of the world. We take better care of our medical needs than any other country. Even John Boehner claims that the US has “the best healthcare system in the world”.  I am not sure whether he lives on this planet but every report that has been written about global healthcare puts the US near the bottom of the list in almost every category.

The World Health Organization (WHO) puts America at 72^nd in the world in overall rankings of healthcare delivery. We are behind countries like Columbia, Egypt and Jamaica and yet when it comes to the total cost of healthcare services we are 2^nd on the WHO list. This is not something to be proud of but something to be ashamed of. When the leader of the House says, “we have the best healthcare system in the world” in public perhaps we should question his judgment on a whole bunch of other issues and certainly not believe that he has the answer to our healthcare problems here in the United States.

The One24 Testimonials

After less than 12 months in business, One24 has had a remarkable impact on so many lives. Personally, I can say that the NatraBurst product has held up to its enormous potential. I am using the product as a replacement of other supplements I was taking so that it now costs me nothing more every month than I was paying before and yet I am now part of an incredible income opportunity.

The major difference I have noticed personally after taking the product for 4 months is my energy level has increased dramatically and my digestive system has become normal again after more than 40 years. I use the product as a meal replacement, taking it at lunchtime and have shed more than 10 lbs. in 4 weeks since I started. But there are many such testimonials, so here is a short collection of the many from around the country:

“One24 is one of the best opportunities that has crossed our path. We see the truthfulness, honesty and promising rewards of this concept and others are seeing the benefit of this also. The product (NatraBurst) on top of all things, actually works. My family sees and feels the difference NatraBurst brings. We have more energy and just feel better all around. The future is bright!”

- Jerry and Heather, Tampa, FL 

“I absolutely love NatraBurst, it has taken away discomfort in my knee and allows me to have a great night of sleep. One24 is such a great company, having the foresight to help people earn an income right at the starting gate. My checks are growing each and every month. One24 has given me the belief in a company that I can and will reach my financial goals in 24 months or less”

- Pat H., Oakland, ME

“Our 5th month’s check with One24 is already bigger than the check we got from our last company after 7-1/2 years of being with them.  Our checks have jumped approximately 40% each month. Thank you One24!”

- Michelle K., Ocean Township, NJ 

 “Being in a wheelchair and living in the city of Pittsburgh, where my house has many steps, it’s difficult for me to keep a “regular day job”. As a result I’ve searched for legitimate on-line work for a long time. I’ve been involved with a number of home-based businesses over the past decade and I can honestly say that One24 is the only one that has lived up to their program.”

- Attila D., Pittsburgh, PA

“I’ve had digestive difficulties for nearly all of my 48 years. I have been consuming NatraBurst since August, faithfully. From the second month on, my system is functioning 90% better, this is truly a viable and powerful food that helps my body find the right balance. To suddenly have a change like this after decades of bouts of discomfort is awesome. A huge thank you and congratulations to the creators who doubtlessly spent a great deal of time and effort to develop this top-notch yet very reasonable product. Bless you all at On24!”

- Matt P., Eureka, CA

“I spent 20 years as a meat cutter and now receive $450 a month retirement, and that’s for 20 years of service. My One24 income after just 4 months is over 10 times the amount.”

- Ray B., Seattle, WA

“With NatraBurst, I’m no longer tired in the middle of the day. My energy level ROCKS!!  Thanks to NatraBurst!” 

Jeanette H., Matteson, IL

“I’ve been in the industry for 16 years. I did not make money for the first 15 years! I have been 5 paychecks (5 months) in One24 and I am retiring from my career. At this point, my income is growing exponentially every month and I could not stop it if I wanted to!  Finally, a monthly income I can count on for myself and family’s security. One24 has allowed me to dream again and have the financial freedom I always knew I could have!” 

- Windell O., Newport, VA

“When I first looked at One24 I was very skeptical.  However, after learning that Mark Seyforth was the co-founder along with his long time business associate Joe Perry, I took a closer look. I’m an industry veteran and these guys have been around for at least 30 years. The ingenuity that went into the core product and the Financial Plan was not only compelling and exciting, but I firmly believe everyone who is involved will succeed with the way this is designed.” 

- Randy B., Danville, CA

“This past July a good friend suggested I look at One24. I was not looking to get into “one of those things” again. I did take a look and I am blown away at what I found! This is so very new and different. I had to give it a go! The growth of the company is amazing not mention the checks I’m getting have been growing at over 40% to 45% per month!”          

 - Gio P., Pittsburgh, PA

“After 15 years in the home based business industry and being some what successful we are finally making money. Thanks One24.”

- Terry K., Ocean Township, NJ

“I joined 124 Online last June and I am absolutely in shock with the success I am having!  The compensation plan is simply the best I have ever seen and even the non-network marketer will be able to succeed.  The NatraBurst product is amazing.  My energy levels are the best they have ever been and I sleep much better at night since I started taking the product!”

            – L. Bazil, Las Vegas, NV

“I joined One 24 in December 2010 and received my first shipment of NatraBurst on December 15th at which time I could hardly walk on my feet they were so eaten up with pain. I could not go barefooted around the house and I couldn’t stand very long.  I had to use the little handicapped cars to move around Wal-Mart, Lowes, and grocery stores. Since taking NatraBurst about 2 weeks ago I noticed my feet had no pain whatsoever. I can now stand for long periods of time, and walk all around Wal-Mart with no pain at all. I’m going out to buy me a pair of dress shoes as I can hardly wait to stop wearing tennis shoes to church.  This product is awesome!”

            – C. Shaw

 

Drink Your Way To Retirement With One24

In these difficult times almost everyone would jump at the opportunity to earn some extra income, whether we have a job or not. It is amazing to know that with just an extra $500/month more than half the foreclosures in the USA could have been avoided. This means that many of us just live right on the edge. As a financial planner for many years I have advised numerous clients to start some form of home-based business so they could earn some extra money to pay off expensive credit cards and get back on their feet.

This begs the question: What home-based business could I start? Well, most of us neither have the money or the know-how to start a business. So what should we do? Having spent almost two decades researching this, the conclusion I have come to is find a product or service you would use yourself that is being sold by the network marketing (MLM) industry. A lot of you would say, “I have already tried that and it didn’t work”. That may be true but the reason it didn’t work is maybe you joined for the wrong reasons, it was the wrong company and/or they had the wrong products for you.

Network marketing is by far the cheapest way to start your own business. In the case of One24, which I will outline in a minute, the start up costs are close to zero. They have their product line, their marketing materials, the marketing plan, a website for you and people who will help you get started. It is almost like having a franchise without the franchise fee. The difficulty is deciding which company is best for you. The main reason why things didn’t work out in the past is because you didn’t spend enough time doing this research.

Well, after almost 20 years researching this problem, I have certain features that I look for in any company. Beware of those companies that show you riches such as fast cars, beautiful homes and heaps of cash. They are selling the dream not the company. I look for companies that have well-known and experienced management, great products people need, a compensation plan that pays for referring others to buy the product (not mass recruiting) and a compensation plan that is easy to understand.

Recently, I have come across a company that matches all my criteria and which I think will revolutionize the network marketing (MLM) industry. This company is One24. First of all it has a very simple product, NatraBurst, which provides us with the important daily nutrients that all doctors say we need. NatraBurst is not a supplement; it is a food nutrient addition to our diet. It comes in a powder form that we can incorporate with other foods we consume or it can be mixed in the form of a shake.

The advantage of this is that, if we so desire, we can use it to replace one of our daily meals. It can also be used to replace supplements we are already taking. This allows us to cover the cost of the product every month so that consuming it costs us nothing extra. I have personally used it as a weight loss product and use it to replace either my lunch or dinner every day. So I am losing weight but at the same time know I am feeding myself with the nutrients that come from fruits and vegetables. This has allowed me to stop taking one of my old supplements.

I will be posting another blog covering NatraBurst in more detail or you can click on the provided web links for more information. The product has been formulated by one of the industry’s foremost experts in this field – Mark Seyforth. He was responsible for the product formulations for Herbalife, which is a world renowned, global MLM company with billions in sales.

Perhaps the most fascinating part of One24 is their marketing and compensation plan. There are no start up costs. All you have to do is use the product every month. There are no other hidden monthly costs at One24,  like fees for websites or other marketing tools. Your website if free and with it comes loads of webinars and conference calls people can be invited to. In fact the only other cost I incurred was business cards for about $40 for 500 at Vistaprint. That’s it! Now to the compensation plan.

To make this easier for you I have uploaded a video for you to watch which is on of the best presentations I have seen. Here it is:

If you would like more information about the company, visit our video site at One24 Videos. To be informed about One24 on an ongoing basis or to prepare to sign up, please add yourself to my waiting list at One24 Waiting List. To contact me directly, send me an email to colin@one24pension.com or call at 602-625-5400. If you find this interesting, please send this link to other people you know who might be interested.

One24 Changes The MLM Industry With Unique Solution

For the majority of people the letters “MLM” immediately bring a “No” to their lips after being bugged by so many people, so many times on products and services they don’t feel they need. People figure out that if they had to be bugged by their friends and family, they are probably going to have to go do the same thing to make the “project” a success. You have to become the pushy salesperson to make money on whatever the company does.

Now, we can sit and argue that this conclusion is a mistake and that maybe there are products or services out there that everyone needs and which are easy to sell so that a lot of money can be made. In fact, an awful lot of network marketers make an awful lot of money at what they do. So how do you determine whether it is worth the time of day to sit down and listen? This is a tough question. Maybe the first criteria would be whether you yourself need and would use the product or service being offered. If you would, then maybe some of your friends and family would also.

Then you have the question of signup fees, having to buy more products than you need personally and the monthly cost of replicated websites. The signup fees can range between $150 – $600, the monthly product consumption about $120+ and $20/month for the website. This is, of course, nothing compared to spending hundreds for thousands on a franchise to start a business but for some it is often a waste of money.

Looking at the income opportunity with many of these companies, it often comes from those signup fees. They fund most of the “bonuses” these companies offer and are therefore an important component of your income. This puts enormous pressure on the recruiting aspect of the business, the one thing that most of us detest. More recently, some good companies have developed compensation plans based upon product consumption only, which makes the financial entry threshold much lower and gives more focus on the actual product or service being offered.

One of these companies, One Twenty Four LLC, has just launched a concept, which might revolutionize the direct selling industry. The product they are selling is called NatraBurst and is in the supplement/nutrition space. It has been formulated by Mark Seyforth who manufactured many of the products sold by Herbalife. This gives it real credibility. From all accounts and testimonials the product claims are justified. This market segment is one of the largest in the MLM industry and has a lot of competition but the one unique benefit of “124″ is their compensation plan.

Not only is the focus on the sales of product, they have also come up with a solution to the one thing we all hate – approaching people with the opportunity – an aspect they have solved in the compensation plan. You are only allowed to sponsor one person every month and are given 24 “Green Tickets” for a maximum of 24 individuals. That’s it! Even before you sponsor these individuals they have to be placed on your waiting list, and get in line. This eliminates the “selling” aspect of networking. Now, all you can do is ask them to add themselves to your list and wait, a novel approach.

If you do not use a Green Ticket in one month you do not forfeit it and can use it next month. However, between the 24th and the end of any month the unused Green Tickets could be snapped up in something called the Gold Rush. This creates pressure to use the Green Ticket before the 24th but also gives you the chance to sponsor more than one person (on your waiting list) by acquiring one or more of the unused Green Ticket(s) from someone else. You can receive income from a Green Ticket you lose in the Gold Rush but it is greatly reduced.

The bottom line is the company predicts that anyone who signs up and uses only three of their Green Tickets, and duplicates that with the rest of their team, will reach a monthly income of $100,000 in less than 24 months and the only financial commitment is to continue buying the product at $69.75/month, including shipping. No signup fees and no monthly website fees. The company is too young yet to see if this is true but there are many already earning 4 and 5-figure monthly incomes after only six months.

There are also some shining testimonials about the product, NatraBurst, which I can also attest to. I have been using NatraBurst as a means of detoxing and have lost more than 10 pounds in less than three weeks without changing my lifestyle. If it is used as a meal replacement then the monthly cost of $69.75 becomes a wash with the savings achieved in the grocery bill. If the earnings potential becomes a reality, then “124″ could be the ultimate way to get healthy and retire wealthy. More importantly, their overall approach could revolutionize how the MLM industry works and how everyone perceives it.

Will One24 Become The Biggest Non-MLM Ever?

I have written many articles about my views regarding direct selling organizations (sometimes known as MLM businesses) that they are one of the best alternatives for most people to solve many economic problems we are faced with today, regardless whether you have a job or not. As a financial adviser, I always told my clients to get a home-based business, if nothing else just for the tremendous tax benefits the tax code allows. The easiest and least expensive way to achieve this is to join a direct selling (MLM) company.

Unfortunately, the very expression “MLM” drives people away, fearing they are about to be sold a bag of goods they don’t want or need. This fear stems from the many companies that used unethical or unfair sales practices to coerce people to depart with signup fees and money for products they didn’t really need. Many were just drawn in by the pictures of wealth. Expensive homes, fast cars, beautiful vacations and glamorous friends. In many cases it was only a privileged few who actually made it big on the backs of the masses who were duped.

So when I saw the first presentation of a new concept called “One24” or “124online” I was skeptical, as I often am. However, the more I watched their videos, the more my interest was peeked. There is something different about this company. In fact their initial sales pitch is not about how much product you have to consume but rather how everyone has the potential to retire with a residual income of $100,000 or more within 24 months and to do this they are asking for a minimum of effort; just a couple of hours each week.

The other fact that emerges is that you do not have to bug all your friends and family. In fact people can only join by putting themselves on a waiting list and hope that their sponsor picks them to join next month and if the people on that waiting list are as convinced as you are, then they are probably calling you every day to see if you will give them a signup code (Green Ticket). People calling you up to join a direct selling company doesn’t happen every day. In fact the company only allows you to sponsor one person direct to yourself each month. You get 24 such tickets and if you miss a month you lose that ticket. This then puts pressure on your downline to recruit that one person each month.

The $100,000 forecast comes from an assumption that you and every recruit on your team uses just three of those 24 tickets. So what is the cost to join? There are no signup fees or “investments” in products. There are no monthly fees for replicated websites. Just a monthly shipment of $69.75 for product itself. Oh, so what is the product? It is a fruit and vegetable replacement powder (NatraBurst) that can be used either as a natural supplement to your diet or even as a meal replacement if you are  trying to lose weight. Is the product any good? Well it has been formulated by the same individuals that manufactured most of the products sold by Herbalife, one of the most successful nutrition companies of all time. The testimonials are outstanding.

Of course, the company also has all of the silver and platinum bonus pools we have become accustomed to and these are over and above the $100,000/month that can be earned just from signing up one person every month with a Green Ticket. So it would appear that “124online.com” has their act together. No bugging tons of people including friends and family. People calling you to join. A compensation plans that is extremely generous that has been created by one of the legends in the industry (Mark Seyforth). For more information visit the video site http://one24pension.com or contact us with your email and we will place you on the waiting list.

The Hypocrisy Of American Politics

Let’s turn the clocks back less than two years. Let’s take a look at the state of the USA economy at the end of 2008. In November the latest unemployment numbers for the month showed the biggest month of job losses (533,000) in 34 years. 1.9 million jobs had been lost in just eleven months and the pundits were forecasting another 2.0 million jobs would be lost by the end of 2009. Americans were facing the worst recession since the Great Depression.

The US financial industry was facing a total collapse after the large investment banks were allowed by the government to embark on the biggest securities scam in history. This brought dozens of the countries largest companies to their knees and threatened a total collapse of the US economy, possibly worse than the Great Depression of the 30’s. This resulted in pain for millions of Americans while the banks were allowed to bail themselves out and keep their wealth intact.

The number of Americans without any form of health insurance had risen to 46 million in 2008 or 15.6% of the population. This has since risen to more than 50 million or 16.7% of the population. More than 20 million of these actually have a full-time job. At the same time the quality of health care in the US had been declining steadily and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) the United States ranked only 37^th in the world on total health care quality.

Even countries like Oman, Cyprus Morocco ranked considerably higher. The United States was also the only industrialized country not to have universal health-care for all of its population.

Then we had the deficit. During a term of eight years, Bill Clinton reversed Reagan’s course, raising taxes on the wealthy, and lowering them for the working and middle classes. This produced the longest sustained economic expansion in American history. It produced budgetary surpluses allowing the government to begin paying down the crippling debt begun under Reagan. In 2000, Clinton’s last year, the surplus amounted to $236 billion. The forecast of a ten-year surplus stood at $5.6 trillion. It was the last black ink America would see for decades, perhaps forever.

George W. Bush immediately reversed Clinton’s policy in order to revive Reagan’s, once again showering riches on the wealthy. He handed out some $630 billion in tax cuts to the top 1% of income earners. This left Obama with a budget deficit of $1.3 trillion and a budget, which Bush had passed, for the twelve months starting in October 2008.  This was a deficit that it took only eight years for Bush to create. To go from an annual surplus of $236 billion with the prospect of paying off the national debt to a deficit of $1.3 trillion and debt as far as we can see. This was not easy but Bush managed to do it and this was the legacy that Obama inherited.

Now we come to the current mid-term election cycle and all we hear is our poor economy is all Obama’s fault. He took office only one year and nine months ago. He inherited two wars, which we should never have embarked on, and he is expected to clear up the mess and try and keep the respect for America intact. He has passed sweeping health care reform for the first time in over 40 years, something no Republican President has ever considered. He passed sweeping financial reforms to make sure the Bush policies would be repealed. Policies that encouraged the deceits of Wall Street and the near collapse of our financial system. But he is accused of doing nothing to solve our countries problems.

Now the GOP is claiming they need to be restored to power to put a stop to our ecnonomic woes; the same woes they created in the first place. They want to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, which caused the huge deficit in the first place. They want to “win back” the country for the people. This is ironic since when has the GOP represented the average working American? Middle income America has had to suffer on the backs of the wealthy in this country. During the last Republican administration there was the highest concentration of power and money with the wealthy this country has ever seen. Hello, America! Is anybody home?

The irony and hypocrisy of the current mid-term elections is we have billionaires and former millionaire CEO’s of large corporations trying to buy their way to power. Some are throwing tens of millions of their own money at their campaigns, claiming they are going to Washington DC to represent the people because they feel your pain. That is the most stupid statement I have ever heard and is the ultimate in hypocrisy. In some cases, the same CEO’s laid off thousands of American workers only to ship their jobs overseas. Unfortunately, the American electorate falls for this game of smoke and mirrors and will continue to suffer in a world where politics is just a game of power and money and has nothing to do with the will of the people.

Will Facebook Eat Google’s Lunch

We have all sat back and watched, or been part of, Facebook’s meteoric rise to fame as they surpassed 500 million users and make their way to an unprecedented 1 billion! They have even made a movie of this phenomenon already. So what does all this mean? How can Mark Zuckerberg go from a college student, and a nerd, to a multi-billionaire literally overnight? How does the emergence of Facebook on the Internet have an impact on anything? What is its future and how will it evolve from here? Why has it become so popular?

Tackling the last question first, I believe we as humans all have the inborn desire to communicate, to have as many friends as possible and be liked. In the real world our own inhibitions and fears change this desire. We experience problems with the direct interaction with other humans. Prejudices start to creep in and suddenly getting on with the people around us becomes a challenge, not a charm. Conflicts with our college mates, our co-workers and even our family members take the pleasure away from having a good time with everyone around us.

The Internet eliminates many of these issues. Now we can befriend almost anyone without those fears and trepidations. A good example has been the popularity of the online matchmaking services. Now we can “get to know” somebody before actually meeting them. We can filter through the lists of interests and activities to find the ones that might be compatible. Get the awkward questions out of the way right up front and now have the ability to focus on the “person” and not the potential hang-ups when we physically meet.

So now I can actually develop a large circle of friends without having to go through the awkward act of actually meeting them. In fact, I can befriend people who I might actually not like in real life. Even people with opposing views. I can debate numbers of issues with people I would probably try and avoid if it had to be face-to-face. Now I can create a special page (forum) to attract people around an issue, a product and/or a company. This is the core of what Facebook is trying to achieve. Circles of friends that debate issues, share common or opposing views, exchange information on whatever comes to mind and start to create a “cyber bond”.

To even start to comprehend what all this means I would recommend taking a look at Facebook’s own analysis of its services. Here are just a few nuggets. 700 billions minutes are spent on Facebook by users every month. The average user has 130 friends, something that would not be possible in the real world. Average user creates 90 pieces of content every month. More than 30 billion pieces of content are accessed each month. The list goes on and on.

This brings me to one of the more important questions at the beginning: How does the emergence of Facebook on the Internet have an impact on anything? Well, it has obviously improved communication between people across the globe. Just the amount of time we spend on this network creates an advertiser’s dream. As we all complete our profiles, this allows Facebook to offer advertisers targeted, measurable demographic information on specific audiences. If you want to advertise only to women in the age group 55-60 living in New York, you can. This is why we now see a tremendous increase in the number of ads appearing on the right of the Facebook page. What an income generator that is for Facebook!

The data shown here is just a snapshot. They are exploding every day as people start to enjoy and appreciate the ability to communicate without inhibitions with the rest of the world, which brings me to the headline of this article. What about the other phenomenon called Google? How and will they be affected?

Well, the Google model is not dissimilar in many ways. People need access to information and Google provides a very convenient way to do research and get to that information quickly. This creates a number of eyeballs looking at a computer screen, which allows Google to attract advertisers and make money. However, it has been reported that we spend three times as many minutes on Facebook on average every month than Google – and these minutes are increasing every month as Facebook introduces more applications to keep us engaged longer. My prediction is that advertising revenues at Facebook will easily bypass Google’s, especially as advertisers see it as a better bang for their buck and they start to switch.

So what about Google’s key feature – their search engine? When you do a search on Google their business model relies upon them providing useful, relevant content. But how can they guarantee that? Almost every general Google search today produces tens of millions of hits. So which of these hits includes the information you are looking for? How many pages deep do you go to get your information? Maybe there is a page somewhere that is just what you are looking for but because they have not optimized their SEO coding, you will never see it.

Let’s fast forward a few years and now you have 10,000 friends on Facebook, have joined a dozen groups for the things that interest you most and have optimized your Facebook activities around people like you – age group, profession, interest, politics, religious beliefs etc. If you wanted to do some research on a new computer purchase, staying in a hotel somewhere, subscribing to newsletters or just getting some general information about anything would you not consider asking this huge group of your peers if they know anything?

If you spend half your computer time on Facebook, both business and personal, would you not want to tap into that resource for information? I was at a social media seminar recently and the presenter gave the example of his wanting to find a hotel on Miami Beach for a long weekend. He did his Google search and found the hotel that fitted his criteria. However, he then started to read the testimonials on the web about this property and discarded this choice based on their opinions. These were the opinions of complete strangers. How about asking the opinions of that huge group of (Facebook) people you already have a relationship with? Aren’t personal referrals the best and safest way to make a decision?

It would be very simple for Facebook to create a database of opinions, good and bad, about all types of products and services that would be created by its users. A database that we could all tap into. Only then, when we cannot find the answer we are looking for, we might turn to Google. Maybe Facebook will make Google just one of its applications in the future. There was some “chatter” on the Internet some time ago that Google should just suck in Facebook. Maybe Facebook could grow to such a global force, they could be looking at a takeover bid for Google in the future? Everything is possible, especially when we extrapolate Facebook’s growth and trend patterns.

Facebook is still evolving and they are obviously looking at these trends and have a long-term plan. They will be introducing new applications, revamping the look and the feel of their services, making them even easier to use and more consumer friendly. The only barrier to their success might be themselves. If they make any bad strategic mistakes. If it turns out that our personal information we share with them is not secure and there is a major breach. You know there are hackers out there with such plans. If they make the expansion of your network of friends too restrictive and a competitor emerges to make that easier. If they get involved in any major trade or government disputes (remember Microsoft?).

They could become their biggest obstacle to global domination but that aside it is hard to believe they will not have a major impact on the Google Empire if they are winning the battle of the eyeballs. If we start to spend ten times more time on Facebook than Google – where does that leave Google?

Colin Buckingham is a global Internet entrepreneur who believes a great solution for many of today’s economic woes is to go out and start working for yourself. He also believes one of the cheapest and most efficient ways to start out on your own is to join more than one MLM company. Colin has spent the past ten years as a financial adviser and has seen many of the problems people face financially many of which could have been resolved with just a small additional income every month.

As a marketer, he believes the Internet will eventually run the world, break down all political and religious barriers as more and more people communicate. It is the greatest source of information we have ever seen and with social media now emerging in both the wired and the wireless worlds, this rend will continue for generations into the future.