Cheapo Groovo

Couch Potato Cash

I have yet to share all of my alternative income streams. I do this so you can realistically see what it takes and understand my philosophy of real diversification. **You can participate in these income streams by clicking them in my sidebar**

1. Utilizing my money seminars!
2. Teaching a few classes during the year.
3. Selling college textbooks on half.com & at Faculty Books.
4. Fiverr allows me to do small tasks (like clciking google ads) and earn $5.
5. Finding freebies and utilizing high-value coupons.
6. Collecting aluminum cans for scrap & the MI deposit.
7. Performing small tasks on Amazon Mechanical Turk.
8. Swagbucks ~ paid to search the Internet.

Keurig K-Cups vs. Bagged Coffee

$87.99 (for the machine) + $243.13 (in K-Cups) = $331.12 for the first year. $0.91/day.

Using good old fashioned coffee grounds and brewing your coffee in a traditional coffee maker = 3.7 cents per ounce, making it the most frugal option by far.

Retail Investors Whipsawed by Changing Rules of the Game

We all have seen the real estate bubble unfold because banks, brokers, buyers, regulators, and Wall Street all looked a blind eye. Less conspicuous, but just as damaging, was the greatest financial crime in history. Today I will attempt to document how governments, regulators, brokerage firms, and foreign banks are crushing the retail investor.

• Deutsche Bank is liquidating the PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Long ETN (DXO). Deutsche Bank said: “Limitations imposed by the exchange on which Deutsche Bank manages the exposure of the Notes have resulted in a “regulatory event” as defined in the terms of the Notes, which has caused Deutsche Bank to redeem the Notes.”
• In an effort to stem the effect that the seemingly inevitable regulation will have on futures-based commodity funds, multiple ETF issuers have halted share creation. Thus, these securities trade at huge premiums to the underlying commodity (market distortions).
• FINRA announced that it would be increasing margin requirements for leveraged ETFs as of Dec. 1. These changes will require margin for leveraged funds to be  "commensurate" with the degree to which they are leveraged. FINRA's warning set off a domino effect as firms like Edward Jones, Ameriprise, and UBS ceased selling leveraged funds to investors.
• Switzerland’s oldest bank, is telling wealthy clients to sell their U.S. assets, or switch banks, because of concerns new rules will saddle investors with tax obligations in the USA. U.S. proposals to extend reporting requirements for banks whose clients buy American stocks and bonds coupled with estate tax liabilities have put Switzerland’s traditional bank secrecy at risk.
• Canada's Royalty Trusts are similar to U.S. master limited partnerships in that they generally pay out a substantial portion of their cash flow in the form of monthly distributions. The Canadian government wants a piece of that. In 2001, in what has come to be known as the "Halloween Surprise" for its announcement on October 31st, 2006, these trusts will have to change their structure and their payouts or face huge tax consequences.

The Natural Gas Trade Turns To Poisin Gas! #investing #fraud

I have been a big fan of using natural gas for transportation and electricity generation. Unfortunately I was buying the commodity thru stock ticker GAZ when it was near $8 and has since dropped like a rock.

My strategy was to sell out of the money covered call options and wait for the move up. The move up has occured thanks to MARKET MANIPULATION!

First, the real value (Net Asset Value) of GAZ on 2/16  was $3.05. Yesterday it closed at $4.41. Why was it selling at a premium? The managers of GAZ  (iPath) have halted share creation in order to avoid bumping against limits set by regulators like the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. Too much speculative demand w/o enough supply.

Second, the SEC is allowing naked shorting on this security. Sellers don't have to deliver any supply of this product even though it is collateral!

Americans Destroy InfrastructureTo Put Food On Table

Obama will have to give us another stimulus package just to replace infrastructure!

• The Huffington Post is reporting that there has been an epidemic of air conditioning thefts all over the United States
• In Atlanta, thieves have been breaking down walls and busting bathroom fixtures with sledgehammers in order to get their hands on copper, brass and steel
• In Antioch, California a total of approximately 300 power poles were recently knocked down by thieves and stripped of their copper wiring
• In Asheville, North Carolina thieves recently took off with 4 metal tables and 16 metal chairs that were sitting outside a pizzeria
• In Florida, thieves have actually been stealing storm drain covers

Crisis-Proof Your Portfolio

Explaining Volatile Stock Markets

Goldman Sachs Software
“The bank has raised the possibility that there is a danger that somebody who knew how to use this program could use it to manipulate markets in unfair ways,” Mr. Facciponti said in the court, according to Bloomberg. “The copy in Germany is still out there, and we at this time do not know who else has access to it.”

Rouge Traders
The spike in oil prices to their highest level this year was caused by a rogue broker who placed a massive bet in the Brent oil market, triggering almost $10m of losses for his company. PVM Oil Associates, the world’s largest over-the-counter oil brokerage, said on Thursday it had been the “victim of unauthorized trading”. The privately owned company said that as a result of the unauthorized trades it had been forced to close substantial volumes of futures contracts at a loss.

Government Intervention
Since the CFTC limits the number of futures contracts that can be held in agricultural products in order to protect the market from manipulation, CFTC Chairman Gensler thinks the same standards should apply to energy markets. Result: driving down natural gas to unnatural levels.

More regulation will not help due to regulatory capture!

Investing in Copper Miners | #stocks

I like Southern Copper (SCCO) for its dividend yield of 9.5%. I also like Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) since you can buy at $34 and sell at $40 every 2 months or so (channeling stock).

Both have options so I can implement my put/call selling strategies for income!

 

CME Rule Changes Smash Commodity Investors

The CME Group is raising the margins needed to trade Comex gold and silver futures are being increased by 21.5% and 15.6%, respectively, and the change will take effect after the close of business on Monday.

The exchange is also raising copper futures margins by 17.6%.

How to play the demise of the US dollar

DXDDX - a mutual fund that moves up 2.5 times when the dollar index falls.

  Here are some reasons the dollar should continue to fall:

• The European bailout is now being funded by the FED! The Fed provides dollars requested by the ECB, which distributes that money to commercial banks in Europe. There is no cap on the amount of dollars the Fed can provide!
• The USA has an accumulated negative net worth” of more than $11 trillion and “additional off-balance-sheet obligations” of $45 trillion.
• The biggest problem is that external investors — particularly China — have more skin in the dollar game than in euros, yen or pounds, which makes the U.S. currency the most likely candidate to meet the cleaver in a crisis of confidence about post-crunch government finances.
• If commodity prices rise and the US dollar falls, energy and food prices will remain relatively constant for everyone outside the United States (since all commodities are priced in US dollars)