How to Survive This Recession

We are in a challenging situation in our worldwide economies.  I was the first person on national television to say that America was in a recession, and everybody laughed at me.  Six months or eight months later, the government came out and said “We are revising the numbers.  We have been under recession for 9 months” and that was when I said “We are now officially in a recession”, and everybody said I was a loony…I was right!

Folks, the recession have never gone away. There is an article now; “10 Signs The Double-Dip Recession Has Already Begun”. The reason that it is important for you to realize that the worldwide economies are going bad, is that your income and lifestyle is at risk. You can do something about it and take advantage of the situation for you and your families. During the Great Depression, most people don’t know this, more millionaires were made during that depression than any other time in American history.

Click here to find out how you can take advantage of this world-wide recession!

Yours in wealth,
KT

Democrats Shift The Definition Of ‘Rich’ In Battle Over Taxes

October 6th, 2011

The Washington Post

By: Lori Montgomery

As they head into the 2012 campaign, Democrats are changing their definition of what it means to be rich. Forget about families making $250,000 a year. Today, the party is only interested in millionaires.

In speeches across the country, President Obama has vigorously demanded that “millionaires and billionaires” pay “their fair share” in taxes. Last month, the White House said tax reform should ensure that billionaires such as Warren Buffett pay at least as much of their income to the Internal Revenue Service as middle-class taxpayers do.

And on Wednesday came clear evidence of this shift: Senate Democratic leaders scrapped Obama’s proposal to cover the cost of his jobs bill by raising taxes on income over $250,000 a year, the old Democratic standard for defining the wealthy. Instead, they are proposing a 5.6 percent surtax on annual income of more than $1 million.

Democrats say their new focus is intended to bolster support for Obama’s jobs package. But its more important purpose is to clarify the party’s economic agenda heading into next year’s election.

Democrats have long argued that, in addition to cutting government spending, lawmakers should ask people at the top of the income spectrum to pay more in taxes to help tame the national debt. But setting the dividing line at $250,000, as Obama did during the 2008 campaign, “fuzzies the picture,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), the leading architect of the surtax proposal. “There are lots of people who either make $250,000 or are close” to it, Schumer said, particularly small-business owners and dual-income couples living in high-cost urban areas.

“If we’re able to draw a very clear line — people above a million dollars should pay their fair share — it’s much easier to win that argument,” said Schumer, who is also in charge of political messaging for Democrats hoping to maintain control of the Senate. “And I think we’re winning it. For the first time since Ronald Reagan, we’re beginning to turn the tax debate around.”

Republicans scoffed Wednesday at the ploy, which Democrats acknowledge is unlikely to succeed in its immediate goal of rallying support for Obama’s $447 billion jobs package. Several Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), oppose increased spending in the bill at least as much as the tax hikes Obama urged as a way of covering the cost. No Republican is likely to vote for the measure, making it impossible for Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) to muster the 60 votes needed to avert a filibuster when he opens debate on the bill as soon as next week.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) accused Democratic leaders of reworking the bill “not to grow bipartisan support” but “to sharpen its political edge.” Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), said Democrats should focus on identifying “areas of common ground” with Republicans “to create a better environment for job creation” instead of floating “desperate tax-hike gimmicks . . . to cover up divisions within the Democratic caucus.”

Click here for the full report from The Washington Post

Are The Rich Actually Taxed At Higher Rate Than Middle Class?

September 20th, 2011

The Huffington Post

By: Stephen Ohlemacher

President Barack Obama makes it sound as if there are millionaires all over America paying taxes at lower rates than their secretaries.

“Middle-class families shouldn’t pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires,” Obama said Monday. “That’s pretty straightforward. It’s hard to argue against that.”

The data tell a different story. On average, the wealthiest people in America pay a lot more taxes than the middle class or the poor, according to private and government data. They pay at a higher rate, and as a group, they contribute a much larger share of the overall taxes collected by the federal government.

There may be individual millionaires who pay taxes at rates lower than middle-income workers. In 2009, 1,470 households filed tax returns with incomes above $1 million yet paid no federal income tax, according to the Internal Revenue Service. That, however, was less than 1 percent of the nearly 237,000 returns with incomes above $1 million.

In his White House address Monday, Obama called on Congress to increase taxes by $1.5 trillion as part of a 10-year deficit reduction package totaling more than $3 trillion. He proposed that Congress overhaul the tax code and impose what he called the “Buffett rule,” named for billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

The rule says, “People making more than $1 million a year should not pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families pay.”

“Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett. There is no justification for it,” Obama said. “It is wrong that in the United States of America, a teacher or a nurse or a construction worker who earns $50,000 should pay higher tax rates than somebody pulling in $50 million.”

Buffett wrote in a recent piece for The New York Times that the tax rate he paid last year was lower than that paid by any of the other 20 people in his office.

This year, households making more than $1 million will pay an average of 29.1 percent of their income in federal taxes, including income taxes and payroll taxes, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.

Households making between $50,000 and $75,000 will pay 15 percent of their income in federal taxes.

Lower-income households will pay less. For example, households making between $40,000 and $50,000 will pay an average of 12.5 percent of their income in federal taxes. Households making between $20,000 and $30,000 will pay 5.7 percent.

The latest IRS figures are a few years older – and limited to federal income taxes – but show much the same thing. In 2009, taxpayers who made $1 million or more paid on average 24.4 percent of their income in federal income taxes, according to the IRS.

Those making $100,000 to $125,000 paid on average 9.9 percent in federal income taxes. Those making $50,000 to $60,000 paid an average of 6.3 percent.

Obama’s claim hinges on the fact that, for high-income families and individuals, investment income is often taxed at a lower rate than wages. The top tax rate for dividends and capital gains is 15 percent. The top marginal tax rate for wages is 35 percent, though that is reserved for taxable income above $379,150.

With tax rates that high, why do so many people pay at lower rates? Because the tax code is riddled with more than $1 trillion in deductions, exemptions and credits, and they benefit people at every income level, according to data from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’ official scorekeeper on revenue issues.

The Tax Policy Center estimates that 46 percent of households, mostly low- and medium-income households, will pay no federal income taxes this year. Most, however, will pay other taxes, including Social Security payroll taxes.

“People who are doing quite well and worry about low-income people not paying any taxes bemoan the fact that they get so many tax breaks that they are zeroed out,” said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center. “People at the bottom of the distribution say, but all of those rich guys are getting bigger tax breaks than we’re getting, which is also the case.”

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was pressed at a White House briefing on the number of millionaires who pay taxes at a lower rate than middle-income families. He demurred, saying that people who make most of their money in wages pay taxes at a higher rate, while those who get most of their income from investments pay at lower rates.

“So it really depends on what is your profession, where’s the source of your income, what’s the specific circumstances you face, and the averages won’t really capture that,” Geithner said.

Click here for the full report from The Huffington Post

How To Get People Out Of Their Trance

A lot of people come up to me and ask, “How do you get people out of their trance?”

This is the mystery question of the ages, and the answer is this; you can’t make a horse drink, you can only lead a horse to water. In other words, you can’t make anybody get out of a trance.  You can only help them get out of their own trance. 

So the real question then is, “How do I help them snap out of their own trance?” The answer is simple; continue to give them information and knowledge that exposes the false truth that they believe to be true.

The more knowledge, the more information, the more stories they read online, the more radio shows like mine they listen to, the more seminars they go to, the more positive and enthusiastic people they get exposed to, the more audios they listen to from people exposing the truth, the more times they have the curtain pulled back to expose the great Oz for who he is… that’s how they can wake up one day and snap out of their trance.

I know a lot of people who are still in their trance and I try not to impose my ideas or viewpoints on anybody else. What I do is expose people to knowledge and information.  So, I will give them for, let’s say, Christmas, anniversaries, birthdays, my present of choice almost always is a book, DVD, or audio that will help the process along. 

One of my dear friends, one of my top lawyers, drinks Diet Coke nonstop. That’s his choice. I don’t think it’s a good idea and I don’t think it’s good for his health or for his cognitive thinking, emotions, hormone levels and longevity, but that’s his choice. I gave him a book about the dangers of aspartame, but he still drinks Diet Coke. That’s his choice, but I exposed him to that book. Maybe I planted a seed and maybe it didn’t change in that month or that year, but maybe two or three years down the road he may see that book in his house and pick it up again or rethink in a new unit of time and make a different choice. 

My top 3 presents to give out are, the book and DVD, “The Secret”, and my CD series, Your Wish Is Your Command. That CD series is probably the best gift you could ever give anyone because when you listen to this series you are basically being de-programmed.

As you listen to the Your Wish CD series, you are virtually being de-programmed and drawn out of your trance.  It’s a revolutionary program revealing the secrets of achieving success in life and goes way beyond the excellent book/DVD, “The Secret,” which exposes the Law of Attraction.

This CD series, Your Wish Is Your Command, goes way beyond “The Secret” because it was verbalized by myself and I did the teaching, but the information doesn’t come just from me; it comes from over 30 billionaires, members of royal families and some of the most powerful people in the world, from their real life experiences on how to manifest your desires; how to make your dreams come true.

You know, years ago I taught some of these secrets to a guy who was in bankruptcy and was living in his mother-in-law’s house. He came to me in Las Vegas and told me that he had a burning desire to achieve success again, but he is flat broke. He didn’t even have two nickels to rub together.  I told him that I was teaching a seminar, but it was $3000. He promised me that he would be there. Now, I didn’t think for a second that this guy would actually show up because I figured he didn’t have the money, but guess what? He showed up at the seminar.

The funny part was that he didn’t have the money. He convinced somebody to loan him the money.  There were 300 people in that seminar that I taught some of these techniques to. At the end of the two days he came up to me and told me that he got it and that I would hear from him again. I was like, ‘Sure, I hear that all the time. I am never going to hear from this guy ever again.’ 

Well, about 60 days later, he contacted me and told me that he had taken my advice.  By the end of that year, he showed me his bank statements. He had deposited over $1 million in cash, which was developed and created from the material I had taught him, which is the same material in Your Wish Is Your Command.

Then there was a guy in Maine, who used to work for UPS. He came to me and asked me if he could get more out of life. I told him he could. He replied back with, “I have no college education. I have no money. I am in debt and my credit cards are maxed out. I have to keep my full-time job just to pay my bills, so I live paycheck to paycheck. I don’t have a degree. I don’t have a high IQ and I don’t even have any connections.  I said, “Look, you can make anything you want in your life.”

Three years later, he had a company in Maine and they were doing over $150 million a year in business, which he started from scratch.  A $150 million a year business started from scratch and I can tell you story, after story, after story of how people used these techniques and achieved great success. I can also tell you stories of people who listened to Your Wish Is Your Command, put it down, and didn’t do anything. Those stories always end the same; nothing in your life changes. 

If you want things in your life to change, you have to change to things in your life. Remember this; successful people are always too busy doing what the other guys are still talking about.

You need to take action, NOW. Click here to order Your Wish Is Your Command: http://bit.ly/eVTUtx

I taught this 14-CD series in the Alps at a private location. We had a small number of people there, who paid $10,000 to come to that two day event. I recorded that event and edited out as much of the background noises and the questions from people to keep their identity anonymous. I then went into the studio to put some finishing touches on the series.

The course has been sold for as high as $1000 and people say that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the value. BUT if you order it right now, we are giving a very limited time special offer.  You don’t have to pay $10,000; you don’t have to pay anywhere close to $1000.

Click here for this very special offer: http://bit.ly/eVTUtx

Yours in wealth…
KT

Members of Congress Getting Richer, Despite Market Meltdown

December 13th, 2010

Daily Finance

By: Dawn Kawamoto

Congressional members scored big during the steep downturn in the market, posting a 16% gain collectively between 2008 to 2009, according to a study issued Wednesday by the Center for Responsive Politics.

By comparison, the Nasdaq fell 8.4% during that same two-year period.

Not only did this group’s investment portfolio perform well, but any notion of the humble public servant can now be laid the rest. Virtually half of Congressional members are millionaires, compared to 1% for society at large in America, notes a post in the Center’s OpenSecrets blog.

And among this group, eight members of Congress are mega-millionaires, with portfolios above $100 million. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) holds the largest treasure chest, estimated in excess of $300 million. Trailing close behind is Rep. Jane Harman, (D-Calif.) with her portfolio averaging $293,454,761. Rounding out the top three is Sen. John Kerry, (D-Mass.), with $238,812,296.

Shelia Krumholz, the Center’s executive director, had this to say about the findings:
Few federal lawmakers must grapple with the financial ills — unemployment, loss of housing, wiped out savings — that have befallen millions of Americans.

Congressional representatives on balance rank among the wealthiest of wealthy Americans and boast financial portfolios that are all but unattainable for most of their constituents.
Last year, the median wealth of a House of Representative was $765,010 — up from $645,503 the previous year, the report noted. And the median wealth for senators jumped up to nearly $2.38 million last year, from $2.27 million a year earlier.

Sources of Wealth

The top industries that are bringing the bacon home for Congressional members leads off with the real estate industry, which accounted for a collective maximum value of $898.3 million last year. Next up is the live entertainment and recreational industry, which represented $255 million in Congressional members’ portfolios. Electronics manufacturing, securities and investments, and the computers and Internet industry contributed to the top ranks.

Adding some sugar to the mix are the campaign contributions by players in these respective industries. Microsoft (MSFT), a member of the computer and Internet industry, plunked down $21 million in campaign contributions between 1989 and 2010. Morgan Stanley (MS) coughed up $19.8 million, while JPMorgan (JPM) dished up $20.3 million in the period. The largest contributed by far was AT&T (T), with $45.6 million

Click here for the full report from Daily Finance

New York Debates Millionaires’ Tax

May 27, 2010

My Fox New York

MYFOXNY.COM – New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is reportedly pitching a plan for an increased “millionaire’s tax” aimed at 75-85 thousand New Yorkers making $1 million or more a year.

Political columnist Fred Dicker , who appeared on Wednesday’s Good Day New York, says Silver secretly proposed a $1 billion tax hike on the highest income earners to Gov. Paterson.

Click here for the full report.

World Wealth Down 11 Percent, Fewer Millionaires

September 15, 2009

Reuters

By Joe Rauch

The 2008 global recession caused the first worldwide contraction in assets under management in nearly a decade, according to a study that found wealth dropped 11.7 percent to $92.4 trillion.

A return to 2007 levels of wealth will take six years, according to a Boston Consulting Group study that examined assets overseen by the asset management industry.

North America, particularly the United States, was the hardest hit region, reporting a 21.8 percent decline in wealth firms’ assets under management to $29.3 trillion, primarily because of the beating U.S. equities investments took in 2008.

Also hit hard were off-shore wealth centers, like Switzerland and the Caribbean, where assets declined to $6.7 trillion in 2008 from $7.3 trillion in 2007, an 8 percent drop.

The downturn has “shattered confidence in a way we have not seen in a long time,” said Bruce Holley, senior partner and managing director at BCG’s New York office.

The study forecasts that wealth management firms’ assets under management will not return to 2007 levels, $108.5 trillion, until 2013, a six-year rebound.

Europe posted a slightly higher $32.7 trillion of assets under management, edging out North America for the wealthiest region, though the total wealth in region dropped 5.8 percent.

Latin America was the only region to report a gain in assets under management, posting a 3 percent uptick from $2.4 trillion in 2007 to $2.5 trillion in 2008.

MILLIONAIRE … NOT

The economy’s retreat also pounded millionaires who made risky investments during the economic boom.

The number of millionaires worldwide shrank 17.8 percent to 9 million, the BCG study found.

Europe and North America were hardest hit in that regard, posting 22 percent declines. The United States still boasts 3.9 million millionaires, the highest population on the globe.

Singapore had the highest density of millionaires at 8.5 percent of the population. Other countries included Switzerland, at 6.6 percent, Kuwait, at 5.1 percent, United Arab Emirates, at 4.5 percent, and the United States, at 3.5 percent.

Click here for the full report from Reuters