Mark Crowley/trails

==April 2009==
I had a LTE today (4/21/2009) in the Trib. It was a tax-day letter emailed
days before April 15th, but they held off printing it until today. This LTE
used a tried-and-true formula that anyone can duplicate. It was timely with
a calendar-driven tax-day theme. The "Tea Party" grassroots movement
certainly didn't detract from the LTE. Most importantly, it used the
government's own hypocritical words. I suggested the title, "Save as I Say,
not as I Spend", but they opted for something else.
Mark
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_621486.html
===Advice, actions differ===
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Accompanying my federal tax refund check was a card titled "Check Out These
Savings and Investment Tips" from the Securities and Exchange Commission's
Office of Investor Education and Advocacy. It listed four tips:
1. Pay off credit-card or high-interest debt.
2. Boost your emergency fund.
3. Beware of promises of "guaranteed returns."
4. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Let's check out how government follows its own advice:
1. Increase government debt to the highest level in U.S. history.
2. Create emergencies, print and devalue currency, call that emergency funding.
3. Con public with $70 trillion-plus in Social Security and Medicare obligations.
4. Start nationalizing all baskets.
Government wants us to sacrifice and save so it can indulge and spend.
Mark Crowley