CAUGHT IN A LIE: What's the REAL State of our Economy? | Episode 117

They tell us the truth, right?  Not so fast… Today you learn one specific and truly heinous way that the government lies to YOU about the economy… and how it can be a DISASTER for your finances.  It’s time to put your “big boy” or “big girl” pants on, folks, because it’s about to get ugly.  I’m Bryan Ellis.  This is Episode 117.

----------

Hello, SDI Nation.  Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like YOU.

Something’s rotten in the state of Denmark, my friends.  Actually… it’s Washington DC where the foul stench originates, and it gets stinkier on the first Friday of each month when the feds release news stats  about unemployment in the United States.

We’re not going to talk about statistics and computation and that sort of thing today.  We’re going to talk about the reality of willful deceit from the government, and why it’s so important for you as a Self-Directed Investor.  This is a rubber-meats-the-road kind of episode.

Let’s imagine, for a moment, that you’re evaluating an investment.  Maybe it’s stock in a construction company or a consumer electronics maker.  Maybe it’s rental property in the heartland.  Maybe it’s the formation of your own business.

It doesn’t really matter… whatever the case, your investment ultimately relies on one thing for success:  Customers.  And not just customers, customers who have the wherewithal to spend money and buy, buy, buy!

And, by and large, that relies on one thing:  a well-employed populace.  Whether there are able-to-buy customers in the world isn’t something that’s merely nice to know… it’s critical.

And, of course, the government very helpfully provides information about the unemployment rate in this country on the first Friday of every month.  The last such announcement was for the month of July, when the national unemployment rate was 5.3% - the lowest of the entire Obama presidency.

But, my friends… something is wrong.  Something is terribly wrong.

Do you know anyone who is unemployed?  I certainly do.  Do you know anyone who has been unemployed for a very long time?  Again, so do I.

In fact… while there are fewer unemployed than at the height of the economic collapse… anecdotally, it still seems to me like there are a whole lot of able-bodied people who either aren’t working, or who are working at menial jobs, far below their potential and below their experience level.

And there’s something else that’s totally wrong.  The output of this country is barely moving at all.  Economic growth in the first quarter of this year didn’t even reach 1%... and the second quarter was reported as being “strong”… even though the growth rate was only about 2%.

Folks, this is not good.  There’s fundamental weakness… but to hear the government say it, everything is hunky dory.

But it’s not… and those of us who are self directed investors simply do not have the option of drinking the Koolaid.  We, by virtue of our acceptance of responsibility for our own financial success, simply must be aware of the REALITY… despite what Washington DC would have us to believe.

So here’s a painful example of how they’re lying to you… and expecting you to be stupid enough to trust them.

The basic way that the unemployment rate is calculated is by dividing the number of people who are unemployed by the size of the labor force.

Simple enough, right?  But here’s the problem… the Obama administration radically altered the definition of unemployment.  To me, a person is unemployed if they want a job and don’t have one.  But did you know that by Obama’s new rules, there are literally MILLIONS of people who do not have a job, and who would be THRILLED to get one… but none of them are being counted as being Unemployed?

It’s insanity.  It’s blatant deception.

But that’s not where the travesty ends.  Do you know who IS COUNTED as being employed?  Anybody who makes $20 by cutting a neighbor’s lawn… and anybody who works just a few hours a week flipping burgers to make ends meet.

Let’s dig in here just a bit, my friends.  Maybe it’s ok for the teenager who’s working 15 hours a week to count as “employed” because they have a job at the local McDonald’s.  But the feds ALSO count as fully employed the man or woman who was a mid-level executive making $150,000 a year before they were laid off, and who has taken a part-time job at Mickie D’s just to make ends meet until they find a job that’s actually SUITABLE for them.

So what we have is a situation where the feds do NOT count people as unemployed, who absolutely, clearly are.

And we have the feds counting people as FULLY employed who have menial jobs that are, quite honestly, far below their potential, and who are FORCED to take those jobs because the health of the economy is so poor that the RIGHT kind of jobs simply aren’t available.

We know why this was done – it was the worst kind of electioneering back in 2010.  But that doesn’t make it better.  It makes it worse.

Folks, this is a bad, bad situation.  And to compound it further, the labor force in America has been shrinking very, very aggressively, such that it’s now at the same relative size as it was in the late 1970’s when, let’s face it, the policies of Jimmy Carter had run this country’s economy completely into the ground.

All of this sounds like bad news.

And you know what?  It is bad news.  There’s no sugar coating it.

But this is why, now more than ever, it’s so critical for you to fully embrace Core Value #1 of Self Directed Investors:  To RESPECT your own capital.  And how do you do that?  By requiring… demanding… that every time your investment capital is deployed, it be done so consistently with the S3 Investing Critera of SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG.

Yes, you can have all 3 of those elements in place at exactly the same time.  One investment CAN be SIMPLE and SAFE and STRONG.

For example:  People will always need housing, and the trend among the millennial generation is to make shorter geographic commitments by renting rather than buying, so it stands to reason that rental property makes good sense as an asset class.

But friends, please understand this:  Not all rental property opportunities are the same!  Each individual opportunity is different and must be evaluated on the merits of the deal, not simply on the merits of the person who brings the deal to your attention.

For example:  If you’re considering the purchase of a rental property, would it be better to pay FULL RETAIL value for that property, or LESS THAN full retail value for that property?  Obviously, paying LESS than full retail is better, so… you should only look for opportunities to pay LESS than full retail value.  That’s safer… it protects your capital better… it just makes better sense.

Rental property is one of those investments that just makes sense on a really core, fundamental level… but the trend I’m seeing right now, my friends, is that very smart people who are very successful in their own fields and have amassed substantial capital – but who have very limited experience as rental property investors – are being presented with rental property investment opportunities that appear very, very attractive, but that investors with even a modicum of experience in that asset class would reject outright as too risky.

Now, the good thing about rental properties is that even if you make a poor buying decision, you can probably hold onto it for 10-20 years and end up being profitable – if you ignore the opportunity cost of the initial poor decision.

But why don’t you just do it better to begin with, my friends?  If you’ve ever bought real estate from a turnkey rental property company, or if you’re interested in easily building a cash-flowing rental portfolio of your own, I’d like to offer you a better way… a way to get into great properties BELOW their retail cost, in areas where there’s STRONG REASON to expect future appreciation… and using tax-smart strategies that have a wildly positive impact on your bottom line RIGHT NOW… not just after decades of holding on.

If that’s you – if you’ve got the capital position and the full intention to build a strong rental portfolio that’s totally consistent with the S3 Standard of SIMPLE, SAFE and STRONG, stop by SDIRadio.com/guidance to schedule a time for us to talk and I’ll give you some thoughts on building a rental portfolio smartly.  No… let’s do better than smartly, let’s do it BRILLIANTLY, my friends.  Let’s make it PROFITABLE FROM DAY 1!  Again, that’s SDIRadio.com/guidance to set up a time to discuss this with me.

My friends… invest wisely today… and live well forever!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.