Appendix A
The Ruff Times Newsletter
Do not run out and execute the market recommendations in this book as soon as you read it. We have a very dynamic economy, and time can change things. Some recommendations may be good ideas for which the right time has come and gone or the propitious time has not yet arrived. Throughout 2004 I will provide a brief, free update of any recommendations that may have changed since this book was written. You can get this update by calling 1-801224-3660 between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M. MST (e-mail [email protected]).
The best way to keep up with things is to subscribe to The Ruff Times, which is written every three weeks, as I track all these recommendations very closely.
WHAT YOU GET
The Ruff Times has several specific departments.
The Markets
I track the stock market, looking for that elusive day when you can throw darts at The Wall Street Journal and invest in the holes and make money. I also follow gold and silver very closely because I believe their time is coming again—perhaps soon, if it is not here already. I also track very carefully the trends in interest rates, as this affects your total return on safe, interest-bearing investments such as bonds. Actually, despite my reputation as a gold prognosticator, my track record on interest rates is better.
Investing for Income
There are lots of above-average returns just waiting to be discovered. I will dig them out for you. This will help you take the compounding route to prosperity, as described in Safely Prosperous or Really Rich. For older Americans, this is crucial information to help them enjoy their golden years, knowing that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme that may not be there when they really need it.
Ruffonomics 101
Most of the economics you hear from Wall Street is just swill. Not only will I teach you real economics, I won't go down deep and come up dry. If you don't understand the economics of a market call, you shouldn't do it.
Disneyland on the Potomac
I have a free-market, libertarian political philosophy: I love my country, but sometimes I fear and distrust my government. Rarely does it meet or exceed expectations. Everything Washington does will inevitably affect your financial life. They spend 45 percent (and counting) of the gross national product and taxes are an avoidable fact of American life. They don't spend money like a drunken sailor—a drunken sailor spends his own money. I track proposed legislation on Social Security and Medicare. The political content is rarely partisan. I have a lot of respect for George W. Bush—he has been a tower of strength in defending our security against those who hate us, and as commander in chief that is his primary responsibility—but I am not a blind, partisan worshipper. Bush has also caved in to the big spenders, and this has given us the largest deficits in the history of the known universe. However, if Teddy Kennedy or Tom Daschle are your kind of guys, and you believe Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were great presidents, you probably won't like me. If you believe government must do more for us, rather than get out of our way and leave us alone, you will be uncomfortable here. If you believe we are undertaxed, you might as well go away now. Government is a terrible threat to all of us who aspire to be something more than a lockstep dependent of Uncle Nanny. I am an aggressive advocate of lower taxes and a smaller government.
How, and How Much?
You can sign up for one year for $139, or for two years for $230. You will receive another copy of this book to give to a friend or relative for each year. In either case, it is riskless, as I will refund your money in full if you ask for it within 90 days of the start of your subscription, and you may keep the issues you've received and the book.
How to Save Some Real Money
If you are willing to receive your subscription via the worldwide Web or e-mail, You can subscribe for only $99 a year, because we save a lot of money on postage and printing. This method of delivery has one big advantage for you—time! If you get The Ruff Times in the regular mail, it will arrive in your mailbox as many as 10 days after it is written, because of the time involved in printing, addressing, and mailing—to say nothing of delays caused by Uncle Sam's snail mail. If you get The Ruff Times electronically, it will come the day after it is written. Also, if I have an urgent bulletin between regular issues, you will get it immediately, but only electronically.
How to Subscribe
You can subscribe by telephone (1-801-224-3660), via e-mail ([email protected]), or via regular mail (P.O. Box 41, Orem, UT, 84059).
THE PRINCIPLES OF A MAVERICK
What I write grows out of deeply held principles, and here they are:
- I am a passionate believer in and defender of the capitalist free-market system.
- I believe that when government passes laws or regulations, it expands into space formerly occupied by freedom. Thomas Jefferson called government “a singularly dangerous beast, and it must be chained; and we have chosen to chain it with the Constitution.” I believe the beast is bursting its chains.
- I believe you should prepare for an independent life that does not depend on a government check, and I will help you do just that.
- I believe that God rules in the universe, and that his laws are eternal, and there is an appropriate place for him in the public square.
- I believe that our children are the hope of the future. We must neutralize the perverse doctrines taught them in the public schools and teach them about the founding and history of this great democratic republic and the virtues of the free-market capitalist system. If we don't, we are only one generation away from losing history's greatest experiment in human freedom.
- I believe that the real heroes of our society are the entrepreneurs who, like Columbus, are willing to lose sight of the safe, known shore to search for better solutions to life's problems; and that government should not penalize their success by taxing it. The rule is simple: If you want less of something, tax it, and that's just what you'll get. I am an entrepreneur and so are several of our children. I have started six companies; three of them failed, and three worked out just fine. I believe that success is rooted in the stubborn failures of this world who are willing to pick themselves up, brush off the dust, and dive back into the business fray with undiminished enthusiasm. That is the real America.
- I am a student of Austrian economics, which tells us how the real world works and touts gold as the appropriate centerpiece of the world's monetary system. I will teach you about this in terms that any reasonably bright high school graduate can understand.
Welcome aboard!