Q & A: How can I be Recession Proof?

A couple weeks ago I reached out to my colleagues and friends and asked them to challenge me by sending questions regarding finance and/or economic issues that they were unsure about (I sis not receive any questions about the Cubs).

Their responses were many and varied:
1.)How can I be recession proof?
2.)What is leverage?
3.)What, if any, are the benefits of using credit?
4.)How does a country get into debt? Who is that debt owed to?
5.)How do people dodge taxes using off-shore bank accounts?
6.)How does money laundering work?
7.)What are the details of the SEC case against Goldman Sachs? Is Paulson just getting away? Are other investment banks soon to follow?
8.)What do I do with my tax return?

I will attempt to answer these questions.

So now I will start with Question 1:

HOW CAN I BE RECESSION PROOF?

Vinyl's Coming Back in a BIG Way

Music has been a big part of my life. My Father bought me my first guitar (which I wish I would've picked up when I was 8 instead of 22) and would play me records when I was a kid. Hell, one of my first gifts that I can remember as a kid is a Fisher Price record player that played 45s.

Though I DESPISED being dragged to record stores when I was younger (this usually consisted of me pouting and throwing tantrums), it took me years to finally realize the significance of what he was trying to do: instill culture, rhythm, style, interest. All of these things are VITAL to success. My father wouldn't force his musical tastes on me, he just wanted me to believe in it; who or what band it may be didn't seem to matter to him.

Now it seems as if vinyl is coming back (this article is a GREAT read about the rebirth of vinyl as well as some sales numbers). So much so that there's a "holiday" called National Record Store Day (Saturday April 17th). I have taken a look at the list of artists that will be have released and concocted my own list of "nice to haves". Some of which I hope to get in an effort to start my own collection, others for friends, and maybe a couple to sell on a free market (there's the economics tie in).

So this weekend I will accompany my Father to celebrate National Record Store Day in Chicago. Some of these record stores I have been to many times before and I'm sure this trip will be reminiscent of days passed but with one exception-

I'll leave the tantrums at home.

Greenspan and Sex Panther

I was perusing the inter web and found this article about our former Chairman of the Fed, Alan Greenspan.

Greenspan is quoted as saying "When you've been in government for 21 years, as I have been, the issue of retrospect and what you should have done is a really futile activity," Greenspan said. "I was right 70% of the time. But I was wrong 30% of the time, and there were an awful lot of mistakes in 21 years," he added.

When I read the above underlined quote, I immediately thought of sex panther:



60% of the time, it works every time.

A Random Thought on MBAs and Prestige Schools

Many MBA students complain that they will not land a high-paying gig because they do not attend Northwestern or University of Chicago...you know, those prestige schools, my response to that is this; does a square dancing violinist need a stradivarious?

If you have confidence, talent and passion, IT WILL SHOW.

Besides, does a recession care if your degree says Kellogg on it?

Job Growth and the Resilient Recovery

Ok-this article is everywhere and I dropped the ball and didn't post it a couple days ago.

March jobs report shows growth

(I've included snippets)

Growth should have an asterisk because although the Labor Department said the economy gained 162,000 jobs in the month, 48,000 of these were for the Census; meaning that they are TEMPORARY jobs.

The average time those unemployed have been out of a job now stands at just under eight months, a record-long duration.

Almost 1 million more have become so discouraged that they've stopped looking for work altogether and are no longer counted in the unemployment rate.

But the number of discouraged job seekers fell by just over 200,000 since February, an indication that job seekers are also sensing an improving market and are again looking for work.

There are still 9.1 million people working part-time jobs who want to be working full-time, up more than 250,000 since February.

In other news: it took me like 5 minutes to spell "asterisk" correctly.