Sunday, November 13, 2016

Question Power

The Power of Self-Questioning


The questions we ask ourselves determine who we become. Never stop questioning. Better questions lead to better answers and better answers leads to a better life. Great questions lead to the truth and only the truth can set you free. Here are seven powerful questions I ask you so you can ask yourself. Suggest you take a pad of paper and 30 minutes of your time to think and write down your answers. This exercise will prove to be very valuable for you to be a better person and to live a better life.

1.     Does your work ethic meet your vision? Why?

2.     Does the size of your commitment meet the size of your dreams? Why?

3.     Is the value you bring to those you serve bigger than your rewards? Why?

          4.     Is the size of your questions bigger than the size of your answers? Why?

5.     Is the noise of the world stifling your creativity? Why?

6.     Does your current reality make you mad? Why?

7.     Are you investing more to feed your mind than your body? Why?

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets.          

Be blessed and be a blessing to others
Carlos Fontana
Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."

"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

Saturday, November 5, 2016

America is waking up

Why my vote is against Clinton?

This time my vote is against and not for a candidate. Therefore, I have to vote for Trump or I am voting for Clinton. Any vote other than for Trump is a vote for Clinton. A vote for the same failed policies. My spine is a lot stiffer this time than the previous election. For evil to prevail all we have to do is nothing, sit on the sideline as spectators, and watch as the once great nation crumbles down into mediocrity. One of the great skills of Donald Trump is to pick the right team of people to get the job done. I am voting more for the team that Trump will pick than for Trump himself. He has already proven this skill by his choice of Vice-President, Mike Pence, an experienced, honest and decent family man.

Here is why I am voting against Clinton:
1.    I am against abortion.
I am for life and not for death of the unborn.

2.    I am against a borderless world.
I am for the sovereignty of the United States of America.

3.    I am against one world government.
I am for decentralization.
There is already too much power and corruption in our central government.

4.    I am against something for nothing.
I am for working for something.
I am for distinction and recognition for producing the right results.


5.    I am against corruption.
I am for truth, honesty, and decency.
I am for a new and strong leadership team in our government.

6.    I am against a weak America.
I am for a strong, better America.
I am for peace through strength.

7.    I am against evil.
I am for good.
I am for fighting against our enemies instead of appeasing to them.

Trump has an ego bigger than our nation. Why not let his ego work to produce great results for us and for our nation? American is waking up. This election is going to make history, let it be a good one!

Vote and vote wisely on November 8, 2016!

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets.          

Be blessed and be a blessing to others
Carlos Fontana
Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."
"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."


Tuesday, October 25, 2016

What happened to the truth?

What happened to the truth?
The danger of relativism and plain deception
 


If you control the language you control their thinking and their culture. Give them little doses of deception and they will be cooked like the frog in a kettle, a little at time. A society is doomed when it can no longer deal with reality because the people are living in a state of illusion.

Political correctness is deceiving our society to the point of people being numb to the truth. Political correctness is elusive, misleading, and plain stupid. Sounds like a Trump word. No wonder the establishment and the media hates Trump while the people are going by the 10s of thousands to his public meetings. Could he be speaking the truth in a language that people can understand? Progressive populists and relativists are destroying the fabric of our nation. Political correctness has created a massive and aggressive mediocrity in America.



Why not use plain, direct, and descriptive language so people can understand. When the truth makes us mad perhaps it is time to do something about it. Vote them out! How about calling things for what they are? Here are 7 misleading terms with their corresponding translations:

1.      Post-traumatic stress disorder. Translation - shell shock, a term used to describe the impact of horrors on the soldiers coming out of World War I. How did we get there? By going from shell shock to battle fatigue to operational exhaustion to post-traumatic stress disorder. The new four word description lessens the blow, doesn’t it?

2.      Vertically deployed antipersonnel devices. Translation – bombs. You figure this one out! Hint! It explodes and kills.

3.      Employee alignment. Translation – firing. How did we get there? By going from firing to re-engineering to down-sizing to right-sizing to employee alignment. I am sure there are many other fancy terms used to denote firing.

4.      Federal Reserve Bank. Translation – private without any reserves. Go to the Fed site at your own risk! There you may find this very clear language. Reverse Repos - In 2013, the Fed began to issue reverse repos to banks. The Fed "borrows" money from banks overnight. It pays them interest for this "loan." It uses its holdings of U.S. Treasuries as collateral. Like all repurchase agreements, banks don't record it as a loan. The interest it pays will support the Fed funds rate as the Fed gradually raises it. I am so glad you understood!

5.      Fractional Reserve Banking. Translation – fake money loaning. Banks are allowed to loan out 10 times the money they have in reserves. The banks loan fake money to you and me and we are required to pay back in real money; you know that portion of your paycheck.  Imagine if depositors all go to their banks at the same time and demand their money!

6.      Quantitative Easing. Translation – fake currency printing. When the federal government needs money the Fed issues fake currency out of thin air, sends it to the banks and charges interest for doing it. That is why it is called Fiat money. There is no back up for it whatsoever. Imagine you going to your basement and turn on your money printing machine and take the money to the bank to pay off your mortgage. Advice. Don’t do it! You will be charged with fraud, be arrested, and go to jail.

7.      Just and sustainable economy. Translation – socialism. It is not just and not sustainable; we all ought to know that! Socialism comes disguised in so many terms and all of the descriptions on the surface sound right and just.

And the list can go on and on. Here is a little more jargon for you: Affordable Housing Disposition Program, Liquidation Grade Federal Employee, Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit, and Expanded Counterparties for Reverse Repos.



Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets.          

Be blessed and be a blessing to others
Carlos Fontana
Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."
"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."


Sunday, October 23, 2016

7 Reasons to Vote for Hillary

America is already great!
The 7 reasons to vote Democratic in this presidential election


Don’t you just love these Hillary Clinton’s quotes?
"God bless the America we are trying to create."
"We are going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
 “Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs.”
"Who is going to find out? These women are trash. Nobody’s going to believe them."
"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."
"I believe that the rights of women and girls is the unfinished business of the 21st century."
"The American people are tired of liars and people who pretend to be something they're not."
"I have to confess that it's crossed my mind that you could not be a Republican and a Christian."
"No. We just can't trust the American people to make those types of choices ... Government has to make those choices for people."
"We came out of the White House not only dead-broke, but in debt. We had no money when we got there and we struggled to piece together the resources for mortgages, for houses, for Chelsea's education. It was not easy."
"I have to admit that a good deal of what my husband and I have learned (about Islam) has come from my daughter. (As) some of you who are our friends know, she took a course last year in Islamic history."  (My daughter!  Wonder who the father is?)


Want more of the same? Here the 7 reasons people are voting for the democratic candidate in this election:

1.      Increase national debt and unfunded obligations. What is lovely about being a democratic government politician is the appetite for spending.  We love to spend someone else’s money. We are the best at it. All government spending is third party spending (we spend someone else’s money for someone else) but we really care about getting the best value for your buck. Our current national debt is sustainable. As a percent of GDP, it is even lower than what it was right after World War II. Our economic system is so great that the rest of the world is copying us. If we take the government economy, cut out 8 zeros, it becomes your economy, the economy of one American. Imagine you make $30,000 per year, spend $40,000 per year (easy to make ends meet, just borrow $10,000), have a short term liability of $200,000, and a long term liability of $1,500,000. That is not so bad. It just means that anyone born today will be forever broke. Besides, ff things get really bad we just go to the Federal Reserve Bank. The folks at the Fed are pure geniuses; they create money out of thin air.  Being deep in debt is a great thing. It all means the financial institutions have enormous trust in us. Our economic system is working so well that our citizens are starting to follow our brilliant model. Governments can solve any economic problem, as they have been doing for thousands of years. How? It is brilliantly done by fractional reserve banking and quantitative easing. These are just two of the many simple methods that work because they are simple and everyone understands them. Since global economies are growing so rapidly, future generations will easily pay any debt we leave for them.


2.      Increase taxation. Two of the many ways for government use to keep helping the masses is to increase our debt and taxation on the rich. Tax those that produce and give to those that do not have the ability to produce. It is so simple! Many problems will be resolved since the businesses that oppose the democratic thinking will be leaving the nation. Our nation is the greatest and will always be the greatest. Don’t know why the republicans are so worried about the future.

3.      Decrease production and productivity. Why work if there is plenty to share with everyone? Businesses are bad for our nation, unless they are owned by democrats (those are great businesses because they work very close with our government and don’t desire to make a profit). Educating our workers is not a good thing as they may start thinking for themselves and may end up revolting against us. We must become a more peaceful nation.

4.      Decrease national security and safety. Let’s all live in a single governed world with open borders. We have so many friends around the world. They all love America. Pay for play with foreign governments is a wonderful way to make new friends and collect donations. There are so many wealthy nations in this world. Illegals turn out to be very productive citizens. We must continue to be a compassionate nation and welcome anyone in. This is the best way to increase our standard of living and improve our culture. Diversity is really marvelous especially if it comes from the Middle East.

5.      Increase regulations. The more regulations the better it is.  We must place a burden on all businesses to prevent them from becoming too powerful. Besides business is the main cause of problems in our nation.  In a true global market we all help each other so there is no need for this complicated and stressful competitiveness. We must regulate the profit of businesses so we can take in more of their money and share with those that don’t have any.

6.      Increase centralization. We have done so well with education and healthcare. Now the time has come to move on to all others areas where government is not involved yet. It is dangerous to let local governments and communities govern themselves and their future, they just don’t know how. Reliance on government is wonderful since working together we can solve local all problems in the nation. Local communities are not unique and they have the same problems and capabilities so a central government is the most effective way to run a nation.

7.      Don’t fix the unbroken political system. People love us as it is demonstrated by their love and confidence in our government. People are tired of this government by the people and for the people. It is way too difficult to make it run smoothly. The current system is very effective since the lobbyists are helping the government to create laws and regulations reducing the number of federal employees needed to run the nation. The current careers in government are very attractive to employees as evidenced by the many bright minds all lined up and hungry to serve in government.


Can you understand now why anyone in their bright mind would not vote for me?

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets.          

Be blessed and be a blessing to others
Carlos Fontana
Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."
"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."


Friday, September 16, 2016

7 Nuggets for Entrepreneurs

7 Nuggets for Entrepreneurs

Why have you surrendered your dreams so you can live a mundane life?


1.      What we lack is faith not knowledge.
2.      Creation is the highest form of achievement.
3.      Everything becomes easy when you are inspired.
4.      Learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.
5.      Don’t ask for easy life ask for an exhilarating journey.
6.      The safest route to the life of your dreams is the entrepreneur’s route.
7.      Security today is only found in voracious learning and high quality thinking.

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets.          

Be blessed and be a blessing to others
Carlos Fontana
Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."
"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Robbing our own children

Robbing the children

Yes, our society is robbing from our children. We are compromising the future of our children by leaving them an astronomical debt burden. The debt inheritance is a topic for another day. Today I will focus on robbing our children by overprotecting them, preventing them from the necessary struggles so they can achieve their own victories. We are not helping our children by overprotecting them, be it from physical scratch to hurting their feelings. Life will hit them hard if they do not learn to deal with things while under our parenting and guidance. The difficulties that come while we are growing up must be accepted as ways to get us ready to live a real life, a fulfilling life. Ultimately, difficulties come to prepare us for our final dwelling place, a place of total freedom. Here are 10 things I learned from my parents, formally uneducated but wise parents, specially my dad that served me well to deal with carrying my cross through life. Have you reflected on your life to come up with a similar list? Do you have a list for the things you are passing on to your children? What is your legacy going to be?


1.      Discipline. It is a lot easier not to discipline our children when they are young but there is a high price for them to pay later in life. If we don’t do it while they are young the world will do it later, and it can have lifelong consequences. Warriors are not born, they are made. Have you ever encountered a warrior without self-disciple? Good luck finding one.

2.      Hard work. Learn to work from a very young age. Chose the hard life early on and life will get easier and easier. Work habits must be instilled very early in life. Work becomes joy when it is directed towards worthy goals and dreams. We are robbing our children from their goals and dreams if we do not teach them to start working while they are young.

3.      Respect for others. Be nice to everyone. It does not cost you a dime and the rewards are incredible. When you respect everyone as a child of God you will start earning their trust.

4.      Respect for money. Those that don’t respect little money will not respect big money. If you don’t care about one cent you will not care for one million. What really matters is what you do with what is left. Be a great steward of money and money will multiply as a powerful tool to help you do lots of good with it.

5.      Early rise. There is something powerful about rising early, breathing that fresh morning air. Get to bed early to get enough rest.

6.      Health. Never skimp on good meals. Health is not the place to be stingy.

7.      Friends. Choose your friends wisely. Hang around people that challenge you to make you better.

8.      Planning. Life is unpredictable and fragile. Uncertainty is certain. We might as well expect the unexpected and deal with it head on.

9.      Courage. Courage is the currency of warriors. Courage is necessary for the achievement of anything worthy of securing. Go where other don’t dare to go. If you just follow the crowd, do what they do, you get what they get, not much.

10.  Sacrifice. Sacrifice is not a bad thing. Sacrifice leads to the production of sacred things. Always be ready to help those in need. Encourage them to endure their treacherous journeys. We all have our cross to carry. Understand the circumstances that led you to your cross. Don’t whine about it. Your greatness will come from your struggles. Blessed are those who carry their burdens and the burdens of others by sharing all burdens with Christ who makes all things possible. 



Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets.          

Be blessed and be a blessing to others
Carlos Fontana
Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."
"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."


Friday, September 2, 2016

When the ends don’t meet

When the ends don’t meet
Why the ends are no longer meeting? Here is a healthy dose of brutal reality. People are taxed until death, living a lot longer, and the government loves you for that. Government officials are laughing all the way to their banks. You have heard the saying that two things are certain, death and taxes; it is truer today than ever before.

1.      Increased Taxation. Since 1913 when the government got the power to tax citizens directly, there has been a dramatic increase in the number and level of taxation. Income tax (federal, state, local), property tax, sales tax, gas tax, energy tax, communication tax, tax, tax, tax, …, and a lot more tax. When is it enough? Never. Thank God there is an end to life; there is no end to taxation. There is death tax too. As president Reagan used to say - there we go again! Change is needed, but before it happens, the government by the elite for the elite, that are taxing their people to death, must be dethroned.

2.      Inflation. The hidden tax. Governments love inflation. Government prints more fake money to keep more people in poverty. No wonder people are struggling. In the last 15 years real wages real wages for Americans have gone down 8% while the cost of staying alive went up 43%. Imagine losing half of your purchasing ability in just half a generation. Our president just used another executive order to give the military a 1.7% pay increase. The military raise is lower than the private sector raise for the fourth consecutive year. Then, feels he is entitled to an 18% increase in his pay for perpetuity!

3.      Debt and Interest. When the ends don’t meet, banks have a solution for you. Debt is now the modern, voluntary form of slavery. Imagine the average person slaving away working extra time, extra jobs, to service the debt. Instant gratification ends up costing your freedom.

4.      Increased Life Expectancy and More Unhealthy Care. Technology is helping people live longer. No wonder the government wants to control the healthcare industry as well. It is a monster industry. The government is telling us that they know best how to care for us. If you buy into that you definitely believe a crooked female politician ought to become our next president.

5.      Social Insecurity and No Pension. Social security and pensions were never created to be relied totally upon.  Yet, the majorities of people believes and are relying upon them. Government then created 401Ks and other retirement plans so we can manage the money for them. Not so bad idea if you are the government and the banks.

6.      Re-tire!  Retirement was created in the industrial age to convince people to get into doing unpleasant jobs in exchange for a promise of being taking care of in their golden years. The industrial age is gone, and with it goes the retirement promise. Get used to the idea of never re-tiring. Learn to do something you love, get good at it, and do it until the day you die; that way you will not have to get tired again! Get into creative leisure and you will love what you become.


7.      Solution - Entrepreneurship. Security is no longer where it used to be. Security used to be found in a safe and secure job (where are they?), with great benefits, with a great company that is loyal to its employees (got pink slip?). Now is the time to wake up and smell, and drink, the coffee. Count on no one. Invest in yourself. You are the best asset. Build the right kind of assets that generate the right kind of income. Drastic global economic changes are coming. As an entrepreneur you will be prepared to deal with the new reality. Despite all the above, the burdens placed upon them, Americans are the greatest people on earth. Americans refuse to give up. They continue to be inventive, tenacious, and ingenious to build enterprises that benefit the world. Americans are who they are and do what they do because the nation was created to be the greatest nation, a land guided by Godly principles where anyone with a dream can achieve what they set their minds and hearts to achieve, despite the hardships placed on them by their own government. And that my dear reader is the chief reason why so many foreign people want to come to America. America is a place where one can temporarily suspend reality, dream big and still believe that things are possible and our Creator is on our side.


When ends don’t meet we become negatively stretched and stressed and energy is wasted. When ends meet we tolerate life and settle for the mundane. When ends overlap we become strong and free to pursue something much greater than ourselves.

Thank you for reading and reflecting on today’s nuggets.          

Be blessed and be a blessing to others
Carlos Fontana
Author of the book Priceless, Co-author of the book Follow to Lead

"The future belongs to those who can see and pursue opportunities before they are obvious."
"Those that take swift action will always leave those that don't breathing the dust."