Update MONYC: Life, Money, Things Of Interest

If there's one curious thing in the world, it's the feeling that things are going to be okay even though there's every reason to know otherwise. The kind of force or feeling that comes without really thinking it. I think that when you "just know", you're brain is telling you there's more than meets the eye.

That's how I feel about bad money situations and I think it's worth a second thought for all you who are struggling out there. Think about it folks. It's a brick wall until you find the door, and all the sudden it's an exit. There's another side to money then they show you on TV, I'm telling you.

Don't give up.

Let's go to the updates.

Life

I'm just about done my post for Friday Traffic Report. I'm not a trained reporter so all that information gathering really blocked up my time from blogging, twittering, and making some money. After that I can chill back and work on other things I've been dying to get to do. Which would be ... blogging, twittering and making some money :)

Sometimes I'm not sure about this design here on Blogger. I love blogger, but I'm still struggling a little with the design. Where it says, follow me on twitter, there's supposed to be some graphics. All the other graphics show, but this one wont. The tweaking continues folks. Should I really move it all to Wordpress?

The blog has a hashtag on twitter to continue the conversation. Use #MoNYC anytime you want to talk about the posts or anything related to the blog. Comment on posts, suggest ideas, start a conversation. In fact, you should do it right after you read this post. Get it going. Sound off :)

Money

The headlines say "Obama Takes Over GM". Our president requested resignation from GM's CEO Rick Wagoner which was quickly follwed by his announcement that he would step down. It seems the government is now tasked with steering the company's future. I've said before, we buy and sell according to situation. If we don't control the situation, though, we stop handling the buy and sell part. Looks like that's happening right now. What do you think?

We saw the gov't taking heat on AIG million dollar bonuses. Now comes the part about the rest of the billions of dollars they took from us. It's my favorite game of Follow The Money, as The New York Daily News reports. I had my opinion last week on keeping control of your money. Keep Congress and wild bailout taking CEO's in check! Does anyone else have an opinion on this?

Veggie gardens seem to be the rage. People like to feed themselves and grow their own food if they could, ABC reports. Do any of you have a veggie garden? Let me know, especially if you blog about it. I want to know. Get @ me if you have veggie gardens or know everything about them. Make a comment, email me, or tweet it up, yo!

Things Of Interest

You know, team, pretty soon all this google and blog technology is going to hit our backyards. Instead of instant access to the world, people are going to be using search and social media to talk about local news and local business. I've got my foot in the door on that money making opportunity. I'm looking for people get in while the potential is hot.

I'm a part of a local search project and if you're curious, I can get you some great information on starting your own local search directory. You set your own rates, the technical website stuff is maintained by the best of crews. You get full training, support, an the perks of being a part of our move into the local search market. This is a project that helps everyone involved, including your future customers. Good stuff. More money, without more problems.

If you need a real home based business to start, this is great for people who want to work in their neighborhoods. You should see if you can do this with me. Email me, christopher@merchantofnewyorkcity.com, with the subject line "I want a local search business", and I'll hook you up with great money making information.

Read more...

Be In Charge Of Your Money

I had one o' those epiphany's. Been getting them a lot lately. I thought I should take the time to tie some of them into the blog. This one's about being in charge of your money. It has nothing to do with financial planning so much as laying a claim to this inherited right as a user of money.

I'd rather you get the idea than dig into the technicalities of it all, because if you do, the rest seems to take care of itself. If I asked you to lift that weight, you're not going to get it done the same way as everyone else, but you'll find a way as long as you I told you to lift the weight.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You buy, and you sell, according to your own situation. I think that's the heart of personal finance. The minute you don't understand your situation is the minute, someone's duped you a little bit. Like say, in the case of this entire country. If we find ourselves broke and bewildered by our own situation, as a group, we've been duped a little bit.

You are not that dumb, team. We know the deal. We just have to start asking those pesky questions. Now y'all be careful out there in that economy ya dig?

Read more...

Geithner, Bernake On The Hill This Morning Talking AIG, Our Nation's Cash

How do you legislate so that we control how a giant company pays it's people?

I'm listening right now to Secretary Geithner speaking to the House Committee about what went down with AIG, the insurance giant which was effectively nationalized under United States authority. Millions in taxpayer money was handed to AIG execs in the form of bonuses for the stupendous job they have done for all of us.

He's facing scrutiny on Capitol Hill on the fiasco, and being grilled on the lack of oversight with which millions of dollars were funneled to execs and other wasteful spending activity. It's a tough legal battle for sure, don't you think?

I think you have to call it like you see it, to begin with.

The government owns AIG by a majority. And by government, I mean us since taxpayers are the people government serves. We are so afraid of this socialism monster, we neglect what's actually happened. We own AIG. If we want to control compensation we have to make peace with the fact that this government has voted ownership into out hands.

Then we need to get values straight on how we take on cases like this. We do that through discussion and agreements. Citizen groups need to organize and work with government officials on these issues. That's just this American's opinion.

But isn't it a little harder to do all that under the pressure of recession, job loss, and credit crunches? Dont you notice that the front men on TV with solutions are people who are not in so much money trouble?

I hope I can shed light as we go foward about the nature of the money we use and how it leads to the shaping of our lives ... for instance, our participation in this government.

Read more...

Update MONYC: My Life, Your Money, Special Messages

Man, this past week was something else. Lots of reading to do on my part. All kinds of sleep imbalances. But ... I'll have you know that I took zero Ambien or any of that nonsense. You just mosey on and lose that sleep. You'll get it back, it's kind of natural I think.

Let's take a look at the update

My Life

Still working that gig for Jack Humphrey. Expect to see my feature post on The Friday Traffic Report some time in the beginning of April, my B-day month!

Construction is still going on here. Web design is tough on Blogger. For some reason, the pics randomly load up and disappear. I dunno what's going on. I'm tempted to switch to Wordpress unless I can get a designer friend to straighten this out. Get @ me if that's you.

I still intend to share some thoughts on Madoff, Kramer, and our latest national money woes. Be on the lookout. And if there's anything you want to see my thoughts on that I haven't said yet, just make a mention of it in the comments so I know.

Your Money

To be honest, I don't like the news of recent weeks. There's nada that you didn't hear in the last update so instead, why don't I give you some some great ideas on putting more money in your pocket without the problems. No strings.

Are you keeping your job or business in this recession?

Keep those doors open. Go to your company's "competitors" and propose that if someone walks away from a sale, each of you will refer the lost customer to the other vendor. Agree to divide the earnings and you both win a second chance at selling the customer.

Do you want to survive the early years of freelancing?

Sometimes you just aren't good enough to do the advanced stuff for customers. Do the simple work then. But go for all your leads. If it's beyond your skill, hand it to people better than you. Agree with them beforehand that you would divide the commissions and everyone gets money.

Do you have little kids around you right now? Read this or have them read this ...

When your parents need a help with something, always offer to do it. Do it as much as you can so you're good at it. Be the best helper and learn to help with different things. Like wash the car or walk a pet. If you do it for you're parents long enough you'll be good at it. You can ask mom or dad if you can do it for people they know. If they say yes and set it up, you can ask mom or dad's friends to pay you money in exchange for your help. If they say yes, you can have money like mom or dad.

Special Message for MONYC readers

"... In a time where my president, The President of The United States Of America is calling on Americans to step and help save our country ... but isn't really telling you how ... there are beacons of hope." - Chris Flores

They aren't on TV much, if at all. You won't likely hear them on the radio. But they are alive and well, and extremely skilled at getting money. They have been through a recession before and came out on top and they will do this again. Some of them are practically hidden. But some are not and are among us right now.

I know the identity of one of those money masters, and I am part of your solutions.

If you and people you care about want the skill and aide of this money master, all of you, email me at christopher(at)merchantofnewyorkcity.com with the subject line: money master.

Remind me who your are and your money troubles and I'll send you all the information you need to get more money without more problems.

Happy Monday Y'all

Read more...

Make a St Patricks Week. We Could Give A ...

Thaat's right, here at MONYC, we love culture, we love music, and we like to break the rules. Officially it's St. Patrick's Day. But lets get our Celtic on all week if we want. Celebrate your Irishness, or lackthereof, with Youtube and music. Beer is optional :)

These are just some videos this lad is groovin' too this week. Send me more cool ones if ya have any.

Morrison Jig

Boston Kiltics

Coors and Cheiftians AWSOME

Read more...

If I Could Retire In Some City And Money Was No Object ...

A lot of people ask me what I would do if I had all the money in the world.

Nadia, from NadiaThinks thinks she would spend her golden years in Monterosso, Italy. I say come to Arthur Ave. in the city. We got all the Italia you could handle. FO-GETABOUT-IT!

Ladieve from Plinky, also says Italy. You kiddin me? Hey, come to Brooklyn, we'll give you that lovely enhanced pizza made in America. FO-GETABOUT-IT!

Actually scratch that because the price went up but it's still sooo good. All jokes aside, Where would I retire? What else can I say, I love my city.

I'll spend my golden years in New York, NY. I'm Nuyorican through and through. The East River runs through my veins. I'd probably name my dog Hudson. I'd run for Mayor and fund renewable energy and affordable housing. I'd bring money back to poor folk. I'd make the place home to business AND people with families and kiddies who like to play in the park.

Read more...

Current Events at MerchantOfNewYorkCity.com: My Life, Your Money, Things Of Interest

Things are picking up around here, I have to say. It's just about time for spring break, I think we're about a few days into it. Some people are partying hard. Unfortunately, this guy is hardly partying. Not the place I wanna be but whatcha gonna do, you know what I mean?

Let's take a look at current events:

My Life

Well we got out first commenter on the homeless children piece I did the other day. Her name is Veronica and she is a blogger in training at Blog Success, the wildly successful blog training center. Veronica we wish you well and hope you visit again. I'll respond to comments this week.

Speaking of blogging, yours truly may soon be featured on Jack Humphrey's Friday Traffic Report, your guide to all things traffic. I was recently given the green light to begin my magic. If all goes well this would be the second featured post on the popular blog. Wish me luck.

Construction on Merchantofnewyorkcity.com is almost complete. Soon to be featured on the blog are social media buttons to find me elsewhere on the blogosphere, an email form to keep up with the kid here, and solid gateways to proven methods of taking control of the money you earn. Be on the lookout.

Your Money

Still sucks. We are still in a recession. People are still messing with our money left and right. This week the news wires are jam packed with all the lies, deceit and money issues we can handle and then some.

There's a lot to talk, folks, and you can bet I'll be highlighting a lot of these stories in the coming weeks. If there was ever a time you wondered if I had the right idea about the world we live in, this week would be your proof in the pudding.

Here are just some of the things that went on this past week;

• Here's another headache from CNN on why you can't get a mortgage - If I was a home appraiser, I'd be soo mad at all this hooplah. For aspiring homeowners ... isn't this just ridiculous?
  
• Find out how victims of the greatest money scam ever are fighting back to get their money back - Bernie may have made off like a bandit, but the fight doesn't end there. For many retiree's, the battle for their lives has just begun
  
• In this story, some evidence of our government and our representatives just as confused about money as we are. - I don't think it'll take too long to figure out that people are being all too clear about money and government policy with this article.

Things of Interest:

You might not have noticed yet, but I'm a social media student. I pay attention to how things are changing in the blogosphere and in our culture. Lately the trend towards Facebook and Twitter have found opportunity seekers and stalkers adding thousands of people as friends. The idea is to solicit as much information, attention, and money as possible. Clearly this is NOT the way to go.

Social Networking and Publicity Expert Nancy Marmolejo is holding a webinar to try and correct some of the wild rumors and shed light on how to go about using popular social media platforms. I'm going to listen in on it. If you'd like to join in you can register here

Read more...