You can’t control the circumstances coming in 2015. No one knows exactly what’s going to happen in the market. But the only ones who lose sleep over what they can’t control are the ones without a plan. So be proactive. Plan out your 2015 so you have no time to worry or dwell on destructive thoughts. To get your mind on the job of making 2015 your best year yet, ask three pivotal questions:
1. What do I want out of 2015? Consider the precise changes that will really make this year stand out for you when you look back on it later.
2. Why do I want these things out of 2015? If you accomplish your goals, what is the deeper meaning that this will satisfy? Understanding the true motivation behind what you want is key to your success. The why behind your efforts has to be greater than the obstacles, sacrifices, and consequences.
3. How do I get there in 2015? Do an inventory check to assess what’s working and what isn’t. You can’t do the same thing you did in 2014 and expect different results. If you want to change what you’re getting, you have to change what you’re doing. What new activities and processes are you going to adopt and promote to yourself? (RealtorMag Online 1/15)
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All posts for the month February, 2015
Robert Smalls, born into slavery in 1839, was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives at the dawn of the Reconstruction era. A staunch advocate for African-American voting rights, Smalls proposed resolutions at the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention that protected black voters and pushed the state to create the nation’s first public school system.
Smalls represented South Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives by serving in the 44th, 45th, 47th, 48th and 49th Congresses. During his five congressional terms, Smalls continued to fight for black political representation and participation in politics as a member of the Republican Party. In 1895, Smalls refused to sign an amendment to the South Carolina state Constitution that essentially revoked the voting rights given to blacks in the 1868 constitutional rewrite, laying the foundation for Jim Crow laws in the state.
JUST PLAIN DUMB! We are technically at war….DID YOU ALL KNOW THAT THIS AFFECTS MANY OTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, LIKE FEMA, AND CDC, TOO! ARE WE AT WAR? DO WE HAVE A BORDER PROBLEM- OBVIOUSLY NOT- THEN WHAT WAS ALL THE ARGUING FOR THE LAST 6 YEARS. REPUBLICANS…UGHHHHHHHH!
Following the Second World War, the G. I. Bill of Rights (or, “G.I. bill”) greatly expanded the population of African Americans attending college and graduate school, forming a “crack in the wall of racism that had surrounded the American university system.”
Because of the prevailing social climate that existed in the United States after World War II, one in which racism was a prominent factor, African Americans did not benefit from the provisions of the G. I. Bill nearly as much as their European American counterparts. Though the bill did provide a more level playing field than the one blacks faced during Reconstruction, this is not saying much. Representative John Elliott Rankin, who was also an avid segregationist and racist, sponsored the bill in the United States House of Representatives. Although the law did not specifically advocate discrimination, the social climate of the time dictated that the law would be interpreted differently for blacks than for whites.
Once they returned home after the war, blacks faced not only discrimination but also poverty, which confronted most blacks during the 1940s and 1950s and represented another barrier to harnessing the benefits of the G.I. Bill, as poverty made seeking an education problematic to while labor and income were needed at home. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), because of its strong affiliation to the all-white[1] American Legion and VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars), also became a formidable foe to many blacks in search of an education because it had the power to deny or grant the claims of black G.I.s. Additionally, banks and mortgage agencies refused loans to blacks, making the G.I. Bill even less effective for blacks.
This write up is referenced from:
Hilary Herbold, “Never A Level Playing Field: Blacks and the G.I. Bill,” The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, (Winter, 1994–1995), 104-105,107,108.
Mark Boulton, “How the G.I. Bill Failed African-American Vietnam War Veterans,” THE JOURNAL OF BLACKS IN HIGHER EDUCATION, Number 58, Winter 2007/08, 57-61.
Humes, Edward, “How the G.I. Bill Shunted Blacks into Vocational Training.” The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no. 53 (Autumn, 2006), pp. 92–104,
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission just adopted strict net-neutrality rules that will treat the Internet like a public utility. What’s in the new regulations? There are three major principles that Internet-service providers—like Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon—have to follow when sending data from their networks to your computer:
No Blocking
Internet providers can’t prevent you from accessing “legal content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices” when you’re on the Internet. This is intended to prevent censorship and discrimination of specific sites or services. Some open-Internet advocates worry the phrase “legal content” will create a loophole that might let Internet providers block stuff they see as questionable on copyright grounds without a fair hearing.
No Throttling
Internet providers can’t deliberately slow down data from applications or sites on the Internet. That means, for instance, that a broadband company has to let all traffic flow equally, regardless of whether it’s coming from a competitor or a streaming video service like Netflix that uses a lot of data.
No Paid Prioritization
Internet providers can’t charge content providers extra to bring their data to you faster. That means no Internet “fast lanes,” because regulators fear they will lead to degraded service for anyone not willing to pay more.
If content providers or the networks that underly the Internet complain about Internet providers acting as gatekeepers for their users, the FCC says it will have the authority “to hear complaints and take appropriate enforcement action if necessary, if it determines the interconnection activities of ISPs are not just and reasonable.” It’s not clear yet what that will mean in practice.
Gov. Chris Christie (R, NJ) is scrambling to satisfy an irate judge who ordered him (last year) to follow his legislature’s adopted law (which he signed) and properly fund his state’s pension fund. The amount that he is now in the hole? It’s grown to $1.56 billion.
Gov. Bobby Jindal (R, LA) is scrambling to find a way to cover his state’s $1.6 billion deficit, after he let BP off the hook for destroying the Gulf’s ecology, and with it, his state’s economy.
Gov. Scott Walker (R, WI) is trying to pay for his state’s financial collapse by screwing the hell out of education. Neighboring Minnesota, with a nearly identical population size, is prosperous. But Walker’s Wisconsin is a whopping $1.8 billion in the hole.
Deciphering Depreciation
Depreciation refers to the value of property that’s lost over time due to wear, tear, and obsolescence. In the case of improvements to a rental home, you can deduct a portion of that lost value every year over a set number of years. Carpeting and appliances in a rental home, for example, are usually depreciated over five years.
You can begin depreciating the value of the entire rental property as soon as the rental home is ready for tenants and you hold it out for rent, even if you don’t yet have any tenants. In general, you depreciate the value of the home itself (but not the portion of the cost attributable to land) over 27.5 years. You’ll have to stop depreciating once you recover your cost or you stop renting out the home, whichever comes first. Depreciation is a valuable tax break, but the calculations can be tricky and the exceptions many. Read IRS Publication 946, “How to Depreciate Property,” for additional information, and use Form 4562 come tax time. You may need to consult a tax adviser. (HOuselogic)
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