Tag: inheritence

Hey someone is going to give me 18.5 million dollars! What do you know!

Wow! Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts. Eh?

"I am Mrs amelia freya, a widow suffering from a long illness. I have some funds I inherited from my late husband, the sum of (US$ 18.5 Million) my Doctor told me recently that I have serious sickness which is a cancer problem. What disturbs me most is my stroke sickness.

Having known my condition, I decided to donate this fund to a good person that will utilize it the way I am going to instruct herein. I need a very honest and God fearing person who can claim this money and use it for Charity works, for orphanages, widows and also build schools for less privileges that will be named after my late husband if possible and to promote the word of God and the effort that the house of God is maintained. 

I do not want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly manner.That's why I'm taking this decision. I'm not afraid of death so I know where I'm going. I accept this decision because I do not have any child who will inherit this money after I die. 

Please I want your sincere and urgent answer to know if you will be able to execute this project, and I will give you more information on how the fund will be transferred to your bank account."

Sometimes when something is too good to be true, it actually is.

The Trojan Horse

From HERE.

In the tenth year of the Trojan War, despairing at their inability to take the city by storm, the Greeks resorted to a cunning little stratagem.

Truth be told, “little” may not be the proper word for it, because the central part of the plan – devised by who else but Odysseus – included the construction of an enormous wooden horse.

Almost everybody knows why it had been built and who lay hidden inside the hollow belly of the statue.

However, the whole story is a bit more complicated than that; and it includes several memorable episodes you can find out more about below.

The Stratagem

Epeius and the Construction of the Horse

Now, for Odysseus’ plan to work, the Greeks needed a master-engineer; fortunately, they did have one in their ranks: Epeius.

True, he had the reputation of being a coward, but as far as architecture was considered, there weren’t many people on the planet who could rival him both in knowledge and vision.

He needed no more than three days and just a few helpers to build a huge hollow horse of fir planks, felled on Mount Ida.

Following the advice of Odysseus, Epeius also installed a trap-door on one side of the wooden horse, and engraved large letters on the other:

“For their return home, the Greeks dedicate this thank-offering to Athena.”

The Heroes in the Horse

Once the Wooden Horse had been built, Odysseus proceeded to persuade the bravest and the most skillful of the Greek warriors present at Troy to climb, fully armed, into its belly. Some say that there were 23 of them, while others speculate with numbers between 30 and 50.

Either way, we know for sure that, in addition to Odysseus, Menelaus, Diomedes, Neoptolemus, Acamas, Sthenelus, and Thoas were also there.

Even though hesitant and scared stiff, Epeius joined the party as well: he was, after all, the only one who knew how to operate the trap-door.

The Rest of the Plan

Once the night had fallen, the remaining Greeks burned their tents and, led by Agamemnon, sailed off to the nearby island of Tenedos.

The plan was to stay there for a night and then go back to Troy. Odysseus’s first cousin, Sinon, was the only one left behind; and for a reason: he was supposed to signal them the appropriate moment for their return.

Source: https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/The_Myths/The_Trojan_Horse/the_trojan_horse.html

The Discovery of the Trojan Horse

Priam, Thymoetes, and Capys

At break of day, the Trojan scouts were met with a sight that must have been beyond joyful: the camp of the Greeks lay in ashes, deserted and all but empty. Priam and his sons immediately went out to witness this miracle with their own eyes; and, of course, the only thing they could find there was a giant wooden horse dedicated to Athens.

They stood in wonder for some time, before Thymoetes suggested that they should take the horse into Troy and pull it up to Athens’ citadel. Capys, however, had other ideas.

“We should hurl into the sea this false Greek gift, or underneath it thrust a kindling flame, or pierce the hollow ambush of its womb with probing spear! Athene favored the Greeks for far too long...”

Priam was in favor of Thymoetes’ proposal: since the horse was an offering to a goddess, desecrating it didn’t seem to the king of Troy as such a great idea.

Laocoon’s Warning

At that very moment, hurrying down from the citadel and followed by a large crowd, the Trojan priest Laocoon started shouting from afar:

“O unhappy men! What madness this? Who deems our foemen fled? 

Think ye the gifts of Greece can lack for guile? Have ye not known Ulysses?... 

This is all a trap. 

Trust not this horse, o countrymen, whatever it may bring!

I fear the Greeks, even when they bring gifts.” Saying that, Laocoon whirled a spear in the direction of the Horse. Numerous cheers followed this fearsome act:

“Burn it!” 
“Pierce it!” 
“Hurl it over the walls!”

Sinon Clarifies His Presence

This argument was interrupted by the arrival of Sinon, brought in chained by a couple of Trojan soldiers.

Now, it is difficult to say whether Odysseus had planned for this part as well, or whether the Greeks merely had a stroke of luck; be that as it may, it was Sinon who eventually convinced the Trojans to roll the horse through the Gates of Troy.

He explained to Priam that the Greeks, weary of warring and downcast after the death of Achilles, had deliberated leaving Troy for a couple of months, and they would have done that much earlier if not for the bad weather.

Calchas, the most famous Achaean prophet, announced that the only way for the winds to be appeased was through human sacrifice; the scapegoat he pointed his finger at (in a nice touch to the story, supposedly “bribed by Odysseus”) was none other than Sinon himself.

However, the favorable winds sprang up before the ceremony took place, and Sinon managed to make his escape in the confusion.

Sinon’s Explanation of the Wooden Horse

“Let’s say that we believe you, Sinon,”

Replied Priam.

“But what’s with the horse?”
“Oh, that! It is merely a placatory gift to Athene, who stopped helping the Greeks after Odysseus and Diomedes stole a statue from her temple.”

…

“Nonetheless,”

Priam had a good follow-up question;

"Why make it so huge?”

But Sinon had an even better answer:

“So that you are unable to bring it into the city. 

For Calchas had prophesized that If you defile it, a horrible ruin – o, may the gods bring it on Calchas rather! 

– would come on your throne; however, if you manage to wheel it to your own citadel, then you will become a ruler of all Asia and invade Greece.”

The Death of Laocoon

“Lies, all lies,”

Cried Laocoon.

“Every word he uttered sounds as if invented by Odysseus! Believe him not, Priam!”

However, it is difficult for one to blame the king of Troy for not taking the Trojan priest seriously when, just as he was saying this, two serpents swam out of the sea and strangled Laocoon and his twin sons.

In reality, the snakes were sent by Apollo in punishment for when Laocoon once slept with his wife in front of Apollo’s image; to the eyes of the Trojans, however, they were a sign of the gods: Sinon had obviously spoken the truth, and Laocoon was punished for lying and throwing a spear at the Horse.

The Bloody Celebration

Helen and Deiphobus

With much effort, the Trojans dragged the Wooden Horse inside their Gates, consecrated it to Athene, and started wildly celebrating their victory.

During the festivities, Helen and Priam’s son Deiphobos sneaked to the wooden statue.

As Deiphobus was observing it in marvel and patting its planks, Helen amused him by calling out the names of the Greek heroes in the voice of their wives. It is not known whether Helen was a part of the plan as well, and this was a whim of overconfidence, or whether she was merely joyful, but, owing to either displeasure or eagerness, many Greeks were tempted to leap out of the horse at this point – especially Menelaus and Diomedes.

However, Odysseus restrained them all, patiently waiting for the proper moment for him to enact the final act of his devious plan.

The Attack

At midnight, just before the seventh full moon of that year had risen, Sinon slipped through the Gates of Troy and kindled a beacon – the signal Agamemnon had waited for to return with the Achaean fleet to shore.

An hour or so later, in the dead silence of the night, Odysseus raised his sword and ordered Epeius to unlock the trap-door.

Echion was the first one to jump out of the horse; being too eager and reckless, he fell and broke his neck; the rest used Epeius’ rope-ladder.

Soon enough, Agamemnon’s army stormed through the open gates.

Not even the gods could save Troy now.

The Trojan Horse Sources

Most of this story is told by Virgil in the second book of the Aeneid, which you can read here in Dryden’s rhymed version, and here in Theodore C. Williams blank verse translation; for a summary of the same events, consult the epitome of Apollodorus’ Library.

Source: https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/The_Myths/The_Trojan_Horse/the_trojan_horse.html

Conclusions

Throughout the West, people are using the “hook” of financial gain to manipulate others. We all know that this is a trick, but what kind of a trick? I argue that it is a hidden (potential) crime wearing the outer skin of respectability. Like the Trojan Horse.

You expect one thing, and then (once the strap is sprung) something else manifests.

Whether a wooden horse, a business proposition, an email promising to send you millions of dollars, or some other otherwise unusual benefit or arrangement.

Often the vices are used to spring the trap, with greed, lust and vanity being the most common.

Be very careful when anyone tries to appeal to one of your vices. It could very well end up being very dangerous.

So what do you do?

If something is unusual, like finding out you had a great uncle Metallicman that left you 50 million dollars, or to give a copy of your passport and bank information so that you can get a loan at 3%, or anything related, stop… just stop.

Go for a nice long walk.

Go all by your self into a lone cafe, or coffee house.

An American Diner.

Sit down.

Look up at the menu.

See if there is a special, or maybe a daily special that you can eat. I tend to go for the specials, and the soups. But that is just me. Don’t you know.

Place an order.

Place your order with the waitress.

And forget about everything.

Eat a nice sandwich (maybe a blue plate special) wash it down with a cup of coffee, and forget about the “news” or anything else.

Typical diner fare; Three sunny-side-up eggs, buttered whole-wheat toast, hash brown potatoes, and country-style chicken-fried pork.

Then just go for a walk down the lane.

Most traps disguise themselves as “unusual events promising enormous profit“.

Ignore it all.

Move on.

A cup of “Joe” in an American diner.

Remember, the reason why Athens moved the Trojan Horse into it’s gates was because they believed that in doing so they would have the benefits provided by the God’s themselves.

Don’t allow others to hurt your by manipulating your mind by your propensity toward vices.

Finally…

One day after I wrote this article, I got this…

Liewe Gelukkige Wenner!

Dit is vir ons aangenaam om u in te lig oor die uitslag van die
Internasionale Aanlyn Loteryprogram op 1 Desember 2021, wat 'n poging
is om geesteswetenskappe te help van die ernstige globale ekonomiese
krisis as gevolg van (Coivd-19). Nommer: SMLL / 2021 / -968091 / 21,
wat die 1ste kategorie gewen het. U is dus geregtig op 'n enkelbedrag
van $2,000,000.00 (Twee miljoen Amerikaanse dollars). Ons moedig jou
aan om jou trustee te kontak deur die inligting hieronder te gebruik
vir bekragtiging en meer inligting oor die gebruik van jou prys.

Mnr Brian Luke
E-pos: usalotery2@gmail.com

Groete,
Mnr Williams Poker.
Internasionale Lotery (Koördineerder).


Dear Lucky Winner!

We are pleased to inform you about the outcome of the International
Online Lottery Program on December 1st, 2021 which is a bid to help
humanities from the severe global economic crunch as a result of
(Coivd-19). Number: SMLL / 2021 / -968091 / 21, which won the 1st
category. You are therefore entitled to a lump sum of $2,000,000.00
(Two million United States dollars). We encourage you to contact your
trustee using the information below for validation and more
information on redeeming your prize.

Mr. Brian Luke
Email:  usalotery2@gmail.com

Regards,
Mr. Williams Poker.
International Lottery (Coordinator).

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The unmentioned looming fiasco in America; what happens when all the money is in the hands of those that inherited it

There is a lot of changes that are set in motion. Many long-overdue changes are coming to America, and those that have been doing quite well do not want change. They want to fight change, and they will go as far as to start a nuclear World War III to guarantee that their lives never change.

Here we are going to chat a little bit about the root, and the source of much of the problems in America today…

… the American system that permits people, and companies to become fantastically wealthy while all the time making everyone around them much poorer.

…

The American Promise

In America, the media narrative is that this is a good thing. A “lone wolf”, “hard working” person can “pull himself up by his bootstraps” and become successful. Look at Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. See! Normal people. Everyone can do it.

Ah. The American promise…

The American Reality

Nope.

That’s not how it works. Maybe it used to be that way some two hundred years ago, and maybe as recent as seventy five years ago. But today, it’s a hopeless proposition.  There are too many layers of government regulation. Too many powerful companies. The “little guy” has too many hurtles to overcome.

Leaving only the existing wealth structures in control and in power.

It’s the American reality.

The problem with America

This situation where only the wealthy have the vast bulk of the money has created far too many problems. And if left unchecked will generate many more to come. Including, eventually, the potential end of the world as we know it today.

For instance, to keep the people from rising up in revolution, you need [1] propaganda and [2] control of the media, you need [3] armed and strong militarized domestic police forces, you need [4] distractions which tend to mean [5] wars and chaos, and you need to [6] constantly decrease the standard of life of the rabble so that you can maintain your own power.

And isn’t that what we have been observing?

American income distribution

The chart of the income distribution for America today greatly resembles what it must have been in France before the French revolution, and in Russia before the Russian revolution.

The poor got much poorer.

The middle class disappeared.

The super-duper wealthy become stratospheric wealthy.

Which brings me to an article. It was written back in 2014, and back then the alarms were a ringing and the sirens were screaming, and the lights were flashing, but few paid attention…

The Rise of the Non-Working Rich

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

In a new Pew poll, more than three quarters of self-described conservatives believe…

 “poor people have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything.”

In reality, most of America’s poor work hard, often in two or more jobs.

The real non-workers are the wealthy who inherit their fortunes. And their ranks are growing.

In fact, we’re on the cusp of the largest inter-generational wealth transfer in history.

MM Comment

This was written in 2014. The cusp has passed and now America is at this state, firmly entrenched within this condition; firmly put in place. Rock solid and immovable.

The wealth is coming from those who over the last three decades earned huge amounts on Wall Street, in corporate boardrooms, or as high-tech entrepreneurs.

It’s going to their children, who did nothing except be born into the right family.

The “self-made” man or woman, the symbol of American meritocracy, is disappearing. Six of today’s ten wealthiest Americans are heirs to prominent fortunes. Just six Walmart heirs have more wealth than the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined (up from 30 percent in 2007).

The U.S. Trust bank just released a poll of Americans with more than $3 million of investable assets.

Nearly three-quarters of those over age 69, and 61 per cent of boomers (between the ages of 50 and 68), were the first in their generation to accumulate significant wealth.

But the bank found inherited wealth far more common among rich millennials under age 35.

This is the dynastic form of wealth French economist Thomas Piketty warns about. It’s been the major source of wealth in Europe for centuries. It’s about to become the major source in America – unless, that is, we do something about it.

As income from work has become more concentrated in America, the super rich have invested in businesses, real estate, art, and other assets. The income from these assets is now concentrating even faster than income from work.

In 1979, the richest 1 percent of households accounted for 17 percent of business income. By 2007 they were getting 43 percent. They were also taking in 75 percent of capital gains. Today, with the stock market significantly higher than where it was before the crash, the top is raking even more from their investments.

Both political parties have encouraged this great wealth transfer, as beneficiaries provide a growing share of campaign contributions.

MM Comment

The reader is asked to put a clothespin to their noses as some politics is bantered about. It's the same nauseatingly "Wonderful Democrats", and "terrible Republicans". Ugh.

Both are members of the Uni-party. They are identical.

But Republicans have been even more ardent than Democrats.

For example, family trusts used to be limited to about 90 years. Legal changes implemented under Ronald Reagan extended them in perpetuity. So-called “dynasty trusts” now allow super-rich families to pass on to their heirs money and property largely free from taxes, and to do so for generations.

George W. Bush’s biggest tax breaks helped high earners but they provided even more help to people living off accumulated wealth. While the top tax rate on income from work dropped from 39.6% to 35 percent, the top rate on dividends went from 39.6% (taxed as ordinary income) to 15 percent, and the estate tax was completely eliminated. (Conservatives called it the “death tax” even though it only applied to the richest two-tenths of one percent.)

Barack Obama rolled back some of these cuts, but many remain.

Before George W. Bush, the estate tax kicked in at $2 million of assets per couple, and then applied a 55 percent rate. Now it kicks in at $10 million per couple, with a 40 percent rate.

House Republicans want to go even further than Bush did.

Rep. Paul Ryan’s “road map,” which continues to be the bible of Republican economic policy, eliminates all taxes on interest, dividends, capital gains, and estates.

Yet the specter of an entire generation who do nothing for their money other than speed-dial their wealth management advisors isn’t particularly attractive.

It’s also dangerous to our democracy, as dynastic wealth inevitably accumulates political influence.

MM Comment

America is not a democracy. It is a military empire that is run by a global oligarchy.

What to do? First, restore the estate tax in full.

MM Comment

His solution; the same-old, same-old. More taxes. More regulation. Bigger government. 

Not what is needed; a complete structural overhaul on  the entire American government-society system.

Second, eliminate the “stepped-up-basis on death” rule. This obscure tax provision allows heirs to avoid paying capital gains taxes on the increased value of assets accumulated during the life of the deceased. Such untaxed gains account for more than half of the value of estates worth more than $100 million, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Third, institute a wealth tax. We already have an annual wealth tax on homes, the major asset of the middle class. It’s called the property tax. Why not a small annual tax on the value of stocks and bonds, the major assets of the wealthy?

MM Comment

All the solutions are the same-old, same-old. More taxes to go to government. Not any systematic changes to the entire way the system operates.

We don’t have to sit by and watch our “meritocracy” be replaced by a permanent aristocracy, and our democracy be undermined by dynastic wealth. We can and must take action – before it’s too late.

MM Comment

It is too late. America has a permanent aristocracy where the vast wealth is either concocted out of thin air, or by dynastic wealth.

But you know…

China is taking notes…

Let’s open up the dialog with this comment that I found in my e-mailbox…

In China, the CCP draw from the experience of the first 30 years of opening up, and [has] concluded that:

1) China endorsed the part of the free market logic that encourage individual innovation and that rewards hardwork.

2) However, China will not allow the ultimate outcome of a free market economy. As it is one where a handful of billionaires will eventually take control of the market, killing competition, and dictate the price and distribution chain of supply and demand. 

The world has been controlled by the Western set of rules for far too long. These rules were set up at the time they are working towards Western advantages. 

The collapse of the USSR and the drop in standard of living and life expectancy in Russia is widely studied in China and experienced is learned. 

Now, China will open up further to counter US strategy to form a war alliance against China.

Instead, China is strategically beginning a dual circle economy build on food security, financial security, economic security, and national security. As well as a discussion on the evil doing of privatized capital and western capital across the world. 

The CCP armed with Mao theories of how to run a country with serving the people as the party motto is far more down to earth than the capitalists who control western politicians. 

When Xi came to power, he openly pledged that the SOEs sector has to become larger, and stronger. 

In contemporaneous China, any large scale businesses are require to sell to the government 1% of their share. Now with this 1%, the government representatives will sit in a broad of director meeting, and have the power to stop any plan that threaten the security of any sector of the Chinese economy or society. 

Therefore, if it only involved expanding product ranges, improve services, opening a few more outlets, they are totally free to do so. 

... 

Cheers 

<redacted>

And perhaps that will give you all some perspective why America must DESTROY China, and why there is no-room for co-habitation. It’s all or nothing with America. For once the rest of the world sees that the American emperor has “no clothes”, the fall of the empire will only be minutes away.

All of this should be no surprise. Because…

America is an Oligarchy

Read about it here.

And it’s all pretty depressing. Anyways, I’m tossing this idea out to you all. That the idea of “what America stands for” is wealth accumulation by the super-rich, for themselves, and everyone else is just a herd animal to service them. Being so fantastically wealthy they not only own most of what you eat, use, and read, but they also control your government, and as a result you have zero influence on what your government is doing.

Pot-holes need fixing? No problem, your government is going to bomb the shit out of Yemen! Now, don’t you feel better?

Taxes too high? No problem, the government is going to reclassify the taxes in a fee, and then make it mandatory for you to pay that fee or else you will go to prison. There! Don’t you feel better?

Can’t find work? No problem. You can enlist in the military, get on welfare, or donate blood. The news says that the economy is roaring and that everything is just “hunky-dory”. So you must be lazy. Don’t you know!

Conclusion

This exhausts me. This situation is not sustainable. The question and the big unknown is when will it all fall down?

I have no answers.

I think that I need to go out, eat some fine delicious food, quaff some brews, and go a whoring. Life is too short not to have fun.

And that is my definitive opinion on this subject.

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