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Lost and Losing It
by Ken Mahal, NSC President
Originally published on  November 08, 2007 - reprinted with permission

MEANS TESTING STRIKES IN THE DARK OF NIGHT.
   Was I ever surprised when I went on the internet to look at my bank statement and discovered that Social Security had made a mistake on my deposit, or so I thought. By that I mean the deposit was quite a bit less than the regular amount. Well what to do? The natural thing that occurred to me was call S.S. not realizing what a hassle that was going to be. In fact I was able to get through to S.S. with a 10 minute wait. It took the lady on the line some time to figure out why I was receiving that amount of money when it in effect was not my S.S. deposit but a return of an overcharge for this year because they were charging too much for Medicare. Why the return of the money was credited to my S.S. is hard to understand until you realize your being means tested for Medicare. Yes that is what it was about without me ever knowing I and or we were being means tested for making too much money. Now I think back on how they made that decision and the only thing I can think of is that they are no doubt including my S.S. income plus our tax free money earned on municipal bonds because most of what we earn is mostly from that source and even capital gains so again double taxation. What is so disturbing is that our government does this without telling us we are being charged more than usual. We are also not advised how they arrived at the charge either. I know that you and I could not do our income tax returns in such a fashion that would get by IRS. If you remember this means testing was put through congress a couple years back with none of us ever knowing about it so that we could raise a rumpus over it like we did once before. Those of you who have been members of our organization since its inception should remember that was the reason we were formed. Back about 1995 congress means tested Medicare and it was going to cost the average retiree about $800 dollars extra a year if your income was in a certain range. We had enough notice at that time to raise a lot of interest both in Nevada plus in Washington. As a result of our effort, the Roosevelt a senior group in D.C. took up the banner and was able to take several million signatures to Washington which was enough to convince congress to kill the law the following session and never to be heard of again until just recently. Can it be killed again; I just wonder if it is possible this time?

WE HAVEN’T CHANGED THE PRICE OF GOLD SINCE 1872.
   Gold was priced over $800 dollars an ounce on Friday November 2nd and Uncle Sam is still selling mining land for $5 bucks an acre and gets no royalty for the gold mined. Now this is out right robbery of our land and our gold. Why aren’t we doing something about the gold law of 1872? There isn’t one mining company who would discontinue giving campaign money to our Senators if they brought the 1872 law up to date as it should be. You and I know this to be a fact. At least 20 years ago Wyoming passed an open pit coal mining law that requires the companies to strip the top soil off the site and save it for resurfacing the mined out land plus replanting it to stop erosion. They also pay a very nice royalty to the state for every ton of coal shipped out of Wyoming. If Wyoming did it for coal and gold is worth a lot more, then why not do it for gold in Nevada Senators?

SENATORS DO NOT SIGN THE LAW OF THE SEA TREATY (LOST)
   This week the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to surrender the United States Sovereignty to the third world and the not so very creditable United Nations. That has to do with the fast tracking of the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). If this were to succeed it would force us to surrender our sovereignty to an International Seabed Authority a wholly owned subsidiary of the United Nations and a bunch of small inland third world countries who don’t like America. We would lose our surface and ocean bottom rights and in fact require us to get permission to let us move our navy any place in and on the ocean surfaces without permit. This of course cannot be allowed to happen. And any future mining of the ocean bottom would be a shakedown requiring an application fee of $500,000 with a $1,000,000 annual fee plus up to a 7% fee on the profits. Companies would also be required to share their mining and navigational technology. This would be taxing United States citizens and corporations for using their own long recognized property rights on the sea, in the sea and on the bottom of the sea. If this were passed what it would do in theory is give land locked third world countries a market for their resources if they had any and in effect they could control our every movement on and in the high seas. The Seabed Authority would be organized like the General Assembly: One nation one vote. That means our enemies would have as much power over the oceans and seas as the United States of America. This cannot be allowed to happen. It only takes 34 Senators to scuttle LOST. This information came to us from http://www.newsmax.com on 11/03/07. It is important for us to contact our Senators and if any of you have friends or family in other states who can reach their Senators we can sure use their help also.

SOME TIME PEOPLE WITH GOOD EQUITY IN THEIR HOMES JUST GIVE UP AND LOSE IT RATHER THAN PRICE IT RIGHT AND SELL IT
   I have known people who had decent equity in their homes and were in trouble and rather than doing something they just gave up and lost everything. There are good people in the real-estate business as well as good appraisers who can do their job and help a person out of a hole by showing them what the selling price should be and how much equity is in the home. No matter what things are like in the housing market there are always people who need a house and are able to finance it. I know of cases where the people wouldn’t even answer the door when some one had heard the house was for sale and in some cases people had as much as $40,000 of equity and lost it. Our economy is not in the pits it is just hung up at a red light for the time being and with patience a decent home will sell. When people are emotionally burnt out it is not easy to think clear. Let’s hope that none of your friends are in such of a spot.

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