So, I’m making holiday wreaths again this year and they are looking gorgeous so I hope you all are interested!!
Check out the website at www.sliceofred.com/wreaths
Pics are up on the website, I will add to blog soon!
A client of mine told me this story about an interaction he had with an employee of Lehman Brothers in 2003.
My client was approached a few years ago by a man from Lehman Brothers who wanted him to invest in a deal. Houses were being built for low income families in two cities around Dallas. Lehman Brothers was looking for individuals to buy the houses in quantities of ten. The deal was that for the first year, tenants would pay back the investors through rent and that the difference would be made up through someone else. After the year was up, the government would buy the houses. Here was the sticky part. The builders and appraisers were working together and so the houses were appraised at $125,000. Lehman Brothers would lend the tenants $90,000 for the house. The other $35,000 was “air money,” money the builders claimed to have received but never did. Of the $90,000, $15,000 went straight to Lehman Brothers and their cohorts. However, when the government came to buy the houses, they were being sold at the initial appraisal price of $125,000. Thus, Lehman made off with undeserved profit and cheated the government.
What do you think of the bailout?
In keeping with annual tradition, I was rear-ended Monday. Except, this time it wasn’t the typical “I’m so sorry, here’s my insurance information” accident. No, this time, I was hit by a man who didn’t speak English, didn’t have a driver’s license, valid insurance, or own the car he was driving. Fortunately, I was not hurt, and my car held up like a trooper. The damage is minimal, the bumper is bent a bit and has some scratches, and the hatch of my car is a bit crooked, but nothing that can’t be replaced.
Unfortunately, however, all the repairs are at my own expense, on my insurance policy. I’m sure there was a good reason the man that hit me was on the road, he has to make a living just like I do. The question is, why was he on the road in Frisco, Texas and not in Reynosa, Mexico. This question isn’t easy to answer, but it’s a lose-lose situation for all of us.
I’ve spent a good deal of time in Mexico, and I’m always the first person to defend the Mexicans when people around me make derogatory generalizations about them. They are very nice people, and their culture does not cease to amaze me. Sadly, their country is rabid with corruption and poverty. The economy has all but dried up and the middle class is dwindling. So, with little regard for American law, but with an unyielding hope for a better life, the Mexican people flock to our country. They come anonymously, with no formal identification since the Mexican government issues birth certificates that are meaningless or lost. Once here, they are tasked with starting a new life without any of the benefits they saw glistening before them on the other side of the river. Since you can’t get a job without identification and you can’t survive without a job, identification must be created. Social Security cards are faked, or used en masse. Now you can get a job, but how are you going to get to your job? So, your boss gives you a work truck, and asks you if you know how to drive. The subject of the driver’s license is never broached, but you remember how to drive from when you lived in Mexico. Now you have a means of transportation and a job, but you don’t have any car insurance. You can’t get car insurance without a driver’s license, at least not from a reputable company, so you just go without. You’ve never been in an accident before, anyway. For the first six months, you manage to drive under the radar, but one day you’re pulled over for a slightly out of date inspection sticker. You’re issued a citation for not having insurance, so you get the same guy that gave you a Social Security card to make you up some car insurance. The City of Dallas Municipal Courts have too much on the books to worry about a traffic tickets, and dismiss your citation.
One day, you rear-end someone like me. Depending on the city you are in, you’ll be deported. Federal law requires that your immigration papers be checked, and lo and behold, you don’t have any. Fortunately, you hit me in a city like Frisco, where no one cares enough to deport you because you’re not tarnishing their city, you live in a less “pretty” part of the metroplex. So you aren’t deported, but you’ve totaled your boss’s truck. When the insurance company you supposedly hold a policy with starts calling, you turn your phone off. You can’t tell your boss you totaled his truck because you don’t have the money or the insurance to pay for it. But it doesn’t matter- you have no identity, no traceable history. So you go get a new pre-paid phone with a new number, and you go get a new job. You say you just moved here and are looking to start a new life in America.
And that girl you hit? She seemed to be okay, and her car was so nice, you’re sure she or her parents have the means to get it repaired or have the insurance to cover it.
About that girl you hit- her mom’s a teacher and her dad manages a hotel for a living. Both of her parents work very hard for their money, and buy only what they can afford. They value their property and they value their health and respect their country, so they follow the law and buy insurance for their cars. For their family of four, they spend thousands of dollars a year making sure their cars are covered in the event that there is damage they cannot afford. It’s hard for them to come up with the cash to pay a premium that high every six months, but they can’t afford to buy a new car if one is totaled, so they have to. Why is their insurance so high? Because they have to pay to protect themselves from uninsured “motorists” like you. They have to pay the price ahead of time for damaged caused by someone who is an illegal alien.
You know that you are an illegal alien. You’ve heard the term before, but it holds no real meaning. When your wife went into labor with your daughter, you went to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas where no one asked you any questions about your immigrant status. Who paid for Parkland? The taxpayers of the city of Dallas. Odd, considering, you didn’t see anyone but illegal immigrants while you were there. That’s because the taxpayers of the city of Dallas go to one of the other area hospitals because they have healthcare. The girl you hit has health coverage- she pays for it out of her very own pocket twice a year and it’s a pretty penny. Why is it so much? So that hospitals like Parkland can provide free care to illegal immigrants like you.
The story goes on and on. You live here illegally, reap the benefits this great country offers to its citizens, and think that you have a right to be here. You think that the people that pay for you to live here are rich and can afford it.
The girl you hit is an American citizen and she would love to have a new car. But she can’t, because she’s too busy paying for the one you damaged.
And just for the record- she’s not rich.
