Traders International Returns Network (TIRN)

Along the journey of yours truly, the Capitalist Bum, I've come across some interesting characters. Abel Mesa of La Promesa Corporation, German Cardona of Finanzas Forex, and Paul Orberson of Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing. All of these seem to be people that singlehandedly pulled up a company by its bootstraps and rode it to the top through Multi-Level Marketing goodness.

Now it's time for a new Condender: David Merrick.
A Wikipedia search for Mr. Merrick revealed that he is a dead Tony-Award winning theatrical producer. Clearly this isn't the man I'm looking for.

The other David Merrick is the founder and CEO of the Traders International Returns Network. They are similar to Finanzas Forex, in that they both trade on the Foreign Exchange market, and both are registered in Panama. According to the flash animation on their homepage, TIRN trades on the Forex market, commidities, financial instruments, precious metals, and retail investments.

Judging by their web presence, TIRN certainly seems to be up-and-coming company. They have a twitter feed (but don't seem to be doing anything with it), and their website is chock-full of rss readers that display the most current investment-news charts and graphs.

On the business end, they seem to be fast. Deposits and withdrawls are quick, taking about one business day to process (take that, Finanzas Forex!), and debit cards from the company are sent promptly. Like FFx, you make money from the investments of people on your downline, with a 5% initial payment, then a small residual payment per month.
Here's their Return on Investment breakdown:

$500 - $999 = 9% return per month
$1,000 - 3,999 = 11% return per month
$4,000 - $9,999 = 14% return per month
$10,000 - $ 24,999 = 17% return per month
$25,000 - $49,999 = 19% return per month
$50,000 = 21% return per month
Minimum investment: $500
Maximum investment: $50,000
Add 1% if the investment is maintained for 6 months.

However, TIRN does have a shady side: The Comision Nacional de Valores of Panama (their version of the SEC) put out a document stating that TIRN has no licence to operate in Panama, and are not regulated by anyone. One of the conditions of signing up for TIRN is that you not speak negatively of them online, or your account may be terminated.

I'll edit this post as I get more information, but my prospect for TIRN is the same as Finanzas Forex. Scam or not, I know that there is money being made. If I invest sometime in the future (I currently find myself penniless), I'll use only the money that I can afford to lose.

Gold: Is it a good idea yet?

Let's say you're a baseball card collector, and you own a Micky Mantle rookie card. A quick google search shows that one recently went for $165k. Each card has a buying power of 165,000 US Dollars. Let's assume now that Bowman (one of the baseball card companies that made Mickey Mantle cards) opened their vaults, and began to sell their entire stash of original Mickey Mantle rookie cards (lets assume that there were tens of thousands, just for grins). Even though YOUR card is still in mint condition, because of the fact that there are so many more in circulation now, your card that was previously valued at $165k is going to be worth the same as a Kirby Puckett card (about 8 bucks).

However simplistic that example may have been, that's what's going on to our dollar right now.
With trillion-dollar bailouts and expensive wars going on, the dollar is being cheapened every day by the printing presses at the Federal Reserve.

How is it that we don't feel it, you ask? Here's the short answer: We're in a depression. People have begun saving again and paying off bills, banks are loaning less and NOT circulating the dollars. So while many, many dollars are being pumped into the system, not a lot of them are being spent.
Just like a bunch of Mickey Mantle cards in storage, no one feels the effects of uncirculated dollars.

This is why an economic recovery is going to be the worst thing imaginable for dollar holders
As the markets thaw out, and consumers start spending again, people are going to realize that there's a whole lot more paper dollars floating around than before. About a week ago, as rumors started floating around that we were on our way out of this slump, the dollar fell. Coincidence? No way.

This is how Obama is going to cut the federal deficit in half
Loans don't adjust for inflation (yet). Pres. Obama is going to pay off debts with cheap dollars. The dollar is already at risk of losing its AAA rating, and China, our biggest debt holder, is taking notice.

The important thing is to have something that has value in and of itself. The dollar is worth something because the US Government says it does. That's no good -- this is where gold comes in. It's real, it doesn't inflate, it can be stored, sold, bought, melted down and can be transported easily.

Well, the transportability issue isn't really all that accurate, since we don't even deal with cash much anymore-- we're used to the digital buying and selling of dollar-backed credits. Fortunately, I found an awesome site called GoldMoney.com. they have their own currency, called GoldGrams, which are 100 percent backed by gold. They function like a bank, allowing you to make payments on things online and transfer from GoldGrams to dollars quickly (for a small fee). The best thing is that the money is independent of the dollar, so the more the dollar tanks, the more buying power you have. Just these last few weeks, one GoldGram went up in value by 3 dollars. The more dollars begin to circulate, the lower they'll go in value, while gold goes up. Gold is about to hit 1,000 dollars an ounce. The time to get into gold is now.

If you like sensible economics, and good monetary advice, check out Richard Maybury's free bulletins. Honestly, his books changed how I see the world.

SuFortunaDVD

Think fast:

Someone tells you that they're making a fortune doing something that another guy with a fortune told you to do, because God told him to do it.

Welcome to the strange world of Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing, and the strange re-interpretation of a website called SuFortunaDVD.com.

First off, I think it's impossible to have a company name with more industry buzz-words.
Fortune High Tech Marketing. It's like calling a cereal Yummy Crunchy Tasty-Puffs.
I don't doubt that the founder, Paul Orberson, has found incredible success as a salesman (here's an article to prove it), but in his business plan, success is only to be found at the very top.

Regardless of that, it seems like things get a little convoluted when translated to Spanish.
Enter SuFortunaDVD.com, a website that is tailor-made for Prosperity-Gospel Christian latin Americans. In the middle of the video, the short man tells of Paul Orberson's claims that God told him to create a company that would allow him to share his fabulous wealth with everyone (last I checked, that was called a charity). At the home page is a thirty-minute long video where a short man with white hair explains the way the company works. Here's what I gathered:

You have to sign up three people as salesmen, then sign on customers that subscribe to 10 of these products. The money is made by subscribing these customers to "customer loyalty" programs. The problem is that if you only have 17 programs to pick from! Try convincing someone in this capitalist market that they'll be locked into a loyalty program.

With such a poor business strategy, where does this company make their money?
This is where the 300 dollar entrance fee comes in. For licensing and other "startup costs", Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing will charge 300 dollars from the starting block. SuFortunaDVD gets by this prickly subject quickly by saying that by signing up just a few people, you'll be able to recoup that cash, and more.

SuFortunaDVD.com doesn't seem to convince, either. The website is slapped together, made with Joomla, an automatic drag-and-drop website maker.

The Problem: To be sucessful in this business, you have to make sure that everyone in your "downline" is actively working. You have to babysit everyone below you.

At the end of the video, the short man talking re-introduces himself as Pastor Juan Ayala, the Executive Manager of all of Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing. Why he would want to present himself as a religious leader instead of a business professional shows that he has a very focused audience. When clicking on the "radio" button, a playlist comes up of christian songs proclaiming wealth and success, interspersed with testimonies.

It seems like this business is more about faith than work.

Google Ads, Once Again

The last time I realized I was making money with Google ads, I made the ad space bigger.
This appears to have worked. I've made more in the last two months than I've made in the whole year-and-a-half existence of this blog. And I haven't posted anything for two and a half months!

That being said, I've been able to pay for hosting for this year, and hopefully I'll receive my check in the mail.

I have to keep writing.

The importance of private listings

I got a strange letter in the mail last week. It had my name and address printed out and glued to the envelope, and the return address said "finanzas forex", and MY address. The letter was bulky, and scotch-taped on one side. I honestly expected there to be a cloud of white powder when I opened it. Going against my better judgment, I opened it. The letter was a bunch of printed-out internet articles from a website that purportedly exposes MLM schemes. It was page after page of Finanzas Forex flames and the dangers of it. The letter really concerned me, not because it was talking badly about FFx, but because someone actually took the time to do a WHOIS search of my website, copy my address, and send me something to my house. I think a simple comment would have sufficed, my snail-mail-stalker-buddy. Needless to say, I've made the WHOIS information private.

I'm making it!

Holy crap!

I've risen the Google ranks to become the fourth site listed for "finanzas forex"! If anyone looks over my first posts, they'll see that this boost in internet stardom is a far cry from my humble beginnings. There are even people quoting me! Like PhD students and Polish guys and even robots! I must say that I've become somewhat of a celebrity on the pseudo-investment-pundit-blogosphere.

Being true to my roots, I'm going to increase the space alloted for google ads. Maybe I'll finally turn a profit.

Note: My apologies to Christine Folch, the PhD student, whose blog I linked to for the sole purpose of progressing my own selfish agenda. Because the forum I linked to above may have not been written in Polish, I also extend my aplologies to my Polish (or Slovenian or Czech or whatever) friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful for God's blessings every day, even for the things I take for granted. Good turkey, too.