Bin Laden's Dead.

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WBraun

climber
May 7, 2011 - 12:57am PT
You're such a sheep. ^^^

al-Qaida statement.

signed by "the general leadership of al-Qaida"

There was no independent confirmation that the message was authentic


There's no fuking name attached to it ...
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
May 7, 2011 - 01:00am PT
There was no independent confirmation that the message was authentic but it was posted on websites through which al-Qaida habitually issues statements.
WBraun

climber
May 7, 2011 - 01:06am PT
You're still a sheep.

It doesn't prove sh'it except you that you believe everything you read.

Hypocrite!
Klimmer

Mountain climber
San Diego
May 7, 2011 - 01:12am PT
I keep telling you that it is spelled AL-CIA-DUH . . .



http://www.rense.com/general61/myths.htm

The Myths of Al Qaeda
By Kirwan
kirwanstudios@earthlink.net
1-3-5

In George Orwell's classic "1984," his world was held together by continuous and unending war: In the book his concept was defined by video clips of HATE, broadcast several times a day during which the population (in the novel) was required to watch and rave against the ENEMY. Those who rule this nation now, seek to use Al Qaeda as the 2005 version of the terror created in '1984' by proclaiming the now infamous phrase "Links to Al Qaeda!"

Since the war began in Afghanistan, the administration has been using this completely damning and completely empty phrase at every opportunity. "Damning " because the phrase carries all the unspoken horror, and all the unspecified terror that our Bandits want the world to feel - every time there is any activity that the USA disapproves of. "Empty" because nothing, despite Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, has ever been publicly found, no trials have been held that we know of, and no one has been convicted of being part of Al Qaeda - except the dead. So - What exactly is Al Qaeda?

Al Qaeda was created by the CIA, in their offices in Washington D.C., According to Richard Clark in his most recent book. It was created for Saudi Arabia to bankroll Osama bin Laden, through the House of Saud, "in the Afghan war against the Soviet Union during the 1980's and Riyadh and Washington together contributed an estimated $3.5 billion to the mujahideen."

"In late 2003, U.S. News & World Report conducted an exhaustive study titled. 'The Saudi Connection.' Its findings included the following."

"The evidence was indisputable: Saudi Arabia, America's longtime ally and the world's largest oil producer, had somehow become, as a senior Treasury Department official put it, 'the epicenter' of terrorist financing'

Starting in the late 1980's - after the dual shocks of the Iranian revolution and the Soviet war in Afghanistan - Saudi Arabia's quasi-official charities became the primary source of the funds for the fast-growing jihad movement. In some twenty countries the money was used to run para-military training camps, purchase weapons, and recruit new members'

Saudi largess encouraged U.S. officials to look the other way, some veteran intelligence officers say. Billions of dollars in contracts, grants, and salaries have gone to a broad range of former U.S. officials who had dealt with the Saudis: ambassadors, CIA station chiefs, even cabinet secretaries'

Electronic intercepts implicated members of the royal family in backing not only al Qaeda but also other terrorist groups."

"In October 2003, Vanity Fair magazine disclosed information that had not previously been made public, in an in-depth report entitled 'Saving the Saudis.' The story that emerged about the relationship between the Bush family, the House of Saud, and the bin Laden family" (outlined) relationships that went back at least to the time of the Saudi Arabian Money-laundering Affair which began in 1974, and to George H.W. Bush's terms as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1971-1973) and then as head of the CIA (1976-1977).

"Vanity Fair concluded: The Bush family and the House of Saud, the two most powerful dynasties in the world, have had closed personal business, and political ties for more than 20 years'.

In the private sector, the Saudi's supported Harken Energy, a struggling oil company in which George W. Bush was an investor. Most recently former president George H.W. Bush and his longtime ally, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, have appeared before Saudis at fundraisers for the Carlyle Group, arguably the biggest private equity firm in the world. Today former president Bush continues to serve as senior advisor to the firm, whose investors allegedly include a Saudi accused of ties to terrorist support groups'

Just days after 9/11, wealthy Saudi Arabians, including members of the bin Laden family, were whisked out of the U.S. on private jets. No one will admit to clearing the flights, and the passengers weren't questioned. Did the Bush family's long relationship with the Saudis help make it happen?"

With the above as background, consider that Bush junior has sworn to go after all those who shelter terrorists, as well as all those who have been responsible for funding terrorist activities. Why hasn't 'Poppy' been arrested? Moreover - why has the public not picked up on the fact that right up until September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda was ours; we created it, we trained the terrorists and we used them! Why can we not find them now, and why has bin Laden not been captured or killed? In this light "Links to Al Qaeda!" takes on an entirely new meaning. This is not just idle conjecture - there is a real problem here. Bush and his henchmen are in this up to their eyes, and have been, since long before this current episode became public.

American forces are, at this moment, fighting people and organizations that we created, the groups we armed, and whom we continue to protect, from implications in the actions that occurred on 911. So who at the top is "friend" and who is "foe"? When that 'secrecy-protected phrase' "Links to Al Qaeda!" is uttered: Why is there never any proof of anything, and why has it continued now for three years without any challenge to the legitimacy of these empty claims? It appears that the American public has been had - and will continue to be taken down the primrose path (lined with the bodies of the hundreds of thousands that we've killed) - all because we'd really prefer not to look too closely at what our tax dollars are paying for.

This administration needs to answer these questions on the record, the world wants to hear their response, because the facts simply don't add up - they never have.

It's one thing to keep the coffins of the dead a secret from the media, but it is another matter all together, to hide this Bush complicity, with the very people who he says - started this war. Bush begged the people of Iraq to rise up and fight us, when he said: "Bring it on!" That has been done, and the stats to date continue to soar with every day that passes, despite the unofficial news blackouts on the war in Iraq. Bush vowed to bring "all those responsible to justice" - what happened to that empty promise when it came down to his own family and that closed but very special circle of his friends, who all came together to create Al Qaeda and to feed all that hate that keeps the resistance going strong?

The global economic world is about to be consumed by fire, and this charade will melt in the flames of the coming disaster: but these "Myths" are what underlie it all!

http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=news_
business&Number=293235913#Post293235913


Given the crash above, these dirty-little-secrets will all be coming out anyway - there just might not be time to prosecute the dynasties and all their friends unless the public gets involved.

Whatever happens, the government needs to open the books on Al Qaeda now, and prosecute all those who had a hand in this charade - especially the entire Bush family. The public also needs to begin to demand answers about that obscene little phrase: "Links to Al Qaeda!" We deserve to have those "links" spelled out in specific detail, or have the mention of them dropped from any and all future reports emanating from this mythical bogeyman that has proved to be such a boon to thieves who inhabit Washington D.C. today.

kirwan

Quotations from pgs 96 thru 98 of "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man."



The Power of Nightmares Volume 1 Part 1 of 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt-FyuuWlWQ
BrianH

Trad climber
santa fe
May 7, 2011 - 01:25am PT
Clash of civilizations?

It's a sucker's game I tell ya! A total joke to scare little crybabies! Hide under the bed, little crybaby!

Ever so gingerly, even as they praised President Obama's success against Osama bin Laden, some former senior Bush administration officials have sought to take a little credit for the mission themselves. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, interviewed by MSNBC this week, even called the operation "a good story for continuity across two presidencies."

That assessment couldn't be further from the truth. Behind Obama's takedown of the Qaida leader this week lies a profound discontinuity between administrations--a major strategic shift in how to deal with terrorists. From his first great public moment when, as a state senator, he called Iraq a "dumb war," Obama indicated that he thought that George W. Bush had badly misconceived the challenge of 9/11. And very quickly upon taking office as president, Obama reoriented the war back to where, in the view of many experts, it always belonged. He discarded the idea of a "global war on terror" that conflated all terror threats from al-Qaida to Hamas to Hezbollah. Obama replaced it with a covert, laserlike focus on al-Qaida and its spawn.

Read the whole exciting, riveting yet oh so post hoc analysis here!

Then cry, little crybabies!

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/05/obama-and-bush-two-very-different-wars/238521/
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
May 7, 2011 - 02:07am PT
You're still a sheep.

Sheep are cool. But are you sure he's really a sheep? Or is that just mental speculation? I suppose he could be a sheep, but he looks like a human. Very confusing
Mighty Hiker

climber
Vancouver, B.C.
May 7, 2011 - 02:09am PT
FWIW, rumour has it that I'm a billy goat gruff, and live under El Cap bridge. I get my jollies butting tourons into the river, and Ansel Evans feeds me goodies. Some of my neighbours are trolls.
Klimmer

Mountain climber
San Diego
May 7, 2011 - 03:57am PT
More incredible and brave truth from Dr. Pieczenik . . .


Pieczenik: The Psychological Resurrection of Osama Bin Laden
Infowars.com
May 6, 2011
http://www.infowars.com/pieczenik-the-psychological-resurrection-of-osama-bin-laden/
Dr. Steve Pieczenik: The Psychological Resurrection of Osama Bin Laden 1/2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d679JVfRcOM&feature=player_embedded
Dr. Steve Pieczenik: The Psychological Resurrection of Osama Bin Laden 2/2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynVu5HXjUKI&feature=player_embedded
dirtbag

climber
May 7, 2011 - 05:47am PT
Good ol Alex Jones and info wars.
HighDesertDJ

Trad climber
Swimming in LEB tears.
May 7, 2011 - 06:46am PT
Klimmer you are consistently....um....amazing.
Norton

Social climber
the Wastelands
May 7, 2011 - 10:30am PT
Torture



"I think that without a doubt, torture and enhanced interrogation techniques slowed down the hunt for bin Laden," said an Air Force interrogator who goes by the pseudonym Matthew Alexander and located Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, in 2006.

It now appears likely that several detainees had information about a key al Qaeda courier -- information that might have led authorities directly to bin Laden years ago. But subjected to physical and psychological brutality, "they gave us the bare minimum amount of information they could get away with to get the pain to stop, or to mislead us," Alexander told The Huffington Post.

"We know that they didn’t give us everything, because they didn’t provide the real name, or the location, or somebody else who would know that information," he said.

In a 2006 study by the National Defense Intelligence College, trained interrogators found that traditional, rapport-based interviewing approaches are extremely effective with even the most hardened detainees, whereas coercion consistently builds resistance and resentment.
Hawkeye

climber
State of Mine
May 7, 2011 - 10:31am PT
You're still a sheep.

werner is sounding like a lonely sheepherder...careful out there MH.




klimmer, if you believe half the sh#t you write on here then why don't you f*#king grow some balls and move somewhere else? how can you stand to live in a place that kills its own citizens (9-11), lies constantly (not just government personnel but entire programs) and hides aliens?

you are one f*#king wacked out dude. AMERICA - LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!


sincerely yours,
hawkeye
you ST government psyops coordinator....
Klimmer

Mountain climber
San Diego
May 7, 2011 - 11:21am PT
When are you guys going to wake-up?

How many lies is it going to take?



We funded and created AL-CIA-DUH. OBL was CIA. Fact.

They said they didn't know about the 9-11 and that the threat was imminent -- massive lie. They were told repeatedly before the fact.

Turns out now a Naval Intelligence Officer blows the cover prior to 9-11-01 being an inside job while being held by Canadian police. In Canadian Court records. Fact.

They said we could never imagine planes slamming into buildings. 100% USDA Bull Dung. We have many images of DoD/Pentagon staff using models and War Gaming that very scenario and crashing planes/jets into the Pentagon prior to 9-11-01. Fact.

9-11-01 happened but not as they said it happened. The 9-11 Commission Report is a total sham. Even Commission members have now said so. The DoD and the US Armed Forces were playing massive War Games on 9-11. Then the DoD and the US Armed Forces stood down. Facts. How does OBL our CIA asset do that?

Physical proof abounds that the attack on the WTC towers and WTC Tower 7 was brought down with explosives. Fact.

Physical proof abounds that the Pentagon was not hit with a commercial jet, but something else and explosives. Fact.

The DoD/Pentagon video that was released does not show a massive commercial jet airliner slam into the Pentagon. It was something much smaller. Fact.

We went to war on lies on WMD held by SH in Iraq. Massive lie. No WMD found. The war in Iraq bring about massive lies and cover-up of Torture, murder, and worse by the USA. Plenty of images and film exist of massive War crimes. This goes to the top of the Bush Administration. They are responsible. Fact.

The story of Jessica Lynch was a total fabrication. Total lies for War PR. Many who did rescue her and said so upon retuning to the US were killed when they spoke out. Jessica Lynch had to bring the entire fabrication to an end and confess the truth to more than likely save her life. She was more than likely next. Fact.


The made-up myth of what happened to Pat Tillman. Massive lies. We now know he was shot by our own from far range and then killed at close range. He was murdered. The family had to push to figure this out. Our government lied. More than likely to shut him up, because letters he wrote indicate that the War in Afghanistan was a sham. It's all a sham. Lies. Lies. Lies.

Wikileaks has exposed a mother load of lies about the wars.

The evidence points to OBL having already died back in 2001. He was very sick. Fact. So we are now supposed to buy the massive lie that he lives? He has confessed officially 4 times to having nothing to do with 9-11-01. Then fake videos are released showing him confessing to doing 9-11 when it has been pointed out that wasn't him, and couldn't have been him. Too many massive errors were made in the confession videos. We have fat OBL vs. skinny OBL. They couldn't even get what hand he used right.

Even the FBI does not indicate OBL was wanted for 9-11-01. Lack of evidence.


Now we are supposed to believe OBL was hiding in plain sight mere 100s of meters from the a well known Pakistan military academy? No official images or film released. Elite Seal team 6 did it. But we aren't going to know anything about them or who they are. The raid story has changed countless times. No one has a complete straight story of exactly how it went down. There are many versions now in existence. In fact they are still working on the official fabrication. Then they buried him at Sea. Reeaaaaaalllllllyyyyyy. Does that sound "fishy" to anyone? It sounds "fishy" to everyone in the World. Who makes up this doo-doo anyway?


TPTB have lied to us all along, and now you want me to believe them regrading this raid and assassination of OBL their main go to bogeyman? What are you smoking? You guys are the ones who are bat-poop crazy. (Sorry. Had to go there.)





Now we have unofficial real images and film footage that is being given out by AJ news. Sold by a Pakistani to the news agency.

HHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmm. Really?

If true he (fake OBL) was living in very poor conditions, squalor. And who are the ones all shot up? Who knows? Innocent Pakistanis who had nothing to do with OBL? Did they just invade a home and shot-up 4 people in cold-blooded murder? Wouldn't be the first time. We have lots of footage of events like this from Iraq and Afghanistan already. So this is supposed to be real images and footage after the "real" mission? How are we ever going to know? They wouldn't lie to us would they?

Not like that has ever happened to us before.



New footage emerges of bin Laden compound
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4842947

New footage emerges of bin Laden compound
Al Jazeera obtains new pictures showing interiors of house in Pakistan where al-Qaeda leader was killed.
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/asia/2011/05/2011577301766561.html

Pakistan leaks Bin Laden death scene photos
Gruesome photos purported to show victims of bin Laden raid leaked to press.
http://english.aljazeera.net/video/asia/2011/05/201155161514334290.html








Edit:


Classic. Trot out the "Love it or Leave it" arguement. LOL.

No, some of us love our Country, love our Constitution, love our Bill of Rights, and have served to defend it. I'm defending it now. I took an oath to do so.

Some people hate our country and want to sell it down the river. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to stand-up and defend it from enemies both foreign and domestic.

How about you?
dirtbag

climber
May 7, 2011 - 11:32am PT
Good morning Ron.


Conspiracy boobies
Gary

climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
May 7, 2011 - 11:37am PT
General Jack D. Ripper: No, I mean when they tortured you. Did you talk?
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Ah, oh, no... well, I don't think they wanted me to talk really. I don't think they wanted me to say anything. It was just their way of having a bit of fun, the swines. Strange thing is they make such bloody good cameras.
dirtbag

climber
May 7, 2011 - 11:52am PT
2 jugs of coffee.
WBraun

climber
May 7, 2011 - 01:09pm PT
"In the scientific and real world without independent verification it's nothing but a make believe.

In American all you need is TV to tell you so, a country of brain dead lemmings."
Bob D'A

Trad climber
Taos, NM
May 7, 2011 - 01:20pm PT
Coz wrote: Can't get his head around the fact that both parties are the same beast fighting for competing corporate interest.


What a joke. if you don't see the difference in the parties you are somewhat blind.

Democrats...healthcare, clean air, clean water, workers rights, education, national parks, less military, backing unions, progressive thinking and so on.

Feel free to tell me what the republican party is doing for the average American.
Brandon-

climber
The Granite State.
Topic Author's Reply - May 7, 2011 - 02:24pm PT
I bet that in his last minutes, Bin Laden regretted having the GPS feature on his iphone enabled.

'Osama just checked in at...'
jstan

climber
May 7, 2011 - 02:55pm PT
After some of the posts above, I feel at liberty to do a little thread drift here.

From the AARP Magazine

How Money Messes With Our Minds

Science confirms that money makes our brains short circuit. Here's how to fight back
by: David Kestenbaum | from: AARP The Magazine | May/June 2011 issue

Take out your wallet and pull out a wad of cash. Now count the bills, slowly. Rub your fingers over Washington's face. Feel better?

More than likely, the answer is yes. The reason, research shows, is that money can act like a drug on our brains. Just the ritual of counting your money, says University of Minnesota marketing professor Kathleen Vohs, can raise your pain threshold. In one experiment she and her colleagues took two groups of students and had one count bills; the other, blank pieces of paper. Then both groups stuck their fingers in hot water. The students who counted real money reported feeling significantly less discomfort.

Vohs's study, published in the journal Psychological Science in 2009, is part of a field called behavioral economics, which explores how money plays tricks with our heads. Turns out, it happens a lot. The mind's financial guidance systems can go haywire when we order at a restaurant, when we sell our homes, or when we try to save for retirement. "I'm sure every time I go to the supermarket, in small ways I'm fooled," says William Poundstone, who writes about behavioral economics in his new book, Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It).

When we don't have a feel for what something should cost, our brains flail about for a reference point. The old expression goes that you can't compare apples and oranges, but we're actually fine at this. "You never see anyone baffled by the fruit plate," says Duke University behavioral economics professor Dan Ariely, who wrote Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. "What is difficult is to compare an apple and 50 cents, or $1.20."

Companies exploit these brain-scrambling effects to get us to buy things we don't need. The good news: If you see them coming, you can use the same tricks to save money — and make money. Be aware of the following five traps:

Next: Trick 1 - The anchor effect

The Trick: A high price makes a lower price seem reasonable, even if it isn't.

You sit down to eat at a restaurant. The most expensive steak on the menu costs $50. But there's another one for $25. "Ah," you think. "Just right." Deciding on the $25 steak feels rational. You weighed the options; you made your choice. But your selection was swayed by the mere existence of the $50 steak.

Economists call this effect anchoring. That $50 steak anchors our expectations of what a steak could cost. By comparison, a $25 steak looks cheap. Anchoring is rampant on wine lists, says Richard Thaler, an economist at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and co author ofNudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. "Suppose the most expensive bottle on the list is $100 and nobody wants to buy it," he says. To boost sales, the restaurant adds a $200 bottle. "They could keep just one of them around. Nobody will order it."

Eric Johnson, codirector of the Center for Decision Sciences at Columbia University, has done experiments with actual bottles of wine. Students are told a random number, then asked to put a price on the bottle. The students who were told higher numbers — even though they know this number has nothing to do with the wine — picked higher prices. "It is really quite shocking," Johnson says. "The more you do this, the more you realize we are really imperfect decision makers."

The Fix: Shaking an anchor is difficult. Put a number in our heads and it tends to stick. Even telling people to ignore it rarely helps. "It's like saying, ' Don't think about an elephant,' " says Poundstone. "You can't do it."

One solution: Establish personal anchors in your mind, says Duke's Ariely. Pick something and set its value. Maybe $25 is the price of a theater ticket. Before ordering a $25 wine, ask yourself if it's worth a show.

If you're eating out, stick to the menu's more affordable neighborhoods. Self-described "menu engineer" Gregg Rapp, who has advised major restaurant chains, recommends finding deals at the bottom or the back of the menu, where cheaper items tend to hide. And if you're wondering whether a menu has been "engineered," see if it uses dollar signs — they make us think about money. "I've been taking dollar signs off menus for 29 years," Rapp says.

Next: Trick 2 - Sore losers

The Trick: Our fear of losing makes us pass up winning moves

Eric Johnson often conducts an experiment in his Columbia Business School class. He divides the class into two groups and asks one group how much they would pay for a mug. The typical response is $4. He gives the other group a mug for free, then asks, "How much would I have to pay you to part with it?" It's basically the same question — how much is the mug worth to you? Except this group gives an average response of $8.

Researchers call this the endowment effect. Johnson still finds it amazing — two randomly selected groups disagree dramatically over the value of a mug they hadn't seen moments before. "It's one of the most telling demonstrations in behavioral economics," he says. "Simply owning something increases its value."

Why? Because we really don't like losing something once we have it: The pain of losing outweighs the joy of winning. It's called loss aversion, and one consequence, says Richard Thaler, is that we tend to prefer "flat-rate" plans, in which, for instance, we pay a fixed amount for a cell phone plan, rather than being billed by the minute. "Nobody likes to hear the meter running," he says.

That principle can make us buy more than we need. Take cars: Many two-car households don't need the second car — they'd save money by owning one and renting a car or taking a taxi when needed. But if we own the second car, we feel as if each trip is free, even though it isn't. We forget about the vehicle's purchase price and its ongoing expenses.

Buying a house is also a kind of flat-rate plan, given that paying rent feels like tossing money out the window every month. Sometimes it is. But it might make sense to rent your home, especially if you don't plan on living there for a long time. (To see if you'd save money by renting, use AARP's online calculator at aarp.org/money/budgeting-saving/rent_buy_home_calculator/.)

The Fix: Once you understand loss aversion, you'll see it everywhere. In the stock market it affects how we feel about a stock we own. We tend to hold losers too long and sell winners too early. When a stock tanks, we don't want to sell for a loss, so we hang on, hoping it will recover. And when a stock is rising, we try to lock in the wins, often too early. Thaler's advice? Pick a sensible strategy — and stick with it. (Consider an automatic investment plan that results in dollar-cost averaging: You invest a fixed amount in certain funds at set intervals, so you'll buy more when prices are low — and you won't be tempted to yank your money in and out as prices go up and down.)

Ariely has a tip for fighting loss aversion: If you go out regularly for meals with someone, alternate paying the bill. The person who pays will feel a little more pain, but not twice as much. When you split the check, you both suffer. In taking turns, the person who doesn't pay is freed from the pain of loss. Assuming the bills are about the same, you'll spend the same amount of money, but you'll cut the number of spending transactions in half. "These are the tricks we can play with ourselves to make ourselves feel better," he says.

Next: Trick 3 - Know your odds

The Trick: We can't tell how long that long shot really is

From a financial perspective, playing the lottery is a bad bet. But millions of us do it anyway, even though we usually lose money. This is the flip side of the loss-aversion principle: The lure of a huge payoff overcomes our resistance to drop a few bucks on a ( probably) worthless ticket. As economists put it, we "overweight low probabilities." That's also why we buy insurance for things like flight accidents, even though the average American's annual risk of dying in a commercial-airline crash is about one in 11 million.

The Fix: Our brains aren't really wired to intuitively grasp the insignificance of very small odds. But there are ways to turn the urge to gamble on long shots to our advantage.

Harvard Business School economist Peter Tufano recently studied a savings plan called Prize-Linked Savings (PLS), which uses a lottery to encourage people to save money. Here's how it works: Credit-union members open savings accounts that pay less interest than normal accounts, but each time members make a deposit, they are enrolled in a lottery where they stand a small chance of winning a much larger sum. And, unlike in a conventional lottery, they never lose money. A group of Michigan credit unions started a PLS program called Save to Win in 2009, but other states currently don't allow PLS-type plans, which are seen as competitors to existing state-run lotteries.

Next: Trick 4 - Instant gratification

The Trick: We want it now, not tomorrow

Quick! Would you rather have $50 today or $52 in a week? Studies show that most people take the money now. But getting $52 a week later is the equivalent of earning 200 percent interest annually. If your bank offered that rate, you'd surely take it.

Researchers have conducted this now-or-later experiment with real money and with pieces of chocolate (the latter study was published last year in the journal Economics Letters) with the same results: Our guts tend to be impatient. Economists call that hyperbolic discounting, and it explains everything from drug addiction to the slow response to global warming. "One of the classic examples of this is people not saving enough for retirement," says Eric Johnson. Shortsightedness might have made sense to our ancestors, who lived in a world of immediate threats. But it complicates our long-term planning today.

The Fix: Just reverse the question: "Imagine you could have $52 in a week. Would you rather have $50 now?" Johnson asks. Phrasing it that way harnesses loss aversion: Now it feels like we're losing $2.

In 2004 Richard Thaler helped devise Save More Tomorrow, a plan that lets workers direct part of their future raises into retirement savings instead of taking cash out of their current paychecks. The raise hasn't happened yet, so participants don't feel loss aversion or hyperbolic discounting. In an early implementation, the savings rate of participants more than tripled.

Next: Trick 5 - Multiple choice

The Trick: Too many choices lead to bad decisions — or no decisions.

In 2000, social psychologist Sheena Iyengar, who now teaches at Columbia and wrote the 2010 book The Art of Choosing, published a groundbreaking study on choice. In one experiment she offered free samples of jam to shoppers. Almost one-third of those who chose from six kinds of jam bought a jar, compared with only 3 percent of those faced with 24 varieties. In another experiment she showed that those who chose from more options were less happy with their purchase.

That effect, dubbed the paradox of choice, changed a lot of assumptions about what consumers want. It also explains why we make — and fail to make — many spending decisions. Faced with too many choices, we develop habits. We pick one jam, one restaurant, one credit card company. And because we rarely examine those habits, we don't get the best deals.

The Fix: Dan Ariely recommends taking time once a year to see if our habits make financial sense. Do we really need the $100-a-month cable-TV plan? Think of it as resetting your financial compass to shake off the mind-altering effects of buying stuff.

And finally, relax. Some money decisions do have right and wrong answers. But what something is worth to you is ultimately subjective. "It's a general problem with life," says Richard Thaler. Is a $40,000 car better than a $30,000 one? Probably. "But how much better?"

There's only one answer, and your brain won't find it very satisfying — $10,000 better.

David Kestenbaum is an economics correspondent with National Public Radio. You can also hear him on the Planet Money podcast, atnpr.org/money.

END QUOTE

An example of trick 3.
When I was eight or nine a first class stamp was only 5 cents I was all set to enter the Reader’s Digest contest. Then I checked my odds. Something like one in 100 million.

I cut the stamp off the envelope.


OOPS!

From the Telegraph.UK

Telegraph.co.uk
07 May 2011




Good sign: organic food shops like this increase the desirability of a whole area and help give it a 'village' feel

It used to be the arrival of coffee shop chains that sent residents' pulses racing for the good times - and increasing property prices - ahead. But the zeitgeist is now firmly related to eating local and eating organic, and there's no clearer indicator of an area becoming what used to be called "gentrified" than the arrival of an organic deli.

"Organic food shops and restaurants are now important when it comes to choosing an in-place to live," says Martin Bikhit, MD of agents Kay & Co.

"As well as pandering to the health-conscious London residents of today, it also sets an area aside from the cloned high streets with the same too-instantly recognisable chains of food outlets, and gives the perception of a more upmarket place to live."

Alex Michelin, Director at Finchatton, the property design company, says: "Organic delis are all the rage now. As has been well documented, it's often the wife that influences the final purchasing decision and they certainly want to live near a farmers' market or an organic deli. It's a major influencing factor."

This summer's opening of the vast Whole Foods store on Kensington High Street proves the significance people now place on being able to access fresh organic produce, and delis and organic cafes have been popping up in less salubrious areas.

One was spotted recently in a back street of unglamorous West Hampstead, and there is a Fresh & Wild on Stoke Newington Church Street, Hackney.

Shops such as Fresh & Wild and farmers' markets certainly add to the ambience of an area and "contribute to the overall marketability of properties", according to Anne Currell, MD of Currell Residential which covers Hackney.

At the other end of the scale, Marylebone High Street is a good example of how the number of organic food retailers has boosted the area's "individualism", which in turn has helped house prices increase well ahead of other areas in the immediate vicinity.

As Martin Bikhit of Kay and Co says, "Organic is not only good for your health, it's great for your property's value too."

Deon Steyn, head of search and acquisitions at property search company Brahm, has witnessed a rapid change in the capital.

"When I worked in Hong Kong, every property brochure sent from London featured the Harrods food hall. Now, purchasers are more interested in local produce, delis and organic food stores."
Currently, SW1, for years more an interior design enclave, has recently evolved into something of a must-visit foodie destination with a farmers' market and the new London outpost of Gloucestershire's Daylesford Organic food emporium.

Finchatton is launching a new property on Holbein Place, a hop, skip and jump from the Daylesford Organic store. "It's opposite the farmers' market and has made the area even more desirable to buyers who are willing to pay a premium to live near it," says Alex Michelin.
In Battersea, it is the growth along the river of smart, trendy riverside apartments such as Oyster Wharf and Falcon Wharf, with Battersea High Street the nearest place to unwind without having to jump in a cab, that has resulted in delis opening to meet the market and giving a fillip to the area, believes Spencer Cushing of John D Wood & Co's Battersea office.

"It has already had an effect on prices in Simpson Street, which runs off Battersea High Street," he says. "Historically, and due to its proximity to a council estate, Battersea High Street has felt a little run-down with shops with faded paint selling cheap and cheerful produce. But there is now something about Battersea High Street that suggests the area is moving up.

"Where once there was a kebab and pizza delivery outlet there now stands a rather smart delicatessen that wouldn't look out of place in Chelsea, while the spit-and-sawdust pub is now a gastropub. We are seeing a very positive movement in values over and above that of the usual house price trend".

Over in Chelsea, foodie addicts can live above a branch of Baker and Spice, the food shop and bakery renowned for its "iconic" croissants, in a three-bedroom maisonette on the corner of Denyer/Millner Streets.

With a master bedroom with dressing room and ensuite, second bedroom also with ensuite, third double bedroom, state-of-the-art technology, and terrace, the price is £2.75 million through Henry and James, 020 7235 8861, www.henryandjames.co.uk.

Fortunately there are plenty of places you can enjoy the good life at lower prices. In SW19, a David Wilson Homes development is down the road from Wimbledon village, which has a Bayley and Sage organic deli complete with two thousand lines of speciality food. The 570 new homes will include studios and one and two-bedroom apartments, with prices from £180,000.
But is all this foodie fervour just another flavour of the month?

"Absolutely not," says Andrew Murray, Director of developers Morpheus. "Delicatessens such as Baker and Spice and so on take expense to kit out, they plan for the longer term. These sort of shops give a place a real village feel which never goes out of fashion."


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