General Noriega - RIP

General Noriega, the ol' lavahead's doppelgänger, has passed on. Yet another icon, albeit shady, from the ol' lavahead's era. Sadly, many more icons have passed on recently, including Greg Allman, Powers Boothe, and Roger Moore. Too many, actually, and a tragic reminder of mortality at work. There will be no more “tweets” on Twitter® about any other icons passing on subsequent to that of General Noriega.

General Noriega

Mortality, of course, includes precursor events such as testosterone depletion and the atrophying of the Vienna Sausage. The negative effect of the latter will be the gradual deprecation of pictures of young hotties in the Twitter® feed. Of course, increased “senior moments” may lead to the mummification of the entire feed.

Addendum: The proto-neo-con(man), Zbigniew Brzezinski, also passed on recently. In his case, good riddance!

Homeless Decision Redux

The homeless decision has resurfaced as the result of a personal visit to the IHS housing office located next to women's shelter. The housing specialist there called the housing specialist at the Sand Island homeless shelter. An e-mail was received from the latter, which also touched upon the feeble excuse used to delay intake into the Sand Island facility.

The Sand Island housing specialist indicated that intake could take place when word is given. Thus, the homeless decision will be effective toward the end of next month at the expiry of the feeble excuse. Once again, the prospect of becoming truly homeless, stigma and all, is here.

There are fears that eviction from the Sand Island homeless shelter could occur at any time because of rule violations or false allegations by other residents. The greatest fear is that the housing specialist would not be able to make placement into suitable affordable housing. Then, eviction onto the streets will be inevitable. Of course, placement into horrid housing environments could be an even worse scenario.

Once the departure from the 'Nalo studio rental is accomplished, there will be no turning back. Of course, the 'Nalo studio rental has always been understood to be temporary. Eventually, homelessness would ensue. So, contingency planning is a must.

Internment at the Sand Island facility is the first contingency. Planning for the purchase of a "cheap" condominium unit is the second contingency and must be established within the initial 90-day tenure at the homeless shelter. While assurances were given that an extension is possible, there are no guarantees.

Futile Plea For Help

The sad saga of the housing farce continues ... in this episode, a visit was made to the obscure IHS housing office next to the women's homeless shelter on Ka'aahi Street off of Dillingham Boulevard. The small sign outside the one door and windowless entrance simply read, "Housing and Employment Office."

Four people were seated and staring at computer screens, including the front desk person. Three other people were observed coming and going. Making a plea for help was not easily understood by either the front desk person or one of the "housing specialists."

In the end, a photocopied list of various senior citizen rental housing was provided. One of the lists roughly replicated the list provided by the Public Housing Authority. No doubt, the list that is due to arrive by mail from Catholic Charities will be similarly redundant. In all cases, lots of staff people. Why have so many people on payroll when a stack of photocopied lists on a table with a sign reading, "Take One," will suffice?

Providing lists of housing is all that any agency can provide. No other assistance is forthcoming. The matter of income requirements was confirmed, though. Income is all that matters. Other assets do not apply. Hence, no qualifying income, no housing. That's why there are so many homeless senior citizens on the streets.

A surprising revelation was that the rules at the various transitional housing/shelters have changed. Residents can no longer stay for two years. The time is now limited to 90 days, just as the traditional homeless shelters. The rise, of course, is to keep the homeless in constant circulation from to streets to shelter ad infinitum. Refer to previous footnote titled, "Homeless Inc."

In any case, the options have dwindled down to either purchasing a "cheap" condominium or purchasing a Nissan® NV3500 passenger van (homeless motorhome). In either case, the best route for now is procrastination by remaining in the 'Nalo studio rental for as long as possible. That's how totally fucked the housing situation is in Hawai'i.

Chatting with the Senior Citizens

A discussion with fellow senior citizen, Bernard, ensued at the fast food joint in town this morning. Specifically, the topic was senior citizen housing. Bernard resides in a nice senior citizen housing project in Mano'a. He ended up there by happenstance, although years had gone by (subsequent to making application) before he was notified of an opening. He pays $670 per month for a studio rental. What was of particular interest was the confusion surrounding the management of the facility. Vacancies often go unfilled for five months even though the wait list period stretches into years.

Another discussion with fellow senior citizen, Chip, occurred at the gym. The topic was housing and Medicare. Chip has been describing the mess that is Medicare. Most senior citizens have little knowledge of its labyrinth structure. Chip was finally able to discern that $121 is deducted from his Social Security retirement benefits each month for Medicare. That was later verified and specifically for "Part B." The on-going senior citizen housing conundrum was also discussed. The leasehold versus fee simple (or Waikiki versus Makaha) question was also broached with no conclusion drawn.

A few of the senior citizen housing projects have information available on the Net. From what can be ascertained, there are tiers of rental rates with an apartment quota ties to each. Income requirement is two times the tiered rent. Needless to say, many people cannot qualify for a senior citizen rental unit even at the lowest tier. That's why there are so many homeless senior citizens.

During subsequent research, a bit of encouraging information was discovered. Senior citizens over age 65 years are able to apply for SSI (Supplemental Security Income) benefits. That's the same program normally called "disability" benefits for people under 65 years of age. Low income and low resources are the requirements for senior citizens (with some exclusions). In other words, it's time start hiding assets.

Fuck It Friday - 3

Fuck It Friday (FIF)! Sporadic news and commentary of no interest to anyone ... FIF! The fucked housing situation in view of end-of-life issues is the primary focus of this edition.

The two-week attempt at receiving assistance from Catholic Charities has ended with absolutely no results. A listing of senior citizen rental housing is on its way by mail. Fuck it!

There will now be a multi-prong approach applied. Another attempt using the homeless ruse will be deployed through the Dillingham homeless shelter housing office. Hopefully, no tenure in an actual homeless shelter will be required. The goal is to circumvent the wait lists for senior citizen rental housing. Fuck it!

Concurrent with the latter, conventional rental housing will be sought out. The rent ceiling has been raised to $1,000 per month, the rationale being end-of-life issues as discussed in a previous footnote. The rent ceiling is also close to monthly outlay for the more rational property purchase option below.

Remaining in the 'Nalo rental studio is an option, but not a good one. Again, end-of-life issues prevail. Evenings upon arrival are spent entirely with the Nexus 6P "smartphone." That is an extreme waste of time given what remains of the "good years." The 'Nalo option is the most cost-effective, of course, but cost-effectiveness is moot in chronic decrepitude. Fuck it!

Purchasing property is another option, but one that must be approached with extreme caution. As a rule, senior citizens should be divesting property, not acquiring it. The only affordable property options are fee simple condominiums in Makaha or leasehold condominiums in town.

The fee simple condominiums in Makaha would be a better option for a 40-year-old single person, the idea being that the condo could be sold in the future and equity cashed out. Overall, it is the most cost-effective purchase option. However, an 80-year-old senior citizen does not need the headache of selling property and looking for another place to reside. Makaha, by the way, is probably not the best place for anyone over 65 years old.

The leasehold condo option is one-way. The leases are too short to allow a sale of the property. In essence, a leasehold property acquisition is for the life of the tenant. There is the option of moving out and securing the services of a property management company to rent out the unit before lease expiry. Why bother unless assisted care is needed? The leasehold condo is not cost-effective and is the equivalent of paying about $1,100 per month in rent. However, the leasehold condos are situated in town, a much more favorable and (possibly) enjoyable environment. Overall, for a senior citizen, the leasehold condo is the better option.

That is the crux of the new strategic plan for housing while taking end-of-life issues into consideration. Fuck it!

End of Life

In 17.5 years, the age milestone of 80 years of life will theoretically be reached. Unfortunately, family antecedents indicate that 80 years may be the upper limit or end of life. Only one blood uncle has lived beyond 80 years of age so far, out of the two remaining (of nine including pops). All passed on because of cancer or other chronic diseases.

A lot of time has been spent in an attempt to discern the age when rapid physical degradation occurs. There is no conclusive data. An approximation of 75 years (plus or minus two years) is about the best extrapolation for the last of the "good years." Musculoskeletal deformations, muscle atrophy, and other traits become more pronounced. The dreaded "senior moments" increase.

Given that kind of data, anecdotal or otherwise, there should be more awareness that the end-of-life stage has already commenced for 60+-year-old persons. Denial, of course, causes people to disregard the facts and continue on the same trajectory of assumed immortality.

Thus, people (usually rank-and-file peons) continue to plod along with a strategy developed (or inculcated by "mainstream" brainwashing) in their earlier years. Retirement is often pushed forward to the end-of-life envelope because of fake actuarial statistics. The fear is that of retiring poor or ending up penniless at an advanced age. The latter and former play into the hands of the "one percent."

The malignant form of denial finds the average aging senior citizen still making sacrifices or still saving for the future. Yet, that same senior citizen could drop dead at any moment. Worse, many senior citizens continue to develop plans based on fake actuarial statistics. They project their plans forward to 100 years of age or immortality.

In summary, the best retirement plan is to "live it up" between age 62 (or 66 years at the latest) and 75 years of age. Beyond that, there's just no telling what will happen. There's a 95% probability of decrepitude of varying degrees (or death) occurring which will be an impediment to full enjoyment.

Life in Senior Citizen Housing

A couple of moons ago, Hoang (formerly-homeless buddy or FHB), provided a brief synopsis of life in the Waialua public senior citizen housing project. He described the place as being extremely quiet. All of the residents are senior citizens except for FHB and another allegedly disable formerly-homeless guy. The residents are caring and concerned, often looking out for each other.

There are frequently available units at the project. Many of the residents move to other public senior citizen housing projects near town. Usually, the most common reason for vacancies at senior citizen housing is death. Not so at Waialua. In general, though, senior citizens are permanent residents until end of life or the need to transfer to an assisted-living facility.

All of the senior citizens at the Waialua project have apartments stuffed with furniture and various possessions acquired over a lifetime. The FHB, on the other hand, only has an air mattress and his bicycle. That's it. Otherwise, his apartment is nearly empty.

FHB rarely comes into town, usually for a medical appointment or to refill prescriptions. He also spends time outside the downtown Starbucks® to use the free wireless hotspot and download bootleg copies of mainstream flicks.

FHB sleeps ten hours per day. He spends most of his waking moments watching his library of pirated mainstream flicks. He also spends time at the Waialua public library. And, one day per week, he rides his bicycle on a three-hour journey around the North Shore for exercise.

Wing It Wednesday - 1

Wing It Wednesday (WIW)! Sporadic news and commentary of no particular interest to anyone ... WIW! The fucked senior citizen housing situation is the primary focus of this edition.

The attempt to circumvent the wait list process for affordable senior citizen rental housing through Catholic Charities (CC) is a failure. There is almost no way to directly contact any person by phone at the other end. A caller must leave a voicemail message. Then, a representative would return the call sometime later. Unless the "smartphone" is carried around obsessively, the return call would be missed. A "phone tag" situation ensues.

Needless to say, CC will only provide assistance to senior citizens who are either homeless or close to being homeless. Other low priority cases can request a list of senior citizens rental housing and make application on their own. The initial intake process for CC is just to get on the wait list to see a "housing specialist" (the same job description for IHS homeless shelter employees).

Is it really worth the time and effort to get into affordable senior citizen rental housing? Gym buddy, Chip, mentioned that he observed long lines of people waiting along Maunakea Street in Chinatown for a couple of days. He surmised that they were waiting to get on the recently opened wait list for a couple of affordable rental housing projects. "Nobody was speaking English," he added.

That's about right. The immigrants, mostly Chinese, appear to have an inside track on when wait lists for affordable housing open up. Thus, most of the affordable rental housing, regular and senior citizen, are populated by immigrants (documented or otherwise). Imagine residing in a high-rise affordable rental project populated by immigrants. Lots of noise, lots of domestic problems, lots of unauthorized occupants.

There are "kapuna" senior citizen rental housing, usually government subsidized, that are much less immigrant-intensive. However, all of those projects no longer accept names on their wait lists. The formerly-homeless buddy resides in such a project in Waialua. Ordinary senior citizen rental housing has its drawbacks as well, mainly lots of decrepit senior citizens. Very depressing.

So, the affordable rental housing situation, especially for senior citizens, is fucked up. The whole housing strategy has been usurped by sheer stupidity. What is the alternative? “Wing it,” of course!

Fuck It Friday - 2

Fuck It Friday (FIF)! Sporadic news and commentary of no interest to anyone ... FIF! The future is the primary focus of this edition.

Very little progress is being made concerning future housing. The option of purchasing a condominium in Makaha has been temporarily shelved. In the interim, various means will be utilized to begin the rental housing search.

After two days of leaving voicemail on the Catholic Charities senior citizen hotline, a response was forthcoming. Hopefully, contact will be made in person with a counselor specializing in affordable senior citizen housing. If not, the housing office at the Dillingham homeless shelter may be another option (without actually having to reside at either the Iwilei or Sand Island homeless shelters).

The future has become a burden. Impoverished retirement is no better than terminal homelessness. What happened to the "Golden Years"? Stolen by the "one percent," of course. Fuck it!

New employees serving food at Panda Express® in Hawai'i Kai has now changed the course of dining. Sometimes the portions are so small that the regular dinner plate could be confused with the tiny kid's meal. On days that the new employees are serving food, a temporary boycott has been established. Fuck it!

The supply of psyllium husks has dwindled down to two daily doses. There are currently no plans to refill the supply. Thus, the use of psyllium as a fiber additive is coming to end. Fuck it!

There's no stability now or in the future. Expect all situations to become more chaotic and possibly more violent. Much of it was predicted in the "blog." Fuck it!

Duping Old Fools Into Bankruptcy

The nightmare of senior citizenship continues. Now, the boondoggle known as Medicare comes to the forefront. Recent research and anecdotal testimony by fellow senior citizens have pretty much indicated that participation in that healthcare entitlement program could easy lead to bankruptcy. Only the affluent can afford a supplemental healthcare plan to offset the high deductibles, fees, and co-payments. Most senior citizens settle for inexpensive plans that end up costing much more.

Many moons ago, the senior citizen healthcare crisis was discussed in the "blog." The conclusion jokingly recommended going broke early on as a means to avoid eventual asset confiscation. As it turns out, the conclusion was absolutely correct as proven by formerly-homeless buddies, Scotty and Hoang. In fact, the best advice for senior citizens is to spend (or hide) everything except $2,000 or less. Affordable senior citizen housing, food subsidies, rent subsidies, "free" supplemental healthcare plans all become available in impoverishment, feigned or otherwise.

The "one percent" have brainwashed the lower classes to believe that saving for retirement, the "nest egg," is very important. Fear is instilled by images of broke homeless senior citizens. Unbeknownst to the fools, the "system" will eventually rob them of their money and wealth anyway. One health crisis, and game over!

Cinco de Mayo 2017

Fuck It Friday! Sporadic news and commentary of no interest to anyone ... FIF! The creepy hegemonic threat of empire is the primary focus of this edition.

The articles cited in the (defunct) Twitter® feed, authored by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, are essential reading. Basically, Roberts is "spot on." The "missle shield" surrounding both the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation, along with the empire's puppet NATO troops amassed on the Western border of Russia, are indications of a planned military offensive. The feeble pretense of protection from Iran and North Korea is laughable.

The scenario was actually discussed many moons ago in the "blog." Megalomania has infected the diseased minds of the Neo-Con(men). The fools actually believe that limited global thermonuclear war is both winnable and survivable. The foolish notion has evolved from archaic think-tank research dating back to the 1950s. In any case, the revised scenario appears to be a first strike on Russia with thermonuclear weapons to be coordinated with a ground troop invasion from the Western front. The thinking is that the nuclear strike will rapidly and efficiently eliminate the Russian government and neutralize it's military capabilities. Ground troops will then invade and conquer. China will be spared unless it does not surrender after the Russian carnage.

The insane plan must be invoked within three years, although its success is highly improbable. By 2020, both Russia and China will have upgraded their military capabilities and the insane plan's success will be non-existent.

Why would such a scenario be nothing more than comedy relief? In a previous footnote, the financial state-of-affairs of the "West" was summarized. Debt is accumulating at an exponential rate. ZIRP, NIRP, and QE have removed the dodgy "paper" from bank balance sheets and been placed in custody of the global central banks. Thus, there is no chance of another bank failure.

Thus, there is absolutely no hard "correction" possible for stock market and housing bubbles as well as asset price inflation. So, the bubbles will theoretically continue to inflate to infinity. The real problem is that wealth is flowing exponentially upward to the "one percent." Social inequality is increasing exponentially as well. Eventually, the "system" will collapse into itself because of the sheer weight at the top. The result will not be a "correction," but a complete annihilation of the current form of "casino capitalism."

As discussed in the "blog," there is only one way out. That is, conquer both China and Russia, steal their resources, confiscate their gold reserves, and subordinate their populations. The war "booty" would restore value to the Western currencies and reset the "system." Then, the whole cataclysmic process can commence again, like a malignant tumor. Fuck it!

Incidentally, no revisions have been made to the current financial plan yet. The ultra-conservative portfolio is still the same. As usual, more deliberation is required. Fuck it!

A "last ditch" effort to secure affordable senior citizen rental housing will be made by initiating contact with the senior citizen housing assistance program offered through Catholic Charities. If no progress is made, then only one option remains. Incidentally, the best choice for a really nice affordable condominium on the Leeward Coast is Makaha Valley Towers. Second best is still the Makaha Surfside.

A conversation between two senior citizens living in affordable senior citizen housing was overhead at the fast food joint in town this morning. They were talking so loud that avoiding any eavesdropping was impossible. Anyway, the various pitfalls of living in senior citizen rental housing was interspersed with other topics. Upon hearing what was said, there really seems to be little appeal to living in such places. Fuck it!

Financial Strategy Revamp

Desperation once again wields it's ugly head, or desperate times call for drastic measures? The central bank of empire zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) has caused a $100,000 reduction in financial resources over the past ten years. Those investments have only yielded $2.50 per year in interest and dividends. The conservative approach is obviously not working.

In the meantime, the stock market and housing market has literally gone through the roof. Both are now now huge bubbles. The doomsayers have been predicting a major crash for several years now. However, the bubbles just keep growing. Why?

According to Chris Martenson of PeakProsperity.com, the global central banks have recently accelerated the purchase of dodgy "paper." In the last three months, over $1 trillion has been added to their balance sheets. At that rate, over $4 trillion will be accumulated by year's end. In return, the global central banks allegedly flood the market with "printed" money. Martenson asserts that the massive liquidity has been responsible for pumping up the bubbles. "That money has to go somewhere," he added.

Yet, the protocol of the sleazy "quantitative easing" (QE) policy is to deposit the "printed" money into the reserve accounts of the banks which the dodgy "paper" were acquired. Of course, global central banks are now purchasing stocks and engaging in other questionable practices. So, perhaps money is being loaned for free to the "one percent."

A new investment strategy may reallocate some financial resources to equities. Gains are much higher than bonds or money markets. Yet, the risks are quite apparent. Stocks are very overpriced. In addition, price-earnings ratios are well above 45 in most cases. Valuations are up because of leveraged stock buybacks. Clearly, there is risk.

On the other hand, there does not appear to be any normalization of interest rates on the horizon. Zero or negative interest rates could go on in perpetuity. There also doesn't appear to be a ceiling for debt creation. Public and private debt in empire alone is over $56 trillion. None of that debt can ever be repaid. Yet, the debt keeps accumulating at an exponential rate.

As long as the global central banks continue the sleazy policies, there will be no limit to the bubbles. Nothing could even remotely cause a crash. Stock prices could go to $1 million per share. Tiny houses could become worth over $1 billion no problem. So, is time to take a chance and ride that bubble up into the limitless sky? Yes!