This mission is paramount because the Space Shuttle program is being decommissioned and we’re going to have to rely on Russian Soyuz rockets to get astronauts and cargo to the ISS. America needs to act fast, and SpaceX is stepping up to the plate and has recently hit three home runs.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 Takes Off

SpaceX performed this feat with just a FRACTION of the budget and number of failures that other government entities and larger companies have had. They are showing that privatizing works when done right. Put a bunch of geniuses in a room with a solid vision, a fiscal goal to achieve, and an inspirational leader, and this is what you get.

I am very close to many people at SpaceX, as they were one of my primary customers in my old sales job. I am still friends with many of the employees, as they are a great group of guys. I am honest when I tell you that every time I stepped into that building, I was the dumbest person in the room. I can’t say enough good things about them, the missions they’ve accomplished, and how they do so much with so little.

SpaceX is founded by Elon Musk, who was the co-founder of PayPal and also runs Tesla Motors.

What the SpaceX Launch Means to Me… and America

Note: This is the way I see things. I follow space, but not so closely that this is how it all went down

Over the past decade, we have had two American government administrations that have done nothing but balloon the size of the government with basically zero productive results. There has been nothing but bureaucratic waste, failure, and endless “wars”.

Our Space Shuttle program has been ailing, as was evident by the 2003 Columbia disaster. Our shuttles are no longer certifiably safe, and they need to be put to noble rest. So Congress commissioned NASA to create the Constellation program, a new human space transport program. Sounds cool, we can keep up with Russia and China, right?

Wrong.

As many expected, NASA shit the bed with Constellation. They were so covered in shit that they were unable to even provide a reasonable estimation for how much the program would even cost!! Talk about flying blind! (Original 2004 NASA estimates were that it’d cost $230 Billion to get to the moon)

So much win.

So I have to credit President Obama for doing his homework and canceling the program. Instead, he decided that it was time to take a “bold new approach to human space flight that embraces commercial industry”, as Constellation was “over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation.”

So he created the COTS program, designating $6 Billion to fund commercial technology companies to get it done. SpaceX and Orbital Sciences won the bids, with behemoths Lockheed Martin and Boeing left licking their wounds.

What you see in the video above is somewhere south of $600 million worth of investment. That is less than the amount of “cost threats” NASA calculated as being risky endeavors for the Constellation program. While this bloated program was busy making mistakes (yet keepin’ them cushy jobs!), SpaceX got busy flying rockets – and making profit.

I know that it’s not so clear cut, and SpaceX still needed a LOT of NASA help to communicate out there, but let me continue.

Okay… But why should I care about any of this?

Dragon Capsule Comes Home

Good question. This country is on a downward spiral, so why are we worried about sending expensive rockets into space?

The first part of the answer is that if the shit hits the fan, we may need manned missions that we can operate. Even with SpaceX, the US still has a gap where we cannot fly manned missions ourselves after Atlantis is decommissioned. We will have no safe shuttle!!!! SpaceX doesn’t think it can officially bring an astronaut to space for 3 more years, which probably means 4.

Sure, we have companies like Lockheed, Boeing, and SpaceX that can bring your satellite into space. But if we need to do spacewalks to fix things, do we really want to rely on the Russians and Chinese? It’s not a good situation if relations go downhill, which isn’t out of the realm of possibility. I for one don’t completely trust anyone but Americans with my precious cargo and communications systems.

The second part of the answer is this: While NASA is less than 1% of our budget, it’s a microcosm for everything that is going wrong with this country.

You can spend billions upon billions of good peoples’ money by pushing paper around, or you can let a bunch of smart people attack the problem with the incentive of that forsaken word, PROFIT.

So my question back to you is, if a company of 1200 employees can accomplish at a fraction of a price what a huge government organization of 18,000+ people cannot do… where else can this country save money and put power back into the hands of the people?

It’s not rocket science, people. Well, except it is, and privatization STILL worked. Why not try it in places where it’s a bit easier than building space ships?

So congrats once again to SpaceX and all of my friends and past associates.

Yesterday was a great day for America and our founding principles.

Elon is 39, and today I turned 29. I have exactly ten years to be as fucking cool as that guy.

Related posts:

1. On Strike With the Writer’s Guild of America
2. Land of the Free, Right?
3. You Can’t Live the American Dream in Europe

It sounds counter-intuitive, and small businesses in China definitely have to deal with a lot of hassles and paperwork, but they’re also given a great amount of leeway in terms of how they get to run their operations.

Some great examples of this are in Mike Michelini’s recent blog article titled Maybe I’ve Been in China Too Long. Mike is a businessman who has been bouncing between the US, China, and Phillippines. While I don’t agree with the Healthcare bullet point at all, it’s hard to argue with the other points.

One of the many interesting things I saw in China was a Help Wanted sign at a clothing store that dictated the prospective employee had to be under 5’4″ and 90lbs. Imagine doing that in the States! Every obesity support group in the country would have you in court by the week’s end. God forbid you want someone attractive and healthy modeling your petite line of clothing.

In the US, on the other hand, we have exceedingly aggressive laws and tax codes that have been written by lawyers and CPAs – two regulated industries where you need “certification” in order to enter the industry. This creates a barrier to entry, thus artificially inducing the wage floor. At the same time, since these are the people writing the laws, they write them in such a way that you need to hire one of them to figure it all out – and if you don’t, you’re going to get screwed by someone who does. Land of the free, right?

It’s a vicious circle, and if you’re not one of them, it affects you negatively. Not a day goes by where I don’t respect lawyers less. What am I doing about it? You’ll find out soon enough, but it’s phenomenal to see people such as Rand Paul, who I heavily support, getting elected this week. Rand will fight this kind of nonsense and try to reduce these laws and simplify the tax codes.

In the meantime, we have sticks-in-the-ass like this clown who shut down a 7 year old’s Lemonaide stand in Oregon due to lack of paperwork and licensing. Yes, I know the story had a happy ending, but it should have never have happened in the first place – and WOULDN’T have happened in “highly regulated” China. Land of the free, right?

As for me right now, I’m happy to admit that I’m struggling with the growth of my network. I have several successful projects, but I do nearly everything for every single one of them. The profit margin is great, but it’s time to start hiring other people.

The first thing I want to do is hire a writer. While I love writing, the research and composition takes too much time I’d rather be doing other things (designing, coding, marketing, and surfing, mainly).

Clearly, I want a quality writer who speaks English as his or her first language. But guess what – In the Land of the Free known as the United States of America, you can’t ask or require that English be your first language. That’s illegal become some bureaucrats decided that I need to give everyone a “fair chance”. The best I can do is massage the system and ask backassward questions such as “Do you have any language abilities that would be helpful in doing this job?”. A lot of good that will do.

So I either have to waste my time testing and weeding a bunch of people out (and most likely ultimately arrive at a native English speaker), or I can just say screw it and outsource the service to contractors, who likely aren’t Americans (right now I’m actually working with a British team). I don’t have to pay them benefits that I can’t currently afford, I don’t have to worry about ridiculous Obamacare rules and Welfare policies that may or may not get enacted, and I can stop sourcing to them whenever I want for any reason I choose.

So tell me, who are these laws really helping? Because let me tell you something: Life isn’t fair, and if you don’t meet my requirements, you don’t deserve a “fair chance”. In the real Land of the Free, you don’t have the government make fair chances for you – you make them yourself.

Related posts:

1. I Will No Longer Press 1 To Speak English
2. You Can’t Live the American Dream in Europe
3. If You Like “All” Music, You Like NO Music

Throughout these travels, I met an incredible amount of European men and women, and we often compared lifestyle and culture. No matter what part of Europe I was in, one theme remained constant in each one of these conversations: When I told the other person that I ran my own business, they were absolutely floored and couldn’t have been any more interested.

In America, it’s interesting to meet business-owners, but there are a great number of us, so it’s no big deal. From independent limo drivers to contracting plumbers to wedding photographers to Internet marketers, we’re not that rare.

However, in Europe, that didn’t seem to be the case. The Socialist regimes put a government stamp on basically everything, and everyone is complacent to work their 9-5 job so that they can save up enough to go on “Holiday” for the month of vacation that they’re given. And I’m not one to argue – our measly vacation policies are probably the #1 thing I hate about Corporate America. Europeans don’t have that problem.

In the meantime, someone like me who wants to rise above the masses in Europe has to deal with ridiculously high taxes and unlimited amounts of government bureaucracy. With these obstacles, combined with the fact that you can get taken care of considerably well without using much of your brain, why bother going above and beyond to produce something new to the world? The status quo is fine for most.

However, I was amazed by the amount of attraction I created in women that I talked with. Sure, maybe it was the mustache I rocked that one day, but I think it goes deeper than the physical. In their eyes, here is a guy who does whatever he wants, reports to nobody, and is at least wealthy enough to go on a trip overseas with the sole purpose of drinking beer and throwing Euros around like they’re Monopoly money. On the surface, he’s an alpha male – the leader of his tribe who leads the pack (even if it’s a tribe of 1 – but they don’t know that). And to women, that’s naturally attractive, no matter what society or tax system you live in.

The troubling thing is that our current Administration is steering our great country towards the demotivational mindset of Europe. Right now, the question entrepreneurs ask is, “Why should I hire more employees when I don’t have a clue what kind of health care and welfare I’m going to have to provide this person?”. We have absolutely no foresight into what’s around the corner, and it’s scaring a lot of business owners into inaction. But at the big picture level, while this is hurting our country, it’s not stopping us from starting our own businesses.

I just desperately hope that we stick to our revolutionary roots and change direction before that question becomes “Why should I bother producing something new when there’s a 40% tax and everyone gets spoonfed from the Uncle Sam anyway?” It’s a question that I will actively fight from ever existing in America.

But in the meantime, I will continue to lead my tribe of 1, rise above the masses, and continue to mystify German women who want the unfamiliar – because You Can’t Live the American Dream in Europe.

Related posts:

1. American Airlines Tries to Put Damper on MS150
2. Land of the Free, Right?
3. What the SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Success Means to America

Good evening Jane, this is Mike Roberto of Hermosa Beach again.

I am quite disappointed that you voted in favor of this morning’s bailout bill. I am, however, pleased that a majority of your peers were wiser than you, saw through this Unconstitutional bill of criminal support, and voted it down.

It has become clear to me that you do not understand basic macroeconomics, and since this is our most pressing issue, I cannot vote for you or support you in any way.

I highly recommend that you find time to sit down with Congressman Ron Paul and have him explain to you the disaster that your policies have caused. You are supporting an unjust system which has devalued our currency by 95% since 1913, and you are supporting bills which will cause even more damage to your constituents.

It is not too late for you to understand responsible fiscal policy and to bring US Government spending back under control. Please re-consider your policies.

Sincerely,
Mike

One comment was from my good friend, Lon, who said:

This nut also happens to be responsible for HR 1955 (Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007). Vote BERTO for CA district 36 in 2010!

I cannot believe that I never put two and two together. MY representative is the person who created HR 1955 (Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007), which is essentially a vague and intrusive “thought crime bill” that criminalizes protesting and dissenting from the government’s ideas if you have an “extremist belief system”, which of course is undefined.

It is unconstitutional and violates our right to free speech, and it was written right here on my home turf — in a place where no majority of constituents would even support it!

Lon also had a good write-up of this bill that you can read here.

This now brings up the scary part – there are no third-party candidates running in this district! It’s just Jane and THIS guy. I can understand not having a Libertarian or Constitutional candidate, but no Green Party candidate here either? What a sad state of affairs.

Mike Roberto for CA 36th District 2010, indeed?!

Related posts:

1. I Will No Longer Press 1 To Speak English
2. Open Letter to Rep. John Conyers re: Sirius/XM Merger
3. Presidential Candidate Ron Paul Comes to USC

This post is not meant to discuss those issues – it’s here to discuss one solution for your personal savings – how to hedge on some gold (and silver) to preserve personal net worth in the case that the dollar gets further devalued. Having followed gold for a while, but not knowing many ways to actually own good bullion, I finally did some research.

Here’s how you can buy and own gold and silver:

1. BullionVault.com. This is a service that will store gold for you in your choice of three vaults in three different countries (US, UK, and Switzerland [my preferred choice]). It is similar to the popular GoldMoney.com but with better rates and an easier application process. You can purchase the gold from others and will get commissions for selling as well.

   There are many free ways of putting money into BullionVault, such as using their BillPay system, but if you are in a hurry, you can wire it in with a fee.

2. CEF or GTU (I like CEF). These are Canadian Gold Royalty Trusts, which means that they give big dividends (Canadian energy trusts don’t have to pay taxes if they redistribute their income… for now until 2011). With these, you have some new tax forms to do and it can get complicated. See this link for a bit more on these trusts: http://www.dividenddetective.com/canadian_royalty_trusts.htm

   Now here’s the trick when buying CEF or GTU: Around last week, there was a 7% premium (ie http://www.centralfund.com/Nav%20Form.htm – they own $1.446B of assets [mostly gold/silver bullion], but the market cap for the fund is $1.56B. Just take 1.446 and divide by 1.56. The good days to buy are when this premium is less than 10%). If the premium is over 10%, then there are too many shares outstanding for the amount of gold they have, and you are buying into an overbought situation.

   You cannot get physical gold delivery from CEF. You can only sell the fund back for dollars.

3. GoldMoney.com – Open an account here, buy gold or silver at a premium, and they keep it safe in France and Switzerland. They charge you fees for wiring money in and out, and also fees for storage. I haven’t seen a bad review out there on them, so long as you know the fees and premiums you’re going to be paying. I don’t see any free way to transfer money into GoldMoney like BullionVault (above) — you must wire it in at a fee.
   
4. Perth Mint Certificates (Australian Mint) – They’ll hold your gold too – www.perthmint.com.au/investment_certificate.aspx – I’m just not so sure I trust the Australian Government with my gold.
5. Buy coins and lock em up in your gun safe – These guys are reputable and right here in Inglewood, CA – GoldDealer.com. Tulving.com is also well-known. Risks include robbery and US Government confiscating it (google “Gold Confiscation Act”). See also Friday’s news: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080926/mint_gold_coins.html … wtf?
6. Everbank Gold Select – www.everbank.com/001Metals.aspx – I have done very little research on this one, but it sounds quite interesting. Anyone have any thoughts? It might compare better to #2 and #3
7. ETFs, such as GLD, DGP, and a billion others. GLD is 10% backed by REAL metal gold. This is why I’m not as huge on it – when the shit hits the fan, will they be able to keep up?
8. Added a new one – Gold Mining Companies’ stocks. Often times, the mining companies own a lot of gold too, which you will then indirectly own. You, of course, will not be able to get physical delivery.

Please post any comments, links to reviews of the stores/funds, and other ideas. Gold and silver are only ONE way of getting into precious metals, it’s still rather speculative, and there are many other commodities that you should research as well.

Related posts:

1. The Great Unamerican Beer
2. My Mission Statement

Over the past decade, our government has engaged in a series of actions that have resulted in the devaluation of the US Dollar. From
artificially low interest rates to printing up “free money” and distributing it as “stimulus checks”, our dollar has become more and more worthless on the global market. Just like its dim-witted citizenry, this country spends more money than it makes. What makes the government different than its citizens is that the government doesn’t go bankrupt — the money just becomes increasingly useless.

As a result of this, the prices of imported goods (oil, anybody?) have skyrocketed, and our country is quietly being bought out by the Europeans.

That case of Bud Light, which is produced by now European-owned Anheuser-Busch, was direct support for the collapse of the dollar and those who are profiting off of it. Cashing that check devalued the dollar, and the devaluation of the dollar is partially responsible for the sale of AB to InBev. Regardless of which came first, the downward spiral we are traveling upon will be difficult to derail unless we make changes now.

My first change? I’m done buying foreign-owned beer that tries to pass off as “Great American Beer” for my cheap beer selection.

Let’s take a look at the currently popular beer purchases:

• Anheuser-Busch products? Nope, soon-to-be owned by InBev, a bunch of Europeans.
• How about that nice Pete Coors guy and his Coors Light? Oops, Molson owns them up in Canada. Tap the Rockies (and give the profits to Canadians) indeed.
• Well, there’s always that dreaded Miller filthwater, right? Wrong. Owned by SABMiller, which stands for South African Breweries – Miller.

That covers about 90% of what you’ll find on the shelves. Now this is where things get really sad: The largest American-owned beer company is now Pabst. What Pabst doesn’t want you to know is that they don’t even brew beer (and clearly don’t know how) – that’s done by our foreign foes in MillerCoors.

So what American actually brews the damn stuff in America? The Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams).

This means that the next time I’m asked to buy some light beer for a party, here are my choices:

1. Sam Adams Light – At 124 calories, hardly a light beer,
   but I do like it.
2. Yuengling – Great stuff, but I’ve never seen it in California.
3. Iron City Brewing – I.C. Light is probably the closest thing to a “Great American Light” beer you’ll find. Unfortunately, it’s brewed in Pittsburgh, and those of you who know me know that I won’t touch it. My devotion to the Cleveland Browns is above even beer
4. Shiner (Spoetzel Brewery) – I absolutely love this stuff, and will drink it on my upcoming trip to Austin, but I’ve never seen a Shiner Light out here. Shiner Bock will do for now.

At this point, I give up. It’s even worse when I realize that I’d like cans so that I can bring them to the beach. Perhaps it is time I stop buying a “Great American” light beer, and move on to the other delicious brews we have and make my friends deal with it.

The time is ripe for an American to step it up, make the next popular light beer, and distribute/market it like mad. While you’re at it, get the NASCAR crowd up in arms. Pabst could step up to the table, but they need to start brewing their own beer again before I jump onto that bandwagon. Until then, I’m drinking Shiner and Fat Tire.

And as a footnote, how did Friday’s party go? Well, during a wild drinking game, my friend accidentally swallowed a quarter, and couldn’t get it back up. What’s really miserable is that by the time he ‘passes’ it, it will probably be worth about half as much.

Related posts:

1. Weekend in Portland – Mountains, Beer, and Guns
2. You Can’t Live the American Dream in Europe
3. How to Buy and Own Gold – The Layman’s Guide to Escaping the Dollar

This brief message is with regard to the Sirius / XM Satellite radio merger that you and your committee have the ultimate approval of:

Please stop impeding business. It is unethical and un-American. I, the paying customer, will decide what business transactions are worthy of success or failure.

Sincerely,
Mike Roberto

Related posts:

1. My letter to Congresswoman Jane Harman
2. Book Review: The Broker, by John Grisham
3. Book Review – A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole

That’s right!

Join the revolution today!

Related posts:

1. Presidential Candidate Ron Paul Comes to USC
2. Riding the 2008 MS 150 From Houston to Austin: Help Donate!
3. Weekend Review: Newquist Farm Party and Chicago

Specifically, I was a guest picketer for the Writers Guild of America (WGA), joining my dear friend Sarah Watson, writer on NBC’s forthcoming primetime show, Lipstick Jungle.

For those of you unaware, the WGA is a union which represents TV, film, and radio writers. The WGA is striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which is an industry trade group consisting of U.S. film production companies and studios (ie. GE/NBC/Universal, Disney, Time Warner, etc). Every three years, these organizations negotiate a basic contract. However, in 2007, negotiations failed, and a strike began on November 2, 2007.

The way I understand it (heavily dumbed down — explaining it is neither my jurisdiction nor purpose), there are two major sticking points to the WGA’s strike:

1. DVD Residuals
   The writers want 8 cents for every DVD sold, double their current 4 cents. That is 0.4% of the revenue from a $20.00 DVD.
2. “New Media” Residuals
   Writers currently get no money when their work is viewed through Internet downloads, streaming feeds, IPTV, or phone downloads. They want to receive the 2.5% for these (which is what they’re paid on traditional television).

The funniest thing about this strike is what a social event it seems to be for the writers. Everyone I talked to was in optimistic spirits, and was very friendly to Sarah and myself. After all, being out of work for many months at a time is nothing new to a writer. Among those that I met were

• Craig Williams, writer of Underdog (and some really cool upcoming ideas),
• Zach Estrin, Co-executive Producer of Prison Break,
• Brent Fletcher and John Zinman of Friday Night Lights (all of my regular readers know what a sucker I am for this show),
• David Misch and Jeff Reno of Mork & Mindy fame, and
• Rob Bragin, Sarah’s co-worker on Lipstick Jungle.

The Writers are not dumb, nor are the studios. As Internet and TV are quickly merging (take, for instance, AppleTV, Verizon FIOS, and even the growing popularity of streaming protocols such as Sopcast), each side must stand their ground and try to gain as much leverage over new media as soon as possible. This is especially true since the lines between TV and Internet are blurring and all forecasts of new media are vastly underestimated.

As a Libertarian, I find the entire situation to be a slap in the face to our country’s economic system, which resembles more and more of a joke every day. While I’ve never been pro-Union, I find it absolutely ridiculous that 6 of the largest corporations in the world can unite and dominate an industry with basically no competition between each other.

Our supposed ‘free market economy’ is dominated by corporate interests which have contributed to the disappearance of the middle class — a middle class that is vitally important to the survival of any democratic government.

I fully support the writers’ power to unionize and convene, but I also fully support the corporations power to fire their employees and do things their own way. That’s business.

What I cannot support is the fact that there are six companies worth a quarter of a trillion dollars all in bed with each other, negotiating blanket deals. These same corporations who control everything you read and hear, who are doing everything in their power to silence those who are trying to restore order to this country.

Although this strike has very little impact on my life and that of my family, I feel that it is indicative of the bigger picture — the pendulum has swung too far, and the time for mass corporate backlash is near.

My question to you writers is this: What next? Let’s say you get everything (or almost everything) you bargain for. You are still pawns in the system, stuck in a traditional business which does not fully understand the future of technology and no longer appreciates the people it serves.

Isn’t it time for something new? Why settle for this, when you can take a risk to do better — to compete with the system by starting your own production organization. After all, if you’re not willing to take this risk, then you’ve already lost.

Related posts:

1. What the SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Success Means to America
2. Humiliation: The Latest Craze in Entertainment
3. Land of the Free, Right?

For those of you who don’t know, Dr. Paul is a congressman who has represented the 22nd district of Texas from 1979-1985 and 1997-present. He is an Air Force flight surgeon who was drafted and served during the Vietnam War, and spends his non-political time (on weekends and such) as an obstetrician, having delivered over 4,000 babies.

Ron Paul and his wife Carol have been married for 50 years and have five children.

Despite those unbeatable characteristics, that’s not why I love this man. I love Ron Paul because when it boils down to the basics, he believes in three major things:

1. Constitutionalist freedom,
2. Sharply lower taxes, and
3. Non-interventionist peace

It’s really that simple, and his voting record backs it up. He voted against the Iraq War, he voted against any loss of civil liberties, including the horribly-named Patriot Act, and he has never voted to raise taxes.

So on September 12th, I donned my Ron Paul t-shirt and made my way up to USC. After an absolutely stunning National Anthem sung by Baraka May, Ron came on the stage and gave a great speech to the crowd of students. Ron warned of our uncontrollable fiscal policy, loss of personal freedoms, the dangers of preemptive war and meddling in other peoples’ business, and border security.

Rather than read my words, see Part 4 of 5 for yourself:

It’s not that complicated people. If you want dead American soldiers, don’t vote for Ron Paul. If you want high taxes and socialist regime, don’t vote for Ron Paul. If you want the government spying on you, stealing your property, and censoring your voice, then certainly don’t vote for Ron Paul. As for the rest of you, what in the hell is the problem?

Ed Griffin, the man who introduced Dr. Paul to the followers, put it best: The only person who can win for AMERICA is Ron Paul.

And with that, I officially launch my support for Ron Paul for President 2008, and I will write-in if necessary.

You can see the other videos of Ron’s speech here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5

You can see the rest of my pictures here: http://www.bertopics.com/v/LA_Pics/Ron_Paul-USC_Rally-20070912/. See also Ron’s Wikipedia Page

Related posts:

1. My letter to Congresswoman Jane Harman
2. Ron Paul Supporters Donate $6.04 Million in Tea Party ’07