Mitt Romney has now pretty much secured the GOP nomination for president. I am not a big Romney supporter but he is honest and is a brilliant businessman. Both of these assets will be a huge improvement over Obama.

Now we all need to be prepared for an all-out political war between May and the November election. Obama has no successful record to run on, so he will attack Romney in any way that he can and it’s not going to be pretty. The country is in such a mess due to Obama’s failed policies that the Democrats are going to create every type of distraction they can to take focus away from Obama’s record.

All the economic indicators in the last few weeks show that our economy is in serious decline. To anyone with any real-life experience in business, it seems that Obama is deliberately trying to destroy our free enterprise system. His actions certainly suggest that he despises the private business sector and he has openly stated his opposition to the oil and coal businesses. We are all painfully aware of how his war on oil has affected the price of gas.

Right now more Americans are on food stamps than ever before. The monthly unemployment rate or U3 rate is 8.2% but this figure does not include those who have given up searching for a job. The U6 rate which covers the last six months and does include those who have given up searching is 15%.

Social Security Disability is on schedule to run out of funds in 2015 and Social Security Retirement is projected to run out of funding in 2033. However, the Obama administration has no plan to deal with Social Security or Medicare and only ridicules any plans put forth by the Republicans.

The Democrats in Congress are discussing ways to tax the savings in tax exempt 401(k) plans and other retirement accounts.

This short video further explains our situation and you owe it to yourself to watch it. It is only 4 minutes long and is well worth the time. Simply click:  If I Wanted America To Fail

To get our country back to where it should be we need to understand how we are being manipulated and stand up for our freedom.

Best wishes,

Charles Moore

Obama accidentally exposed his plans for his second term when he spoke to Medvedev in Seoul within range of a live microphone. He said “This is my last election. After my election, I’ll have more flexibility”. Meaning he could strike a deal with the Russians on nuclear weapons and not be concerned about accountability to voters when he weakens our defenses.

Obama has aggressively attacked free enterprise with Obamacare, the government take over of General Motors, his war against oil and coal, as well as his policy of redistributing the nations wealth. Can you imagine what he’ll try to pull without the need to remain electable?

Obama and the Democrats promised Obamacare would cost no more than $938 billion over the first 10 years, yet the Congressional Budget Office just admitted it now projects 10 year costs to be $1.8 trillion or more. Other experts are predicting double or triple that amount just for the first 10 years.

While baby boomers are reaching the Medicare age of 65 at the pace of 10,000 per day for the next 20 years, Obamacare will cut Medicare by $500 billion. He has publicly stated that at a certain age, the elderly will have to be satisfied with the pain pill instead of an operation they may need. Do you really want the government deciding what type of medical care you can receive or what type of insurance you must buy?

Another example of this administration’s lunacy is the way they are handling our oil and gas supply. Average national cost of regular gas is $3.91 per gallon as of March 28, 2012 and still rising. However, the Obama administration is still doing all it can to block more drilling and construction of Canadian pipelines that can dramatically increase supply and reduce cost. The Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu stated in 2008 that he thought the United States gas price should be just as high as the European price which is $8 dollars per gallon now. It appears he is well on the way to accomplishing that.

It is true that US oil production is up but that is due to production on private land. Obama has reduced production on government land by 40% and is still doing all he can to impede private production with regulations and taxes.

Oil companies and geologists have discovered oil reserves that can safely make the US independent from outside oil for 70 to 200 years. With the supply we have available, there is no justifiable reason we should be paying more than $2.00 – $2.50 per gallon. There is no legitimate reason for Obama to be forcing failed “Green energy” on a nation that does not want it.

The Supreme Court is hearing testimony this week as to whether the mandates in Obamacare are constitutional or not. If the Justices honor their oaths to uphold the Constitution, this may be the end of Obamacare.

National defense, energy supplies and health care are just three areas that Obama has the desire to “fundamentally transform”. He is even dictating to the Catholic Church that they must provide birth control. We can’t say that he didn’t give fair warning before he was elected but we couldn’t imagine he would be this radical.

For those of us who are approaching 65 or already older, we need to realize that Obama sees us as a major target for cutbacks, if he has his way. If you don’t already understand that, you had better wake up and pay attention before the November election. If the Supreme Court doesn’t do their duty to stop his unconstitutional rampage, we need to be sure we do on election day. We’ll have no one to blame but ourselves for the mess we will be in if we don’t.

Best wishes,

Charles Moore

We baby boomers are starting to reach retirement age. Experts that keep track of such statistics claim that 10,000 of us turn 65 each day starting this year. That seems like an awful lot but I guess they’re right. Anyway there are a lot of us reaching retirement now and I hope this list will help make your planning a little easier.

Retiring is a major step for all of us. Usually, there is a great deal of confusion, chaos and doubt before retirement, followed by a some bouts of boredom and a little regret. To help make things easier and to keep everything under control, here is a list of 18 things to do before retirement. A little planning can make the time after retirement less overwhelming.

- Prepare an updated balance sheet of income and expense.
- Use up any company paid vacation days you have earned.
- Get rid of debt.
- Make a list of things you’d like to do – a “bucket list.”
- Get your car inspected for any maintenance needed.
- If you have a will, make sure it is updated.
- If you don’t have a will, get one, and then make sure it stays updated.
- Home inspection – check and replace any worn out items like doorknobs, faucets, light fixtures, etc.
- Begin the paperwork to file for social security.
- Make sure you have transitional insurance in place, and are applying for other forms of insurance.
- Consider moving to a smaller home or apartment for the sake of ease in maintenance.
- Consider moving to a single story home for ease of mobility as you age.
- Assess life insurance needs.
- Talk to your financial advisor about making changes to your portfolio to help support your needs and wants after retirement.
- Check into long-term care insurance.
- Assign a power of attorney in the event of an emergency.
- Have an attorney draw up an advanced medical directive to make sure everyone knows your health care and end of life wishes.
- Play a practical joke on your boss – AND coworkers just to have a good laugh.

Now that you have all of that out of the way, you can relax, and enjoy the rest of your retirement celebrations. Don’t forget to count down the number of days on a large, easy-to-read wall hanging that can be seen clear across the room. On your last day, run around having fun, playing practical jokes, and generally having a great time.

Mix a bit of silliness in with the serious business of preparing to retire. Pay attention to your current investments as well as your estate and any insurance you wish to keep after retiring. Also, make sure your basic needs are covered and you have some wiggle room in your finances for at least three months after you retire.

This extra cushion will allow you to get settled into your new life, finding your “groove” so to speak, and start taking advantage of all the things you were planning on doing. Plus, you will have time to reminisce on those practical jokes you played on your boss and coworkers. Retirement is a fun time and should be enjoyed. Just make sure you have all of the work done before you go off and play.

Enjoy your retirement, you’ve earned it.

Best wishes,

Charles

I’m sure this is certainly not news to any of you but gas prices are quickly rising toward $4.00 per gallon across the nation. According to GasBuddy.com, prices for regular gas near Orlando airport are as high as $5.79 per gallon and as high as $5.59 per gallon in Los Angeles. The average price in Los Angeles is already over $4.00 per gallon. These are the current prices for 2/27/12.

The day Obama took the oath of office the average national price was $1.84 per gallon and just a little over three years later the average national price is now $3.70 per gallon and still rising. Many are predicting before the summer is over we will see prices of $5.00 or more per gallon.

As hard as this burden is on retirees and working-class families, Obama does not seem to be concerned about it. He claims we are producing more oil than ever which is true for drills on private land. However, he doesn’t tell us that he has reduced drilling on public [government] land by 40% and still enforces his moratorium on offshore drilling  in the gulf.

He also shows no concern about getting new refineries built here in the US which could help make us independent of Arab oil. He is even planning to raise taxes on the oil companies which will increase the price even more.

Just recently he refused to permit the start of construction on the Keystone pipeline which would deliver oil to the Texas coast and also reduce gas costs. I have just heard a news report that he might be backing off this refusal as a result of the public uproar concerning gas prices, but I don’t know the details yet.

Obama made it clear before he was elected that he despised the oil and coal industries and he is certainly doing his best to punish them. He wants us all to be driving miniature cars that run on batteries or some type of fuel derived from “pond scum”.

Unfortunately, he has little regard as to the damage his schemes do to people on fixed incomes or tight budgets. If he does manage to get reelected, life for many seniors will be far removed from the dream retirement they had worked for and planned. It also seems that many of us will have to cut back on summer vacation plans this year or even cancel them altogether due to the outrageous costs for gas.

For your own good, let’s all be sure to put an end to Obama’s “fundamental transformation” of our country when we vote this November.

Best wishes,

Charles Moore

As we reach the other side of 50, some common sense exercise can keep our life more enjoyable and may even prevent joint surgery. It’s disappointing to finally get out when the weather warms up for tennis, golf, gardening or just a pleasant walk and injure a joint that has grown stiff or weak over the winter.

For a growing number of us these injuries are resulting in knee replacement surgery. Currently 5% of us over 50 in the US have an artificial knee replacement. The need for knee replacement surgery for ages 45 to 64 has tripled over the last 10 years. That figure is expected to continue growing as thousands of baby boomers are now turning 65 each day and too many of us are ignoring simple exercise that can keep us healthy and active.

Consistent exercise helps prevent heart and joint problems and can keep us healthy as long as we are sensible and don’t overdo it. Overdoing exercise can aggravate minor injuries and be as harmful as ignoring exercise.

As we age, we need to exercise regularly but use common sense on the exercise we choose to get the best results and prevent injuries. For instance if you are a runner but have very painful joints the next day, maybe you should consider biking instead.

We can’t stop the clock on aging but we can stay active and feel youthful much longer if we use some discipline and common sense when it comes to regular exercise.

If you need some guidance on the best exercise for you, you may find Exercise Tips For Elderly to be helpful or other books available on Amazon. The key is that the longer you can stay active, the longer you can stay healthy.

Best wishes,

Charles Moore

CONSUMER NOTICE: You should assume the writer has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the internet or offline.

We still have 10 more months until the election and I’m sure we are all getting tired of politicians already. However something pretty interesting is happening on the Republican side.

The “Republican Establishment” (those already in office and the powerbrokers pulling the strings) have planned to coronate moderate Mitt Romney as the GOP presidential nominee in order to attract the independent vote to guarantee a majority in the House and Senate to consolidate and increase their power. They were not concerned how the true conservatives and the Tea Party voters felt about it.

However they’ve gotten a little surprise after the first three primaries. It seems that after all the abuses from Obama, the voters aren’t too impressed with a slick moderate who has a record of “flip flopping” his values when it suits him politically. Santorum was finally announced winner in Iowa, Romney won New Hampshire and Gingrich ran away with the South Carolina primary. The people are showing they prefer a real conservative who has proven a real commitment to conservative values.

This development has Romney and the “Establishment” very worried. Romney is launching a very nasty campaign against Gingrich in Florida and I’ve heard the Establishment has even considered alternative moderates for nominee.

Even though these powerbrokers are trying to bypass conservatives, I recently heard of a Gallup poll that covers the last three years found 40% of the population call themselves conservatives, 35% claim to be moderates, and 21% claim to be liberals. The Establishment hopes if they can promote a nominee that will attract the moderates that the Conservatives will have to follow along. I wonder how many may get so disgusted they just won’t go to the trouble to vote. After all if it wasn’t for the Tea Party conservatives in 2010, the GOP Congress would still be begging Nancy Pelosi to allow them to attend committee meetings.

Obama has so corrupted our government that we need a strong conservative who will restore our Constitutional rights and a respect for law. I’m not sure any of these choices will do the job but someone who changes his values whenever it’s convenient certainly won’t. It shouldn’t be much longer until we know if we have a real leader or just another puppet.

I read an article recently that said many marriage counselors refer to this post holiday time of year as divorce season. It seems many in troubled marriages will wait until Christmas celebrations are over to make a decision to divorce final. I also imagine being forced to be around all the relatives for Christmas may be the last straw for decision to divorce in some cases. If you are presently in a marriage in crisis, it can be a frightening situation especially after 50 when you feel your future alternatives are limited.

If you are in a really bad situation that has no hope for improvement, then divorce may be the best option you have. In that case I wish you well and hope you find a happy life when you get the divorce behind you.

On the other hand if you hope there is a way to save your marriage even after an affair, I want you to know that it can be done. It will not be easy but if you take the necessary steps and work together it is possible. You may be surprised at how serious some situations have been that were resolved with mutual effort to rebuild the marriage.

I just recently learned of Maurita Corcoran who had been married for 13 years when she received a call from her husband stating that he had committed himself for counseling for sex addiction. She has written a nationally acclaimed book titled ” A House Interrupted” about their experience to save her marriage. She is still very active in helping other women in troubled marriages and has just celebrated her 28th wedding anniversary. You may find her book very helpful and inspirational if you are in a similar situation or just having problems in your marriage.

Although this book gives you information on what she went through and how she was able to recover, it probably will not be all the help you will need to survive an affair and save your marriage.

For there to be a true bond rebuilt between you and your husband, you need to resolve the causes of your problems so they don’t repeat in the future. You will both have to cooperate in this process and should either have the guidance of an expert counselor or a good guide drawn up by an expert counselor. If you just make up without addressing the causes of the problems that have so badly damaged your relationship, you will most likely just be postponing the end of your marriage.

It will take patience and tolerance from both you and your husband to preserve your relationship. At points of disagreement you may find it necessary to have help from an impartial counselor to reach an agreeable resolution. Even if you feel you can solve your problems between the two of you, you should at least have a comprehensive guide by someone very experienced in marriage counseling to ensure you are really making meaningful progress and not just fooling yourselves.

For some additional information you can click: Save Marriage . Things may not be as helpless as you think they are.

Best regards,

Charles Moore

CONSUMER NOTICE: You should assume the writer has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the internet or offline.

It’s a shame that the state of politics in the United States has become so immoral today. There are many legitimate reasons you may not have favored Herman Cain but I think he had earned a fair hearing from the primary voters. Instead, he gets humiliated by lowlifes trotting out bimbos accusing him of sexual misbehavior. No actual proof has been presented but Herman and his wife were deeply hurt. Many of Cain’s friends are public figures since he once hosted a talk show in Atlanta and they can’t imagine him treating anyone with that kind of disrespect. However, the sleazy attacks worked, since Herman values his wife more than the White House.

Now that Newt Gingrich has picked up the Republican lead, Swamp Queen Nancy Pelosi has already informed the press that she has plenty of dirt on Gingrich that she will release when she chooses. It doesn’t matter to her that the information is confidential and did not support charges of any wrongdoing on Gingrich’s part.

Pelosi is not the only ones sniping at Newt though. The “Republican establishment” power brokers do not want to see a real conservative chosen as the GOP candidate. They fear that a true conservative might actually return too much power to the voters and kill their profitable power games.

The “establishment” thought they could steamroll the other candidates with moderate Mitt Romney and attract the independent voters while taking the conservative base for granted. However, the polls show that voters are demanding a conservative who can reverse this mess that Obama has created before it gets too late.

In the meantime Obama made it clear in his recent speech in Kansas that he thinks free enterprise is a license to steal. He still wants people to be dependent on government to “spread the wealth around” instead of opportunities offered by a free market. Finally Obama is making it clear that he really is the Socialist that he denied being for so long.

It looks like this next year will probably be one of the dirtiest presidential campaigns we’ve ever seen. Obama has been such a failure in office that he will want to attempt to keep the focus off his record. That means he will do all he can to attack his opponent’s character and keep attention off his own incompetence. His continuing attempts to encourage class warfare is another strategy to take attention off his own record. Even more sad is the fact that after three years in office, Obama is still trying to blame Bush for all his failed policies.

If we don’t wise up and elect someone with the knowledge and experience to actually rebuild our economy and put the nation back to work, we will pay for that mistake for generations.

Enough with the political rant. Christmas is getting close and I hope you all are planning for a happy one. If you are having trouble deciding on gifts or not able to get out, Amazon.com may be of help. They list the most popular items in all sorts of categories and you can access this list by clicking Amazon Bestsellers . You can avoid going to the stores or just use the information for your own reference. Either way, I hope you and your family has a very Merry Christmas.

Best wishes,

Charles Moore

CONSUMER NOTICE: You should assume the writer has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the internet or offline.

I hope all of you have had a very happy Thanksgiving and didn’t get pepper sprayed if you shopped on Black Friday.

If you didn’t find the bargain you hoped for on Friday, the good news is that Cyber Monday is predicted to set a new sales record for one day with an expected $1.2 billion in sales. All the major stores are very aware of how much buying has increased on the web and are offering great bargains to get a share of this huge event. You are also able to do your shopping from your home or office without worrying about hand-to-hand combat with other shoppers looking for the same item you want.

I saw a report on TV today by a shopping expert who claims that Amazon was the best overall online merchant, Walmart had the lowest prices and Best Buy was the best merchant for electronics. One of the things I like best about Amazon is the way they are able to help you find a product that fits your requirements. However, just about any established merchant now has a shopping website although not all are expert with the process yet.

From what I’ve seen, most merchants are offering their Cyber Monday bargains throughout the week but that doesn’t mean their supply will last that long. In other words, don’t procrastinate if it is something you really want.

Best of luck with your Cyber Monday shopping. I hope your holiday season will all be this hassle free.

Best wishes,

Charles Moore

CONSUMER NOTICE: You should assume the writer has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the internet or offline.

I want to thank all the veterans for the sacrifices they made to serve and protect our country. You make us able to be proud of the USA and show us the true meaning of honor and duty.

It’s a shame today that so many think that it is somehow cool to steal or destroy what others have built. They somehow feel they are entitled to be supported and provided for by those who do work and achieve something.

Now is a time when we all need to remember what honorable and brave men sacrificed to protect the freedoms that so many abuse today.  I’m afraid that this next year many are going to do all they can to destroy our values and regulate our freedoms to increase their own power.

Let’s not forget what good men did to build our country and not let the selfish and misguided destroy it for their own benefit.

Happy Veteran’s Day. Thank you for your service.