You're lucky your pipes didn't freeze. So what would you have done had your pipes froze? If your furnace goes out, you being a little cold isn't a big deal but your pipes freezing and causing possibly 10's of thousands in damage is a big deal. You got lucky so you can continue spewing forth your myopic view on life. Had they froze and ruptured, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now, would we ?

Not me. In actuality, I've been lucky as the bad economy has not affected my business but it has affected approximately 90% of all other contractors businesses in my area.

I actually own a general contracting and maintenance business, a property holdings company and a landscaping company so I'm set....but thanks anyway for your advice

Is this a real question? If so my answer is.....um to carry on the human race !?!?

As long as everyone can agree to this and then somehow put a value that is not money on each others jobs, that's not a bad idea. For example, if you have a dozen apples but need your kitchen remodeled, that isn't a good value so now we have to put a value on each trade. How could we do this to make it fair? We could assign a number value to each item then add them up and trade until those numbers even out....wow, doesn't that sound familiar?

Money is Created by Banks: Evidence Given by Graham Towers to Canadian Parliament: freedomprime.blogspot.com...

Q. But there is no question about it that banks create the medium of exchange?

Mr. Towers: That is right. That is what they are for... That is the Banking business, just in the same way that a steel plant makes steel. The manufacturing process consists of making a pen-and-ink or typewriter entry on a card in a book. That is all. Each and every time a bank makes a loan (or purchases securities), new bank credit is created — new deposits — brand new money. Broadly speaking, all new money comes out of a Bank in the form of loans. As loans are debts, then under the present system all money is debt.

The [Eisenhower ] administration announced at the outset that it would re1y on monetary policy exclusive1y for its economic regulation and would respect the complete independence of the Federal Reserve to carry out these policies as it saw fit ....
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Thirteen years have now passed since the accord and the liberation of the Federal Reserve. What have been the results? The major result is shockingly obvious. Interest rates have climbed steadily, with slight interruptions.. The period has been marked, then, by a continual shift of income to the banks, other major financial institutions, and individuals with significant interest income. The rest of the country provided this income. ...Excerpt from A PRIMER ON MONEY:Committee on Banking and Currency, House of Representatives 1964
famguardian.org...

"... it's time for a new definition of usury as follows: any interest on any loan of fiat money (meaning money made out of nothing)....From A Talk by G. Edward Griffin Author of The Creature from Jekyll Island


This is an extremely important topic and it has to do with usury. In ancient times usury was defined as interest on a loan, any interest on any loan. In modern times that has been redefined to mean excessive interest on a loan. Moderate interest seems logical to us in recognition of the fact that if we work hard for our money, we save it and surrender its use for a period of time being a sacrifice on our part and then loan it to somebody else for their venture, we're entitled to a reasonable return on that sacrifice. A reasonable interest rate is a concept that very few people have problems with, it seems logical and fair.

But what is this thing called excessive interest? Thomas Edison said, "People who will not turn a shovel-full of dirt on the project nor contribute a pound of materials will collect more money than will the people who will supply all the materials and do all the work." I wondered when I read that if Tom was exaggerating so I got my calculator out. I assumed that there was going to be a $100,000 house built. I assumed that $30,000 would have to go for land, architect's fees and permits and that kind of thing. $70,000 would go for the actual construction of the house, building materials and labor. I assumed that the buyer would go to the bank and put 20% down and then borrow the balance at 10% over 30 years. I punched in the numbers and discovered that the borrower will pay to the bank in interest $172,741 compared to $70,000 paid for the construction of the house. In other words, about 2 1/2 times as much money will be paid to the bank in interest than will be paid to those who provide all the labor and all the materials. And you may say to yourself, yes but that's fair, after all a 30 year loan is a long loan and people work for their money and sacrifice its use and loan it and so forth and deserve to be compensated. No. Not this money. Nobody worked for this money, nobody saved this money. There was no sacrifice of any kind for this money. This money was created out of nothing and I suggest that $172,741 interest on nothing is excessive!

I think it's time for a new definition of usury as follows: any interest on any loan of fiat money (meaning money made out of nothing). This example of a $100,000 home, as shocking as it is, producing $172,741 unearned interest, this is just a grain of sand in the Sahara. You have to multiply that by all the homes in America, by all of these hotels in America, all the high-rise buildings, all the factories, all the airplanes, automobiles, farm equipment, schools, everything, all the physical assets of America. You apply this same ratio and can you see it in your mind? We're talking about a river of unearned wealth that is so wide you can't even think of crossing it, flowing perpetually into the banking cartel. A dead short across the productive element of society. Money being taken from people who are working hard providing the material and the labor. They don't even know that this is being taken from them and it's in this huge river of wealth flowing into the banking cartel. It's a staggering thought.