China232.com Blog

I thought that title would make you click

I’m partly kidding, but also partly serious… Read my last blog to see what I think I’m right about.

I read all the comments and I absolutely love debating with you guys (and girls).

Maybe I wasn’t clear enough in my explanation.  Maybe I’m wrong, who knows.  Let me try again to make my main point.  If you agree with me, great!  If you disagree, great!  Seriously, either way, please share in the comments below……

Here’s what I’m really saying.  I believe the internet CAN BE much more powerful than the way 99.999% of the people use it for currently.  If you aren’t great at searching, you won’t get what you need.  This is totally true.  And it’s true that most people are REALLY BAD with search and finding opportunities and information online.  They just don’t know how bad they are.

It’s not just the fact that the internet exists that is such a big deal.  It’s about what this means and what the net makes possible.

Reading articles and finding facts online is super basic.  I’m talking about what else the internet allows us to do that is so new to all of our human history.  Think about LinkedIn.com.  If you don’t already use it, you absolutely should.  It’s one of the most powerful sites ever.

Imagine you were back in 1995 and you wanted to speak with an expert in marketing at a particular large company.  How could you do it?  How would you even find the location of the company if you didn’t already know it?  It’s hard to remember life before the internet.

Now, you can go on LinkedIn.com, search for specific jobs and people in any company.  You can contact them and come up with a reason to call them, email them, or even take them out for lunch to ask them stuff (you just need to be creative to think of a reason they’d want a free lunch with you.  It’s really not that hard either)  You can meet with people all over the world in different companies and different job positions.  If you can’t meet them face to face, you can at least email them and set up a phone/Skype call.  I do this all the time.  Seriously.

This one thing is just ONE example of many things the internet allows us to do, IF we decide to take advantage of this.  Imagine how hard it would have been to even find the name of a person in the marketing department in Samsung 20 years ago.  How would you even do it back then?

This is such a game changer for sales.  You can now run an international sales department without leaving your office.  You can find corporate clients (other businesses), then call the right people on the phone or on Skype, send them your website and other documents via email, and close sales deals online.  You don’t need to meet in person.  Some people say it helps, but it’s unnecessary.

Imagine learning about sales in an MBA program that costs a ton of money.  Do you think they teach this new way of meeting clients and closing sales deals?  Do you think they recommend the option of selling huge sales orders while still in your underwear?  Of course not!  They are teaching what was true 20 years ago.  They pretend they are up to date, but they are lying.  Schools are a business, and changing what they teach takes so much effort and energy.

Ok, this school is known for being kind of a joke, but look at this.  It’s an online university.  Students pay thousands and thousands of dollars for their online business courses.   It’s super popular.  It’s INSANE.  That link was directly to their business program.  If you read it and believe it, then WOW.  I don’t know what to tell you.  I’m shocked anyone would think this is a good idea for the money. Shocked!!

The internet can change not only what articles we can read, but also who we can meet and how we can find them.  You can find a job on the other side of the world by researching companies and contacting them DIRECTLY with your ideas, even if they don’t say they are currently looking for jobs.  Then you can set up an interview.  It doesn’t always work, but it often does.  But people just insist on doing everything the old way, and getting pretty terrible results.  They go on job websites and send their resume all over the place; often for low paying jobs they won’t even get.

Even many new sales jobs will require 5 years work experience and a long list of contacts.  This made sense in the past, but why does anyone with talent need the contacts already?  If they are confident and hardworking, they can contact anyone they want in any company.  The internet makes us all have a huge network of business contacts if we are willing to use it properly.

I’m just talking about business and sales here, but this really applies to almost anything.  The internet can change everything if we are creative enough to know how to use it; and I’m really not just talking about reading articles.  I’m talking about in every way imaginable.

I hope I’m making more sense here… If not, let me know I’m a crazy madman in the comments!  I love reading it all, good or bad

Join Addy boy and I in the VIP room.  You’ll LOVE IT!!

I’ve been doing a lot of research on the history of money lately.  It’s a topic that less than 1% of people know really anything about, but it’s a really interesting and important topic.  Let me share…

Have you ever wondered why stuff gets more expensive over time?  I remember when my grandma used to tell me that she could remember when a can of Coke was a nickel (5 cents).  You could go to the store and buy 20 cans of Coke with one USD.  Hilarious.

We certainly can’t do that now.  Why not?  You would think that it would be easier to make Coke with all the advances in technology and worker productivity.  Why is it so expensive compared to the past?

And Coke is just one example.  Almost everything was super cheap before, and now it goes up and up and up.  Of course, people’s wages get higher too, but what’s the point in having a higher wage if you have to pay more money to buy everything?

Why can’t we keep prices the same and use productivity gains (the increase in worker performance) to make our stuff cheaper for us?

…OK

Now what about this question?  Why do so many countries owe so much money (huge debts) AND why do they have to pay interest on the debt they borrowed?  It makes perfect sense if they are borrowing it from another country, but often this is not the case at all.  Often countries borrow money from the central banks in their own country.  This central banks make them pay it back, and with huge interest.

And who pays the interest?  The people in the country, and they pay it all with their tax dollars.  This seems totally retarded if you think about it.  If the government is spending our own money (the people’s tax dollars) then why would we have a system where they borrow it from banks?  Why can’t they just create their own money to spend, and at least that way, they wouldn’t have to pay interest on this money.

It’s true that if the government just makes more money, then all other people’s money would become worth less than before, but that’s better than having the government (ie. the tax payers) pay it all back plus interest on the loans isn’t it?

From my research, I found out that this all has a very interesting history.  Powerful bankers are much more powerful than the people (and the government) in a country.  They “call the shots”.  ”Calling the shots” means to make the important decisions.  They are so rich and powerful, and most of this stuff is a secret to most people.  And they want to keep it that way.

It’s not a secret that banks are rich, powerful, and have a lot of money.  But it’s not at all very well known what the hell is going on “behind the scenes”.  That means “outside of public awareness”.

I’d love to hear your opinions on this topic of money.  Please answer:

A) Why does everything keep costing more and more money?  Is this a good idea?  Who is it helping and who is it hurting in your opinion?

B)  Why would a government have a system where they ‘borrow’ money from banks, instead of just making it themselves to avoid having a debt with interest that the tax payers need to pay off?  What is going on?

Even if you have no idea, don’t be shy, just take a guess and share your opinions with us.  We’d love to hear them.

And if you are interested in this topic (which you really should be, it’s awesome when you start getting into it “for both men and women”) then you should check out these 3 awesome full length movies “documentaries” that I have downloaded and put in the kick ass VIP community.  They are some of the best videos I’ve seen.  You will love them, and learn a lot of cool English too.  I guarantee it

I was born in 1979.

When I was growing up, I remember everyone around me saying that I NEED a university education if I don’t want to have a terrible life.  I believed it.  Almost everyone I knew believed it too.

At that time, university wasn’t SOOO expensive.  Students could pay for school with a good part time job.  They didn’t graduate with a huge debt and crazy student loans.

Things are very different now.  University is unbelievably expensive, and more and more students are going to school.  It seems that everyone believes that having a university degree will somehow just “magically” give them a good job when they graduate.  Well, with so many people having degrees, the “good jobs” are getting harder and harder to find.  Students in the US are paying an average of $27 000 USD per YEAR just to go to school.  Some students are paying a lot more.  When they graduate, they have an insane amount of pressure to pay back a crazy student loan, and it’s harder and harder to find a high paying job just by showing people your degree.  A lot of employers now realize that A) too many people have the same thing, and B) It’s really just a “fancy” piece of paper.

With technology changing so fast as well, colleges and universities aren’t really able to “keep up” with it all, and really prepare students with the proper knowledge they will need for the jobs of the future.

Chinese students have been going to the US in HUGE numbers over the past 10 years or so.  They are growing so fast.  I just read in a really interesting article from the Wall Street Journal that about 70% of them return to China after graduating to find a job, and less and less of them can find a good job.  They’ve almost “wasted” their parent’s hard earned money, and it’s not their fault either.

The price of education is going up fast, the quality is going down fast, and more and more people are joining the workforce with the same degree, the same piece of paper.

They have a huge debt/loan to pay off.  It’s almost like they have a mortgage, but NO HOUSE!

Students in America owe a total of over 1 trillion dollars in student loans.  That is $1 000 000 000 000.  Insane.  Thousands and thousands of students in the US owe more money just in student loans, than the price of a pretty decent house!  I’m not joking.

REAL skills (like learning high level English, computers/internet, and networking) are becoming more important (and not expensive)

Anyway……  Do I think that it’s a terrible idea to get a university education?  Of course not!  But I absolutely think that you should really think about this carefully, and don’t just be a sheep and think that your insanely expensive piece of paper will just magically help you.  You need to think ahead and think “smarter” than most of the other people who just believe whatever they are told by society.

I’d love to know where you are from, how old you are, and what your thoughts are about this topic.  Please share your thoughts about this important topic in the comments below.

I also just watched an AWESOME documentary about this situation and I put that video and the article about international students studying in China here in the VIP community for you guys to enjoy.  You will love both.  There is a lot of great stuff in there that is both really interesting AND will help your English.  I spend so much of my time looking for this kind of stuff for you guys.  I’m sure you’ll love it

Again, please let me know your situation, and your exact opinion on this.  If you completely agree or totally disagree with me, that’s totally fine.  It’s great practice for your English to get your thoughts down in writing, and it’s great for all of us (including me) to learn and think about different perspectives.  We can all learn from each other.

If you watch any political or financial news, or news in general, you’ll often hear about “The One Percent”.

“The 1 %” is a relatively new and very popular term to refer to the richest 1% of the people in society. So, for example, if you had a small town of 1000 people, “the 1 %” of that town would be the richest 10 people.

This term is used a lot when talking about “rich people” in general, or people who should be paying more in taxes, or when talking about the “wealth gap”. That is, the large and growing difference between rich and poor people.

A “gap” is a space. I could say, “She went to the dentist to fix the large gap between her two front teeth. She looks much prettier now”.

So when we hear something like, “The wealth gap is getting a lot bigger.” That means that the rich people are getting richer and the poor people are getting poorer.

“The one percent” are the rich people. They also want to stay rich. Many of them will influence politicians (law makers) to make laws that help them keep their money (low taxes) and help them keep earning more of it easily.

They have been very successful in the USA over the last 30 years. The top 1% of the people in the US now own about 25% of all of the money. (In the 1970′s, the top 1% had only 9% of the money.)

The situation is getting more and more severe as well. Life is amazingly easy financially for the top 1% of the people, and it’s very hard for the bottom 25% of the people. Those people have a hard time buying enough healthy food for their families and clothes for their kids.

Many, but not all, people in the 1% make the argument that poor people are lazy and shouldn’t get any help from the government. They believe they already pay more than enough money in taxes. They believe that if the poor people want more money, they can just work harder for it. No one is stopping them.

I am personally somewhere in the middle. I do believe that people who work hard should be allowed to have a much better stuff than people who sit around doing nothing. I also believe that many poor people are in fact very lazy and believe that they should get free stuff for doing nothing.

But I don’t believe that the rules of the game are reasonable. It’s possible to work for 60 hours a week (ie. not lazy) and still not be able to feed your family healthy food and pay for health care and pay for your kids to play sports and have an education. I think that’s a bit ridiculous.

An economic system that allows for rich people to have their own private air planes and also allow for millions of poor people to not be able to afford a tomato sandwich and a visit to the doctor seems stupid.

I’d like to see economists work towards a new system that allows for a very large and healthy middle class. There would still be some rich and poor people, but the difference wouldn’t be as insane as it is now.

BUT…… Guess what. I really can’t imagine that happening. It seems like we’re in a world where greed is #1. The richest people have so much control of everything and they will do anything to make it stay that way.

So, no matter what you think or hope is true, we’re living in a world where it is important to try to get ahead and earn money. No one is going to take care of you, you need to take care of yourself. The difference between rich and poor is huge, and it is getting bigger every year. Having a good job will pay a lot of money, and getting a terrible job will pay almost nothing, even if you are working hard in both jobs. You need to be more competitive. You need to improve your chances to get a high paying job by doing anything you can. Your hard work now will make your life much better in the future, and your family’s as well.

If that isn’t an amazing reason to start getting more serious about learning English right now (so you can be more competitive and earn more money) I really don’t know what is.

Love to hear your thoughts below.

For the best ways to improve your English fast, join us in the VIP, AND in our high level community. These places are for people who really want to get ahead in life.

When I was a kid, I always wondered why rich people would pay SO MUCH money to play golf at a private golf course.  It didn’t seem to make any sense to me.  Ok, sure, they are rich, I know that.  But even most rich people don’t like throwing money into the garbage for no reason at all.  A lot of them are surprisingly careful with their money.

In Canada, you can play golf at a VERY nice golf course for under $200 per time.  Sometimes it’s much less than $100.  And I’m talking about really beautiful golf courses, not just average ones.

So why then, would any reasonable person pay $100 000 per year for a membership?  It made no sense to me before.  Now it makes perfect sense.

These guys aren’t paying for how nice the golf course is.  That is only part of it.  It’s a small part actually.  What they are really paying for is the community.  Think about the other people who go to those courses.  Most of them are also successful business people.  They pay for status and ability to meet these people.  They talk and do business together.  They make friends and get their children in this rich group of successful people.  In some ways, the whole thing makes me sick.  I wish the world were a more fair place.  But the reality is that it’s not.  It does make sense for these people to stay together, meet each other, and network together.

It’s MUCH more likely that you will meet someone worth doing business with on one of these super expensive golf courses than if you were to try to meet these types of people at other places where “regular” people can go.

I was thinking about this because I was thinking about a social networking website for English learning.  These aren’t the exact same thing, but you’ll see what I mean in a minute…

People who speak English as a second language and are actually serious about improving their English, their business, their lives, etc, don’t have anywhere to go to meet each other online.  There are a lot of garbage websites that allow anyone on there.  If you want to speak with someone to “practice your English”, you can absolutely find a partner on a million free sites.

But the problem with this is HUGE.  These sites that allow anyone to join, attract people who aren’t really serious about learning English or really serious about anything at all.  Why?  Because most people in the world are not serious about anything they are doing.

If you want to meet a partner to speak English with, share ideas, share stories, share culture, you will want to meet someone who is at or above your level.  You want someone who can challenge you and you can learn from.  It’s not easy to find these people, but they exist.

Imagine for a second that you wrote on your Facebook page, “I am looking for someone to learn from, talk about business and life, and really challenge each other to improve our English skills”.  I can’t imagine you will find anyone.  Maybe, if you are lucky, someone will say “Yes” to your offer, but they probably won’t be the type of person you are hoping for.

As you probably know, Add and I have been making a new free video EVERY DAY at www.LearnEnglish232.com  

We are hoping to get people to get in the habit of going there every day for the new lessons.  We want to grow that site to 50 000 visitors per day.

But many of the people who find this site or that site aren’t super serious about learning English.  We also want to find the SUPER SERIOUS people and provide an opportunity for amazing English, business, and life learning that does not exist anywhere else on the internet.  That’s our goal.

The people who are not serious will not pay a small monthly fee to join the membership part.  And that’s great.  Our plan is to build a membership site for serious learners.  Everyone will have a great profile with an awesome photo, bio, linkedIn page, Skype number, where they are from…  A lot of stuff.  Then these people will be able to search through the other serious members and we can all have a really high level and private conversation.  Also, the members will be able to contact each other and set up high level language exchanges and other things.  It will be a real community.  I’ll be on there providing reading material, movie talk, technology stuff, and a bunch of interesting and high level topics for group discussion.  We’ll all push ourselves to get better and better in not only English, but in life too.

I want to have a lot of great free English learning content for everyone to enjoy, and a high level SUPER VIP program that is connected to this one and also adds a lot more.  We’re still talking about how we want the site to be.  And since some of you guys who are reading this right now will be interested in joining it, it would be great to hear your ideas now.  We are building it for you and other high level people like you.

What do you think of this idea?  What would you like to see in that program?

Help us design it with your ideas and then it will be much better that way!

And by the way, don’t worry, it won’t be expensive like an elite golf course!  It doesn’t need to be.  The only reason I used that example was to try to make a point.

Love to hear your thoughts guys.  By the way, does anyone here already have the great habit of going to www.LearnEnglish232.com everyday yet?  What do you think?  Have you shared it with your friends, students, or teachers?  What do they think?  We’re still in the beginning stages of developing this, and we’re sure this will be the best yet!

It will be connected in some way with China232.com VIP membership, so don’t worry about that.  We’ll take care of you guys and make it kick ass!  There will be tons of amazing free stuff for everyone and an insanely awesome high level private English learning VIP club.

Sounds like a win/win to me!  What are your thoughts on this whole topic?  Even the part about rich people paying so much for golf.  Does it make sense to you too?

Your comments are always appreciated.  You guys have been great lately with that.  Keep it up.  I read EVERY one!!