Introduction, Basic Advice and a Shot at Pelosi

And so it begins. Let’s quickly start with a brief explanation and a little validation because, while I can’t speak for you, I feel there is nothing more annoying , or off putting, than listening to a person speak on a topic when they have no credentials at all.

The name is Luke Balbo and at the point that I am commencing this blog I am preparing to start my senior year at a small liberal arts school in Western New York (the state not the city, yes, believe it or not, not everyone from New York is from New York City) called St. Bonaventure University. I am majoring in marketing with a minor in economics partly because a. I was pulled into the marketing program by one of the professors and a friend and b. as hard as it may be to believe, the school does not offer a degree in economics. However, that’s a story for a different time. Instead, let me explain where the inspiration for what is to come in this blog came from.

At the end of my junior year I was offered an amazing opportunity to complete my required internship hours for my degree. A woman by the name of Beth Powers got invited me to spend the summer with an organization she was starting. It was called Liberty in America (libertyinamerica.org, hooray shameless pitch). The organization was going to consist of five people that were going to spend the summer and beyond traveling the country and living in a 40 foot bus. During the trip we were going to be teaching the citizens of the United States about liberty and the teachings of the founding fathers. To put it simply we would go from city to city handing out “citizens kits” and offering education seminars about the constitution, economy and so on. I was in charge of the marketing and economics for the group (surprise surprise). However, since that’s not what this blog is about, I will encourage you to go check out the website which, once again, is libertyinamerica.org. The important part of that story for this blog is that in our travels I have had the opportunity to meet an amazing array of people. Amongst them where some of the top economists in the country that had work for all sorts of companies and groups such as the Cato Institute. It was through these experiences that I decided I should start this thing and hopefully reach a few people in time where it is most needed. We are after all in the worst economic downturn in my life and in decades for that matter.

So that’s me, that’s where I come from, my roots, my inspiration, my muse. I promise to do my best to keep this from being overly political and so on. I will try to stick to economics and marketing as much as possible but you must understand that in today’s society a lot of these things are intertwined, which in fact leads me to my first point.

My number one rule for making sure you can do your utmost in all aspects of your life, especially economically, be an independent! I don’t care what your views on abortion, international affairs, war, gay marriage or what you can legally do with a flute are, picking a political party is the worst decision you can make. By choosing to be a democrat, republican, libertarian, communist and so on you are restricting your ability to think and make future decisions without political bias. It has become common place for people to vote for whichever party they view themselves aligned with no matter who the candidate is or what they actually stand for, or what they will do for both the national economy and your wallet, case in point: Nancy Pelosi being elected in San Francisco. Remaining independent it allows you to properly analyze each candidate without bias. You can look at their economic policies. See what they will do that will affect your job, taxes and financial well being because, like it or not, here in the good ole US of A the government plays an enormous role in what is going to happen with the economy.

I believe I can leave it there for my first entry. A brief introduction and word of advice seems suitable to me. If it’s not enough for you well then suck it up. It’s my blog and besides it leaves you coming back for more. And, as any marketing or economic mind will tell you need to keep people interested if you are going to sell them.