Chcago Community Activist Becomes President.

...and now, American Rural.

About 45-days ago, after six-plus months in Asia, I left my wonderful apartment in the bustling capital city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia for my home in Newport Beach, California. After decompressing and spending time with my Mom and friends, I packed the SUV and made my way to Washington State.

For over 15-years, I have really enjoyed acquiring, gently developing and selling substantial family recreational parcels in N/E Washington. This spring, I am here putting the final touches on two properties, Wolf Creek Ranch and Lookout Mountain Ranch. They are both just about ready to go on the market...just in time to be in the midst of our worlds worst recession in history.

Interestingly, all the properties I develop (good times or bad) are affordable, in the first place, only by the top 5% of Americans and only .04% of world citizens as a whole.

Good times or bad, this is a difficult and expensive audience to reach and compel.

I'm inclined to organize, test and fine-tune my international marketing this year. It would not surprise me next year if my buyers were foreigners. We shall see. These are interesting times.

No matter where any of us are on the economic food chain, we need to effectively adapt to change. Change has arrived on a monumental level.

The Stumble of Capitalism. The Obama Fix.

This week, I returned to the United States after a six-month stint working on my projects in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. The United States I returned to is quite different than the United States I left, such a short time ago.

Over the last several years many folks used 'debt' as 'income'. This is never a good idea. This all recently came home to roost. Smart money knew it would - and stayed-away. As did I.

What caught me flat-footed is the fact poor American lending practices created an International financial tsunami. I did not see that coming at all. But here it is.

Just in time, arrives President Obama. A man the world can love. The new face of the United States. A kinder and gentler United States.

The United States is in vulnerable economic times -- and brought the rest of the world along for the ride. Nobody likes it. Everybody agrees it needs to be fixed.

The Obama fix is socialism. Here we go down the Obama road. He has four-years.

In these uncertain times let's all keep in mind, it is the private sector that propels innovation far better than any government. Banking is now taking a well deserved spanking. But it takes two to Tango.

Street Photography in PhnomPehn

In this difficult economy, my life and investment in this tiny country has been financially and personally rewarding. Southeast Asia is part of the worlds robust future. From my free time, here are some pictures as I explore around my home in Cambodia.

Fishing

Wherever in the world I am, I sure do like the relaxing experience of fishing during time-off on weekends. Every stream, river, bay and ocean has it's own challenges.

Flowers Of Cambodia

A Visit to Myanmar

Myanmar (Burma) is a southeast Asian country of over 50,000,000 people. Like a lot of southeast Asia, sustenance agriculture is by far the staple of life.

Unique to Myanmar is it's very serious military rule. Different but similar to North Korea, Myanmar chooses to trust no outsiders. None. Just like any of us, Myanmar wishes to avoid affairs they do not understand or may lead to a more unpredictable future. Instead of reaching out to the world to learn, the military government remains quite insular. In one manner or another, every business has a military based business partner. Ranking military are paid modestly and it is expected that one advances himself by doing business deals to, 'advance the country'.

Last week I spent several days in the Myanmar capital, Yangon. The purpose of my visit was to explore the city and get a feel for the people in this very tightly managed country. Also, being Myanmar is a country difficult to explore, at will, I wanted to establish relationships to help me with future trips to more fully explore this very mysterious country.

Here is a small video including some of my experiences in and around Yangon, Myanmar.

The Phnom Penh Dump and it's Resident Entrepreneur Children

Roughly 15 government employees are employed at the Phnom Pehn Municipal Dump. There are another 3,000 that work and live inside the dump as freelance foragers separating cardboard, plastic, glass, steel, aluminum, copper, brass and wood. They in turn sell this sorted material to recyclers. Of these 3,000 freelance entrepreneurs, 1,200 are young children, most of which work outside any form of a nuclear family or parent - or any form of adult supervision.

Kids living and working in the dump tend to work in small groups. The oldest kid, often between nine and fifteen years-old, is usually the boss. The boss' charges are between five and 12-years-old. The five year-old's are often tasked with pulling apart trash-mounds to better expose opportunity only older kids can quickly identify and swiftly sort. Mind you, all this is being carried out by kids in the most minimal of clothes, void of shoes. Anyone with unmatched, ill-fitting 'flip-flops' are among the lucky.

Home on the dump consists of a fragile tarp on sticks without walls, protecting a cardboard floor. Being there is no power in the dump, everyone works until dark. Three-hours before dawn, a fire is stoked and everyone prepares for the first glint of dawn to start again.

Well, that's just wrong. Someone should do something about this!

Most folks, me included, shake our heads...and do nothing. Thank God there are people that not only care but act. I have a case in point here that I find particularly interesting.

The Center for Children to Happiness, just down the street from the dump, help the dump kids in an alluring way. The deal they make with kids is practical under the circumstances: When it gets dark, come over for two-hours a day to learn to read and write maybe clean-up, have a little meal, before going home to the dump.

On several levels, Anna Gabriel is attempting to create compelling video to help raise money to further this project, as well as tell a story inside this effort. While Anna is the daughter of the famed musician, Peter Gabriel, her mission is her own. I respect her efforts and all those folks contributing to Children to Happiness.

Here are some photographs both Chean Long and I took attempting to get our head around both the dump experience and the Children to Happiness Center.

Deep in the dump.

Much of the dump is endless mountains of ever smoldering hell with acrid smoke. One step out of the car on our arrival and I turned on my heals and was back in the car in two-seconds. Not only was the smell smoky and putrid, it smelled just dangerously - wrong. My good friend Chean Long and my driver Sok Phea both wanted to explore despite the unsettling fragrance. The above photographs are by Chean Long.

Making friends with kids at Center for Children to Happiness.

Chean Long and Anna Gabriel

A 'gas station' out front. Very common manner to 'fill-up' the gas sipping 'moto'.