All policies would pay a fixed amount that was determined at the outset when you took out the policy after a period of waiting. They would cover against the fact that you might suffer illness for a period of time or you might not be able to work after being involved in any accident. The policy can also protect against the fact that you might be made redundant and have to find a new position.

One form of policy covers one of your largest outgoings each month, your mortgage repayment by way of taking out mortgage payment protection insurance. Failing to be able to maintain you mortgage would mean that the lender has the right to take you to court and seek a repossession order. If the judge issues this, it would mean that you would have to leave your home.

In the majority of cases you would be evicted in around 28 days of the hearing and along with losing your home would face the stigma of repossession and the repercussions. Your credit rating for one would be affected and this could mean the chances of borrowing in the future would be very slim. A policy would give you an income which would allow you to carry on paying your mortgage repayments.

If you have loans or borrowings on credit cards then again you would have to be able to keep up with the repayments. Failure to maintain them would see you getting into debt. Your lender could choose to take you to court and you could be handed a County Court Judgment. A judge can also send bailiffs to your home to recover what is owed through your belongings. At the very least your credit score would be affected and this is harder to repair than it is to destroy. A loan payment protection policy can be taken and this would allow you peace of mind that you had the money to repay your commitments if you became unemployed or were incapacitated.

You can also choose to protect your income in general by way of an income payment protection policy. This would allow you to maintain all of your outgoings including the big ones such as your mortgage, loan or credit card repayments. However it provides much more as you would have help for all of your outgoings and would not have to start ducking and diving to avoid bills or juggling them around.

Policies begin to provide with providers at different times. Some payout from the 30th day while with others it is the 90th day, provider offer payment protection policies that could pay for 12 months, with others it can be 24 monthly payments you would receive. Ethical providers should offer the information on how long and when the cover pays before you buy your policy. They should also make you aware of any exclusions which could be found and that you have checked them against your circumstances.

No Personal Involvement

First, Trump doesn’t get personally involved. He knows how to protect his personal finances. In both instances, Trump’s corporations have filed for bankruptcy; but not personally. Therefore, when his casino fell into about a billion dollars in debt. Trump only made the decision to do so once he had spoken to his banks and bondholders.

But, by filing, he gave his business the opportunity to regroup and reduce his business debt. It didn’t hurt however that it would also reduce his personal debt, as Trump is likely the one every creditor would look to if the Taj Mahal couldn’t pay up. So, in fact, Trump avoided potential lawsuits from credits and he may have also avoided personal bankruptcy by keeping his own bank account insulated.

Trump, it appeared, had triumphed. His company had dire financial problems but seemed to rise just as quickly from those bankruptcy ashes. Just three years later, he combined the hotels into the publicly held Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts.

Yet, Trump’s public company would eventually fall…again. Within a few years of soaring high prices, the company stock had fallen into single digits. The one-time powerhouse company remained profitless and struggled just to pay the interest on the $2 billion debt. Trump claimed that the properties were unable to make the improvements necessary for keeping up with its flashier competitors. These financial troubles led to Trump’s second trip into bankruptcy.

Win-Win Business Deals

It’s in this second bankruptcy that Trump demonstrated the other quality that helps him stay on top. He knows how to create a win-win situation. Donald Trump filed for Chapter 11 a second time. Again, Trump asked to be able to restructure his company’s debt and overhaul its aging casinos. Under the voluntary bankruptcy filing, Trump Atlantic City Associates, which is 99 percent owned by Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc., listed $1.3 billion in debt and $1.5 million in assets.

But this time around the Donald proposed that reorganizing the company would provide him the cash to upgrade his properties. By making these changes, he could help keep the casinos competitive. The second benefit: bondholders would receive stock in exchange for forgiving the debt owed. In other words, it would increase their ownership of the company by roughly two-thirds.

The chances of making the money back and even a bit of profit will dramatically increase when the casino emerges from the reorganization. Why? Well, vendors will be paid.

But best of all, Trump got to keep his job (and his rather hefty salary). If all goes as planned, Trump’s Atlantic City properties will be able to actually turn a profit and even potentially expand into new markets like Las Vegas.

At the end of the day, Donald Trump will not only come out on top, he may well come out in the green.

When Social Security starts paying out more than it takes in, whether it be 2012, 2015, or a few years later, the system will be running a deficit in real terms because the trust is virtual.   If you put $10,000 in the bank, take it all out for some home repair and maybe a few weekends in Vegas, that money is gone, IOU or no.   If you write an IOU to yourself to replace that ten-grand, and you stick to your word, you still have to come up with the money somewhere…that original 10k, again, is already gone.   The Social Security Ponzi Scheme thus was a not-so-elaborate method of shoveling trillions of dollars into the mouths of politicians and out onto their pet projects…original intention aside.

Where did those payroll taxes go?   Who knows?   Could be to Star Wars funding, Farm Subsidies, Tax Cuts, Tomahawk Missiles, appropriations within the infamous Black Budget…the possibilities are as vast and spooky as Karl Rove’s imagination. We are left with the government’s promise that the trust exists. Granted, if the government defaulted on a promise like this, there would be revolution in the streets and in the retirement towers. The people wouldn’t stand for it.   At best, if tens of millions of seniors and near-retirees feel shafted, and these folks tend to vote, our next batch of leaders will make Ted Kennedy look like an arch conservative, which would mean financial ruin in a permanent way.   Uncle Sam will, one way or another, make good on those trust fund promises until 2042, but he’ll either have to raise trillions in taxes or trillions in more debt to make it so.

At this point, we should all agree that there is a problem.   Yes?

There is no one solution for saving and strengthening Social Security.   Wise tinkering and incremental changes should be cobbled together for the effect we want, which again, is a stronger and safer public pensions system. Fixing Social Security requires a holistic approach, and both sides of the partisan isle will need to honestly address some tough questions, check their sacks, and then swallow some potentially bitter medicine.

Trivia: Lou Pearlman ( former Backstreet Boys and N Sync Manager / Producer) was part of this illegal business.