Let, I start off with an amazing experience. Keep in mind many of you might have pets at home and most of you cherish them more than probably your children or even more than your loved ones. Now imagine you were homeless, and this pet is all you have in your life.

It all started when I went to return the empties my late Father left in the garage. I headed to the Beer store, and when I arrived a homeless man sat with his sign Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, please don’t drink and drive. Honestly, like everyone I tried to avoid him and get on with my day.

I entered to return the empties and took the money,  when I came out, I just couldn’t walk away, instead, I proceeded in the direction of the Man. I put the $7-$8 in his cup and then just asked him a few questions. What’s your story? Why are you on the street? But before I listened, I introduced myself and then asked him what his name was. He responded, My name is John Murphy, I am of Irish descent and I was a carpenter by trade. His Ecuadorian wife had passed away almost 7 years prior and he had a nervous breakdown rendering him unfit to work and pay his bills.  He had six children all of their names started with the letter ‘J’, yet none of his kids were around to help him.

Then I noticed another sign with the name Muneca written diagonally on his board. I have been taking Spanish lessons and I said doesn’t that mean doll? He responded by saying, that is correct it is my dog’s name.

We continued to discuss his situation, living in a local park, him being beaten and stabbed in the chest for his shoes, his tent set on fire with him and his dog in it, robbed of $7 in his panhandling cup at a local Wall Mart, he was then piped, knocking out all his lower teeth. Lastly, being surrounded by coyotes who wanted to eat his precious dog,  Muneca. He defended her with all his strength, and placed his dog in his coat, the coyote lunged toward him,  bites his hand and he chokes it, breaking its neck.  An officer ended up writing a ticket for $2500 for killing the coyote even though he was attacked. I thought to myself, how can this be true? He wrote down the name  Nadia Hirani and asked me to check out the Ted Talk.

While in a shelter, he needed to get some help for his dog. The vet, named Nadia Hirani basically said to John, if you can’t afford the vet, you don’t deserve the pet. Profound, fighting words toward a man who had nothing left but unconditional love for his dog, which was his only reason for living.  He challenged her to come to spend days on the street to see how he took care of his dog, she accepted the challenge. On the 5th day of her challenge, the Vet broke down with tears in her eyes.

Click below and take the time to listen to her story, an absolutely inspirational story that will make John Murphy a legend amongst  the homeless community for bringing pet care to the homeless:

https://www.ted.com/talks/nadia_hirani_why_everyone_deserves_a_dog?utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tedspread

Now, let’s get back to reality, yesterday the Federal Reserve in the United States gave some insight with respect to interest policy. The result, brought an explosive reaction as the USD Index exploded above the 104.50 level. The Fed minutes show divergence between the Hawks and those dovish with respect to interest rate direction. Expect another 50 basis point hike come February. Collectively these Central Bankers are trying to bankrupt our nations as inflation will not disappear as Governments continue to spend and print money.  Continued rate hikes are the only means the mirage of USD strength will be sustained. Nonetheless,  Precious Metals rise substantially, hinting that this surge was without substance.