Finally. The election is over.
I am truly disappointed in the American people. I was really confident that people would remember their fear of dark-skinned men when they were in the voting booth.
Now what will happen? I fear that the economy might stabilize. The Iraq occupation might come to a close. We might reduce our spending in Iraq and actually reduce some of our debt or use the money right her in the states. My nightmare of a day without war may actually come true ... it makes me ill just to think of it.
Oh the humanity.
In a worse-cased scenario, we might even see a foreign policy where we instill trust and confidence in other nations. This could get ugly. Imagine people actually take us at our word - imagine a leader who has press conferences and maybe even inspires the American people. ICK!
The next thing you know we'll be energy independent, Wall-Street will lack corruption, and people will be able to afford preventive healthcare. There might even be some poor people that get back on their feet again. Keep them out of my town! They don't deserve a chance - let the market decide their fate!
I can understand if some people spend all their money on plastic bags and duct-tape to kill themselves ... i mean, could you blame them?
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
The Truth About Banks
Let's not let banks off the hook.
It can be argued that people that got us in this mess are the individuals that didn't pay off their mortgages.
But the truth about banks is: THEY WANT PEOPLE TO GET BLIND-SIDED. I just got a credit card offer for my business. The offer is from National City (who coincidentally was just bought out by PNC bank yesterday - but whatever)
The offer promises 0% APR on balance transfers for over 1 year! And no annual fee. These are lures to get me to use the card, of course. The stuff is blatanly IN BOLD when it is "good". The bad stuff is in fine print.
Anyway, so this all sounds pretty good -
they want me to switch DEBT onto a card with their bank (or PNC bank now I suppose).
Reading teh non-bold type reveals that after the introductory period, the APR ranges from 7.99% to 20.99%. That seems like a pretty significant window to leave open eh?
So I read a little more: "Payments will be applied to low APR balances before paying off higher APR balances, which means if you make purchases the may accrue finance charges". WOW - thanks for telling me! IMAGINE if there were no laws telling them they needed to disclose this - WOULD THEY?
My point is this: Banks make some of their money by using the naive judgment calls of otherwise sane people. They would like people to be in debt and paying interest.
A mortgage is a great example of this. Anyone who has a mortgage is in debt and owes the bank money. This is the most accepted an politically correct debt to have because you can write off interest on your taxes. Unfortunately for home buyers, the interest they pay ends up costing them more that the house itself. I'm not saying this is bad or wrong or the people don't know this - but it's what makes banks and their CEO's rich.
So I'm not a money whiz or an ex-banker … but teh very nature of banks is one that instills a sense that borrowing from banks is NORMAL and "the right thing to do". From an early age we hear "put your money in the bank …" but little did we know, the banks are not our friend.
The banks are our "dealers." The drug is debt.
It can be argued that people that got us in this mess are the individuals that didn't pay off their mortgages.
But the truth about banks is: THEY WANT PEOPLE TO GET BLIND-SIDED. I just got a credit card offer for my business. The offer is from National City (who coincidentally was just bought out by PNC bank yesterday - but whatever)
The offer promises 0% APR on balance transfers for over 1 year! And no annual fee. These are lures to get me to use the card, of course. The stuff is blatanly IN BOLD when it is "good". The bad stuff is in fine print.
Anyway, so this all sounds pretty good -
they want me to switch DEBT onto a card with their bank (or PNC bank now I suppose).
Reading teh non-bold type reveals that after the introductory period, the APR ranges from 7.99% to 20.99%. That seems like a pretty significant window to leave open eh?
So I read a little more: "Payments will be applied to low APR balances before paying off higher APR balances, which means if you make purchases the may accrue finance charges". WOW - thanks for telling me! IMAGINE if there were no laws telling them they needed to disclose this - WOULD THEY?
My point is this: Banks make some of their money by using the naive judgment calls of otherwise sane people. They would like people to be in debt and paying interest.
A mortgage is a great example of this. Anyone who has a mortgage is in debt and owes the bank money. This is the most accepted an politically correct debt to have because you can write off interest on your taxes. Unfortunately for home buyers, the interest they pay ends up costing them more that the house itself. I'm not saying this is bad or wrong or the people don't know this - but it's what makes banks and their CEO's rich.
So I'm not a money whiz or an ex-banker … but teh very nature of banks is one that instills a sense that borrowing from banks is NORMAL and "the right thing to do". From an early age we hear "put your money in the bank …" but little did we know, the banks are not our friend.
The banks are our "dealers." The drug is debt.
Friday, October 24, 2008
OK Back to reality
One of my top priorities considered when voting is the environment. Some people think McCain is green-tinted, but that is just his recent self-marketing.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Will it EVER be OVER?
I'm so sick of the election. Given, I'm completely obsessed with it for some reason. But I hate it.
"The Media" of course loves it. It gives them stuff to talk about: What did John McCain say about what Joe Biden said?
PLEASE END!!!
And, please don't let me have to listen to that chick from Alaska for 4 years. PLEASE! She's like Bush but 69X worse.
Back to work.
"The Media" of course loves it. It gives them stuff to talk about: What did John McCain say about what Joe Biden said?
PLEASE END!!!
And, please don't let me have to listen to that chick from Alaska for 4 years. PLEASE! She's like Bush but 69X worse.
Back to work.
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