Yes. let's occupy wallstreet

Once there was a bank, let's call it C, and the bank would not provide credit for its loyal customer, R, who had been with C for many years. Even though C kept taking R's money, she always had good excuses why she would not yield. “You're not from here,” she'd say. But then R moved here, and two years later, C ran out of excuses, and one day, just like this, she offered R a credit card.

It was blue and smooth, and had diamonds on it, and although R's limit was only $300, he was delighted. Now, he thought, he could build his credit history, and become a true American, with debt, and lots of other useless things he'd always wanted. That will make C love him even more, he thought.

So every month R would religiously spend between $250 and $280 on all the things he didn't need. He was careful not to reach the dreaded $300 limit, and made sure to open every envelope with C's name on it. Most of the them he tossed (C always asked for more), but once a month, when he got the one with numbers and lines, he'd immediately fill his pocket with some change, and hurry to give C what she deserved.

So the happy relationships continued for some time, until R decided to buy a house, and the the first one to know about it was C. But a few days later, a letter from C was shoved under R's door. With trembling hands he opened it. To his great dismay, R had to face the sadness we all know so well, his love to C was not reciprocated.

“Dear R,” the letter opened, “I'm so sorry but I can't give you the mortgage you need. You see, you are already utilizing over 90% of your credit line. Please call me if there is anything else I can do for you,” the letter ended.

Still hoping to change of heart, R spent hours on the phone, arguing persuading, trying to change C's mind. But to no avail. He swore that he'd never sought credit with another, and that C was his only card. It did not help him.

Broken hearted, R decided to cut the card, and with the $280 he owed, he send it back to C, never to see her again. It did not take a week before C started leaving messages on R's phone. “I do not want to to lose you,” one message said. A letter, smelling of C's perfume arrived. It brought back old memories, and R could not stop his heart from beating fast. In the letter, C offered to increase R's credit to 3,000, 30,000, 300,000, whatever he wanted, “Just don't leave me,” she begged. But R's mind was already set, and with time letter and messages from C dwindled until the flow dried up altogether.

And then, all of a sudden, a letter from C. “Dear R,” it said. “I've now checked again your credit situation, and learnt that you have no outstanding debt. I am so happy that at last I can give you the mortgage you wanted so much, and we can be together again.” By that time, however, R's heart had been given to another (lets call her H) and until this day, he never spoke with C again.

The End.

Irene and the Profiteers

 

A summary of radio advertising (on two AA batteries) I collected before and during Hurricane Irene.

All citizens living in flood-prone areas are requested to evacuate their homes, that is, if they have a toll-gate pass. For those without this convenient, money saving card that can save you hours when you need them most, please go to our website www.YouHaveNoChoiceButPay and get your pass for an extra charge (we know that you do not have a choice.)

If, however, due to the severe weather condition, your Internet is down, you can still reach us on 1800-pay-alot and a new wireless connection – which does not require a landlines and can save you thousands of dollars in shopping from wherever you are – will be delivered at your doorstep.

In the likely event that your power is also down and you cannot call us – because you are subscribed to a modern telephone service that does not work when the power is down – we have just the solution for you. A self sustained portable generator – which you can also use when camping or when having friends for a nice barbecue after your successful fishing trip. To get our generator, please come to any of our local shops around Philadelphia, as we have made a killing, and we are sold out in the tri-state area. If you ever make it back home, you will feel as if no storm whatever is taking place.

If flooding prevents you from reaching our shops – open for your convenient 24 by seven including Christmas and New Year eve – we hope that your insurance with us is valid, and gives you all the sleep you need in these stormy times. Otherwise, if you have survived Irene, please call 1800-you-are-screwed, and make sure that your next hurricane will be a pleasant experience to share with friends and family .

When did profiteering stop being a dirty word?

Your Privacy. Do they give a shit?

Publish Post

(image swiatobiektywu)

Why do our privacy watchdogs attack social networks, and once again, let financial institution, whose privacy practices are far worse, get away untouched? 

The other day, I got a letter from a financial institution I have an account with. 

Customer privacy and security have never been more important to us. We want you to know what we're doing to protect your privacy and keep your information secure … Following is a copy of our Privacy Notification.

For a moment I felt reassured to know that they really take my privacy seriously. Wouldn't you be? Well, At least until you read the rest of the letter



PRIVACY POLICY

This Policy explains what the Company does to keep information about you private and secure. … . Please read this Policy carefully.Q. Is information about me shared within your family of companies?
A. Yes. We may share information about you within our family as required or permitted by law. ….

Q. Is information about me shared with service providers and financial companies outside your family of companies?
A. Yes, as permitted by law. ….

Q. Is information about me shared with non-financial companies outside your family of companies?
A. Yes. We may share information about you with companies outside of our family as permitted by law. ….

Q. Is information about me shared in any other ways?
A. Yes. We may also share information about you in other ways, as required or permitted by law. …

Is there anyone they will not share your private information with? In other words, they don't even try to hide that they care about your privacy as long as they don't find an opportunity to make money by not caring about it.

I hope that knowing that your privacy is in such good hands  makes you feel reassured.  And this happens in a society that brainwashes its citizens that socialism takes away your right to privacy.

If you still don't understand Wall Street

Despite the two years of non-stop information about the financial crisis, I still find that many do not understand how our financial system really works. I hope that this old fable, will demystify Wall Street for you, once and for all.

Once upon a time in a village in India, a man announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10. The villagers seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10, but, as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their efforts.

The man further announced that he would now buy at $20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms.

The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for $50.'

The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys back.

Paying Tax

This is one of these rare occasions in which I copy someone else's post. And this time it's a post I don't even agree with. But I like it nevertheless, as it questions our most fundamental assumptions. And questioning assumptions is something we don't do enough, but need to do much more:

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20." Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So the first four men were unaffected.

They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men? The paying customers?

How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings)

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $15 instead of $18 ( 20% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $ 20,"declared the sixth man.

He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a Dollar, too.

It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth man and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him.

But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, this is how our tax system works.

The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction.

Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

Can they run a business?

Recently, I needed to fly to Tucson Arizona with a friend. The cheapest we could find was a 3-legged flight with a transit at Phoenix. But after we booked, we changed our minds and decided to rent a car and drive the last leg from Phoenix to Tucson, so we called the airline to cancel the last leg:

Me: I would like to cancel the last leg of our flight, and get off at Phoenix

Airline rep: No problem Sir. It'll cost you $400 a ticket.

Me: I am not sure I explained myself well, all I want is to not take the last flight. Surely not flying can’t cost more than taking the flight. After all, you can resell the tickets.

Rep: Sir, this is our policy. If you don’t fly we’ll have to deduct the charge from your credit card.

Well, after some more deliberations with supervisors and managers we decided to take the flight nevertheless  and try our luck at the service desk in Phoenix (after all the entire ticket was not much more than $400).

Well, to our great surprise, no sooner had we arrived at the gate in Phoenix, a loudspeaker announcement could be heard: The flight to Tucson is overbooked, if anyone volunteers to take a later flight, please make yourself known to one of our staff members. 

Not wasting a second we jumped at the opportunity, but only under the condition that instead of taking the next flight, they would waive it altogether. They agreed, but not before we got refunded $250 each. 

And the American airline industry remains in bad shape.