United Breaks Guitars July 7, 2009
Posted by weare1 in comedy, commentary, economics, frugality, links, music, rant, travel.Tags: airlines, music, united
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The Uninsured Subsidize The Insured May 24, 2009
Posted by weare1 in rant.Tags: care, doctor, health, hospital, insurance
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In America we have two health care systems, one for the insured and one for the uninsured. They are exactly the same in every way except one, price. If an insured person goes to an emergency room and requires a bandage their insurance company is charged the insured rate, say $20. Now if an uninsured person goes to the same emergency room and got the same bandage they would be billed about 20 times more then the other’s insurance company, $400 in this case. Both people need the bandage, why should the uninsured person pay more in effect subsidizeing the insured person? Is this fair? Clearly not. Yet, this is what is happening day in and day out in hospitals throughout this country. We need change, and we need it yesterday. If you’re not outraged then you’re not paying attention.
Yahoo craps on itself! July 14, 2008
Posted by weare1 in Internet, commentary, rant, software.Tags: crap, my yahoo, myyahoo, yahoo
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This company is incompetent. They literally owned the Internet, they had huge market share, and through complete lack of innovation, they gave it to Google. Today Yahoo! took the one last good thing they had (My Yahoo) and FORCED users to switch to some new 2.0 version, which to put it mildly, sucks ass. Why wouldn’t they give users a choice? Can’t afford the disk space? Really? They had a product I was mostly happy with and ruined it. Nice going dipshits. Do these guys own google stock or what? How is it it possible that one of the biggest companies in the valley hasn’t made any significant changes to their core site in years (other then ruin the few things that worked well? They have hundreds of employees and millions of dollars of market cap, what do these people do all day? I know it’s not customer service, you would know that too if you ever tried to get any out of them. They hide their phone numbers, and don’t even have email support. They make you fill in forms which are auto-handled (incorrectly) and ignored. Yahoo had to go out and buy innovation (Flickr), and even then they didn’t always do a good job. So by switching me to your lame my yahoo 2.0 you are dead to me now Yahoo. I thought it was My Yahoo, apparently not.
A New Way Of Working November 11, 2007
Posted by weare1 in commentary, economics, politics, rant, society.Tags: poitics economy taxes companies corporations campaignfi
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What if there was a law requiring management salaries to be no more then double the average worker’s salary? Ladies and gentlemen we would see across the board increases in wages, a more robust economy, and greater tax revenues. Why won’t we ever see this sort of thing? Because the people in power make ungodly amounts more then the workers they hire, and will do everything in their power to keep it that way. Unless and until workers vote in large numbers and demand significant campaign finance reforms we will never see this here in our country, even though it would be in our national interest. Something to think about.
The Power of the Internet Community October 19, 2007
Posted by weare1 in Internet, economics, frugality, rant, travel.Tags: internet trip travel
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I’m asking for your help, thats right, you. I’m helping out a buddy trying to get some donations going for the Johnny’s trip project. This is a great cause and he could use a break, help prove the power and generosity of the Internet community at:
Comics: Ridiculous Credit Card Fees From The Future – Consumerist June 18, 2007
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Weirdest Action Figure – Albino Bowler at Random Good Stuff June 14, 2007
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Stealth Inflation October 14, 2006
Posted by weare1 in commentary, economics, frugality, rant.1 comment so far
At the simplest level inflation is where your dollar buys less then it did before. If you follow the Federal numbers on inflation you would think inflation is under control, well I’ve got news for you, they have manipulated their statistics not to show real inflation. Stealth inflation is the slow creep of value being drained from your dollar. Does it cost you the same to live the same way now as it did last month? No, just a little bit more. If you’ll read some of my earlier posts you’ll see some complaints about hidden pricing. I’ve had 2 service providers pull bullshit “regulatory compliance fee” price hikes this month alone. This is stealth inflation. It costs me more this month to use my cell phone and Internet then it did last month, however if you called up those companies and said “how much is your service” they would tell you the same numbers they did last month. They lie. My cable TV costs have risen about 25%, for less service. These companies are going to continue adding hidden pricing just as fast as they think they can get away with, this problem isn’t going to get better, it’s going to get worse, a lot worse. Unless and until consumers band together and refuse to accept hidden pricing it will continue. Clog their customer service lines, cancel your service (price hikes allow you to escape your contract or commitment.) Incidentally two-year contacts are a relatively recent development starting around ‘95. Because we consumers have refused to argue this practice is now quite widespread. Contacts like this are purely in the corporate interest, they don’t help you at all, if you think it protects you against price hikes you’re wrong, they still pull stealth increases like additional “regulatory compliance fee.” What kind of bullshit is that? They obviously want you to believe it’s some sort of official tax, thats why they list it with the real taxes and not in your main bill, their intention is to deceive you. Are you stupid? They think so. If you accept these you may very well be. My generation has seen approximately 35% inflation over our lifetime, meaning my dollar can buy 35% less stuff then my dad’s dollar. Think about that.
At the same time are you making 35% more income then your parents? Not likely as wages have been essentially stagnant for the last 15 years. We are going in the wrong direction. With our law making bodies hopeless addicted to special interests and their corporate bosses, what chance do we have to change the way things are going? Not good. I am very seriously considering cashing in all my investments and investing in Euros to protect my investments against inflation.
I would love to hear some arguments telling me why I’m wrong, or what we should do.
You Do Not Have Health Insurance « The Baseline Scenario August 6, 2009
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You Do Not Have Health Insurance « The Baseline Scenario