OT: A nation of scammers (US Capitalism gone wild?)

That depends on what you use it for. Right now I am watching a
tornado pass through the area, and you can't do that with a radio. They
are disrupting radio & TV broadcasts form 60 miles away because of it.
Hail has been reported, along with the heavy rain, high winds and the
rotating winds. I've already had one power outage. If it follows the
usual pattern, I will probably be offline for a few hours before it's
over

mpm wrote:


So, it wouldn't apply to idiots in traffic wearing camo with "Veteran"
plastered on the back of their tee-shirts.
But maybe it should...???!


They can be arrested for fraud, if someone complains. there have been
a few news stories lately about this issue.

"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell_at_earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:4B990CCB.8628943D_at_earthlink.net...

That depends on what you use it for. Right now I am watching a
tornado pass through the area, and you can't do that with a radio. They
are disrupting radio & TV broadcasts form 60 miles away because of it.
Hail has been reported, along with the heavy rain, high winds and the
rotating winds. I've already had one power outage. If it follows the
usual pattern, I will probably be offline for a few hours before it's
over

Welcome to the early local effects of Global Climate Change. Weather is
expected to continue to be more extreme and chaotic.

A few more Katrinas in
US population centers, along with other natural disasters such as
earthquakes, droughts, fires, floods, and water shortages will deplete our
emergency funds, bankrupt insurance companies, and require more deficit
spending. Our illusion of great wealth, based on the artificial value of
non-tangible assets such as stocks and bonds, and the neglect and ultimate
decay of our aging infrastructure, will cause many (most?) of us to accept a
reduction of our lifestyles.

Our choices will be to hang together and cooperate, or be hanged separately
by continuing with business as usual. In a sense, our economy, based on
untenable economic growth without tangible, productive, and honest work, is
a huge Ponzi scheme or bubble. We have been scammed by our own big business
and government.

"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell_at_earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:4B990D22.23416C76_at_earthlink.net...

mpm wrote:


So, it wouldn't apply to idiots in traffic wearing camo with "Veteran"
plastered on the back of their tee-shirts.
But maybe it should...???!


They can be arrested for fraud, if someone complains. there have been
a few news stories lately about this issue.

A veteran (from Latin vetus, meaning "old")[1] is a person who has had long
service or experience in a particular occupation or field. Many of these
people have been doing this for many years, so they are "veterans". I think
they are protected by free speech, unless you specifically ask them if they
are a US Military Veteran and they lie about it. Even that may be protected,
unless under oath. If they fake credentials, it may be a punishable offense.
But there are enough well-known and trusted veterans organizations that
almost any newbie should be suspected.

I am glad to give to the VFW, American Legion, AmVets, DAV, and Paralyzed
Veterans of America. I have also been happy to donate my time bringing
groups of people to nearby VA hospital nursing home facilities to play
guitar, sing, and provide social interaction.

Here is a clip about the dishonest DVA "charity":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0najP7Drvo

Paul

Water is getting expensive too. My utility bill says I used 1 cubic
foot of water at $1.06 per cubic foot. But then they add on the charge
of reading the meter of $5.16, so the total comes to $6.16. Now if
they would only read the meter every 6 months, I could save $25.50 in
meter reading charges.

Must be a good job reading meters. It might take 3 minutes to make 5
bucks.

I think it is a good deal at less than 2 cents a gallon. Besides, for $50
you can get plans to run your car on water!

"Paul E. Schoen" wrote:


Welcome to the early local effects of Global Climate Change. Weather is
expected to continue to be more extreme and chaotic.

How does that explain the long history of tornados and hurricanes in
Florida?

A few more Katrinas in
US population centers, along with other natural disasters such as
earthquakes, droughts, fires, floods, and water shortages will deplete
our
emergency funds, bankrupt insurance companies, and require more deficit
spending. Our illusion of great wealth, based on the artificial value of
non-tangible assets such as stocks and bonds, and the neglect and
ultimate
decay of our aging infrastructure, will cause many (most?) of us to
accept a
reduction of our lifestyles.


Speak for yourself, buddy! I've never had a credit card, by choice,
and the only money I owe is the last couple years of my mortgage. I
generally pay cash for a couple year old truck, then drive it till it
isn't work repairing. I buy very little new, and most of my electronics
was picked up as scrap and repaired. I give away most of it after it's
been repaired. I may not have a lot, but it's paid for. The last new
computer I bought had Windows ME on it. This computer was one of several
that were junked by a local builder. The hard drive was junk, and it
barely had enough RAM to boot. Someone gave me a pair of 512 MB DDR2
RAM for it, and someone from this group else had sent me several sets of
restore disks for it when they were being tossed out where he worked.
My truck is 13 years old, and will be driven till I can no longer repair
it.

Our choices will be to hang together and cooperate, or be hanged
separately
by continuing with business as usual. In a sense, our economy, based on
untenable economic growth without tangible, productive, and honest work,
is
a huge Ponzi scheme or bubble. We have been scammed by our own big
business
and government.

Yawn. YOU sold out. I saw what was going on in the '60s, and opted
out. Money is a tool, not a goal to me. I don't worship it, then fold
it up to put it into my pocket. I've known people who could tell you ,
to the cent exactly how much cash, savings and investments they had, on
a daily basis. They were joyless assholes.

"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell_at_earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:4B995136.59B85A1B_at_earthlink.net...

"Paul E. Schoen" wrote:


Welcome to the early local effects of Global Climate Change. Weather is
expected to continue to be more extreme and chaotic.

How does that explain the long history of tornados and hurricanes in
Florida?

I think these storms have been getting more severe and more frequent. Note I
did not say AGW, although I think our extravagant and wasteful energy
consumption has had an effect.


A few more Katrinas in
US population centers, along with other natural disasters such as
earthquakes, droughts, fires, floods, and water shortages will deplete
our
emergency funds, bankrupt insurance companies, and require more deficit
spending. Our illusion of great wealth, based on the artificial value of
non-tangible assets such as stocks and bonds, and the neglect and
ultimate
decay of our aging infrastructure, will cause many (most?) of us to
accept a
reduction of our lifestyles.


Speak for yourself, buddy! I've never had a credit card, by choice,
and the only money I owe is the last couple years of my mortgage. I
generally pay cash for a couple year old truck, then drive it till it
isn't work repairing. I buy very little new, and most of my electronics
was picked up as scrap and repaired. I give away most of it after it's
been repaired. I may not have a lot, but it's paid for. The last new
computer I bought had Windows ME on it. This computer was one of several
that were junked by a local builder. The hard drive was junk, and it
barely had enough RAM to boot. Someone gave me a pair of 512 MB DDR2
RAM for it, and someone from this group else had sent me several sets of
restore disks for it when they were being tossed out where he worked.
My truck is 13 years old, and will be driven till I can no longer repair
it.

I'm probably more like you than not. I pay my credit card balances monthly,
I own my 1999 Saturn and my 1989 Toyota 4WD truck, and I paid the mortgage
on my home and property many years ago. I buy refurbed computers and use
them until they die, although I do need to stay current because I write
software and design hardware that I must test on a platform similar to what
my customers will have.

Our choices will be to hang together and cooperate, or be hanged
separately
by continuing with business as usual. In a sense, our economy, based on
untenable economic growth without tangible, productive, and honest work,
is
a huge Ponzi scheme or bubble. We have been scammed by our own big
business
and government.

Yawn. YOU sold out. I saw what was going on in the '60s, and opted
out. Money is a tool, not a goal to me. I don't worship it, then fold
it up to put it into my pocket. I've known people who could tell you ,
to the cent exactly how much cash, savings and investments they had, on
a daily basis. They were joyless assholes.

I have some IRA money in mutual funds, but mostly I have invested in my own
real estate and my business. I value my free time and recreation and
enjoyment of nature over material wealth and conspicuous consumption. I have
generally owned the most fuel efficient vehicles inexpensively available and
I valued fuel economy over highway drag racing since my first vehicle (a
160cc Honda motorcycle) and my first car (a 1960 Ford Falcon with 144cu 6).
I have always purchased used vehicles and I prefer to spend my money on the
local economy of auto mechanics and parts stores rather than supporting the
misguided and greedy CEOs of Detroit.

But many people will need to learn to live cooperatively and in closer
contact with their neighbors, and change their lifestyles of increasing
isolation even among family members as has been the trend in the last 50
years. We live in a global community and we can't continue to wolf down the
lion's share of the pie while billions of other world citizens increasingly
demand their fair share. And the failures of recent wars show that we can no
longer take what we want by military force.

On Mar 11, 3:45 pm, "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terr...@earthlink.net
wrote:
"Paul E. Schoen" wrote:

I think it is a good deal at less than 2 cents a gallon. Besides, for $50
you can get plans to run your car on water! :)

That doesn't work on German cars. They only run on beer. :)

Or Old Milwaukee / Pabst Blue Ribbon, since they are mostly water.

dagmargoodb...@yahoo.com> wrote in message

news:f0f9d647-d031-4f9c-99be-53211e1ba9b5_at_d2g2000yqa.googlegroups.com...
On Mar 10, 11:13 pm, Bill Bowden <wrongaddr...@att.net> wrote:



Water is getting expensive too. My utility bill says I used 1 cubic
foot of water at $1.06 per cubic foot. But then they add on the charge
of reading the meter of $5.16, so the total comes to $6.16. Now if
they would only read the meter every 6 months, I could save $25.50 in
meter reading charges.

Must be a good job reading meters. It might take 3 minutes to make 5
bucks.

  Greetings Bill!
  The pay's even better than that.  The new ones all have a little r.f.
  link, so the reader-guy just drives past 'em, and his reader sucks in
  the data from afar.

I think the units are in 1000 cubic foot. One cubic foot is less than a
couple of 5 gallon buckets. The minimum charge in Baltimore County, MD for
the smallest water supply (5/8") is $13.23, which will give you up to 1000
cubic feet or about 7500 gallons. Considering that this water is potable, it
is a real bargain. The cost of having someone read the meter is a small part
of the fee. It also includes the cost of installing that RF device. The
meter reader just gets the usual salary or hourly wage, but the city can
make do with fewer people on the road, and it is safer and less disruptive
than stopping a truck on the street and having someone open a lid and read a
meter.

The fees for water really should be much higher so that the aging
infrastructure can be maintained and replaced to reduce the frequent water
main breaks. In my neighborhood, which consists of a couple dozen
households, we had to petition for installation of municipal water supply,
and I had to pay about $10,000 for that privilege. But many of us were using
shallow wells of dubious quality and flow, so it was well worth it.

I think it is a good deal at less than 2 cents a gallon. Besides, for $50
you can get plans to run your car on water! :)

Paul

"Paul E. Schoen" wrote:

I think it is a good deal at less than 2 cents a gallon. Besides, for $50
you can get plans to run your car on water! :)

   That doesn't work on German cars.  They only run on beer.  :)

--
Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'

"amdx" <a...@knology.net> wrote in message

news:210e3$4b9909ea$18ec6dd7$22532_at_KNOLOGY.NET...

When my contract was about to expire they called me to renew and
I laid into them about the "additional Nextel Charges" They dropped
them for a short time. Now I see "Sprint Surcharges" $2.66.

In general the cell phone companies all seem to add about 10% in "junk fees."
I'm pretty sure their strategy is that, since they want to be able to
advertise a "price" that's as low (competitive-looking) as possible, they set
the junk fees at a level just below where the government would get involved
and charge them with false advertising.

"Paul E. Schoen" wrote:

But many people will need to learn to live cooperatively and in closer
contact with their neighbors, and change their lifestyles of increasing
isolation even among family members as has been the trend in the last 50
years. We live in a global community and we can't continue to wolf down
the
lion's share of the pie while billions of other world citizens
increasingly
demand their fair share. And the failures of recent wars show that we can
no
longer take what we want by military force.

What have we taken by military force, other than the lives of our
military? Be specific.

On Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:15:12 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terrell_at_earthlink.net> wrote:


Jim Thompson wrote:

I often see the "large" size priced significantly higher per unit than
the "small", so I buy 2 of the small :-)


I've seen signs stating $1 each, or $15 a dozen and watched people
pick up a dozen.


My best deal recently was 24, 12 oz bottles of sugar free syrup for
$2. That is 8.33 cents a bottle. Half (one case) will go to my
diabetic dad, and the rest will probably last me till it goes bad.

That stuff will *never* go bad.