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

Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:31 am   

Lately, I've been barraged, nay, attacked by morons seeking to
separate me from my money.

What happend to the US?
It seems like I just woke up, and BAM! - cheats, liars and theives
everywhere.

From the banks, to the government, to Vonage!
(Sorry Vonage, not a customer here, but hey, would it kill you to
mention aloud that your $14.95 price is only good for 6 months, and
even then, only with a one-year committment?)

It's gotten so bad lately that if a vendor actually told me the truth
about something, no matter how inane or inconsequential, I think I'd
just drop over dead right then and there. In other words, people
(companies especially) are so untruthful so often, that I no longer
even consider the possibilty that they might not be.

Cynacism, or reality??

Note: not to pick on Vonage. I could have just as easily used Heinz
Ketchup, or Acai Berry diets, or 401k's.
Everybody's looking for an angle, screw the other guy. Whatever it
takes. </rant>

-mpm

Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:31 am   

On Tue, 9 Mar 2010 18:00:58 -0800 (PST), mpm <mpmillard_at_aol.com>
wrote:


Everybody knows that DelMonte tastes better.

John

Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:31 am   

On Mar 9, 8:00 pm, mpm <mpmill...@aol.com> wrote:

Heinz Ketchup is crooked now? Dang!

Wed Mar 10, 2010 10:34 am   

mpm <mpmillard_at_aol.com>
wibbled on Wednesday 10 March 2010 02:00


Read the email headers. Probably mostly nigerian in origin.

--
Tim Watts

Managers, politicians and environmentalists: Nature's carbon buffer.

Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:57 pm   

On Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:16:40 -0800, John Larkin
<jjlarkin_at_highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:


No way, if you want better, you have to make your own...

Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:40 pm   

On Mar 10, 4:34 am, Tim Watts <t...@dionic.net> wrote:

I think today or tomorrow, just for kicks, I'll carry around a
notebook and jot down every instance of a scam I encounter that day.

Scams to include:
Outright obvious scams (miracle diets, spam email, etc...)
Offers with hidden fees, terms and conditions.
Untruthful advertising with utterly unsupportable claims
Employment offers (i.e., for customer service reps, when they really
mean door-to-door, or cold-call telephone sales)
For that matter, any get rich quick scheme, or MLM offer.
And maybe even the more subtle ones that pull emotional strings, such
as when a company includes the words American, or US, when it's really
an overseas, foreign outfit.

Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:16 pm   

On 3/10/2010 4:40 AM, mpm wrote:

(...)


(...)

Mail-in rebate
Dealer auto service
"Sears Horsepower"
Dentistry
Psychology
In-home appliance repair

This list only gets bigger

--Winston

Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:35 pm   

<dagmargoodboat_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4504ad29-e57d-47e2-a5c8-cc8cd6044ab1_at_g7g2000yqe.googlegroups.com...
On Mar 10, 12:16 pm, Winston <Wins...@bigbrother.net> wrote:

Microsoft Works

Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:02 pm   

"mpm" <mpmillard_at_aol.com> wrote in message
news:dc0e34fd-d0a5-48a1-a208-005e82dd4c2a_at_b7g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...

People have become used to making money on money and credit and speculation,
without really doing any useful work. When their world crashed, they had no
real skills, so they have had to find other ways to maintain their inflated
lifestyles and egos by whatever means possible. They don't have a concept of
honest work.

I've also been bombarded recently with increasing numbers of calls from
charities. They use keywords like Veterans, Police, Firefighters, Cancer,
Children, Hunger, Disease, Disabled, and such to shame you into
contributing. But most times you can check these charities and find that
their administration and fund-raising costs are 95% of their budget, so a
pittance goes to those who need it. The CEOs of such charities, and their
cronies, earn large salaries. And yet they are able to meet the requirements
for a non-profit organization.

Paul

Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:04 pm   

On Mar 9, 9:00 pm, mpm <mpmill...@aol.com> wrote:

How about our leadership? Consider the President.

In a speech earlier this week Mr. Obama said the Senate health care
bill would save nearly $1T over ten years, and that insurance
companies were scheming to maintain huge profits, raping consumers.

My math has the health care bill costing not less than $2T, adding at
least $1T in deficits.[1] Profits in the health insurance sector?
They're running about 2%, currently.

[1] (Even using the President's creative math, the bill adds $250B to
the deficit over ten years.)

Bait and switch? Not telling you the real price? Check, and check.

The bill taxes immediately, doesn't start services for four years, yet
the price quoted doesn't mention you won't be getting service for
those four years. The fine print: deficits, not surpluses, and that's
using ten years' payments to provide six years' services, with a
lifetime commitment.

And those Bush tax cuts Mr. Obama has denigrated and denounced so
bitterly, blaming for his deficits? He's moving to enshrine them:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030502974_pf.html
National debt to be higher than White House forecast, CBO says

"[The President] also wants to make permanent a series
of tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration, which
are scheduled to expire at the end of this year."

--
Cheers,
James Arthur

Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:24 pm   

On Mar 10, 12:16 pm, Winston <Wins...@bigbrother.net> wrote:

Jobs created or saved

--
Cheers,
James Arthur

Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:30 pm   

On Mar 9, 9:16 pm, John Larkin
<jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

Yes but four bottles of Heinz is $5 and three plastic squeeze bottles
of DelMonte is $4 and in the small print you can see Heinz is 0.12$/oz
and DelMonte is 2$/lb ...

Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:51 pm   

On Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:30:08 -0800 (PST), Wanderer
<wanderer_at_dialup4less.com> wrote:


Bwa-ha-ha-ha... Just like in the grocery store: price based on
different units of measure.

(in oz pricing, Heinz is $0.12, DelMonte is $0.13, which is basically
the same price.) <bg>

Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:52 pm   

On Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:24:49 -0800 (PST), dagmargoodboat_at_yahoo.com
wrote:


Government supplied is good.

Wed Mar 10, 2010 8:55 pm   

On Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:02:44 -0500, "Paul E. Schoen"
<paul_at_pstech-inc.com> wrote:


Charity scam calls are a red-button to me. I keep them on the phone as
long as possible, then ask again who they wanted to speak to. If they
give me a name, I explain that he just died recently, sorry. If they
say "homeowner" or "you" I then explain that my imaginary friend Billy
wants me to come out and play and that I have to go now...

ALL charity requests on the phone are scams, done by companies who
keep for their own (profit) between 70 and 97% of the money they
collect. Never, ever give anything to a cold charity phone call.