Lomcevak

You can’t watch the news lately without hearing about credit card fees. Consumers are becoming outraged as banks avail themselves of every opportunity to collect more and more. With the amount of credit card debt that consumers are carrying these days, it’s likely that you’re one of them.

I use credit. In fact, I use it every chance I can. The card I use the most has a rebate program that I actually use and, over the past 8 years or so I’ve collected an average of about $750 per year in rebates. Not bad!

The other day I was clearing the most recent statement while the news was running a credit fee related story – and my bank was the focus. I pointed my browser to their Web site to see what the fuss was about. It took a bit of searching but I found it, buried under a link:

Late Payment Warning

Wow! That’s a hefty fee alright. And a hefty interest rate, too. This must be what the story was about.

There’s really more to the story, though, and the reporter didn’t bother to share it. See, I know the secret already. And I’m going to tell you what it is. There’s no number to call, no login, no registration, no gimmicks at all. Absolutely free. The secret to avoiding those nasty fees. My gift to you.

So, here’s the secret. Ready? Here it comes now.

Pay the bill. On time. Or don’t use the credit line. You know exactly when the next closing date, the statement arrival date and the due date will occur. Plan. Huh? You can’t resist the urge to spend? Then go and put the card in your safe deposit box until you learn some discipline. (Don’t close the account, though, that’s bad for your score.) Then pay the bill. On time.

Simple, isn’t it?

It seems absurdly simple. We’re spending money hand over fist. Taxes will, with absolute certainty, soon rise. It seems likely to me that taxes will rise to rates never before seen in this land.

Can anyone tell me a rational reason why churches enjoyed tax-exempt status?

We absolutely need to tax all churches, as we do every other non-profit.

Check out this Web site to learn a little  more (edited 2-Sep-09) to read some more; it was the first hit Google returned when I searched.

Who’s with me on this?

There. I’ve said it. And I’ll say it again. Jon Corzine sucks.

Besides the hits those words will likely deliver, let me tell you a story about the latest affront this dope’s administration has foisted upon us poor working slobs.

The registration for one of my bikes is coming up for renewal at the end of July. I’ve had the form on my desk for a couple of months now. I’ve been meaning to ride down to the agency to take care of it – I even attempted it on one of the few days that it didn’t rain. Alas, the lines were long – must have been the beginning or end of a month – and it was just too nice a day to wait it out. So I rode instead. But I digress…

A one-year registration renewal for a motorcycle in the People’s Republik of New Jersey cost US$31.50. Yeah, I know, that’s way more than you pay, isn’t it? Well, we’re used to it.

Anyway, this afternoon’s snail mail brought an envelope from Motor Vehicle Services. As I walked in from the mailbox thought it odd – nothing was due, other than the registration renewal which was already on my desk. What could they want? Can you guess?

Of course! A fee increase! And not just any fee increase, a whopping 106% increase to US$65.00! And it takes effect when? Not the end of July, when the second wave of motorcycle registrations comes due (just twice a year here – something to do with the ‘riding season’). Oh, no, July 6th, the Monday after the holiday. Today’s Wednesday. Friday’s a holiday, and Saturday, too, for the State. Just one day to act.

I visited the agency just before they closed and paid the lower cost. Surprisingly, the lines weren’t *that* bad, considering it’s the beginning of the month. I saw two other motorcyclists in the fray. None looked happy.

I unloaded a little on the girl at the counter. It wasn’t personal, of course, but I felt it was my civic duty to express my displeasure. She said she’d been hearing it all day, and leaned closer to express her own displeasure with Corzine.

They’ve already taken removed the convenience of online renewals. My pickup already costs well in excess of US$100 to register. I wonder what that increase will be…

I believe there’s a special place in Hell waiting for that SOB. I’ll be more than happy to drive him there myself, on the end of my boot, no State Police detail needed.

If you’re considering voting Corzine in for another term I’d really like to hear your reasoning. Add your comment today.

Six Flags, the world’s largest theme park company with 20 parks in the United States, Canada and Mexico, is bankrupt. Still, they’re moving ahead with planned expansions in Quatar and Dubai.

One of their parks is nearby and I’ve visited quite a number of times since they opened when I was a kid. It used to be a lot of fun. But when they installed the metal detectors a couple of decades or more ago I swore I wouldn’t go anymore. I haven’t quite kept to that.

By all accounts the parks are crowded to capacity. Admission, parking, food – everything - is incredibly expensive, even for Jersey. The lines are painfully long for every ride, all the time. I was there a while back and we spent a good deal of wait time trying to calculate the cost per minute of ride experience. In excruciating detail. It’s okay, we had the time and it was good mental gymnastics. (At least I developed my company’s slogan from that trip, so I suppose it wasn’t a total loss.)

Anyway, can someone please explain to me how it’s possible that a business like that can be bankrupt? I just don’t get it.

I was in an automobile dealership service department yesterday and overheard something I’ve never heard before.

A woman with a Chrysler product needing service was being turned away! Her story, following a good hour of waiting for a diagnosis, unfolded something like this. Chrysler hasn’t been paying their third-party suppliers and so some have stopped, well, supplying. Bummer, but the thing that she needed happened to be affected. There was no stock, nothing available and the prospect of an order being fulfilled was virtually nonexistent.

The service writer went on to advise her to take her plight to Corporate and appeal to them as a wronged customer on the shitty end of the stick, through no fault of her own. It was right about then that the light bulb came on over her head – this was no ordinary conversation. She needed to take notes.

The service writer was sympathetic, gave her specific people and addresses to write to, coached her on what to say, stuff like that. But that doesn’t help her ailing car very much and, after listening to her yap on her phone while she waited for that news, wasn’t what she needed in her life just then.

They’re at it again. The States State tax authorities, faced with declining sales tax revenue, are about to take another stab at getting Congress to mandate tax collection for online shopping.

I’ve been following this; I’ve got a stake in it because I sell stuff online. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m opposed to the idea. I collect – and pay the state Treasury – sales tax from customers here in New Jersey because my business presence is here. But I simply haven’t got the manpower to keep track of the nuances of 7,000-plus tax authorities in the US alone.

Well, I’m not writing here to complain. What I’d like to do it point you toward a particularly coherent article on ZDNet:

Toyota earns a fat zero in my book for that awful ad campaign they’re running with that tag-line.

Over and over and over again. Oh, I’m so sick of hearing it. And besides, what with the economy in the toilet it’s just what the weak need to hear: a pitch for a zero-percent loan to buy something so stupid as a car. Wake up, people. Do you really think a corporation is going to let you borrow their money for free? Oh, you’ll pay, one way or another. And that’s something you can take to the bank.

As for me, I’ll need to long-forget that abysmal ad before I’ll even consider buying anything from Toyota.

Natalie Dylan (a pseudonym, of course) hopes to make a cool million auctioning her virginity. And why not? Some are outraged at the prospect, but why shouldn’t she? I’m actually surprised that it took this long for something like this to hit the news, given our capitalist society. Natalie seems to be a smart girl: “Not only does she have a degree in Women’s Studies, she is looking to raise money to continue her education and get her master’s degree in Psychology so she can practice Family Psychology” from the promotional flyer posted at the Bunny Ranch. She just wants some cash. CBS reported a few days ago that the bidding is up to $250K.

So, um, I wonder if there’s a peripheral deal for the video rights?

Tell ya what. It doesn’t matter whether or not any individual point this guy makes is right or wrong. I just wish somebody with mainstream cred had the ‘nads to call out our excuses for candidates like this. Don’t you?

The reality of it, though, is it ain’t gonna happen. Look out for yourself, my friends, because nobody else is gonna look out for you. Take that to the bank.

[edited after posting to add this URL for easy reference: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPch2k63uj4]

According to the World Economic Forum report:

http://www.weforum.org/en/media/Latest%20Press%20Releases/GITRreport2007_2008

No one can ignore the fact that fuel costs have risen dramatically in recent years. Gasoline, heating oil, even peripheral stuff that uses petroleum in manufacturing or transport, all has increased costs today. I feel it in the wallet just like everyone else. But I still had a ‘duh’ moment at the checkout register when I picked up a few cans of white gas to fuel my torches.

My stash of fuel had finally run dry. It’s been a while since I bought the stuff retail. Three years according to the database, almost to the day. In 2004 I paid $12 per gallon in 32 ounce cans at an Eastern Mountain Sports store.

I stood next to the display rack stacking a handful of cans into my right arm, mentally multiplying the shelf price of $10.95 per 32 ounce can, when it hit me! The shock was quickly followed by the realization that the increased cost makes perfect sense.

At least they were running some kind of sale. I got a few bucks off and, to my surprise, there was no sales tax either.

So what’s the metric for consumption, the equivalent of miles per gallon, for juggling torches? And in these days when everyone’s going ‘green’ has California outlawed fire juggling, labeling practitioners as horrible, vile polluters?