Category: General

As a conservative, I am pleased to see the many conservatives revolting against McCain and the Republican party. Even Chris Buckley, who owns 1/7 of the National Review. Colin Powell. Conservative papers that endorsed Bush. None have said it better than The Chicago Tribune:

This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune. This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.

Wow.
Continue reading “conservatives revolt, en masse”

The short version: Go read How to Get Out of This Financial Crisis. Seriously, it’s a great overview of the pickle our economy is in and what it will take to resolve it.

Finally. A great article about our $700B problem.

After explaining the necessity of the $700 billion economic rescue plan, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson goes on to say, “I wouldn’t bet against the long-term fundamentals of this country,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “But this is a humbling experience to see so much fragility in our capital markets, and ask how did we ever get here.”

May I propose a suggestion?

Several of you wanted to know where my iPhone app is. It is stalled at step 7. 

Does this resemble the actions of someone who has nothing to hide: Palin allies sue to halt trooper probe.

The truth of Troopergate will certainly be made public. Sarah’s supporters are hoping it be can be suppressed long enough to get her elected. I wish integrity mattered more to Americans. I’d love to hear Sarah apologize for abusing her power to meddle where wise counsel advised her she ought not meddle. I’d love to see Sarah honor the pledge she made to cooperate with the investigation. 

Now that she’s a VP candidate, the investigation she was to cooperate with is now a “witch-hunt.” We have learned that she has been systemically using personal email for official government use. How can we assume this was anything but a deliberate effort to skirt federal laws requiring the archival of government communications? This is every bit as bad as Bush’s “loss” of emails.

America, are you sure you want this woman one beating heart away from the office of President?

I have recently read two books, both of which should be read by every American voter, especially during an election year. The books are very complementary. I suggest starting with Basic Economics, A Citizens Guide To The Economy. Basic Economics contains the most fascinating and salient points of The Wealth of Nations, which is often referred to as Economics 101. Wealth of Nations is a great book but it is not easy to read and you need to be an economist to fully appreciate it. Basic Economics contains the same great economic information but presented in layman terms. Because is it very modern, the case examples are within recent memory and that makes the economic lessons resonate. You can see a preview of the book on Google Books.

My second recommendation is China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World by Ted Fischer. After reading Basic Economics, China’s rise as an industrial giant makes perfect economic sense. If you expect to be in the workforce for the next decade or three, you really should read this book. Or one like it. Amazon.com reviewers also like China Shakes the World: A Titan’s Rise and Troubled Future — and the Challenge for America.

Dearest Sam’s Club Business Credit,

Thank you for the kind letter. I feel inclined to reply telling you why I have ended our relationship. For about 12 years, we had a pleasant relationship. It worked like this:

a) I shop at my local Sam’s Club
b) I pay with my Sam’s Club Business Credit (SCBC)
c) you send me a bill
d) I pay it.

It’s a pretty good system.

Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but about 3 years ago I drastically reduced the use of my SCBC account. You may have also noticed there was no decrease in my purchases at Sam’s Club. Something compelled me to get a MasterCard and use it instead. Read on to learn why. 

In 2005 we moved from Michigan to Texas. One of my moving checklists is a list of all my personal and corporate accounts with utilities, banks, investments, credit cards, etc. On move day, which is already quite busy, I file a USPS change of address to forward mail and then log onto a bunch of web sites to update our postal address.

Everyone I do business with allows me to log on their web site and change my postal address. Yes, this includes business accounts with banks and credit cards. It is very convenient. If I forget anything important, it gets forwarded to me.

It’s a good system with one exception. One company requires that I submit a fax with my change of address request. I cannot update it on their web site. I cannot send an email. I cannot update it at a local store bearing their name. This company also stamps their statement envelopes with “DO NOT FORWARD,” so that they won’t follow me to my new locale. After the 2005 move, months went by before I was contacted by a nasty person who chided me for not paying the bill I didn’t get.

The nasty person was from GE Capital calling about my SCBC. I asked the nasty person why they don’t allow my statements to be forwarded. She told me it’s so that they can get my new address from the USPS and update their systems. Apparently several months of statements being returned wasn’t sufficient to warrant an update.

During the months of no statements, I had visited Sam’s Club stores and was never notified of the outstanding balance. I get regular promotional emails from Sam’s Club but no notification of the outstanding balance. After that unpleasant experience, I all but stopped using my SCBC. Don’t take my word for it, check my (now cancelled) account history.

Fast forward to 2008. It’s been several years of barely using my SCBC account. We’re talking 2-3 statements per year, one of which is because you automatically charge my business membership to the account. In May we moved from Texas to Washington and you’ll never believe what happened. (Hint: back up 4 paragraphs)

This time around, I asked the GE rep to cancel my account. I appreciate the letter of regret you sent but I do not believe you are sorry I’ve cancelled. If you really cared about my business:

• you would make it easy for me to manage my account information.
• my account would still be accessible so I can see my statement history, particularly the ones I’ve never seen.
• you would have updated my address and resend the statement, like my Credit Union did. In the first month.
• you’d have noticed that for the last three months, I’ve been shopping in Washington and am on Pacific time. You could have avoided waking me.

Bonus points are awarded for adding a notification feature that sends me an email or text message N days before it is due like American Express does. Shucks, ANY updates to your web site after a decade of stagnation would be welcome.

Goodbye SCBC.
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