Yep--you heard it. The higher the price of something, whether it be oil, gas, or food, and whatever the reason for inflation (speculation, shortages, outages, etc.), the higher the SALES TAX and TARIFFS placed on it. The less we use, the higher the price (and subsequent tax) will go.
Welcome to Fair Tax Lite.
We are making up for the severe loss of property taxes from foreclosed homes in increased taxes and tariffs paid for food and energy items. This is a small part of what the Fair Tax plan would bring us, and it would play right into the hands of those wishing to join Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.--the Europeanification and metricizing of this continent, the Euro-ing of the dollar to the Amero, and the firm latch to currency values for any kind of discounts.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Polygamists or Poly-GAMISTS?
Let the hate mail commence, because I’m delving into religion.
Polygamists are men who have more than one wife, but poly-GAMISTS are men who play more than one game, or play one game with many people at once, as in the case with FLDS.
Poly means “many”, while gamist denotes “gambler” or scam artist. You’d think people would’ve seen this coming.
In this case, it’s the use of many by a few to conduct many scams upon one entity—Uncle Sam. Now if you ask people, Uncle Sam is not usually regarded as one in the same as God or Jesus, but for FLDS purposes, it may as well be.
Their Texas ranch is called the YFZ Ranch, or Yearning for Zion. For those of you who don’t know, Zion means “heaven on earth”, and that’s exactly what these people have going on: older men screwing underage females, claiming multiple women as wives (whether real or not), living in very remote rural areas (usually with lax laws and law enforcement) with limited access by the outside world, generating all the children that can be created as fast as possible, getting to live in modern, sanitary conditions, being free of normal societal pressures, and all on the taxpayer’s dime.
We don’t even know if there’s a political component to these people, but El Dorado was sure afraid of one: school boards, local offices, and even state and federal politics being suddenly interrupted by an onslaught of prairie-dress-clad women, and men with mysterious unidentifiable occupations.
The ladies were supposedly never let off the ranch, but I’m sure if the men wanted to influence local politics, they’d find a way to get all those wives into town to vote. They managed to get them into town to sign up for welfare, food stamps, and WIC programs!
Did you know this YFZ Ranch was supposedly going to be a corporate hunting preserve when the land was first purchased? Yep—the YFZ is an LLC. As for hunting, well, I’m going to imagine it was a hunting ground all right—for WIVES. I’m sure other polygamist men would come there, peruse the stock, choose an underage girl for a wife, then go start another family somewhere else. I’m sure all three known polygamist ranches here in the U.S. are made up of the same stock that’s just been moved around. Canada also has a polygamist sect, but it’s legal there. So why don’t the rest of them go join the ones in Canada?
They probably ran out of land, resources, or both. Being a liberal Socialist nation, the polyamists probably already drained that beast dry.
The specific people living at the YFZ Ranch were supposed to be the “inner circle” of FDLS, and the purest of the pure, worthy of such Cadillac-style living conditions compared ot cramped and squalid conditions of other polygamist colonies. I imagine this is true, seeing as how some guy I only remember as Tom something (who got busted about 5 or more years ago, in the intersections of Colorado/Arizona/New Mexico) who had about 5 wives and 30-some-odd kids living in what amounted to several trailers welded together, all right there in the middle of desert wasteland. No utility service of any kind was visible, and no roads or gardens existed on his property. Instead, it was discovered that his wives and children lived off all kinds of various government programs, courtesy of us taxpayers. Tom got taken to court, deemed a polygamist, forced to divorce all but one wife, and pay back child support to the rest of them.
Do you think Tom went along with the court? Of course not—he was found to be living right back in the makeshift trailer-mansion with his wives, earning nothing so he could pay nothing.
Now these people play more than one game at a time: not only do they sign up for and receive all sorts of public assistance, but as the LLC, they now qualify for (and get) government grants, business loans, even government contracts—doing WHAT, I have no idea. As the men theoretically work, whether inside or outside the property, they earn a paycheck, which allows them to get tax credits and deductions, and even to write off the LEGAL wife and her kids. In a previous article I wrote about how Uncle Sam actually encourages one-income families, the FDLS can carry it to the extreme with multiple kids, lots of business deductions, under-the-table income, and bartering as well as having the non-legal wives line up for social services.
This IS heaven on earth! Money is falling out of the sky for these people.
Let’s see…as a business owner, a man can write off all the building materials and interior goods (appliances, furniture, etc.) for a so-called “hunting lodge” that’s a beautiful work of art in itself (from a pre-fab house plan—not cheap), the gigantic limestone temple, the equipment and supplies for all the on-site cottage industries that have sprung up under their own LLC's, I'm sure (a concrete factory, a cheese-making shop, a forge, a medical clinic, and god knows how many more), not to mention his legal wife and many kids, possibly GRANDkids (depending on whether or not granddaughter signed up for her own benefits), and you come up with one hell of a legal windfall. Multiply this by the number of enterprising polygamist men, and you have just hit the jackpot!
UPDATE: does anyone smell an Enron here? The tax code does NOT preclude someone from selling merchandise from one LLC to another, especially when one guy (or group of guys) owns all the LLCs. Basically, it's an elaborate way of taking money out of one pocket and putting it in another, while getting all kinds of tax breaks for doing it.
At this point, I wonder how much of our nation’s debt is directly attributed to FLDS leeches. Probably not much, but they draw as much “corporate” welfare as a midsize company.
Now combine the legal money with the shady-and-questionable money: the social services. The more wives this man has, and the more children each wife has, the more money they can bring in from “single mom” benefits. To keep this ball rolling, the women must marry and have kids at an early age, and the more the merrier as far as money collection goes.
So let’s see now…they’re farming babies, sprouting fictitious businesses, and thumbing their noses at the law and law enforcement—all on the taxpayer’s dime. So where does God and Joseph Smith come into all of this?
A simple answer is, it doesn’t. My next question is this: what would Jesus do with these people?
Since the Pope is in town, I wonder if I could get him to take his Popemobile over to El Dorado and smite these thieves. Then we could follow up with a good whopping IRS audit, since YFZ is supposedly an LLC. I guess the usual route of non-profit televangelism and donations wasn't sophisticated enough for these people--maybe they should've consulted Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell's successor, and Joel Osgood the stadium preacher.
One last question: How pure can one be when one has a cell phone and laptop computer in their possession? On one of the many news tours of the compound's bedrooms, I noticed laptop computers, and the women repeatedly said (during their many TV interviews) that their cell phones were taken away. Exactly HOW isolated from the outside world can you be with access to those two items?
You just watch: the next hot business idea will be FLDS porn--SOMEbody will create it if it hasn't already been broadcasted on the web as it's happening. That would be yet another money-maker for them!
UPDATE: another question--could this be a form of prostitution-plus? The women are "pimped out" to known johns for the purposes of producing babies and collecting benefits. Instead of being holier-than-thou, they're actually being turned into Joseph Smith's hookers, or worse: an MLM with perpetual downlines.
Polygamists are men who have more than one wife, but poly-GAMISTS are men who play more than one game, or play one game with many people at once, as in the case with FLDS.
Poly means “many”, while gamist denotes “gambler” or scam artist. You’d think people would’ve seen this coming.
In this case, it’s the use of many by a few to conduct many scams upon one entity—Uncle Sam. Now if you ask people, Uncle Sam is not usually regarded as one in the same as God or Jesus, but for FLDS purposes, it may as well be.
Their Texas ranch is called the YFZ Ranch, or Yearning for Zion. For those of you who don’t know, Zion means “heaven on earth”, and that’s exactly what these people have going on: older men screwing underage females, claiming multiple women as wives (whether real or not), living in very remote rural areas (usually with lax laws and law enforcement) with limited access by the outside world, generating all the children that can be created as fast as possible, getting to live in modern, sanitary conditions, being free of normal societal pressures, and all on the taxpayer’s dime.
We don’t even know if there’s a political component to these people, but El Dorado was sure afraid of one: school boards, local offices, and even state and federal politics being suddenly interrupted by an onslaught of prairie-dress-clad women, and men with mysterious unidentifiable occupations.
The ladies were supposedly never let off the ranch, but I’m sure if the men wanted to influence local politics, they’d find a way to get all those wives into town to vote. They managed to get them into town to sign up for welfare, food stamps, and WIC programs!
Did you know this YFZ Ranch was supposedly going to be a corporate hunting preserve when the land was first purchased? Yep—the YFZ is an LLC. As for hunting, well, I’m going to imagine it was a hunting ground all right—for WIVES. I’m sure other polygamist men would come there, peruse the stock, choose an underage girl for a wife, then go start another family somewhere else. I’m sure all three known polygamist ranches here in the U.S. are made up of the same stock that’s just been moved around. Canada also has a polygamist sect, but it’s legal there. So why don’t the rest of them go join the ones in Canada?
They probably ran out of land, resources, or both. Being a liberal Socialist nation, the polyamists probably already drained that beast dry.
The specific people living at the YFZ Ranch were supposed to be the “inner circle” of FDLS, and the purest of the pure, worthy of such Cadillac-style living conditions compared ot cramped and squalid conditions of other polygamist colonies. I imagine this is true, seeing as how some guy I only remember as Tom something (who got busted about 5 or more years ago, in the intersections of Colorado/Arizona/New Mexico) who had about 5 wives and 30-some-odd kids living in what amounted to several trailers welded together, all right there in the middle of desert wasteland. No utility service of any kind was visible, and no roads or gardens existed on his property. Instead, it was discovered that his wives and children lived off all kinds of various government programs, courtesy of us taxpayers. Tom got taken to court, deemed a polygamist, forced to divorce all but one wife, and pay back child support to the rest of them.
Do you think Tom went along with the court? Of course not—he was found to be living right back in the makeshift trailer-mansion with his wives, earning nothing so he could pay nothing.
Now these people play more than one game at a time: not only do they sign up for and receive all sorts of public assistance, but as the LLC, they now qualify for (and get) government grants, business loans, even government contracts—doing WHAT, I have no idea. As the men theoretically work, whether inside or outside the property, they earn a paycheck, which allows them to get tax credits and deductions, and even to write off the LEGAL wife and her kids. In a previous article I wrote about how Uncle Sam actually encourages one-income families, the FDLS can carry it to the extreme with multiple kids, lots of business deductions, under-the-table income, and bartering as well as having the non-legal wives line up for social services.
This IS heaven on earth! Money is falling out of the sky for these people.
Let’s see…as a business owner, a man can write off all the building materials and interior goods (appliances, furniture, etc.) for a so-called “hunting lodge” that’s a beautiful work of art in itself (from a pre-fab house plan—not cheap), the gigantic limestone temple, the equipment and supplies for all the on-site cottage industries that have sprung up under their own LLC's, I'm sure (a concrete factory, a cheese-making shop, a forge, a medical clinic, and god knows how many more), not to mention his legal wife and many kids, possibly GRANDkids (depending on whether or not granddaughter signed up for her own benefits), and you come up with one hell of a legal windfall. Multiply this by the number of enterprising polygamist men, and you have just hit the jackpot!
UPDATE: does anyone smell an Enron here? The tax code does NOT preclude someone from selling merchandise from one LLC to another, especially when one guy (or group of guys) owns all the LLCs. Basically, it's an elaborate way of taking money out of one pocket and putting it in another, while getting all kinds of tax breaks for doing it.
At this point, I wonder how much of our nation’s debt is directly attributed to FLDS leeches. Probably not much, but they draw as much “corporate” welfare as a midsize company.
Now combine the legal money with the shady-and-questionable money: the social services. The more wives this man has, and the more children each wife has, the more money they can bring in from “single mom” benefits. To keep this ball rolling, the women must marry and have kids at an early age, and the more the merrier as far as money collection goes.
So let’s see now…they’re farming babies, sprouting fictitious businesses, and thumbing their noses at the law and law enforcement—all on the taxpayer’s dime. So where does God and Joseph Smith come into all of this?
A simple answer is, it doesn’t. My next question is this: what would Jesus do with these people?
Since the Pope is in town, I wonder if I could get him to take his Popemobile over to El Dorado and smite these thieves. Then we could follow up with a good whopping IRS audit, since YFZ is supposedly an LLC. I guess the usual route of non-profit televangelism and donations wasn't sophisticated enough for these people--maybe they should've consulted Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell's successor, and Joel Osgood the stadium preacher.
One last question: How pure can one be when one has a cell phone and laptop computer in their possession? On one of the many news tours of the compound's bedrooms, I noticed laptop computers, and the women repeatedly said (during their many TV interviews) that their cell phones were taken away. Exactly HOW isolated from the outside world can you be with access to those two items?
You just watch: the next hot business idea will be FLDS porn--SOMEbody will create it if it hasn't already been broadcasted on the web as it's happening. That would be yet another money-maker for them!
UPDATE: another question--could this be a form of prostitution-plus? The women are "pimped out" to known johns for the purposes of producing babies and collecting benefits. Instead of being holier-than-thou, they're actually being turned into Joseph Smith's hookers, or worse: an MLM with perpetual downlines.
Welcome to the 4/20/08 Carnival of Libertarians
This will come as a complete surprise to my regular readers--I gave them no warning.
_____________________________________________________
This being my first ever chance to host something other than the Cavalcade of Risk, I’m stunned…STUNNED I tell ya, over the number of entries received for this carnival compared to Risk.
Okay, now that the stun is over, let me get on with the festivities, including a couple of ditties I wrote myself in the past regarding liberty:
1. Liberty in All it’s Glory
2. Intro to Cavalcade of Risk #29--What it Means to be Free
Shamefully, I have to say that some entries submitted didn’t have anything whatsoever to do with liberty itself, but rather mindless articles that were more befitting of a political gossip column. The ones that DID make it into the Carnival are categorized as follows:
MONEY
David Gross of The Picket Line issues forth a contribution on taxpaying as complicity. He says: “If the government is causing problems, and you're contributing to the government, are you contributing to the problems? Or is it that once you've "rendered unto Caesar" then Caesar takes the blame for what happens next? This has been debated for hundreds of years, in arguments that remain interesting and relevant today.”
Michael Bass of Debt Prison chronicles achieving Libertaria, and remarks: “Let us observe that the creation of a new society occurs at the expense of another. In order to safeguard our rights as libertarians, aggression may become as valuable a tool as our political platform.”
NotYourDaddy at Government is Not Your Daddy writes that sometimes nothing is the right thing to do. “While Senators Clinton and Obama are leaping over one another trying to come up with more innovative and expensive ways for the government to manipulate the housing market, Senator McCain is quietly saying it isn’t the role of the government’s to bail out either the banks or the borrowers.” Ahhh…the voice of reason.
The Whited Sepulchre warns us of a “new” soon-to-be-covered-by-Hillary’s-health-insurance malady called Anarchic Hand Syndrome. Sepulchre adds: “here's one on a medical condition known as "Anarchic Hand Syndrome", a condition where the right hand literally fights the left. The parallels to government programs are too numerous to mention.” I say that if one hand doesn't know what the other's doing, then they should both be lopped off!
Huck Finn of Putin for President sends in a cartoon depicting how money is sucked out of the U.S. I always imagined it was done with a BIIIIIIG straw!
CancerKitty of DelSquacho heralds the battle cry of “Let’s Legalize Some Drugs!” Amen sister—I wrote my reply on your blog.
Jeremy Zongker of Destroy Debt sends us this little zinger about election promises.
POWER
Andrew Dodge of Free Society warns us of government threatening to play hardball over video games. Personally, I am SOOOOO sick and tired of this bubble-wrapped world we now live in, and super-nanny politicians that make it even worse.
Speaking of power, Mike from Reflections of a Rotting Nation wants indentured servants. Don’t we all? If I as a taxpayer am going to pay for pregnant unwed teens and system-scammers, I want these people at least doing yard work or painting my house where I can see them! If it’s good enough for local prisoners, it’s good enough for other social program recipients, like these damned polygamists.
Leila Thomas of LeilaThomas.com looks at eminent domain and how the biggest crimes continue to be committed by the government. Even though we took out the mortgage and technically own the house, do we really control it? She adds: “While the government continues to take your income through taxation, control information available to you through traditional media, humiliate you and strike fear at security checkpoints, and, of course, take your property through measures like eminent domain, it also has the audacity to try to suggest it knows what’s best for the people."
Leslie Carbone of her self-named blog tells us about LegiStorm and how the Legi-staff is all up in arms (rightly so) about the invasion of privacy. It just goes to show you that nothing is private any more, unless it hasn’t been created yet.
Archvillain of A Dark and Sinister Force for Good sends us an open invitation to the 75-year party. His theme is “Government has no business legislating morality.”
Greg Laden of his self-named blog uncovers Google Earth and your privacy.
NotYourDaddy (wish he was mine) has a supply-side solution to illegal immigration. He says: “To arrive at a sound solution to a problem, we need to analyze its root causes. Addressing the causes of a problem ultimately eliminates (or significantly reduces) the problem; addressing the effects is a never-ending battle. As long as the underlying causes remain, the problem will keep reasserting itself, circumventing whatever solutions are implemented.” He also submits Feeding the Needy or Bolstering the Bureaucracy and says: “One reason why many private charities are both more efficient and more effective than government welfare programs is because charities in the private sector are accountable to the people who contribute to them.” I say government programs that “feed the needy” ARE bolstering a Socialist-leaning bureaucracy! Every day, hundreds of thousands gladly hand over their freedom for a hot meal, a place to sleep, and no expectations to do any better for themselves—have you seen some of the people on the side of the road with those :will work for food” signs? Most of the time, they’re rather plump, cleanly-dressed, shaven, and the LAST people in need of anything from you except gullibility.
NotYourDaddy also tells how the Supreme Court takes on the Second Amendment –-we’re all watching this one with baited breath. After the hearing, lawyers were telling reporters to wait until June for the outcome, but were broadly grinning the whole time. I took this to mean good news, especially for the citizens of D.C. “Daddy” adds: “It’s always a crap shoot when the Supreme Court takes up interpretation of a Constitutional amendment. Once they rule, either all of us win or all of us lose.”
Let’s get down on our knees and pray (figuratively) to Jose DeJesus of Physician Entrepreneur for asking if the approval process for medical facilities informs the public or serves to stifle competition-–I say both, because the “medically needy” masses will get to determine who stays in business and who goes just by popular demand. Funny how they miss the whole point of PREVENTATIVE care through proper diet and exercise, eliminating (or at least cutting down) the need to visit these places at all. Jose asks a compelling question: “Should government encourage competition by encouraging the private sector to develop competitive medical facilities or should it continue to protect existing facilities by discouraging competition?”
PERSONALITY
Suzanne of Adventures in Daily Living submits a video of Eli Chase and Ron Paul.
The Whited Sepulchre delivers a sermon on David Marmet, Thomas Sowell, and Gun Ownership and says: “ we have a new celebrity convert to the Free Market Religion....” Never forget that an armed society is a polite society.
Brian Webbe of Political Nonsense signals the start of the real Ron Paul revolution, and the takeover of the GOP.
Tom Snyder of Media Matters warns us that the ice age is coming, and how Reverend Al (Gore) has switched his marketing tactics to keep up with the new “climate change” buzz. Just how desperate for relevance IS this guy? Where I come from, climate change is called WEATHER.
Colin Williams of Reject Society gives us a rundown of the candidates for 2008 and why we should reject them. I agree-—is this the BEST they could come up with?
____________________________________________________________
Now my inbox is empty, I’m covered in sweat, and I seem to need a cigarette even though I don’t smoke. Join us next time when Hell’s Handmaiden takes over the reins and steers this wagon back on the road.
_____________________________________________________
This being my first ever chance to host something other than the Cavalcade of Risk, I’m stunned…STUNNED I tell ya, over the number of entries received for this carnival compared to Risk.
Okay, now that the stun is over, let me get on with the festivities, including a couple of ditties I wrote myself in the past regarding liberty:
1. Liberty in All it’s Glory
2. Intro to Cavalcade of Risk #29--What it Means to be Free
Shamefully, I have to say that some entries submitted didn’t have anything whatsoever to do with liberty itself, but rather mindless articles that were more befitting of a political gossip column. The ones that DID make it into the Carnival are categorized as follows:
MONEY
David Gross of The Picket Line issues forth a contribution on taxpaying as complicity. He says: “If the government is causing problems, and you're contributing to the government, are you contributing to the problems? Or is it that once you've "rendered unto Caesar" then Caesar takes the blame for what happens next? This has been debated for hundreds of years, in arguments that remain interesting and relevant today.”
Michael Bass of Debt Prison chronicles achieving Libertaria, and remarks: “Let us observe that the creation of a new society occurs at the expense of another. In order to safeguard our rights as libertarians, aggression may become as valuable a tool as our political platform.”
NotYourDaddy at Government is Not Your Daddy writes that sometimes nothing is the right thing to do. “While Senators Clinton and Obama are leaping over one another trying to come up with more innovative and expensive ways for the government to manipulate the housing market, Senator McCain is quietly saying it isn’t the role of the government’s to bail out either the banks or the borrowers.” Ahhh…the voice of reason.
The Whited Sepulchre warns us of a “new” soon-to-be-covered-by-Hillary’s-health-insurance malady called Anarchic Hand Syndrome. Sepulchre adds: “here's one on a medical condition known as "Anarchic Hand Syndrome", a condition where the right hand literally fights the left. The parallels to government programs are too numerous to mention.” I say that if one hand doesn't know what the other's doing, then they should both be lopped off!
Huck Finn of Putin for President sends in a cartoon depicting how money is sucked out of the U.S. I always imagined it was done with a BIIIIIIG straw!
CancerKitty of DelSquacho heralds the battle cry of “Let’s Legalize Some Drugs!” Amen sister—I wrote my reply on your blog.
Jeremy Zongker of Destroy Debt sends us this little zinger about election promises.
POWER
Andrew Dodge of Free Society warns us of government threatening to play hardball over video games. Personally, I am SOOOOO sick and tired of this bubble-wrapped world we now live in, and super-nanny politicians that make it even worse.
Speaking of power, Mike from Reflections of a Rotting Nation wants indentured servants. Don’t we all? If I as a taxpayer am going to pay for pregnant unwed teens and system-scammers, I want these people at least doing yard work or painting my house where I can see them! If it’s good enough for local prisoners, it’s good enough for other social program recipients, like these damned polygamists.
Leila Thomas of LeilaThomas.com looks at eminent domain and how the biggest crimes continue to be committed by the government. Even though we took out the mortgage and technically own the house, do we really control it? She adds: “While the government continues to take your income through taxation, control information available to you through traditional media, humiliate you and strike fear at security checkpoints, and, of course, take your property through measures like eminent domain, it also has the audacity to try to suggest it knows what’s best for the people."
Leslie Carbone of her self-named blog tells us about LegiStorm and how the Legi-staff is all up in arms (rightly so) about the invasion of privacy. It just goes to show you that nothing is private any more, unless it hasn’t been created yet.
Archvillain of A Dark and Sinister Force for Good sends us an open invitation to the 75-year party. His theme is “Government has no business legislating morality.”
Greg Laden of his self-named blog uncovers Google Earth and your privacy.
NotYourDaddy (wish he was mine) has a supply-side solution to illegal immigration. He says: “To arrive at a sound solution to a problem, we need to analyze its root causes. Addressing the causes of a problem ultimately eliminates (or significantly reduces) the problem; addressing the effects is a never-ending battle. As long as the underlying causes remain, the problem will keep reasserting itself, circumventing whatever solutions are implemented.” He also submits Feeding the Needy or Bolstering the Bureaucracy and says: “One reason why many private charities are both more efficient and more effective than government welfare programs is because charities in the private sector are accountable to the people who contribute to them.” I say government programs that “feed the needy” ARE bolstering a Socialist-leaning bureaucracy! Every day, hundreds of thousands gladly hand over their freedom for a hot meal, a place to sleep, and no expectations to do any better for themselves—have you seen some of the people on the side of the road with those :will work for food” signs? Most of the time, they’re rather plump, cleanly-dressed, shaven, and the LAST people in need of anything from you except gullibility.
NotYourDaddy also tells how the Supreme Court takes on the Second Amendment –-we’re all watching this one with baited breath. After the hearing, lawyers were telling reporters to wait until June for the outcome, but were broadly grinning the whole time. I took this to mean good news, especially for the citizens of D.C. “Daddy” adds: “It’s always a crap shoot when the Supreme Court takes up interpretation of a Constitutional amendment. Once they rule, either all of us win or all of us lose.”
Let’s get down on our knees and pray (figuratively) to Jose DeJesus of Physician Entrepreneur for asking if the approval process for medical facilities informs the public or serves to stifle competition-–I say both, because the “medically needy” masses will get to determine who stays in business and who goes just by popular demand. Funny how they miss the whole point of PREVENTATIVE care through proper diet and exercise, eliminating (or at least cutting down) the need to visit these places at all. Jose asks a compelling question: “Should government encourage competition by encouraging the private sector to develop competitive medical facilities or should it continue to protect existing facilities by discouraging competition?”
PERSONALITY
Suzanne of Adventures in Daily Living submits a video of Eli Chase and Ron Paul.
The Whited Sepulchre delivers a sermon on David Marmet, Thomas Sowell, and Gun Ownership and says: “ we have a new celebrity convert to the Free Market Religion....” Never forget that an armed society is a polite society.
Brian Webbe of Political Nonsense signals the start of the real Ron Paul revolution, and the takeover of the GOP.
Tom Snyder of Media Matters warns us that the ice age is coming, and how Reverend Al (Gore) has switched his marketing tactics to keep up with the new “climate change” buzz. Just how desperate for relevance IS this guy? Where I come from, climate change is called WEATHER.
Colin Williams of Reject Society gives us a rundown of the candidates for 2008 and why we should reject them. I agree-—is this the BEST they could come up with?
____________________________________________________________
Now my inbox is empty, I’m covered in sweat, and I seem to need a cigarette even though I don’t smoke. Join us next time when Hell’s Handmaiden takes over the reins and steers this wagon back on the road.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Profits from Three Little Letters: "Green" Careers
From CNN Money and the bottom of the absurdity well.
Remember when three little letters used to mean something, like Ph.D.? Now the “profitable three” are E, C, and O, and are used as a smart new prefix for rather mundane occupations and materials.
The career world is taking a turn with those letters by adding them to ordinary jobs: eco-banker, eco-broker, eco-lawyer, eco-consultant, eco-planner, and so on.
It was bad enough that the three letters took over ordinary products, like baby food, household cleaners, laundry supplies, and toiletries. Now we have a whole new class of jobs to negotiate for, educate for, and to battle society over for widespread acceptance.
I, for one, am not falling for it. Eco-ANYTHING requires a higher set of substantive standards to be acceptable to me—the eco-broker, for example, is a lot like All Tempa-Cheer. This soap says it will work in all temperatures of water, as will ANY laundry soap, but this one is billed as being special. Eco-brokers are also billed as someone special, but an eco-broker can help you buy or sell a house or a stock just as well as an ordinary one. The moniker “eco” is meant to delineate a higher cause (to the planet rather than the people), but it actually delineates a scam to me.
To become an eco-ANYTHING, there is no separate set of rules, no regulations, certification or licensing requirements, or tests to pass, because none have been invented yet. To hire an eco-person to perform your mundane tasks with this so-called “higher ethic” is to pay extra for the services, products, and the good feeling that goes along with it. Basically, anyone with a law degree, real estate license, house cleaning skills, investment broker license, or any other occupation that requires some sort of certification or licensing as a part of that occupational field can call him- or her-self an “eco” worker.
Imagine the redundancy of an eco-landscaper or eco-lawn care company. These might be the only fields that won’t be able to take advantage of the “green” movement, because they were there first.
Lots of money is being made over in England right now in the field of eco-planning and eco-brokering, because businesses have to figure out how they’re going to meet the mandated goals of reduced carbon emissions by a certain date. The so-called eco-planners supposedly help businesses draw up plans for more energy efficiency, reorganize production and energy usage, and make adjustments to the ways of doing business so the company is more eco-friendly and meets the stated country goals. Eco-brokers in England are people who specialize in the trading of carbon emissions credits, and a whole new market (like the commodities market) has been created to determine the value of these credits after they have been bid up or down by traders.
It’s the equivalent of buying indulgences to get into eco-heaven.
The tragedy of this seemingly well-intentioned scheme to lower carbon emissions is this: companies were ALREADY doing their best to lower emissions over there, or already were well under the artificial cap set to be met by 2040. Some activists want the cap date to be shortened to 2014, but even that wouldn’t make a difference in the outcome of this scheme-turned-scam. We know the scheme to lower emissions (whether real or imagined), but the scam that was borne from this is even MORE tragic: companies are making more money from the trading of these carbon emission credits than they are actually conducting their own business. Theoretically, a business could completely shut down on the inside; firing all its workers and turning off all machinery, and STILL be showing a profit due to carbon credit trading.
What’s worse is that there is no actual emission reduction going on—measurements taken recently have shown that emissions in England have INCREASED since the cap-and-trade policy went into effect. Companies with little to no emissions are buying the credits and selling them to big polluters, who use them as sanctioned permission to continue polluting, or even increase emissions.
Now you know why our president is so against this carbon cap-and-trade scheme for our country—because it’s all a scam. In this country, General Electric has already cornered the market on these credits, and has an army of lobbyists pushing hard for passage of the cap-and-trade laws. The reason why: profits in the face of unprofitability. G.E. has already strayed far afield of its original business in search of profits, and wants to stray even further away by making money for nothing—nothing’s actually produced, manufactured, transported, or sold, and labor isn’t necessary to perform this task. I’m surprised they don’t just sell ad space to make money the way Google does—one person with a computer is all it would take, but even that is more than they want to spend.
Let’s take a look at something a lot closer to home: the renovator. Over here, there are people who buy homes, rip out perfectly good cabinets and flooring, and replace them with so-called “green” products—cabinets made from compressed sunflower seed hulls, bamboo flooring, and so on because of WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT THEM rather than what it does for the home and for the budget. These alternative products are not cheap, and they do not add to resale value (except only in the minds of “green” home buyers), but nevertheless, perfectly good, serviceable cabinets, tile floors, countertops, and already energy-efficient appliances are being yanked out of homes in favor of so-called “green” replacements…with the ECO moniker on them, of course. The only ones profiting here are the home improvement center and eco-home broker or eco-agent.
Funny how these formerly non-eco people and places existed and functioned quite well before going green. Home improvement centers still sold stuff, and real estate agents still sold houses.
Then we have the most absurd product of all: organic baby food. Anyone who’s a mother can tell you that baby food is an unnecessary expense, and that baby can eat mashed up adult food when the first tooth erupts—even doctors will tell you that. But oh no, we don’t care enough about our children unless we feed them “green” baby food that’s eco-friendly—never mind the fact that baby can eat Mom’s organic food just as well without the expense and waste of those little jars. Just how are we saving the planet again here?
Speaking of absurdities, Pottery Barn is currently hawking a soy-based couch—do I sit on this “tofu sofa” or chop it up for a gigantic stir-fry? This has got to be eco-seating at its finest! Even with the eco-friendly hemp fabric on it, it’s still a dangerous fire trap—maybe even more so now, because “eco” doesn’t come with any fire retardant regulations attached.
Has anyone looked into the flameproofness of soy? I think not.
A whole new world and a whole new economy is being brought to you by the letters E. C, and O. Sounds like something from Sesame Street, doesn’t it? This is supposed to be our next big idea to get out of this recession and into the next economic leg up—it shows just how deep we’re in deficit as far as ideas, education, production, and integrity, let alone competitive ability.
Need a job? Need to sell your house faster? Need to create a business or industry, or just need a new couch? Just add the magic three letters in front of what you do or use now (or used to do or use), and voila! Now you can charge more, market more, pay more, and just have more, instead of dealing with the realities of here and now. Anything to keep the fantasy alive, I suppose.
Need to know more? Just visit with an eco-entrepreneur—they DO exist. One was just interviewed today on CNBC, and he’d be happy to show you how to open new worlds by adding the eco moniker and adapting “green” thinking to your current business or business ideas.
We already have eco-accountants, eco-lawyers, eco-home brokers, eco-investment brokers, eco-maids, eco-designers (both clothes and furniture), and a whole range of hidden “green” professionals that just last week were colorless. Many more will be popping up just as soon as someone figures out how to put a “green” spin on them and a guilt trip on you.
UPDATE: a couple of days after I wrote this, a new career popped up: eco-undertaker.
Remember when three little letters used to mean something, like Ph.D.? Now the “profitable three” are E, C, and O, and are used as a smart new prefix for rather mundane occupations and materials.
The career world is taking a turn with those letters by adding them to ordinary jobs: eco-banker, eco-broker, eco-lawyer, eco-consultant, eco-planner, and so on.
It was bad enough that the three letters took over ordinary products, like baby food, household cleaners, laundry supplies, and toiletries. Now we have a whole new class of jobs to negotiate for, educate for, and to battle society over for widespread acceptance.
I, for one, am not falling for it. Eco-ANYTHING requires a higher set of substantive standards to be acceptable to me—the eco-broker, for example, is a lot like All Tempa-Cheer. This soap says it will work in all temperatures of water, as will ANY laundry soap, but this one is billed as being special. Eco-brokers are also billed as someone special, but an eco-broker can help you buy or sell a house or a stock just as well as an ordinary one. The moniker “eco” is meant to delineate a higher cause (to the planet rather than the people), but it actually delineates a scam to me.
To become an eco-ANYTHING, there is no separate set of rules, no regulations, certification or licensing requirements, or tests to pass, because none have been invented yet. To hire an eco-person to perform your mundane tasks with this so-called “higher ethic” is to pay extra for the services, products, and the good feeling that goes along with it. Basically, anyone with a law degree, real estate license, house cleaning skills, investment broker license, or any other occupation that requires some sort of certification or licensing as a part of that occupational field can call him- or her-self an “eco” worker.
Imagine the redundancy of an eco-landscaper or eco-lawn care company. These might be the only fields that won’t be able to take advantage of the “green” movement, because they were there first.
Lots of money is being made over in England right now in the field of eco-planning and eco-brokering, because businesses have to figure out how they’re going to meet the mandated goals of reduced carbon emissions by a certain date. The so-called eco-planners supposedly help businesses draw up plans for more energy efficiency, reorganize production and energy usage, and make adjustments to the ways of doing business so the company is more eco-friendly and meets the stated country goals. Eco-brokers in England are people who specialize in the trading of carbon emissions credits, and a whole new market (like the commodities market) has been created to determine the value of these credits after they have been bid up or down by traders.
It’s the equivalent of buying indulgences to get into eco-heaven.
The tragedy of this seemingly well-intentioned scheme to lower carbon emissions is this: companies were ALREADY doing their best to lower emissions over there, or already were well under the artificial cap set to be met by 2040. Some activists want the cap date to be shortened to 2014, but even that wouldn’t make a difference in the outcome of this scheme-turned-scam. We know the scheme to lower emissions (whether real or imagined), but the scam that was borne from this is even MORE tragic: companies are making more money from the trading of these carbon emission credits than they are actually conducting their own business. Theoretically, a business could completely shut down on the inside; firing all its workers and turning off all machinery, and STILL be showing a profit due to carbon credit trading.
What’s worse is that there is no actual emission reduction going on—measurements taken recently have shown that emissions in England have INCREASED since the cap-and-trade policy went into effect. Companies with little to no emissions are buying the credits and selling them to big polluters, who use them as sanctioned permission to continue polluting, or even increase emissions.
Now you know why our president is so against this carbon cap-and-trade scheme for our country—because it’s all a scam. In this country, General Electric has already cornered the market on these credits, and has an army of lobbyists pushing hard for passage of the cap-and-trade laws. The reason why: profits in the face of unprofitability. G.E. has already strayed far afield of its original business in search of profits, and wants to stray even further away by making money for nothing—nothing’s actually produced, manufactured, transported, or sold, and labor isn’t necessary to perform this task. I’m surprised they don’t just sell ad space to make money the way Google does—one person with a computer is all it would take, but even that is more than they want to spend.
Let’s take a look at something a lot closer to home: the renovator. Over here, there are people who buy homes, rip out perfectly good cabinets and flooring, and replace them with so-called “green” products—cabinets made from compressed sunflower seed hulls, bamboo flooring, and so on because of WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT THEM rather than what it does for the home and for the budget. These alternative products are not cheap, and they do not add to resale value (except only in the minds of “green” home buyers), but nevertheless, perfectly good, serviceable cabinets, tile floors, countertops, and already energy-efficient appliances are being yanked out of homes in favor of so-called “green” replacements…with the ECO moniker on them, of course. The only ones profiting here are the home improvement center and eco-home broker or eco-agent.
Funny how these formerly non-eco people and places existed and functioned quite well before going green. Home improvement centers still sold stuff, and real estate agents still sold houses.
Then we have the most absurd product of all: organic baby food. Anyone who’s a mother can tell you that baby food is an unnecessary expense, and that baby can eat mashed up adult food when the first tooth erupts—even doctors will tell you that. But oh no, we don’t care enough about our children unless we feed them “green” baby food that’s eco-friendly—never mind the fact that baby can eat Mom’s organic food just as well without the expense and waste of those little jars. Just how are we saving the planet again here?
Speaking of absurdities, Pottery Barn is currently hawking a soy-based couch—do I sit on this “tofu sofa” or chop it up for a gigantic stir-fry? This has got to be eco-seating at its finest! Even with the eco-friendly hemp fabric on it, it’s still a dangerous fire trap—maybe even more so now, because “eco” doesn’t come with any fire retardant regulations attached.
Has anyone looked into the flameproofness of soy? I think not.
A whole new world and a whole new economy is being brought to you by the letters E. C, and O. Sounds like something from Sesame Street, doesn’t it? This is supposed to be our next big idea to get out of this recession and into the next economic leg up—it shows just how deep we’re in deficit as far as ideas, education, production, and integrity, let alone competitive ability.
Need a job? Need to sell your house faster? Need to create a business or industry, or just need a new couch? Just add the magic three letters in front of what you do or use now (or used to do or use), and voila! Now you can charge more, market more, pay more, and just have more, instead of dealing with the realities of here and now. Anything to keep the fantasy alive, I suppose.
Need to know more? Just visit with an eco-entrepreneur—they DO exist. One was just interviewed today on CNBC, and he’d be happy to show you how to open new worlds by adding the eco moniker and adapting “green” thinking to your current business or business ideas.
We already have eco-accountants, eco-lawyers, eco-home brokers, eco-investment brokers, eco-maids, eco-designers (both clothes and furniture), and a whole range of hidden “green” professionals that just last week were colorless. Many more will be popping up just as soon as someone figures out how to put a “green” spin on them and a guilt trip on you.
UPDATE: a couple of days after I wrote this, a new career popped up: eco-undertaker.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Death of the Coupon, Part I and II
Part I of the story--an article over at MSN.
Part II:
With the electronic world upon us, we have found more and more uses for it, as did retailers: namely, marketing, convenience, and cost-cutting.
As far as the coupon giving way to the coupon CODE, I wonder why fast food places don't do this!
I know why—because they WANT you to go in unarmed, being sold by the smell and your perceived hunger, rather than sane, rational forethought as to what you'll buy when you get there. Fast food restaurants are gigantic impulse buy places.
Back to the grocery store: along with those old-fashioned coupons will go the traditional meal-planning (like anybody with a full-time job does THAT anyway) and plans to stock up, and this is exactly what retailers want you to do—forgo the forethought and operate on impulse, letting each aisle be a surprise for you when you visit—that way, they can take maximum advantage of you.
The way the future economy's predicted to go, you'll no longer be able to afford stocking up anyway.
This may make marketing sense if everyone reliably bought the same things over and over again, but not for us frugalites…unless they're trying to tell us something. But alas! They ARE telling us something—volumes, actually—about you, your shopping habits, the economy, and how they predict you'll behave when prices are up and patience is down.
See, those lovely little "loyalty cards" we all brandish on our key chains are not just discount-entitlers—they're also data-gatherers about our shopping habits. How long have those cards been in existence, and how long have you had yours? That's how long they've had to gather data on YOU and YOUR habits, as well as everyone else who has one (or more).
These stores have had a few years now to determine when you're likely to shop, what you're likely to buy, how often you're likely to buy it, and the number of a particular item you'll buy when it goes on sale. From all this data, the stores can now formulate better marketing and sales plans for maximum profit, minimal sale loss, narrower item variety, fine-tune shelf space according to sales, and even affect rates of production, storage, and delivery of any particular product. One little card can do all that!
Now that one little card is going to a 2.0 version with a website coupon code—you pre-shop (as it were) on the store's website, click on the coupons that match your selected products, and the store merely acts as the pick-up point, with coupon discounts already factored into your sales receipt. No more clipping, carrying, or handling little paper squares or rectangles, and no more delivering them to the manufacturer for remittance—it's all done electronically now, with a cost savings that you wouldn't believe.
The new store marketing plan doesn't seem to include things like selling the smell, visual want creation, or strategically placing items for last-minute impulse buys—I guess these little cards are telling stores this no longer works. With gas prices, time crunches, and food prices, we just want to get in, get our stuff, and get out again, and it looks like somebody's finally responding to that.
I'd like to see this carried over to the federal income tax arena—you get a coupon code for the amount of exemptions and deductions you have, then the IRS only charges you what you actually owe instead of over-taxing only to give refunds at the end of every year. This way, EVERYONE would get small electronic refunds or pay by credit card, and there would be no more 1040 forms of any kind. You go to a tax preparer, swipe your card, and they tell you what you owe or are getting back. If there are any adjustments to be made, the tax preparer can do that right there and update your card on the spot for next year. Personnel departments should be able to update cards between tax filings.
I can dream, can't I?
The only thing left for grocery stores to do for us now is to have our order waiting at the customer service counter/refrigerator, so we don't have to run all over the store for our stuff—some stores already gather our items and charge our credit cards, so look for more to do it in the future. If gas and food prices get high enough, we'll cut out the retail middleman altogether and either grow/hunt/fish our own food, or go to the large outdoor farmer's markets that will have sprouted up in place of the defunct grocery stores (or at least in their parking lots). Like in Europe, whatever manufactured foods that can be sold over a counter without electricity will be there too, like bagged pasta, rice, and beans, as well as loose bulk (but you'll likely be buying it in kilos and not pounds). Selection by brand will have largely gone out the window, as the vendor will have likely bought the cheapest type of bulk food for resale—the only real selection left will be price and which vendor to buy from. "Stores" will become luxury places to shop, featuring refrigerated and high-end gourmet items, and no discounts available. Just think—-bread, meat, eggs, milk, and cheese will be considered high-end due to price.
The future of most food sales (and many other things) will actually be a huge step backwards, technologically speaking. Many middlemen and structures will be cut out of the buy-sell process, and the coupon won't be the only thing dying. Our only discount will be the value of the dollar--the higher the value, the more we can buy.
For FUTURE reference (literally), a kilo is 2.2 lbs., and a pound is roughly half a kilo. You want a pound of something? Just ask for a half-kilo. We WILL get here one day, and you might want to prepare your kids and grandkids for this. We would've gotten here a lot sooner, but America is stubborn about adopting the metric system (and getting rid of the penny). As soon as the NAFTA superhighway goes through, and Mexico, America, and Canada become one big country, then we will be forced into going metric for simplification purposes, because we're the ONLY country not on the metric system now. Our new currency will be the Amero, and dollar-to-Amero conversions will also yield "discounts" when the Amero value is up, but only until we completely convert to the new currency. Then, we will be completely reliant on global currency rates for any "discounts" after that. Welcome to the REAL world! Europe's been doing it for years now with the Euro.
There will be no coupons, rebates, electronic discount cards, or websites to save us then—-those will be a pleasant memory, along with tax refunds and newspapers.
Part II:
With the electronic world upon us, we have found more and more uses for it, as did retailers: namely, marketing, convenience, and cost-cutting.
As far as the coupon giving way to the coupon CODE, I wonder why fast food places don't do this!
I know why—because they WANT you to go in unarmed, being sold by the smell and your perceived hunger, rather than sane, rational forethought as to what you'll buy when you get there. Fast food restaurants are gigantic impulse buy places.
Back to the grocery store: along with those old-fashioned coupons will go the traditional meal-planning (like anybody with a full-time job does THAT anyway) and plans to stock up, and this is exactly what retailers want you to do—forgo the forethought and operate on impulse, letting each aisle be a surprise for you when you visit—that way, they can take maximum advantage of you.
The way the future economy's predicted to go, you'll no longer be able to afford stocking up anyway.
This may make marketing sense if everyone reliably bought the same things over and over again, but not for us frugalites…unless they're trying to tell us something. But alas! They ARE telling us something—volumes, actually—about you, your shopping habits, the economy, and how they predict you'll behave when prices are up and patience is down.
See, those lovely little "loyalty cards" we all brandish on our key chains are not just discount-entitlers—they're also data-gatherers about our shopping habits. How long have those cards been in existence, and how long have you had yours? That's how long they've had to gather data on YOU and YOUR habits, as well as everyone else who has one (or more).
These stores have had a few years now to determine when you're likely to shop, what you're likely to buy, how often you're likely to buy it, and the number of a particular item you'll buy when it goes on sale. From all this data, the stores can now formulate better marketing and sales plans for maximum profit, minimal sale loss, narrower item variety, fine-tune shelf space according to sales, and even affect rates of production, storage, and delivery of any particular product. One little card can do all that!
Now that one little card is going to a 2.0 version with a website coupon code—you pre-shop (as it were) on the store's website, click on the coupons that match your selected products, and the store merely acts as the pick-up point, with coupon discounts already factored into your sales receipt. No more clipping, carrying, or handling little paper squares or rectangles, and no more delivering them to the manufacturer for remittance—it's all done electronically now, with a cost savings that you wouldn't believe.
The new store marketing plan doesn't seem to include things like selling the smell, visual want creation, or strategically placing items for last-minute impulse buys—I guess these little cards are telling stores this no longer works. With gas prices, time crunches, and food prices, we just want to get in, get our stuff, and get out again, and it looks like somebody's finally responding to that.
I'd like to see this carried over to the federal income tax arena—you get a coupon code for the amount of exemptions and deductions you have, then the IRS only charges you what you actually owe instead of over-taxing only to give refunds at the end of every year. This way, EVERYONE would get small electronic refunds or pay by credit card, and there would be no more 1040 forms of any kind. You go to a tax preparer, swipe your card, and they tell you what you owe or are getting back. If there are any adjustments to be made, the tax preparer can do that right there and update your card on the spot for next year. Personnel departments should be able to update cards between tax filings.
I can dream, can't I?
The only thing left for grocery stores to do for us now is to have our order waiting at the customer service counter/refrigerator, so we don't have to run all over the store for our stuff—some stores already gather our items and charge our credit cards, so look for more to do it in the future. If gas and food prices get high enough, we'll cut out the retail middleman altogether and either grow/hunt/fish our own food, or go to the large outdoor farmer's markets that will have sprouted up in place of the defunct grocery stores (or at least in their parking lots). Like in Europe, whatever manufactured foods that can be sold over a counter without electricity will be there too, like bagged pasta, rice, and beans, as well as loose bulk (but you'll likely be buying it in kilos and not pounds). Selection by brand will have largely gone out the window, as the vendor will have likely bought the cheapest type of bulk food for resale—the only real selection left will be price and which vendor to buy from. "Stores" will become luxury places to shop, featuring refrigerated and high-end gourmet items, and no discounts available. Just think—-bread, meat, eggs, milk, and cheese will be considered high-end due to price.
The future of most food sales (and many other things) will actually be a huge step backwards, technologically speaking. Many middlemen and structures will be cut out of the buy-sell process, and the coupon won't be the only thing dying. Our only discount will be the value of the dollar--the higher the value, the more we can buy.
For FUTURE reference (literally), a kilo is 2.2 lbs., and a pound is roughly half a kilo. You want a pound of something? Just ask for a half-kilo. We WILL get here one day, and you might want to prepare your kids and grandkids for this. We would've gotten here a lot sooner, but America is stubborn about adopting the metric system (and getting rid of the penny). As soon as the NAFTA superhighway goes through, and Mexico, America, and Canada become one big country, then we will be forced into going metric for simplification purposes, because we're the ONLY country not on the metric system now. Our new currency will be the Amero, and dollar-to-Amero conversions will also yield "discounts" when the Amero value is up, but only until we completely convert to the new currency. Then, we will be completely reliant on global currency rates for any "discounts" after that. Welcome to the REAL world! Europe's been doing it for years now with the Euro.
There will be no coupons, rebates, electronic discount cards, or websites to save us then—-those will be a pleasant memory, along with tax refunds and newspapers.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
A Fine Lesson in Shame
Last Sunday, I went down to the local grocery store to pick up some lemon juice. All was well until I tried to get in the checkout line--ALL the lines were backed up into store aisles, and there were only three lanes open!
The farthest lane away from me had a bunch of people with small orders, even though it wasn't the express lane, so I joined them.
It turn out the holdup was people on food stamps. Apparently, they had until midnight of March 29 to use their vouchers, or risk losing the food. But here's where it gets interesting:
The young gal in front of our lane had about 5 or 6 little groupings of basically the same foods with vouchers laid out on top of them for all to see. There vouchers were nearly all identical, with some small variations to milk grade or cheese type. With all these vouchers out for public view, you couldn't help but look at them and wonder what kind of nonsense is going on over at the Food Stamp place--the same food (over and over again) for the same person in the same week. And the hell it all put the poor cashier through--she finally had to call someone to take over the ringing and data entry of the vouchers because her wrist hurt from it all!
To make matters worse, the food had to be arranged and rung up in the exact order that it appeared on the vouchers, so a lot of order cancellations and re-ringing had to be done in all this--yet MORE work for both recipient and cashier.
All that voucher ringing and food scanning took 45 minutes for something that would normally take 5 minutes if she were paying cash. She backed up this line and held us captive, as did other people who did the same to other lanes. No more debit cards and no more convenience for them!
I don't know if this girl was buying solely for herself (collecting her vouchers and possibly waited until the last minute), or coming to collect for others as well as herself, but the woman and daughter right behind me in line sighed, complained, and then Mom spoke: "Honey, let this be a lesson to you never to go on food stamps. I'm just glad we don't have ice cream in the cart." I smiled.
Poverty should never NEVER be comfortable--where is the incentive to better yourself and get out of it when it gets more and more convenient? I'm glad to have gotten out of that store with my knees still functioning, but even more so, glad for the lesson in shame and embarrassment that comes along with the voucher use and holding up the line for so long. I just wish more daughters could've been there to learn this lesson and think twice about getting pregnant and going on welfare/food stamps/WIC.
Pregnancy with an illegitimate child is NOT an emergency--food stamps were meant to be relief of last resort, to be used as a temporary support, and not as a primary surrogate provider. Uncle Sam is NOT the baby's daddy, and the taxpayers are NOT the doting relatives.
God knows what some people will do for these vouchers--I've heard some engage in prostitution or sell beer or drugs in exchange for them, or form their own collectives to get and combine their vouchers into some sort of a decent food supply. I have to wonder, though, how decent one can be fed when the vouchers I saw only included cereal, milk, eggs, cheese, and frozen orange juice...you know, those commodity products that get subsidized by Uncle Sam and are now quite expensive these days to buy on your own.
Pretty soon, it's going to get to the point that if you want cereal and milk for breakfast, you'll have to get knocked up first--that'll be the only way to afford anything made from grains and dairy. When will the high price of the very foods Uncle Sam is subsidizing become too expensive for him to keep doing it?
Ethanol has come home to roost, I think. :)
The farthest lane away from me had a bunch of people with small orders, even though it wasn't the express lane, so I joined them.
It turn out the holdup was people on food stamps. Apparently, they had until midnight of March 29 to use their vouchers, or risk losing the food. But here's where it gets interesting:
The young gal in front of our lane had about 5 or 6 little groupings of basically the same foods with vouchers laid out on top of them for all to see. There vouchers were nearly all identical, with some small variations to milk grade or cheese type. With all these vouchers out for public view, you couldn't help but look at them and wonder what kind of nonsense is going on over at the Food Stamp place--the same food (over and over again) for the same person in the same week. And the hell it all put the poor cashier through--she finally had to call someone to take over the ringing and data entry of the vouchers because her wrist hurt from it all!
To make matters worse, the food had to be arranged and rung up in the exact order that it appeared on the vouchers, so a lot of order cancellations and re-ringing had to be done in all this--yet MORE work for both recipient and cashier.
All that voucher ringing and food scanning took 45 minutes for something that would normally take 5 minutes if she were paying cash. She backed up this line and held us captive, as did other people who did the same to other lanes. No more debit cards and no more convenience for them!
I don't know if this girl was buying solely for herself (collecting her vouchers and possibly waited until the last minute), or coming to collect for others as well as herself, but the woman and daughter right behind me in line sighed, complained, and then Mom spoke: "Honey, let this be a lesson to you never to go on food stamps. I'm just glad we don't have ice cream in the cart." I smiled.
Poverty should never NEVER be comfortable--where is the incentive to better yourself and get out of it when it gets more and more convenient? I'm glad to have gotten out of that store with my knees still functioning, but even more so, glad for the lesson in shame and embarrassment that comes along with the voucher use and holding up the line for so long. I just wish more daughters could've been there to learn this lesson and think twice about getting pregnant and going on welfare/food stamps/WIC.
Pregnancy with an illegitimate child is NOT an emergency--food stamps were meant to be relief of last resort, to be used as a temporary support, and not as a primary surrogate provider. Uncle Sam is NOT the baby's daddy, and the taxpayers are NOT the doting relatives.
God knows what some people will do for these vouchers--I've heard some engage in prostitution or sell beer or drugs in exchange for them, or form their own collectives to get and combine their vouchers into some sort of a decent food supply. I have to wonder, though, how decent one can be fed when the vouchers I saw only included cereal, milk, eggs, cheese, and frozen orange juice...you know, those commodity products that get subsidized by Uncle Sam and are now quite expensive these days to buy on your own.
Pretty soon, it's going to get to the point that if you want cereal and milk for breakfast, you'll have to get knocked up first--that'll be the only way to afford anything made from grains and dairy. When will the high price of the very foods Uncle Sam is subsidizing become too expensive for him to keep doing it?
Ethanol has come home to roost, I think. :)
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