When will it end?

Thank you for your hard work, time, money, family, possessions, rights, claims, freedom, intentions, love, and free will. Now, let me introduce you to your middle man. This middle man is assigned to your case. He has a middle man that you can call at any time should you have any questions for your primary middle man (Me, the surrogate). If the middle man of your surrogate is unavailable, please call his assistant.

Thank you sir, may I have another?

Have you seen the movie “Idiocracy”? That movie is about the dumbing down of society. How many times can we delegate and outsource responsibility, caring, love, family, and national debt before it comes back to bite us in the *ss? It’s about time that we start taking responsibility for our actions, or otherwise continue to live with our heads in the sand. If we’re going to live with our heads in the sand, then please stop putting people in prison for using drugs for starts. I could care less if someone is a heroin addict if we are going to be owned by China. Are you kidding me? Do you really think that I’m so stupid that I can not even think on semi-conscious level for myself? What’s unfortunate is that a lot of us can not think for ourselves. We’ve been taught by society, family, friends, and everyone we come in contact with that this is the right way to think and live. I give respect to those of you that can think for yourselves and can see the truth. Consider yourselves truly blessed. One thing that’s great about this country we live in is that even though our government and corporations try to pump tons of nonsense and propaganda down our throats, we still have mechanisms in place that give us many opportunities to think for ourselves (thanks to our forefathers).

Think outside the box. Imagine yourself on an island with a few hundred people and yourself as the leader. What kind of society are you going to create? What knowledge are you going to allow the people to have? What rules are you going to ask them to abide by?

What matters the most to you and how are you going to improve your current situation and the society you live in? It takes guts to go against the grain so do what you can to make this country a better place to live for yourself and your children. Vote, take action, think outside the box, and change the world.

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An American Gangsta

How can politicians connect with teenagers and other people who are “hip-hop?” Send in the big guns of Al Gore. Nothing says “I’m hip” like the sideways peace sign… Or is he pulling a “Three Stooges” maneuver on that guy in the front? Maybe that L on his hat stands for “Larry.”

“Gangster Politics” is doing whatever it takes to get as many votes as you can, ethically or unethically. It’s saying one thing and doing another. For example, you may recall George Bush proclaiming that he was going to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice, actually promising that he was going to do so. Now you can here that same rhetoric from John McCain. It’s unreal that we don’t wise up as a society and call these bull**itters out on this crap. “Hey buddy! You’re saying the same thing your predecessor told us when he was running for office last time, and STILL nothings changed and he didn’t fulfill that promise. Why should we believe you?”

I dream of the day when politicians stop being “gangsters” and just start being real. “If you elect me president, I will work hard to bring Bin Laden to justice.” That’s something I can believe.

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With all of the pundits giving their 2 cents on whether or not Hillary should drop out, I’ve found that I’ve changed my own mind at least twice. This is another example of the media dumbing us down. Sometimes when I’m watching coverage of the Democratic race, I wonder if one of the pundit’s is going to say, “Ok, this is enough guys. We obviously don’t have any news to report so we’re just giving our opinions here. Are we a news channel or “The View?”.

But what can I say, I still catch myself watching them argue and discuss whether or not Hillary should drop out. Until I snap out of it of course, and then go and try to do something productive. Anyway, with all of the talk between party lines and on the news stations about this topic, I felt I had to throw a short post out about it. I am so tempted to give my opinion, but really, who cares? You’ve already heard every possible angle or scenario. Next time you’re watching the news and they start to talk about this, please just turn the channel.

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No, no, no… thank YOU! I really appreciate you extending me credit at 20% interest and charging me outrageous fees if I pay a day late or go over my limit by a couple dollars. I’m confused, is your goal to push me into bankruptcy?

In all seriousness, credit card companies and predatory loan companies really frighten me. I believe these people are quite possibly the worst people on the face of the earth (hey doctor’s, at least you can say you give better service than these people!). Take a look at what Capital One sent me a few days ago:

Where do I even begin with this one?

Take a look at the first red arrow at the top. As you can see, the larger your balance gets, the larger your late fee becomes. But why does the increase stop at $250? Why is the max fee $39? I’m not going to try and answer those questions, all I can say is that they have their reasons… Just rest assured that it’s the people who are worse off that are paying the higher fees.

Look at the red arrow below the top one. Over the Credit Limit Fee!!!! Yay! “Is your balance higher than $500? Great!!! We are going to charge you double the fee!” This just isn’t right and I really don’t have to say anything to make that point. I bet the executives at Capital One even blush when asked about that one.

Let’s assume you had a bad month and you have to pay your credit card bill at the last minute. Let’s also assume that you have a $675 balance and a $750 credit limit. A week goes by and then you notice that the check you sent to Capital One arrived one day late, and to make matters worse, the money you deposited didn’t clear before the check was cashed so your check bounced! Holy crap, what just happened? I’ll tell you…

Late payment fee: $39

Returned payment fee: $39

So that puts us at $675 + $78 in fees = $753

Oh no, that put us over our credit limit!

Over the limit fee: $39

New balance = $792.00

Capital one just added $117 to your tab (17% of your balance, not a bad ROI for 1 month), and are now probably going to increase your APR to a criminally high percentage. Now for next month, you not only have to come up with your normal payment, you have to come up with enough money to bring the balance below your credit limit.

I know most of you reading this may not appreciate this scenario but I assure you it happens thousands of times a day. The poor get abused while the rich get richer. We can all sit on our high horses and say, “Well, they should have thought about the consequences before they used the card.” But even the most cynical have to admit that the policies as written in the above agreement are not advantageous to people in debt or people who need help. It’s almost as if the policies were put into place in order to keep people in debt!! I know, it’s hard to believe. It’s very, very sad, but I’ve read cases of this cycle happening to people, even young college students, who don’t see a way out and end up committing suicide.

One last thing, Capital One graciously allows you to opt out by canceling your card. But hey, if you don’t carry a balance, this Agreement doesn’t pertain to you anyway! What’s in your wallet??

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Does it matter? You’ll sit in a 6X5 room for an hour or longer just waiting to be graced by their presence. I really didn’t want to post a “Grinds My Gears” post today, but I’m afraid I’m forced to.

A friend of mine had a doctor’s appointment today. “2:45 sharp” they said. She shows up early, waits in her cell until about 4:30 when she finally had no choice but to leave to go pick up her nephew. She left to go pick up her nephew when her brother called and said he could pick him up. She went back into the office at 4:40 and they would not let her in to see the doctor. They said that because she left, he would not see her and she would have to reschedule… and they snickered as my friend was crying in pain.

Oh how our health care system is such a joke here in the US. I really just get upset when I think about the scumbag doctors, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, and others that only care about the mighty dollar. Who ARE these people??? I am a transportation broker and even I’M available to my customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s called “customer service”, but doctors absolutely do not care about their patients, so you will not receive any customer service from doctor’s or their staff. Have you tried to call your doctor after hours when you need something? Haha, I know, that’s funny.

I believe that the medical profession is quite possibly the most unprofessional profession, at least as our system is set up here in the US. These mostly spoon-fed, egocentric, db’s go through school with one main motivator: “I want to impress people with my status”. Their other motivator? Money. They absolutely couldn’t care less about you. If you don’t believe me, I challenge you right now. Call your doctor (wait, do you even HAVE their after hours number?), and ask them if you can come over and have them take a look at any illness you may have. I’ll wait a minute…

Well, what did he/she say? …I rest my case (unless you of course have one of the few and far between that actually do give good customer service.  In that case, consider yourself very lucky!).

If my customers call me… I’ll do anything I possibly can to help them, at ANY time. I’m sure most of you are probably the same way. We can sleep well at night knowing that we are better people than 95% of the doctor’s here in the US. Ahhhh, I feel better already.

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