Tuesday, February 10, 2009 by Dick.

We have just sent this message to Senators Pat Leahy (D-VT), Mel Martinez (R-FL), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Bill Nelson was once again the only congress critter to have “Stimulus Bill” as an entry on his email topic list.

Many experts, including Congress’ own CBO, say the stimulus bill will at best do no good.Many experts, including me, say the stimulus bill will hurt the economy in the long run.Please vote down the stimulus bill.

Do what Congress does best: do nothing. Spend the remainder of this session worrying about Alex Rodriguez’ steroid use.

Posted in Politics & News, Random Access | 2 Comments »

Monday, February 9, 2009 by Dick.

We all know about using Craigslist to find adult–some might say illicit–activities.

Fort Pierce, Florida, police arrested 35 people as part of a prostitution ring that used Craigslist to set up “dates” last September. Now, 40 states including Vermont have joined in an agreement with Craigslist to crack down on prostitution after Alexis Serrano, 23, of Shelburne, was charged with prostitution. Court papers show she was one of dozens of Vermont women who offered erotic services via Craigslist. Florida will not sign the new agreement.

Advertisers will need to provide valid telephone and credit card information to post erotic services ads. The website will provide that information to authorities if subpoenaed. Started in 1995, Craigslist has websites in more than 50 countries.

There could be other illicit activities associated with Craigslist.

I listed my Keyscar on the popular website last fall. It was a great ad with top notch copy and great pictures. I did not have to provide a credit card but I did include my phone number.

I didn’t expect to get half a dozen offers with certified checks for more than the asking price. The moral of this story is that many, many crooks will offer you a bogus certified check for more than the purchase price and ask you to pay the “overage” to their “shipping agent.”

Don’t do it. They will walk away with your goods and your money. You will walk away with a very small piece of art suitable for framing.

ramsey wrote:

Hello,

I was opportuned to see your advertised Car .So I picked interest in it, moreso with the full description that was attached to with the advert, kindly get back to me with your selling price. Also I will like to know if you will accept a banker draft or a certified personal cheque for the payment . Since I have not seen the pictures clearlly, I will like to know it’s present condition, Also tell me if the Car has ever been involve in any form of accident ? If yes, Don’t essitate to tell me the affected part.

Your fast responce will highly be appreciated .

Regards.

Donald Duke wrote:

Hello…

Thanks for your response to my mail and I want you to consider that its sold, pls do withdraw the advert from craigslist to avoid disturbance.I want you to know that I will be paying with a bank certified check and to also notify you that shipping funds will be included with the payment that is coming to you. so therefore.I will need you to provide me the following information listed below, so that I can ask my secretary to issue out the payment to you.

Full name to write on the check…………
Full Physical address to post the check…….
city………………….
state………………
zipcode………………..
Home & Cell Phone to contact you

*** Note that the payment will be shiped to your address via COURIER NEXT DAY SERVICE and I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for shipping I will have my mover coming over to your location for pick up after the receipt of the payment
Thanks

I am pleased to report that I did get a couple of legitimate nibbles on the car and did, in fact, sell it to a nice couple in Key West.

I am also pleased to report that I just bought a refrigerator via Craigslist.

Nothing ever goes quite as planned. A couple of years ago the 18 cu. ft. or so fridge my folks had used for umpty-ump years started making really loud graunching noises. Its doors sagged so the cold air kept running down the street. And it was a bit undersized for my liking. I watched the bulletin board at the Post Office and found a perfectly good used side-by-side for very little so I grabbed it and moved my folks smaller box outside to be the “bait fridge.”

It still makes a lot of noise so we don’t run it very often.

The perfectly good used side-by-side stopped making cold last week so I looked on cragislist for a replacement. See, I can’t suspend my disbelief enough to shell out more than the cost of a brand new Chevrolet 5.3 liter crate motor for a pretty white box that makes cold.

Sears had plenty of choices but nothing I could buy. A LG side-by-side, $1,300, a GE side-by-side, $1,600, a Kenmore 3-door “trio,” $2,000, another Kenmore 4-door, $2,700, and an 18 cu. ft. Kenmore top freezer bare bones box for $425.

As my friend “Bob” said, $1,200 is too much. $3,000 is mindless.”

I agree wholeheartedly.

With the economy crunched, I’m surprised there aren’t many newish used fridges on the market. After all, there are certainly thousands of newish used homes. I did see a one-or-two year old glory model LG refrigerator advertised in Key West for $1,500. That’s too much for a new one, let alone used.

Craigslist had a 3 year old Admiral listed for significantly less. The new-to-me fridge is in place. It is clean, well made, and in excellent shape.

The fridge was in the Stanley Switlik estate. That beautiful home sits on a some lovely Marathon acreage with water on three sides. D’Asign Source is designing and building a private home for the new owner.

I paid cash for the fridge.

Posted in Marketing, Business, Sociology, Random Access | 5 Comments »

Saturday, February 7, 2009 by Special Contributor.

Some back story:

On February 4, 2009, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas W. Elmendorf wrote to Senator Judd Gregg that the CBO has conducted an analysis of the macroeconomic impact of the stimulus. CBO estimates that this Senate legislation would, in the long run, cause a “decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) compared with CBO’s baseline economic forecast.”

One of my correspondents replied, “It is difficult not to conclude that Congress is the arsonist who starts the fires and then rushes in as the firefighter to ’save us,’ only to set yet another fire.”

He also reminded me of Congress recent culpability, to wit:

Congress has heard, over and over and over again, about the Social Security deficit coming in our lifetime and they have with all deliberation ignored it.

Congress has heard, over and over and over again, about the Medicare shortfall coming in our lifetime and they have with all deliberation ignored it.

Congress has heard, over and over and over again, about Mortgage Crisis I problem and they frittered away 350 billion dollars on it.

Congress has heard, over and over and over again, about Mortgage Crisis II (the “good” Option A and ARM notes coming due) problem and they have with all deliberation ignored it.

Congress has heard, over and over and over again, that throwing trillions of dollars to their friends while looting the last of the great and little manufacturers (the car companies and America’s small businesses) is a bad idea. They have with all deliberation ignored that, too.

With that as the discussion that goes before, regular correspondent Geno sent this along:

“We is doomed,” wrote Bob and Dick.

That, we may well be.

Congress (largely both sides of the aisle at this time) is a self-serving entity. Members of Congress see this as a money tree and a way to get reelected. The unuttered charge is, “don’t try to derail my gravy train with facts.”

They simply don’t want to hear it; so no amount of public opinion will slow the train’s engineers.

On the Right, a few conservatives are holding out, but only marginally. And, of course, moderates (read that republicans who are too wimpy to admit their liberalism) do not care because they have no core values upon which to stand. They are Right when Right fits their need and Left when Left best fits. Keywords here are “their need.” I hate that in both a leader and a follower.

The economy was bad during the Carter years, and interest rates were high double digits. Now it’s bad and interest rates are next to zero. So, where’s the connection? Maybe there is none. Maybe it is a mirage. Maybe even the way a nation measures its wealth is an aberation.

Of course, wealth is a virtue and a national treasure. But when wealth is measured by a string of numbers on paper–or worse by how much of it one can hold in ones hand, then it is a tenuous virtue indeed. Does anyone really believe that there are enough greenbacks in circulation to pay every American the amount he claims he owns? Or for that matter, enough gold in Fort Worth? (forgive the Texas joke).

Perhaps money has no color–green or otherwise–and exists solely in the elbow grease and common production of its citizenry.

We have strayed so far from that tenet that even I scoff when I write it.

Money is the root of all evil, some theologians will say. But, contrary to common wisdom, the Bible does not teach that. It clearly says that “the love of money” is the root of all evil.

And there are people committing that sin who don’t have a dime.

Posted in Guest Posts, Throw Da Bums Out, Society, Politics & News | 2 Comments »

Tuesday, February 3, 2009 by Dick.

President Obama has nominated Senator Judd Gregg, R-NH, as his Secretary of Commerce. The U.S. Department of Commerce mission is to foster, promote, and develop foreign and domestic business and industry. Senator Gregg will become the third Republican in the Cabinet.

Democrats are appalled, calling the nominee “too pro-business.”

Posted in What? Are They Nuts?, Unbelievable, Stupidity, Random Access | 1 Comment »

Monday, February 2, 2009 by Dick.

“There are only two English words that begin with ‘su‘ that have the ‘sh‘ sound,” a fellow commuter on the West Chester local told my grandfather a few decades ago. “Sumac and sugar.”

My grandfather, known as Grandpa to my cousins and Boppa to me, was amused. See, Boppa was a scientist as well as a Presbyterian elder. He knew his fellow commuter believed that vocabularic limit. He also knew the difference between fact and faith.

In what seems like a non sequitur, we might recall that the Miami-Dade school district plans to sue the state of Florida to recoup approximately $25 million in “lost revenue” because the state changed its funding formula to reflect the drop in income.

Meanwhile the structural issue in the Vermont budget is a $200 million shortfall this year and next. That seems small in the overall economy but it looms large in this state of 600,000 peeps. Governor Jim Douglas, R-Vermont, says the state will have to cut programs including $34 million from Human Services and charge higher premiums for people on state health care.

“Our message to the governor is this: Stop,” said Carlen Finn who spoke first for all the advocates for seniors, kids, the differently abled, and others who lashed out at the gov.

Vermont entitlement groups have offered a different solution to the problem of diminishing handouts: no lawsuits, just new taxes. They expect the state to raise the cigarette tax by a buck a pack and double the income taxes on the 2 percent of Vermonters who earn over half a million dollars annually. Oddly not one group thinks docking the salaries of non-profit executives by 5% is a good idea.

The entitlement group proposals would generate about $20 million. The rest, they say, should come from the federal stimulus package.

Wow. Maybe I can get that new laptop I need and the camera I really really need.

“There’s no question we should give as much money to the states as we can,” Congressman Charles Rangel, D-NY, said “But with so many of our infrastructure problems … we’re going to have to … remove the [governors’] discretion.”

One of my correspondents notes that, “on an economic scale of 1 to 50 Vermont prolly rates below Mississippi.” He doesn’t worry about the Vermont legislature mucking up an economic recovery. “I mean,” he says, “how much damage can they do?”

Hey. A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon we’re talking real money.

I hate to agree, even briefly, with anyone in the Barney Rubble gang in Congress but if Vermont is any indication, state legislatures can do a lot of damage.

Unfortunately, if the bank bailout is any indication, Congress can sink us all.

For the record, business is slow for us consultants this year and Anne’s hours have been cut as well. Our income is down a few grand compared to last year so WE HAVE TO SPEND LESS MONEY. That few grand seems small in the overall economy but it looms large in this family of two. See, faith in Congress notwithstanding, the simple fact is that I can’t buy the laptop or the camera if I don’t have enough cash for the cable bill.

“Somebody needs to explain to [Governor Douglas] that the word tax is not a four letter word,” said Christopher Curtis of Legal Aid.

“Are you sure?” Boppa asked the commuter all those years ago.

“We must have strong minds,
ready to accept facts as they are.”
–Harry S Truman
President Truman was a Democrat.

Posted in Throw Da Bums Out, Society, Politics & News, Big Thoughts, Random Access | 1 Comment »