Month: January 2009 (Page 1 of 3)

Why is it that I can sign up for a service over the web, but I have to cancel it by phone? Like Macafee Antivirus, for example. Why is it that I have to make 5 phone calls to Windstream to cancel my satellite service, because the phone disconnects when I am finally transferred to the cancel guru.

Why is it that if there is a dispute on my medical billing, I have to write a friggin letter? A letter. I cannot talk to a human. That might actually result in the health insurance actually working like health insurance.

Why is it that a company will tell me they will automatically debit my checking account, and it will go on automatically forever until I cancel, and it is the only way I can get the service. I can’t pay by the month, I cannot mail a check. And, I of course cannot cancel over the web.

And why are there such things as mail in rebates? Just give me the rebate NOW. Oh, our precious rebate. We can’t possibly do that. Oh but wait, there’s an INSTANT rebate. You do get that now. Well, maybe you can have them get together and birth a “totally instant right now not later rebate”. Yeah, I’m sure they’ll get right on that.

Companies are bullies. Americans are used to making things simple, and keeping things simple. So, companies are betting that the human involved will never get around to doing the crap needed to get the rebate. Statistics bear this out. The only thing close statistically is the number of people who never get around to using their gift cards. The 18 to 25 demographic is the worst. What a surprise.

Why is it that I can go to Home Depot, buy a florescent light for 50 bucks, and if I sign up for their credit card, get 20% off my purchase? Why won’t they just give it to me? Answer: because the credit card is a Home Depot bet that I will use it, run it up, and pay charges that will make their 20% investment in me a wash. They are betting, no, preying on human nature.

So, I don’t get the cards, I forgo the discount, because they can all kiss my ***. What kind of citizen implements a business practice on their own fellow citizens which bets on me falling short, bets on me to be reckless, and bets on me to not be very bright?

Why do the Credit Card companies send thousands of credit offers to my young sons, why are in the least favorable place in their lives to have a credit card? Because the company knows that the younger you are, the more likely you are to spend out of control, and yet stay with their company, and live a long time which will make it easy to keep making payments on the never shrinking debt. Insanity.

Every credit card offer says “you are pre approved” like you are special. You were special I’m sure to the brainless feelingless automated mailing machine that printed your envelope. You are in that special group of a billion people who “exist” on our credit consumed planet. You are NEVER Pre approved. Never. As soon as you fill in the card and mail it in, they pull a credit report. It’s all bull.

Lastly, why do companies offer “buy now, no payments until 2011”?
Why would I want to pay later for something I am using now. If anything, I’d want to do the opposite. Pay in today’s dollars, and get a later model. Are we nuts?

I think these people used to be called “scoundrels” or ‘unscrupulous”.

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Our nation is in the throes of a recession. Most people don’t focus too much on the name. They know that things are not as easy as they once were. My home has lost 17K in value; groceries are more expensive; company implosions are announced virtually every week. People who used to believe they were safe in their jobs are getting an hour’s notice of layoff.

Is there a good side? Not in the short term. Spending money affects viability in business, but since consumers are afraid of losing their jobs, they are saving and not spending. Ordinarily saving is good, but when banks and consumers both not only save but refuse to lend or purchase, that’s very bad. It all goes to consumer confidence, a phrase hardly revered in history, until now.

In the long term, perhaps there is a good side. This may be the perfect opportunity to push through reforms and restructuring of all sorts of government run systems.

As long as I have been alive, I have been warned about my generation overburdening the medicare system, the social security system and the health care system. And, as long as I can remember, there has been a yearning from the citizens for a fix. There have been minor corrections, although far from adequate. The drug plan enacted by the Bush administration is a perplexing donut of absurdity, as all who have analyzed it will quickly attest.

Right now, the economy is the priority. But I wonder if large government run social support systems will be in trouble next? The bailout consists of tax payer money going to various large companies and banks. This money is not a gift from a rich uncle, but rather a loan with strings attached. Fast action is critical, but only effective with close adult supervision by our government.

What better environment to correct medicare, social security, and health care? The citizens will eventually demand it anyway. Fix it now before the crisis arrives. This is the window.

Of the three, health care would be the most difficult, because the government only controls a part of it; medicare. But, this part would be a great model for the rest, as is the present military health care system. Although imperfect, it is a single payer system, across all services.

The people want fast effective action for the economy right now. If it costs two trillion, three trillion, we don’t really care. Fix it, and fix the rest. Fix everything. It has been said before: we put a man on the moon, sent probes out of our planetary system, performed space walks, harnessed solar power and built a viable space station. Surely we can fix something right here on earth.

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