MONEY: Negotiate rebate up front!

Friday, January 22, 2010

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Redeeming rebates for hardware and software is a pitfall-filled process, as contributing editor Scott Dunn’s Jan. 7 Top Story pointed out. But reader Walter Donavan says he’s found another way to play the rebate game:

“Scott omitted one possible method of dealing with rebates that is 100% certain — if you can negotiate it. Simply tell the vendor by phone or e-mail that you want the product and will buy it, but only with the rebate already included in the price. For example, ‘$50 after mail-in rebate of $100’ becomes ‘$50 price now.’ Never mind the risky $150 price before rebate.

“I will no longer buy a product that depends on a mail-in rebate. If the vendor won’t give me the post-rebate price up front, I hang up. It’s very satisfying.”

*** end quote ***

Sounds like a good policy for everyone all the time.

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RANT: The car dealers got screwed; us too. Enjoy it?

Friday, January 22, 2010

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100122/D9DCJHOG1.html

About 600 car dealers try to get businesses back
Jan 22, 12:34 AM (ET)
By TOM KRISHER

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India Johnson, an arbitration association senior vice president who is in charge of the hearings, said she expects 700 to 800 dealers to seek binding arbitration before the deadline. Not all will get hearings, she said. Some filed paperwork to preserve their appeal but may not proceed, while others may settle with the automakers before hearings, she said. The hearings, which must be held in the dealership’s home state, are likely to cost both sides a lot of money. Some dealers may lack cash to pursue them because they’ve closed their businesses or aren’t making as much as they once did. Wolf said dealers who appeal are gambling the legal fees in an effort to keep franchise agreements that alone are worth $500,000 to more than $2 million. The nonprofit arbitration association will do all it can to keep costs down, Johnson said. In some cases, dealers may represent themselves without an attorney, and arbitrators in some cases may cut their hourly rates, she said.

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has said the automaker may challenge the constitutionality of the arbitration law in federal court, but spokeswoman Kathy Graham said Thursday that no decision has been made.

*** end quote ***

Disclaimer: Frau lost 5k in GM bonds while America lost its liberty!

Clearly, the “auto company bailout” was:

  1. Mis-named. It was, in fact, a bail out of the UAW.
  2. Unconstitutional seizure of the bondholder’s property.
  3. A violation of the rule of law. What happened to the bankruptcy code?
  4. Socializing the losses while allowing the fat cats in “management” and labor to escape with the profits.
  5. A Nazi-style nationalization of the car companies; just like the banks.

Obama, in the style of FDR, seized the economy. And, like fascists and socialists have always found out, it doesn’t work. The economy is in the toilet. In a large part, due to the uncertainty that the Obama administration has introduced. Tax your bonus, windfall profits tax, taxes upon taxes, cap ‘n’ tax, healthcare taxes — all scare private investment to the side lines.

Argh!

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JOBSEARCH: A relo is a test of faith?

Thursday, January 21, 2010

http://www.irishcentral.com/ent/Conan-OBrien-will-leave-Tonight-Show-81160232.html

Conan O’Brien will definitely leave ‘Tonight Show’
By ANTOINETTE KELLY
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Monday, January 11, 2010, 2:43 PM

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“Conan uprooted his family, his life and moved to Los Angeles and they have not given him enough time” the friend said. “It is outrageous what they have done to him.” O’Brien’s family is extremely upset that the massive lifestyle change they made and the new responsibility O’Brien assumed has been taken so lightly by NBC.

*** end quote ***

It certainly is a good lesson to anyone considering a corporate relo deal.

I remember one fellow getting axed as his plane was enroute from Sweden to Houston and he was so screwed.

To relo, you MUST HAVE a contract. History is replete with lessons. If they won’t give you one, how can you trust them?

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INTERESTING: Dangerous impact of globalization

Sunday, January 17, 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/6958013/The-dairy-farmer-reduced-to-tears.html

The dairy farmer reduced to tears
By Olga Craig
Published: 9:30PM GMT 09 Jan 2010

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All across the country, diary farmers are facing the loss of their livelihood. In 1985, there were 28,000 diary farmers in England and Wales. By last November, when Mr Rickatson became one of the nine dairy farmers that throw in the towel each week, there were 11,551 left. As recently as two years ago Britain was self-sufficient in milk. Now we import 1.5 million litres a day. For the farmers who struggle on, their working lives – and that of their herds – have become a grind: such is their despair that one a week commits suicide.

*** and ***

The chief villains are the supermarkets which, by driving down milk prices, are forcing farmers to intensify production or go out of business and leave the way clear for foreign imports. Currently one litre of full fat milk costs around 75p – of which farmers get around 26p, the exact cost of producing it.

*** end quote ***

Interesting.

And, what happens when “foreign imports” can’t or won’t come?

Surely this is happening all around the world. The movie Gandhi had moving sequences about national economics.

Maybe Pat Buchanan is right?

How does one maintain a minimum national capability to feed itself?

It must all revolve around the definition of money?

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MONEY: Prep for the USA bankruptcy?

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a8486284-fee9-11de-a677-00144feab49a.html

Bankruptcy could be good for America
By Gideon Rachman
Published: January 11 2010 19:47 | Last updated: January 11 2010 19:47

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The result is that the US is piling up debt. A budget deficit of about 12 per cent of gross domestic product is understandable as a short-term reaction to a huge financial crisis. What should worry Americans is that, with entitlement spending set to surge, there is no credible plan to bring the budget deficit under control over the medium term.

*** and ***

Perhaps the most memorable thing said so far by an official in Barack Obama’s administration was the remark by Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, that “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste”. Mr Emanuel was widely condemned for flippancy and cynicism. But an examination of world history over the last 30 years suggests he was definitely on to something. Those much discussed emerging powers, the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India and China) all needed a fiscal crisis to set them on the road to economic reform and national resurgence. America may one day be lucky enough to experience its very own national fiscal crisis. Let us hope it is not wasted.

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While it might be “good”, it’s hard to imagine it would be good for the “little people”. The poor, the middle class, the elderly, the young, those on fixed incomes. They all lose in any kind of problem. The rich, the political class, the bureaucrats all seem to make out just fine regardless of the problem. Some like Wall Street actually prosper when they should be going broke!

So that’s the USA going broke, with no plan.

Argh!

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QUOTE: Jefferson “If the American people ever allow the banks … …

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

http://www.visandvals.org/Jefferson_s_Warnings.php

Jefferson warned, “If the American people ever allow the banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers occupied … I sincerely believe the banking institutions having the issuing power of money are more dangerous to liberty than standing armies.”

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POLITICAL: Eviscerated the Fifth for nothing

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9C0O0SG0&show_article=1

Conn. residents: Pfizer land battle unnecessary
Nov 16 11:40 AM US/Eastern
By ERIC TUCKER
Associated Press Writer

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But the land where the homes once stood has remained undeveloped, and the community took another hit last week when Pfizer, a major economic engine in the city and its largest taxpayer, announced plans to close the $350 million research center and relocate about 1,500 jobs to nearby Groton.

*** and ***

Susette Kelo, the lead plaintiff and owner of a pink house that was sold to a preservationist for a dollar, said she was not surprised by Pfizer’s planned departure or by the lack of development in the area. Kelo, a nurse, was paid $442,000 by the state for her old property, which was moved less than two miles away, and she now lives in Groton. Other homeowners forced to leave were also compensated by the state.

*** end quote ***

Gee, the gooferment made a mistake?

I’m shocked — “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” Captain Renault in Casablanca — and we are left with another bad Supreme Court decision. Think Dred Scott! And, do all these people get their homes back.

Wake up, Sheeple!

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POLITICAL: Who’s fault?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

http://www.keywestlou.com/2009/11/good-morning-world-up-and-at-em-its.html

My Life in Key West
Tuesday, November 10, 2009

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The economic failures of 2008 can be laid largely at their doorstep.

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No, I respectfully disagree. The failure is entirely do to the congress critters. imho!

CRA, and the corruption of campaign contributions is the proximate cause.

Going back a little, the FED’s creation in 1913 and FDR’s taking us off the gold standard allowed the expansion of the Federal Gooferment without any constraint. What we are seeing now is the same as the coin shaving of the various Louis’s of France.

(I saw an exhibit of the French Fran in the Smithsonian in the 1970’s that brought it into focus. The first franc was a hockey puck of gold; the last one a thin shirt collar button.)

Moral of the story: the bankers and their supposed “regulators” are the creation of and puppets of the congress critters. They should be in jail. And we all should have our heads examined for letting them to get away with it!

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NEWJERSEY: Holt is proud of his vote.

Monday, November 9, 2009

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Dear Ferdinand,

I just now voted for the Affordable Health Care for America Act. I want you to know about this development and what the bill means for you. This bill would provide secure and stable health coverage regardless of whether you change jobs or are between jobs, ensure Americans will never be denied care if they get sick, and extend coverage to those not well served by the current system.

This is a historic vote and the furthest we have come toward providing affordable and quality health coverage to all Americans.

Once this bill becomes law, it immediately would eliminate cases where insurance benefits run out because of an expensive illness, would allow young adults to remain on their parents’ insurance through age 26, and would shrink the Medicare prescription doughnut hole.

The bill would strengthen and extend existing programs. For example, those who have health insurance through their employers would benefit from caps on yearly out of pocket costs. Under the legislation, Medicare would be intact, only better – recipients would benefit from free preventive care and better primary care. Click here to read more about what the bill would do for you.

Reform would preserve the relationship between families and their doctors and shift to a focus on healthy outcomes and rewarding physicians for treating the whole patient.

It would do all these things without adding to the deficit, while it would hold down costs for families in the future.

This bill is the culmination of one of the most open and deliberative processes in recent memory. During the past few years, Congressional committees held more than 53 committee hearings, debated and voted on almost 240 amendments, and considered health reform for 167 hours. We have held thousands of town meetings, read hundreds of thousands of letters, and met with health care experts and patients. Many of the amendments addressed concerns raised by constituents, such as an amendment I championed to help small businesses pool together to purchase insurance at group rates, an idea brought to me by a Monmouth County small businessman.

When I considered health reform, I talked with patients, seniors, doctors, nurses, small business owners, and others to learn their perspectives. I received and responded to thousands of letters from Central New Jersey residents. The stories I have heard highlight the fact that health care reform is about real people who are disserved by the broken insurance system.

For more information and resources about the Affordable Health Care for America Act, including the text of the full bill and a bill summary, please visit my website. There you can also see my remarks during the debate on the House floor.

After carefully analyzing and reviewing this bill, I believe it will improve the quality of life and the economy of nearly all families and of the nation as a whole. I would not support it if I did not think so. I look forward to working toward completion of meaningful health care reform legislation and sending it to the President for his signature.

Sincerely,

RUSH HOLT

Member of Congress

P.S. Just a reminder: I always want to hear from you, but please don’t reply to this e-mail. Instead, please email me through my website at http://www.holt.house.gov, or call me at 1-87-RUSH-HOLT (1-877-874-4658) to let me know what’s on your mind. Please also note that you may unsubscribe from this list by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of this email.

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Welll, when it comes time for reelection, I plan to campaign to replace you! Cutting Medicare with 30% more people coming on to it. And, inserting the Federal Gooferment into my wife’s medical care is unacceptable.

You, sir, may have done what you think gets you reelected, but I think you might have miscalculated.

And, please don’t blow smoke where the sun doesn’t shine.

This law if signed will be a national disaster!

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GOLDBUG: Why gold?

Monday, November 9, 2009

http://www.321gold.com/editorials/casey/casey110509.html

Why Gold Has a LONG Way to Go
Jeff Clark
Casey’s Gold & Resource Report
Nov 5, 2009

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Now ask yourself the same thing: how many of your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers are buying gold and silver coins? Are any of them giving you hot stock tips about a fantastic gold producer, or telling you about the latest gold discovery made by a company in China? Have any fellow investors told you they’re dumping their brokers because they can select gold stocks better on their own? Anyone telling you they’re going to night school to learn the gold mining business?

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Gold is the money of a thousand years. With the Gooferment spending us into oblivion, how else does one preserve wealth? And, after the “inflation tax” and “inheritance tax”, what’s left?

Argh!

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