Friday, November 25, 2011
Cracked cracks Black Friday
Cracked.com is what happens when the universe sends a herd of wild unicorns across the magical planes of the internet; it's like a double rainbow and it is in fact awesome.
Cracked again delivers another brilliant post, in this case about Black Friday myths. For instance, many places don't even stock the items they advertise for the occasion and black friday isn't even the biggest shopping day of the year (it's the 5th).
Check it out here.
Cracked again delivers another brilliant post, in this case about Black Friday myths. For instance, many places don't even stock the items they advertise for the occasion and black friday isn't even the biggest shopping day of the year (it's the 5th).
Check it out here.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
A video you should watch - and listen to.
I know what you're thinking. "Get a job," right? Well bro, I have a job. And so do most of the protestors.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
A Tallahassee free market failure
When a string of misfortunes happen, where does it begin? I would take a guess around the time when my car broke down - so I guess I will start there. There's evidence that the damage is pretty rough; the CV axles, the transmission and the power steering are out. I could afford to fix one of those things, but not all of it at once. But that doesn't matter - you'll see what I mean.
The week before, in light of my vehicle's inevitable fate I found myself at a Legacy Toyota dealership (the one on Tennessee street). I asked for the college loan program because I was a recent graduate and I had my eye on a Yaris - they were affordable and small. But I didn't qualify for the college loan program because of having debt on my record. The only loan they offered was possibly in the upper 23-27%% interest with high monthly payments that I couldn't even blink at. Naturally, I didn't get the car.
Why is my credit so bad? I have been fighting an identity theft case against my Dad for a few years now and the only way out of it is to be forced to file charges against him. The car belongs to him and if I do file charges, he is probably coming for it. But I digress..
The point is what college student doesn't have debt after graduation? With the ample amount of medical bills and credit card debt that students find themselves in, how many of them actually benefit from Toyota's program? How is this any different from a bait and switch? And why are we charging people in the hole with higher interest rates, anyway?
Although my student loans didn't count against me - my identity theft and my ER visits did. ER visits I am forced to use when I am in pain because even though I was referred to a specialist, I can't afford to consult with them.
When the fit hits the shan...
The next day Comcast rescheduled my 8-10am connection appointment for 1-3pm without giving me notice. Even though I wrote down 8-10am via phone and confirmed the same time at the Comcast center when I picked up my equipment. They didn't have evidence that it was rescheduled in the first place so they just assumed I lied about it. To think I picked up my modem early to save them the trouble.
That Sunday a close friend drove me to Jacksonville to find a car because they were the closest dealers opened - in this case another Toyota dealership (Keith Pierson). My friend was willing to help me cosign but they didn't know their own credit score. It was an emergency and I was willing to try anything. 4 1/2 hours of driving and my friends credit was too low to help.
I asked them for some base costs and instead of an answer they returned my question with only, "what can you pay?" Why the secrecy? And I hadn't even chosen a model yet. They asked me if there was someone that would let me borrow money from them and I told them I didn't have that luxury. When they convinced me I can't afford the car, I began to leave. They responded by explaining that they didn't make money when they didn't sell a car.
Yet, of course they do! I once had a sales job where we did the same scheme; meaning, if you couldn't pay as much as what the next customer will probably pay or if the market basket was too low, we would try to convince you not to buy it at all. This was a tactic to make store numbers look good and I quit the job as a moral imperative.
So my last option was a scooter. I was ok with the idea of a motor that had 100 miles to the gallon. At this point, really ok. I remembered I had a companion cube sticker that would look neat on a scooter, too.
I called a guy named Roy at allaboutscooters on North Monroe street to explain my situation to them and he agreed he could probably work with me. I told him I was put off by sleazy salesman and that their business got brownie points for being a mom-and-pop place. He seemed fine with my mediocre down payment (I offered about $400) but his wife and co-owner however, was not. What hurts is it wasn't about the monthly payments, which were affordable because hey, it's a fuggin' scooter. I knew she could have sealed the deal if she wanted to because they made their own standards - but she didn't.
So I considered taking Tallahassee's broken Trasnportation system - one where it's a one way to work yet it's faster to walk then transfer 3 times on the way home.
Other people who refused to work with me were Tallahassee Powersports (when I told the guy 1,600 for a used 50cc scooter was a lot, he rudely told me to go elsewhere), proctor Honda and the used car supermarket.
I was so fed up that I have compromised by buying a bicycle.
I could question how this is a bigger problem than just my own personal experience or I can "think" of it from right-field and hope I don't go to the ER again, trust everyone including car salesman and pray that nothing will ever go wrong.
The week before, in light of my vehicle's inevitable fate I found myself at a Legacy Toyota dealership (the one on Tennessee street). I asked for the college loan program because I was a recent graduate and I had my eye on a Yaris - they were affordable and small. But I didn't qualify for the college loan program because of having debt on my record. The only loan they offered was possibly in the upper 23-27%% interest with high monthly payments that I couldn't even blink at. Naturally, I didn't get the car.
Why is my credit so bad? I have been fighting an identity theft case against my Dad for a few years now and the only way out of it is to be forced to file charges against him. The car belongs to him and if I do file charges, he is probably coming for it. But I digress..
The point is what college student doesn't have debt after graduation? With the ample amount of medical bills and credit card debt that students find themselves in, how many of them actually benefit from Toyota's program? How is this any different from a bait and switch? And why are we charging people in the hole with higher interest rates, anyway?
Although my student loans didn't count against me - my identity theft and my ER visits did. ER visits I am forced to use when I am in pain because even though I was referred to a specialist, I can't afford to consult with them.
When the fit hits the shan...
The next day Comcast rescheduled my 8-10am connection appointment for 1-3pm without giving me notice. Even though I wrote down 8-10am via phone and confirmed the same time at the Comcast center when I picked up my equipment. They didn't have evidence that it was rescheduled in the first place so they just assumed I lied about it. To think I picked up my modem early to save them the trouble.
That Sunday a close friend drove me to Jacksonville to find a car because they were the closest dealers opened - in this case another Toyota dealership (Keith Pierson). My friend was willing to help me cosign but they didn't know their own credit score. It was an emergency and I was willing to try anything. 4 1/2 hours of driving and my friends credit was too low to help.
I asked them for some base costs and instead of an answer they returned my question with only, "what can you pay?" Why the secrecy? And I hadn't even chosen a model yet. They asked me if there was someone that would let me borrow money from them and I told them I didn't have that luxury. When they convinced me I can't afford the car, I began to leave. They responded by explaining that they didn't make money when they didn't sell a car.
Yet, of course they do! I once had a sales job where we did the same scheme; meaning, if you couldn't pay as much as what the next customer will probably pay or if the market basket was too low, we would try to convince you not to buy it at all. This was a tactic to make store numbers look good and I quit the job as a moral imperative.
So my last option was a scooter. I was ok with the idea of a motor that had 100 miles to the gallon. At this point, really ok. I remembered I had a companion cube sticker that would look neat on a scooter, too.
I called a guy named Roy at allaboutscooters on North Monroe street to explain my situation to them and he agreed he could probably work with me. I told him I was put off by sleazy salesman and that their business got brownie points for being a mom-and-pop place. He seemed fine with my mediocre down payment (I offered about $400) but his wife and co-owner however, was not. What hurts is it wasn't about the monthly payments, which were affordable because hey, it's a fuggin' scooter. I knew she could have sealed the deal if she wanted to because they made their own standards - but she didn't.
So I considered taking Tallahassee's broken Trasnportation system - one where it's a one way to work yet it's faster to walk then transfer 3 times on the way home.
Other people who refused to work with me were Tallahassee Powersports (when I told the guy 1,600 for a used 50cc scooter was a lot, he rudely told me to go elsewhere), proctor Honda and the used car supermarket.
I was so fed up that I have compromised by buying a bicycle.
I could question how this is a bigger problem than just my own personal experience or I can "think" of it from right-field and hope I don't go to the ER again, trust everyone including car salesman and pray that nothing will ever go wrong.
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Does per pupil spending include teachers pay?
I hear a lot from the right about how much the US spends per pupil and how that hasn't improved our education system; according to the Heritage Foundation, around $9,000 in 2004-2005.
I immediately asked myself, "What exactly are we paying for? Does that include public services like free lunches? How much of that goes toward teachers pay?"
I then found this post from the New York Times. According to research from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, our teachers work more hours than any other public education institution including countries like Germany, Denmark and Japan.
The kicker is this... apparently they're not being rewarded for it.
I would like to know where the money is going - particularly if it's not being spent on teachers, who may see their economic inequality as a reason to lack incentive.
I immediately asked myself, "What exactly are we paying for? Does that include public services like free lunches? How much of that goes toward teachers pay?"
I then found this post from the New York Times. According to research from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, our teachers work more hours than any other public education institution including countries like Germany, Denmark and Japan.
The kicker is this... apparently they're not being rewarded for it.
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