In some states such as South Carolina, state income tax refunds will be issued via a prepaid debit card through Bank of America (the worst transgressor as banks go for ripping people off). And state governments around the country are using prepaid cards to issue food stamps and welfare. And next year, even the federal government will be issuing prepaids for Social Security instead of checks.
So, why is this a problem?
There are no regulations as to what fees a bank can charge on prepaid cards. In South Carolina, Bank of America will charge the user (mostly lower income people) a whopping $10 for each teller transaction, and $2.50 for every withdrawal from any non-Bank of America ATM. Since a lot of poor rural families do not live near a BofA ATM, that is going to hurt them big time.
And then there is the problem of how to get the last of your money. ATM's generally pay out only in $20 bills. If a family has $18 left on their card, they cannot get it from an ATM - they must either use it at a store (where a debit fee gets paid to the bank) or they would have to go to the bank and forfeit $10 for the transaction fee.
Listen up, Big Brother Government - if you are going to issue a person's money by a prepaid card, you have an obligation to assure that they can use it without as much as a penny in penalty. Otherwise, government is in bed with the banks who stand to make millions, if not billions from this windfall.
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Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Hershey Proves How Easy It Is To Make Fools Of People
I'm sure you have seen the commercials for the "new" Hershey's Kisses - you know, the ones that are "better" because they are filled with little air pockets. And it amazes me that any human being would ever even dumb enough to allow themselves to be ripped off like that.
In a nutshell - the price of those Kisses is not lower than the price of original Kisses, but they have 25% less chocolate. HERSHEY'S HAS PEOPLE PAYING MONEY TO EAT AIR! How stupid is that? Smart for Hershey's - stupid for the idiots that fall for it.
Most companies are less obtuse with their sneakiness - a "gallon" of ice cream is now only 3/4 a gallon, at the same price as the gallon. But Hershey's has gone much further - they give the same volume, but much of that volume is empty space. Air pockets.
And they market it to fools by claimimg it is somehow "better" because it's "cool".
I have another name for it - FRAUD!
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In a nutshell - the price of those Kisses is not lower than the price of original Kisses, but they have 25% less chocolate. HERSHEY'S HAS PEOPLE PAYING MONEY TO EAT AIR! How stupid is that? Smart for Hershey's - stupid for the idiots that fall for it.
Most companies are less obtuse with their sneakiness - a "gallon" of ice cream is now only 3/4 a gallon, at the same price as the gallon. But Hershey's has gone much further - they give the same volume, but much of that volume is empty space. Air pockets.
And they market it to fools by claimimg it is somehow "better" because it's "cool".
I have another name for it - FRAUD!
/
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Obama's "College For All" Shows Extreme Ignorance, Arrogance
Obama said that every child in America should go to college. And while that may sound nice, if you think about the unintended consequences (which liberals never do) you will come to realize it is a REALLY bad idea.
Throughout history there has been "room at the top" for about 4% of the population. For every top job there are about 24 lesser jobs.
Most of those 24 "lesser jobs" do not require a college education. In fact, two-thirds of all carreers in America do not require advanced education. We need plimbers, electricians, people to pave our driveways, salespersons, assembly line workers and people to work at McDonald's and 7-11. If those people were to go to college they would waste $100,000 and 4 years of their lives.
And let us not forget the large portion of kids who cannot qualify for college. There are the school drop-outs, and the slackers, as well as those who simply do not have the intellect necessary for college.
And last, but not least, are those who simply do not want to go to college.
Mr. Obama, Santorum was correct - you are a snob. But I will go further - I believe you are an arrogant, ignorant snob with no ability to think anything through. Yes, I know YOU went to college, but college cannot make a man of wisdom out of a man who has no clue.
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Throughout history there has been "room at the top" for about 4% of the population. For every top job there are about 24 lesser jobs.
Most of those 24 "lesser jobs" do not require a college education. In fact, two-thirds of all carreers in America do not require advanced education. We need plimbers, electricians, people to pave our driveways, salespersons, assembly line workers and people to work at McDonald's and 7-11. If those people were to go to college they would waste $100,000 and 4 years of their lives.
And let us not forget the large portion of kids who cannot qualify for college. There are the school drop-outs, and the slackers, as well as those who simply do not have the intellect necessary for college.
And last, but not least, are those who simply do not want to go to college.
Mr. Obama, Santorum was correct - you are a snob. But I will go further - I believe you are an arrogant, ignorant snob with no ability to think anything through. Yes, I know YOU went to college, but college cannot make a man of wisdom out of a man who has no clue.
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Thursday, February 23, 2012
How Gas Prices Could Be Cut By $1/gal Instantly - And Why Obama Won't Do It
If there is any one thing that could cut gasoline prices by at least a dollar per gallon overnight - literally - it would be an edict by the Obama administration to eliminate the countless blends that gas companies have to produce to meet local requirements.
Before you say that those blends are necessary, there are over 55 of them, and less than 6 are necessary for reasons of climate, seasonal or altitude differences. All the rest are mandated by states to suit their own environmental agendas.
Now, I'm all for protecting the environment, but many of those local regulations do little or nothing for the environment. But even that is not the point.
The point is simple - if a state, such as California (which requires the most regulations on blends) wants to have specialized blends to suit THEIR state and THEIR agenda, then California should PAY for those blends. As it stands now, most of those additional costs are rolled into the national price, which means people in Maine are paying the price for the foolishness of California. And that is not right.
The government should limit "national" blends to about 6, which are for altitude, seasonal and climate differences, and the national price should reflect ONLY that cost. If a state wants something special, then it should be mandated that ONLY that state will pay the additional costs. If you do that, watch how quickly those states start revoking their idiotic regulations once they discover the other 49 states will not be sharing the cost.
As to how I know Obama will not take this simple step, it is because he is in the pocket of the "greenies". If he were to pass such an edict, the far-left environmentalist loons would eviscerate him. That is why he shot down the Keystone pipeline, shut down drilling in many areas and blew 2 billion taxpayer dollars on risky "green" companies that all went bankrupt and cost the taxpayers dearly. But it pleased the far left. And that's where Obama resides.
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Before you say that those blends are necessary, there are over 55 of them, and less than 6 are necessary for reasons of climate, seasonal or altitude differences. All the rest are mandated by states to suit their own environmental agendas.
Now, I'm all for protecting the environment, but many of those local regulations do little or nothing for the environment. But even that is not the point.
The point is simple - if a state, such as California (which requires the most regulations on blends) wants to have specialized blends to suit THEIR state and THEIR agenda, then California should PAY for those blends. As it stands now, most of those additional costs are rolled into the national price, which means people in Maine are paying the price for the foolishness of California. And that is not right.
The government should limit "national" blends to about 6, which are for altitude, seasonal and climate differences, and the national price should reflect ONLY that cost. If a state wants something special, then it should be mandated that ONLY that state will pay the additional costs. If you do that, watch how quickly those states start revoking their idiotic regulations once they discover the other 49 states will not be sharing the cost.
As to how I know Obama will not take this simple step, it is because he is in the pocket of the "greenies". If he were to pass such an edict, the far-left environmentalist loons would eviscerate him. That is why he shot down the Keystone pipeline, shut down drilling in many areas and blew 2 billion taxpayer dollars on risky "green" companies that all went bankrupt and cost the taxpayers dearly. But it pleased the far left. And that's where Obama resides.
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Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The "Hidden" Way Gas Prices Hurt Us
We all know how high gas prices hurt our family budget directly. And many of us realize that every other item we purchase will experience price increases due to increased fuel prices for manufacturers and truckers. But there is an even more destructive way that high gas prices hit all of America - HARD!
The average family is spending $10 per week more for gas than just one year ago, and roughly $30 per week more than when President Obama was elected. That may not seem particularly troublesome until you take the time to think about it...
There are 250 million cars on the roads today. At even $10 per week, that means gas consumes $2.5 BILLION a week extra. At $30 each, that robs the economy of $7.5 billion each and every week. That's $390 billion a year that is not available for purchasing other goods and services. $390 billion that will not be used to create demand that results in jobs.
$390 billion is a lot of refrigerators, cars, boats, clothing and a lot of other goods that will not be purchased, resulting in lower demand and further job layoffs.
Nothing - I repeat, NOTHING - does more economic damage than an increase in gas prices.
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The average family is spending $10 per week more for gas than just one year ago, and roughly $30 per week more than when President Obama was elected. That may not seem particularly troublesome until you take the time to think about it...
There are 250 million cars on the roads today. At even $10 per week, that means gas consumes $2.5 BILLION a week extra. At $30 each, that robs the economy of $7.5 billion each and every week. That's $390 billion a year that is not available for purchasing other goods and services. $390 billion that will not be used to create demand that results in jobs.
$390 billion is a lot of refrigerators, cars, boats, clothing and a lot of other goods that will not be purchased, resulting in lower demand and further job layoffs.
Nothing - I repeat, NOTHING - does more economic damage than an increase in gas prices.
/
Obama's New Proposal Would Finish Us Off
President Obama's newest proposal would tax all overseas income earned by American companies. While this may, at first blush, sound like a good idea, once again, as is always the case with ideological, myopic liberals, he fails to consider the unintended consequences.
If, for example, Intel is taxed on the 85% of their income currently earned and kept overseas (that they already pay taxes on in the country of origin) guess what Intel is going to do? Go ahead - take a guess. If you guessed that they would close up shop in America and open their headquarters in, say, Germany or China, you would be correct. And then Intel would not have to pay ANY American taxes because they would no longer be an American company. Because under King Obama's proposal, companies would get taxed twice - once by the country where the money is earned, and again by America. This could virtually wipe out a company's profits, and they will not tolerate it. There would be a mass exodus of companies from America to foreign shores, like rats deserting a sinking ship.
It's bad enough that liberals have chased American jobs out of the U.S. by having the highest corporate tax rate in the world, and the strictest, most expensive regulations. Now they also want to completely close American companies and make them Chinese companies. America would lose more jobs, and would lose any taxes they are now collecting from those businesses.
Either Obama and his liberal cronies have absolutely no clue about how economies work, or they do know, and are purposely trying to destroy the American way of life. I tend to think the latter because Obama has not made any secret about his desire to "redistribute the wealth", and his countless statements that America needs to be taken down a peg or two because we use so much of the world's resources. We're "too rich".
Yes, Obama knows exactly what he is doing, and the liberal media is covering for him by making it appear that he is doing a good thing.
The people need to wake up, get their heads out of the sand and start asking serious questions. They need to stop allowing the mainstream media to brainwash them, and begin seeking the truth. Otherwise, the liberals will succeed, and the America we end up with will not be an America we will like.
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If, for example, Intel is taxed on the 85% of their income currently earned and kept overseas (that they already pay taxes on in the country of origin) guess what Intel is going to do? Go ahead - take a guess. If you guessed that they would close up shop in America and open their headquarters in, say, Germany or China, you would be correct. And then Intel would not have to pay ANY American taxes because they would no longer be an American company. Because under King Obama's proposal, companies would get taxed twice - once by the country where the money is earned, and again by America. This could virtually wipe out a company's profits, and they will not tolerate it. There would be a mass exodus of companies from America to foreign shores, like rats deserting a sinking ship.
It's bad enough that liberals have chased American jobs out of the U.S. by having the highest corporate tax rate in the world, and the strictest, most expensive regulations. Now they also want to completely close American companies and make them Chinese companies. America would lose more jobs, and would lose any taxes they are now collecting from those businesses.
Either Obama and his liberal cronies have absolutely no clue about how economies work, or they do know, and are purposely trying to destroy the American way of life. I tend to think the latter because Obama has not made any secret about his desire to "redistribute the wealth", and his countless statements that America needs to be taken down a peg or two because we use so much of the world's resources. We're "too rich".
Yes, Obama knows exactly what he is doing, and the liberal media is covering for him by making it appear that he is doing a good thing.
The people need to wake up, get their heads out of the sand and start asking serious questions. They need to stop allowing the mainstream media to brainwash them, and begin seeking the truth. Otherwise, the liberals will succeed, and the America we end up with will not be an America we will like.
/
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