Colleges give Russell Athletics the Work Over

Ah, there is hope for our future-sort of. Yesterday news surfaced the Russell Athletics’ factory in Honduras laid off about 2,000 people declaring the reason is the bad economy; however the truth may be because factory workers in Honduras attempted to unionize for better working conditions and benefits. Information has risen that unionizing workers were harassed by factory managers and this obviously goes against fair labor practices here and abroad. Ironically Russell Athletic took the opportunity to blame the economy for their poor management and oversight of an overseas factory. Yes, even those laborers in Honduras have rights.

The news spread quickly and several colleges including the University of Minnesota, Penn State, Cornell and others have all cancelled their license agreements with Russell Athletic in regards to the allegations. What gives me hope for our future is students in Minnesota will be marching in protest to Russell Athletic and more and more students are seeing the value in industry and labor.

In reading all the economic news having studied economics and even worked in a global industry I am beginning to see a clear distinction between two separate theories. One theory is the “finance gurus and experts.” Personally these people remind me of the “Little Pigs” nursery rhyme. “This little piggy went to market, this little piggy cried wee, wee, wee, all the way home.” You got it, financier’s masterminds of stocks, investments, credits and mortgages.

The second economic ideology is developing businesses based on the supply and demand of goods and services. You research the consumers, find a demand and you supply the product or service to make a profit. This works on the small businesses, large corporations and as a nations import/export GNP. This would be a good way to get the US budget and deficit back on track; start producing here in the US and exporting goods to other nations. Look, we condemn consumers for spending more than they earn. Well, that is exactly what our corporations should be doing. We are not EARNING money at the global level, we are buying more, importing more and exporting less. It is these products and services that drive our economy and our society.

What is interesting to me is hearing the voices of college students and young entrepreneurs calling on industry and as one young man put it, “Economics 101.” It is good to see young people holding the bad behavior of corporations accountable. It is indeed their future, let’s here from the newly economic educated, because honestly, the financiers, pundits and so forth are not doing us any good. We need to start listening to people who understand the basics of economics, not people who just want to get rich on investments and hock credit.

Das Kapital (Capital) One!

Instead of Barbarians, I would suggest Capital One change their mascot to Dictators. You can pick you Dictator of choice. You see, a dictator is an authoritarian ruler who assumes absolute power without question. This is what I believe after receiving a letter from Capital One on Friday.

In attempts to provide “good” and “honest” communication Capital One advised me that despite me being a good costumer they were raising my default rate (I learned later I was not the only one. My friend received the same letter). Of course they do give me the opportunity to decline the new terms, but if I do so they will cancel my account. In a nutshell Capital advised me to take their increased default rate or I will be denied credit. It is Capital One’s way or the highway. Now, I must advise I have held a zero balance on this card for more than six months. So you may ask why is Capital One raising my default rate. They are not making any money off of me because I am not using my card. I have another Capital One card that contains a balance and that default rate is not being increased. They are raising my default rate on a card with good credit, and keeping the same for my other card with a balance. Anyway you look at this, it is abusive and threatening the consumer.

In an ironic twist of fate I have paid of my debt more than six months ago and when I tried to close my account, Capital One hung up on me. They tried to get me to jump through hoops to keep my account open, so I did. I left my account open, but now never use. NOW, Capital One is threatening to close my account. WHY BY ALL MEANS! This is what I was trying to do six months ago. It is almost laughable.

Once again, I’d like to remind that Capital One received a 3.1 Billion dollar bail out last year. It was California House of Representative Maxine Waters who questioned banks who receive tax payer bailout money who was raising rates. Well Madame Walters – Capital One is increasing rates on good costumers. This is actually shocking to me when Capital One seems to have plenty of money for their Barbarian advertising campaign seen on every channel, but now I’m not so sure if those Barbarians are the fun and frisky Barbarians we have all grown to love and adore. Now it seems they are the raping and pillaging Barbarians reminiscent of a past time and in that case, perhaps I’ll take a maniacal dictator. Perhaps if Capital One is hurting financially, instead of taking it out on good consumers they should reduce their advertising budget.

Then I saw a commercial that was indeed a real head scratcher. Capital One, along with other banks is claiming to care for the consumers well being and in their words, “Here to help.” I’d have to ask, do they know the meaning of help?

Anyone with half a brain will know this is in the spirit of gauging and exploiting the consumer. In times of economic hardship everyone must sacrifice, including credit card companies. Perhaps in the spirit of “Helping” they should lower rates and remove expensive advertising campaigns from television, or better yet, temporarily lower the salaries of CEO’s and upper management. Why should they continue to get rich while we are suffering? All consumers demand is an equal playing field, consumer rights and an opportunity to pay down debts.

Vive American Industrial Revolution

Sometimes my tiny little brain gets to thinking about the state of our economy and the state of our nation. I asked myself, “What would the great industrialists of our country think about our current economic situation?” What would John D. Rockefeller think of us buying oil from our enemies? What would Andrew Carnegie think of us outsourcing steel production to China? What would Cornelius Vanderbilt think about his extensive rail lines left to decay and deteriorate, not to mention America’s distaste for public transportation? And mostly, what would Henry Ford think seeing the Automobile industry go bankrupt to the Germans and Japanese? These are just a few great men who built our country. What have we done with their legacy? What do we have to show for their enterprising spirit?

There is such a flux and flutter about the state of the stock market and investors are all befuddled. I have something to ask? What is it actually we have been INVESTING IN? Let’s examine this. We have been investing in credit, securities and mortgages. We have been investing in foreign industry or at least American companies with foreign plants and workers. And most importantly we have been investing in rich people’s portfolios. We simply have not been investing in America. What we have NOT been investing in is American Industry which our forefathers have provided.

My father bought up some very great points. One of the downfalls of American industry is we do not know how to modernize. For this I suggest we haven’t invested in keeping up the railroads and trains. Modern, high speed and comfortable trains is one of the main means of transportation throughout Europe. In fact, it is enjoyable just to ride, even if you don’t have to do anywhere. In regards to the auto industry, we fell behind the times in what consumers wanted and new hybrid technology that our foreign competition has excelled.

For many, industry is simply hard and sometimes dirty, tedious work. In some cases we have become complacent and we have outsourced work we don’t want to do, sewing factories, customer service call centers. The Chinese are getting rich, doing work for American companies, to sell back to American consumers. That is hardly investing in the American economy. Why are we investing in American corporations who are employing and supporting a foreign workforce and foreign economies, and we the American taxpayer are losing our jobs and bailing out such companies? It is time to bring American industry back to America.

So go on, continue to blame your neighbor down street for his credit card debt, or for buying a house outside his price range. Yeah, that’s it. That’s the reason for the economic collapse. Or perhaps it is another thing, three little words we have forgotten in the American vocabulary – Gross National Product. Perhaps it is time for another Industrial Revolution.

The Media - "Merely Wires and Lights in a Box"

Outrage is not necessarily the feeling I have with the media these days; in fact it is a joke. The media is laughable. Whether broadcasters are distorting truths to suit personal agendas or sponsors, or they merely keep silent, boasting claims of neutrality and unbiased. Both of these types of journalism I find destructive to our country. Today’s media well brings new meaning to the term media circus. In fact I would like to describe the media as a journey to Oz and all our reporters and anchors are skipping along the yellow brick road in search of brains, hearts and courage. Oh Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.

Many would argue the 1st Amendment, freedom of speech and freedom of the press, but this brings up challenges within itself. What if the freedom of speech and press is inflammatory and spews hate and fear that could destroy the very fabric of our nation? Obvious example today is the inflammatory cartoon in the NY Post and it is the continued broadcast of people’s accusations of one another, blaming fellow Americans for the economic crisis. This is ignorant and narrow minded journalism.

I am reminded of the movie, “Good Night and Good Luck,” about journalist Edward R Murrow and his quest to undo the harmful lies, twisted ideologies and fear mongering from Senator Joseph McCarthy who was propagating fear throughout the county of communist infiltration. Many innocent Americans were being arrested because they were believed to be communists or communist sympathizers. This was less than Sixty years ago and yet today the lessons of this are still not learned by many in our nation. It was journalist Edward R Murrow who had the courage, the conviction and found it to be his responsibility to challenge McCarthy and bring him to justice. It was his speech below that should set the president for today’s media.

“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that
accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due
process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven
by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine,
and remember that we are not descended from fearful men — not from men who
feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the
moment, unpopular.”

Edward R Murrow

I am personally flabbergasted by the lies and mistruths that are being broadcasted today and left unchallenged (ideologies left open for the American public to decide). Responsibility is in the hands of the messenger. The American public is not allowed in press rooms, we do not read what comes off the wire daily and we simply do not have access to where the true really lies. In the state of our nation today, it is vitally important the Americans are presented the TRUTH and not someone’s personal agenda or ideology. The only journalist I have seen question, challenge and untwist mistruths is Keith Olbermann and ironically it is he who reminds us of the courageous Edward R Murrow.

Today’s lies and distorted facts that are allowed to be broadcast are dangerous. The problem being is we do not have a crystal ball to see if and how the hateful lies being broadcast will affect our future, maybe not at all or maybe it will inspire violence that would outrage this entire nation, turn all of us against one another and spark a violent revolution. Yes, it has happened before in our nation and it can happen again. And this time, the blood will be on the journalist’s hands, who have presented lies, promoted fear and hate and stood idly by believing it is not their job to challenge.

We have seen in our nation’s history and world history how lies and twisted truths can devastate a nation. We have seen how the promotion of fear and paranoia can play out in people’s minds and hearts. And this is the journalist’s grave responsibility to present the facts, that are not glossed over and sugar coated, not with special effects that dazzle and not with the opinions of people who really have no concept of what is truly going on in the world. It is dangerous.
I leave you with another Edward R Murrow speech seen here from the movie Good Night and Good Luck. Only with good, solid honest information do we have the power to change the world for the better. Good Night and Good Luck.

News and Economy - America Stuck in Desire

This blog was originally going to be a rant on particular network news channel for what I find to be mediocre and vanilla drivel, but after sleeping on it I have to admit that wouldn’t be fair. So what I decided to do was to compare and contrast last night’s news stories and as Anderson Cooper would say, “Let the American viewers decide.” You see, my thought is there needs to be responsiblity in journalism to broadcast truths and perhaps hardlines that may perhaps be unsettling to viewers instead of sugar-coating the news. Journalists need to have the same principles of national reponsibility as big business and politicians. Let's see below.

It must be a slow night for CNN news because senior political correspondent Candy Crowley spent the time and effort doing a piece on a sad, sad man who was upset that because of the economy and stimulus he needs to pay for all those irresponsible Americans out there who are living beyond their means. Oh woe is me! As my grandmother would say, “Cry me a river.” Here is my problem with this reporting, it is not only narrow minded, but irresponsible as it fuels even more paranoia and fear in people’s minds. It promotes greater dissension in the country. This story is about one man's opinion and NOT NEWS. It is a time when we should be encouraging the American public to band together in a sign of national unity instead of blaming the neighbors down the street and whining about individual personal issues. Hum, we all have them.

In contrast and as a follow up to my Buy American blog, I’d like to thank Rachel Maddow for reporting that it appears that GM and Chrysler will potentially lay off 50,000 more workers, and will be phasing out BRANDS of automobiles. Say goodbye America to the The PT Cruiser, Saturn, the Hummer, the Dodge Durango’s and the Pontiac. These cars will no longer be produced. America say goodbye to our beloved automobile industry. You may ask why this is an important story and why I should care if the automobile industry goes out of business. I have a job. I pay my bills. It is not my problem. Here is why this is every American's problem and is NEWS.

The layoffs and the phasing out of entire brands of automobiles will trickle down to other jobs. Automobile retailers will falter. Bank and lenders who gives loans for cars will suffer. Mechanics will suffer and so will those who sell car parts. More unemployment will affect restaurant business and retailers and they too will go out of business. Not to mention those who produce for retailers, as I have learned recently, Nike is about to lay off 1400 workers. And not only will this be a national problem, this will be a global one as well.

Secondly, Americans have a love affair with cars. We love them so much we buy oil from our enemies to keep our cars on the road and we have forgone building a massive public transportation system so we can keep driving. That saddest thing about this is the automobile industry was pioneered by America. For nearly a century we have taken great pride in American automobiles, now we are giving up the industry to mostly the Germans and the Japanese – two nations we kicked ass in WWII. The Germans have done it so well, that not only do we love the Mercedes Bens, their repair labor is expensive and parts have to be specially ordered from Germany.

But what I see is the biggest problem here is our continuing lack of industry in America. Economics 101 folks; you spend money, (stimulus) or (capital) to produce/manufacture a product that you sell and you receive profit. With that money, you produce more and gain more profit. A problem is our nation today leans heavily on importing product and labor from other countries when we are exporting less. Not many, outside America are buying American and that is a huge problem. We are losing the export, import game and with that means we are losing profit and money for our nation. We are losing profit and capital that stimulate our economy and keep the wheels turning. So while the world is creating business with industry, we are devising easy, get rich quick schemes.

So when America is losing industry and spending our money on foreign made products what will be left for us to do? How will we survive in the global market if we position ourselves as the world’s consumers? China and Germany have become rich nations selling Americans their products. What are we selling to them? We once had a booming auto industry, now that is failing. We buy foreign oil to keep our cars on the road. The cheap crap market of toys and electronics is cornered by Asia. The Europeans have the haute couture and fancy-schmacy market. Agriculture, we were once considered the bread basket, but we sold priceless farm land for big houses that people can’t afford and strip malls that stand empty. Now we are losing that market to South America. What market does America own–Ah yes, the porn industry. And that is a mouthful, PUN INTENDED.

So America – you decide. We can continue wallowing in our self indulgent misery and finger pointing our neighbors down the street, or unite as the “United States” and figure how we can bring our industry and our jobs back to America. If not, the future may suggest we may eventually end up as China’s labor force and trust me that would not be fun.

Buy American - Bring Jobs Back Home.

Throughout my career in the fashion industry, many, including members of my own family, challenged me on the overseas production of apparel. My answer is the same now, as it was years ago. If fashion companies produced clothing in the United States, you would not be able to afford it. I don’t necessarily think overseas production is a good thing, when we have a perfectly good workforce here in America, but the honest to goodness truth is labor is much less expensive overseas and that effects the consumer retail price. We can complain about overseas labor and we complain about high retail prices. Take your pick.

Even though the above may be true, many people that I have come across have vowed to make a practice of buying American made. In today’s economic climate, I think this is even more important to do so, taking into consideration the oil we buy from those who want to see our demise and the toys we purchase that are made with harmful chemicals. But they are not the only reasons to buy American. Lately, the American economy has been built on “credit” and not the production of goods and services. And let’s face it; the production of goods and services is making many nations such as China a very rich and powerful country. In a sense, we (Americans) have taken ourselves out of the production and manufacturing game. What do we actually produce? What is actually made here?

In regards to the credit industry, they too are outsourcing American jobs overseas in attempts to “save money” and bring home a benefit to the American consumer. I experienced this personally when I had a serious question about my Capital One account and had to explain it someone who’s second language was English. It was indeed very frustrating to express my issue to someone who didn’t speak my language, but then maybe that is whole point of credit card companies outsourcing customer service-they really don’t want to hear our challenges and complaints.

But now America finds itself in a very precarious situation. Our unemployment is staggering, closing in on 4 million people. Large states such as California are facing bankruptcy. Our nation’s infrastructure is crumbling and the banks are losing assets. Now, let’s just take credit card companies for example, who are outsourcing jobs. Many of these companies are receiving tax payer bailout money, for them to pay salaries to non-Americans overseas. Here’s a suggestion, if they care that much for the American consumer, take back those overseas jobs and employ a portion of that 4 million unemployed. Why not employ those taxpayers who are giving you bail out money? You see, this is the problem. We have outsourced so much we are not giving opportunity to employ the people who live here, and all for the sake of making a profit. And it is then, why we wonder why our economy is in shambles. We have pretty much pimped ourselves out to the rest of the world and now have very little to show for it. We need to bring American ingenuity, manufacturing and jobs back home.

Credit Card Companies - The Catch Twenty Two

I’m sorry, but the credit card system is a joke. It is getting harder and harder for me to read any more articles in regards to credit cards or the credit crisis. I agree, not to carry balances on credit cards, but for too many folks there is no other way around it. I still stand firmly behind the ideology, if you can pay off your credit cards every month – You don’t need a credit card. Pay with a debit card, or cash. Credit cards were established to buy high-ticket household appliances, like refrigerators. You receive credit from a store and then overtime pay off. That was the idea-initially, but then some greedy SOB learned how to make money off of people who are in debt. TA-DAAA.

So often we blame the consumer by saying, “We spend too much.” Perhaps that is true, but then it is the banks and lenders who go out of their way to keep us in debt. Washington Mutual continually increased my limit, without my consent and yes that money came in handy, but it also put me into debt. Now they continually increase my interest rate and told me that it is not their business to help me pay down my debt. What is the point in that? The point is, me not holding debt, is less money for Washington Mutual. They want me in their debt. How responsible is this?

I had several credit cards and I wanted to reduce the number of them. I called to close my Capital One account, so I could be a more responsible credit card holder. Keep and manage credit on two cards instead of three. When I did not want to listen to the sales pitch of Capital One customer service agent, he HUNG UP ON ME, and never closed my account. Unaware my account as never closed, a charge appeared on my next bill and when I called, (and spoke to an outsourced Indian customer service representative, whom I could barely understand) they had to nerve to tell my account was never closed. When I tried to do the responsible thing and be a responsible consumer, Capital One hung up on me.

I am not an advocate to get rid of credit cards. I am an advocate for playing fair. If consumers need to put a lot of money on credit cards, for god sake make it possible to pay down debts, without gross interest rates and do not special offers for discounts to encourage additional spending. And do not promote using your card to “Live Richly.” Credit card companies are grossly irresponsible and I think everyone needs to be aware, it’s not us-it’s them.

Credit Corporations - They're just not that into you

For the life of me, I will never understand America’s obsession with credit cards. What is so awesome about them? Look folks credit card corporations are like that savvy bad boy, or that promiscuous hot chick we all drool over. They will woo you with flowery talk of convenient spending, increased spending power and ooh, baby cash back rewards. They will appeal to our tender nature talking of the environment, charity and our youth. They will say everything we want to hear to get us, hum, well to spend with them…

Many folks of good credit take great pride in their financial responsibility and sense they have the respect of these creditors. In reality, you’re like the clingy do-good lover who does the bad boy’s laundry and changes the oil of the hot chick’s car. Yeah, it keeps you in good favor, but they really don’t have the hots for you. That is why, now that the credit market is say, diseased, you are the ones feeling it most. You played the game and you played the game well and when things get messy, you too wind up dirty and feeling abused.

You know what makes creditor’s hot-spending their money. Creditors love the wild ones; they love ones who burn through credit like it is going out of style. Man that is hot! Why, because creditors make money off debts with high interest rate. Why the heck do you think they make it so hard for you to pay down? Creditors like everyone else love the big spenders and they hold onto those debts like a smothering lover, vowing never to let you go.

So why is it many go out of their way to solicit the benefits of credit cards, promote teaching youth to respect corporations that are really not into the consumer? Why promote financial literacy of credit corporations when credit corporations will only change their ways in order to gain more profit? What would you say to a friend who was in an emotionally or mentally abusive relationship, “Try harder to gain their love, or do whatever takes to keep in their good favor?” No, you’d tell them to stay away and then warn all your friends not to get involved. But thanks to deregulation and the unconscious spending of consumers, are entire lives are wrapped and warped in plastic little cards. We can’t live with them and we can’t live without them-just like the U2 love song.

Remember corporations and the credit laws are not on the consumer side-not yet anyway. Why would we want to participate in their jungle credit love when there are other fish in the sea?

Trickle Down Economic Irresponsibility

Throughout the past couple months, especially after the time the stock market started to crumble I would read articles and blogs blaming poor folks for taking out mortgages they couldn’t afford and irresponsible consumers with bad credit. This is who they blamed for the problem with the economy. I will get down on my knees and beg to differ.

Our nation for nearly the past thirty years was operating on “Reaganomics,” and the trickle down economic theory. In layman’s terms Reaganonmics give tax breaks and deregulate corporations to achieve in business and this will trickle down to the middle income sector and further. All though we have seen a boom over the past thirty years in materialism what happened is big business kept most of what they achieved for themselves and passed down very little to Middle America. We watched corporate CEO’s get stinking rich and in many cases Middle America spent themselves into debt to emulate.

Over the past eight years of the Bush administration fewer regulations were put on large corporations and these corporations did not have to be responsible for their money or how they treated the consumer. They were allowed to get away with almost anything and as some suspect today, crime. Even after bail out money was given to financial companies in trouble, these financial companies used for some very unsavory business. One example I learned yesterday was Bank of American used their government bailout money for the Republican campaign. So to all you Democrats out there in the internet abyss, Bank of American used your tax dollars to fund the Republican Party who is greatly responsible for the economic mess we are into today. Let me reiterate, Bank of American used government money to buy back government favor. This is called corruption. This is not only gross irresponsibility, this is shameful and a slap in the face to the American public.

So when our corporations are not spending their funds wisely and our government “loses” track where the bailout money is going and not holding corporations accountable for how they spend it, how the heck can anyone place the blame on the America consumer. The American consumer is just like a young child following the lead of their parents. The moral of the story is if you spend without a conscious and your heart is filled with greed and materialism at some point it will catch up with you. And for those of people who champion Reaganomics and the “Trickle Down” theory, congratulations it worked.

Credit Cards - What happens when we die?

With so many proponents of credit cards out there in the world vowing the undying benefits of credit cards and all those people teaching our youth financial literary there is one thing I must convey. Credit card companies do not care about consumers. They don’t care about our youth; all they see is dollar signs. They don’t care about our elderly, they don’t care about the sick and as I learned on Friday from Washington Mutual-they don’t care about the unemployed. They don’t even want us to pay down our debt, because it is our debt that makes them more money. People-credit card companies WANT you to carry debt. That is their goal. Why do you think they want you to live richly?

I know we all believe their warm and fuzzy advertisements of priceless moments, opportunities and dreams come true. Yes, it is the credit card companies who extend their godly hands of life, but what happens when we die. As buried in the fine print, you can go default on a credit card if you die. Yes, folks you can breech your credit card contract by dying. And while you’re mourning the loss of a loved one, a creditor will find you and ask, “Who is going to cover their debt?” Wow, doesn’t that tug at the old heart strings. Hey, credit card companies will grant you life, but you better as heck not die on them. More ironic, dying is listed as number three. Yes, dying is less important to credit card companies then you failing to pay your monthly payment.

In watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Friday night, he broadcasted once such a story and I will paraphrase…

A son called a credit card company to report his mother had passed. The customer service represented asked, “Oh, so you will be paying off her balance?”

“No, “ the son replied, “I will not.”

“Well, don’t you think you’re mother would have wanted you to pay for her debt,” replied the customer service representative.

“No. I don’t. I am not liable for her balance and I am not going to pay for it.”

“Well, you know this won’t look good on her credit score, “ replied the credit card company agent. “You wouldn’t want your mother to have a bad credit score.”

I wanted to tell this story to showcase the ridiculousness of our credit card system and why I can’t understand why so many Americans have bought into it. Don't tell me I stand alone with Keith Olbermann by finding this absurd. I understand there are people out there in the world who have managed their credit well and I do understand they are people who have learned to work the “system” to get rich off other consumers, but the honest to goodness truth is most Americans have difficulty paying their bills with the money they earn in salary. And in these cases, best intentions are tossed out the door. To stop the naysayers in their tracks about consumer irresponsibility, sometimes natural disasters, illness and other emergencies come into play that cause debt, not just financial irresponsibility. Please don’t be so narrow minded.

Regardless what side of the consumer fence you stand, good credit or bad credit, I simply do not understand why so many Americans put so much value on credit cards, when credit card companies do not even value our lives. I seriously do not understand why we want to continue carrying the burden, not to mention pass that burden onto a children for corporations that only want to profit from our hardship. I don’t get it.

Washtington Mutual Bank - No Bail Out for Consumers

I am recently unemployed and still paying my credit cards every month on time, but as the economy gets worse, so will it be for me and for many other American Consumer. As per the advice of many credit card experts, I have called Washington Mutual to see if they can help me reduce my minimum payment since I have been laid off. I have been a costumer for over ten years and over the years, I have paid my debt in full and now due to rough times I find myself again in debt. When I explained my situation, telling them I want to continue paying down my debt, but it will grow difficult in this economic climate, their answer was a flat NO. “So sorry for your situation, but we’re not in the practice of helping our customers pay off debt, we’d rather make more money off your misery.” Washington Mutual Bank does not offer services to help people with a payment plan. Washington Mutual Bank will not help their customers lower their debt, even if it means slightly lowering interest rates to give their costumers the CHANCE to pay down.

As a reminder to all, Washington Mutual Bank was going bankrupt and needed to be purchased by JP Morgan & Company. Washington Mutual Bank WAS BAILED OUT! So let me get this straight, banks and creditor’s are being BAILED OUT by other companies and the government YET they will not extend the same benefit to their consumers? Something does not make sense! Why doesn’t Washington Mutual Bank just go out and buy an expensive commode for their CEO’s or fly managers in a private jet to a reclusive resort? It begs the question – WHO IS BAILING OUT THE AMERICAN CONSUMER?

When the unemployment rate is skyrocketing and people are having more difficulty paying down their bills and paying down their debts, the banks who are receiving TARP money cannot share with those they are lending? What harm would it be for Washington Mutual to lower my grossly inflated interest rate to give me the opportunity to pay down my debt, while they themselves are getting a handouts from others? This is absolutely revolting.

Teaching Teens about Credit Cards

First off, I must state profoundly that I support education on any subject including credit cards, but deep down in my heart something is just not quite right. I have several challenges to teaching credit card financing and giving credit cards to teens. And first I make this comparison. Teaching your teen about credit cards and giving them a credit card to me is like teaching your teen about sex and then handing them a condom. “Go ahead Timmy you’re going to need to practice to be good at it. You need to build your score.”

You may say, “Well, sex is completely different.” Is it? Is it really? Like credit card spending, it is something we all do, some become obsessed and overindulge, and if not careful you can find yourself in a very awkward situation. Credit card spending is very much like sex, and that euphoric and sometimes ill feeling we all have afterward.

An argument for teaching teens how to use credit cards is so they understand the rules and can begin to establish a credit score. Personally, I feel offering credit cards to teens is big business lowering the spending demographic to make more profit for themselves, but I digress. In regards the theories of teaching teens credit, I will tackle these ideologies separately. First, I agree WE all need to learn the rules and read the fine print, but perhaps it is best we teach teens the fundamentals of earning and spending. Have your teen get a part time job, earn money and learn to spend what they earn instead of developing bad habits of paying out of convenience. It is convenience spending that gets all of us in trouble. Start with the basics, and if your teen shows responsibility with their money then start them on a credit card with a very minimum limit. If you see your teen not being responsible with their cash, then they’re not ready to graduate to a credit card.

FICO and Credit scores are an insidious ideology that absolutely with no doubt needs reformation. It is a trap by big businesses to keep tabs on our financial habits, provokes exploits of rising and lowering of credit limits and interest rates. I probably could not have said this a year ago, but now many people with good scores find their credit scores drop at the whims of creditors in this banking crisis. Why would anyone want to be a prisoner in this system? It is bad and in most cases consumers have very little rights. Why would you teach your teen to be part of a system that is geared to exploit?

And lastly, teaching fiscal responsibility is a good thing, but what about teaching them reality of an adult life; home improvements, car repairs, children, job loss, sickness or injury. All these things cost money and could put a good consumer in deep debt and lower their credit score. You see, the challenge is we have no choices other than credit cards to pay for emergencies. Bank loans have gone out the window. Payment options are going out of style. So one $2,000.00 repair bill will start the debt and most likely you can’t pay that off in one month, so interest is tacked onto it, and then next month something else happens that requires a credit card purchase. You see the downward spiral. For some who make a good salary may not have issue with this, but if your salary barely covers your bills-you’re screwed. And kids out of college do not make that much money to start! Teach your kids that.

The reality is, in regards to credit cards- the cards are stacked against consumers. I see two choices for parents, teach your child fiscal responsible, give them a credit card and wish them luck, or become an advocate for creditor regulation and fiscal change in this country. And how can you teach your child fiscal responsibility when big business is not fiscally responsible? Why have your children carry the burden when there is little legislation to keep big business from exploiting the consumer? I say fight for your children’s financial freedom and future and give them new legislation so the laws on their side, not big business.

Again, I stress, teaching teens about their finances is a good thing, but let’s not put the burden on them, the burden lies on us to overcome the financial traps and pitfalls of big business and give our youth a strong economy and fiscal freedom in the future.

Credit "Reporters" caught Spying-AGAIN!

That of course is not new, but I had a tiny little hissy fit yesterday when finding out a “Free Credit Report” company was spying on my credit report. And that surprised me? What turnip trunk did I fall off of? While deleting spam messages I saw an email with the subject, “Negative mark appeared on your credit report.” Furious, I logged onto their site (National Credit Reporting) and issued a complaint. STOP SPYING ON ME! Good Lord, creditors are worse than the Government’s Patriot Act. There is so much wrong with this, I just can’t imagine why more Americans are not mad as hell.

First let me state to you the obvious. Creditors and even Credit Marketers (I reiterate –MARKETERS) have the ability to peruse your credit report, while you (the owner of the credit score) can only look at once a year. So while you’re sitting around waiting until next year to get a free look at your credit score, anyone else can! AGAIN, while others can look at your report for free, YOU HAVE TO PAY! Does that sound like a fair deal?

While many Americans are struggling to pay their bills and many more are unemployed (myself included), it is grossly obscene for these credit score people poking around our finances looking for something to report. It is like journalists snooping through celebrity’s garbage to get a juicy scoop and it is like the obnoxious kid in school who would always tell the teacher, “Bob is misbehaving again!” If they really want to see who is misbehaving, check out all the CEO’s who are buying jets and throwing lavish parties on tax payer money. How are consumers to be responsible if our businesses are not?

Do not be naive. These “Free Credit Report” folks are not doing you any favors by monitoring your credit. It is a money making scheme at your expense – pure and simple. Their sale tactics are fear; fear someone is stealing your identity and fear someone has reported something negatively, or made a mistake. As FDR quoted, “You have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” Don’t let fear be the reason you are spending your hard earned cash.

Do not be taken in by fear tactics to extort money from you. It is probably cheaper for you to monitor yourself and pay the fee to see your credit report on your own. If you are afraid of someone stealing your identity why would you hire a company and its employees to view your finances and where do you think a lot of credit fraud comes from-from inside these companies and their employees, not from your neighbor down the street. And secondly, if you are struggling to pay your bills why should you PAY more to have someone monitor your credit score? It makes absolutely no sense.

After my little tantrum subsided, I wrote a letter to two of my congressmen in Oregon. Here is what I asked/proposed.

1. Why can’t consumers have full time/free access to their credit scores?



2. How can creditors and worse credit marketers monitor our score to extort fear money from us?



3. How can consumers hide their credit score from unwanted solicitations and should we have the ability to give permission to those to access, say if we were buying a house, car or god forbid we need for a job.(Which is TOTAL BULLSHIT)

Consumers need protection and it is our job to tell our legislators we are tired of being taken for
granted. We are tired of being exploited due to fear. I hope this blog has incited some anger in hopes many will contact their state legislator to demand consumer production and free access to our credit scores. It is simply unfair we have to pay someone to monitor credit reports, which we do not have access to see.

A Credit POEM - Ode to the Credit Consumer

Ode to the Credit Consumer

Written with love from your creditor


Casual credit consumer, we have yet to secure
Fear not, we care little for your score
For those who have little to insure
We love you even more.

Here to offer your desire lavishly
To help you live most richly
As we have probed all your expenditures
Excessive, irresponsible, superfluous, immature

Remember me, your creditor in kind
For all your purchases we remind
As we provide those priceless moments
For all your kindred and opponents

We see the power of increased spending
Sew up your empty pockets with easy mending
So use us, dear consumer without a care
For we will handle you with great interest there

Although in person we will never meet
Shop until the soles wear to your feet
In time our love will fill to maximum store
For in the end, you are in debt with us evermore

RocketOn - Chat Everywhere!

Avatar Chat Is Great - Chat Now!




Click Here To Join Us!

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

These are words inscribed at the base of our Statue of Liberty, words that have welcomed and inspired our ancestors and now these words are merely broken promises. In fact, our tired and huddled masses are rejected and looked down upon. We have ignored completely the poor, tired and huddled victims that still sit in poverty after Hurricane Katrina. It is ironic, because many of our ancestors arrived through New York harbor with nothing more than the clothes on their back. It is the poor immigrants who have worked hard, with blood, sweat and even tears to build America for their future generations. Their dedication and ingenuity created the great infrastructure and lead the world in the industrial revolution. Now, we have let the infrastructure decay in lieu of our own desire for wealth and materialism.

Today, this land gives promise to the selfish and “Get Rich,” schemes; getting rich off of credit cards, get very rich when business is bad. It doesn’t matter who you exploit in the process. It doesn’t matter if you actions harm the national economy. Even President Obama has made claim, “There will be plenty of time to get rich, NOW is not the time.” These “Get Rich” schemes offer nothing only the shuffling of credit or an investment on paper. There is nothing tangible produced, nor service rendered. It is only money that collapses into a great abyss of nothingness. We make money and create riches with nothing to show, nothing produced. Do you think that is what the great ancestors of our nation wanted us to proceed? We are taking for granted all our ancestors have devoted to us, just like a rich kid from a wealthy family. And may I point out, what do the “Rich” truly contribute to society? What does Paris Hilton and Kim Kardarshian contribute other than entertainment for their debutante debauchery. It is the common man that keeps this nation’s wheels churning.

I take no issue with the desire for financial success in fact it is a goal I too possess. What sickens me is the desire for wealth in excess at the exploitation of others and a desire for richness with blindness to the events happening in our country. I watched Suze Orman answer online questions on a CNN broadcast. While others were worried about losing their jobs, feeding and sheltering their families, CNN had the nerve to broadcast this question, “I am inheriting 50 million dollars from my grandfather, how do I best invest my money to make more.” Goody two-shoes for richy, rich, but grossly offensive when ten percent of Americans are standing in unemployment lines with more to follow.

Another caller on CNN flaunted with great arrogance their spectacular credit score and how great they are with their finances. “How do I get by when others are screwing up the system?” Let me put this straight out there, if you are middle American making JUST enough money to pay the bills and feed your family-what happens when a car breaks down, home repairs, sickness or accidents. It doesn’t matter how good you are with paying your bills. You will go into debt. Empathy and compassion do wonders for a nation in crisis. Arrogance only exasperates the problem.

Here’s the thing. While the rich are worried about their riches and getting richer in a down economy, the people who actually RUN this country (the working class) are losing their jobs. How is this nation to survive if we don’t give respect to the people who are actually doing the work? I recently heard one complaint from a woman whose hairdresser went out of business. “Who’s going to style my hair?”

I’d like to remind those flaunting of their prowess of finances and the unconscious richy-riches of the French Revolution, as a class rift is seemingly growing wider and wider. Marie Antoinette may have fed her scraps to the peasants, but in the end, the peasants had her head.