Jimbo's Journal

Woke up yesterday about 6am and felt like crap.  My hip was bothering me and I had the beginnings of a headache that got worse throughout the day.  I called in sick, went back to sleep until about 9, got up for a bit then slept again til noon.   I felt like crap all day and didn't accomplish any of the things I had wanted to by staying home (yes, I was capable of going to work but for the use-em-or-lose-em sick days).   I still have a sinus-y headache and feel somewhat lightheaded, and my hip hurts, though less than yesterday.

Free pizza day at work today.

Got our ESOP statement with paychecks today.  I have a total of under $6,000 (split between cash and stock).  After SEVEN F@¢£ing years, that's all I have, $6,000 ?!?!?!?   When I left my previous job after 7yrs-8mo I had over $23,000 in my 401K.  Jeebus! this place sucks!

Wow, Jon Stewart is really going off on Jim Cramer on the Daily Show tonight.  Why does it always seem to fall on Jon Stewart to ask the difficult questions of these people rather than the actual news media?

Here's the entire interview, uncut and uncensored.

I was watching a bit of Morning Joe on MSNBC this morning.  Right before I had to leave, Jim Cramer came on and started whining (Limbaughing?) about how the Obama administration was being mean to him or singling him out or some shit.  Jim Cramer is the ass who screams and hollers and gesticulates on tv.  He's the one who famously insisted that "Bear Stearns is fine!  Bear Stearns is not in trouble.  Do not move your money from Bear"  only FIVE days before Bear Stearns crashed hard.

Now I see this article which claims that Jim Cramer manipulates the market by making claims (promoting or trashing) about certain stocks and makes huge profits by naked short selling those stocks.  Isn't there some sort of regulation about politicians not being allowed to know which stocks/funds their money is invested in due to their unusual power and influence?  Methinks that these jackasses with financial tv shows should be the same.

I recorded this a couple weeks ago but just got around to watching it over the weekend.  I was fairly disappointed in that it didn't really give me much information that I didn't know already.  It had some man-on-the-street interviews asking people what the deficit is, what the debt is, what a trade deficit is, etc.  I know these things.  Most of the interviewees didn't.  As if that isn't depressing enough, there's the fact that all of these have been steadily increasing almost exponentially in the last 20-30 years.  I knew this also, but the movie does give it some perspective.  CNN broadcast this with Ali Velshi (sp?) and  woman whose name escapes me as "moderators" while they had an in studio panel of Bill Bradley, David Walker (former Controller General of U.S.) and Peter G Peterson (former SecCommerce and former CEO of Lehman).   I found these panel discussions much more interesting than the actual movie, though not nearly in-depth enough.  All expressed how dire the current situation is if we don't get things turned around.

One thing that I don't hear much about (a political third rail?) is how with this current recession/depression, the government NEEDS to spend, spend, spend (they all agreed on this), yet this only increases the national debt which has become a black hole.  Basically the ONLY way out is to cut spending dramatically AND increase taxes.  Not something which people want to hear.

And on the current recession/depression, I found this interesting.  I saw an onscreen reference to this site on The Rachel Maddow Show and she made mention to some of these figures.  The "Bang for the Buck" that federal spending puts back into the economy:

Tax cuts actually cost more than they inject into the economy, while "entitlements" like extending unemployment and increasing food stamps pump in MUCH more than they cost.

A while back I posted that I had discovered that the Rockport shoes that I currently wear were MADE IN USA.  The soles are getting really worn and I really need to get a new pair, so I went down to the Factory outlet store a few weeks ago.  They didn't have anything in my size that jumped out at me, so I decided to check back later.  I haven't gotten a chance to go back there but was thinking about doing so this weekend.  Well, after work today, I stopped at a Famous Footwear and was surprised to see that they carry Rockport shoes.  I found a random pair and looked under the tongue (I had failed to do this at the outlet store, making the assumption) only to find those dreaded (but nearly universal) words MADE IN CHINA.  I am so disappointed.  I've been holding out, determined to give this company my business (and, yes, pay considerably more) for this very reason, and now .....   I feel strangely depressed about this whole thing.

Here's who Obama should nominate as his Secretary of Treasury, though I don't have any idea if he is interested in such a post.

Dr. Ravi Batra

I posted this in another thread, but I think it deserves its own post:

Regarding Joe the Plumber.
See the video here. 
Did McCain speak with Joe the Plumber? If so, can someone please link to it.

If I understood Obama correctly, JoeP would only be taxed the higher rate on the profit over $250,000. So if I remember correctly and the rates were 36% and 39% (???), then
if JoeP makes $250,000- taxed at 36%, he pays $9,000

If JoeP makes $280,000- he will be taxed for $250,000 @ 36% and $30,000 @ 39% = ($90,000 + $11,700) = $101,700

If he makes $280,000 and is taxed at the straight 36% that Obama is proposing, he will be taxed $100,800

That's a difference of $900.

And if you recalculate the first scenario as a "flat percentage" it comes to 36.3214% (instead of 36%). If that $900 is going to keep JoeP from opening his business ..... well, then JoeP probably needs a better business plan.

And of course these scenarios don't include the 50% reduction in health costs that Obama mentioned, nor does it include a $3,000 tax credit for hiring a new employee in the U.S. 
 

Here's a handy chart:

BASE	$250,000.00		-		$90,000.00		36.0000%
+	$260,000.00		$3,900.00		$93,900.00		36.1154%
+	$270,000.00		$7,800.00		$97,800.00		36.2222%
+	$280,000.00		$11,700.00		$101,700.00		36.3214%
+	$290,000.00		$15,600.00		$105,600.00		36.4138%
+	$300,000.00		$19,500.00		$109,500.00		36.5000%
+	$310,000.00		$23,400.00		$113,400.00		36.5806%
+	$320,000.00		$27,300.00		$117,300.00		36.6563%
+	$330,000.00		$31,200.00		$121,200.00		36.7273%
+	$340,000.00		$35,100.00		$125,100.00		36.7941%
+	$350,000.00		$39,000.00		$129,000.00		36.8571%

Of course, it should also be said that I don't know what McCain would tax him, so maybe Obama's 36% (or 36.3214%) is still too high for Joe.  I'm only commenting on Obama's tax difference between those under $250,000 and those over $250,000 as I understand it.

I saw a video several years ago on the "creation of money" on The Learning Channel or Discovery or something.  It was fascinating: how money is "created" by lending; I wish I could find the video.  The problem is, money isn't actually created.  I think this article sums it up nicely (you might skip down to the subheading of The Shell Game of the Goldsmiths): http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/dollar-deception.php

This video is very similar to the one I remember:

( Videos )

Last week 9/24/08, I got my cell phone bill.  On it was a $9.99 (monthly) charge for some text message service.  I called to get more information and a credit as I had not (knowingly) signed up for any text message service.  I could not find in my phone any text message incoming or outgoing from near that date.  While on the phone with customer service, I got another text which included the same phone number as the one showing on the bill.  The customer service agent explained to me to text a cancellation message back to the source (23907) but said I would have to call the attached 800 number to get the charge credited from my cell bill.  So I called the 800 number to do this but got a generic message stating that I had to send a email to _____.com.  I did.  I still have not heard back from them.  Then this evening I got another text message, immediately followed by a second text message.  Both from the same place as before but with a different 5-digit code (97000 instead of 23907) but same 800 number, and this time saying $19.99 per month.  So I immediately called Verizon again.  He said he showed another charge on my account (I think it was from the text I got while on the phone on the 24th).  He immediately credited that charge, but for whatever reason was still not able (allowed?) to credit that first $9.99 charge.  He didn't see any other charges, but noted to check my account tomorrow to see if any showed up and to credit them.  Apparently I just have to eat the original $9.99 charge.  He did say that he put a LOCKOUT on any premium text messages for my phone.  This is such a scam that I can't believe these companies are allowed to get away with shit like this.

Bernie Sanders, the Independent Senator from Vermont, is a regular guest every Friday on The Thom Hartmann Program. He seems to really have his ducks in a row, as they say. I am getting really sick of all these laissez-faire, free-market capitalists supporting all these corporate bailouts and takeovers. So I found this clip endlessly entertaining (if imbed doesn't work):

( Video behind the cut )Bernie Sanders calls Larry Kudlow a socialist.


I'm no expert on the ISMs of the world, but I was thinking (BEWARE!), isn't this more specifically the merging of government and business*, or ....... fascism?  That set me off down a whole new pathway of thinking which, needless to say, was not very optimistic.


*There's been all this talk about the government gaining equity shares in the companies that it bails out or takes over, etc, but I think that is just masking over the problem, providing a good spin of the situation.  I find it all truly frightening and very dangerous.



Bernie Sanders:  "If these companies are too big to fail, then they're too big to exist.  We need to start breaking them up."

To recap, I bought a new laptop at Best Buy in .... March (Feb?).  When I got it home it had a defect, so I returned it.  When I returned it, they credited my account, but neglected to recharge the new one.  So when I got my credit card statement and noticed, I decided to do the right thing and point it out to them.  I went in to the store and they (re)charged me for the laptop.  I noticed about a month after that that they hadn't given me my Reward Zone points.  So, I went in again, and blah, blah, they wound up crediting my account AGAIN and recharged my card.  Well, NOW I haven't been able to find the credit on my credit card statement.  So, now instead of not charging me at all, they've charged me twice  (at least if my observation is correct) ...... which is EXACTLY what I had worried about in the first place..... and makes me question my decision to "do the right thing" in the first place.

Well, I'm unusually busy right now AND I don't want to deal with this AGAIN!!!!  So I'm pissed off and confused and freaking out and anxious, and I can't do anything because I'm sitting here at work and my receipts are all at home and I'm busy and don't know when I will be able to address this ...............  AARRGGHH!!

 So it appears that since I forgot to sign my tax return and had to sign and resend it, I don't get a $600 bribe.  Unless that follows as much as a week later, which I doubt.

From the run-up to the 2000 election (June 28, 2000), comes this little gem:

WAYNE, Mich., June 27 -- Gov. George W. Bush of Texas said today that if he was president, he would bring down gasoline prices through sheer force of personality, by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude.

Maybe he actually caused gas prices to rise because everyone hates him so much?

Implicit in his comments was a criticism of the Clinton administration as failing to take advantage of the good will that the United States built with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf war in 1991.

Yeah, remember the horrible, horrible days of $2.00/gal gasoline in the mid-90s?

Asked why the Clinton administration had not been able to use the power of personal persuasion, Mr. Bush said: "The fundamental question is, 'Will I be a successful president when it comes to foreign policy?' " ... "I will be," he said in answer to his own question....

.... umm .... No!

He went on to suggest, as he did in answer to other questions, that voters should simply trust him.

He said he would "make the case that I'm the person that can change the tone of Washington, D.C.," and added, "Just give me a chance to be the president."

Oh, he surely did that. 
 

What a week.  Very busy.  Busy like I haven't been in a LONG time.  My work ethic has suffered (as I had guessed it might), and I am currently very flustered by having to do so much at once.  

Last thursday (before the Mem Day weekend) one of my vendors/friends informed me that one of his customers has a purchasing position open.  I haven't sent an email (with resume) to the guy yet...... I'm not sure about it (from the VERY little that I know), mainly because it's way in Schaumburg.  Though I do plan on trying to move east .... If I ever get off my ass.  Also he said that the guy seems to want someone right away.  No matter how much I seem to dislike my job sometimes, I feel VERY uncomfortable about giving NO notice to an employer.  Anyway, I'm going to contact the guy and find out more.

Now, the good (per memo).  The company finally broke the $6million sales barrier.  We got a substantial bonus check today.  The first one I've received in 6 years.  The memo also mentioned (same as last year and the year before) that we would be getting new software.  Hah!  I'll believe it when I see it.  But I am much less skeptical under the circumstances.

I feel like I have gotten a lot done this week, but haven't really made any progress towards finishing anything.

 

I can't say that I know what that means right now, other than knowing that I won't have overwhelming guilt later.

On Tuesday I got my credit card bill.  It seemed a LOT lower than I thought it would be.  I had, after all, bought my laptop.  Wednesday I got around to looking at the itemizations.  I noticed the charge for the laptop and then the next day, after I had discovered the flaw on the display, I showed the credit for returning it.  It did not, however, have a charge for the replacement.  So today after work, I went an hour out of my way to go back to the store to point out their mistake.  Sure enough, they recognized that they made a mistake.  My consciense is clear.  Yet I couldn't help hoping that they'd "reward" me somehow, perhaps a gift card.  I had to explicitly remind myself that that is not the reason for doing this.  I did it because it's the right thing to do.  I've felt bad for days sometimes after noticing that the grocery or department store accidentally left items off the bill and I neglected to say anything.  Yet there is a selfish part of me that wants recognition.  I'd be lying if I said that wasn't part of the reason for writing this, so please, no "attaboys."  I just feel like whenever I do the right thing, I have nothing to show for it.

 Mike: Order these two items from Vendor A.
Me: OK 
*checks - two items total $298, $2 short of free freight.*
Me: Do we need anything else so we don't have to pay freight?
Mike: No, that's fine, just order them.
*orders - pays $7.48 freight*
*time passes - about 20-30 minutes*
Mike: We need these, too (from Vendor A)
*two items total $12.75*
*orders - pays $6.81 freight*
*time passes - only about 2 minutes*
Mike: order one of these, too (from Vendor A)
*one item total $29*
*orders - pays $6.81 freight* 
TOTAL = $21.10 in completely avoidable freight charges.

The last item is for a different project and different P.O. so it would have been harder to combine them effectively.  The first two were for the identical P.O.   These were all ordered online, and Vendor A just so happens to be WAY TOO efficient for my own good.  :-)

This is the kind of stuff that drives me batty about this  place.  This happens on a regular basis and often entails UPS NDA charges and people spazzing out.  No one cares ... or even understands, for that matter.

Why are the solicitors who call for donations for the police (and fire) ALWAYS such complete assholes?!?!

And does anyone else feel like they're in possible danger of retribution from them if you don't make a donation?

....or is it just me?

I got my notice in the mail yesterday that my government would be mailing out the stimulus checks ... soon .... sometime .... whenever ...... maybe......

Apparently it cost $42 million to send out these notices.   And they're planning on sending a second notice.  Money well spent  (or as I "accidentally" typed the first time - money, well, spent).  How about adding that $42 million to the stimulus instead?  Or spending it on something useful?  Or at the very least, not borrowing it and increasing the debt?

Fucktards!

I look at the Top 10 All Time Worldwide Box Office and I really don't like the list:

I look at the list of Top 10 All Time Domestic Box Office and I feel slightly better (maybe I'm just nostalgic  because SW and ET are still on it):

I like the Adjusted (Domestic?) Gross list MUCH better (though I've still never seen #1 or #8):

 http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/

Yes, this is just my subjective reaction, and I'm sure I'll get some dissenting opinions.  But, come on!  There's way too many Pirates and Potter movies (and it's not that I dislike them) on the non-adjusted lists.  And Shrek 2 ?!?!  (this one I didn't care for)

If you remember a few months ago I wrote about my stress concerning a medical procedure and how I was worried about the insurance company and doctors' office screwing everything up .... AGAIN.  Well.....

For few months I've been receiving statements from the doctors' office and my insurance company stating that they are in contact about the procedure that I had at the end of October.  The doctors statements have been showing the overall bill and the adjusted bill minus the insurance coverage.

Well Friday (?) I got a new one from the insurance company, stating basically that they've tried to get certain info from the doctor and not received it and therefore no coverage will be assessed (whatever the terminology is, it's very similar to the one I received last time).  Anyway, the main jist of the letter seems to be that I will AGAIN be held responsible for the ENTIRE bill, which this time exceeds $2600.  Now, last time the doctor's office wound up writing off the whole thing because .... I don't want to get into it again.  Needless to say, I'm once again anticipating a MAJOR headache and pain in the ass.  Yippeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!