Microphone Please ...
Thursday, June 21, 2007
sicko ?
Do you think Michael Moore would really care so much if he wasn't making millions off his movies? Could he be the Rush Limbaugh for the left? If we had goverment health care do you think he would be the first one to sign up?
Somehow I don't think so. I don't think he has so much a political agenda as he does have an avenue for finding ways to make money off of generating contreversy. Im wondering if one day he'll attack the drive by news media or the paparazzi that helps him promote his films? Hrmm... Maybe we'll see him sunbathing in Monaco with a thong on the cover of National Enquirer.
Inquiring minds want to know?
brrr.......
Somehow I don't think so. I don't think he has so much a political agenda as he does have an avenue for finding ways to make money off of generating contreversy. Im wondering if one day he'll attack the drive by news media or the paparazzi that helps him promote his films? Hrmm... Maybe we'll see him sunbathing in Monaco with a thong on the cover of National Enquirer.
Inquiring minds want to know?
brrr.......
posted by Jules at 8:08 PM
Here we go again.
Again I ask, why do we care? In a previous post I talked about is. Why does anyone care what this woman does? How many other people are serving more or less the same sentence right now for the same crime? Is it that the people care first and want to see it in the media or is it that media playing the "wag the dog" again?
Train wreck news. Sigh. Move on.
Train wreck news. Sigh. Move on.
Labels: paris hilton, train wreck news
posted by Jules at 7:49 PM
Not your normal war. 14 more US soldiers dead
Folks. This isn't your normal war. Then again, what do we call a "normal" war? 14 more soldiers dead in 2 days. Parents and families cringe each time they see this in the news. Waiting for that letter or knock on their door. Who could stand this kind of trama.
These soldiers aren't killed in the line of fire or combat. They're killed by cowards that run up in cars filled with explosives. We cannot fight this kind of religous war. Don't believe me, ask the russians. They gave up on doing this kind of battle against Iran and Iraq years ago. How can you fight a simple act of a car driving up to checkpoint where gaurds are doing their job and waiting for the next car to explode. Drive up.... BAHM! another 4-5 soldiers dead. Its pointless. Its a pointless war were no real battle can be fought and this continued nonsense will continue. It makes me angry! What makes me more angry is that we created this mess. Our goverment. Meanwhile boatloads of oil are being shuttled out on tankers and our illustrious goverment is protecting them as well as the endless bilking of our pockets without price controls on oil or energy prices. Each bill passed to our president is vetoed and will continue to be vetoed without reason.
Ill be the first to say, if the Iraqi's want to win this war it wont be through the death toll (by the way, its over 3000 as of this post.) It will be through the media. Drop the guns, pick up cameras and follow the tankers. Head out to the oil fields and track where their countrys oil is going. Put it back in the faces of our goverment. Show them how their countries oil is being bilked and stolen to pay for a war they really dont want to have anymore.
Its a war of their religion and our wanting to suck them dry of every natural resource. I can garuantee once the country's oil is gone, We will be out!
These soldiers aren't killed in the line of fire or combat. They're killed by cowards that run up in cars filled with explosives. We cannot fight this kind of religous war. Don't believe me, ask the russians. They gave up on doing this kind of battle against Iran and Iraq years ago. How can you fight a simple act of a car driving up to checkpoint where gaurds are doing their job and waiting for the next car to explode. Drive up.... BAHM! another 4-5 soldiers dead. Its pointless. Its a pointless war were no real battle can be fought and this continued nonsense will continue. It makes me angry! What makes me more angry is that we created this mess. Our goverment. Meanwhile boatloads of oil are being shuttled out on tankers and our illustrious goverment is protecting them as well as the endless bilking of our pockets without price controls on oil or energy prices. Each bill passed to our president is vetoed and will continue to be vetoed without reason.
Ill be the first to say, if the Iraqi's want to win this war it wont be through the death toll (by the way, its over 3000 as of this post.) It will be through the media. Drop the guns, pick up cameras and follow the tankers. Head out to the oil fields and track where their countrys oil is going. Put it back in the faces of our goverment. Show them how their countries oil is being bilked and stolen to pay for a war they really dont want to have anymore.
Its a war of their religion and our wanting to suck them dry of every natural resource. I can garuantee once the country's oil is gone, We will be out!
posted by Jules at 7:28 AM
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Windows Live Writer? Does it work for everyone?
I have to say that I have been looking for a better interface for my blog then what blogger has to offer. By no means am I a coder. For me it preferable to have a tool that just works without having to understand some new development language or interface. So is Windows Live writer the one? We shall see...
For now, how about a photo of the sisters?
bank overdrafts pending transactions scams fees
I think the title about covers it all. Let me make it clear, I hate banks. 20 years of having checking accounts and I can't stand them. Here is why. Banks are not out there to just hold your money, they are out to make billions off your money. The average American today lives paycheck to paycheck. I don't care what you make. Banks pray on this. They play the odds they know that work.
- ATM Fees
- overdraft fees
- transaction fees
- check sorting
All of the above are what the banks consider just gravy on top of what they already make on your money in terms of investments. If the banks couldn't make a large amount of gain off of all the money they hold for you, they wouldn't bother. (Don't believe me, look at corporate pension funds? Gone they cant make the money and can't afford the loss) Some of you probably ask, "you wouldn't have this problem is you just balance your checkbook." and I would agree with you. Except again, banks play the odds and the odds are the majority of people don't carry checkbooks. Find me how many restaurants today even take a check. Ever write a check at a gas station and see the dirty looks you get. So for right now lets play upon reality and being that the banks know you're going to use your check card.
Right now, every bank out there could turn your "debit" card into a full fledged credit card with a preset limit and every transaction would clear right away out of your bank at the MOMENT you made the transaction. No overdrafts! GONE! Tell me a normal credit card company that pends a transaction much less bother sorting one. Even a debit transaction comes right out of your bank right away. Well sorta, lets talk about that in a minute because that's a farce too. The banks don't want your "debit" card to act as a credit card. They gamble on you to overdraft your account. They would loose billions in revenue every year without it.
Overdraft fees. Every year they get worse. My bank, Wells Fargo, is now up to $35 for an overdraft fee per transaction. you overdraft by so much as 5 cents they will charge you $35. The system that does this for banks is automated. The software and accounting for overhead has LOOONG been paid for. Its gravy and costs the banks practically nothing to do. Its now an extra electron on the screen.
Check sorting - One of my biggest gripes is every bank check sorts. What is check sorting? let me explain.
Say your bank account has $100 in it on Friday and they state that you can shop the whole weekend but they wont update your pending transactions till Tuesday morning. This is what Wells Fargo does. You will show the pending transactions, (on and off) throughout the weekend online. They will even show them in the manner in which you made the charges. Now look below at your weekends transactions...
Friday - Coffee $2
Friday - dinner $12
Saturday - new shirt $5
Saturday - Ice cream $1.23
Saturday - new radio $32.00
Sunday - new tires $64
You understand looking at the end of the day you made one transaction too many. Or did you?
How much did you overdraft and at what point? the one overdraft right? The $64 right? You over drafted on one transaction at $64 so a $35 is feed one time right? Even on Sunday the bank shows you the account in the way in which you made them throughout the day which you assume to be correct.
NO
Come Tuesday all of those pending transaction are sorted from largest to smallest by your bank. Its call check sorting. Banks do it on purpose. They yell you that they are working on YOUR best interest by clearing you biggest transactions first. THAT'S CRAP!
What you end up with ...
$100 in account
- $64 = $36
- $32 = $3
- $12 = - $9 (plus a $35 fee)
- $5 = -$14 (plus another $35 fee)
- $2 = -$16 (plus another $35 fee)
- $1.23 -$17.23 (Another overdraft fee again $35)
You have just now accrued $140 for one overdraft mistake you made on Sunday. Again you might say, well its your fault for not keeping track. I have to disagree, since when does the bank have the right to take your money and play games. Check sorting should be illegal but its not. Every bank does this.
My bank told me, if you want to make sure the money is removed right away then you should use debit. Again, they lied because both Wells Fargo and Bank of America sort debit transactions as well. I have seen my bank take a debit removal out of my ATM where the money no longer existed and sort it ahead of another transaction that didn't exist when I had removed the funds. They play the transaction to suit there needs.
Deposits - The bank tells you your deposits clear before transactions. However my payroll, which is direct deposit the 15th and 30th of every month, hits a 2 .am on those days. Guess what, my bank first tells me they don't control direct deposits but yet my payroll department says they are lying and they have the money from my job 3-5 days in advance and they ARE indeed in control of when the deposit hits. So again, my bank lies to me.
So my point. Banks are there to gamble and they only play the odds that win. I wouldn't even care so much about the overdrafts if it wasn't for the check and transaction sorting. You miss one check or transaction and if its big enough they can hit you against a ton of smaller ones that you already know about. STOP CHECK SORTING !
- ATM Fees
- overdraft fees
- transaction fees
- check sorting
All of the above are what the banks consider just gravy on top of what they already make on your money in terms of investments. If the banks couldn't make a large amount of gain off of all the money they hold for you, they wouldn't bother. (Don't believe me, look at corporate pension funds? Gone they cant make the money and can't afford the loss) Some of you probably ask, "you wouldn't have this problem is you just balance your checkbook." and I would agree with you. Except again, banks play the odds and the odds are the majority of people don't carry checkbooks. Find me how many restaurants today even take a check. Ever write a check at a gas station and see the dirty looks you get. So for right now lets play upon reality and being that the banks know you're going to use your check card.
Right now, every bank out there could turn your "debit" card into a full fledged credit card with a preset limit and every transaction would clear right away out of your bank at the MOMENT you made the transaction. No overdrafts! GONE! Tell me a normal credit card company that pends a transaction much less bother sorting one. Even a debit transaction comes right out of your bank right away. Well sorta, lets talk about that in a minute because that's a farce too. The banks don't want your "debit" card to act as a credit card. They gamble on you to overdraft your account. They would loose billions in revenue every year without it.
Overdraft fees. Every year they get worse. My bank, Wells Fargo, is now up to $35 for an overdraft fee per transaction. you overdraft by so much as 5 cents they will charge you $35. The system that does this for banks is automated. The software and accounting for overhead has LOOONG been paid for. Its gravy and costs the banks practically nothing to do. Its now an extra electron on the screen.
Check sorting - One of my biggest gripes is every bank check sorts. What is check sorting? let me explain.
Say your bank account has $100 in it on Friday and they state that you can shop the whole weekend but they wont update your pending transactions till Tuesday morning. This is what Wells Fargo does. You will show the pending transactions, (on and off) throughout the weekend online. They will even show them in the manner in which you made the charges. Now look below at your weekends transactions...
Friday - Coffee $2
Friday - dinner $12
Saturday - new shirt $5
Saturday - Ice cream $1.23
Saturday - new radio $32.00
Sunday - new tires $64
You understand looking at the end of the day you made one transaction too many. Or did you?
How much did you overdraft and at what point? the one overdraft right? The $64 right? You over drafted on one transaction at $64 so a $35 is feed one time right? Even on Sunday the bank shows you the account in the way in which you made them throughout the day which you assume to be correct.
NO
Come Tuesday all of those pending transaction are sorted from largest to smallest by your bank. Its call check sorting. Banks do it on purpose. They yell you that they are working on YOUR best interest by clearing you biggest transactions first. THAT'S CRAP!
What you end up with ...
$100 in account
- $64 = $36
- $32 = $3
- $12 = - $9 (plus a $35 fee)
- $5 = -$14 (plus another $35 fee)
- $2 = -$16 (plus another $35 fee)
- $1.23 -$17.23 (Another overdraft fee again $35)
You have just now accrued $140 for one overdraft mistake you made on Sunday. Again you might say, well its your fault for not keeping track. I have to disagree, since when does the bank have the right to take your money and play games. Check sorting should be illegal but its not. Every bank does this.
My bank told me, if you want to make sure the money is removed right away then you should use debit. Again, they lied because both Wells Fargo and Bank of America sort debit transactions as well. I have seen my bank take a debit removal out of my ATM where the money no longer existed and sort it ahead of another transaction that didn't exist when I had removed the funds. They play the transaction to suit there needs.
Deposits - The bank tells you your deposits clear before transactions. However my payroll, which is direct deposit the 15th and 30th of every month, hits a 2 .am on those days. Guess what, my bank first tells me they don't control direct deposits but yet my payroll department says they are lying and they have the money from my job 3-5 days in advance and they ARE indeed in control of when the deposit hits. So again, my bank lies to me.
So my point. Banks are there to gamble and they only play the odds that win. I wouldn't even care so much about the overdrafts if it wasn't for the check and transaction sorting. You miss one check or transaction and if its big enough they can hit you against a ton of smaller ones that you already know about. STOP CHECK SORTING !
Labels: banks, fees, overdrafts, pending transaction, scam