Life is Funny

I watched a TV commercial the other day about some diet system. They went on and on with about 4 or 5 people who claim they’ve lost 30-80 pounds on the system.  They have flashy graphics, music, text, make it sound so upbeat, entertaining, and revolutionary.

Then the tiny words come across the screen:

"Results not typical"    and then   "Renumerated testimonial" and something about "Top Results from control group"

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Translation?

If you buy their diet system, then typically you could not expect these results. (so why bother)

If you are basing your decision on what the testimonials say, they were PAID to say it (so why bother)

If you believe that the diet system actually works as intended, the fact is, they could have had 500 participants, and only 2% were successful. Leaving a 98% failure rate according to the term "top results from control group" (again, why bother with this system?)

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How much worse can these commericals get? They are nothing more than a smoke & mirrors presentation, and they use little white flashed text on the screen to discount what they are saying:

"THIS DIET SYSTEM IS GREAT, YOU TOO CAN LOSE AS MUCH AS I DID"
(text flashes: results not typical)

What’s the point of that? I hate commercials that sell lies.

Actually, I hate commercials period.

In the area where I live, we occassionally eat out, or have food delivered to our house.  I’ve noticed a few distinct differences these days, while the Economy is slow:

ADVANTAGES:
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1. When calling any Pizza Place for food delivery, I am never put on hold, I get through on the first ring.

2. When going to visit a restaurant, there is never a wait, and always a huge amount of empty seats.

3. It is easy to find parking when I pickup our lunch or dinner, or when visiting a restaurant to dine.

DISADVANTAGES:
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1. East Indian food we had picked up tasted old, some of the food items were definately NOT fresh. They skimped on the chicken and decided to fill the foil bowl with more watery sauce. This is their way of saving money — give watered down sauce with a few cubes of curry chicken in it.

2. Chinese food we had delivered tasted like it had be cooked, refrigerated, reheated in the microwave and then sent to our house. It was very bland tasting, the flavor from one dish, went into the second dish — almost like it was the same unclean WOK or pan that cooked everything.

3. In both cases, we did NOT save our left overs, and ended up throwing out the food. This brings no value to the table now, because generally the added expense is worth it… but only if you can use the left overs for lunch the following day.

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So what does this mean?

Like the majority of the population out there; we are not going to be ordering food in, nor dining out as much either. Obviously these restaurants are doing poorly and rather than throw out food product that is no longer fresh – they are serving it anyway!

Have any of you noticed the same degraded quality in restaurant food?

What about when you phone a restaurant to order food — do you get through pretty quickly as opposed to 4 or 5 years ago?

Well, irregardless of what you are watching on TV, there is no secret that everyone is feeling the effects of the economy, job losses, and unemployment this year, 2009.

It was just a few months ago, we were all celebrating New Years Eve — everyone was hoping this year would be better — well frankly it’s very clear — 2009 is about economic survival.

That’s right.

Holding onto your job (if you’re lucky enough to have one) — putting food on the table, having shelter, and keeping that used car running as long as you can, is about all you can hope for to have a successful year.

Everyone is cutting back.

They are ordering food less, and eating in restaurants less..

They are avoiding tourist attractions, and staying local, near home.

They are lowering their cell phone plans. They’re cutting back on Cable and Satellite TV packages.

We’re removing the “extras” in life that we’ve all taken granted.

A dollar saved here — a dollar saved there — and we feel better about our situations.

So what’s the answer? When will this economy improve?

As soon as we all stop saving our money, and we start spending it! Isn’t that ironic?  In order for the economy to improve, we must go back out there and live lavish carefree lives. Buy stocks, go on Vacation, order food in or visit a restaurant 3 or 4 times a week.  Once that happens, and everyone starts spending — guess what? JOBS GET CREATED — not lost!

So…. who wants to be first? Who wants to bankrupt their wallet and then wait and see if it works?

Well not me — and probably not you..

So guess what? The economy will get worse. Hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost or cut-back.  Unemployment will rise, maybe even double what it is now in the next year or two.

Then that spells the right conditions for an Economic Depression.

About 2 years ago, I remember going through a fastfood restaurant, ordering a Deluxe burger, fries, and a drink. It came out to $8.96 and I couldn’t believe that cost.  Probably 80% of that was profit.

Now the same restaurant, is touting their dollar menu. Their normal meal combo is only $3.99 - Probably 35% of that is still profit for them.

So what does that mean?  Large Corporations who have been making huge profits all along — now are making smaller profits — but they will ride out this Recession which may very well soon be a Depression.

But the little guys – the regular middle class of society, are going to go through life changing experiences. We have to sell that second car or truck. No more boats or ATV’s.  Our channel line up will dwindle. We’ll only use our cell phone minutes in emergencies.  No more travel to remote destinations. Save, save save. Pay bills, and get hounded by credit card companies.

The best thing you can do, is stop watching the news, and talk to your neighbors, friends, and family members. That is where the real story is…

TV media will go on and on all day long about how well things are, how things are short term, and how things will improve.  But that’s selling optimisim to the masses. Luckily we have the internet, YouTube, and blogs to really reinforce what we all see.

I don’t need a TV with scripted news anchors telling me something different than what is actually happening out there.

Be careful, and good luck.