Here’s a realization:

Sometimes in business we just do things without realizing the impact involved. Let me give you an example. In my business if I invoice someone $100 and they want to pay me via credit card, guess how many fingers there are in the pie:

1. If they keep that balance running on their credit card, they pay anywhere from 12% to 20% each month

2. As the merchant, I pay 1.75% of the fee to the credit card processor

3. In order to process that charge, I have to have and pay for a phone line to do the charge

4. In order to process on something, I either have to buy my own merchant terminal, or rent one each month

5. I deposit the funds into my bank, but at the end of every month, I pay bank fees in order to have an account.

6. By completing this sale, I must pay a book keeper to record the transaction

7. At the end of the year, I have to pay my accountant to file my taxes

8. Finally, the government gets to look at my books, say "oh, you made $100", let me tax you on it.

———

I am the one providing the service, I earned that $100, but I must share it with credit card processors, the telephone company, the merchant terminal provider, my bank, a book keeper, an accountant, and the government.

By the time all of that’s done, I get to keep whats left. Maybe by the time its all over, I get 50%.

Then what do I do with my half? I go out and buy something, But then I pay sales tax as well.

As business people, and as customers, there are way too many people involved in grabbing "their share" from us. Not only that, but the rate of inflation and cost of living goes up and down, so the dollar I earned is subject to whatever people think its worth that particular day.

Way too many fingers in the pie I am trying to create for myself. Anyone feel the same way?

(1) The guy hits a pinata and thousands of candies tumble to the ground illustrating how many Verizon customers there really are..

(2) Another variation of the commercial is when he is in an ice cream shop and dumps a whole jar of sprinkles on the counter

STOP – LET’S REALLY UNDERSTAND WHAT 80 MILLION CELLULAR PHONE CUSTOMERS- Really means..

Consider what your cell phone bill costs.

The average cell phone plan is around $20 a month in my guestimate. That’s without bells & whistles and extended airtime. 80,000,000 cellular customers paying their $20 a month cell phone bill is $1,600,000,000.00 a month in cellular phone revenue.

That’s 1.6 billion dollars in service fees a month! By Verizon alone!  How many other cellular networks are in business?

Here’s my question:

What ever happened to supply and demand?  If there is that many of us using these networks, shouldn’t the cost go down once the demand is so high like this? Why isn’t there more competitors undercutting each other?

Why I can I buy a 99 cent cheeseburger, but I can’t get a $5.00 monthly cell phone plan?

The cellular towers are already erected. The connection to the regular telephone networks is already in place. Does it really cost 1.6 billion dollars each month to keep the system running?

Of course not.

I am reading this 2008 financial report correctly, they took in $97 billion dollars of consolidated revenues in one year.

I mean, that’s fine — a company should make a profit.

But at some point, when is profit becoming a little excessive?

While the economy is hurting, how many of these large organizations are still well off? I know many of us are running around trying to keep our bills paid and watch our spending.

Why can’t some of these larger corporations lower their prices temporarily until the economy picks back up again?

I guess I am expecting too much.

But $1,600,000,000.00 in sales each month!

WOW!  If only I could run a business that sold $1.6 billion a month in services.

For now, I’m going to try and pay my cell phone bill.

————-

Disclaimer: I don’t want to attract Goliath here. These numbers are estimates and forecasts, done by an uneducated consumer that doesn’t know better. Please enjoy this blog entry as a form of entertainment. Do not take my statements as being actual fact of anything. Feel free to research and investigate what you want on your own. Or better yet, leave a comment.

CELEBRITIES DIE – SOCIETY IS IN SHOCK – WE WANT TO KNOW MORE – AND WE PAY ATTENTION – BUT WHY?

So the latest is that Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson both died on the same day. But neither one was making huge amounts of money before their death. Now that they’re dead, everyone wants to know about them.

Why is it that society cares more about the dead than the living?

I know the way I am writing this, it seems like I’m uncaring or that I have no compassion.

But at some point we have to realize, when you start being interested in someone "after it’s too late" and after they are already dead, then there is really something wrong with that.

The funny thing about Michael Jackson in particular, is that the majority wrote him off as a freak for all his plastic surgeries and for being charged with child molestation.  How many jokes was he the punch line of?

But he really did bring a lot of music to the masses — he was great at what he did.

The famous moon walk came from him — he deserved a lot better than the credit that society gave him.

Now he’s dead, and everyone seems to care more than they ever did.  Michael Jackson went bankrupt, and many people thought it was funny. A celebrity in despair knocks them back down to our level, and yet we’re all a bunch of nobody’s that enjoys it when that happens.

Society isn’t healthy when this kind of mindset seems appropriate and acceptable.

I watched a four hour movie tonight on TV about Michael Jackson and thoroughly enjoyed it. But that’s because he’s dead, and I’m interested before "it’s too late" and I don’t get another chance.  But — the fact that he’s already dead — makes it too late already. Showing interest in his life, after he’s dead, makes me a hypocrite and same with the rest of you who are now interested in knowing his life story after it’s too late.

There are only two times that society idolizes a celebrity — when they are reaching the top — and when they die.

This is plain wrong — but that’s how society works. None of us in our wildest dreams could even imagine being the one to bring music to the masses when Michael Jackson was the top of the charts. Do you realize how hard it was for him?  But every mistake in his life had to become public knowledge.  Everyone had the opportunity to judge him.

Celebrities do not have it easy. Every move they make — every public sentence they say — is out there to be evaluated, re-evaluated, judged, taken apart in pieces and analyzed. Any normal citizen of society could not handle that — but our attitude is that — they’re celebrities, they’re rich, they have to accept what is coming to them.

Listen to me closely.

It’s not celebrities that should be judged.

It’s society..

For we have it ALL wrong.

We’re the ones that need a learning lesson.

Respect celebrities – give them leeway to make mistakes, and stop being so critical judging them. Above all, let’s hate the intrusion they get in their lives — they should be able to live their lives off-screen without us watching their every move. If any of us filled their shoes by gaining success and popularity, we’d want the same thing.

I hope one day, people have a higher respect for celebrities than we do — if that ever happens, it means civilization has evolved.

P.S.

Michael Jackson, rest in peace. You did wonders in your time, and it’s time you rested without any of us judging you anymore.

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"

—

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?)

—

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.

ADVANTAGES:
============

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:
===============

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.

———————————————————————————————————-

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?

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.

Is this Global Warming, or is it the impending 2012 pole reversal that is coming into play early? Will these same places be getting snow in May 2010 next year?

It’s becoming impossible to predict weather patterns these days — it is just too chaotic.

I live in the Northwest, and here we are usually just getting lots of rain. But we’ve been getting heavy spurts of damaging wind, hail storms, snow… and if we’re lucky, the rare sunny break.

I think this type of weather pattern is starting to take its toll on people’s emotions too! Starve people from the Sun, and society starts to get easily angered and intolerant of one another.

I hope we see a good summer this year — I’m craving it already.

Have you noticed the same weird weather in your area? I’m interested in hearing your comments..

Ok, YES, YES, and YES….

1) In Poker you can legally bluff
2) In Poker you can get lucky

Here’s the thing… No one likes to play against people who have very little knowledge of the game. People who use little strategy, or skill. People who work on the premise “my wallet is larger than my poker skill” and then flood these online poker rooms..

It completely takes the fun out of the game.

It is akin to a Dart Tourney for money, where some idiot walks in, pays the entry fee, and covers his eyes and throws darts and accidentally constantly hits triple 20, or the bullseye. It’s an insult to the skilled players of the game, if someone who has more money than brains, wins by sheer luck.

Let’s say we train an ape to say “call, check, raise and fold” and follow the appropriate chip guestures. Meanwhile the ape has no knowledge of what the CARDS mean.

The ape ends up winning the WPT (World Poker Tournament) by sheer luck.  Do we salute the ape, and have a new respect for poker because an ape happened to get the right cards at the right time?

Let me give you an example of a poker hand I experienced tonight “online” for REAL MONEY:

The fish or donkey has 2, 3 suited of spades. 

Blind is $1/$2

He’s first to act, and calls $1

It goes all the way around, someone raises to $2, he calls…

It goes all the way around, 5 players in the pot.

Flop comes out, 10 hearts, 9 diamonds, 5 spades

Ok, this donkey no longer has a flush draw…

He also has no straight draw…

He also has not made a pair of any sort…

The pot is at $10, first person bets $6.00, second person folds, third person folds…

It eventually gets to him with 3 players in the pot, he CALLS with nothing at $6

This isn’t even a good bluff, because, he has absolutely no “outs”.

Fine, the moron calls, a 2 comes up on the turn.  Pot is huge now, like $28

The aggressive player bets $25.00, second person folds, the moron calls $25.00

Pot is massive now, its $53.00

River is a 3… the moron makes 2 pair… the aggressive player checks, the moron checks…

The aggressive player had 10’s…

The moron made 2 pair on the turn & river, but sat through the heavy betting with calls & checks.

That’s not bluffing… since there was no raising by the idiot.

He rode out the cards to the river with complete “junk” with a 3% chance of winning the entire way.

So  what fun or skill does this person bring to money games? NONE…

People would say “hey, we love donkeys and poker fish like this… eventually they break and we get their money”

True..

But the odd night you don’t — and it’s those nights that are hard to handle. Its very frustrating to play Texas Holdem Poker with people who do not understand the game, and win by sheer luck on a constant basis.

It’s this concept that turns away many good players from seeing the game through and making the game what it really should be…

I lost money tonight, on three different tables “online” with idiots and morons like this…

I makes me not to want to go back, which means that unless your playing for high stakes online.. there isn’t any point to playing for less than $100 buy-ins. Which ruins the fun that online gambling could be..

So I’m just going to have to hit in-person tournaments I suppose.

I am just having a hard time dealing with my frustration.

Then it proceeds to have the days & times in a tiny font. This leaves you having to find a parking spot, get out of your vehicle, walk up to the sign, only to find out the store is closing in 5 minutes, and you won’t have any time to shop.

What is the point of posting store hours in such tiny text? Don’t they realize that the majority of their customers will drive to the store in a vehicle of some sort?

Its a small rant for the day, but something I’ve never been able to figure out.

The benefits are obvious… health and cost…

So how hard is it to quit smoking? It all depends on what angle you are looking at..

Is it possible to do it without “quitting aids”.. like nicotine gum, patches, etc, etc..?

Sure.

The best way to quit smoking is to have ONE SIMPLE CARDINAL RULE:

“Stop smoking 100%”

Sounds simplistic, but I really mean it..

1. No “can I have just a puff?”

2. No “I had a real bad argument, I just need one cigarette today.. only one”

3. No “Well if I cut back to only 1/2 a pack, its better than I was before”…

4. No “Ok, I’ll let myself have up to 4 cigarettes a day, after meals, that sort of thing, it’s better than where I was before”

5. No “I’ll only smoke when I drink. Or.. I’ll only smoke among friends”

6. No “I won’t buy my own, but if someone gives me one for free… well.. that’s a control in itself isn’t it?”

SEE.. the brain addicted to nicotine will play with your thoughts. I will rationalize a 100 ways from Friday why it is perfectly ok to have just that one puff, that one drag, that one cigarette.

Infact, your emotions will become so sensitive, and you’ll argue with people around you to the point your body cries out “just have a smoke. Look how bad things are right now. You have every right to have a cigarette at this particular point eventhough you quit”

Life is full of drama. But when you are detoxing from cigarettes and nicotene Your mind WILL play tricks on you. Your emotions WILL run wild…

Everytime I’ve managed to quit smoking, it has always been “cold turkey”, which simply means, no aids of any sort. I simply stopped putting a cigarette to my lips and inhaling.

People who don’t smoke, don’t understand. There are 3 types of people in this world:

1. Non-smokers. They have never smoked, have no desire to smoke, and secretly are disgusted and despise people who smoke. They don’t understand them, think it is a filthy habit, and “how could you”

2. Ex-smokers. These are a very specialized group of people that totally demand the upmost respect. They were non-smokers at one point. They also became totally addicted smokers. They understand both sides of the social coin that dictates that smoking is no longer socially or ethically acceptable.  Do they crave cigarettes to this day? YES THEY DO.. ALL OF THEM. There are records of people who have smoked for 10 years straight, then abstained and quit for 20 years, and then one day, out of the blue, something major in their lives has put them back to smoking again.

Ex-smokers, deserve respect.  They are fighting a day-to-day battle. Albeit, some of them are hurting more than others.. But any ex-smoker could be a smoker again tomorrow, given the right chance, opportunity, situation, and want.

Ex-smokers have it the worst of all 3 types.

Now the next type….

3. SMOKERS. These are people who are still smoking everyday. There are varying degrees of smokers. Some are up to a pack a day… some are only smoking on the weekends, or while drinking. Nonetheless, these are people who need to smoke cigarettes as part of their normal lives. The nicotine levels in their bodies dictate how often they smoke, and how much they crave to smoke.

Some of these people have quit before.. the majority have not – they have smoked all their lives, and it is the one daily routine that they have that they depend on..

Smokers who have tried to quit, and failed numerous times, have it the worst. They have not proven to themselves that they have the willpower to stop the addiction. They may admit to you, “yes, I want to, need to, and will do whatever it takes to… QUIT SMOKING”.

But some of these smokers just can’t. They’ve tried cold turkey, they’ve tried nicotine gum, they’ve tried the nicotine patch, and they’ve tried all kinds of aids.. nothing works.

———————

Unless you’ve been a smoker, successfully quit, and remain a non-smoker to this day, please don’t volunteer or suggest anything to these groups of people.

Tobacco, nicotine, tar, and 3,000 other chemicals (including formaldehyde) are prevalent in cigarettes today. It is a very ugly and terrible addiction, but the surprising part is that it is taxed and made legal by our government to this very day.

To understand who is writing this blog post. I will let you know that I had successfully quit smoking for 8 years. That’s a very long time. At some point I went on vacation where everyone smoked around me. After 8 years of abstaining I figured I had the strength and drive to be able to smoke with them, and stop when I returned home.

Guess what?
Nicotine back into my blood stream… the addiction came back just like I was a smoker yesterday.

After returning home from my “vacation” where I thought I could smoke and flirt with cigarette death and stop at my own will power.. I proceeded to keep my “high” going for another few months, to another couple years, buying cartons of cigarettes upon cartons of cigarettes.. until one day I realized “I thought I could stop it anytime, but everyday I wake up, I find myself saying “not yet”.. maybe tomorrow”.

Cigarettes, tobacco, and nictotine, are sister families to cocaine, heroine, and alcohol.

Don’t be fooled…

Cigarettes are legal

Cigarettes are $10 a pack or less, affordable in most families

Cigarettes will eventually kill or maim you

Cigarettes are a drug

Cigarettes are extremely difficult to quit

Cigarettes haunt ex-smokers everyday, and should eventually be contra-band.

The addictive nature of cigarettes is enough for people to realise that they do not smoke “because they want to”.. but instead, their bodies indirectly crave and tell them “you need another smoke”.

So what is left to be said?

It’s New Years Eve, and you want to make a New Years Resolution infront of family & friends. “I’m going to quit smoking” you say.

Well compare it to some other socially acceptable things, and see how hard, and stupid your statement sounds…

“As my New Years Resolution, I will only watch TV programs for 12 minutes and then change the channel”

DUMB? YES! HARD TO FOLLOW PERMANENTLY? YES

“As my New Years Resolution, I will only take 2 bites into any hamburger I encounter, and throw the rest in the garbage”

DUMB? YES! HARD TO FOLLOW PERMANENTLY? YES

“As my New Years Resolution, I will only sleep 3 hours every night, and eventhough I am still tired and sleepy, I will wake up and stay awake for the remaining 21 hours everyday”

DUMB? YES! HARD TO FOLLOW PERMANENTLY? YES

“As my New Years Resoluttion, I will no longer smoke cigarettes. The pleasure, relaxation and history I have smoking cigarettes as party of my daily life will now stop, like a train hitting the side of a mountain. My whole daily life will change, on a dime without any friction or problem.”

DUMB? YES! HARD TO FOLLOW PERMANENTLY? YES

Please understand what smokers who try to quit, go through. Their salvation and pain is only a toke or puff a smoke away. When your body cries out for a dose of nicotine, and it plays with your mind why “it should be ok, just this once” realize those that quit smoking cigarettes as a result of a  New Years Resolution are heroes to themselves.

Is quittting smoking important? SURE

Can everyone do it? DEFINATELY NOT

What is the problem? Unless you’ve been a regular smoker and quit for many years, there is no point in talking to you?

Are you saying that nicotine addiction is like cocaine addiction?

YES, YES, AND MORE YES!

Any addiction is exactly that — an addiction.

Stopping a cocaine, crack, or heroine addict is the EXACT SAME THING as stopping a nicotine addict. But it is never presented to people that way…  Illegal drugs seem so wrong, and the addictions that go with them make people seem like outcasts of society. But since tobacco and nicotine are legal, it is perfectly ok, for a daily smoker to have trouble quitting — thats’ our norm.

The crap they put in cigarettes — the prices they charge — the socially unacceptable situations — smokers that need to quit, want to quit, and want to do it cold turkey…

Find someone that is quitting cold turkey, pat them on the back, smile at them, and say…

“I really DO understand what you are going through”

That’s plenty it itself.

A New Years Resolution to quit smoking sounds noble and special.

But people who actually follow through, quit cold turkey, never smoke a cigarette ever again, and fight the daily thought of “maybe if I could just have one, I wouldn’t want another”

……….all of us would have a better understanding of one another……..

Smoking is more than an addiction. Smoking is more than a legal privilege. Smoking is more than an anti-social activity, and smoking is more than a health risk.

Smoking is an epidemic, and the victims of it should NEVER be shamed. The tobacco companies who profited from it, and had early research on it, should be shamed.

If you walk down a local street tomorrow — see someone puffing on a cigarette. PLEASE DO NOT hold contempt for that person, but the exact opposite. Have a feeling that you want to help. You are sorry that they are addicted, and you know how hard it is to break the habit of quitting smoking.

To be honest, New Years Resolutions sound prim and proper, but deep down inside.. all they are, are common day issues that people find a time and date to deal with them.

If anyone who has read this blog, from top to bottom, who is addicted to nicotine, who feels that they have someone out there understanding them.. who can quit cold-turkey without aids..

Can register, respond, and leave a comment..

I am totally interested in hearing from you. Typing all of this, feeling all of this, and saying it all, will not seem like a waste of time if I can reach that one person out there.

Are you that person?

I’ve watched videos that explain what “peak oil” prices are..

Gasoline (gas) is suppose to increase and cost much more as demand increases vs supply..

BUT GUESS WHAT

No it doesn’t. If a hurricane is imminent, it goes higher. If its a Friday before the long weekend, it goes higher. If the gas station down the street raises their price, the rest follow.

I’ve seen diesel (which the truckers use) be more expensive that gasoline. But from what I’ve heard the thick diesel is actually a bi-product of manufacturing gasoline! So why would gas be cheaper than diesel, ever?

Same with propane…

Propane is a natural gas that is totally unrelated to gasonline (or fossil fuels).. SO..

When the gas price goes up, so does the propane price. Why is that? As the general public, we should demand answers to this escapade..  Gas, Diesel, Propane, all different commodities.. so why is it when the price of gas goes up, so does the rest of it?

Here’s the ironic part. If you buy a litre of oil it may cost you $4.29… but when gas prices are jumping all over the place at the pump, guess what? A litre of oil still costs $4.29 while it sits on the shelf.

Has no one released this phenomenon?

$4.49 (in tiny grey letters)
$1.99 ea (in big bold black letters)
buy 4 or more (in tiny grey letters) again

So… if you buy two of them, you’ll pay $8.98
But if you buy four of them, you’ll only pay $8.96

Doesn’t seem fair does it… How many people stare at the $1.99 in big bold black leters, and not realize that when they bring the item to the cash, and the cashier scans it through, they just got charged $4.49 instead?

Some of them say “mix and match” and some don’t…

Grocery shopping these days, must be treated like a science. Who regulates the way prices are displayed? We all know that nutrition information has to be printed a certain way — but what about PRICE TAGS?

What is misleading, and what isn’t?

How about items with no visible price. I was in the milk aisle one day, and the milk jugs were not priced. I watched gleefully as people scouped up milk jugs without a thought on how much they were priced at..

How many of them paid $6.29 that day?  How many of them would see the price flip by on the cashier’s screen, and not know if it was correct or not?

Next time you go into the grocery store.. pay special attention to price tags.. and remember, so-called deals are not always a deal, irregardless of how special the sign makes the item sound..

Many of us go to local casinos… We walk in with spendable cash. $200 is a nice number. We’re hoping to turn that cash into a few thousand.

WRONG

Of all the people that walk into a casino, say 300 people, most will walk away with nothing or very little.

Few of them may walk out ahead $100 or $200…

…and out of 300 people, if its a lucky day, someone will walk out with $5,000 on a slot machine, or a massive side-bet on blackjack which gave them “lucky ladies” when the dealer had a black jack.

But the rule of thumb is..

Walk into a casino with $200 or $300…

Walk out with none.

So it’s an expensive form of entertainment. The dopamine and adrenaline to our brains is what we’re after… The thought.. the chance… it feels good to be there and hope. Casino’s wouldn’t last, if they didn’t give us those chemical bursts to our brains…

..and thats all it is…

So, if you are planning to have fun gambling.. let it be that.. But why bring in $200, $300 or even $600? If you want that dopamine / adranaline effect.. even $50 works..

We have to sit back and realize what it is that the casino does for you.. It surely won’t pay your bills.. It won’t put you in a better financial position. It won’t solve your problems. If anything.. the way you were “before” entering the casino.. was a better situation!! You had spendable cash. Walk out from the casino, now you don’t..

Casino’s are full of bright lights, action, people, sounds like the place to be…

But guess what, strip away the bright lights, strip away the people trying to win who haven’t.. and it’s a cold desolate place… akin to standing in the line at the bank. Its a financial decision nonetheless.. and a poor one at that.

Be wary of casinos — they have a mission, and even if they do pay, they’ll own you next time.

Last night was John Beck’s program on how to buy houses worth 180,000 for as little as $300

While I’m watching, they are flashing nice looking homes on the screen, and coming up with numbers and testimonials. “I bought this house for $427.65!”

They go on and on… Now while it all sounds amazing.. at some point, a logical person has to go..

WHAT IS THE CATCH? Surely if homes worth $180,000 can be bought for $300 and THESE INFOMERCIAL people know that..

What the heck are they doing advertising how to do it? Surely they would be running around buying as many of these homes by themselves and turning profits.

Well think about that … think about it again.. and then again…

Why would anyone pick up a phone and order the program without some advanced research? I can tell you why. People watching the program late at night are overtired, some have been drinking, people’s minds don’t work right and they just go “ah, what do I have to lose”

Well today, I did some research, and YUP, there is a RipOffReport about this:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/177/RipOff0177451.htm

So people, if you are reading this blog right now.. It means YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE INTERNET.

..and if you do have access to the internet — whenever an infomercial advertises something you might be interested in, DO SOME RESEARCH ON THE INTERNET BEFORE ORDERING!

Simple concept. Yet millions of people don’t think. They pickup the telephone and grab their credit card without doing any research whatsoever. The excitement of watching something on TV that you want to be part of, confuses the logical part of your brain.

Have you ever been taken advantage of by an infomercial? If so, let’s hear your story. Be honest — many of us can learn by hearing about any misfortunes you might have experienced.

Now we all know how commercialized Christmas has become, but isn’t there any reasonable etiquette on how early is TOO early to start playing holiday music in stores?

I know some people like to do their holiday gift buying early. That’s fine. But atleast get Remembrance Day and Thanksgiving Holidays out of the way first.  How are we suppose to remember our fallen war heroes while Jingle Bells and Silent Night are playing over the mall’s speakers?

I mean, why not start advertising Easter now? Perhaps easter  bunny chocolate should hit the shelves in November?

To be honest, the over commercialization of the Christmas holiday season is what ruins the holidays for many of us. By the corporations pushing the season down our throats, they are taking the true fun and spirit out of it.

By over advertising, over marketing, and over promoting — it’s caused a lot of us to turn into holiday scrooges who end up turning our backs on the whole concept.  The “specialness” of hearing Christmas music at that time of year has worn off of me.

If I hear Jingle Bells while snow is falling, a week before Christmas, I’m joyeous and happy.

If I hear Jingle Bells a few days before Remembrance Day in November, I’m pissed off, annoyed and upset.

How do you feel?