October 30, 2009
The United States Post Office has been around for more then two hundred years, and I am sure it has served us well the past. I am not writing this to complain about the price of stamps or to bad mouth the postal service. I just don’t think the government should be in the business of providing such a service.
The reason that the USPS is still around is because it is illegal for any other business to compete with them. You read correctly the USPS is alive and somewhat well today because of the government sponsored monopoly that they hold on first class mail. Those business class envelopes that you get your bills in every month by law can only be delivered by the USPS.
Recently I went to the USPS to mail a book and waited 15 minutes in line. I expected this and was not thoroughly annoyed at the process. The lady at the front was nice, and courteous. The problem was that for some reason the post office closes at 5, and everyone was trying to get their mail in before it closed.
A week later I had to mail something via Federal Express. I walked in, handed the lady my item, which she promptly dropped in an envelope and mailed. I was out the door in under a minute.
Now this could have been a coincidence, or I was just in a really good Fed Ex store on a really good day, but I doubt it. Let us take a look at a little big of the financial history of the USPS, and ask yourself, would you buy stock in this company? This is the only company in the United States that is legally allowed to hold a Monopoly
You might be saying that I am full it, and that the USPS is a wonderful organization employing hundreds of thousands of Americans. But let me ask you a question, do you enjoy going to the post office? How about the BMV? Perhaps taking a trip to the Social Security Office to brighten your day? Do you look forward to making visits to those places with all the smiling grouchy people? Or would you rather have your fingernails ripped off?
My argument can be summed up in this: Government organizations are traditionally much worse at accomplishing their goals then their private counter parts. Most of the time the only reason we have such organizations is because privatizing the industry would just not make practical sense.
We should remove the “Legal Monopoly” that the USPS enjoys and divest the federal government of delivering first class mail. Or simply allow the USPS to try to compete with Fed Ex and UPS. For some reason if we allowed that to happen I don’t think the USPS would be around very long at all……
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Posted by fubar1383
September 18, 2009
This is a chart representing the amount of debt that the Federal Government of the United States of America is responsible for. This number just under 13 Trillion dollars! To most people trillion is not a word that we say very often, it even sounds a little made up. “I am so hungry I could eat a trillion hotdogs!” see this is funny stuff.
To break it down a little bit more this debt is held by the U.S. Government and therefore by the taxpayers of the Untied States. So if we do that math of 13 Trillion divided by 300 million or so Americans, your share comes out to be around $43,000!
What would you do with $40,000 in debt? That is a serious chunk of change. I probably would be on a diet of Ramen noodles and Water for the next 10 years or so. This enormous debt held by the federal government is starting to worry me.
Inflation
Does anyone realize what (serious) inflation can do? It can wipe out 30 years of hard earned savings in a year or less. To me it would feel like someone robbed my bank and took all my money. Say you have $40,000 in the bank but the government starts printing money to fulfill its debt obligations. All that is going to happen is cause dollars to be worth less and less. Maybe in one year your 40,000 could only buy what 20,000 could a year ago. Then the year after that 10,000, then maybe only 5,000;
So after a while all the cash you had is pretty much worthless and the government introduces a new type of dollar bill:
(This is a real note, and the direct result of what happens when governments print money)
Inflation on this scale is a scary and very real possibility. I worry that our government (democrat and republican) is unwilling to stop its spending binge, and some painful inflation is all but inevitable. I would encourage everyone to hedge against inflation. The best way to do this is to buy “hard” assets such as gold and oil, foreign currencies like pounds, yen, or Euros even stocks and real-estate offer some protection against inflation.
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Posted by fubar1383
September 11, 2009
I have been having some professionals come in and do some work on my house. More specifically I have been working to add a bathroom in my basement. My house only has one, and I have ample space to add one in the basement. So I figured it would be a decent investment and a whole lot more convenient to have 2 full bathrooms.
So I had the plumber come in to do the waste plumbing, I was very happy with their work, and I felt the price was fair. I then had them come back a second time to do the supply plumbing, again I was happy with the quality of work, but price did not seam as fair this time.
My question was about the cost of the labor, which was approaching $500 for less then 3 hours of work. Backing up a little I had the plumbers come out on two consecutive days, the first day the came and simply told me that I needed to do a little more framing and then left to do service calls. The returned the second day spent 2.5 hours working and got the job done.
So I called.
Turns out they were charging me $120 for the 10 minutes that the guys were there, and did not do any work. I asked if she could remove the charge and she happily did. So I paid her on the spot for the services.
So I saved $120 on a 10 minute phone call. Which equal out to $120/10/60 = $720 an hour. Man am I glad I just did not cut them a check right then and there!
Moral of the story, don’t be afraid to call and ask! They worst they can say is no.
Maybe I should take my own advice when it comes to my Disagreement With Chase
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Posted by fubar1383
May 12, 2009
It’s the Principal!
Lately I have been running into a few situations where I feel like I have been misled, ripped off, or stole from. None of these situations were enough money for me to get very excited about but it still jerks my chain.
Giant Eagle: If you don’t know it’s a grocery chain, it usually has stores in great locations, with not so great prices. Because of the convenience I do tend to go there when I need odds and ends. GE is HORRIBLE about labeling the price of their products. Recently I went in to buy some steaks for dinner. They were on a BOGO (buy one get one free) so I picked up two and headed out. The steaks were right next two each other, looked the same, packaged the same, and weighed the same. But of course they were different. So instead of buying one for 8 bucks and getting one for free, I paid $16 for two steaks. This has happened on several occasions with different items rang up at different prices. The problem with me is that I am usually in hurry and it is not worth it for me to make a big deal about it.
Work Café: I have been buying my lunch more because I have been buying less food to eat at home because it tends to go bad before I can eat it. The other day I paid with a credit card. The cashier rang up my mountain dew and pizza (healthy!!) and swiped my card twice. Sometimes credit cards don’t get read by the machine the first time it happens, but I kept my receipt just the same and I never keep receipts. Sure enough on my bank statement there were a charge for 0.67 and a charge for 5.67. So I would chalk this one up to human error, but it is still annoying!
Huntington bank: I had a back up back up emergency fund with them. Essentially I was keeping that money segregated from the rest of my funds to use a part of a down payment. Well I bought a house and needed the cash for the down payment. I went to a branch to try and close my account. The teller could not do it, so I had to go to one of their “banking specialist” The tellers were all doing nothing, but the banking specialist had multiple people waiting on him. I was on my lunch, so rather then wait around and be late back to work, I just withdrew almost all the funds.
A week later I get a call from someone at a branch telling me the funds are low, and to avoid fees I need to convert to a checking account. I don’t want a checking account; I want to close the account. She of course could not help me so rather then paying fees I told her to convert to checking with the intention of closing the account in the near future. About a week later I get a huge packet of docs in the mail, and checks. I did not want checks, but I figure who cares.
A week after that I go to yet another branch to attempt to close my account. Yet another teller informs me I have to speak to a banking specialist. When I go to close the account low and behold they have charged my account for checks. I told her that was unacceptable and to refund the money for the checks that I did not order. As it turns out she “might” be able to get my $15 back, but I could then not close the account that day. Well I just took my money and left, I don’t like the way that Huntington operates, and I think I will have to write their customer service a letter letting them know that.
Should I be making a bigger deal out of these relatively minor disputes?
1 Comment | Banking, Ramblings | Permalink
Posted by fubar1383
May 1, 2009
Coming soon, the American Eagle: Produced in the United States of America, by the United States of America.
Features:
Eco friendly wooden steering wheel
Top Speed of 42 MPH
Achieves 9 Miles per gallon on the highway*
Explodes on impact with other cars
Cost: $1,700,000.00
*You can increase your MPG by sticking your foot through the “easy collapse” floor and pushing along Fred Flintstone style.
Ok so this might not actually happen, but I feel like we are getting close. The U.S. Government for all intensive purposes has take over Chrysler who has been forced to file for bankruptcy. The Federal Government is backing Chrysler’s lifetime warranties in addition to the billions in loans it has already made.
Governments are notoriously bad at producing or managing just about anything. So my hope is that with Chrysler (and probably GM) we just let “nature take its course” the company’s will survive, die, or come back minus their unprofitable parts.
These days we like to assign blame for just about everything, so I will do my best to uphold the Status Quo.
Who to blame for Chrysler’s Bankruptcy:
1. Chrysler’s Management, can they even build a competitive (small) car?
2. Unions, artificially high wages push costs unacceptable levels.
3. The Economy, but lets face it recessions happen, Chrysler should have position themselves to weather the storm.
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Posted by fubar1383
March 16, 2009
When I started college the better part of a decade ago all of my possessions that I needed to live on for one year fit into the back of an SUV. Now I would not even think about moving without a twenty foot box truck.
As my income has grown so has my lifestyle, and I have the stuff to prove it! Some of us are a lot worse then others about accumulating possessions. I know people that will keep just about anything because the might need it someday. Recently there are a few things that I have wanted but did not buy them just for the fact that they would be one more thing I would have to move. God forbid how much stuff I will have if I buy a house.
I was thinking about how much value people put on their possessions and I came up with the following equation.
Things > Stuff > Junk > Trash
“I have a few Things to bring over”
“I have to move my Stuff in”
“What should I do with this Junk”
“It’s just some Trash”
So when you do your spring cleaning (if you don’t you should!) take a look at some of you possessions and ask yourself is it a Thing, your stuff, some junk, or just trash. If it is one of the last two seriously consider throwing it away, having a garage sale or donating it to your local goodwill store.
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Posted by fubar1383
March 12, 2009
It is JonBon’s Money birthday. Ok so maybe I am a few days late, it’s a website so it wont be offended that I am a little belated
Looking back it has been one heck of a year for my money, and I am sure your money as well. If you owned stocks a year ago, they were probably trading at about double of what they are now, you still had a realistic shot at selling your house, and you did not know who Bernie Madoff was.
Now of course things are very different. We are experience one of the worst recessions since WWII. One thing to remember what goes down, must come up.
If you’re willing to accept a little risk, and don’t need the cash for at least a few years it has to be the perfect time to invest in stocks. Buy low sell high right? Well everything is half off! It’s a buy one get one free sale at the New York Stock Exchange! If you could get a $1000 TV for 500 bucks would you buy it? I would.
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Posted by fubar1383
March 1, 2009
So it has been a very big week for me. On Monday I signed the offer to purchase my first home. On Wednesday I found out I was accepted to Graduate School. So this is all very exciting stuff for me.
My test scores and undergraduate GPA were well within the range to be accepted, that being said I was still very concerned about getting in. With the state of the economy and the job prospects of a newly minted college undergraduate many of them are choosing to go back to school. So the competition for the limited number of spots in this graduate program was increasing. The wait to know was killing me, but on wednesday I found out.
I made it!
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Posted by fubar1383
February 9, 2009
Maybe I am getting older, maybe I am getting richer, maybe my phone numbers is out there in a bunch of databases, but I have been getting lots of unwanted “business” calls from friends and friends of friends lately.
A few have been offering a legitimate service, but a few have been straight up pyramid schemes. I have been expecting a few calls from business that I don’t have the number in my phone for, so I tend to answer my phone most of the time thinking that it could be important. Yes I realize that I can let it go right to voicemail, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having a cell phone does it not?
These calls that I get are usually not from a nameless telemarketer that I have no qualms about giving a nasty “not interested” and hanging up. They are from friends, acquaintances, or friends of friends. Not the kind of people that I want to burn bridges with.
I feel like they are putting me in a very difficult position, they are using their good relationship as leverage into going along with whatever they are selling. What is a guy to do?
The only thing I can think is be polite, listen to their pitch, and tell them in no uncertain terms that I am not interested, and then if they persist be a bit more direct. I feel at the point that I give them a pretty definite NO, that they have used up all the goodwill they have with me. At that point (I think) I am allowed to treat them like any other unwanted solicitor.
Moral of the Story: I guess we all have to do things we feel uncomfortable doing, and only by actually doing them are we able to become comfortable.
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Posted by fubar1383
February 3, 2009
The comedian Lewis Black pretty much hates everything, and that includes politicians. His thoughts on the political parties go something like this.
- A Republican stands on his chair in Washington DC and yells,
“I have a horrible idea!”
And a Democrat stands up on his chair and yells back
“And I know how to make it worse!”
The Republican Plan: 700 Billion TRAP Plan
This bill included tax benefit for victims of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, even a tax exemption for makers of children’s wooden arrows, as well as giving money to banks who acted in the most hazardous
The Democratic Plan 900 Billion Stimulus package.
This is a bill that is not even truly stimulus, just more spending for social programs. Nothing against social programs, but the plan increases in unemployment payments, and student loans will not stimulate much of anything.
Final Thought: I don’t like to be political just about ever, and I am very sick of hearing about politics. Let me say that this is in no way a political blog, but we do have to pay all this spending back at some point, which will affect my taxes. I don’t like any of the plans that have come out of Washington, but I honestly don’t have any better ideas. All I see is Pork-Barrel spending and increases in the deficit masked as “stimulus”
1 Comment | Ramblings, Taxes | Permalink
Posted by fubar1383
