OT: A nation of scammers (US Capitalism gone wild?)

Lately, I've been barraged, nay, attacked by morons seeking to separate me from my money.

What happend to the US? It seems like I just woke up, and BAM! - cheats, liars and theives everywhere.

From the banks, to the government, to Vonage! (Sorry Vonage, not a customer here, but hey, would it kill you to mention aloud that your $14.95 price is only good for 6 months, and even then, only with a one-year committment?)

It's gotten so bad lately that if a vendor actually told me the truth about something, no matter how inane or inconsequential, I think I'd just drop over dead right then and there. In other words, people (companies especially) are so untruthful so often, that I no longer even consider the possibilty that they might not be.

Cynacism, or reality??

Note: not to pick on Vonage. I could have just as easily used Heinz Ketchup, or Acai Berry diets, or 401k's. Everybody's looking for an angle, screw the other guy. Whatever it takes.

-mpm

Reply to
mpm
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Heinz Ketchup is crooked now? Dang!

Reply to
Greegor

Everybody knows that DelMonte tastes better.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

mpm wibbled on Wednesday 10 March 2010 02:00

Read the email headers. Probably mostly nigerian in origin.

--
Tim Watts

Managers, politicians and environmentalists: Nature's carbon buffer.
Reply to
Tim Watts

e quoted text -

I think today or tomorrow, just for kicks, I'll carry around a notebook and jot down every instance of a scam I encounter that day.

Scams to include: Outright obvious scams (miracle diets, spam email, etc...) Offers with hidden fees, terms and conditions. Untruthful advertising with utterly unsupportable claims Employment offers (i.e., for customer service reps, when they really mean door-to-door, or cold-call telephone sales) For that matter, any get rich quick scheme, or MLM offer. And maybe even the more subtle ones that pull emotional strings, such as when a company includes the words American, or US, when it's really an overseas, foreign outfit.

Reply to
mpm

No way, if you want better, you have to make your own...

Reply to
PeterD

How about our leadership? Consider the President.

In a speech earlier this week Mr. Obama said the Senate health care bill would save nearly $1T over ten years, and that insurance companies were scheming to maintain huge profits, raping consumers.

My math has the health care bill costing not less than $2T, adding at least $1T in deficits.[1] Profits in the health insurance sector? They're running about 2%, currently.

[1] (Even using the President's creative math, the bill adds $250B to the deficit over ten years.)

Bait and switch? Not telling you the real price? Check, and check.

The bill taxes immediately, doesn't start services for four years, yet the price quoted doesn't mention you won't be getting service for those four years. The fine print: deficits, not surpluses, and that's using ten years' payments to provide six years' services, with a lifetime commitment.

And those Bush tax cuts Mr. Obama has denigrated and denounced so bitterly, blaming for his deficits? He's moving to enshrine them:

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2974_pf.html National debt to be higher than White House forecast, CBO says

"[The President] also wants to make permanent a series of tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration, which are scheduled to expire at the end of this year."

-- Cheers, James Arthur

Reply to
dagmargoodboat

(...)

(...)

Mail-in rebate Dealer auto service "Sears Horsepower" Dentistry Psychology In-home appliance repair

This list only gets bigger

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

Jobs created or saved

-- Cheers, James Arthur

Reply to
dagmargoodboat

Microsoft Works

Reply to
tm

People have become used to making money on money and credit and speculation, without really doing any useful work. When their world crashed, they had no real skills, so they have had to find other ways to maintain their inflated lifestyles and egos by whatever means possible. They don't have a concept of honest work.

I've also been bombarded recently with increasing numbers of calls from charities. They use keywords like Veterans, Police, Firefighters, Cancer, Children, Hunger, Disease, Disabled, and such to shame you into contributing. But most times you can check these charities and find that their administration and fund-raising costs are 95% of their budget, so a pittance goes to those who need it. The CEOs of such charities, and their cronies, earn large salaries. And yet they are able to meet the requirements for a non-profit organization.

Paul

Reply to
Paul E. Schoen

Yes but four bottles of Heinz is $5 and three plastic squeeze bottles of DelMonte is $4 and in the small print you can see Heinz is 0.12$/oz and DelMonte is 2$/lb ...

Reply to
Wanderer

Bwa-ha-ha-ha... Just like in the grocery store: price based on different units of measure.

(in oz pricing, Heinz is $0.12, DelMonte is $0.13, which is basically the same price.)

Reply to
PeterD

Government supplied is good.

Reply to
PeterD

Charity scam calls are a red-button to me. I keep them on the phone as long as possible, then ask again who they wanted to speak to. If they give me a name, I explain that he just died recently, sorry. If they say "homeowner" or "you" I then explain that my imaginary friend Billy wants me to come out and play and that I have to go now...

ALL charity requests on the phone are scams, done by companies who keep for their own (profit) between 70 and 97% of the money they collect. Never, ever give anything to a cold charity phone call.

Reply to
PeterD

I often see the "large" size priced significantly higher per unit than the "small", so I buy 2 of the small :-) ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Jim Thompson

And just now, I get a Skype popup from "Dr Maxman" trying to sell me max penis enlarger pills. Yeah, like I need those.... LOL.

Curiously, I get these Skype interruptions from time to time, even though my Skype security settings are set to allow IM's only from people in my contact list.

Reply to
mpm

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For food, it often makes sense to buy (2) of the smaller to avoid spoilage once opened. Surprisingly, some items are cheaper this way too.

For example, the local market sells pepperoncini peppers in both 16oz. and 32 oz. glass jars. It's about $0.30 cheaper to get two of the smaller glass jars. Not sure why. Maybe demand?

Reply to
mpm

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While you are writing, put down Comcast. They are promoting giving a DTA ( Digital Transport Adapter to home owners for their second TV's. Their advertising is Welcome to The World of More! But in fact the DTA only provides 480i signals. So it really ought to be Welcome to the World of Less.

Dan

Reply to
dcaster

While you are writing, put down Comcast. They are promoting giving a DTA ( Digital Transport Adapter to home owners for their second TV's. Their advertising is Welcome to The World of More! But in fact the DTA only provides 480i signals. So it really ought to be Welcome to the World of Less.

And now they are calling themselves Xfinity. Of course, the Verizon FIOS guys are already targeting that.

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Paul

Reply to
Paul E. Schoen

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