I Make Things - Money

The Cost of Idiocy

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:21:11 -0400

So yeah, it's been a loooong time since I posted in this blog but I found something that gets my goat enough to write about it... It's this damned bailout business. I'll post more on my feelings about this when it's not so close to my bedtime but for now, I'll just leave with a link to a high-level analysis of the cost thanks to CNBC.

Yes, you as a tax payer are indentured to your share of this. Yes, you are now solidly a slave of the state. Yes, your unborn children already owe. Get working friends, it's gonna take alot of your sweat to pay this off. If you consider there's 300 million people in the US (from age 1 day to very old) and the cost of the bailout is roughly $4.3 trillion (that will go up), then you owe (right this minute - not counting inflation) just over $14,000! Remember, this amount is on top of your share of the national debt (and I won't even get into that).

Get cracking people, freedom is not free!

Poor Little IRS...

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:54:49 -0400

Every once in a while you hear something that is so dumb it will give you an aneurysm. Fans of Lewis Black will know this as an "If it weren't for my horse..." situation. Well, I had a similar experience this morning. I was waking up to the radio as I am wont to do (the buzzer just isn't as appealing as I get older), and the news was on.

The anchor woman was talking about TurboTax. She spoke about how last year, Intuit had a bandwidth problem that brought down the TurboTax servers near tax day and caused a few thousand people a real headache. The newscaster asked an Intuit spokesperson about what had done this year to help keep that from happening. After talking with the Intuit PR woman, the newscaster talked to an IRS representative. The IRS agent explained how last year they were able to offer an extension of 48 hours to the people who were affected and how the IRS really appreciates e-filers.

Now, none of this talk could make blood shoot out of my nose. This is all very simple, straight forward, and reasonable. It's what the IRS guy went on to say next that got me. Actually, it wasn't just what he said... but how he said it that twisted a vein in my noodle.

As my memory surely can't recall a direct quote from this morning, I will do my best to paraphrase accurately. He (the IRS guy) said something to the effect of: E-filing is such a great thing. It used to be that we literally had trucks pull up to the office (IRS office that is), unload tons of forms, and we had to go through each one (whine, whine). It was sooo hard and there was sooo much to deal with!

That's the one that blew my gasket! I thought to myself: WTF!? Did he really expect me to think: "Poor IRS, they used to have so many forms to deal with. I mean it was literally tons of paper they were swimming in. Can you imagine the potential for papercuts!? I feel sorry for those guys. It must be so much easier for them if we e-file. We really do need to make their lives easier."

Ok... Look asshole, I'm sorry you had to work with all those forms, but seriously, you're the assholes who're telling us we have to do this crap. There isn't even a god damned law stipulating that we have to. It'll be a cold day in hell when I feel sorry for all the work you have to do when I file my taxes. I shouldn't have to do this crap work in the first place. As a matter of fact I shouldn't have to pay any taxes in the first place considering I don't a agree with a single thing my tax money is spent on (inflating the dollar - for instance).

So my brain nearly burst when I thought about how this IRS agent had hoped his comment would spark pity in me for what he has to go through. The only thing that got me calmed down what when I thought about the slim chance that the TurboTax servers might go down again this year. Oh goodness, I really hope it doesn't happen again. I couldn't bear the thought of the IRS having more heartache and headache on tax. Those poor guys!

Truffle$

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 21:41:36 -0400

I was in Draeger's (an upscale supermarket) in early January and I ran across this little gem. It's about the size of a golf ball, sitting on a bed of dry rice. It looks like a dried up piece of poop and weighs barely anything (well about 1.25 ounces really). There were only a few of them and after looking at it for a while, I realized: "It's a white truffle!"

I'd never seen a real truffle before and I wasn't entirely sure that's what I'd found so I decided to investigate further. I turned over the nondescript clear plastic box to reveal the price tag...

My Treo 650 camera didn't take a really good close-up picture considering I was shaking in fear that I'd be in trouble for even touching the thing. So, if you can't read the price, it says: $272.00. Yes, two-hundred-seventy-two US dollars.

Truffles are sold by weight and at about 1.25 ounces that's a mere $3400.00 a pound. The produce clerk next to me proclaimed: "Oh, they've gone down in price considerably! They were over $4200.00 a pound before Christmas.

I tried to wipe my fingerprints from the box and get out of produce area as fast as I could. Some day I'll buy one just to say I did.

Stolen Apartment Deposit

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:27:39 -0400

I moved out of my old apartment about a month ago and finally my ex-apartment manager got around to sending me my deposit check. So it took a little while, but I was happy to finally get it - that is until I opened it.

Of my original $500 deposit, I received a check for $155. What a joke! I kept this apartment in immaculate condition and certainly expected a full refund. Instead, my manager charged me for the apartment and carpet cleaning! That's $240 and definitely an expense that shouldn't be borne by an ex-tenant.

To add insult to injury, the check I got wasn't even signed. So, since I have to send it back anyway, I'm sending a nasty little letter contesting the deductions also. I wanted to pull the apartment owner in on this too so I figured I'd send a copy to him. Unfortunately, the owner works very hard and staying hidden from his tenants (wonder why). Not a problem though as I found the owner's address through my count assessor's office with ease.

I'm interested to see how much they'll give me back. I certainly hope, for their sake, the refund all $395 (I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt on the othe $105). One thing I can't stand is when people nickel and dime you or try to take advantage of honest people. I'd never run my business like that since all it ever does is embitter your ex-clients and turns everyone against you eventually.

So it seems that the manager of Parkwood Terrace apartments, Ash Laing, is what I like to call an asshole. I'll certainly work to turn everyone off to Parkwood Terrace and I'll see how many apartment guides I'll be able to sully their name in. Don't screw with people is a good philosophy to do business by. Too bad this bastard doesn't know that.

Credit Offer Opt-Out Program

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 14:13:33 -0400

I've been getting an inordinate amount of offers for pre-approved credit cards lately - on the order of two or three a day. My credit score is way up (in the 790s) and obviously this has all the major (and minor) credit card companies courting me with ridiculous offers. I can't stand to have another credit card though because I already have nine and that's way too many as is.

Anyway, USAA (props to them for this) sent me a prescreened offer and on the form was a box containing the following text:

You can choose to stop receiving "prescreened" offers of credit from USAA and other companies by calling toll free (888) 567-8688.
I called them and it seems like most credit reporting agencies sell names to credit and insurance companies. The number is the link to the opt-out/opt-in program. Finally I can stop getting so many offers in the mail.

That number again:

(888) 567-8688

Sign Your Credit Card Receipts

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Wed, 09 Mar 2005 22:46:24 -0400

After reading John Myers Hargrave's article on credit card signatures at Zug.com, I think I am going to start signing my receipts little differently now. Be sure to read through the whole progression, it gets better and better as the "experiment" goes on!

Audible.com

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Thu, 17 Feb 2005 18:25:35 -0400

My money is once again on Audible.com (ADBL). I bought this stock back when it was on OTC-BB and selling for $1.19 or so. Since then, Audible did a reverse split to get on NSADAQ and its price has gone up quite considerably. I sold it (probably shouldn't have) for double and a half of what I bought it for and paid off some old student loans.

Now I see that Audible is again ripe for buying. Some news of their business plan has caused a little investor skittishness but I think Audible is doing the right thing. There is an interesting article at CNN/Money that shows how they're riding the iPod wave. It's no crime to use that forward momentum to build up their empire. A few years will see the wisdom of this entrepreneurial move.

If you can get a piece at around $16, I would suggest buying in - but who am I? Well, I'm an Audible member and someone who has already profited from them once.

Quicken 2005 for Mac R2

nospam@example.com (Latcarf) — Thu, 09 Dec 2004 22:29:44 -0400

A Quicken for Mac update came out the other day. You can get it at Intuit.com.

This update seems to have a bunch of fixes. If you are using Quicken 2005 for Mac, I recommend getting this update as soon as possible. If you don't use Quicken, I recommend using it as soon as possible. There is no better way I know of to get your finances in order than to use Quicken.

I spend less than five minutes everyday tracking my finances in Quicken - I even track my cash! Just by looking at you financial picture everyday, you'll start to see ways you an save and reduce debt. I am slowly bringing up my net worth and zeroing out my debt completely. Thanks to Quicken, I know where my money is at all times.
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