Call Me Curmudgeon*

*Word of the Day

Why does every store want to spy on me ? All I want to do is to buy the product, perhaps even with that "old-fashioned" money, viz. cash. They want me to join their "rewards" clubs or get my phone number or even my name & address, too. This applies to nearly every large store that I've entered for at last a year, including Best Buy, Dick's, and the local supermarket.

Heck, Best Buy would not even let me spend $500 on Friday unless I gave them my phone number, name & address. Maybe they wanted more, but I told them what to do with their product and walked out.

These companies want the information to sell it to marketing companies who want to keep track of my purchases. Without knowing who I am, that information is less valuable. It's all about money.

Hello ... I don't want to be in your database. I don't want to get phone calls asking for surveys, or offering special products. I don't want your bleeping rewards !!! All I want is to spend some money and buy some goods you are offering for sale. If that so novel ?

This has been a public issue for a few years, but as usual, Congress is in the pockets of the ruling classes and does nothing to help protect our privacy. Europe is way ahead of the US on this issue.

Companies want the last four digits of my Social security number (e. g. the cable company). They say it doesn't violate my privacy since it's not the entire number. Uh ... BUT if many companies do that, one could hack into them, get it and them manipulate or steal my accounts using that same "security" code. How stupid is that "security" system !

To me, companies simply don't care about customers any more. Customers are cows to be milked. Or is that milched ? They want to put their leeches onto us and bleed us awhile until we drop to one knee, then scrape a few off so we can stand again.

Not me. I made my electronics purchase online from Amazon and saved $80. Sure, Amazon knows who I am as they will deliver the product to my home. But I already have a account there and it's that just ONE firm. Not a dozen or more.

Book of the Week

My Life as a Rebel, by Angelica Balabanoff (written in 1938). I just finished this book. It's an extraordinary first hand account of the earliest days of the socialist movement, the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, how it evolved into a criminal tyranny, and personal insight into Mussolini, his Fascism and how he seized power. Yes, these are all connected. Balabanoff was on that so-called sealed train taking Lenin to Russia thru Germany in 1917 and knew Mussolini before he was anybody.

Balabanoff was truly concerned about better conditions and life for workers and cared nothing for power (she almost starved as she refused special food allowances). That distinguishes her from most of the other famous revolutionaries (at least the ones who seized power). She left Russia in 1922 as Lenin, Zionviev and others had been stifling her for nearly the entire four years she spent aiding the Bolshevik revolution. She saw how it became distorted with terror, bureaucracy and corruption. She had deep, personal insights into all the leaders (Lenin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, Mussolini, etc.) and other famous figures like the American, John Reed (who died disheartened by events in Russia.)

She also saw how the Comintern became a mouthpiece of the Bolsheviks and cared nothing for other labor movements in the world. How ? She was its first Secretary ! Balabanoff knew many languages [Russian, French, Italian , English and German at least] and often acted as a translator at top level meetings.

You cannot understand the revolutionary era of the 20th century without reading this book. Dry histories simply will not convey what this first hand account does. Try to buy a copy on used book websites.

Markets

If the markets firm today, I might speculate on the long side after the first hour.

Word of the Day

"Curmudgeon" - noun [$10]
Curmudgeon means 1. a cantankerous** person; 2. a bad-tempered or miserly person.
Sentence: Is Bunkerman a curmudgeon for not wanting to strip himself of privacy when buying something, or perhaps just serious about protecting his personal information and habits ?

**cantankerous means bad tempered, quarrelsome.