Corporations and businesses are now using phone surveys as scams to obtain marketing material and information on consumers. Corruption is simply going too far. Businesses hire a not-for-profit firm to conduct "market research"; they use a not-for-profit because those are exempt from "Do Not Call" rules. The firm calls you and perhaps you feel that you'd like to help them out, so agree to respond.
The questions are innocent at first - perhaps they want your opinion about types of hospitals, etc., or about or health care industry. Then they want to ask personal information and "guarantee" this will be used for statistics only. They ask about income, zip code and then ask you for your street. Huh ? How could that be used for statistics. Obviously they are lying. Since you probably don't remember what their name is, you can't even complain.
Yesterday after I refused to reply the the "Street name" question, the questioner ask my street number! They simply wanted my address - probably to give to the marketing firm who hired them. I had agreed to the survey since they had called several times and thought I'd help them out on a "survey" about health care.
All this is a scam - a lie. Don't fall for it! From now on, I will stop responding to ANY poll or survey.
I'm really tired of lying and dishonesty in business; the use of euphemisms to cover up dishonest practices. Excuses.
Today's online WSJ writes about a law firm in FL that routinely lied on foreclosure papers, forging notarizations, backdating documents and even lying about serving them. This guy should disbarred and put into jail.
Actions
I checked the Krypto Fund today for asset allocations: none.
Word of the Day
"Dissentient" - noun & adjective [$10]
Dissentient means (adjective) disagreeing with the majority or official view; (noun) a person who dissents.
Sentence: Be a dissentient! ... or is it Be dissentient! Same thing. Think for your self - avoid the crowd (Vitate turbam!) ... Do not care what others think or think about your ideas!
Showing posts with label corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corruption. Show all posts
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
End the Sleaze Now
The very highly paid CEO of HP resigned last Friday, as he was caught doing something unethical - viz., he seems to have caused HP to pay a "contractor" for work not performed. Guess what ? The "contractor" is a beautiful blonde lady, part-time actress. She claims no hanky panky was involved, but it really doesn't matter if Herr Hurd scored or was just trying to. He cheated the company.
Here is a ultra wealth member of the Ruling Class, caught as so many of them have done and are doing. Cheating on life. Recent ethics charges against Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters, who are long term members of the DC ruling class, show another side of the rackets of all these ruling class knaves. [aside: can a woman be a "knave" or is that a male term ? Knavette sounds dumb, so I'll use knave as a gender-neutral term.]
Example of gross unfairness: Hurd keeps his huge, multimillion severance pay. If a midlevel person had done that, do you think that person would get 1 cent in severance ?
A congressman loses an election .. and goes on to become a $5 million a year lobbyist. [e. g., Tom Daschle]. CEOs love to cut pay for workers at all levels ... EXCEPT the top.
The Republicans seem to be in the pocket of the corporate ruling class. They now stupidly talk about cutting corporate taxes. Remarkably out of touch with reality on the streets, no ?
The Democrats seem to be in the pocket of the DC ruling class, public employee unions and trial lawyers. They defend pay and benefits for public employees far in excess of the private sector, who are the taxpayers supporting the government.
What is to be done ?
First, vote for only honest candidates (assuming you can find one).
Second, Americans need to look around the world and perhaps learn something from other nations who have come through crisis. Germany was leveled in WW II. Now it's rather prosperous, and has done much better than the US in recovering from this downturn. Why ? We must stop being myopic. We like to make fun of other nations for not adopting some of our ideas & culture. Why should we not adopt ideas of other nations that are proven to work ?
Third, apply social pressure. Why don't we ostracize CEOs, corporate people who are needlessly & ruthlessly laying off workers ? Why not demonstrate (and support demonstrations) against them ? Expose them for their tyranny.
Fourth, speak out. Write reasoned comments to online articles. Join some organizations. A great American cultural trait is voluntarism - joining organizations and pitching in to help. Do something yourself besides griping. If many people do it, it can make a huge difference.
Word of the Day
"Percipient" - adjective and noun [$10]
Percipient means (adjective) 1. able to perceive, conscious; 2. discerning, observant; (noun) a person who perceives, esp. something outside the range of senses.
Sentence: Americans need to be more percipient in two ways: (I) recognizing sleaze in the Ruling Class, and (II) recognizing that what works well in other nations might work well here.
Here is a ultra wealth member of the Ruling Class, caught as so many of them have done and are doing. Cheating on life. Recent ethics charges against Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters, who are long term members of the DC ruling class, show another side of the rackets of all these ruling class knaves. [aside: can a woman be a "knave" or is that a male term ? Knavette sounds dumb, so I'll use knave as a gender-neutral term.]
Example of gross unfairness: Hurd keeps his huge, multimillion severance pay. If a midlevel person had done that, do you think that person would get 1 cent in severance ?
A congressman loses an election .. and goes on to become a $5 million a year lobbyist. [e. g., Tom Daschle]. CEOs love to cut pay for workers at all levels ... EXCEPT the top.
The Republicans seem to be in the pocket of the corporate ruling class. They now stupidly talk about cutting corporate taxes. Remarkably out of touch with reality on the streets, no ?
The Democrats seem to be in the pocket of the DC ruling class, public employee unions and trial lawyers. They defend pay and benefits for public employees far in excess of the private sector, who are the taxpayers supporting the government.
What is to be done ?
First, vote for only honest candidates (assuming you can find one).
Second, Americans need to look around the world and perhaps learn something from other nations who have come through crisis. Germany was leveled in WW II. Now it's rather prosperous, and has done much better than the US in recovering from this downturn. Why ? We must stop being myopic. We like to make fun of other nations for not adopting some of our ideas & culture. Why should we not adopt ideas of other nations that are proven to work ?
Third, apply social pressure. Why don't we ostracize CEOs, corporate people who are needlessly & ruthlessly laying off workers ? Why not demonstrate (and support demonstrations) against them ? Expose them for their tyranny.
Fourth, speak out. Write reasoned comments to online articles. Join some organizations. A great American cultural trait is voluntarism - joining organizations and pitching in to help. Do something yourself besides griping. If many people do it, it can make a huge difference.
Word of the Day
"Percipient" - adjective and noun [$10]
Percipient means (adjective) 1. able to perceive, conscious; 2. discerning, observant; (noun) a person who perceives, esp. something outside the range of senses.
Sentence: Americans need to be more percipient in two ways: (I) recognizing sleaze in the Ruling Class, and (II) recognizing that what works well in other nations might work well here.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Seems Like Wednesday
Not much is going on ... the semi-holiday on Monday had made today a slow news day.
Corruption continues: WSJ - "America's largest public-pension fund, Calpers, revealed that a former board member had reaped more than $50 million in fees for arranging investments that could saddle state taxpayers with hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. The disclosure deepens concerns that alleged conflicts of interest are undermining state retirement funds."
New Ways Still Fail: WSJ - "Fewer than four of 10 fourth- and eighth-graders are proficient in mathematics, according to a highly regarded federal test given in early 2009, adding to recent evidence that the U.S. drive to become more economically competitive by overhauling public education may be falling short."
I suppose spending half their young lives playing video and other electronic games is part of the problem.
Perky Overseas Business: FT - "A Hong Kong property developer has sold a duplex apartment for a world record price, less than three months after the territory technically emerged from recession."
Don't be Americo-centric, listening only to US doomsayers. FT - "The recovery in China’s economy gained new impetus on Wednesday with figures showing a sharp improvement in the country’s exports and imports in September. The trade surplus also fell last month, providing evidence of some rebalancing of the economy at a time of persistent trade tensions over cheap goods from China, which is likely to become the world’s biggest exporter this year. "
Actions
I took some "sugar" yesterday as the strategy and tactics of the call option book paid off, for the correct reasons, no less. Specifically, good earnings at companies with significant overseas revenues were reported and continue to be anticipated. I sold the CAT calls for a 100% profit. A few days ago I had sold the GOOG calls for 100%+ profit, too. I plan to hold the rest for their earnings reports, but if they ramp up prior thereto, I'll take the sugar.
Dow 10,000 means nothing. A recovery of S&P 1200 does mean something, as that is the pre-panic, pre-beefer-Viking raid level.
Word of the Day
"Malefactor" - noun [$10]
Malefactor means a criminal, an evildoer.
Sentence: More and more malefactors are exposed in the world of finance. A crisis removes the easy money, so covering up their wicked schemes becomes impossible.
Corruption continues: WSJ - "America's largest public-pension fund, Calpers, revealed that a former board member had reaped more than $50 million in fees for arranging investments that could saddle state taxpayers with hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. The disclosure deepens concerns that alleged conflicts of interest are undermining state retirement funds."
New Ways Still Fail: WSJ - "Fewer than four of 10 fourth- and eighth-graders are proficient in mathematics, according to a highly regarded federal test given in early 2009, adding to recent evidence that the U.S. drive to become more economically competitive by overhauling public education may be falling short."
I suppose spending half their young lives playing video and other electronic games is part of the problem.
Perky Overseas Business: FT - "A Hong Kong property developer has sold a duplex apartment for a world record price, less than three months after the territory technically emerged from recession."
Don't be Americo-centric, listening only to US doomsayers. FT - "The recovery in China’s economy gained new impetus on Wednesday with figures showing a sharp improvement in the country’s exports and imports in September. The trade surplus also fell last month, providing evidence of some rebalancing of the economy at a time of persistent trade tensions over cheap goods from China, which is likely to become the world’s biggest exporter this year. "
Actions
I took some "sugar" yesterday as the strategy and tactics of the call option book paid off, for the correct reasons, no less. Specifically, good earnings at companies with significant overseas revenues were reported and continue to be anticipated. I sold the CAT calls for a 100% profit. A few days ago I had sold the GOOG calls for 100%+ profit, too. I plan to hold the rest for their earnings reports, but if they ramp up prior thereto, I'll take the sugar.
Dow 10,000 means nothing. A recovery of S&P 1200 does mean something, as that is the pre-panic, pre-beefer-Viking raid level.
Word of the Day
"Malefactor" - noun [$10]
Malefactor means a criminal, an evildoer.
Sentence: More and more malefactors are exposed in the world of finance. A crisis removes the easy money, so covering up their wicked schemes becomes impossible.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Corruption and Unintended Consequences
Today's news has four examples of this. As government extends its tentacles into the affairs of private people and business, there is an inevitable increase in sleaze, favors, bribes and pain inflicted on innocent parties. This is why government intervention should be directed only at controlling the rich & powerful, and not at the behavior of the common man. Populist libertarianism is the way to get it right.
I. WSJ: "Former Louisiana congressman William Jefferson was convicted Wednesday of bribery schemes aimed at enriching him and his family in a trial that featured a freezer full of foil-wrapped cash in alleged bribe money. ... They accused Mr. Jefferson of essentially shaking down businessmen who would come to his office looking for help brokering deals in Africa. He served on a trade subcommittee."
II. WSJ: "Two University of Illinois trustees have resigned and a commission appointed by Gov. Patrick Quinn is expected Thursday to recommend that the remaining seven step down following charges that trustees eased admissions for hundreds of politically connected students."
III. WSJ: "Who doesn't like the government's "cash for clunkers" program? Your mechanic, for one. Owners of automotive repair shops say the program to help invigorate sales of new cars is succeeding at their expense." The Obama-Pelosi clique takes business from the working man to pay off the greenies.
IV: FT: Elevated from call girl to parliamentary candidate but then ostracised by those who feared she would reveal her secrets, Patrizia D’Addario’s story as the escort who went public about her night with Silvio Berlusconi has aspects of a soap opera. There is also a dark side to the experience of the 42-year-old single mother who sees herself as part of the “system” in Italy, where businessmen pay women to entertain politicians. “The system is like that. All of Italy functions like this,” Ms D’Addario says in a matter-of-fact way, speaking to the Financial Times."
So let's stop it. Use government only to control the growth in power of the ruling classes. History proves that such excess growth eventually destroys a country. Last evening I read another example of this, viz. ancient Sparta. The growth in its aristocracy after 400 BC led to fewer and fewer Spartan soldiers and citizens, so that eventually it succumbed to outside enemies. Similar forces caused the downfall of Byzantium and numerous other empires.
Actions
I sold JPM in Fido Fund yesterday, getting a bit over 41 and an 85% gain. My reasoning ? I see it now as simply following the market up or down. The easy money is made in that name, in my "humble" opinion. I speculate for the easy money and otherwise let my asset allocation Krypto Fund do the work. When a stock gets close to fair value, I let is go and keep the cash to look for the next "screaming buy"
Word of the Day
"Purblind" - adjective [$10] from the card file
Purblind means lacking in vision, insight or understanding.
Sentence: Is any group of people more purblind than Congress ?
Verbum Diei
"Nihil" - noun, indeclinable
Nihil means nothing.
Sententia: [Imagine Sgt. Shultz of that great TV show, Hogan's Heroes, as a Roman centurion] Nihil video.
Senttence: I see nothing.
I. WSJ: "Former Louisiana congressman William Jefferson was convicted Wednesday of bribery schemes aimed at enriching him and his family in a trial that featured a freezer full of foil-wrapped cash in alleged bribe money. ... They accused Mr. Jefferson of essentially shaking down businessmen who would come to his office looking for help brokering deals in Africa. He served on a trade subcommittee."
II. WSJ: "Two University of Illinois trustees have resigned and a commission appointed by Gov. Patrick Quinn is expected Thursday to recommend that the remaining seven step down following charges that trustees eased admissions for hundreds of politically connected students."
III. WSJ: "Who doesn't like the government's "cash for clunkers" program? Your mechanic, for one. Owners of automotive repair shops say the program to help invigorate sales of new cars is succeeding at their expense." The Obama-Pelosi clique takes business from the working man to pay off the greenies.
IV: FT: Elevated from call girl to parliamentary candidate but then ostracised by those who feared she would reveal her secrets, Patrizia D’Addario’s story as the escort who went public about her night with Silvio Berlusconi has aspects of a soap opera. There is also a dark side to the experience of the 42-year-old single mother who sees herself as part of the “system” in Italy, where businessmen pay women to entertain politicians. “The system is like that. All of Italy functions like this,” Ms D’Addario says in a matter-of-fact way, speaking to the Financial Times."
So let's stop it. Use government only to control the growth in power of the ruling classes. History proves that such excess growth eventually destroys a country. Last evening I read another example of this, viz. ancient Sparta. The growth in its aristocracy after 400 BC led to fewer and fewer Spartan soldiers and citizens, so that eventually it succumbed to outside enemies. Similar forces caused the downfall of Byzantium and numerous other empires.
Actions
I sold JPM in Fido Fund yesterday, getting a bit over 41 and an 85% gain. My reasoning ? I see it now as simply following the market up or down. The easy money is made in that name, in my "humble" opinion. I speculate for the easy money and otherwise let my asset allocation Krypto Fund do the work. When a stock gets close to fair value, I let is go and keep the cash to look for the next "screaming buy"
Word of the Day
"Purblind" - adjective [$10] from the card file
Purblind means lacking in vision, insight or understanding.
Sentence: Is any group of people more purblind than Congress ?
Verbum Diei
"Nihil" - noun, indeclinable
Nihil means nothing.
Sententia: [Imagine Sgt. Shultz of that great TV show, Hogan's Heroes, as a Roman centurion] Nihil video.
Senttence: I see nothing.
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