Because people have stupid perceptions about how they think things should work and because most people do not care about their fellow man's real well-being, but only superficial things. Because the vast majority of people in the world are lazy cowards who would rather drag down their neighbor who is doing a little better than them than fight their true enemies, the corporations, the career politicians, and those rich men who lend a helping hand to the other two.
Why are most people content to accept the media's agenda and complain about enron, etc. when there are problems much closer?
For instance, gold dealers are a disappointment. The ones I have dealt with either advertise one price and then try to add fees that were not mentioned until you try to close the deal, or they don't ship when they promise and lie about when your check came. They demand that you send the check right away after you get confirmation, but bitch when you call 2 weeks later to get a tracking number.
Banks make us wait in horribly long lines, charge us fees for everything, and many won't provide basic services like returning checks even for a fee. They prey on the weakest and most vulnerable of us when they flip the order of posting checks on low balance accounts to try to generate more penalties. They "float" our checks for longer and longer in an age of faster and faster interbank communication. They keep increasing the restrictions on how we can use our own money, while lowering the level of service they agree to provide.
How about credit cards? The banks' way of getting another cut of nearly every transaction - off both ends! Usurious interest rates, fraudulent disclosure of interest rates, Average Daily Balance calculations devised by loan sharks, byzantine rules that you must obey or your rates will be cubed, a brutal level of unsolicited calls that can only be stopped by using harassment laws, long voicemail labyrinths with rude operators at the end, manipulation of the laws to increase the strength of their honeytraps.
A coworker told me he keeps his higher interest card because they finally stopped calling him and he doesn't want to deal. Coward.
A telephone lineman said he was glad they tightened up the loopholes on creditcards because he was tired of people declaring bankruptcy on their $7000, 23% cards and thereby raising his rates. Fool.
Stockbrokers, movie rentals, bookstores, shippers, USPS, auto dealers, auto repair, building contractors, restaurants, grocery store, gas station, etc. Even this website.
Anyone ever had a less than satisfactory experience from one of these places? Did you fight for what you thought was right? Did you stop going to that store out of protest? Did you run out of stores yet?
A lot of people say "pick your battles", I have never seen them pick one. I pick my battles, but if noone else does their share then I cannot win by myself.
What is "the economy" if it is not all of us together? If we cannot fix the little things, then how can we fix the big things?
Let's not worry about the stock market's bottom when we have not even bothered to diaper our own. |
