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23 abril Consumer Protection Legislation for Credit Card CompaniesObama met with credit card company executives on the heals of legislation passing the House. The new law, a little late in coming, will go into effect in 2010 and will limit fees and prevent arbitrary interest rate increases. The very thing companies have been doing to consumers for the past several months -- raising rates, adding fees. Millions of consumers have been affected since this practice began in late 2007, making the credit card companies BILLIONS of dollars in additional revenue from the increased fees.
For instance, I have an account with Wells Fargo I use for emergencies. When I got the account, the selling point was that the interest rate was based on the prime rate. Meaning, if the prime rate went up, so could my interest rate for my card. I have excellent credit and the interest rate was a good rate. When the banking system dumped last year and the prime rate went down, I got a letter from Wells Fargo telling me that they were changing their terms and raised my interest rate 4%. The prime rate went down. Not up. My interest rate, per my agreement with Wells Fargo, should have went down as well. Needless to say, I payed off the small balance I'd been carrying and closed the account. Their loss.
I'm in a fortunate situation though. Many Americans aren't. I was able to pay the account off and tell them to shove it. Many Americans can't do that. I heard of one consumer who called their credit card company to complain about the doubling of their interest rate. In retribution, the company reduced their credit limit to the current balance, effectively wiping out the credit line. The reduction of credit appeared on their credit report, affecting their credit score. I guess it's a negative thing to have your credit limit reduced -- even when it's done to punish a complaining customer.
I applaud the current administration for taking action, but it's like closing the gate after the cows get out. It should have been passed as an emergency with a provision requiring companies to revert everyone back to where they were. By the time the new law goes into effect, more credit card holders will see major increases in interest rates and fees. Some customers have reported interest rates doubling, not only on new purchases, but on existing balances for purchases made under the old rates.
I guess we can hold out for hope. Maybe the credit card companies will grow a conscience and realize that they're screwing the socks off of their customers. Maybe they'll feel bad about it and voluntarily reduce rates and fees back to where they were when the credit card was issued to the consumer. Oh wait. These are the same companies that took OUR bailout money to save their companies and then gave themselves bonuses for a job well done.
Nevermind.
20 marzo Enforce Transparency in our GovernmentIt has been a volatile week in the U.S. That goes without saying, I think. From questionable uses of the taxpayer bailout money to the executive bonuses paid to not only the AIG execs, but other companies paid out bonuses as well. The same companies the taxpayers have mortgaged their futures – and our children’s future – for. Even though President Obama is willing to take blame for some of the problems, it still remains to be seen who all were involved in allowing the mis-appropriation to be made to begin with. Senator Dodd? Liddy? The Treasury Department? I think they were all responsible for the mess to a degree. One thing’s for sure. We can’t settle for the “blame me” game. That’s just not enough this time. The people who caused the problem need to be dealt with in a timely fashion. We need to show the world that we do not condone shady behavior and back alley deals. Remember, this behavior is the same behavior that doomed the previous administration. So, in my honest opinion, Obama needs to show us really what he meant by “transparency.” He needs to make violators of the policy accountable for their deeds, because we can not – nor should we allow – the continuing tactics of the last administration. 15 marzo AIG pays $165M in executive bonuses? WTF?The failing AIG company received $180 billion in bailout money from the taxpayers. It’s reported that they still paid their executives nearly $220 million in bonuses. How can that happen? What are the bonuses based on? It’s quite obvious that they’re not based on company performance! Tim Geithner, the Treasury Secretary, doesn’t have a good explanation. The next time we give bailout money to a failing company, it shouldn’t be given unless the company receiving the help agrees to suspend all bonus payments until the entire government loan has been repaid. The money-hungry execs who got our economy into this mess do not deserve a bonus. Period. Our government leaders? Either regulate the bonus mess before they’re given our money disguised as a bailout or let them fail. Period! 17 febrero Is this an economic emergency or not?After many days of wrangling by the senate and congress, the $787B “Economic Stimulus” bill has yet to be signed by the President. I guess it was more important for him to have the photo op in Chicago on Saturday having dinner with his wife. Surely the public agrees that Valentines day is more important than the economic health of the United States. I don’t know about you, but if I were president, I’d have been waiting in the Oval Office Friday night, prepared to sign the bill into law. Where was Obama? He was on Air Force One heading to the mid-west for a “much deserved” weekend getaway with the wife. Give me a break. How many presidents of the past were able to take time during a national emergency to dine with their wives in their home state? Okay, how many did that during their first few weeks in office? Okay President Obama, we’re waiting for this spending plan and crappy tax cuts to take affect. Get off your ass and sign the damn thing. This is an “emergency”, isn’t it? Forget making a big press deal out of it, we surely don’t have time for that political crap. BTW, while we’re on the topic of saving America, cutting costs at the White House, etc., Mr. Obama, do you have any flippin’ idea what it costs us taxpayers to shuttle your butt around the country on AF1? Maybe you should look at what it’s costing you to go to Chicago, then Denver and then Arizona. Maybe staying in Washington and working on our current economic woes would have had a more palatable appearance. Have you never heard of Net Meeting? All strategic errors. Where’s Obama’s handlers? 03 febrero Michael Phelps has been a verrry baaaaad boy!So, who gives a shit!
Young Mr. Phelps has since apologized for his activity and, for the most part, his apology has been accepted by most of the public, the Olympic committee, and the companies he endorses. Well, ‘cept for one jerk in in the Richland County Sheriff’s office. Apparently, Lt. Chris Cowan intends to capitalize on this photograph and get his name in the paper. Cowan has launched a full-scale investigation into the illegal-doings of Mr. Phelps. What a way to spend tax payer dollars Mr. Cowan! It’s not like half the folks wearing tin stars in Richland County didn’t take a toke or two during their younger days, or last week for that matter. So, Mr. Cowan, get a life and leave the young people at the college alone. I’m sure there’s an old lady jaywalking across the road right this minute, a danger to society. You should use your resources to apprehend her. Michael? If you’re gonna toke on a bong, make sure there’s not some idiot pointing a camera phone at you. 23 enero Did Obama take an unnecessary risk?There’s been a lot of conversation about the risk President Obama took during the inauguration parade on Tuesday when he and the First Lady left the security of the limousine and walked the parade route. I, like so many others, agree that the Obama’s took an unnecessary risk by doing so. Considering the number of threats that have been made against Obama before the election, and even more after, extreme measures to insure the safety of the First Family should be taken. 22 enero Two days and Major Changes in Washington D.C.We told Obama that we were ready for change, I hope we meant what we said. It’s been a couple of busy days for Barack and his staff.
And, he week’s not over. I’ll have to admit, it’s a little strange to see YouTube video clips on the White House web site. But, I say “welcome to the 21st century!” The new web site even has a blog. Who could ask for more? I also welcome dismantling the “good ole boy” network that has plagued our government for way too long. Some of the old cronies should be a little worried! Now: let’s get to work on this economic crisis. Maybe he’ll accomplish that next week. 20 enero Inauguration Technology Failure?The boast by many of the networks, including CNN, was that they’d be streaming the inauguration live. Well, I guess they under-estimated the number of folks who’d be watching it from their computers. Even after stopping all live feeds but one, if you tried to get a glimpse of the new president during the inauguration and didn’t get the feed going well beforehand, you’d have gotten this little message:
CNN is reporting that nearly 19 million live streams were running from their servers during the inauguration. I guess we still have some work to do on making sure our technology can handle a large event, such as this one. Is that one of the things needing to be fixed on President Obama’s list? 18 enero Is the media is playing the race card?Throughout the presidential election, Barack Obama did his best not to use the race card. He did his best to not to make the election about the color of his skin. He did his best to make the election about bringing change to our government and to the United States. As we get closer to inauguration day it appears that the media is playing the race card. Focus is being drawn away from the many challenges we still face – the worse economic downturn since the depression, two wars, and an ever increasing budget crisis. Barack keeps bringing those challenges up when he speaks, and the media quickly diverts that attention to the fact he’s black. Like we didn’t notice that? Don’t misunderstand what I’m trying to say here. This election was historic. But, the reason Barack was elected wasn’t because he was a black man. If you voted for him because of his color, shame on you. Barack wasn’t elected because we needed to pay back a segment of our population for the wrongs of our ancestors – all democracies have a history of inequality and struggle. Barack was elected because he was the best man for the job. Nothing more. I’m ready for a change in our government. I believe Barack Obama can do that. But, the color of our president’s skin won’t be what brings change. I voted for Barack because he has the abitlity to bring people together and because I believe he's an intelligent man with a drive to make our country a better place for our children. I realize it’s too late for the media to change how they’re reporting this event. Those wheels are in motion. But, after the inauguration becomes historical record, I hope we can move past it and focus on what’s important – stability of our future. 25 diciembre TulsaWxChaser.com BlogI've got the TulsaWxChaser.com blog up and running. The direct link is: http://www.tulsawxchaser.com/blog. During live storm chases and other events, this is the blog I'll be using to update chase fans, post photographs, etc. It'll be easier to use in the field than the forums.
So, we've activated the radio program, live chase video, and now the blog. Things are growing at TulsaWxChaser.com.
Merry Christmas! 19 noviembre Another change from Microsoft: Live FolderShare to change to Live SyncMicrosoft is announcing another change. Live FolderShare will become Live Sync next month. So, if you’re using FolderShare, or plan to, you’ll need to be aware of this change.
Dear FolderShare user, We're contacting you to let you know what's next for FolderShare, and to make you aware of some important changes. In December, we plan to announce a product called Windows Live Sync. You can think of it as FolderShare 2.0. It's going to look familiar and offer the same great features, plus:
A huge part of Sync's success story depends on FolderShare users like you. When Sync releases, FolderShare goes into retirement. That means your FolderShare software will stop working and will ask you to upgrade to Sync. Once you do, Sync will automatically rebuild your personal folders. We expect a lot of new users when Sync is released, so if you can't sign in right away, please give it a little time. Here's the part you need to pay attention to: Sync will not be able to rebuild your shared libraries. If you have a lot of shared libraries, you should hop over to the FolderShare website while it's still available and copy all that information. You'll need it to rebuild your shared libraries in Sync. Thanks for being a FolderShare user! We're excited about delivering an even better file-synchronization experience to customers like you. We hope you'll come along as we move forward with Windows Live Sync. Sincerely, The Windows Live Sync (formerly FolderShare) team French | Spanish | German | Portuguese | Italian Microsoft Phasing Out Windows Live OneCare
If you're currently using -- or plan to use -- Windows Live OneCare as your computing security software, you need to read the Microsoft update below. In June of 2009 Microsoft is planning to phase out Live OneCare and will offer a FREE package in its place. I'm sure more information will be coming as we get closer to June 2009. I'll admit, I'm a little disappointed that Microsoft is taking this step. Live OneCare has worked well for me. Quote Consumer Security Strategy Update |
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