What's Another Measly 55 Billion?

Hey, it'll create 850 permanent jobs!

Since when did Democrats start building nuclear power plants? I thought "no nukes" was part of their hallowed platform?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100213/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_nuclear_plant

More platform erosion. Now Obama wanting warrant less searches of your cellphone. The best part of this story is that our government used cell tower triangulation to catch some Texas bank robbers.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10451518-38.html

Listen bank robbers. You don't have to run around like Somali pirates in Texas just to get some chump change anymore. All you have to do is make a lot of hideous loans and claim that your failure is cataclysmic, convince your buds in government to bail you out, and then steal 1.5 trillion right out of the treasury. In full view-without firing a shot.

The AT&T Battle Ends

Well, it's finally over.

A lost rebate check, three months of missed payments, one FCC complaint...and today my private battle ended.

It's not about winning or losing. It's about paying a fair price for cellphone service.

AT&T gave me back my 4200 rollover minutes. I have all you can eat texting. I don't have data nor do I want it. The cellphone bill stayed around 65 bucks. Tolerable for 7 hours worth of prime time talk each month. They couldn't find my phone rebate check so they applied that missing 100 bucks to my bill.

I was happy with the outcome today and I paid the remaining 108 bucks on my bill. The standoff is over. I will retain my good deal for about 10 months and then the contract will be over.

Data is where the dough is. The talk and text only cellphone market has been penetrated and saturated. I expect data plans to get very expensive. That's the next growth market.

I am not under any illusion that any of the big carriers are really that much better than the others. I've had three carriers and they've all been about the same. What bothers me most is the extent to which these corporations will go to gouge their customers. It's that all pervasive greed thing which never seems to go away. Instead of calling it greed, we call it business. Like it's a virtue or something. I don't want to have to make a car payment for cellphone service. With individual plans hitting 150 bucks a month- its not too far off.

More Class Warfare

So ya' think we don't have class warfare?

Ok working stiffs- take a gander at this. This is how the elite use government to enrich themselves at your expense. If your blood doesn't boil, well then perhaps that Prozac you are taking is doing it's job.

http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/23088/1287086

Please make sure your tax checks arrive early.

This Kind of Greed Makes Me Sick to My Stomach

A couple of years ago when I "retired"... I was forced to buy Cobra health insurance. At 400 bucks a mo. and my health relatively good, that was an outrageous amount to pay. I take one prescription which I get at WalMart. It costs me 4 bucks a month. Four blood tests a year cost me 100 bucks.

Total health costs per year, 148.00. Total cost of insurance per year, 4800.00. Gee, which would you choose?

Now it dawned on me that with 25% of the working stiffs in this country unemployed and exiting employer health plans, that the healthy people would do exactly what I did. Four hundred bucks a month is insane. Healthy people simply can't afford to pay the McDonalds and Marlboro premiums. Only the unhealthy would stay insured. Costs would rise dramatically.

This is happening. Wellpoint Systems announced a 39% increase in premium costs. THIRTY NINE PERCENT!!!

Here's a piece I clipped from the article:

Brian Sassi, the head of WellPoint's consumer business unit, said in his letter to Sebelius that the weak economy is leading individual insurance buyers who don't have access to group plans to drop coverage or buy cheaper plans. That reduces the premium revenue available to cover claims from sicker customers who are keeping their coverage.

The result was a 2009 loss for the Anthem Blue Cross unit that sells individual policies to people who don't get insurance through their employers, he said. Higher rates for this group, which accounts for about 10 percent of Anthem's eight million customers in California, are needed to cover the shortfall expected from the continuation of that trend, according to the letter.

"When the healthy leave and the sick stay, that is going to dramatically drive up costs," Sassi said in an interview. He declined to specify the size of the unit's loss.

Now just in case you are curious, Wellpoint only made 2.7 billion in the last 3 months of fiscal 2009. That 4800 a year that I would have paid? Oh yea, Wellpoint runs Blue Cross of Idaho. Glad I could stiff Wellpoint! Makes you want to fire up a lynch mob. Really. Here's the link to the whole story with Obamacare spin...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100211/ap_on_he_me/us_insurance_rates_wellpoint

AT&T Combat Info Update

Today, I got a call from Tiffany who stated she was attached to the office of the President of AT&T. They wanted to discuss my FCC complaint. Where is the FCC? Aren't they supposed to sit in on my behalf? Maybe that 14 grand I sent in last year wasn't enough to merit a phone call. Maybe Frankenstein used my dough for food stamps, bond interest, student loans, or any number of other programs that government has no business meddling in.

Anyway Tiffany said the call would be recorded. I said great. Let's talk.

They could not find my year and four month lost in space 100 dollar rebate. My bill has escalated from Nov.- 63 bucks to Dec.- 83 bucks, Jan- 109 bucks, then 114 bucks for Feb. Tiffany said I owe them 306 bucks. I say 63 x 3 =189.00. Minus 100 bucks for the missing rebate. Let's see, 89 bucks.

She said, "that amount was in dispute." No shit.

Thank gawd, I don't have data. I'd need a bank loan to pay the bill. AT &T would probably slide in some sneaky language that web data was only available on my phone from 2-3 a.m. Otherwise it would be 10 bucks a minute.

What can I do for you Tiffany asks? I want my plan back, my 4200 rollover minutes back (or compensated), my 100 dollar rebate, and my old bill back. The 63.00 dollar one. The one you made me sign a 2 year contract for.

Those are some pretty unreasonable demands. That's how I roll. Mean. Ford tough.

Tiffany said she'd get back to me in 24 to 48 hours. You'd think an attache' working for the President could settle something as simple as an out of control phone bill right then and there. Just lean across that boardroom table and give the Prez a little wink.

My backup plan? I can live without AT&T. Really.

The Great AT&T Bait and Switch

The popularity of Apple's IPhone has been without peer. An excellent device that can handle a ton of data. The IPhone has been a huge success. Anyone with an IQ north of 90 knew that-before the phone hit the ground.

Everyone that is except AT&T. I read an article the other day wherein the CEO said because of that success, they simply don't have the infrastructure, i.e. the bandwidth or capacity to handle all of the data requests coming through the pipeline. Therefore, they must pass this cost onto the consumers who are using that bandwidth. Here is a blog I clipped that references that problem:

AT&T's Bait And Switch On iPhone Unlimited Service: We Screwed Up, So Now You Have To Pay More

from the well,-that's-convincing dept

There's lots of buzz going around concerning the news that an AT&T exec has admitted that to deal with the companies own inability to build out a strong cellular network (angering tons of iPhone users), that it's planning to put in place caps and charge more to high-end users. Of course, this is pure bait and switch. The company sold people on an unlimited data plan, failed to invest in its network, and pushed high bandwidth apps on people. And, of course, it's worth noting that while they now want to charge high bandwidth users more, they don't say anything about the low bandwidth users. No one gets a discount. AT&T is making a ton of money off of the iPhone. It could have -- and should have -- invested more of that into network upgrades. Now it's blaming its most loyal users -- the same ones who it recommended high bandwidth apps to -- and expecting that everyone will be happy with that? AT&T may discover that people start looking for other alternatives if they dump the unlimited data offering that they sold people.

Now I kind of understand this dude's problem. He is claiming to be a victim. A few months ago, AT&T started surcharging me for data. Apparently I didn't have the "all you can eat data plan" that IPhone users have. I have a Blackjack II. So I did the only thing I could do to cut costs. I took data off my phone. I use my laptop for data.

Well then in January, AT&T decided to triple my bill to something like 250.00. I called their call center. One of those script readers at the call center told me that 4200 primetime rollover minutes of mine had "expired." They had simply eliminated them without telling me and tripled my bill. That rollover minute plan was the only reason I had signed up. On a 450 minute plan per mo., those 4200 minutes are worth about a year's worth of calling. They have value. And that's why AT&T swiped them from me. I also had to sign up for a two year contract.

AT&T's answer to all of this was that the expiration of those minutes was in my contract. I told them at no time during the "selling" phase of my plan did anyone state this. She said it's in your contract. That would be great, show me the contract, I replied. Like I carry the thing in my wallet or that I can read the 2-point font it is written in.

The kind woman then agreed to reduce my bill to something like 90 bucks a month from the 65 I had been paying.

That folks-is classic bait and switch without the data excuse. Sign up for one plan, agree to a two year contract, and then have AT&T switch you into a much more costlier plan and I still don't have data.

Here's my position. I want the plan I signed up for at the agreed upon price. I have already given them back their precious data and was forced to add, "all you can eat" texting. Let no good deed go unpunished.

All of this greed has left me with no other option than to refuse to pay the bill and file an FCC complaint. That means I have to rely on Frankenstein Government to settle this. David v Goliath. God help me and my credit score. I can understand the IPhone users complaints. They have a very data receptive device which was bought for that purpose and AT&T is too greedy to invest in their own infrastructure and is now dropping downloads, gouging customers, and making excuses. So file your complaints with the FCC. Let's see if Frankenstein can save us a few hundred bucks in return for the 20 thousand I will pay in taxes this year.

You're Gonna Need More Than That

The I.R.S. is gearing up. Shotguns, bounty hunters, all of this in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Land of the free? Well... just as long as you turn over your money.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/02/irs_riding_shotgun_for_obama.html