Stop Pulling the Wagon

Often while working on the computer I like to listen to the radio. 

GET RICH WORKING FROM HOME!                                     WORK PART TIME!                    

EARN $50,000 A YEAR OR MORE WORKING A FEW HOURS A WEEK!

 NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED!                    ANYBODY CAN DO IT!                   NO SELLING!

CALL FOR DETAILS!            OUR SECRET PLAN CAN MAKE YOU WEALTHY!                   

                        VISIT OUR WEBSITE!        www. LOOKINGFORSUCKERS.COM

I’ve got a question.   What do they need me for?   If the plans are that easy, why do they spend their money to recruit me?   Why don’t they just do it themselves and pocket all the profits?   

I have some good friends who got involved in one of these schemes (and I use the word intentionally).  They spent many thousands of dollars on a piece of equipment that creates a “wifi” computer zone.  This would allow customers at a restuarant to use their credit cards to go online.  The plan was that my friends would share in the revenues generated and have a large income with little or no work once they purchased the piece of equipment and found a place to locate it. 

If my memory serves me correctly my friend told me that they received exactly one “Revenue Sharing” check for $9.00 and never another dime.  The machine/equipment that cost them thousands of dollars became a “dinosaur” within a very short period of time and the company that advertised and sold it would not buy it back at any amount.  The equipment ended up at home in their garage and the only “benefit” they ever got from it was the business loss writeoff on their income taxes.  In other words they lost all their money.  The company that advertised the business plan was really only in the business of selling the equipment.  IF THEIR BUSINESS PLAN HAD ANY REAL MERIT THEY DID NOT NEED MY FRIENDS.  THEY COULD SIMPLY HAVE HAD THE PIECE OF EQUIPMENT INSTALLED THEMSELVES AND KEPT ALL OF THE PROMISED REVENUE/INCOME FROM ITS USE!  Their only real business plan involved was to sucker people into buying the equipment with an unproven “blue sky” promise of  “easy” profits.

The truth is that you can make money working from home but it doesn’t involve any pre-packaged “plans” being sold to you.  It involves you putting together a workable plan based on something you have expertise in that is marketable.  It also involves discipline and hard work.  In the process I found out that the worst boss I have ever had is me. 

THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT HAVING YOUR OWN HOME BUSINESS IS THAT IT IS CONVENIENT AND THE BAD NEWS ABOUT HAVING YOUR OWN HOME BUSINESS IS THAT IT IS CONVENIENT!   THAT IS YOU FIND YOURSELF WORKING ALL THE TIME IF YOU WANT TO SUCCEED.

So, the next time you hear one of those ads ask yourself these two questions:  1. Why are they spending their money to run this ad?  And, if it is that easy, why do they need me?  A third question to ask yourself is:  What are they selling?

Just something to think about.                                  

Bob Bandy

I have long believed that the word ‘FREE’ is perhaps the most abused and misused word in our language.

Almost nothing is truly ‘FREE’. Somebody, usually you, paid something for whatever it is, either directly or indirectly.

Does anybody feel that anything you get from the government is free?  Really?

But even on a consumer level consider the following:

For example: BUY ONE – GET ONE FREE!  The cost of the item you are getting ‘FREE’ is ‘buried’ in the profit of the one you paid for. It would be more accurate and truthful to say something like: Buy one item and receive an additional item “free” of additional cost but in today’s world that is not ‘smart’ advertising.

We got into a big fight with eBay because they “strongly suggested” to us as a Seller to start listing our items with “Free Shipping”.  “Strongly suggested” is a phrase that I remember from my days long ago in the Army when it was often phrased “We can’t make you do this but we can make you wish you had”  I argued with eBay that there is no such  thing as “Free” shipping because shipping costs money.  Their reply was that it is not dis-honest or unreasonable to build the cost of shipping into the cost of the product and therefor you can offer “Free Shipping” because you do not have to add an additional amount to the purchase price to cover the cost of  delivery.  When a potential buyer looks at the product they do not have to do the mental math to add on the shipping charge.  In the end we found out eBay was right (from a marketing perspective).  Customers love ” Free” shipping.  To this day I hate it that eBay was right.  Maybe I’m just a sore loser.  Still, it violates all logic from my perspective.

In fact the logic behind all this “FREE” stuff just makes me crazy but it is rampant in our world today.  Everywhere you look, somebody is offering something for “FREE”.  I believe we need to remember that the bean counters who rule our world have built the true cost of “FREE” into the cost of the products we buy.  In the end “it ain’t Free”.  There is a cost for “Free”.

Remember that the cost to the seller for the “FREE” coupons you use is built into the average selling price you pay for the products you buy.

Here is another thought to lock away.  If you think your home is “FREE and CLEAR” when you pay off your mortgage,  try not paying your property taxes for a couple of years and see what happens.  You see, you can never truly own your home as “FREE and CLEAR”  property.  In reality, you are only renting it from the government.

Learn to be naturally suspicious when someone offers you something for “FREE”.

Who was the singer whose song included the line “Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose”?  (Janis Joplin – from her song “Me and Bobby McGee”)

……Bob

LET ME SEE IF I UNDERSTAND THIS CORRECTLY.

OUR GOVERNMENT HAS HALTED  NEW DRILLING FOR OIL IN THE GULF OF MEXICO FOR AT LEAST SEVEN YEARS.

CHINA, VENEZUELA, CUBA, MEXICO, BRAZIL AND OTHERS ARE STILL DRILLING AND PLAN TO EXPAND DRILLING IN THE GULF OF MEXICO.

SINCE THE UNITED STATES WILL NOT BE DRILLING WE WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE AN OIL SHORTAGE.

TO FILL OUR DOMESTIC NEEDS FOR OIL WE WILL NEED TO IMPORT OIL.

I BELIEVE IT IS SAFE TO ASSUME THAT WE WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS IMPORTED OIL.

NOW FOR A QUICK REVIEW TO MAKE SURE I UNDERSTAND THIS CORRECTLY:

1. WE AMERICANS CANNOT DRILL FOR AND GET THE OIL OURSELVES.

2. OTHER COUNTRIES, NOT ALWAYS FRIENDLY TO US, CAN GO AND GET THIS SAME OIL FROM THE SAME SITES WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DRILL IN.

3. THESE OTHER COUNTRIES CAN THEN SELL THIS  OIL TO US AT A PROFIT.

4. THIS ALL MAKES SENSE.

NOW I GET IT.  GUESS I WAS JUST HAVING A PROBLEM WITH GOOD ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL LOGIC.

BOB

TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND THOSE WHO FOLLOW MY POSTS.  I’M BACK.   WELL AT LEAST MOSTLY BACK.  I APOLOGIZE FOR MY ABSENCE.

MY LAST POSTING WAS IN SEPTEMBER AND I HAVE BEEN “UNDER THE WEATHER”.   NO STITCHES TO SHOW YOU.  NO  BORING STORIES TO SHARE.

MY LIFE WAS AT NO TIME IN DANGER, ALTHOUGH THERE WERE A FEW DAYS WHEN I FELT I WOULD HAVE TO SHOW SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT  TO BE WELL ENOUGH TO DIE GRACEFULLY.  FOR THE MOST PART, AND ON MOST DAYS, I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO FUNCTION AT A LEVEL, THAT WITH SOME HELP, I COULD SORT OF DO THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF WORK (MY POOR WIFE DOING THE REST) TO KEEP THINGS GOING.  BUT, THIS BLOG, AND SOME OTHER THINGS HAD TO “GO TO THE BACK OF THE LINE”.

THANK YOU TO MY WONDERFUL WIFE AND DAUGHTER WHO SHOWED ME MORE SUPPORT AND GRACE  THAN I DESERVE DURING THIS TIME.

THANK YOU TO ALL MY FRIENDS, INCLUDING THOSE AT MY CHURCH WHO HAVE KEPT ME IN THEIR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS.

IT HAS BEEN A PAINFUL AND HUMBLING EXPERIENCE.  YOU SEE, I AM A LOUSY PATIENT.  FOR MOST OF MY YEARS I HAVE BEEN DISGUSTINGLY HEALTHY AND I GUESS I GOT SPOILED.

WHILE  NOT AT DEATHS DOOR (AT LEAST I DON’T THINK SO) DURING THESE WEEKS, THIS EPISODE HAS CAUSED ME TO LOOK ANEW AT MY OWN MORTALITY,  AND WHILE I SELDOM TAKE MYSELF OR LIFE TOO SERIOUSLY, I HAVE HAD PERIODS WHEN I FOUND MYSELF WONDERING IF I HAVE MADE SUFFICIENT EFFORT TO TRY AND DO SOME GOOD ALONG THE WAY.

ENOUGH WITH THE SOAPY, MAUDLIN STUFF! LOOK AT ALL THE GREAT MATERIAL I HAVE MISSED THE OPPORTUNITY TO COMMENT ON IN THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS!  THE ECONOMY!  THE ELECTION!  LIFE IN GENERAL!  SO MUCH GOOD STUFF!

GUESS I BETTER GET BUSY AND MAKE UP FOR SOME LOST TIME.   GET READY!       …….BOB

WOULDN’T IT BE FUN!

Just for fun, sit back, close your eyes and daydream about (fill in your choice of Congress man/woman – Senator or member of the Administration) appearing before Judge Judy and answering five questions you would like straight simple answers to.  Not the usual Washington “Speak” or “Spin” we get when these same folks are asked similar questions by the media.

For my part I will propose five questions I would like Judge Judy to ask them.  Your own questions might be different.

1.  Madam Speaker: Tell me exactly what did you mean when you said we needed to pass the Obama Health Care Act so we could find out what is in it?

2. Mr. President:  You promised that the $787 Billion Dollar Stimulus Plan would keep unemployment below 8%.  It is now 9.6%.  Without blaming the previous administration, please explain why this promise was not kept. 

3. Congressman Frank:  When tighter regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was proposed by the Bush Administration in 2003 you stated that “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not facing any kind of financial crisis”.  Your saying this is well documented.  You were wrong.  Why do you now deny making such statements?

4.  Mr. Vice President:  Los Angeles was given $111 Million Dollars to create and save jobs.  With this money they “created” or “saved” 55 jobs at a cost of over $2 Million Dollars per job.  Please explain in simple terms where that $111 Million Dollars is today.

5. To various spokespersons for the Administration:  In January 2007 the Democratic Party took control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.  The Deficit for 2007, including the cost of the war in Iraq, was less than $200 Billion Dollars.  For 2008 the deficit increased to over $400 Billion Dollars.  For 2009 the deficit just about tripled to more than $1.4 Trillion Dollars.  2010 numbers are not yet finalized but are on a path to be around $1.4 Trillion Dollars.  With both houses of Congress under Democratic control since January 2007 and the Presidency in Democratic hands since January 2009,  please tell us again who drove the economy into the ditch?

These questions are posed to the current administration but equally interesting questions could be posed to an administration of another political party in power in Washington.  The fun would be in watching Judge Judy verbally disect the person being questioned when they try to use “talking points” instead of straightforward, honest answers. 

I believe that many/most members of both major political parties are just as dysfunctional as many/most of the people who appear before Judge Judy airing their “dirty linen” before 20 million people in endless re-runs for the next upteen years.     

I often discipline myself with the thought of “what would I do in this situation if I knew I would have to explain my actions to Judge Judy before millions of people?”

Just for fun…..                                Bob

In 1961 East Germany built the Berlin Wall to keep East German citizens from escaping the tyranny of Communism in the East to Freedom in the West.   

When they built this wall the East Germans lost any credibility they might have had to extoll the virtues of Communism.  No one would believe them because they had to keep their citizens isolated behind walls from opposing ideas. 

Credibility is a fragile thing.

Now we have an Islamic Cleric – Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf – who wants to build a Mosque within rock throwing distance of Ground Zero where the Twin Towers were brought down and more than 2,700 people were murdered by Radical Islamic Terrorists on September 11, 2001.  

The Imam says he wants to build this Mosque as an outreach in the name of  Peace and Understanding.  He states his goal is that Christians and Jews can learn to accept Islam and we can all live in mutual tolerance and harmony.  

I have a question Imam Feisal Adbul Rauf.  To build credibility for your stated mission, will you support the building of Christian Churches and Learning Centers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Amman, Jordan?  How about within a few hundred feet of your Holy sites in Mecca and Medina?  That way Muslims could learn tolerance and understanding of the Christian faith.   

I am told Islam does not allow Christian Churches in Saudi Arabia or Jordan.  What is your position on this? 

It seems to me that Islam has built something very much like the Berlin Wall around many Islamic countries and won’t allow its citizens to even look at a Bible or discuss Christianity.  This begs the question:  Is Islam afraid of its followers learning about Christianity? 

When you demand that we allow you to build a Mosque in the name of  tolerance while Islam  denies the same tolerance to Christians and Jews,  you lose your credibility.      

This is not about hatred, and we do not hate peace loving Muslins.  This has everything to do with the small percentage of Muslims who are determined to impose their own violent image of Islam and Sharia Law.  They don’t want to co-exist in peace.  They have one non-negotiable demand:  Accept their view of Islam or die.  

It also has to do with credibility, Imam.  When you demand to build your Mosque knowing it will further divide people,  we just don’t believe your motives are to promote peace and understanding.  

In this matter Imam, you have no credibility with the majority of Americans.

………Bob