Category Archives: Business

Business, Christian, commentary, current events, Entertainment, politics, popular culture, Video games

New Youtube Communist . . . er, Monetezation Guidelines Petition

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Hello All!  If you haven’t heard of the Youtube controversy yet, it’s about “censorship.”  While some will say that the new policy is not “censorship,” especially since Youtube is privately owned, in essence it is one big tool for shutting the mouths of those who are not politically correct (natural disasters are now a no-no too).  So whatever you want to call it, it’s not good for free speech, learning about and sharing various opinions, and helping to keep this country from completely losing its democratic basis (a controlled and uninformed public simply can’t be democratic).

A number of articles say, quoting Youtube officials, that the policy isn’t new, actually.  I don’t believe this.  But if it’s true that it’s not new, the fact that Youtube is enforcing it now IS new.  So it kind-of doesn’t matter–the point is just a deflection.  This is what the policy says, in part:  “Controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown” will be demonetized.

If you’re a Christian or know about the culture wars that have been raging, you can imagine how stifling this policy might be.   Youtube, arguably, would be able to demonetize anything.  It has even demonetized suicide help videos.  While the creators can petition Youtube to remonetize these videos, one only has to imagine the sweeping nature of this video censoring practice.  Of course, if Youtube’s program is anything like Hilary’s email search engine, who knows what it’ll find or miss.  And speaking of Hilary, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if she has something to do with this.  Look at the timing, look at the ability to demonetize your work if it contains a “sensitive subject” or includes “political conflict” (and “natural disasters”?!?).

Please consider signing the little petition:  Make Youtube Change Its New Community Guidelines .   At the time of this writing, it needs one more signer in order for the petition to actually show up publicly at Change.org.

For further reading and viewing:

Youtube Declares War on Politically Incorrect Opinions

Creators Call Out Youtube for Demonetizing Content

 

Business, buying a home, Christian, real estate

Buying a Car or Home with Cash? Good luck! (The World Doesn’t Like It)

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You can find all sorts of ads for businesses giving you cash for your old car, but you want to pay a dealer cash for one of his?? Forget it.
You can find all sorts of ads for businesses wanting to give you cash for your old car, but you want to pay a dealer cash for one of his??  Forget it.

We’re not “stay out of debt” and “pay cash only” fanatics.  It’s just that there can be good reasons for paying with cash instead of getting a loan, and we’ve had those good reasons.  Yet when we have paid for our cars with cash, both times have been horrible and draining experiences.  Lately, we have been trying to buy a cheaper home with cash, and that also has been an exceedingly stressful experience.  “Cash is King,” right? So what’s the problem?

As far as I can tell, those buyers with lots of cash and the know-how to flaunt it, don’t have the same problems.  When we were trying to purchase a condo in Orange County, California, a few years back, we could never do it because – as our agent told us – too many Chinese investors were here buying things up quickly with cash.  In very short order, real estate prices rose and we were shut out of the market.  (Why our own governments allows this . . . well, they allow it for the obvious reason that they prefer the influx of money over the the interests of its citizens and communities.)

This is what happened to us when we bought cars with cash.  We didn’t buy either one from an owner, and I’m pretty sure buying from an owner would be much easier with cash.  Anyway, we bought a used car from a dealership.  It took FOREVER.  They did a credit check, even though we weren’t paying with credit, and I believe they did a type of check that can be detrimental to one’s credit (I found out later).  In any case, we ended up leaving with the car, having paid for it with a personal check.   I thought they’d have one of those electronic check scanners and it would all be no problem; I was very wrong.  Based on our experience, perhaps a call to the dealer ahead of time–asking what you can do to make the whole transaction easier and less time-consuming–might be helpful if you want to pay with cash.

Continue reading Buying a Car or Home with Cash? Good luck! (The World Doesn’t Like It) →

Business, Christianity, Poverty, Religion, slavery, workers rights

“You don’t deserve a job” is like “You don’t deserve to live.” Christian based, really?

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To the Cross with trans base mod - Copy
Art and design by Vicki Priest. “In truth, no human alive can fathom how much, how sweetly and how how tenderly, our Maker loves us,” Julian of Norwich.

I’ve come across this idea a couple of times from a well-regarded Christian university website:  Don’t think that you deserve a job.  The first time I saw this, I was dismayed, and after coming across it again, I had to think about it more (remember to count to ten before responding when angry!) and organize my thoughts. The statement didn’t advise that you shouldn’t think you deserve a certain job, just that you don’t deserve a job.

Most People Need to be Employed in Order to Survive in Our World

In our urban day and age, most persons rely on a job (or multiple jobs) to live.  Very few of us (and probably none that are able to read this) are hunter-gatherers anymore, and sadly, very few of us are even farmers.  Most all of us have jobs because those with the means control the land and wealth, and today, a very few people control a vast amount of wealth.  There used to be movies made about the rich, the banks, the industrious turned industrial, taking over family farms (and the like) by any means necessary.  These weren’t just movies, of course, but were made to show an unfairness and a harm in our “free” society. As our society became more and more industrial and urban, fewer and fewer people were left the dignity of working out their own livelihood.

Continue reading “You don’t deserve a job” is like “You don’t deserve to live.” Christian based, really? →

Business, Entertainment, Food, Funny, Humor, popular culture, travel

Warning! Labels, menus, and other ESL hilarity

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Maybe you don’t buy many products that are made overseas so you don’t know the delights of “English as a second language” labeling.  But for me, I love reading them to see what unintentional humor crops up.  It’s like watching Jay Leno’s “Headlines,” but without having to stay up so late.

For instance, I received a Hello Kitty travel mug recently for my birthday, and this was on the warning label:  “WARNING!  After filling hot liquid into the mug, please avoid to cover the lid immediately and avoid to shake the mug in order to prevent hot liquid spitting out via the drink hole.”  The other side of the label, providing tips for use, was written better, although it had the same silly warnings that so many products seem to need these days (“Do not microwave . . . do not carry mug into bag when its filled with liquid . . . Always check to make sure your lid is secured before drinking . . . “).

There’s a site where you can read all kinds of “English as a second language” labels, signs, menus, writing on clothing, etc., that people submit.  It is always fun, and I often find things that made me laugh harder than I had in a week or so.  It’s Engrish.com.  Here are some examples – enjoy!

german-type-sexual-harassment10054-Slip-And-Fall_largebeware-of-missing-footbacteria-pot-monstersvirtual-boringgod-jesus japan robot toyGod-Jesus robot toy sold in Japan in the 1980s.  The toy gave a yes or no answer to any of your questions!  So, while Jesus isn’t given a bad name, it seems like our God is viewed as some kind of psychic talisman . . .

Business, Christianity, commentary, News, politics

Unemployment rate is not 7.5%. Tired of the news feeding you misleading information? (II)

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The unemployment rate is about double that figure, with various experts providing a range between 13% and 16%.  Read on.

The report below is based on the ADP reports for job growth, or not . . .  Make sure to see the red and green graphic down the page a bit, “ADP Employment Change” (the recent change is negative).  While there is job growth in areas, look at the bottom of the info-graphic at the bottom of the article.  The average number of jobs in April was less than the previous five months.  Good jobs in manufacturing went DOWN, not up.

LINK:  ADP Private Jobs Plunge, Miss; Fall For Fifth Month In A Row

And get this:

LINK:  Dark side to jobs report: Big drop in hours worked; Commentary: Shorter work week equivalent to 500,000 jobs lost

Are you tired yet of the media providing a false and rosy picture of employment in this country?  What reason do they have to do so?  How can providing only part of the employment/unemployment picture help anyone – the government policy makers, business people, the unemployed?  While the author the article in the above link cautions that the data is only for one month and may not represent a long-term trend (still, that’s an awful lot of “jobs lost” not being reported), coupled with the ADP information in the first link, it isn’t encouraging.  It also confirms what so many employees are saying – they are given too few hours to work.

The video and transcript linked below gives actual, real-world evidence of the ridiculous time older people are having getting jobs (how they’re spending all their retirement, living off of aid, being forced into signing unlawful lay-off agreements, etc.).  Many were laid-off when the depression started.  I’m tired at this point of business people blaming others out there for out-sourcing jobs and therefore making it not competitive to pay Americans decent wages, or even hiring Americans at all, and things of this nature.  It’s business people that did all this – out-sourcing, laying off older workers because they have a higher pay rate and may cost more in health care, etc.  Not all business people have done these things, but it doesn’t matter much after our country and so many of its people are run into the ground.

Ethical business people should know about the applicable laws and regulations more than the average person, so they would be the best advocates for changes in the laws, tax structures, etc.  Many business people used to realize that employing people full-time and with decent pay made the whole community, and country, better.  Now it seems like only few do.  It’s like money is all that matters and that somehow they can take it to the grave with them – the future for everyone else is of no consequence.

As stated in the interview, the unemployment rate is closer to 16%.  This corresponds to Keith Hall’s testimony to the (US) Joint Economic Committee:  “Their data shows that American households now have an unprecedented dependence on these government programs. A remarkable 17.2% of total household income now comes from government social benefits, and such spending tracks pretty closely to the jobless rate (the share of the working age population without employment) . . .”

LINK:  Brutal Job Search Reality for Older Americans Out of Work for Six Months or More

For continually updated information on lay-offs and business closings, and links to pertinent articles (including where and how to get jobs), see DailyJobCuts.com.

Business, commentary, politics

Fiscal Crisis, Fiscal Responsibility, and Fair Taxes

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Link:  If Companies are People . . .

Op-ed in the New York Times by James Livingston, Rutgers professor. 

HERE’S an idea: why not tax corporations as if they were natural persons, in accordance with their newly discovered rights of free speech? That move would solve any impending fiscal crisis. . . .

In 2010 G.E. employed more than 130,000 people in the United States, and earned $14.2 billion, $5.1 billion of which was generated in the United States. And yet its American tax bill for that year, according to a report by The New York Times, was zero. . . .

So, by slashing corporate income taxes and forcing a new reliance on payroll taxes to finance government spending, we have redistributed income to the already wealthy and powerful. Our tax system has actually fostered inequality.  The fiscal problem we face is not, then, a lack of revenue sources. . . .

All the good things that were supposed to happen by cutting corporate profits have not materialized, and

corporate profits soar and full-time job creation languishes. American corporations are now sitting on $4.75 trillion in cash, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

In view of these facts, there’s no downside to replacing payroll taxes with increased taxes on corporate profits, wherever they’re made or held. By doing so, we make the tax code more progressive, and mobilize capital that is otherwise inert. In other words, we can lay solid foundations for economic growth simply by going back to the tax principles we used to have. What could be more conservative than that?

Not to mention that large corporations more and more employ people part-time only, basically, and those people qualify for food stamps and other programs.  These corporations pay fewer taxes and we pay more, and we pay for all their employees to simply live.  Besides simply being inhuman, this corporate philosophy is anti-community and anti-economic growth.  Poor people can’t buy luxury goods or save money for investment in stocks, bonds, etc.