This needs to happen more often.
My aunt unfriended me on Facebook because she posted something about credit card debt being the new chains of slavery.
I posted that the saddest thing was that people put those chains on themselves. Her response was that I shouldnāt judge what I donāt understand.
My response was that I had been there and done that, unemployment, medical bills, bad decisions. And that blaming the bank for giving you money is like blaming your mechanic for fixing your car. They did exactly what you asked them to.
No comments back, just unfriended along with my wife. For stating simple facts that a 56 year old woman who wasnāt a Wiccan wanna be unrepentant hippie would understand. It is possible to live life without debt. The fact that you donāt isnāt the bankās fault.
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Paid off the last of my student loans a few weeks ago. Weāve got about 14 months left until everything (consumer debt) but the mortgage is paid off. All of those things (including the bachelor degrees of dubious value) were entered into freely. Nobodyās fault but our own. Iāve learned more paying for my degree than I did acquiring it.
(That said, weāve been very blessed not to have incurred substantial medical bills that we couldnāt cover.)
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At Wells Fargo, I continually had to explain to customers who overdrew their account, that their debut cards and credit cards were not just free money.
I had people who insisted that we were trying to make them pay for stuff twice - āI already paid for this with my card, why are you taking money out of my account to make me pay for it again?ā
Quite a few times I just told people who whined about the overdraft charge, āif you wanted a loan, why didnāt you call and ask for one?ā
They still didnāt get it.
I honestly have problems believing this. I donāt think youāre lying, but I just canāt believe it.
The first time I heard it, the customer hung up because I couldnāt get any words to come out of my mouth.
Partly because Iād been conditioned to not cuss on the phone.
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Iāve encountered this kind of stupidity before, too. It is the evolution of āOf course I have money, I still have checks!ā A buddyās wife was one of those people; he had to mete out checks one at a time. She couldnāt be trusted with an ATM card, either.
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My only surprised regarding the 20 percent of Trump supporters apparently unaware of what the Emancipation Proclamation is and when it was created, is that the numbers arenāt higher. And that has nothing to do with my opinion of Trump, it has everything to do with my preception of the intelligence of the average America voter.
If you asked them what famous document begins with āfour score and seven years agoā, it would be a fifty-fifty split on those who think it was George W.'s speech on the seventh anniversary of 9/11, and those who think it was the Communist Manifesto written by Groucho Marx.
One alleged former lawyer who is a presidential candidate asserted the other day that we had a constitutional right to ālife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.ā
The only real choice this year is between SMOD and Great Cthulhu.
#NeverTrump pic.twitter.com/xDPST1SrXG
ā Sweet Meteor O'Death (@smod2016) February 27, 2016
Why does North Korea keep doing this? No matter what dumb-ass apology they force out of somebody, nobody believes it. But they just keep doing this, over and over again, like it really makes a difference.
The only ones who might believe it are North Korean nationals who have been brainwashed their entire lives, and we already know that quite a few of them no longer believe the bullshit either.
Is the push for $15 an hour a corporate plot to keep reasonable discussions about a $9 or $10 minimum wage from happening?
Only $1.5 million people in America make minimum wage. The purchasing power of minimum wage has gone down almost 6% since the last increase. Why not increase it 10% this year and review it again in a couple more years?
People are also calling for an increase to match the 1969 rate of $10.10 in todayās dollars. Perhaps not realizing that $10.10 was the highest it had ever been, or knowing and not caring. Minimum wage is not enough to live comfortably on, itās the minimum. Raising the minimum wage causes inflation, but a certain amount of inflation is good, but not a huge jump.
Hell, my ditsy, but somehow also smart, daughter managed to get raises every place sheās worked within 3 months, just by showing up to work and doing what she considered to be easy work. The tanning place she worked at gave her a $.50 raise in less than a month, just because she wasnāt late. She quit there because she was so bored it was killing her.
So far, the polls are showing that Trump is leading in every state except Texas (duh - those people will even vote for an oilman who couldnāt find oil in their state). Rubio seems to be doing better than Cruz (except, duh, Texas).
So far it seems like Rubio could have a shot as a VP, except Trump isnāt really known as a ācoalition builderā. I canāt see any of the three (Trump, Cruz, Rubio) considering any of the others as a running mate, even if the race was to the bottom of a trash incinerator.
Very few reports on the Dem side. So far, the few reports show Clinton and Sanders pretty much neck-and-neck. I think it is really going to come down to a very tense and bitter DNC. Itās quite possible that Clinton could win that, as she is more than happy to take any position that will get her votes. Sheād likely promise Sanders supporters just about anything to win them over, while Sanders is very unlikely to betray his supporters in order to win over Hillary fans.
At this point I can only hope for a brokered deal where Cruz or Rubio drop out and give their delegates to the other one.
Heck at this point, us rest-of-worldians are watching in horror as President Trump begins to look more and more possible. This is a man who tried to sue a French electricity company because they were building wind turbines on private land within viewing distance of his favourite golf course.
In Scotland.
Where he doesnāt live.
And doesnāt own the land the turbines were built on.
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Believe meā¦ plenty of us in the US are watching in horror, too.
He isnāt a conservative, he does not embrace the Republican ticket, heās friends with people staunch Republicans consider the enemy.
Butā¦
He has money, and speaks his mind.
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He sues everybody.
Iām not sure this is true as it would mean he would be standing there with his lips moving and no sound coming out.
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He has a lot less money that he claims, and
ā¦ what he said.
Most every Trump voter I know IRL is a nice, intelligent person who has not the slightest notion how the government works, but is very frustrated about it.
I actually watched his news conference last night because of all of the Chris Christie comments and memes I was seeing in my Twitter feed. (Which were the best part of the night, without question.) I get the strong feeling that he also has no idea how the government works. But he doesnāt seem like a nice or an intelligent person.
Edit: example
A Great Eye ... lidless ... sheathed in flame. You know of what I speak, Gandalf. We must ... join with Him. pic.twitter.com/P0GVmYBmXG
ā Popehat (@Popehat) March 2, 2016
Chris Christie and Donald Trump on #SuperTuesday: pic.twitter.com/Hzi2kRwx4W
ā Steven Schapansky (@Legopolis) March 2, 2016
That describes so many people.
But yeah, itās like a lot of people ejected their memory core right after the final exam in Civics (if not earlier).