Talk About False Advertising: Just Say No to no!no!

While the FDA is busy attacking legitimate companies like Blue Diamond for making truthful claims about walnuts, based on hard science, companies like PhotoMedex-Radiancy [PHMD], manufacturer of no!no! Hair Removal System engages in an extraordinarily heavy campaign of national television and Internet advertising to promote the sale of this product, making false claims, supposedly supported by science and research in order to rob decent people of their time and money.

“As Radiancy documents submitted in court show, Radiancy deliberately engaged in a massive advertising campaign based on bogus claims lacking any scientific basis, including knowingly false claims that the no!no! "provides an effect similar to what lasers accomplish in the dermatologist office"; produces "laser-like results"; is "like laser and IPL [intense pulsed light] treatments, the heat gradually disrupts the hair growth cycle." Mimicking medical laser claims, Radiancy claimed that the no!no! Hair provided "up to 94% reduction in hair re-growth", allowed users to "get rid of unwanted hair and keep it gone" and "have a life of freedom from hair." As Radiancy admitted in papers filed with the court shortly before the settlement, it has dropped all such claims as a result of Tria's lawsuit.

In these hard-to-avoid infomercials, the aforementioned company declares that no!no! not only slows down hair regrowth, it actually helps keep it from growing back. It asserts that the use of their product results in “up to 94% less hair regrowth with no pain, no mess, no stress,” when it's an outright lie. Not only that, according to thousands of customer complaints, they refuse to honor their 60-day return policy unless the customer has the wherewithal to devote all of their time and effort to the refund, or the customer threatens with legal action.

Now, the manufacturer has not submitted these so-called "studies" about the use and efficacy of its product to the FDA and despite the fact that these blatantly unsupported claims are designed to mislead and deceive consumers into buying this expensive and ineffective, and even potentially dangerous product, the FDA ignores them.

In fact, a blinded, controlled, prospective clinical study by the Department of Ophthalmology, Dermatology, Otolaryngology, out of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, found that the no!no! Hair Removal System is no more effective than shaving with a razor.

“CONCLUSIONS: Relative to shaving, the hot-wire (no!no!) device does not produce lessened hair density, decreased hair re-growth rate, greater duration of effect, nor induce changes in hair thickness and color. We conclude that the hot-wire device does not offer any benefit as compared to shaving.

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The Weird Mental Illness of Consumerism

Rampant consumerism has become the cornerstone of the post-industrial age, and the ever-growing purchasing and consumption of material possessions has become a significant measure of our lives. We consume goods and services as a means to feel good about ourselves,  however, after that brief high that most of us get after acquiring that new car, computer, clothing, etc., the opposite occurs, and we're left feeling more empty than ever.  This desire for, and acquisition of non-essential products is only a temporary "fix", as we try to fill a void that can never be filled with gadgets, "money" and bling, try as we might..

Has our insatiable appetite driven us into “the jaws of the beast?”

“The American economy, having reached the point where its technology was capable of satisfying basic needs, now relied on the creation of new consumer demands--on convincing people to buy goods for which they are unaware of any need until the need is forcibly brought to their attention by mass media." -- Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism

“As a religion, consumerism is even more powerful than scientism, and its influence holds sway in many circles that are antagonistic or indifferent to science. We might characterize the religion as follows. Its god is economic growth for its own sake; its priests are the public policy makers who provide access to growth; its evangelists are the advertisers who display the products of growth and try to convice us that we cannot be happy without them; its church is the shopping mall. Its primary creeds are “bigger is better” and “more is better” and “faster is better” and “you can have it all.” Its doctrine of creation is that the earth is real estate to be bought and sold in the marketplace. Its doctrine of human existence is that we are skin encapsulated egos cut off from the world by the boundaries of our skin. And its doctrine of salvation is that we are saved – or made whole – not by grace through faith as Christians claim, or by wisdom through letting go as Buddhists claim, but by appearance, affluence, and marketable achievement." -- Dr. Jay McDaniel

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Black Friday 2011: What Happens When Things Really Get Tough?

Just imagine if the following people in the videos below were hungry. And instead of clamoring for cheaply made electronics, toys, clothes, basically, next month's garbage; they were clamoring for food or water. After all, we may be on track to a global financial crisis that makes 2008 seem mild, according to some. Nevertheless, whether  it's fear-mongering or not, financial conditions for Main Street are certainly not improving. Right now, it's estimated that 45% of Americans cannot make ends meet.

So, what happens when 70%...80%...90% of Americans can't make ends meet?  Well, hopefully, "competitive shopping",  pepper spraying for a competitive edge, or worse, will not take hold amongst the masses. 

Thousand Oaks Mall in California.:



Some of the worst Black Friday events seem to happen at Wal-Mart. Coincidence?

Texas Wal-Mart:



Greenville, North Carolina Wal-Mart


Antelope CA Wal-Mart:



And Thanksgiving night - because Black Friday isn't enough - at a Wal-Mart in Utah

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Black Friday: Epitome of Mindless Consumerism

The Zombie Apocalypse





Jdimytai Damour, a Wal-Mart worker, dies after being trampled by Black Friday stampede.

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Paul Ryan's Plan Will Ration Health Care by Ability to Pay Even More Than It Already Is.

Even today, the elderly have considerable out of pocket expense when it comes to health care. I know my retired parents pay $800 per month (I think...I just know it's a hell of a lot more than they should have to pay) for health care insurance, in addition to Medicare coverage. And, now Medicare (government sponsored single payer health care system for the approximately 47 million elderly) may be eliminated entirely if deficit-cutting, supply-sider, Representative Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, gets his way.

Ryan's plan relies on vouchers - which the federal contribution will be pegged to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) - that future retirees can use to buy private health insurance. Here's the thing: the inflation rate of healthcare expenses (and private insurance costs) rises three times faster than the CPI.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that by 2030, retirees will pay 68%  out of pocket, compared with the 25% the elderly  pay now.  Not to mention, those retiring in  ten years, will- if the current trend continues - have very little to no savings at all.

We often hear that demographics, or the growth of the aging population is what's responsible for driving health care costs sky-high.  Not so, says health care economist Uwe Reinhardt of Princeton University. He claims that the growth in the aging population (occurs at a glacial pace) only accounts for one-half of one percent of the 6% inflation rate of healthcare expenses (and private insurance costs). So, what drives the cost?
The supply side of the health care system. That's right, the private sector (physicians, especially specialists, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, etc.), who continue to increase prices. Americans pay twice the amount for everything from doctor visits to medicine, than every other country.

Now Ryan will lie to tell  you that he has the same type of health care insurance. This is not true, as his plan is not pegged to the CPI; the federal contributions in his plan keep pace with the inflation rate of healthcare costs.

On the critical metric of whether the Ryan plan would reduce total health-care costs [] the CBO conclusion is shocking: The plan would not only fail to decrease health-care costs per beneficiary, it would increase them — by an astonishingly large amount that grows over time. By 2030, health spending on the typical beneficiary would be more than 40 percent higher under the Ryan plan than under existing Medicare, according to the CBO report.

....How could this possibly be, when the point of reform is to reduce costs? The CBO points to two factors: Private plans have higher administrative costs than the federal Medicare program, and less negotiating leverage with providers-- Peter Orszag

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Elizabeth Warren: Too Much Truth to Power?

President Obama wanted to sidestep a Senate confirmation fight regarding who should officially lead/set-up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.   So, rather than set it up so that Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren - one of the very few, to be sure, who is not in the bankster /corpocracy's pocket -  could officially lead the new agency - that she advocated for since 2007 - through an interim appointment, President Obama appointed Warren as a "special adviser" to set up the agency under Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.  While that's all well and good, Obama did not say whether he would  appoint her to permanently (5 years)  direct the agency.

However, if Warren unofficially leads the consumer agency, if she is not nominated and confirmed as the permanent director of the consumer agency, then can we assume she is merely a transitional figure with little power?  If that's the case, she will certainly lack the power/authority needed to act as the "tough cop on the beat" that President Obama stated as a necessity to protect consumers and keep Wall Street in line.

Or, is this the way to stifle Warren's straight-forward, speak-truth-to-power approach?  After all, she will be under the thumb reporting to Geithner, someone who she has shared a tenuous relationship, and, someone who previously expressed opposition to her possible nomination to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Let's hope Elizabeth Warren is really on track for the permanent appointment and this is not a case of, "keep your enemies closer".

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Torture Numbers, and They'll Confess to Anything.

Why does it often seem as if government statistics, especially regarding the unemployment rate, fail to reflect reality? In short, because economic statistics reflect the "reality" those in power want you to see.

For example, in 1982, the Reagan administration reformulated both the unemployment rate and the Consumer Price Index in order to create the illusion that would ensure his agenda. Unemployment figures were too drastic, so the administration altered the equation by dropping people who had not looked for a job in the last two weeks, freshly unemployed teenagers, etc. Then, he decided the inflation rate should appear more "under control". So, he waved his magic wand and presto, a few things disappeared...and a few things magically appeared, for ex., the cost of renting a home replaced the cost of buying a home.  Anyway, you get the picture. It only got worse under George H.W. Bush...

Shadow Government Statistics "exposes and analyzes flaws in current U.S. government economic data and reporting, as well as in certain private-sector numbers", and provides charts and graphs reflecting what's really happening as you can see below:


Courtesy of ShadowStats.com


Courtesy of ShadowStats.com


Courtesy of ShadowStats.com


Courtesy of ShadowStats.com

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Worthy of Your Trust?

With good reason, our trust is in short supply today. We have lost so much so quickly to the global "free" capital markets. However, as much as we have collectively lost, too many of us are still blinded to the fact that the only intervention into the markets was/ is on behalf of the the elites, thus they go on believing the propaganda that blames "socialism" and the poor for the collapse of our economy. Even those who suffer from a lack of healthcare, lack of employment, lack of retirement, etc. swallow this hogwash and continue to support the idea that universal healthcare will somehow destroy this great nation.

The F.B.I. estimated that lending institutions and banks are 80% responsible for the financial crisis that we, the people are still reeling from. Mortgage fraud and predatory lending triggered the financial crisis and these institutions were able to get away with it because of the drastic reduction in regulation and oversight. This accompanied by the failure of what was left of the ravaged regulatory system to implement the vital checks and balances needed to deter what William K. Black calls, “control fraud” drained much of our trust from what used to be an overly trustworthy nation of hyper-consumers. So, it's imperative that we direct the little trust left to the worthy and not toward the same people who robbed us blind.

Control frauds are crimes led by the head of state or CEO that use the nation or company as a fraud vehicle.Waves of “control fraud” can cause economic collapses, damage and discredit key institutions vital to good political governance, and erode trust. The defining element of fraud is deceit – the criminal creates and then betrays trust. Fraud, therefore, is the strongest acid to eat away at trust. Endemic control fraud causes institutions and trust to become friable – to crumble – and produce economic stagnation. -- William K. Black, "When Fragile becomes Friable: Endemic Control Fraud as a Cause of Economic Stagnation and Collapse"

The Prompt Corrective Action Law (PCA), was "adopted largely in response to the enormous cost to the taxpayers of our predecessor’s failed strategy of not closing insolvent S&Ls". However, this law was completely ignored by the powers that be.

BILL MOYERS: In other words, they could have closed these banks without nationalizing them?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Well, you do a receivership. No one -- Ronald Reagan did receiverships. Nobody called it nationalization.

BILL MOYERS: And that's a law?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: That's the law.

BILL MOYERS: So, Paulson could have done this? Geithner could do this?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Not could. Was mandated-

BILL MOYERS: By the law.

WILLIAM K. BLACK: By the law.

"...the real scandal of 2009 was the failure to even have an indictment, much less a conviction, of any of the major senior insiders at the nonprime lending specialists. And the second biggest scandal... would be the regulators that didn't bark. You can't get effective criminal prosecutions on any large scale against sophisticated frauds of this nature without very effective regulators." -- William K. Black, a white-collar criminologist and Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas

Congress should pass additional legislation early in 2010 to overhaul the financial regulatory system and give the SEC and other watchdog agencies more resources and authority to police shadowy corners of the financial markets. But if this legislation goes through, will it be enough? How much longer will the band-aid approach give us? Isn't it about time we address the corruption at its core, and redirect our trust to those of us who are worthy?

The problem is, in order to find out who is worthy, it's essential that we remove the money from our political system, which will, at the very least, remove the inmates in charge of the political asylum. Then, and only then, can we can put our trust in those we elect to serve us.

Why Is Geithner Continuing Paulson's Policy of Violating the Law?

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Economic Recovery Means Choosing Between Water and Food?

The bailed-out-billionaires who we, the people rescued from the consequences of their own actions are returning the favor by hiking interest rates on existing credit card debt; lowering and extinguishing small business credit lines; creating new categories of fees, while increasing existing ones; finding new ways to create, package and sell debt, collecting millions in fees and commissions; arguing against fundamental protection for consumers, all the while, flaunting their outrageous bonuses, taking their level of greed to an all new level.

But, that's not all. They have far more underhanded ways of fleecing the taxpayers, especially in the poorest, most vulnerable parts of the county. For example, bailed-out AIG is forcing the poor to choose between running water and food.

Middlesboro and Clinton are two tiny, impoverished towns in southern Kentucky with a combined population of 12,000. In 2008, Middlesboro's per capita income was $13,189 a year, only a few hundred dollars more than the average worker earned in third-world Mexico. That is if they were lucky to even get a job. Real unemployment hovers somewhere around 30%, and the state is so broke that half the people eligible for unemployment benefits can't receive them. Life may be tough and most people live in poverty, but that doesn't mean they can't be made a little poorer. That's the lesson locals learned after bailed-out insurance villain AIG took over their water utility and instantly raised rates to squeeze an extra $1 million in profits out of its new customers, forcing some to consider choosing between running water and food.

Obviously, profit is the key concern of private corporations and not the public interest. Yet, we allow these huge corporations, including the banks we just bailed out to lobby elected officials to act against the public interest, throwing the lives of many of our most vulnerable citizens under the bus. Even if you have no concern for those less fortunate, it's in all of our interest to stop the outrageous behavior of the corporate and political elite because eventually we will find ourselves sharing space under the very same bus.

However, there might be some hope, if the Senate and financial industry do not get their way, as they are sure to present giant roadblocks, arguing against financial regulatory reform, and in particular, against the creation of a new consumer protection agency. Nevertheless, the House Financial Services Committee voted 31-27 yesterday for the bill President Obama handed to Congress in June, for the overhaul of financial-services regulation that include shifting costs of a failure to the financial industry, giving regulators the power to break up healthy firms and and setting up a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which would bolster oversight of derivatives and limit incentives in executive pay that spur excessive risk taking. The measure will be added to a broader regulatory bill the House will debate and vote on next week.

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Do You Realize You Sign Away Your Rights to Trial By Jury on a Regular Basis?

Approximately one year ago I blogged about Michael Stamenson - Merrill Lynch's number one salesman, who ended up pushing his county into bankruptcy because of his reckless investment advice - in an effort to illuminate how Binding Mandatory Arbitration heavily favors corporations, by taking away a customer or employee's right to a trial by jury or judge, and legally binds customers/employees into a one-sided, pre-emptive and non-consensual form of arbitration should they suffer the consequences of the corporation's product, service or employee.

The Supreme Court's approval of this method of solving corporate/customer disputes, gave banks and credit card companies their own system of "justice" where the corporation acts as judge and jury - the corporation picks the arbiter who will decide the outcome - in a private forum of the corporation's choice.

In other words, the consumer/employee blindly signs away his right to take legal action (mandatory binding arbitration clauses are hidden in the fine print, normally written with intent to obscure meaning), and this applies, even in the case of serious injury by a product, service, or, as in the case of Halliburton employee, Jamie Leigh Jones, who was brutally raped by several Halliburton employees over in Iraq, by employee. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt sums it up as the Supreme Court's "blind devotion to corporation arbitration schemes".

“A series of United States Supreme Court decisions have changed the meaning of the [Federal Arbitration] Act so that it now extends to disputes between parties of greatly disparate economic power, such as consumer disputes and employment disputes. As a result, a large and rapidly growing number of corporations are requiring millions of consumers and employees to give up their right to have disputes resolved by a judge or a jury, and instead submit their claims to binding arbitration.” -- (1)-S. 1782, Arbitration Fairness Act, Sec. 2 (1), 110th Cong. (2007)

It's impossible to escape the possible ramifications of this Supreme Court decision, which essentially wiped out corporate accountability. If you use credit cards, cell phones, own a house, have a job, have health insurance, have taken out a loan, rented a car, signed a contract with a nursing home, etc., you have agreed to what the National Association of Consumer Advocates call "take it or leave it" conditions. Overall, consumers lost 94 percent of the time.

The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009, introduced by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), will ensure that the decision to arbitrate be made voluntarily and after the dispute has arisen, so that corporations cannot manipulate the arbitration system in their favor.

The Arbitration Debate Trap How opponents of corporate accountability distort the debate on arbitration

Stop BMA coalition.

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The Red Tape Raiders

Bob Sullivan, author of Gotcha Capitalism and Your Evil Twin covers Internet scams and consumer fraud for MSNBC.com. His blog, the Red Tape Chronicles "unmasks corporate sneakiness, government waste, technology run amok and outright scams."

Recently, Sullivan reported on the giant security breach that took place at Heartland Payment Systems. A lawsuit was filed on Tuesday.

Heartland has not released an estimate of the number of accounts impacted by the attack, but Litan said it might be the biggest data leak ever: The firm handles 100 million transactions every month for 250,000 clients. Heartland has said it was alerted by Visa and MasterCard to a pattern of fraud on its networks last fall, but only discovered the security hole in its network last week . That gave hackers access to potentially hundreds of millions of transactions over several months.

The largest known data leak to date involved retailer TJ Maxx, which lost the data on 45 million credit cards in 2007. But this time, there are signs the haul, and the targets, might be astonishingly large.

In addition, Red Tape Chronicles offers a way to expose consumer fraud, Internet scams and intentionally confusing or too much red tape, by joining the Redtape Raiders. In order to post an article to the Red Tape Raiders, you'll have to join Newsvine and then the Raiders group. Click here for a few of the ground rules and further instructions if you are interested.

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Online Coupons, Bargains and Deals for Holiday Shopping.

The Bargainist - shoppers can sign up to receive text-message alerts about the latest deals so they can make a break for them whether they're at home or out shopping.

Cheap Stingy Bargains - scours the Internet for the very best deals perusing sales, close-outs, clearances, rebates, and exclusive coupons not generally offered to visitors of the vendor sites.

Deal Catcher - find online coupons, products, sales, reviews, and rebates.

Deals Globe - find special offers, deals, coupons, promotions, rebates etc.

Deal Hack - find specials, coupons, rebates, buyer's guides, etc.

Dealzmodo - Gizmodo deal of the day.

Deal Taker - coupons

e-Bay Gift Certificates - Purchase gift certificates from eBay

Free Shipping - Free shipping coupons, coupon codes to over 850 stores

Free Shipping On - Find free shipping on more than 500 stores.

Fat Wallet - share deals with almost a million shoppers.

mpire - offers the broadest selection of both new and used items, from the Web's best shopping sites such as eBay, Amazon, Overstock, Yahoo, Shopping.com, and Craigslist

Restaurant.com - is an online network of thousands of restaurants across the United States. When you find restaurants you'd like to visit, you can buy Gift Certificates for a fraction of the actual value. Some restaurants also offer online reservations and/or online take-out/delivery ordering.

Retail Me Not - an easy way to find online coupon codes

Swap a Gift - buying, selling, and swapping gift cards. Pay bills or exchange gift cards you don’t use or buy gift cards at a discount.

This Next - is the social shopping site where people explore, discover and rave about the hottest products.

Wrapables - provides distinctive, creative and modern home decor items at affordable prices.

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Affluenza: Unsatiable Desire for an Abundance of Possessions

Affluenza, according to author of the book, Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic and filmmaker, John De Graaf, is a term describing "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more”.

My guess is this insidious disease, "affluenza" began right around the time President Reagan took office in 1980, and Laissez-faire capitalism dominated most of our thinking. By the end of Reagan's two terms, after he had established "nibor dooh" (steal from the poor to give to the rich) economics, that's what I call it anyway, affluenza began to spread faster than sexually transmitted diseases in the porn industry.

Trickle down or "nibor dooh" economics achieved its true goal, evolving the meaning of the word, "affluent" to encompass the ordinary and the "working class" to include the poor, immensely increasing the divide between the "haves" and the "have-nots". The "noble" reason or rationalization is that income disparities and/or inequality vs. economic growth are supposed to encourage those at the lower end of the earning spectrum, and motivate them to catch up, however, they left out the part about the harder the "low earners" try, the further behind they will get creating a class of people Katherine Neuman calls the "Near Poor" in her book, The Missing Class.

In 1979, the top 1% of the US population earned, on average, 33.1 times as much as the lowest 20%. In 2000, the top 1% earned 88.5 times more than the lowest 20%. By now the discrepancy is much greater proving that President Reagan, Alan Greenspan and George W. Bush did nothing more than transpose the Robin Hood story.

Prior to this time, we were slowly emerging from a time when the importance of sacrifice was paramount. Forfeiture of material goods for the sake of something considered to have greater value placed the emphasis on higher ideals such as God, Country, and "humanity" (New Deal). Of course, this era (1930-1945) of sacrifice followed the pain of a market meltdown - the stock market crash of 1929, prior to which times were much like today.

Man is designed to satisfy his needs and desires with the least possible effort. In addition, the more he owns the more he wants. Lawmakers, who have not transcended their greedy natures, are normally the first in line when society prospers, and will try to create law for their own profit at the expense of others...Enron, Bear Stearns, Haliburton, Iraq War, tax cuts for the rich etc.

Bear Stearns is the latest casualty in what appears to be a growing trend of corporate scandals and failures tied to what appears to be poor fiscal management and lack of regulation, but in reality, is a carefully constructed legal system to benefit those at the top . In other words, as Frederic Bastiat says,

"It is easy to understand how law, instead of checking injustice, becomes the invincible weapon of injustice. It is easy to understand why the law is used by the legislator to destroy in varying degrees among the rest of the people, their personal independence by slavery, their liberty by oppression, and their property by plunder. This is done for the benefit of the person who makes the law, and in proportion to the power that he holds."

When legislators create laws that contradict morality, society will either try to stop the "lawful" crime or as our society has chosen, choose to share in it, - affluenza, - thus making "lawful" crime universal. The victims of these greedy lawmakers - instead of fighting the unjust legislation or lack thereof - will try to fall in and end up following the "evil-doers," out of ignorance or in hopes of gain, even if it means suffering the consequences.

As terrifying as it seems, a financial melt down may be the only cure for "Affluenza" as it will force us to reduce consumption and waste, give us a chance "dry out", and figure out what's really important to us. Who knows? People might start choosing work that reflects their values, what they're good at doing and what they love to do instead of going for the job that can fill up their 28,000 square foot mansion with junk, closets the size of bedrooms to store the junk, hummers and garages large enough to store the hummers, entertainment centers that put movie theaters to shame and so on...

Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, usually requires some sort of comeuppance before true justice has a chance.

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Squeezing Out Consumers While Roping Them In..

Our current government acts as if a "consumer" and "citizen" are one in the same. That's what they would like us to believe, anyway. President Bush can't heap enough praise on those who dare to purchase, despite their economic circumstances. Even after 9/11, the President made only one request, "Consume!" He assured us that his administration would take care of the rest.

A little less than seven years later, our nation and its people are swimming in debt with only, as it appears now, more debt to come as the Iraq war, occupancy, or whatever you want to call it, continues and our economy recesses. Yet, even now, the Bush Administration is encouraging consumerism and little else. Encouraging excess consumerism in America at this point is the equivalent of encouraging chocolate covered cake and ice cream with a marathon of movies to follow at the local fat farm.

At President Bush's last press conference he was asked by one of the reporters why he doesn't encourage conservation and savings. His response was, "Why? Americans are smart enough to figure out what to do..." and he continued with the "intelligence of the market" jargon, that has been shoved down our throats since the time of the Reagan presidency.

While it is true that, all things being equal, individuals do have the intelligence to figure out their financial situations, all things are not equal. President Bush and our current corpocracy are counting on American "we-are-what-we-own", instant gratification, consumer culture -- which has incorporated consumer excess; a dependency on oil, credit and automobiles and living beyond our means -- to prevail.

We're lead to believe our standard of living has gone up in America. Has it? Or does it only appear that way? Well, it has for some, that's for sure but considering the growth of our economy in the last few decades, we shouldn't have a negative savings rate, an unprecedented amount of consumer and national debt and 50 million people without health insurance. Many like to blame the average "consumer/citizen" for their financial plight, however our educational system leaves most of us in the dark regarding consumer issues, personal money management, and the workings of our economy.

In addition, the credit industry has increasingly become deregulated to the point of legalizing corruption and usury. Increases in productivity no longer translate to the worker in the form of compensation, (wages or benefits). Downsizing and mergers have become so much a part of the economy that loyalty is non-existent -- all starting with Reagan , and jobs are disappearing overseas.

As Barbara Ehrenreich, author of This Land is Their Land, says, "Easy credit became a substitute for decent wages". We're not better off, we're living as if we are better off. The separation of the major economic indicators from the people's economic status has discouraged policy making that might just make Americans truly better off.

Currently, our economy serves the needs and desires of the wealthiest individuals, while depending on and draining the resources of the average consumer/citizen...in other words, our economy has become *parasitic.

* This, of course, is nothing new as our nation was built on the backs of African Americans and the displacement and annihilation of Native Americans.

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Perverse Incentives and Effective Ways to Dispute Utility, Cable, etc.

The Red tape Chronicles define perverse incentives as benefits that encourage employees to lie for profit.

Perverse incentives, at their worst can encourage otherwise honest employees to lie, cheat and steal in order to cash in on the rewards many companies offer. Most of us have experienced accounts that were never closed after we requested several times, extra services we never signed up, etc. More than likely perverse incentives is the reason.

Red Tape Wrestling Tips:

How do you protect yourself from overly aggressive phone operators, who are fueled by big bonus programs?

1) We've already mentioned this one. Repeat your understanding of the conversation at the end of the call, knowing that the firm will likely keep the recording and it can be used during a dispute.

2) Be particularly wary at the end of the month, said Broetzmann, because many incentives are paid on a monthly basis. Sellers can become very aggressive during the last few days of an internal sales contest.

3) Make sure you are talking to the right person before launching into your story, said Katz. Many consumers explain their detailed version of events over and over again because they begin talking before they are connected to the right department. So always ask something like: Can you disconnect my account? Can you grant a refund?

The following is an abridged response from one of the readers of Red Tape Chronicles:

Effective ways to dispute utility bills cable/dish bills R2
...
Resolving billing issues
...
Water and sewer bills should also be reviewed in detail...

Many third party deregulated Gas and Electric suppliers who contend that they save you money, actually cost you more. Review the charges versus your local regulated utility company....
[...]

Prepare before you contact the company. Have your current bill, past bills and any canceled checks in front of you. Make sure you have your account numbers and passwords if there are any...

Figure out by how much you want to get the bill reduced... Then, contact the company when it's least busy. Friday mornings are good times to call. Avoid Mondays and the days after holidays, since those times are the busiest.

Firm and aggressive presentations work as long as they are not combative...

When you talk with the customer representative do the following:

Write down the date and time you talked with the person. Ask for the person's name, identification number and extension before you begin to discuss the bill.

Ask if there's a case number, and jot it down.

Go through the bill line by line to determine the cause of the problem.

Ask what the expected turnaround will be for the resolution.

Write down any price quotes and/or charge adjustments. Ask the customer representative to do the same in the company's computer database.

Call at a different time if you have problems with the representative. Speak to the manager if disagreements persist.

Follow up the call with a letter to the company. The information collected during the phone call should be included in the note. Make sure you sign it.

If all else fail, ask for a supervisor or executive appeals division.

If you are not satisfied. File a complaint with the Utility Commission in your State.

In order to win disputes with utility companies you must keep thorough documentation to prove your points.

Recruit support if your calls to the utility company are not sufficient.

You can locate your state's public utilities commission, which oversees utility companies, or get help through the National Association of State Utility Advocates (NASUCA). This organization represents the interest of utility consumers before state and federal regulators in court.

Also try your state Citizens Utility Board.

"At the commission you can have an informal investigation and if you are not satisfied you can file a formal complaint," says Jay Draiman, a Utility bill auditor.

He explains that the commission informally investigates the dispute by contacting the company on your behalf. If the commission's answer is one that you don't like, you can file a formal complaint against the utility company. If the formal complaint doesn't make you happy, you can appeal the decision. At this point, he warns, courts of law, most likely a municipal court, are involved and a lawyer might be needed.
Some public service commissions address cable disputes. If not, Consumers for Cable Choice, a consumer advocacy group, says other alternatives exist.

"Most consumers don't know this, but they can call their local franchising cable board. That's the agency that has the ability and authority to adjudicate public complaints," says the auditor.

Not all municipalities or towns have a cable board. So, try calling the clerk of the county or clerk of the city in your area to find out who is responsible for cable complaints.

A visit to the attorney general's office may or may not help. The procedure for handling complaints varies with each office. Some offices, depending on the type of utility, might refer you to other state regulators, and others may attempt to mediate the dispute between you and the company themselves.

Consumers can file a complaint with the Citizens Utility Board (which has attorneys on staff), Better Business Bureau, or BBB, a private nonprofit organization that monitors and reports marketplace activities to the public.

"If we have not heard from the company in 30 days, we close the case and suggest small claims court," says spokeswoman for BBB.

According to the BBB, it cannot force a reply from the company and it cannot administer sanctions. It can make a note of the company's unwillingness to respond in the company's reliability report that's provided to the public.
...
Telecommunications issues can be handled by contacting the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC.

Consumers can file an informal complaint with the FCC and, if determined appropriate, the commission will send the complaint to the company or companies named. The FCC allows telephone companies only 45 days from receiving the complaint to respond to you and to provide a copy to the commission. The FCC reviews the response but doesn't issue a ruling or decision.

If the company's response doesn't satisfy you, you can make a formal complaint. This will involve hiring a lawyer and paying a complaint fee. File this type of dispute within six months of receiving the response to the informal complaint.

Consumers can also contact the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, but the FTC's help depends on the circumstances. According to spokesman, the FTC only gets involved if a charge the consumer did not authorize is placed on the bill. Contact you phone company about a dispute.

If you have a problem with your phone service or bill, contact your phone company as soon as possible to try to get the problem resolved.

• Call the phone company’s toll-free customer service number or reach its customer service center through the internet, if available.

• If you cannot get the problem settled to your satisfaction, with the customer service representative, ask to speak to a manager. A higher level employee may have more authority to settle your problem.

• Before you contact the company, be prepared. Gather up your bill, receipts or anything else you may want to refer to and don’t forget to write down when you contacted the company, who you talked to, and what that person agreed to do.

If you contacted your phone company and it did not help you with your problem, you may file a complaint with the CPUC Consumer Affairs Branch. The CPUC can help you with complaints about telephone service or the bill, including any charges that you did not authorize or if your phone service was switched to another phone company without your approval.

CPUC:

• By phone: 800-649-7570
• Online: http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/static/ forms/complaints/index.htm
• By Mail: CPUC Consumer Affairs Branch
505 Van Ness Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94102

If your phone company and the CPUC were unable to help you, you may contact the FCC if you are questioning calls made from or to another state or from or to another nation.

FCC:

• By e-mail: fccinfo@fcc.gov
• Online: www.fcc.gov/ cgb/complaints.html.
• By mail: Federal Communications Commission
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
• By fax: 1-866-418-0232
• By phone: voice 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322) TTY 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322)
...
Compiled by:Jay Draiman, Energy Consultant
Northridge, CA 91324
Email: renewableenergy2@msn.com

Consumer Advocacy Groups:

Action Without Borders Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.

Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities.

Consumer Action - national non-profit education and advocacy organization offering many free services to consumers.

Consumer Cause - nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest.

The Consumerist

Consumer Action Website - Federal citizens Information Center

Consumer World

National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. - association representing the State public service commissioners who regulate essential utility services, such as electricity, gas, telecommunications, water, and transportation, throughout the country.

Utility Regulation - has conducted economic research and analysis for clients involved with utility regulation, including state regulatory commissions, attorneys general, public and consumer counsels, and a variety of different companies, organizations and law firms throughout North America.

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Borrow Safely

SafeBorrowing.com

Consumer credit can be complicated. From the unusual legal terms to the complex mathematical formulas, understanding how credit works can be a big task. The Committee on Consumer Financial Services of the Section on Business Law of the American Bar Association has created this website to provide you with the tools to help you on your way to financial success. This website covers the four basic types of consumer credit: financing your home, financing your car, financing your education, and credit cards. At some point in your life you will be faced with decisions about most, if not all, of these types of credit. By reading through this website and others that we point you to, you will be able to get a grasp on understanding these types of credit and how to use them safely and wisely.

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Did You Know Eyeglasses Cost $1.25 to Make?

Yep, according to commentator Daniel Pinkwater, it's fairly simple to get really well-made glasses online at a fraction of the cost of over-the-counter ones. All you need is your prescription and your pupillary distance, that is the distance from the center of the pupil (black circle) in one eye to the center of the pupil in the other eye. This is needed to accurately center the lenses in the frame that you have selected. You can measure the distance yourself using a millimeter ruler, however; to ensure accuracy it's better to have the Optometrist measure.

After Mr. Pinkwater's eyeglasses arrived he had them checked out by his Optometrist, who said they were "right on". He then asked his Optometrist, "How does the commercial enterprise justify a 90% markup? "

His Optometrist responded, "The lens cost maybe a quarter to make, the frame, maybe a buck but there is rent, advertising and all that overhead and then there is the issue of patriotism..." I'll let you listen to the rest.

39DollarGlasses.com and Frames Direct are supposed to be very good. Mr. Pinkwater may have bought his eyeglasses at ZenniOptical, but I'm not sure as he did not specify which optical online site he purchased his eyeglasses from... unTECHy posts an unbiased review. of ZeniOptical.

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The Simple Truth and Formula for Whitening Your Teeth

Are light-activated bleaching techniques such as BriteSmile and Zoom, marketed as the best science has to offer in the science of teeth whitening any more effective than less expensive bleaching gels or over-the-counter white strips? In other words, is the exorbitant price you pay - up to $500 - for the light worth it?

The Center for Dental Health (CDH) in Washington, D.C., does not find light-activated bleachings techniques necessary. They offer a system of preloaded whitening trays made by Ultradent Products. The tray adheres to the teeth and is worn for about 60 minutes per day until patients get the results they want. The CDH says the jury is still out on whether light is a more effective whitener; some studies suggest that the light does not enhance the results of bleaching. They found the "lights don't generate enough heat or give off enough UV light to accelerate the chemical reaction."

Professional teeth whitening systems use 25 percent hydrogen peroxide. Approximately seven days later, however; after your teeth rehydrate, that awful color may come back and that's why extra gel is recommended to keep in stock so that the consumer can can apply it themselves.

There is evidence that in-office light bleaching may enhance the process, however; the difference is so small and not 100% conclusive that it hardly compensates for the extra money spent.

Whether a patient chooses chair-side bleaching by a dentist, take-home trays or over-the-counter whitening strips, the mechanism of action is the same, he says. The only difference is how long it takes to get the effect. The stronger the concentrations of hydrogen peroxide in the product, the faster the effect. -- Joe Ontiveros, researcher and a dentist with the University of Texas.

Ontiveros still recommends home bleaching trays to his patients first, "because it's got a long track record and it's very predictable."

Overall, there's a simple formula for whitening that smile. Try a high concentration of peroxide and if you want to go all out use Crest Whitestrips.

Remember four out of five dentists recommend Trident Spearmint gum, but what they don't tell you is that it is based only on five dentists who gave the right answers.

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How To Research An Unknown Online Retailer

From the Consumerist:

• Do they have a toll free customer service number and published hours of operation?
• Do they take credit cards? It is no guarantee of quality if they do, but it is one step up. I think you should generally avoid any place that only takes Western Union money transfers.
• Do they have a security/hacker prevention or testing certificate?
• Does the checkout process use an encrypted HTTPS page?
• Are the company Privacy and About pages blank, or do they look like they are from a default template for an online shopping cart that was just set up the day before?
• Search Google for the store name and words like "scam" and "customer service." It is not a good thing if all the entries are for people asking if a site is a scam in Yahoo Answers.
• [www.google.com]
  [answers.yahoo.com]
  [wiki.answers.com]
• Check the Whois to see what the website registration looks like. It is not a good sign if it was just registered last week. It should not look like someone is trying to hide the fact that they are running a business out of their parents basement.
• [www.geektools.com]
• Check the Traceroute to see what network it is running on. It should match the WhoIs info to some extent.
• [www.opus1.com]
• Check if the company has a yellow pages listing and street address. If you have a phone number, a company with a street address is a lot more reassuring. Check the address on Google Maps to see if it is a vacant lot or an address in a housing tract.
• [www.411.com]
• See if the site has a warning listed on McAfee SiteAdvisor.
• [www.siteadvisor.com]
• Check fraud and scam report sites. Some of them also list sites that have allegedly scammed other people.
• [edsbandwagon.com]
  [www.fraudbureau.com]
  [www.ripoffreport.com]
  [www.scambusters.com]
  [www.scamclub.com]
  [www.cybercrime.gov]
  [www.fraud.org]
• Beware of "Online Review" sites. Some are little more than a site for scammers to post fake positive reviews, and the owners to make money on banner ads. Here are some you can trust:
• [www.epinions.com]
  [reviews.pricegrabber.com]
  [www.bizrate.com]
  [www.resellerratings.com]
• BBB online. Lots of places do not have entries because they are small and treat their customers well enough to not get a complaint.
• [search.bbb.org]

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Internet is Slowly Changing Current Ownership Culture

"Ownership" implies control, and our Founding fathers conceived of an "ownership society" "We the People" could easily participate, enabling us to maintain a certain amount of control over our own lives. Back then, society was primarily agrarian, and owning land not only provided shelter but also offered, if one was willing to work hard, a source of income.

Today, owning land does not carry the same weight as it once did, making it much harder to maintain control over one's life, therefore making it impossible to preserve the Founding father's idea of what an "ownership society" looks like. In order to maintain their vision we must revise the outdated model based on agrarian culture and update it to an "ownership society" based on the technological society we currently have.

The birth of the Internet offers the potential of to forge a new type of "ownership society", once again giving everyone a chance to participate. Ecommerce or using the Internet as part of your business model allows us to participate as we have not been able to do for a long time considering a very small number of large bureaucratic corporations make it impossible to compete on our own, forcing most of us to submit to them where everything is on their terms. Web based services such as Ashop Commerce make it simple by providing shopping cart software anyone can customize in an attempt a start-up business of their own.

Of course, "We the People" have a long way to go before we can honestly say we own our own lives again because it is clear we do not, however, the Internet is one option available to all of us that can free us from the corporatization of society.

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