There are more symptoms to this economic turndown than mosquitoes on a good Manitoba summer day. All the theories of the economic gurus, pundits, brokers, and panhandlers are being shot to pieces like so many clay pigeons at a skeet shoot. Well, just pick a theory, any theory, and you will surely have uncovered another symptom of the current economic quandary. I say quandary as it is defined as: “a state of uncertainty or indecision as to what to do in a difficult situation.” Wonderful!
The big words being used now are "bailout" and "stimulus". I think this was so brilliantly explained in our previous e-mail article of Feb 23 /09.
My spin on all of this has to do with “gouging” and its multiple meanings, such as skimming, scalping, pilfering, inflating, and ripping off, of the general public and each other in all manner of forms.
Let’s begin with entertainment and sports ticket purchases from Ticket Master. These are redirected from the main Ticketmaster site to a subsidiary that charges more. Most jurisdictions do not allow the sale of tickets for more than their face value (dreadful). Then you have the various agents of the Lottery Commissions across Canada thinking they have more entitlement to winning lottery tickets than you do. They are employing all sorts of schemes telling you that you didn’t win anything, and are cashing in your winnings. (dreadful). Then you have badly managed muli-billion dollar sports franchises that have owners/managers that must have all been auctioneers in a former lifetime, the way they outbid each other for players. Baseball’s Rodriguez and the Yankees agreed to a 10 year, $275 million contract. This contract is the richest contract in baseball history. Okay, so this is in the good old U.S.A , but you get the picture. That’s probably equal to the G.N.P. of Vatican City (dreadful). Back to basics and your average home buyer, if there is such an animal anymore. All housing prices literally went through the roof because buyers didn’t know a fixer upper from India’s Taj Mahal. They threw money at realtors like it was wedding confetti, and the realtors treated it in the same way, brushed it off and looked for the next naïve victim. Thus realtors, mortgage lenders, and insurance companies benefited big time, when caution was deleted like a virus from the English language and dictionary, along with prudent business acumen. (dreadful). Then you have that other North American favourite the “Oil companies” whose explanations defy 99.9% of the rest of the world’s logic on petrol pricing. Filling our gas tanks over the last few years, gives us first hand exposure to their scheming methods. They operate as State/Nations unto themselves and have the ability to cripple any country or the World at their pleasure. They were well on their way prior to the 2008 fall economic collapse. With their steadily increasing gas prices, they brought the entire economy to a dead halt on their own, without any help from any other economic engines (dreadful). Then we have the high roller investment sellers and brokers whose only vested interest, it seems is their commissions. It doesn’t really matter what is sold, as long as it pays a commission. It can be anything from junk bonds and stock, to off shore crap shoots, not to mention the pyramid investment operators (dreadful). We need go no further than our own community, Morden, for this phenomenon. When the pipe liners arrived, all matter of goods, services, and accommodation suddenly became dearer. Current tenants were tossed out of their rooms and suites, for the higher paying pipe liners.(dreadful). We are all, to varying degrees, guilty of this gouging virus, and there seems to be no solution. Does it sound like I’m on a rant? Indeed I am. Let’s hope we see our way through this man- made mess.
The big words being used now are "bailout" and "stimulus". I think this was so brilliantly explained in our previous e-mail article of Feb 23 /09.
My spin on all of this has to do with “gouging” and its multiple meanings, such as skimming, scalping, pilfering, inflating, and ripping off, of the general public and each other in all manner of forms.
Let’s begin with entertainment and sports ticket purchases from Ticket Master. These are redirected from the main Ticketmaster site to a subsidiary that charges more. Most jurisdictions do not allow the sale of tickets for more than their face value (dreadful). Then you have the various agents of the Lottery Commissions across Canada thinking they have more entitlement to winning lottery tickets than you do. They are employing all sorts of schemes telling you that you didn’t win anything, and are cashing in your winnings. (dreadful). Then you have badly managed muli-billion dollar sports franchises that have owners/managers that must have all been auctioneers in a former lifetime, the way they outbid each other for players. Baseball’s Rodriguez and the Yankees agreed to a 10 year, $275 million contract. This contract is the richest contract in baseball history. Okay, so this is in the good old U.S.A , but you get the picture. That’s probably equal to the G.N.P. of Vatican City (dreadful). Back to basics and your average home buyer, if there is such an animal anymore. All housing prices literally went through the roof because buyers didn’t know a fixer upper from India’s Taj Mahal. They threw money at realtors like it was wedding confetti, and the realtors treated it in the same way, brushed it off and looked for the next naïve victim. Thus realtors, mortgage lenders, and insurance companies benefited big time, when caution was deleted like a virus from the English language and dictionary, along with prudent business acumen. (dreadful). Then you have that other North American favourite the “Oil companies” whose explanations defy 99.9% of the rest of the world’s logic on petrol pricing. Filling our gas tanks over the last few years, gives us first hand exposure to their scheming methods. They operate as State/Nations unto themselves and have the ability to cripple any country or the World at their pleasure. They were well on their way prior to the 2008 fall economic collapse. With their steadily increasing gas prices, they brought the entire economy to a dead halt on their own, without any help from any other economic engines (dreadful). Then we have the high roller investment sellers and brokers whose only vested interest, it seems is their commissions. It doesn’t really matter what is sold, as long as it pays a commission. It can be anything from junk bonds and stock, to off shore crap shoots, not to mention the pyramid investment operators (dreadful). We need go no further than our own community, Morden, for this phenomenon. When the pipe liners arrived, all matter of goods, services, and accommodation suddenly became dearer. Current tenants were tossed out of their rooms and suites, for the higher paying pipe liners.(dreadful). We are all, to varying degrees, guilty of this gouging virus, and there seems to be no solution. Does it sound like I’m on a rant? Indeed I am. Let’s hope we see our way through this man- made mess.
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