MTA - Lost Their Way

It’s going on a week since our latest weather event on Long Island.  Many of our streets are still dangerously slippery with snow banks blocking parking spots or passing lanes for that matter.

Parking lots in most of the shopping malls are nearly clear but the Long Island Railroad has not finished their work.

Well, that last part is not exactly true.  The LIRR, part of the MTA has finished what they set out to do, raise fares!  (In case you are not from around here - the two acronyms are supposed to stand for the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Long Island Rail Road.)

With the memory of yet another terribly amateurish attempt at running ‘on or near’ schedule still fresh in the minds of the riders the LIRR has just raised the cost to use their service.

Service?

Is it fair to call one word an oxymoron?

For the LIRR "on time" means being less than 6 minutes late!  Imagine telling your bank you were only $6 short on your mortgage payment!!!

What nerve these arrogant bastards have!

But they have not just raised the fares; they have completely canceled trains and combined others on their schedule and basically lowered the expectation of fairness system wide.

If you'd like to see how they don’t care one bit about their customers you need only look at the list of their new surcharges and fees.

For example if you accidentally purchase a wrong ticket for let’s say $6 and wish to return it you will get your money back LESS A $10 SERVICE FEE!

In other words the great folks at the LIRR will take your ticket back IF YOU PAY THEM $4!!!

Oh, and if you wish to buy a couple of extra tickets because it’s a pain to wait on line at the last second you now have only 1 week to use them before they expire!

And don’t even think about buying a ticket while on the train unless you have access to a home equity line of credit and can pass a Homeland Security background check!!!

While there are many more fees and service charges that could make a normal commuter’s blood boil we must still remember that the LIRR is part of the MTA which has added its own set of ‘screw you’ fees.

If you wish to have a Metro Card in order to ride the subways plan on keeping it forever.  And leave that valuable piece of paper in the will for your children.

The MTA, (Going Their Way – Not Yours) is now charging an extra dollar for new cards claiming that the tiny bits of nothing cost too much to print and are not environmentally friendly!

As if the MTA EVER gave a rat’s ass about the environment!

The bottom line is simply if you live on Long Island the experiment is on to see how much can be stolen from your wallets before you are forced to drive everywhere.

And with the price of gas about to top $4 per gallon (it’s already averaging $3.50) that plays right into the hands of George W Bush’s friends, the Saudis.

The consumer really has only one way to show his or her dissatisfaction with something, boycott.

Unfortunately in this case it is very hard to get around without using one of the MTA’s services.  So the next best solution is to leave Long Island; New York City; and New York State altogether (Leslie Nielson would now be waiting for all of you to repeat that last part so…)

The acronym at the top can now be explained to mean Much Too Arrogant!  And its subsidiary stands for Life Is Really Rough here.

So as much of Long Island grays the easy life of ‘early bird’ specials and hanging chads beckons.  And it’s only a matter of time before those of us with any brains and a small amount of pocket change leave this overly-expensive over-taxed under-funded wasteland.

Eventually only migrant workers cleaning the pools and trimming the summer lawns of the uber wealthy in the Hamptons will remain.

Balance the Budget!

Balance the Budget or ‘BtB’ sounds like the acronym for Business to Business, a term used when one going concern sells its wares to another for eventual final mark-up and sale to the end consumer.

But this BtB leaves out all the middle men and silly end product or service thingies and makes the consumer PAY FOR NOTHING!

Literally!

You will get nothing but you will pay!

Let’s face it when politicians, and especially the so-called fiscally responsible yet hypocritically phony Republicans say they wish to balance the budget what they are really saying is screw the poor and middle classes.

Now some may feel that I am merely using hyperbole (I use words like hyperbole to confuse the likes of Sarah Palin and her friends who’ve never seen the inside of a book.)

But when I say the Republicans are out to get the middle class just look at the facts.

Tax cuts for people who do not need tax cuts, aka the filthy rich is about to cause a record and unsustainable increase in the deficit.

If the deficit rises too far in order to keep the Nation afloat we will have to float loans at dangerously high interest levels and borrow money from wonderfully friendly places like China.

And this will merely kick the can down the road to our children and their children.

As a result of this strategy cuts in services become necessary.

And on whose backs will those cuts fall?

Well we've just given the wealthy a tax gift or rather continued the gift from 'W' so they won’t be involved.  And that leaves, uh, er, um who exactly?

Well by process of elimination we’re about to eliminate the middle class.

But first we must appease that group of eunuchs with a ‘Trojan Horse’ type of gift in the form of a tiny tax cut of their own.

When you are making $50,000 per year a 3% tax cut is nice but it won’t get you a new car.

However 3% for one of those wonderful hedge fund managers who took in over one billion dollars last year and add so much to society allows them to buy a dealership and have enough left over for a nice year long vacation.

Of course the extra walking around money for these pillars of mankind might allow them to hire one or two workers but at minimum wage only and possibly just part time.  After all there is always that ‘uncertainty’ thing hanging around in the future somewhere.

Next we lower the Social Security payroll deduction from 6.2 % to 4.2%.  This means the average worker, assuming he or she is still employed will receive an extra pittance in their post deduction take home pay pocket.

But before you go out and book the Plaza for your next affair you should know that our leaders have just removed millions of dollars from an already hurting fund meant to cushion our ‘golden years.’

In other words they are starting to chip away at that most socialistic program of all, Social Security.

And who will be hurt most when Social Security is gone, the wealthy?

Give me a break!

I happen to love the guy but does anyone think Warren Buffet will be relying on his Social Security payments to get him through his retirement?

Next on the agenda for the new majority in the House but thankfully not the Senate will be the dismantling of another program meant to help the eunuchs in the middle class, health care reform.

Why should the wealthy corporations have to take care of the little guy?  After all the more money they spend on those ragamuffins the less bribe dollars there are to go around from “K Street.”

So what’s the solution?

Should we just forget about the budget?

No indeed!

Balancing the budget is a good thing.  And it’s been done before, under Democratic Presidents with the help of a Congress that had the greater good in mind.

Unfortunately these days the only thing these hypocrites have on their minds is who will be in charge after the next election and then the one after that.

The heat of summer had not yet passed and all we heard on the news was who is running for President in 2012!

So as far as our government is concerned damn the middle class, full speed ahead.

Perhaps it is time for the little people to understand what is going on in DC and the board rooms of the corporations that own that town.

Perhaps WE should start threatening second amendment rights!

Of course that's just as absurd a notion now as it was when that idiot from Nevada first said it but...

When the government does not listen or worse, does not care about WE THE PEOPLE it may be time for WE THE PEOPLE to speak a little louder!

Juxtaposition

I love that word.

Juxtapositions conjure up contradictions and opposing views that somehow mesh together into a whirlwind conglomeration of life as we know it.

And if you alter the letters of juxtapose just a little the resulting homonym, ‘just suppose’ is quite thought provoking.

Just suppose that all the peoples of the world worked together as one.

Just suppose we treated the Earth as our home rather than our garbage dump.

Just suppose we all had the common goal of making the universe our backyard.

Just suppose we were able to put all the great minds together to find cures for all that ails our species as well as others.

Just suppose those great minds could instill the desire in current and future generations to become great.

And finally just suppose that we all realized how stupid it is to be fighting wars in the name of peace.

Juxtapositions have been around since before the dawn of mankind and will be here when we are long gone.

But don’t think they all have to be bad.

The inventor of the compound trinitrotoluene, aka TNT was Alfred Nobel of the Nobel Peace Prize!  In other words he gave us the means with which to blow ourselves up and an award for not doing so!

But reality is what it is and ‘just suppose’ is juxtaposed on it every day.

The news fills our lives with stories of new and amazing advances in medicine juxtaposed against those showing our troops searching for terrorists who live like moles in caves.

We see extravagant life styles with lavish parties thrown on yachts or at mansions while millions upon millions of Americans wonder where their next meals will come from.

We witnessed the financial meltdown in Europe that caused citizens to riot over increased educational costs while being told how important education is to our collective futures.

Financial cable shows point to people buying luxury items as proof the recession is over only to broadcast the next story about skyrocketing oil and gas prices that will cause the economy to tank.

There are weather related stories showing record droughts; floods; extreme heat and major snowstorms with bone-chilling cold all blanketed against claims that climate change is a myth.

And speaking of myths there is now a theme park with Noah’s Arc showing man and dinosaur cohabitating, an oxymoronic juxtaposition in and of itself.

Law abiding hard working productive members of society who love each other are barred from being wed at any cost while the World prepares to watch the spectacle of yet another so-called Royal Wedding in London, paid for by whom?

And finally people who have been unemployed for years due to the wrong doings of others and now in need of assistance are used as pawns in a power struggle to help millionaires and billionaires keep even more of their easy earned cash, many of whom caused the problems in the first place.

Now juxtapose all the above with year end celebrations that traditionally bring people together hoping for peace and good will toward all mankind.

So as the final juxtaposition comes and the famed ball drops in Times Square we say goodbye to father time and the dying 2010 while saying hello to the baby that shall become 2011.

Will this finally be the year?

Just suppose!

Not Your Average Dummy

I have been blogging about dummies and puppets for a while.
It's unfortunate but they are everywhere.
Usually you don't get to see the actual person who pulls their strings or yanks their cords or for the most part completely controls them.
That is until now!
This dummy should amuse you greatly.
Let me know.

2 + 2 = ???

Quick – How much is two plus two?

Wrong!

Don't bother to argue with me you're wrong because it's my question and I decide the parameters!

In ancient times some smart retailer caused the phrase, “Caveat Emptor” to be coined.  The translation and spirit of the two-word oft used phrase is, “Let the buyer beware.”

Back then unscrupulous salesmen would use tactics such as 'bait and switch' or hidden requirements to negate any offer that sounded great but was actually too good to be true.

So what's changed?

Not a whole lot I'm afraid.  If anything the practice has become more rampant and the companies behind them more emboldened by our laziness to point out the fraud and demand justice.

And these days the ‘buyer’ may be anyone other than the owner of a company, bank, business, fake news network, or Congress.

Earlier this week a young couple appeared on a Fox TV show that offers contestants a chance at winning one million dollars.  They did but then again this is America and the show was on Fox!

The bottom line is simply that the couple wagered $800,000 and answered the question correctly but rather than admit that the show’s moderator told them they were wrong and the money was lost.

The internet uproar over the obvious fraud and or stupidity by Fox was nearly immediate.

But really guys, was the network’s response to giving one million dollars to an African American couple really so surprising?

Now had they been members of the Republican Party the ending may have been different.

But the feeling that corporations can do whatever they please in their effort to bilk the average citizen does not stop with partisan television networks such as Fox.  From top to bottom you will find fraudulent practices everywhere if you just take the time to look.

A few days ago I received a nice coupon from Pathmark, a grocery store chain owned by the now bankrupt A&P Corporation.  The coupon stated that I could pickup a dozen eggs on sale from their usual price of $2.49 down to the one day offer of FREE!

Since yesterday was not actually the day I was born I figured there had to be a catch so I got out my magnifying glass and read the small print, front and back.

Lo and behold there were no restrictions.

But the coupon was only a part of the entire flyer from the store so I perused both sides looking for something, anything that hinted Caveat Emptor.

I found nothing so I got in my car and drove to the store armed with the coupon and a small list of other items I figured I’d pick up at the same time.

This type of offer for free eggs is not totally without precedence and is known as a lost leader in so much as the store figures to lose a tiny amount but make it up on the rest of the purchases.

However when I arrived at the egg display I found a tiny printed note informing shoppers who were lured to the store by the sale that an additional purchase of $10 was required.

OMG, a not so free offer!

I was upset but had already placed around $8 in my cart so another $2 wasn’t going to kill me.  I decided to forget about the fraud and buy something else.

And that something else was a $10 six-pack of beer that I needed for a party that night anyway.

Now for the fun; I waited on line and when my turn to pay finally arrived I was informed that in addition to the ‘now’ required $10 additional purchase I could not use beer toward that minimum!

Complaining to the customer service personnel I was informed that beer is never included in this kind of offer and there is always a minimum purchase to get something for free!

And to make her point even more convincing this woman explained all of the above in a manner that basically said I was an idiot for not knowing that!

Well excuuuuse me!!!  I thought you were customer service, bitch!

Ultimately I made the exchange of beer for a couple of snacks and ended up spending less money than if the store had lived up to what their printed coupon promised.

The bottom line is this kind of fraud is rampant in America and anyone who is not observant will be stung by it.

As for the Pathmark chain and its parent corporation A&P I guess we should add the words ‘morally bankrupt’ as well.

(By the way I stopped off at another store on the way home and got the beer for half the price.)

Et Tu Caesar?

When I was younger (as opposed to when I was older?) my aunt and her crew had a family dog named Caesar.
I wouldn't get to see the friendly bull dog very often, Caesar not my aunt, because they lived in a far off land called New Jersey.
Okay, maybe it isn't all that far from Queens, New York but they lived a nice distance away in Jersey and up in the mountains overlooking Lake Hopatcong.  Getting there just wasn't that convenient so we ended up visiting only on certain special occasions.  And since we had to pick up my grandma as well the entire trip became a production, don't ask!
Like any family my aunt and company had their interesting dynamic but generally they were good people.  I say were because too many of them are gone due to cancer and that includes my mom and her brother.  I guess it isn't surprising since they always had a cigarette in use or on deck.
But back to our family outings.
It was always something when we visited the Hopatcong group but one of the constant cast members of those days was Caesar.
No matter where we were the lumbering mostly quiet bull dog would be present.
We might be sitting around the den watching the television when a malodorous vapor permeated our nasal passages.
Since this was family we naturally figured one of us must be the culprit but before anyone was singled out someone in the room would yell, "Caesar!"
Now it didn't matter if Caesar, who was minding his own business, was asleep, or even in the room it was obvious that the old dog was to blame.  But his punishment was nothing more than finger pointing and 'tsking.'
And let's face it, to a dog it meant attention and he naturally ate it up with a gleeful wagging of his tail.
Despite the stress involved for reasons too personal or private to mention here those were fun times.  Blaming the dog was easy and could be done without fear of successful contradiction.  The real culprit, if other than Caesar would always get away without so much as a scolding.
And that brings me to our country's current socially charged situation, the middle class, the economy and unemployment.
While most Americans were minding their own business trying to make a living the so-called upper classes were tweaking the rules and pulling the strings of their puppets in Congress.
Deriving great wealth from derivatives that many of them didn't even understand they slowly but surely changed the dynamic fragrance and landscape of America.
The result of their machinations is now clear and has been for over two years, the world's economy stinks!
In order to fix things and make sure it never happens again many ideas have been brought to the table.
Many fingers have been pointed and many arguments have been made.
But many people are still hurting and will be hurting for a long time to come.
So what is the fate of the real villains who fouled the air of the economy?
How have these emperors of Wall Street and big bank board rooms been punished?
Many if not all will be receiving their usual obscene and totally undeserved bonuses any second now.  Others too embarrassed to accept the large outlay of former tax payer dollars are being compensated with  huge raises.  One can only assume the deferred bonuses will come next December, if not earlier.
And the tax breaks they received under former President Bush and company will now continue for another two years!
And will any of that money be used to hire more workers?
Please!  You can't be serious! (Go ahead and say it, I'll wait...)
It is this, "I come to bury the middle class, not to hire them" attitude that hurts the most.
And to add insult to injury this new found addition to their wealthy portfolios will be handed down to their heirs at reduced tax rates when they finally pass on.
Millions of formerly hard working Americans are lining up at the unemployment offices for their weak weekly stipend.
Others who have exhausted their 99 week meager handouts are still trying to find gainful employment in a business world all too happy to take advantage of their dire need for even minimum wage.
The American middle class trusted the government and the business leaders of the country to compensate them for their dogged loyalty.  They were and are sadly naive!
We may have blamed Caesar for that which he did not do but we loved him and took care of him!
So who is to blame for the true malodorous stench filtering through our economy today?
The old bull dog may be gone but the aroma lingers on and in the end the innocent among us are the ones taking the punishment.

Far Left or Far Out?

If you look at the map of the United States Las Vegas and California can be said to be on the left.

Naturally I am speaking literally and not politically but the following is a reprint of an email I received from a friend on the left side of America.

And this time I mean it both ways!

The view from Vegas:
Nationalize the oil companies.
Guaranteed job or income for everyone, put to work on infrastructure investment projects, alternative energy projects, retrofitting buildings to be energy efficient, etc.
Cradle-to-grave Medicare-For-All. 
Child care for all. 
Eldercare for all. 
6 week paid vacation for everyone. 
Triple Social Security's payments, lower retirement age to 55. 
Worker representatives on Boards of Directors. 
Limits to the how much of larger companies can be owned by a person or entity. 
When companies reach a certain size they become public entities. (Because they have so much effect on everything.) 
Companies responsible for externalized cost payback. 
A person whose job is replaced by technology receives for life a share of the savings. 
Bring back 90% top tax rates.  (OK I have been agitating for that one.) 
Very very high estate taxes on very large estates.  Maybe up to 99% on estates over $1 billion. 
Freedom from distraction.  We have a right to our own attention, free from advertising and commercialization.  The right to public spaces free from commercialization. 

How many of these are even "far left" ideas? I'd agree with most of these.
Basically I'm describing Europe here, not Maoist China. (And Europe is actually a bit to our right, I mean East!)

Thanks to Larry F from Henderson, just outside of Vegas for the list. (Send him your hate mail via my blog if you are so inclined.  I did not compile the list, Adrian, I'm just the messenger.)

Now I do not believe that all of the above could nor should be implemented in this country but when we even try to raise the Estate Tax to the still too low rate of 35% lawmakers who count on billionaires for bribe money almost have heart attacks!
But one careful look at this wish list should make everyone aware how our laws are terribly skewed toward the wealthy.
Ratification of any of the items so noted would cost the wealthy a tiny amount of their current and ever rising obscene profits.
The 'right' will tell you that in doing so we will hurt job growth.  But the argument does not hold water, or anything else for that matter when you realize that for the 8 years under the 'wealthy-friendly' administration of 'W' we lost more jobs than we gained!
Our nation should embrace the practice of compromise in a real and fair fashion.
It would be a wise thing to do.
After all a healthy give and take is, well healthy.
And while I don't know about early to bed and early to rise surely a healthy nation is wealthy and wise.

Fa La La La Laaaa...

Thanks to Perry Hall & Leo

For those of us feeling adrift
Or maybe just needing a lift
The following chorus
Is here to sing for us
An animal treat that's a gift!


Click This & Deck your Halls!