!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!This site has been hijacked by;
Mookie
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!for the crime of revisionist history!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!for more on this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!visit http://mookieismike.blogspot.com/!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Passport Update
After telling me my birth certificate and drivers license were "not sufficient for passport purposes" The United States Government requested more "proof" of citizenship. Among the list of acceptable forms of identification included;
passport (umm duh)
high school year book photo (because that is impossible to photoshop)
selective service card (what? - who carries that around)
birth certificate (I thought you said that wasn't sufficient)
Drivers License (refer to above thought)
Insurance Card (I was once rear ended by an illegal alien who had insurance)
... as well as a booklet to list every residence I have ever had, every job I've ever had, any schools attended, all living relatives including addresses and phone numbers.
As you may know, I am completely reasonable and patient person when dealing with inept government agencies. So, I thought I would make it easy on whatever poor sap was handling my case file. Yes, I filled out this book. Which is a story for another post. I gathered together paperwork such as my last 10 years of tax returns, college transcripts, probably 50 pay stubs, 10 insurance cards (including 9 expired ones) 3 voided drivers licenses, 2 full year books from high school with post-it notes to guide my handler to appropriate pages such as friends who may have listed may name and written something sentimental like "don't change". I sent childhood pictures, business cards, 12 banking statements from 1996 (these were the oldest I had on record), and a few other select items. I bundled up this "proof" of citizenship and placed it neatly in a shoebox and tied with a pink ribbon, and mailed it to the United States Passport Office in Seattle.
The post master assisting me in this endeavor said to me, "I don't think I've ever seen anyone be sarcastic by mail before". I'm not sure what he meant. I was too focused on the total price of this mailing at $6.66. Sure that could be a fluke, but if the shoe fits.... According to the Post Office tracking reciept my little box-o-sarcasm arrived on October 20th.
I was worried there for a bit, but as it turns out, I am not a terrorist. This according to the United States government who has now seen fit to give me a passport. Or at least that is what the passport confirmation website tells me. It should be in the mail now.
passport (umm duh)
high school year book photo (because that is impossible to photoshop)
selective service card (what? - who carries that around)
birth certificate (I thought you said that wasn't sufficient)
Drivers License (refer to above thought)
Insurance Card (I was once rear ended by an illegal alien who had insurance)
... as well as a booklet to list every residence I have ever had, every job I've ever had, any schools attended, all living relatives including addresses and phone numbers.
As you may know, I am completely reasonable and patient person when dealing with inept government agencies. So, I thought I would make it easy on whatever poor sap was handling my case file. Yes, I filled out this book. Which is a story for another post. I gathered together paperwork such as my last 10 years of tax returns, college transcripts, probably 50 pay stubs, 10 insurance cards (including 9 expired ones) 3 voided drivers licenses, 2 full year books from high school with post-it notes to guide my handler to appropriate pages such as friends who may have listed may name and written something sentimental like "don't change". I sent childhood pictures, business cards, 12 banking statements from 1996 (these were the oldest I had on record), and a few other select items. I bundled up this "proof" of citizenship and placed it neatly in a shoebox and tied with a pink ribbon, and mailed it to the United States Passport Office in Seattle.
The post master assisting me in this endeavor said to me, "I don't think I've ever seen anyone be sarcastic by mail before". I'm not sure what he meant. I was too focused on the total price of this mailing at $6.66. Sure that could be a fluke, but if the shoe fits.... According to the Post Office tracking reciept my little box-o-sarcasm arrived on October 20th.
I was worried there for a bit, but as it turns out, I am not a terrorist. This according to the United States government who has now seen fit to give me a passport. Or at least that is what the passport confirmation website tells me. It should be in the mail now.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Change Your Insurance Expectations
Lets think for a moment about insurance. What are things you pay to have insured? You want to make sure you have life insurance to protect against the unlikely event of your death. (assuming you are in good health. If not you couldn't afford the premiums.) You want to insure against the unlikely event that some natural disaster such as tornado or perhaps a fire destroys your home. So you need home owners or renters insurance. You insure your car against the unlikely event that you lose control of your vehicle and create a new drive through window at a local convenience store. Insurance is designed to protect you from liability should some unlikely, but financially devastating circumstance occur in your life.
Have you ever wondered why you don't buy tire insurance. Just pay the premiums and if your tires wear out you can just pay the co-pay. There will of course be a small deductible. You don't because it is not unlikely that your tires will wear out. In fact it is an absolute certainty that sooner or later you will need new tires.
Insurance should be treated the same way. You know with absolute certainty that you and your family are going to need to see the doctor for minor cases of bumps, bruises, coughs and colds. Yet for some reason we want to purchase insurance to cover the costs. It doesn't make financial sense. Let me break it down for you.
Seeing the doctor = x
If you see the doctor and pay the bill yourself :
Your Bill = x.
If you buy insurance to pay for routine office visits you will pay the insurance company via your premiums:
premiums = x+administrative costs+profits.
Face it insurance companies are not in the business of loosing money. They are in the business of making money. If they are going to pay for your routine office visits which you KNOW are going to occur, you will pay more than if you paid them on your own.
The obvious flaw here is that the doctors' offices agree to take a smaller percentage of payment from the insurance companies for a visit and for certain procedures in exchange for guaranteed payment. However, You can do that on your own. Doctors offices are willing to take less if you ask. But you have to ask, then make payment in full. Start a health savings account to pay for routine office visits for you and your family. Then purchase a catastrophic health insurance plan to insure you against the UNLIKELY event that someone in your family be diagnosed with something as costly as cancer.
If you buy your own insurance this will save you money. Do the math. Even if you have a broken arm it is still cheaper to pay for it on your own than pay the huge costs associated with the "pay-for-everything insurance plans".
Have you ever wondered why you don't buy tire insurance. Just pay the premiums and if your tires wear out you can just pay the co-pay. There will of course be a small deductible. You don't because it is not unlikely that your tires will wear out. In fact it is an absolute certainty that sooner or later you will need new tires.
Insurance should be treated the same way. You know with absolute certainty that you and your family are going to need to see the doctor for minor cases of bumps, bruises, coughs and colds. Yet for some reason we want to purchase insurance to cover the costs. It doesn't make financial sense. Let me break it down for you.
Seeing the doctor = x
If you see the doctor and pay the bill yourself :
Your Bill = x.
If you buy insurance to pay for routine office visits you will pay the insurance company via your premiums:
premiums = x+administrative costs+profits.
Face it insurance companies are not in the business of loosing money. They are in the business of making money. If they are going to pay for your routine office visits which you KNOW are going to occur, you will pay more than if you paid them on your own.
The obvious flaw here is that the doctors' offices agree to take a smaller percentage of payment from the insurance companies for a visit and for certain procedures in exchange for guaranteed payment. However, You can do that on your own. Doctors offices are willing to take less if you ask. But you have to ask, then make payment in full. Start a health savings account to pay for routine office visits for you and your family. Then purchase a catastrophic health insurance plan to insure you against the UNLIKELY event that someone in your family be diagnosed with something as costly as cancer.
If you buy your own insurance this will save you money. Do the math. Even if you have a broken arm it is still cheaper to pay for it on your own than pay the huge costs associated with the "pay-for-everything insurance plans".
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Uncle Sam Doesn't Trust Me
I am currently fighting to restrain an all too familiar feeling. I have had this feeling while sitting in the DMV office, post office, or pretty much any other pathetically run government agency.
A few weeks back my wife and I applied for our passports. We both went to the post office, the only place to take care of this in our county. We both presented birth certificates along with drivers licenses as proof of identification and citizenship.
Today we checked the mail to discover that while my wife received her passport no problem, I get a letter from the field office in Seattle. It reads, and I quote, "Unfortunately the identification you provided is not sufficient for passport purposes."
WHAT? Actually it must be, otherwise you wouldn't have issued my wife's passport. Or it isn't actually enough, and you issued hers anyway. Either way I have deemed your office inept.
Well, that is what I would like to say to them when I call tomorrow, but I won't. I'll call the office to see exactly what I can do to resolve this matter. I will do so in a polite and courteous manner. I will jump through all their hoops until they have deemed my lack of an Egyptian accent sufficient to be rewarded with a passport.
A few weeks back my wife and I applied for our passports. We both went to the post office, the only place to take care of this in our county. We both presented birth certificates along with drivers licenses as proof of identification and citizenship.
Today we checked the mail to discover that while my wife received her passport no problem, I get a letter from the field office in Seattle. It reads, and I quote, "Unfortunately the identification you provided is not sufficient for passport purposes."
WHAT? Actually it must be, otherwise you wouldn't have issued my wife's passport. Or it isn't actually enough, and you issued hers anyway. Either way I have deemed your office inept.
Well, that is what I would like to say to them when I call tomorrow, but I won't. I'll call the office to see exactly what I can do to resolve this matter. I will do so in a polite and courteous manner. I will jump through all their hoops until they have deemed my lack of an Egyptian accent sufficient to be rewarded with a passport.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Limiting Pay
What would happen if we limit the pay of top executives working for private companies? Why do we want to limit it? If you do limit their pay, Where does it go?
I'll start with why. Why do we want to limit pay? Simple. Anger and jealousy. The masses are angry that wall street executives made loans they new were not wise, made millions of dollars doing so, and then were bailed out by our tax dollars when things went south. The anger is righteous. The solution would have been to let them fail. We are jealous because we see the lifestyles they lead, and believe falsely that if those executives had less the rest of us would have more.
Where would that money go? These are privately owned companies. If the money doesn't go to the executive it would stay in the coffers of the company to be used for various other endeavors like building new offices, expanding services, or perhaps just stay on the books as profit in cash. BUT.... would that really be okay. I mean isn't the point here that these companies are making too much money at the expense of consumers. So, instead a windfall profit tax would be in order. Therefore instead of expanding their business and HIRING more employees, they will shelter it in foreign investments, or have it taken by the government to be given to others.
The myth here is that there is a limited amount of money in the economic pie. Each dollar I have in my pocket is a dollar not available for anyone else. This is only a myth. In reality profits grow the economy and make more jobs available. Deficits shrink the economy and make less jobs available.
It isn't difficult to see what will happen. You can't redistribute money to make all people equally wealthy. You can only redistribute money to make all people equally poor. Understand that if you took ALL the profits from Exxon Mobile at the peak of their profit, each tax payer could get 1 tank of gasoline. Whoopie.
I'll start with why. Why do we want to limit pay? Simple. Anger and jealousy. The masses are angry that wall street executives made loans they new were not wise, made millions of dollars doing so, and then were bailed out by our tax dollars when things went south. The anger is righteous. The solution would have been to let them fail. We are jealous because we see the lifestyles they lead, and believe falsely that if those executives had less the rest of us would have more.
Where would that money go? These are privately owned companies. If the money doesn't go to the executive it would stay in the coffers of the company to be used for various other endeavors like building new offices, expanding services, or perhaps just stay on the books as profit in cash. BUT.... would that really be okay. I mean isn't the point here that these companies are making too much money at the expense of consumers. So, instead a windfall profit tax would be in order. Therefore instead of expanding their business and HIRING more employees, they will shelter it in foreign investments, or have it taken by the government to be given to others.
The myth here is that there is a limited amount of money in the economic pie. Each dollar I have in my pocket is a dollar not available for anyone else. This is only a myth. In reality profits grow the economy and make more jobs available. Deficits shrink the economy and make less jobs available.
It isn't difficult to see what will happen. You can't redistribute money to make all people equally wealthy. You can only redistribute money to make all people equally poor. Understand that if you took ALL the profits from Exxon Mobile at the peak of their profit, each tax payer could get 1 tank of gasoline. Whoopie.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)