Excuse Me?

ATC Wednesday featured an "expert" weighing in on credit card issues - which have been in the news of late. The expert fields a question from a listener who called in to note that in spite of never missing or being late on a payment his credit card rates were DOUBLED!

Michele Norris asks the expert, Joan Goldwasser, "He's never been delinquent so why would the credit card company make this adjustment?"

Hmmm....that's a real stumper. Why would credit card companies be gouging customers? Could they be trying to cover their profitable little asses for all the predatory lending they've been doing now that that bubble's starting to burst? Oh no, not according to Goldwasser - her answer:

"It's hard to know for a specific individual, but it could be because he is having trouble in some other area of his life. You know credit card companies will look at your payment record on everything - whether it's your home mortgage, your insurance, your utility bill whatever. If you happen to be delinquent on one of those, that's a red flag. They also are looking at people who live in your neighborhood..."

No comment needed on that one...

OINK!

I think this little gem of a title from NPR.org (Monday's ATC) gets the corporate wet kiss award. Internet Bandwidth Hogs? I don't think Bewkes could have written it better himself.

Interestingly the feature ends with Siegel stating, "and you can find some links to groups fighting the Time Warner bandwidth cap and other stories on the matter at our website at npr.org/alltech." Somebody help me here. I poked around and seemed to miss those links - anyone see them?

The most obvious link would be to Free Press which is leading the fight against this latest corporate attempt to strangle the Internet. At the link you can sign their petition.

WalMarvelous Roundup Ready News

Boy have I ever been stupid. I thought WalMart was only interested in crushing unions, building big, ugly megastores, crushing small businesses and maximizing profits. And I had even more sinister delusions about Monsanto. I thought they were in the business of bullying their way into monopolizing the global seed market, ruining the environment, taking over Latin American agriculture, crushing their critics, and making gobs of money to boot.

Fortunately NPR has come to the aid of these gentle and beleaguered giants (again). Golly, good ole WalMart and Monsanto just want to help the poor Honduran farmer break free from the laws that impoverish and help grow endless supplies of wholesome food so they and their countries can grow prosperous. It's like Jesus and the loaves and fishes! Who knew?

I know WalMart is a corporate sponsor of NPR. If Monsanto isn't, they ought to get on it.

Taking Care of Business (as Usual)

If I were paranoid, I'd think NPR wonks sometimes sat around a conference table brainstorming on ways to try and demoralize progressives and people of conscience. This morning we get to hear about rock stars selling their songs and image for commercials. Okay, if someone who wrote songs back in the day has fallen on hard times and feels they need to make some money by selling their work, who am I to condemn it? I know I've compromised my values at times, but for God's sake, I don't then extol my compromises as acts of virtue and try to put down those who have more integrity - but that's exactly what this report does.

Consider what Joel Rose of WHYY has to say:

"With Bob Dylan…in a commercial for Victoria’s Secret and the Beatles’ song…in a new ad for Target, the major remaining holdouts are Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits. But that stance is getting harder and harder to find says Billboard's Brian Garrity: ‘Even though you have some bands that are still kind of clinging to this notion being in commercials is some kind of sellout, the industry by and large has moved past that stigma.’ "

"Clinging to this notion"! That smug little put-down really ticks me off - as if consumerism and commercialism are value neutral, instead of the soul-shriveling, planet destroying ventures that they often are. I don't have a problem with NPR reporting on the phenomena of rock stars selling to advertisers, but wouldn't it have been interesting to hear from those "remaining holdouts"? Isn't it fascinating that Springsteen and Young also have publicly opposed the Iraq war - along with other rockers. A news program might cover that, might even interview the musicians to find out what informs their values, and what challenges they face in such a market driven profession. I don't think I'll be hearing that one on NPR news any time soon.

BTW: I do love the music of Johnny Cash!

Ka-ching

I have to confess that even an unbeliever like me, blushes at the crass selling of the Christmas Holidays. For the last two weeks there have been several features on the "hot" gaming platforms (see earlier post) , tickle-me Elmos, and endless plugging for "Black Friday." During one of the hourly news updates yesterday I had to hear a reporter telling me that one shopper had bought a 30-something inch TV for himself, while his friend "scored" a 40-something inch one.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not off the grid and I've bought consumer electronics--but "Hello..." it's not newsworthy and it's nothing to brag about.

I naively thought that today being Saturday, I wouldn't hear so much BS about the holy experience of shopping...but no...NPR reminded me this morning that Monday was CYBER-MONDAY and that I'd better get online and start spending--Jesus!

Oh yeah...Him.