WE Blog

Hank continues his tradition of being the lead “denier” on the blog!

Here’s an interesting site I got from my former boss yesterday…

==================
This is interesting! When you click on the website link below, a world Map comes up showing what strange & dangerous things are happening right now in every country in the entire world & is updated every few minutes. You can move the map around, zero in on any one area & actually up-load the story of what is going on. It is amazing when you can see the things that are happening right here in the U.S., sometimes right in your own state or even your city. Global Incident Map: There is a lot happening in our world every minute. This “map” updates every 310 seconds…constantly 24/7.

http://www.globalincidentmap.com/home.php

Good Morning Capn.,

Yep, worked all weekend for me too.

Too bad really, it couldn’t happen to a nicer lady.

Drudge:
TALK OF HILLARY EXIT ENGULFS CAMPAIGNS
Mon Jan 07 2008 09:46:28 ET

Facing a double-digit defeat in New Hampshire, a sudden collapse in national polls and an expected fund-raising drought, Senator Hillary Clinton is preparing for a tough decision: Does she get out of the race? And when?!

“She can’t take multiple double-digit losses in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada,” laments one top campaign insider to the DRUDGE REPORT. “If she gets too badly embarrassed, it will really harm her. She doesn’t want the Clinton brand to be damaged with back-to-back-to-back defeats.”

Meanwhile, Democrat hopeful John Edwards has confided to senior staff that he is staying in the race because Hillary “could soon be out.”

“Her money is going to dry up,” Edwards confided, a top source said Monday morning.

MORE

Key players in Clinton’s inner circle are said to be split. James Carville is urging her to fight it out through at least February and Super Tuesday, where she has a shot at thwarting Barack Obama in a big state. But others close to the former first lady now see no possible road to victory, sources claim.

Developing…

[The dramatic reversal of fortunes has left the media establishment stunned and racing to keep up with fast-moving changes.

Hmmm, if the WEBlog thought their new format was going to stop spam linking, it doesn’t seem to be–at least not completely: neittystultus just posted and the URL links to a “bluejeans for sale” site.

Uh, Capt.,

O’Reilly ain’t ours. He’s registered as an independent. Furthermore, he doesn’t claim to be nor does he act like a conservative.

Just because you are so far to the left that you’ve fallen off the edge of the earth doesn’t mean every one you disagree with is a “RepubliCON”.

Oh, and she’s not out of it yet!

Hey guys, if you are antiwar then a good book to read is “Johnny Got His Gun”!

Dalton (Trumbo?) was a commie.
Hillary “piqued” to soon?

WEBlog. Very nice format. Outstanding.

Hank Price
Posted January 7, 2008 at 10:42 am | Permalink
“Oh, and she’s not out of it yet!”

Hank, you are soooo right!
She’s worse than Freddie Krueger. Get’s ya in your dreams, and it seems no one can kill her.

Obama needs to be out of the race.

Senator Clinton tried to demonstrate his lack of experience and naive good nature in the last debate. She sided with Edwards…who then stabbed the good Senator in the back! Edwards lost points with me there.

End the hate? Sure. I want about 14 years of redress of grievances first. Then we can play nice with not nice people. Ya don’t send Mr. Obama to deal with Rove the ripper.

Bush couldn’t have screwed up America any worse if it had been on his agenda, in fact had it been on his agenda, he’d have probably failed, and things would be good!

Hank Price posted January 7, 2008 at 2:47 am

“Dr. Boris Winterhalter, retired Senior Marine Researcher…”

Why does Hank Price rely on a retired “Marine Researcher”, whose expertise is NOT climate science, for info re solar winds?

Winterhalter: “The effect of solar winds on cosmic radiation has just recently been established… Here we have a mechanism which is a far better explanation to variations in global climate than the attempts by IPCC to blame it all on anthropogenic input of greenhouse gases.”

1) There has been NO trend in galactic cosmic rays (GCR) since 1951. No trend in GCR means they are not an explanation for the warming since the mid-1970’s.

2) The IPCC does not “blame it all on anthropogenic input of greenhouse gases”. Natural forcings such as solar are included. Human-caused land use changes are also a factor.

Winterhalter: “There are far too many factors affecting this planet from the inside and the outside to warrant the idea that man is capable of influencing these natural processes,”

Did Dr. Winterhalter conclude that while researching the ocean floor? Has he written a paper showing that man is NOT capable of influencing natural processes?

He might want learn about the human-caused sharp rises in CO2, methane, etc, by reading the reports at, http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg1.htm

Or else stick to his field of expertise, marine geological research.

Rv 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the Kings of the East might be prepared.

What does this prophecy of the Sixth Angel possibly have to do with global warming (climate change)?
Many scientists believe that there is a definite climactic change occurring on a worldwide scale especially in the Arctic area and the Northern Hemisphere. What scientists seem to disagree on is whether this global warming is caused by human beings pumping carbon dioxide into the air from cars, electric power plants, and coal burning etc… or by other means.

Millions of people believe that there is a definite climate change going on but they cannot agree on what is causing it. Some scientists believe that it is just a natural occurring weather cycle and these same people most certainly do not know why it is happening.

http://roytaylorministries.com/am00310.htm

You had me for a moment, thought you were going for ‘it’s God’s will’.

Actually cosmos,

Here is the complete letter:

An open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper:

Dear Prime Minister:

As accredited experts in climate and related scientific disciplines, we are writing to propose that balanced, comprehensive public-consultation sessions be held so as to examine the scientific foundation of the federal government’s climate-change plans. This would be entirely consistent with your recent commitment to conduct a review of the Kyoto Protocol. Although many of us made the same suggestion to then-prime ministers Martin and Chretien, neither responded, and, to date, no formal, independent climate-science review has been conducted in Canada. Much of the billions of dollars earmarked for implementation of the protocol in Canada will be squandered without a proper assessment of recent developments in climate science.

Observational evidence does not support today’s computer climate models, so there is little reason to trust model predictions of the future. Yet this is precisely what the United Nations did in creating and promoting Kyoto and still does in the alarmist forecasts on which Canada’s climate policies are based. Even if the climate models were realistic, the environmental impact of Canada delaying implementation of Kyoto or other greenhouse-gas reduction schemes, pending completion of consultations, would be insignificant. Directing your government to convene balanced, open hearings as soon as possible would be a most prudent and responsible course of action.

While the confident pronouncements of scientifically unqualified environmental groups may provide for sensational

headlines, they are no basis for mature policy

formulation. The study of global climate change is, as you have said, an “emerging science,” one that is perhaps the most complex ever tackled. It may be many years yet before we properly understand the Earth’s climate system. Nevertheless, significant advances have been made since the protocol was created, many of which are taking us away from a concern about increasing greenhouse gases. If, back in the mid-1990s, we knew what we know today about climate, Kyoto would almost certainly not exist, because we would have concluded it was not necessary.

We appreciate the difficulty any government has formulating sensible science-based policy when the loudest voices always seem to be pushing in the opposite direction. However, by convening open, unbiased consultations, Canadians will be permitted to hear from experts on both sides of the debate in the climate-science community. When the public comes to understand that there is no “consensus” among climate scientists about the relative importance of the various causes of global climate change, the government will be in a far better position to develop plans that reflect reality and so benefit both the environment and the economy.

“Climate change is real” is a meaningless phrase used repeatedly by activists to convince the public that a climate catastrophe is looming and humanity is the cause. Neither of these fears is justified. Global climate changes all the time due to natural causes and the human impact still remains impossible to distinguish from this natural “noise.” The new Canadian government’s commitment to reducing air, land and water pollution is commendable, but allocating funds to “stopping climate change” would be irrational. We need to continue intensive research into the real causes of climate change and help our most vulnerable citizens adapt to whatever nature throws at us next.

We believe the Canadian public and government decision-makers need and deserve to hear the whole story concerning this very complex issue. It was only 30 years ago that many of today’s global-warming alarmists were telling us that the world was in the midst of a global-cooling catastrophe. But the science continued to evolve, and still does, even though so many choose to ignore it when it does not fit with predetermined political agendas.

We hope that you will examine our proposal carefully and we stand willing and able to furnish you with more information on this crucially important topic.

CC: The Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of the Environment, and the Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources

- – -

Sincerely,

It was then signed by 60 scientists.

Nothing. Fairy tales have no affect on reality.
Doug

And that is exactly what you have on GW!!!

Hank says, He’s registered as an independent.

You’re partly right. He says he’s an independent.

But that lie was shown to be a lie by the next Senator from Minnesota Al Franken in his book Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, also mediamatters, wikipedia, etc. etc.

http://media-imdb.com/name/nm0971123/bio

Politically he has always claimed he is a registered independent on The O’Reilly Factor. But it was later revealed O’Reilly was actually a registered Republican in Nassau County from 1994 to 2000. O’Reilly re-registered as an independent soon after.

So. . .he’s registered as an independent! How can that mean I’m “partially right”!?

Come on Capn.,

Hank Price posted January 7, 2008 at 2:01 pm

“I believe they are referring to nitwits like the Goracle; and his various butt-boys in the media; the journalistic left-leaning nitwits like the people at desmog.com; and finally chicken-little-the-sky-is-falling sycophants like you.

They never mentioned ‘peer reviewed scientists’.

So, my misguided friend, it appears that you are the liar!”

Hank Price seems to have a severe reading comprehension problem.

Credible science is done using peer-review.

Note all of the “science” context before the “30 years ago” claim, and the sentence immediately after it.
“It was only 30 years ago that many of today’s global-warming alarmists were telling us that the world was in the midst of a global-cooling catastrophe. But the SCIENCE continued to evolve, and still does, even though so many choose to ignore it when it does not fit with predetermined political agendas.

The 60 “scientists”(sic) are (falsely) claiming that 30 years ago peer-reviewed climate science warned about global cooling — and today is wrong (”so many choose to ignore it…”) about warming.

‘Richard S. Courtney
Coal Union Spokesperson’
http://www.desmogblog.com/node/1095
“According to a search of 22,000 publications, Courtney has never published any research in the area of climate change.”

Boil it down, Regular is saying, flowers bloom.

Yes, they do.

Usually not in the first week of January though.

What a maroon!

160 companies have stopped supporting Planned Parenthood abortion mills because of pro-life boycotts, costing the abortion mills more than $40 million in revenue. Pro-abortion collaborators appearing or remaining on the boycott list include Carlson Companies, which oversees hotel chains such as Country Inns & Suites, Park Inn, Park Plaza, Radisson, and Regent; and the InterContinental Hotels chain, prompting boycotts of Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, and Staybridge; T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants; Midas auto repair; Paul Ecke Ranch (poinsettias); printer FastSigns, and BBJ Linen (home products); Wachovia, Nike, Time Warner, Bank of America, the Dallas Cowboys, CIGNA, Walt Disney, Johnson & Johnson, Chevron, Wells Fargo, Whole Foods Market, and Nationwide Insurance; Basics Office Products, JPMorgan Chase (including Chase Bank, & Bank One), Lost Arrow (Patagonia), CCA Global (Carpet One, Flooring America, Flooring Canada, Flooring One, Lighting One, etc.), Chevron (including Caltex, Xpress Lube, & Texaco), eBay (including PayPal), OSI Restaurant Partners (Outback Steakhouse, etc.), Marriott (including Courtyard Hotels, Fairfield Inn, Renaissance Hotels & Inns, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, etc.), Valero (Beacon, Ultramar, etc.), and Sonic (drive-in restaurants).
Charitable groups associated with Planned Parenthood abortion mills include Amnesty International, the American Cancer Society, Camp Fire Girls, Girls Inc., Girl Scouts, Kiwanis Clubs, Doctors Without Borders, the March of Dimes, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Rotary Clubs, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and the YWCA; Outward Bound West, American Automobile Association (AAA), Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Phil Foundation, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), Kiwanis Club, Rotary International, Lions Club, American Diabetes Association, and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA).
(The March of Dimes has recently aired TV ads prompting people to take action to avoid premature births, but failing to mention the repeatedly proven major risk factor of previous abortion in premature births.)

In an obvious terrorist probe of U.S. naval defenses on Sunday, small armed Iranian boats charged a U.S. cruiser, destroyer, and frigate entering the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, dropping boxes in the water in their path, and threatening to explode the warships, like Yemeni Muslims did to the USS Cole.
I don’t believe we have all that many U.S. warships stationed in the Middle East, that we can afford to risk merely taking evasive action when they are attacked. It was many months before the USS Cole returned to active duty, and 17 of the crew never returned alive, and the rest of the crew were permanently emotionally scarred from watching Yemeni Muslims dance and celebrate in the streets, as American sailors collected their dead and watched their wounded shipmates die.
[You may fire when ready, Gridley.]

PBS commentators last weekend kept saying that the Republican Party needs to eliminate Mike Huckabee as a presidential candidate

Bullsh*t.

Link it or go home.

See evolution comments of 01/04 by “journalist” David Brooks in PBS link
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june08/huckabee_01-04.html

Well . . . back outside to brave this wintry January. Thank goodness, global warming is just a myth. Otherwise I’d be walking around in nothing but a sweatshirt and tennis shoes.

Hey, wait a minute . . .

An excerpt from “Ron Paul, Fox News, and the Conservative Life of the Lie”

“While it’s true that liberals are as devoted to the welfare state as conservatives are, there is one big difference: liberals don’t make any pretense of being advocates of economic liberty and limited government. They are direct and straightforward defenders of the big-government welfare state.

Conservatives, on other hand, continue to portray themselves as advocates of libertarian principles. That’s what makes them people of the lie — people of hypocrisy — people who preach one thing and practice another.”

Full article at http://www.fff.org/comment/com0801c.asp

Major California-Nevada road reopens after storm closure
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 01/06/2008 03:22:57 AM PST

“SACRAMENTO—A nearly 100-mile stretch of Interstate 80 through the Sierra that closed due to blizzard conditions is open again.

Transit officials say vehicles with chains—or four-wheel drive and snow tires—have been able to use the road again as of 5 a.m. Sunday.

Low visibility had prompted authorities to close the road from about 40 miles east of Sacramento until just over the state’s eastern border earlier Sunday.

The road is the main east-west link between Northern California and Nevada. It has been shut down sporadically since Friday, when severe winter storms first attacked the state.”

Wednesday, January 02, 2008
AP

“Florida farmers dash to preserve citrus crop as state braces for a rare deep freeze

MIAMI (AP) – Farmers rushed to protect citrus and other crops Tuesday as Florida braced for plunging temperatures, with the governor even lifting certain agricultural regulations as a precaution.

Temperatures were expected to drop below freezing in much of the state Tuesday night, hitting the lower to mid-20s for a few hours in many areas. Wind chill factors were expected to dive into the teens Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

Gov. Charlie Crist issued an order late Monday relaxing restrictions in getting harvested crops moved to processing centers”

Dedicated to Cosmos, that guy in Outer Space:

GLOBAL WARMING BLUES words & music Lenny Solomon
© 2002, L. Solomon

He loves to go out shopping in his SUV

A car that large is rocking, fits him to a tee

When he gets behind the wheel, hears that engine whine

He doesn’t think of the gasoline he’s burning all the time

Will it be now or later, when he gets a clue

Global warming’s coming, babe, it’s gunna get you

I make so much money I could buy me a continent

Gunna build me a trophy house with every complement

A fridge as big a Venus, a stove as big as Mars

With all the modern conveniences, you see I’m a star

Will it be now or later, when he gets a clue

Global warming’s coming, babe, it’s gunna get you

Glaciers are all melting, the Arctic’s turning green

Polar bears have seen their lairs go floating down the stream

Harp seals have changed color, they’re no long white

They’re now bronze complected and extremely uptight

Will it be now or later, when we get a clue

Global warming’s coming, babe, it’s gunna get you

Actually there George, the Kyoto Treaty was not signed in the Clinton administration.

So if a problem occurs and the US Navy has to fire upon iranian ships, will this be looked upon as being provoked by Bush?

Last I looked, Gore was still a part of the Clinton Administration, unless somebody has gone back and re-written history… :roll:

In light of what happened with Don Imus, I think FOX should force O’Reilly off the air. Throwing a hissy fit at a Presidential campaign is in the same category as what Imus pulled.

Baghdad Weather
(any one remember the war on terror?)

Humidity 43 % Cloud Cover 25 %
Visibility 16 km Max Temp. 9 °C
Dewpoint -12 °C Min Temp. -3 °C
Ceiling 5,029.2 m Departure -2 °C
Apparent Temp. 0 °C High Past 6 Hrs. 2 °C
Wind Chill 0 °C Low Past 6 Hrs. -3 °C
Wind Speed 1 km/h Precip Past 3 Hrs. 0.0 mm
Wind Direction NW Precip Past 6 Hrs. 0.0 mm
Wind Gusts 1 km/h Precip Past 24 Hrs. 0.0 mm

ken Leno doing better without writers, Conan should go back on the picket line. He acts like he is off his meds.

Dear Hank Price,

Another false claim in your “signed by 60 scientists(sic)” post at 1:54 pm.

“Observational evidence does not support today’s computer climate models,…”

Dr. Hansen’s 1988 projections were close to what occurred

And climate models using both natural and anthropogenic forcings from 1906-2005 give a close match to observed temperatures. IPCC’s graph at,
http://environment.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn11649/dn11649-1_688.jpg

“Observational evidence does not support today’s computer climate models,…”

Dr. Hansen’s 1988 projections were close to what occurred

And climate models using both natural and anthropogenic forcings from 1906-2005 give a close match to observed temperatures.”

Mr. cosmos,

By your own re-quote, it is today’s observations, not early 20th century’s forcings.

Mr. cosmos,

Why is the red line on that chart so wide. It’s appears they are putting in a very large fudge factor (90 percent distribution range) instead of showing the actual plotting of the computer model.

To me, it would be like graphing three base hits versus home runs and showing that the three base hit falls within 90 percent distribution of a home run, when in fact it is only 75 percent. If carried out further, it only applies to following a similar linear path and not the same end results.

‘Regular’,

Look at where the black line is positioned in the red shaded bands.

And compare the black line, to the blue shaded bands, in IPCC’s graph at,
http://environment.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn11649/dn11649-1_688.jpg

I saw the red and blue bands, but still have questions why the bands are so big, which I think I read they represent distributions of several climate models.

It would be helpful to examine single model data and see what the actual plot would be.

Graphics are funky anyway, I prefer data points plots over graphics.

Tired of being shaken down by the Max/Bush junta, you are not alone:
*****
Let me make a confession. I hate getting cheated. I mean, really, really, really hate getting cheated. I mean veins-pop-out-of-my- forehead, glad-I’m-not-getting-my-blood-pressure-checked-today hate getting cheated.

And yet, I feel like I’m getting cheated all the time.

I often open the mail with dread. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, as if I were some primal creature readying for a fight. I walk into a cell-phone store, check my online statements, or just turn on my television, and I feel like everyone is out to get me. I suffer from what a therapist might call low-level, background anxiety. I think someone is always trying to steal something from me.

Am I crazy?

When I was a child growing up just outside New York City during the 1970s, I learned to be afraid of getting mugged. But this is not that. The criminals I’m talking about don’t bop anyone over the head and steal hundreds of dollars. These criminals slowly take $5, $10, and $20 from me, often with a smile. They pop a surcharge onto my monthly phone bill. They pad my TV bill with services I didn’t ask for. They drain my bank account-drip, drip, drip-when I’m not watching. These hidden fees keep me up at night like the sound of a leaky faucet. I feel like I have to watch everything all the time because it’s so easy to miss some statement on some form with some asterisk that means the company can take even more money from me. And when that happens, I suffer from what I call small-print rage.

Am I crazy? Or am I just paying attention? One thing I know for sure: I’m not alone.

I’m not a therapist, or a sociologist, but I feel on firm ground saying that small-print rage is a close second only to road rage as a source of stress in America today. As author of The Red Tape Chronicles on MSNBC.com, a twice-weekly column that exposes small print, corporate sneakiness, and other twenty-first-century headaches, I invite readers to share their woes with me. Tens of thousands have e-mailed and left comments on my blog as a desperate last attempt to get justice. I can see the exasperation in the amount of CAPITAL LETTERS that show up in their notes.

So I know: You suffer from small-print rage, too.

Sneaky fees peck away at us like a swarm of mosquitoes that ruin an otherwise beautiful summer evening. And like mosquitoes, an individual bite might seem trivial, barely more than a nuisance, but repeated bites can actually change the way you live. They chase you inside, make you build a screened porch, and in extreme cases make you sick.

As a too-sticky summer night breeds mosquitoes, today’s business environment breeds sneakiness. Companies under pressure to keep advertised prices low have seized on trickery to pump profits up. The most successful firms are now the ones that hide their prices best: under asterisks, deep inside terms and conditions, in fees they call taxes, bills that come months after the fact, even around dark corners in auto dealerships where the manager’s office is. Then, right when you think you just got a good deal, an unexpected bill comes, or a car salesman jumps out from behind the corner and yells:

Gotcha!

One Gotcha might be irritating. A few might make you angry. But Gotchas are everywhere you turn now. They are a way of life for consumers. They are our new economic system, replacing our former system, the free-market economy. In Gotcha Capitalism, your personal finances are under siege. Mosquitoes might threaten your life with death by a thousand bites; Gotcha Capitalism threatens your finances with death by a thousand fees.

“C’mon, Bob,” you might be thinking. “We’re talking about nickel and diming. It’s not that bad.”

Yes, it is. I’ve got research to prove it.

During November 2006, I asked independent researcher Larry Ponemon of the Ponemon Institute to conduct a nationwide survey of fees and surcharges. Together, we asked consumers around the country how much they believed they’d lost to sneaky fees in the past twelve months. To be fair, we didn’t allow much speculation; instead we asked consumers to identify the amount of hidden fees they’d later discovered in ten important product lines one at a time, such as cell phones, groceries, and travel.

The result? Those $5 and $10 charges really add up. Even with these limitations, Americans told us they lose $946 to sneaky fees every year, enough to stock a sizable retirement fund. And when you add up all sneaky-fee revenue, the total is simply massive. According to the survey, corporate America’s take in the ten industries surveyed was $45 billion. To put that number in context, $45 billion is about equal to the amount of money stolen through the fastest-growing crime in the country, identity theft. ID theft is such an epidemic that presidential task forces have been formed to fight it. There are entire divisions of law-enforcement officials being trained to stop it. There is an entire industry of companies that has grown up to prevent it. However, I know of no single agency or company devoted to stopping the explosion of hidden fees, which cost our society just as much as identity theft.

Of course, the crime of hidden fees is not so dramatic. There are no spectacular million-dollar diamond heists accomplished in the name of deceased CEOs. Instead, hidden fees are a slow drip-drip-dripping out of Americans’ hard-earned salaries. Cell-phone users, for example, reported to us that they pay about $5 to $10 more a month-on average- than they expect to, thanks to sneaky fees. That doesn’t sound like much, until you consider there are more than two hundred million cell- phones user in the United States alone.

Now perhaps you’ll think like I do, that the proliferation of hidden fees-and not identity theft-is the fastest-growing white-collar crime in America.

For consumers making $45,000 or less a year, that $946 in hidden fees can mean one less vacation per year, or no evening classes for additional job training. It can take a huge bite out of a family’s retirement savings.

And that number is conservative. For starters, to make the study manageable, we limited the survey to ten likely culprits: cellular phones, credit cards, banks, airline travel, hotels, cable TV/ satellite, home Internet access, retirement services, insurance, and groceries. Detailed industry-by-industry discussion of these fees can be found in the Toolkit Section, Chapter 4.

Remember, this $946 total is an average. So for every consumer who manages to exert Herculean effort and minimizes hidden-fee expenses to a tidy $200 or $300, there’s another who pays nearly $2,000 a year. It also only represents the sneaky-fee take among those ten industries-obviously, other kinds of companies stick their customers with fees, too.

Finally, this $45 billion total-that’s just the sneaky fees consumers know about. Others are surely lurking out there underneath mountainous monthly bills that busy consumers miss, and couldn’t reveal to us when asked.

It’s easy to calculate sneaky-fee estimates that are much higher. Simply adding up analysts’ estimates of total fee income from credit- card late fees, homeowners’ title insurance, wacky hotel-resort fees and the like, consumers lose well more than $100 billion a year to hidden surcharges.

But the real total is probably even more than that-in 2004, Consumer Reports guessed it was around $216 billion annually. Your family’s portion of that would average closer to $4,000 each year.

Gotcha! Perhaps those mosquito bites are starting to itch. But I have yet to describe the biggest bite of all.

That $4,000 annual drain is nothing compared to what Gotcha Capitalism is doing to your retirement. In the biggest fee swindle ever invented, hidden fees-siphoned off in total silence by Wall Street-will force you to work four, five, even six years longer than you should. They’re stealing roughly one-third of the money the average American has set aside for old age. And get this: the better the investor, the greater the penalty. Later in this book, I’ll show you how Wall Street fees can suck up fully 80 percent of the money a twenty-year-old invests for retirement. Eighty percent!

Hidden fees are so drastic now that they may even be screwing with the national inflation rate. Companies often don’t supply surcharges and fee data to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, so when it computes inflation rates, fees aren’t reflected. As a result, our national inflation rate is held artificially low.

Yes, hidden fees are a big deal.

These numbers might surprise you, but I’ll bet you’ve had a sixth sense that something was amiss for a while. You wondered why the government keeps saying inflation is the lowest it’s ever been, yet you feel squeezed tighter and tighter by monthly bills. And I’ll bet you feel small-print rage once or twice a month. You know the feeling well. There you are, lying in bed at night, trying to convince yourself to forget how irritated you are at that $39 “courtesy overdraft fee” you just paid to your bank for buying a $3 hamburger with your cash card one day before your paycheck cleared.

But you don’t have to take all this lying down. In my paranoia to avoid getting cheated, I’ve discovered something, and I want to let you in on the secret. We don’t have to pay sneaky fees. And if you’ve already paid, don’t worry: There are ways to get your money back. Gotcha Capitalism will tell you how.

Companies have spent years and billions of dollars conducting extensive research, learning just how to confuse you and take away your rights to a fair deal. This book will show you how they do it, and then show you how to reclaim both your money and your rights. With any luck, we can all start a movement to reclaim our economy from hucksters with huge market capitalizat…
*****

Love that free market system. It is good for everybody, right???

Thanks Steven!

Went to Amazon.com, ordered the book, signed up for the Amazon.com VISA card and got a thirty dollar credit.

I’ll read the book, see how to get out of the VISA card and keep the book.

Good luck with that, Hank. The system is set up to screw even “weatlthy” people like you. But, please, do laugh about it. It really is quite funny…