American Citizens News Network

July 12, 2008

The Facts

If you are prone to watch commercials you have certainly see the AT&T laptop connect card commercial that is staged on a set designed to look like an island in the Pacific. The commercial designers give you the idea it’s in the Pacific by putting Amelia Earhart’s lost airplane in the background. The actor in the commercial says something like “we have come to this island to find something; and we found the internet”. Then he goes on to tell us all about how great the AT&T laptop connect card is. Obviously, this commercial is insinuating there is no place we can go and not be able to connect to the internet if we buy their laptop card and subscribe to their service.

My View

If you have been enticed to look into the AT&T laptop card, whether due to this commercial or otherwise, have you pulled up their coverage map? I did; and guess what? Clearly one-third, possible close to one-half, of the United States is shaded as “No Service”. Now I find that a little unusual. Normally with commercials, you can always expect some, shall we say, “exaggeration”. But this AT&T commercial goes way beyond that. And I purchased an AT&T product just yesterday (not a laptop connect card), so you can’t say I’m biased against them.

I suppose you get my point; if an AT&T laptop connect card can connect to the internet on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific ocean, you would certainly expect to be able to connect any place in the Continental United States. But, then again, we live in a society that not only accepts dishonesty as being ok, we seem to encourage it. And that being the case, why should we expect the “truth in advertising” laws to be complied with?

May 12, 2008

The Facts

Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco wants to pass a law banning the sale of cigarettes in Pharmacies. His reasoning is that a place that sells products for healing and health care should not be selling items that are unhealthy.

My View

Before I start my ranting, let me say that this is not about defending cigarettes and the manufacturing of them. This is about reasonable minds. And if anyone misses that, then the following will be of no use to you.

So let me start out by asking what is the next step for Newsom and his supporters for drug stores? Banning the sale of candy, alcohol, etc.? Using Newsom’s logic, a lot of retailers are going to be in trouble. Grocery stores would only be allowed to sale food items. Hardware stores would not be allowed to sale popcorn as Ace Hardware does. Liquor stores would not be allowed to sale food items. Video rental stores would not be allowed to sale microwave popcorn. And the list could go on forever. Sounds ridiculous? Take a moment to think about it.

Over the past couple of decades we have heard so much about organizations standing tough against those who would want to put restrictions on them, such as the NRA does on certain guns. I for one do not want assault weapons made available to the general public, but I understand why the NRA is standing tough on this issue. Once they cave in to just one demand, they, like many of us, know that the demands would just keep right on coming. And that is exactly what I am talking about in this post. When cigarettes met with its first defeat back in the 1990’s, it didn’t stop there. As a result cigarettes have been the target of any politician, lawyer, and group that wanted to become famous and leave their mark on the world.

Until the general public demands that the relative few stop forcing their personal desires on the majority, this sort of thing will continue. Unfortunately, too many of us have the attitude of “it doesn’t affect me, so I don’t care”. Just remember this; if you make a rule for others, you just may have to live by that same rule yourself.

April 30, 2008

The Facts

When the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report for the first quarter came out at 8:30 AM ET this morning, it was up 0.6%. The Employment Cost Index (ECI) was up 0.7%. CNBC’s Rick Santelli reported those numbers from the floor of the stock exchange. The stock market started a sharp upward trend on this news. The Dow nearly tripled in just a matter of minutes. This was obviously good news to investors. CNBC’s Steve Liesman of Squawk Box had Diane Swonk of Mesirow Financial and Brian Wesbury of First Trust Advisors on as guest to discuss the just released numbers and how that relates to the economy. Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation and guest CEO of the week was also in on the discussion.

A furious debate ensued between Brian Wesbury/Rick Santelli and Steve Liesman/Mike Jackson. Wesbury and Santelli insisted no recession was here or in sight, while Liesman and Jackson insisted we were in a recession in spite of what the just released numbers said. Diane Swonk didn’t really say we were in a recession, but she disagreed with Wesbury and Santelli on their view. She said she wasn’t nearly as optimistic as them. Mike Jackson finally jumped into the fray and said the recession was here. He said this was not even a close call, then he quoted things like the housing depression and a durable goods recession combined with a credit crisis. Jackson said this was a “nitroglycerin” situation, and tried to finish what he had to say, but Rick Santelli cut him off sharply.

My View

If you don’t like or agree with someone on what they are saying, stop them from talking. And that’s just what Rick Santelli did to Mike Jackson. Of course, this is what we’ve all come to expect from loud mouth Santelli. He has a famous reputation for verbally stomping on people who disagree with him.

I will not pretend to be an economics expert, but it doesn’t take one to know that if we are not officially in a recession, then it’s just a matter of opinion. There were a lot of negatives that came out with the GDP. There were only two positive things that gave the GDP a plus; exports and trade was up. Take those two things out, and we have a negative GDP. So depending on whether or not you want us to be in a recession, just use the data that supports your agenda.

As for as the ECI number, remember this; Employment Cost Index can only be down if the employer has lowered their cost for employees. With all the layoffs, cutbacks, benefits reduction, cheaper manufacturing due to outsourcing, etc., it’s no wonder the ECI is up. But when this number goes up, there is a down on the other side. And guess who the “down” is affecting? The middle and lower class working man and woman. So what’s the result of a higher GDP and lower ECI? A lot of stock traders and stock trading companies get richer. And we all know that for the past 17 years or so, that’s the only thing that matters. So when you hear a stock trader say we are not in a recession, just remember that acknowledging we are in a recession has a drastic negative affect on their business.

April 28, 2008

The Facts

On CNBC today Warren Buffett said “Overtime, if we follow these trade policies, the dollar will be worthless”. He also said that what the Fed did with Bear Stearns was a line in the sand. Just exactly what he meant by the latter is not clear. In addition, he declares that we are in a recession regardless of what the so-called experts say.

My View

The trade policy that Buffett was referring to was obviously our trade deficients. Although he has indicated in the past that he has no problem with free trade in its basic definition, he is painfully aware that the one-way trade policy that our government seems to be applauding is certain death for our currency. Unlike so many of the people who have made billions in the stock market just by swapping money around, Warren Buffett has made his billions mostly through businesses. That is not to say a good portion of his money has not been made on Wall Street, but he has engineered most earnings through businesses. Therefore, I tend to think his vision of where we are going carries much more weight than those of the first kind.

Buffett has also recognized that those who are earning billions on Wall Street are not interested in what happens to the average stockholder. The following is an exert from Wiki on Buffet: “He has repeatedly criticized the financial industry for what he considers to be a proliferation of advisors who add no value but are compensated based on the volume of business transactions which they facilitate. He has pointed to the growing volume of stock trades as evidence that an ever-greater proportion of investors’ gains are going to brokers and other middlemen.” I’m not sure when he made that statement, but he has certainly been proven right.

The term “free market” is often quoted in defense of those who abuse our market & trade policies to the point of destroying millions of other peoples’ lives; all in the name of greed. As I mentioned in a past post, there was a survey once that asked if someone should be allowed to earn millions of dollars while providing no value. Naturally, most who participated in the survey thought they should be allowed. It would be interesting to see what those same people think today, now that they are paying over $1 more for a gallon of gasoline and what is estimated to be 20% more for all goods & services than they would if people were not allowed to make money when adding no value.

April 17, 2008

The Facts

Recently the State of Texas raided the polygamist ranch in Eldorado, Texas to remove the children there. According to Texas officials, they received a phone call from a 16 year old girl saying she was at the ranch and was being sexually abused, which prompted the raid. Since then, dozens of the women from the ranch have been given a lot of air time to complain about the raid and having their children taken away from them.

My View

I have two grown daughters and I can imagine what it would have been like had they been forcefully taken from me when they were children. It has to be one of the most heart wrenching things that can happen to a parent. So I certainly have sympathy for the parents, especially the mothers. However, when you make a personal choice to raise your children in an environment that can ultimately lead to sexual abuse, you have to be prepared for the consequences.

My family has a very close lady friend who grew up in a similar environment. Not in a cult-type environment, but what most would call a dysfunctional family. She was the oldest of four children; three girls and one boy. As a child she witnessed her father being murdered in a poker game; her mother was a prostitute as were her two sisters once they became teenagers. Her brother was a drug addict. We once ask her how she managed to avoid becoming like them. Her answer was while in school she had several close friends and they often invited her to their home, at times to spend the night. Our friend said that by being around these other families she realized there was a different and better life to have, something she would not have realized until it was too late had she not had that opportunity. Her siblings never had that opportunity. So she made a decision she was not going to live the same kind of life her family was living. The results is that she has had a very productive life with a successful career, and a husband, two children, and two grandchildren who have all turned out to be respected and moral people.

I imagine that most, if not all, of the women at this polygamist ranch has never known a different kind of life. Therefore, they probably don’t realize that there is something morally wrong with living the kind of life they are living and having daughters that will become sex objects when they become teenagers. So it is understandable that they will defend their way of life and just kind of ignore the fact that their daughters are being raised for sex.

April 15, 2008

The Facts

Ask the average person how much they pay in taxes from their earnings and you will get a “guesstimation” that ranges from 10% to maybe 25%, depending on the amount of their income. These percentages are generally based on what they think they pay in federal, state and Social Security taxes. Think again!

My View

For years I have been telling people that they are paying one-half of their earnings in taxes. Most times they scoff at me. I try to point out all the things we are taxed on, but people seem to think this is just some sort of joke. I recall a report some fifteen to twenty years ago that was put together by students of a major collage that showed we were paying an average of 51% in taxes. Now as then, no one is paying attention to these facts. I am amazed at the silence from this out rage. Anyone who happens to mention our high tax burden and compares it to the Boston Tea Party is met with something like “you aren’t going to bring that up again, are you”? So the next time someone is telling you how bad the corporations have it with the taxes they pay, show them this report.

April 15, 2008

The Facts

Bob Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), says that Barack Obama would not be the Democratic Party leading candidate if he was white, and in saying so, defends Geraldine Ferraro in what she said about Obama. Johnson is quoted as saying “What I believe Ferraro meant is that if you take a freshman senator from Illinois called ‘Jerry Smith’ and he says I’m going to run for president, would he start off with 90 percent of the black vote? And the answer is, probably not… Geraldine Ferraro said it right. The problem is, Geraldine Ferraro is white. This campaign has such a hair-trigger on anything racial … it is almost impossible for anybody to say anything.”

My View

Point one – this is just another of hundreds of examples I could use to support my contention that voters do not vote for the person they think can best serve the country; they vote their biases every time. However, my ‘point two’ is the more important point; Bob Johnson could easily go down in history as the instrument that really begins the elimination of racism.

Racism is a two-sided coin; both sides can equally be blamed for it, and neither can deny that fact while being honest with themselves and others. My belief is that there will always be some racism on both sides, although the reasons for racism will change; but if we will all take what Bob Johnson is saying as what it is, the truth, then the process of eradicating most racism can begin.

March 20, 2008  

The Facts 

John Hofmeister, President & CEO of Shell Oil Company’s US Operations, is the guest CEO host on CNBC’s Squawk Box this week. While talking today about the current oil situation, Hofmeister said about 85% of the US outer-continental shelf was inaccessible for oil, and he talked about some other conditions that affected the price of oil. Without being pressed on the current oil prices, he admitted that “triple digit oil was out of place”. In another segment, he went on to say he was surprised that oil even hit $100 per barrel.  

My View 

Hofmeister has being saying some very interesting things on CNBC this week, and I must say that I have been impressed with him. For some reason he seems to be coming across more as a consumer and concerned citizen than in his past interviews. Maybe that’s because he will be retiring from Shell Oil Company on June 1, 2008, or maybe it’s because he does not picture himself this week as a salesman and/or PR man; who knows why. He also said that the world was not running out of oil, and that he does not subscribe to the “peak oil theory”. Hofmeister does not see a near future of running out of oil; in fact he actually sees a bright future as far as the availability of oil is concerned. He even addressed the possibility that the environment was being contaminated with CO2 by saying no one knew for certain, but let’s work technology to prevent that. CNBC’s John Kernen even poked fun at the fact that an oil company executive would say something like that.  

All in all, I have to say that John Hofmeister made listening very interesting. He certainly takes a different approach on how an oil company should interact with the American consumer compared to ExxonMobil’s CEO. The latter said “if Americans didn’t like the price of his oil he would take it elsewhere and sell it”.  

Watch clips of Hofmeister’s comments by clicking on the hyperlinks below. 

Trillion Dollar Trades – Hofmeister’s comments on triple digit oil (you have to watch the entire clip, as Hofmeister makes his comments in the last 3 minutes of the clip.  

Energy Myths – Hofmeister’s comments on C02 in atmosphere 

Other clips with Hofmeister comments:  

Oil’s Black Eye 

Answering Viewer Email

February 19, 2008 

The Facts  

Google has deactivated “Inter City Press” internet news site which is owned and operated by Matthew Lee. According to Lee, Google took his news site off the internet because he has been critical of the United Nations. He claims that after Google became a partner with UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) on anti-poverty goals, the United Nations put pressure on Google to remove Lee’s site.  

My View 

The power of the internet; we all know stories on the internet must be taken into question from time to time. However, censorship is not legal in our country so far, but is sometimes pushed to the limit. Our own President, George Bush, has practiced censorship of sorts. He refused to call on Helen Thomas at his press conferences for three years because he doesn’t like her pointed questions. But then again, Bush doesn’t call on any reporter that has a record of putting him on the spot. However, when this flows over to the internet such as this one by Google, the public had better start asking some serious questions. Once a precedent is set, we will be in trouble.

Read the entire report here.

February 11, 2008 

The Facts 

The Berkeley California City Council has asked the Marines to close their office in their city and leave town. The Council is supported by many of its citizens, which have been picketing the Marine Recruiting office for several days.  

My View 

A few of us will remember when Joan Baez stood on the stage of the Johnny Carson Show and publically damned the United States for several acts she considered a disgrace, including our military. Now we have Berkeley doing the same thing. And the same thoughts comes to my mind now as it did with the Joan Baez speech some 30 or more years ago; ‘the only reason these people are free to voice their wishes is because of the freedom our military has graciously provided for us’.  

I don’t have to point out that without a military our country would have failed over two hundred years ago. In fact, without a military, we would have never become the “United States”. But even if we had survived becoming a United States without a military, we would be under a foreign dictatorship today had it not been for our military. And without that, Joan Baez and Berkeley would have been executed on the spot for their actions. Therefore, those who feel the way Berkeley does should give some thought to that, and if they have a genuine problem with what our military is doing today, they should take that up with our elected officials, not with the military. The military is only following orders from the Commander in Chief. And a military that doesn’t follow orders is no military at all.  

I am fully aware that Berkeley, as an extremist liberal city, has the right to govern their city as the city officials and citizens see fit. However, they should be prepared to pay the consequences if they decide they do not want a military. That includes the protection and support of a country that exist strictly because of our military. All tax payer funds should be cut off from them, both from a federal level and the state of California. All privileges afforded them by our free federal government should be suspended immediately, including any outside material things such as food, water, protection, etc. In other words, since they have made it clear they do not want the finer things of life that a militarily-provided free nation has given them, they should be excluded as a part of the free United States. And when some outside force comes in to make them slaves, they will just have to figure out how to deal with that on their own.  

My words are very strong words for sure, but unfortunately these views are necessary if we are to remain a free country. Imagine for a moment what our country would be like if the rest of us followed Berkeley’s wishes. If our military was “run off” today, by next week we would be invaded by the world’s worst dictators. Berkeley, and Berkeley supporters, do your self a favor and think about that for just one moment.  

Read the rest of an article here.

January 15, 2008 

The Facts 

A House Committee begins hearings today on the illegal use of steroids in major league baseball. Representative Henry Waxman is chairing the committee.  

My View 

As if Congress had nothing better to do, once again they are forced to deal with trying to legislate morality. Some of us will praise them and some of us will throw rocks at them for taking on this issue. Those that praise them will say government should do something about the offenders of steroids, and those that throw rocks at them will say they have a whole lot of more important things to do for the American people. The latter is certainly true.  

I never ceased to be amazed at the number of people in our country that will not maintain minimum morals unless they are legally or forcibly made to do so. I am not talking about murders or rapist; murders and rapist are what they are by virtue that they have no souls or morals in the first place. I am talking about those who have been elevated to a higher position in our society. And when questioned about these immoral things they do, they either deny it or attempt to justify it. Some of those that deny it are sometimes innocent, but by and large it is as obvious as the nose on your face that they are guilty. Marion Jones recently admitted to using steroids and, in essence, punished herself. She is the real hero, and we the public have an obligation to keep her and her restitution in the forefront; but we won’t. On several occasions I have made the comment that she had just become a real superstar to me and many other people by admitting what she has done. She never even attempted to fight to keep her symbols of being the best in her field. It is extremely obvious that she regrets her steroid use and wishes she had never used them. And she didn’t wait until she was publically exposed and threatened to admit what she had done. Often people say that the only reason a person is sorry is not because of what they have done, but because they got caught. I do not believe this is the case for Marion Jones.  

As far as congressional hearings on immoral acts, can you imagine how much of the tax payers money is literally wasted on these things? Can you imagine how many other real problems could be solved by Congress if they weren’t having to deal with legislating morality? And this is not just about steroids use or other similar things; this includes the so-called “white collar” immorality, all the way up to and including heads of corporations. And in many cases, it includes immorality by many of our political figures; federal, state, and local.  

We the public, especially sports fans, are just as guilty of allowing these sorts of things happen as the offending parties themselves. We usually know something is not right about a particular persons actions, but we still praise them and pay our money to support them. And as long as they, the team owners, and the advertisers are making money from it, nothing is going to change. It’s the old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. In other words, the ends justify the means as long as we can get away with it.  

The definition of morality is pretty clear cut. If you don’t want to go with Webster’s definition, all you have to do is think about whether or not you would approve of someone else doing what your are about to do. If there is even the slightest inkling of doubt of being right or wrong with what you are about to do, you can bet the bank there is something immoral about it.

January 10, 2008 

The Facts 

Kelly Tilghman, an anchor for The Golf Channel, was suspended for two weeks for a remark she made during the Mercedes-Benz Championship last week. In response to Nick Faldo’s comment about who could challenge Tiger Wood, Tilghman inadvertently and innocently said that those players who wanted to challenge Woods should “lynch him in a back alley”. She has already come out publically and apologized, and Tiger Woods has already said he did not feel insulted and that it was a non-issue.  

My View 

Tiger Woods has got to be the most down-to-earth non-racist respectful man I have ever known. I have been keeping up with him and watching him play golf for the past 17 years. I was a huge Tiger fan before he became famous. His father, Earl Woods, had to be the same way, because it was he that taught Tiger not only how to play golf, but how to be a good citizen and good person. Tiger’s achievements have been accomplished completely on his own merits, not on other people’s issues. And he makes sure he stays that way. What a wonderful example to follow. On his father, I watched him and Tiger on the Oprah Winfrey show several years ago. As you may or may not know, Tiger is only one-forth black. When Oprah asked Earl Woods what race did he tell Tiger he belonged to when Tiger was growing up, Mr. Woods look her right in the eye and said “the human race”.  

Kelly Tilghman, as well as all others in the public eye, should always be conscious of what they are saying. But people are human, and human’s error. Tiger Woods knows and accepts that. But the rest of us and the news media don’t accept that. In fact, many of us are tuned to hearing those errors, and the reason is because of political correctness. Politically correctness demands that we not make mistakes. If we do, we will be severely punished. And Tilghman is being punished unfairly.  

We live in a world where we all are saying “I don’t care about anything unless it affects me, and if it does affect me, or even if I think it affects me, everybody better care.” We have become so sensitive and demanding that all we want to think about is ourselves and to hell with anyone else. “If there is an issue I can use to my advantage, I will use it, no matter who is hurt and no matter if it is right or wrong to do so.”  

Yes, racism is still out there, and it will always be there because there are too many powerful people who gain fame and fortune from keeping it alive, therefore they will never allow racism to die. And there are regular people who will always use racism to their advantage. Many blacks and non-blacks alike benefit from racism. So it is here to stay, no matter how hard we try to get rid of it. In the meantime, all we can do is accept that humans do make mistakes and ignore those who want to make non-issues an issue for selfish reasons.

January 7, 2008 

The Facts 

Paul Krugman was a guest on PBS this past week-end. Being a respectable leader on the state of the economy, Krugman has a lot of worthy things to say about the current state of the economy. He is a quite spoken person who gives great respect to those who may not necessarily agree with him at times, which in turn, commands a lot of respect from those same people.  

My View 

The thing I like most coming from Paul Krugman is that he always has solid facts to back up what he is saying, something you rarely see from most so-called experts on many subjects. The only thing wrong with Krugman is that he is a liberal. Now this doesn’t mean that is a bad thing as some extremist right wing Republicans would say, but having that label is an immediate turn off to many. That is what I mean by saying that is the only thing wrong with him. Unfortunately, by “turning off” Krugman, you miss out on a lot of the truth about the economy, even though you may not want to hear the truth.  

I just finished reading some things from his blog. The following is a couple of things I found most interesting that is quoted from his blog.  

First quote: “In October 2006, Alan Greenspan pronounced the housing slump just about over: ‘I suspect that we are coming to the end of this downtrend, as applications for new mortgages, the most important series, have flattened out. There is a good chance of coming out of this in good shape, but average housing prices are likely to be down this year relative to 2005. I don’t know, but I think the worst of this may well be over.’ So now I read this: ‘Lisa Panasiti, a spokeswoman for Greenspan, said the former chairman was referring in his 2006 remarks to real estate’s drag on gross domestic product, and that housing’s hit on GDP has since eased.’ So Greenspan didn’t support the Bush tax cuts, and didn’t call an end to the housing slump just as the worst was beginning. And I am Marie of Romania.”  

Second quote: “Rupert Murdoch, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq: ‘The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy, if you could put it that way, would be $20 a barrel for oil. That’s bigger than any tax cut in any country.’” 

Krugman is not just a reliable economist, he also exposes the lies and distortion of the truth by those who want to make us think the economy is good when it is not, and that it is also getting better when it is not in an effort to support their personal agenda.  

You can read a lot more by Krugman here.

December 26, 2007 

The Facts 

If you’ve been watching any news at all over the past three days, you know that a 65 year old man is suing an 8 year old boy. The boy accidentally hit the mans skis while skiing, and the man fell. The man says he was hurt and required surgery. 

My View 

Many, many years ago while on vacation, I spotted a small statue in a gift store. The statue is made of hard rubber and about five inches tall. It is a “joke” statue of an elder man wearing a European style wig with curled up ends, horn rimmed glass’s, and a law book in his hand, indicating he is a lawyer. The caption says “Sue the Bastards”. I bought this statue along with a couple of others because I thought it was so funny.  

We now live in an age of “free money”, and everybody wants some. It is commonly considered that modern day law suit abuse begin with a man who sued Sears a long time ago. This man had his friends strap a refrigerator to his back so he could lift it up in order to impress his friends on how strong he was. As a result, the man was hurt. The law suit said that Sears should have had a warning sticker on the refrigerator warning him not to do such a foolish thing.  

This morning CNN is running a survey on the skiing law suit. It simply ask if you think the law suit should have been filed. What amazed me is that currently 38 percent of voters are say “yes”. Obviously, none of the public knows if the kid deliberately did this, but at this point, we must consider that he did not. The fact that 38 percent is saying “yes” to the law suit not only tells me the mentality of our society, but also says to me that there is nothing we shouldn’t be suing over. And there is no limit to the number of lawyers out there who are more than willing to take these kinds of suits on. No wonder our courts can’t keep up with what they should really be focusing on. My little statue is not as funny to me now as it once was.

December 25, 2007 

The Facts 

According to a CNN article, America is both a generous nation and a stingy nation. And I absolutely agree with that perception. You may want to read the entire article. It has some very interesting points.  

My View 

As I read the article there must have been a dozen thoughts run through my mind. Most recently in the news is the story of the little boy named Youssif from Iraq that was deliberately set on fire by thugs. Tens of thousands of dollars are pouring in to help Youssif, most from Americans. I also think of a “poem” that once circulated the internet about America’s world wide charity. It was supposedly written by a Canadian, and it was right on point. As individual citizens, we generally do care a lot about the misfortunes of others around the world as well as in our own country.  

Being charitable with my personal donations has changed over the past 20 years. I no longer give to the big organizations. And I no longer give to organizations or groups that use “professional collectors” to solicit for donations. I once gave so I could just have that warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach that I “helped”. Today I give pause to who is going to be helped and how much of my donation is actually going to be received by the intended person or persons.  

Big charitable organizations such as United Ways, Red Cross, and some others that I could name have abused my generosity. Not the people at the bottom or middle, but the people at the top. Just think back over the past 18 years of the reports of top officials of these organizations that have been exposed of high living standards on donations. Sure, we can say those were the exceptions, but nothing has changed. America and the news media raised holy hell for a while, but nothing has changed. I was working for a major oil company in the 1990’s when the media exposed the high living standards of the United Way corporate people. It was so bad that for two years the company did not even “put pressure” on their employees to sign up for United Way. But after two years, it was business as usual. The implied pressure was back again, and nothing had really changed at the top of United Way. My point is that I am not going to donate to an organization whose executives are living in multi-million dollar homes, being chaffered back & forth to work in a limo, and traveling all over the world in a private jet, all on my donations, when I am struggling to make it from pay day to pay day. Theirs is a career of high living.  

As for those “professional collectors”, if you are not already familiar with that scan, you should check into it. By and large, the intended organizations usually ends up with about 11 to 12 cents out of each dollar donated. The collectors gets the rest. Two stories. About 30 years ago I participated in helping a small fire department in a very small rural town in South Carolina collect donations for their fire department. Donations was their only income. They got 100 percent of the money collected. One year they decided to hire professionals to do the collecting. A couple of months later I inquired about how it went. Never again, they said! By the time we paid all the expenses we ended up with 0.11 cents out of each dollar. Second story. About three months ago I received a call from a sheriffs department asking for donations to help the family of a deputy that was killed in the line of duty. The call was from a deputy. He informed me up front that this was not a collecting agency for the department, that he was actually an active duty deputy, therefore they would get 100 percent of the donation. I donated.  

Naturally there was no way for me to know for sure if the deputy was telling the truth. But my point is simply this; The scam by professional collectors has been going on for at least 30 years. And the fact that the caller voluntarily told me he was not a professional collector says that the scam by professional collectors is widely know. So while we are a generous nation of individuals, we can help the real needy a lot better if we are very careful who we give our money to.