Depressing guests.

[Juan Cena]

Are there any guests that make you depressed listening to them because of the gloom and doom they try to sell?

I usually have to turn off the "economic"-related guests since all they predict is doom and gloom. Gerald Celente is the worst. I almost considered slitting my wrists listening to him.

I listened to a bit of Rickards tonight. just enough to remind me how crummy my futile my forays into capitalism (a blog & an etsy site) really have tanked lately.

[zeebo]

That psychologist Noory brings on to talk about modern issues like bullies and family problems and prescription drug use.  He always says people shouldn't use anti-depressents but I wanna gulp a few down whenever he's on.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

(a blog & an etsy site) really have tanked lately.

What was the blog about?

[zeebo]

Also there was awhile after Fukushima where multiple guests implied that global nuclear contamination was a virtual certainty.  I guess that's if we don't get demolished by an asteroid first.

[pyewacket]

I find too many of C2C guest depressing! Between George's unique style and the revolving door of depressing topics- I had to turn it off.

Things are changing and it's difficult for more and more people. Trouble is- people haven't caught on to the causes. You're certainly not going to get any useful information from the show- they're there to make their money. ( I managed to use all 3 forms of "there" in a sentence!)

Juan Cena, you're not alone. I know a few artists who use Etsy and they are struggling. Small, local shops are having a hard time, too. So many factors to take into account. I had a small business years ago. My product depended on a market, which was on fire at the time. I knew that it was going to be a limited window of income because we knew this wasn't going to last. We made good money and then the demand dried up. There's no sure thing. Generations back, communities depended on local business- not anymore. More's the pity. I hope that you find something that can give you more security.   

[albrecht]

I find too many of C2C guest depressing! Between George's unique style and the revolving door of depressing topics- I had to turn it off.

Things are changing and it's difficult for more and more people. Trouble is- people haven't caught on to the causes. You're certainly not going to get any useful information from the show- they're there to make their money. ( I managed to use all 3 forms of "there" in a sentence!)

Juan Cena, you're not alone. I know a few artists who use Etsy and they are struggling. Small, local shops are having a hard time, too. So many factors to take into account. I had a small business years ago. My product depended on a market, which was on fire at the time. I knew that it was going to be a limited window of income because we knew this wasn't going to last. We made good money and then the demand dried up. There's no sure thing. Generations back, communities depended on local business- not anymore. More's the pity. I hope that you find something that can give you more security.

Good use of all the "theres." I like the ideas of some communities/group adopting a local currency to encourage use, or barter, locally but won't happen. But whenever possible I try to "shop local." I am very suspicious though of these nationally advertising campaigns by large, international Credit Card companies for "buy local days" etc! With what they charge to the local shops they probably lose money on them.

[pyewacket]

Good use of all the "theres." I like the ideas of some communities/group adopting a local currency to encourage use, or barter, locally but won't happen. But whenever possible I try to "shop local." I am very suspicious though of these nationally advertising campaigns by large, international Credit Card companies for "buy local days" etc! With what they charge to the local shops they probably lose money on them.

You may be right about that! I recall that small businesses had to pay a fee for the use of customers' credit cards. I wish we could go back to local suppliers. You might not have the convenience of the big box store, but you could order what you can't find online.

[albrecht]

You may be right about that! I recall that small businesses had to pay a fee for the use of customers' credit cards. I wish we could go back to local suppliers. You might not have the convenience of the big box store, but you could order what you can't find online.

I like local hardware stores that used to carry everything, more like general stores. Still a few around but less and less. The few still around me I've noticed have marketed well, I guess, and offer a section of gifts or even upscale giftshop like stuff, in one section. Or have gone into guns/ammo sales in addition to hardware and agriculture products. And having employees, often unlike the large Home Depots and Lowes, who can advise you of your project or suggest cheaper solutions.
ps: the credit card companies hurt small businesses. Except for the convenience (and, so possibly, more sales) they charge a lot to process them and, I think, the onus comes on the store for fraud (say you card gets stolen, someone clones it or calls in an order, the thief gets the product, the CC company charges the fee to the small company, repays you (usually) for the fraud, and the store eats the cost of the product "sold" for which they weren't paid...so for a small business it hurts. And the CC companies in the States don't want higher security because it costs them infrastructure and they reckon to pass the cost of fraud to the members (through fees and higher interest rates or to the businesses.)

[pyewacket]

I like local hardware stores that used to carry everything, more like general stores. Still a few around but less and less. The few still around me I've noticed have marketed well, I guess, and offer a section of gifts or even upscale giftshop like stuff, in one section. Or have gone into guns/ammo sales in addition to hardware and agriculture products. And having employees, often unlike the large Home Depots and Lowes, who can advise you of your project or suggest cheaper solutions.
ps: the credit card companies hurt small businesses. Except for the convenience (and, so possibly, more sales) they charge a lot to process them and, I think, the onus comes on the store for fraud (say you card gets stolen, someone clones it or calls in an order, the thief gets the product, the CC company charges the fee to the small company, repays you (usually) for the fraud, and the store eats the cost of the product "sold" for which they weren't paid...so for a small business it hurts. And the CC companies in the States don't want higher security because it costs them infrastructure and they reckon to pass the cost of fraud to the members (through fees and higher interest rates or to the businesses.)

I shop local as much as possible. I've noticed that some local businesses aren't all that accommodating. One year we needed new snow tires and shopped locally. They said that they had to order them and quoted us a price way over what we could get elsewhere and did it with an attitude. We declined and got a great deal on better tires from Tirerack. It was the same place where my husband saw a young mother with little kids trying to get help with a tire and they would only offer to sell her an overpriced replacement. The woman was in tears. I remember "old timers" who would have called someone who could offer a retread or other reasonable replacement to help her get through a difficult situation. Not these guys- we won't do business with them. There are also locals who go above and beyond to serve their customers and community. Those are the ones worth supporting.

[albrecht]

I shop local as much as possible. I've noticed that some local businesses aren't all that accommodating. One year we needed new snow tires and shopped locally. They said that they had to order them and quoted us a price way over what we could get elsewhere and did it with an attitude. We declined and got a great deal on better tires from Tirerack. It was the same place where my husband saw a young mother with little kids trying to get help with a tire and they would only offer to sell her an overpriced replacement. The woman was in tears. I remember "old timers" who would have called someone who could offer a retread or other reasonable replacement to help her get through a difficult situation. Not these guys- we won't do business with them. There are also locals who go above and beyond to serve their customers and community. Those are the ones worth supporting.

True, there is no utopia of small, local business etc being good. There are bad guys- and also those "turned bad" by trying to keep their business afloat in a bad economy, pressures from online and big box, and high wages for honest employees. And, you are right, there are also very important economies of scale issues and consideration in not just prices but also in warranties etc. There also are technological problems, especially as things like cars get more advanced, the local shop, who might be awesome an honest and a local guy, can't fix modern cars or won't have the right computers, tools, etc. So hit or miss but I still try to go local as much as possible.

[GeorgieForPresident2216]

Good use of all the "theres." I like the ideas of some communities/group adopting a local currency to encourage use, or barter, locally but won't happen. But whenever possible I try to "shop local." I am very suspicious though of these nationally advertising campaigns by large, international Credit Card companies for "buy local days" etc! With what they charge to the local shops they probably lose money on them.

Our town has a local currency.  I don't know if anyone uses it.

[WhiteCrow]

You may be right about that! I recall that small businesses had to pay a fee for the use of customers' credit cards. I wish we could go back to local suppliers. You might not have the convenience of the big box store, but you could order what you can't find online.

All business no matter the size pay credit card merchant fees. The fees in general for small business are much lower today than they were in past decades. Today's Inventory tracking and point of purchase financial accounting systems sold by credit card processing companies and financial institutions are very cost effective and efficient. Any business no matter the size, that isn't using a modern point of sale software system should contact their local full service bank to understand the benefits and cost savings.

[albrecht]

All business no matter the size pay credit card merchant fees. The fees in general for small business are much lower today than they were in past decades. Today's Inventory tracking and point of purchase financial accounting systems sold by credit card processing companies and financial institutions are very cost effective and efficient. Any business no matter the size, that isn't using a modern point of sale software system should contact their local full service bank to understand the benefits and cost savings.

Thanks. I was not aware but I guess thinking of older times. I still get a 2% discount for paying in cash, or debit, at some places so I'm guess the charge by CC companies is still substantial en masse. And the fraud thing, I think, still stands (at least from the CC side, the business might carry some other type of insurance against the charges or, like big businesses or anyone expect shrinkage and account for it planning and tax-wise but still more headaches and paperwork.) And why do my foreign cards have more security than our US based ones? The technology has been around for decades?
Having said that, taking more cash in your business or life can cause problems of theft and, worse, by government scrutiny as they want to go to more a digital age for taxation purposes and besides the onerous IRS even the local police can often seize cash on pretext and then due to abused asset forfeiture laws force you to "prove" your innocence for having a "suspicious" amount of cash.

[Juan Cena]

What was the blog about?

It's a college football blog. Here's the address.


http://www.shirtswithrandomtriangles.com


I've kind of dwindled to doing only about one entry a day lately, because of a number of reasons. One being the fact that it's gotten less and less fun to write. There's been too many incidents of players getting arrested for really serious stuff like domestic violence over the past year or so, and not as many of the fun stories about quirky coaches or fans doing funny stuff.


Plus, I think I've developed some severe anxiety about writing. It's really taken a lot out of me. Which sucks because I used to love it so much.

[cweb]

One other thing to remember is that different credit cards have different merchant fees. My parents have a small business and pay less fees for Visa/Mastercard than Discover or Amex.

You are also charged a fee per transaction in addition to the percentage fee for accepting cards. We've had people try to charge 75 cents, at which point we're practically giving the item away. While cards are only becoming more popular, it's still important for a business to evaluate whether or not accepting them is a benefit.

One of the big reasons I think people yearn for small businesses is the notion of small business "ethics." That is, the local guy will help you more. It sucks to see that some local businesses aren't willing to spend a little extra time to give people good advice regardless of whether they're going to buy something or not.

As to the topic-- I totally agree that Celente is dreadfully depressing.

[henge0stone]

I'm still listening to the Art Bell archives. Most prediction shows with prophets ect. are just annoying because there always so confident and wrong. Y2K stuff was the biggest crap. I don't like Alper either. He's so arrogant and annoying. 'Your going to rot in the ground when you die and there is no soul' is pretty much the norm in science so I don't need to hear it yet again.