I am a victim, once again, of Bank of America's wrath. Three overdraft charges on three items. Three items that, respectively, cost approximately $3, $8, and $10; the items were bought in this order. I had about $9 in my account. Obviously I did not have enough to cover all the items, but did have enough to cover either of the first two that I bought. Bank of America charged my account in this order; $10, $8, $3 so that I would receive the greatest penalty, $105.
$35 for each item. $105 fine for going over approximately $12. An almost 1000% fine.
Imagine I overdrafted by $900 and received the same penalty. That would be a $9,000 fine. But there is no such fine. In reality, my overdraft fee would be for $35.
These fines are not geared at the big spenders, those who always have money in their accounts and make big purchases. No, because the more money an account has, the more money Bank of America can lend to others to make more money. Understandably, Bank of America prefers these customers, but at the same time penalizes those who hover near balance zero and who make small purchases, often.
But who falls into these categories? Who hovers near the balance zero, struggling paychek to paycheck? Who is most liable to incur these fees? Who is most hurt by these fees?
Working full-time, 40 hrs a week...
If I made $7 an hour, a $105 fine would be over 33% of my paycheck pre-taxes.
If I made $30 an hour, a $105 fine would be approximately 8% of my paycheck, pre-taxes.
If I made $50 an hour...about 5%
.....
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Killing Immigrants in South Africa
Currently in South Africa rampaging mobs have been storming through ghettos and killing immigrants. These groups of armed citizens have killed at least 12 people, mostly Zimbabweans. Beaten, stabbed, and burned alive, immigrants have been the targets of frustrated citizens angered by the influx of millions of persons from neighboring poorer African countries into South Africa which maintains a weak economy and one of the world's highest crime rates. South Africa has the strongest economy in the region, though its economy still kinda sucks compared to most country's, but Zimbabwe's sucks even more so over three million Zimbabweans have taken refuge in the formerly English colony.
Maybe I'm living in the past but I'm gonna blame the Dutch and English for this. When is the last time you seen any good news coming out of a former colony? Native Africans should have attacked the whiteys who took the land in the first place. Amandla!
Maybe I'm living in the past but I'm gonna blame the Dutch and English for this. When is the last time you seen any good news coming out of a former colony? Native Africans should have attacked the whiteys who took the land in the first place. Amandla!
Friday, May 9, 2008
One more thing...
So 50 Cent has his chain snatched while on stage in Angola. You can check out the video on YouTube. This is old news by now, the culprit was turned in to the authorities by his parents but still important issues linger.
What does 50 expect? He performs in front of thousands of people in a poor former colony in Africa, probably charging them out the ass for tickets and other concert related memorabilia and food. Wouldn't you be pissed if an over-paid ghetto embracing mansion owning performer paraded his wealth in front of you? Lets look at some statistics:
Angola:
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$6,500 (2007 est.)
Hmmm...that means 50 Cent's chain is probably worth over a hundred times what an average Angolan makes in a year.
Angola:
70 % below the poverty line
United States
12% below the poverty line
Just to put this into perspective the poverty line is around $25,000 a year for a family of four in urban areas, so you can imagine what the cut-off is in Africa...
50 should have let the kid keep the chain. Isn't 50 the one that embraces the thug life? Isn't he the one who made 100's of millions selling this image? He deserves a taste of what he claims to love. He should show this ballsy kid some respect. 50 needs to remember when he was hungry and went at all the top rappers. At one point 50 was this kid. But now 50 only worries about maintaining his evanescent ghetto image; he makes up lies about how his snatched chain was retrieved shortly after and he jumped off stage and punched the kid. 50 needs to embrace the truth and accept that he is no longer the victimizer, he is not underprivileged, he is now in position to be the victim and he needs to embrace this new status because then he'll achieve what he wants so bad, to actually be keeping it real.
What does 50 expect? He performs in front of thousands of people in a poor former colony in Africa, probably charging them out the ass for tickets and other concert related memorabilia and food. Wouldn't you be pissed if an over-paid ghetto embracing mansion owning performer paraded his wealth in front of you? Lets look at some statistics:
Angola:
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$6,500 (2007 est.)
Hmmm...that means 50 Cent's chain is probably worth over a hundred times what an average Angolan makes in a year.
Angola:
70 % below the poverty line
United States
12% below the poverty line
Just to put this into perspective the poverty line is around $25,000 a year for a family of four in urban areas, so you can imagine what the cut-off is in Africa...
50 should have let the kid keep the chain. Isn't 50 the one that embraces the thug life? Isn't he the one who made 100's of millions selling this image? He deserves a taste of what he claims to love. He should show this ballsy kid some respect. 50 needs to remember when he was hungry and went at all the top rappers. At one point 50 was this kid. But now 50 only worries about maintaining his evanescent ghetto image; he makes up lies about how his snatched chain was retrieved shortly after and he jumped off stage and punched the kid. 50 needs to embrace the truth and accept that he is no longer the victimizer, he is not underprivileged, he is now in position to be the victim and he needs to embrace this new status because then he'll achieve what he wants so bad, to actually be keeping it real.
Humanitarian News
Here in America, the best country in the world, we are often very ignorant of what's going on in the rest of the world. You might be thinking, "Cigarettes are almost $7 a pack and you want me to worry about a worldwide food price crisis?" I feel you, but sometimes its nice to put things into perspective and see how much more awesome America really is. So, this is to all you stupid ass liberals talking about how much American sucks...
Somalia is not just starving kids and downed US helicopters apparently now its all about random killings of civilians.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/routine-killings-civilians-somalia-20080506
Here's a juicy excerpt:
Nasteexo, aged 25, left Mogadishu because of insecurity. Break-ins had become common.
Armed men opposing the TFG, called Mooryaan, took her sister,
“First they steal, then they take away the girls. Sometimes the girls come back, sometimes they don’t. It was a Thursday in mid-November. We were robbed by armed men. They were only two, and they were masked. They tried to take my sister, but my husband intervened, saying ‘this girl is too young and poor.’ This is when they shot him in the chest with rifles. Then the two masked men ran away with my sister. My husband died after he was shot. I ran away from my home because my husband was shot in front of my kids.”
At least they don't have to worry about $4 a gallon gas.
Somalia is not just starving kids and downed US helicopters apparently now its all about random killings of civilians.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/routine-killings-civilians-somalia-20080506
Here's a juicy excerpt:
Nasteexo, aged 25, left Mogadishu because of insecurity. Break-ins had become common.
Armed men opposing the TFG, called Mooryaan, took her sister,
“First they steal, then they take away the girls. Sometimes the girls come back, sometimes they don’t. It was a Thursday in mid-November. We were robbed by armed men. They were only two, and they were masked. They tried to take my sister, but my husband intervened, saying ‘this girl is too young and poor.’ This is when they shot him in the chest with rifles. Then the two masked men ran away with my sister. My husband died after he was shot. I ran away from my home because my husband was shot in front of my kids.”
At least they don't have to worry about $4 a gallon gas.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
MYANMAR
So right now we got over 100,000 people dead with thousands more missing in the delta region of Myanmar. The military junta is using this disaster as an opportunity to help sway upcoming elections by deliberately disallowing foreign aid and distributing propaganda portraying the government as in control... (http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=a9ce8b417c79aebe736894bb87cb53fe2c56ac06)
but now to whats really important...
You hear the one about the Yankees fan who, in a drunken rage, ran down and killed a Red Sox fan after he and his friends chanted "yankees suck?" Finally justice!
Miley Cyrus is still big news. This child pop icon is still receiving grief about her now infamous backshot on the cover of Vanity Fair. Not to dwell on naked young girls, but this whole fracas raises some important issues. Anyone who has visited Europe knows that its quite easy to see little girls' titties; all you have to do is go to your local beach. But the difference is that these girls are not sexualized; so it is not an issue. Chests are chests, nothing more. But here in America we are taught that 15yr olds can be pop icons. They can be given all of the responsibilities of an adult as messenger of our vicarious desires for fame and fortune, while satisfying our voyeuristic perversions, but then at the slightest indication of deviation from our forcibly imposed idealized manifestations we quickly turn against our idols and banish them to the front page of The New York post, or even worse, page six.
If we consider it porn if a 15yr old girl shows her back isn't that a reflection of OUR perverse attitude? Alone, a teen girl's back is not sexual, especially a wholesome teen icon's back, but for some reason our media and citizens are declaring in unison that Miley is a slut. Would she be a slut if we didn't already establish her as a subject of sexual desire?
Do we yell whore at women who unstrap their tops a the beach to secure an even back tan?
When was the last time we considered our doctors perverts for making us undress?
Do we scream porno when bare chested toddlers stumble around on diaper commercials?
The only reason this picture is considered racy is because we have made it that way. We, the American public, should be ashamed of our treatment of this young girl. She is not a sexual object and if she is, it is because we created her this way. Celebrities our a reflection of our desires, we decide what these stars represent.
We need to accept the picture for what it is, a harmless photo of a teenager's back.
As for me, if this is Miley at 15...I can't wait for her to turn 18! Yowza!
Enough titty talk...
Anyone attend the Sean Bell rallies in NYC? Some good ol' fashioned civil disobedience. Over 2oo more people thrown in jail. Rev. Al Sharpton got 'em going! I just hope these protesters are careful and don't pull out wallets to fast or threaten to "go to their trunks."
On a related note check out the police gunfire statistics for the past 11yrs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/nyregion/08nypd.html?em&ex=1210478400&en=a075b29baae7fe50&ei=5087%0A
but now to whats really important...
You hear the one about the Yankees fan who, in a drunken rage, ran down and killed a Red Sox fan after he and his friends chanted "yankees suck?" Finally justice!
Miley Cyrus is still big news. This child pop icon is still receiving grief about her now infamous backshot on the cover of Vanity Fair. Not to dwell on naked young girls, but this whole fracas raises some important issues. Anyone who has visited Europe knows that its quite easy to see little girls' titties; all you have to do is go to your local beach. But the difference is that these girls are not sexualized; so it is not an issue. Chests are chests, nothing more. But here in America we are taught that 15yr olds can be pop icons. They can be given all of the responsibilities of an adult as messenger of our vicarious desires for fame and fortune, while satisfying our voyeuristic perversions, but then at the slightest indication of deviation from our forcibly imposed idealized manifestations we quickly turn against our idols and banish them to the front page of The New York post, or even worse, page six.
If we consider it porn if a 15yr old girl shows her back isn't that a reflection of OUR perverse attitude? Alone, a teen girl's back is not sexual, especially a wholesome teen icon's back, but for some reason our media and citizens are declaring in unison that Miley is a slut. Would she be a slut if we didn't already establish her as a subject of sexual desire?
Do we yell whore at women who unstrap their tops a the beach to secure an even back tan?
When was the last time we considered our doctors perverts for making us undress?
Do we scream porno when bare chested toddlers stumble around on diaper commercials?
The only reason this picture is considered racy is because we have made it that way. We, the American public, should be ashamed of our treatment of this young girl. She is not a sexual object and if she is, it is because we created her this way. Celebrities our a reflection of our desires, we decide what these stars represent.
We need to accept the picture for what it is, a harmless photo of a teenager's back.
As for me, if this is Miley at 15...I can't wait for her to turn 18! Yowza!
Enough titty talk...
Anyone attend the Sean Bell rallies in NYC? Some good ol' fashioned civil disobedience. Over 2oo more people thrown in jail. Rev. Al Sharpton got 'em going! I just hope these protesters are careful and don't pull out wallets to fast or threaten to "go to their trunks."
On a related note check out the police gunfire statistics for the past 11yrs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/nyregion/08nypd.html?em&ex=1210478400&en=a075b29baae7fe50&ei=5087%0A
Friday, May 2, 2008
I'm Back!
After an extended hiatus, Street Thunder is back in effect!
Hide your daughters, tie up your wives, and lock your children in cages, cuz I'm on a warpath!
Find out what's happening in entertainment, politics, and current events....
Somewhere else, cuz all you're gonna find here is anger, vulgarity, and overall funny ass shit.
Hear what I have to say about:
Miley Cyrus
What a whore! The New York Post was right to put that news on the front page! A teenager posing topless for Vanity Fair!? Now 15yr old girls around the world are gonna want to see themselves in artful images created by famous celebrity photographers. That's gonna leave them no time for underage drinking, experimenting with drugs, and discovering the magical wonders of sexual interaction like every other normal post-pubescent teen!
Sean Bell
Hey, come on every once in a while can't cops shoot someone and not have to face the consequences. Really, not every victim of police violence is innocent. Maybe finally for once the cops got it right. And that's their job; cops are here to kill suspected criminals.
The Jail System
....
Hide your daughters, tie up your wives, and lock your children in cages, cuz I'm on a warpath!
Find out what's happening in entertainment, politics, and current events....
Somewhere else, cuz all you're gonna find here is anger, vulgarity, and overall funny ass shit.
Hear what I have to say about:
Miley Cyrus
What a whore! The New York Post was right to put that news on the front page! A teenager posing topless for Vanity Fair!? Now 15yr old girls around the world are gonna want to see themselves in artful images created by famous celebrity photographers. That's gonna leave them no time for underage drinking, experimenting with drugs, and discovering the magical wonders of sexual interaction like every other normal post-pubescent teen!
Sean Bell
Hey, come on every once in a while can't cops shoot someone and not have to face the consequences. Really, not every victim of police violence is innocent. Maybe finally for once the cops got it right. And that's their job; cops are here to kill suspected criminals.
The Jail System
....
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