couple days Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Monday Night News Roundup

Jobs. We need MORE Jobs

News Roundup

We received surprising job numbers last Friday. The unemployment rate dipped to 7.7%. The economy hired 236,000 workers last month. I will continue to argue that we have to do better. Over 9 million Americans are still out of work. We need to create 9 million jobs just to get back to where we were in 2007. These jobs numbers are good, but we need better. Also, this jobs report comes out before the cuts of the sequester. I suspect, over the coming months, these jobs numbers will begin to fall.

Just a couple days ago the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new high. Remember as you’re reading this that Republicans have told us that Obama is bad for Wall Street and bad for business. (Psst, corporate profits are up.)

Washington, like a punch drunk fighter, keeps swinging at the wrong target. Deficits are not the problem. The problem is a lack of jobs. The problem is a stagnant wage. The biggest problem in the United States is the fact that the middle class is drowning in quicksand. They are simply not getting ahead. Until we fix this problem, America is going to be stagnant. (more…)

Tiger wins Doral [ 2:17 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

By ecthompsonmd|2013-03-12T18:47:39-04:00March 12th, 2013|Economy, Obama administration, Party Politics, Sports, Terrorism|Comments Off

Corporate America Hates Me

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I’m sure that the hatred that I have for corporate America is mutual. I have plenty of recent evidence.

Just a couple days ago, I was called by Bank of America. They wanted to know when I was going to pay the $150 that I owe them. I got this call on Monday – Veterans Day. I happily told the Bank of America employee that I’d already paid the money that I owed plus an extra $50 at the branch on the previous Friday. Then he read a standard statement which said something about how I would continue to get calls from Bank of America until they had received the funds. Wait a minute! What do you mean? I’ve already paid you. I didn’t put the money in the mail. I didn’t pay you via carrier pigeon. I went to the branch and paid you on the spot. The money is in your bank. Why should I get any more calls? Well, he explained, it was not in our system. I asked, logically, why should I be penalized with more calls because your system is slow? Needless to say there was not a satisfactory answer to my question.

Last Friday, after working a 15-hour day, I got a lovely call from Sirius XM satellite radio. I owed them $260. What ensued was a bunch of confusion that can only be laid down by corporate America. It turns out that I have three separate accounts with Sirius XM. I stated that I would like to combine all three accounts into one simple account. In order to get this done there was some $20 fee. I really had no idea why they were charging me the $20 in addition to the $260 fee to renew my contract. The whole process wasted 45 minutes of my life. On Saturday, Sirius XM called again. What? Plenty of apologies and I thought we were done with the saga. Yesterday, I got an automated call from Sirius XM. My account would be terminated in 24-48 hours because of nonpayment. I needed to call immediately. Dammit! This was going to be ugly. So I called. I owed nine dollars. For what? I spent 45 minutes on the phone with you guys just the other day. How can I owe you nine dollars now? I never got a satisfactory answer. I asked to speak to a supervisor. After being on hold for more than five minutes, I was told they were going to waive the nine dollars. How magnanimous. I’d wasted over an hour of my life on something that should have taken five minutes. This is why I can’t stand corporate America.

So, let me follow up and tell you where we are with my 51-inch Samsung TV. My beautiful TV has been sitting on my floor, dead, for more than 10 weeks. Samsung has decided to replace the TV. The exchange program does not let you upgrade to another TV. It does not let you pay the difference. Basically, you accept their deal or not. I get a new TV with a 90-day warranty, not the year warranty that I had before. I’d also bought an extended warranty on the TV, which I suspect is money that I flushed down the drain.

Don’t you love corporate America? I know I do.

By ecthompsonmd|2012-11-13T21:17:45-04:00November 13th, 2012|Business|Comments Off

Tuesday Morning News Roundup

I’m not sure why I like this cartoon. It may be because everyone should be outraged over the violence that is ongoing in Syria.

For more than 30 years I’ve been talking about the role of historically black colleges in American society. Historically, when minorities, and specifically blacks, had nowhere else to go black colleges were essential. Now I’m not so sure. I simply don’t know. What happens when an historically black college hires a white football coach? Is that bad or good?

A couple days ago, I posted video evidence that replacement referees can miss the simplest and easiest of NFL calls. On Monday night, we had more evidence that replacement referees are not up to the pressure of the NFL. The last play of the game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks was a typical Hail Mary pass. Jennings for the Green Bay Packers seems to come down with the football. The call seems to be relatively easy. Interception. Football goes to Green Bay. Game over. Unfortunately, the replacement referees didn’t see it this way. Somehow, some way, they see this exact same replay and decided that the ball goes to Seattle. Touchdown. The Seattle Seahawks win the game. Seriously? This is simply a failure to know the rules of football or failure to perform under stressful circumstances. The bottom line – this is a failure of the NFL to deliver the high-quality product that we, the fans, have come to expect.

So what did Mitt Romney say in his video that was the most damning? How about – I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. David Corn from the Nation ran into a woman in a grocery store. She is the kind of person that we truly need to help as we try to figure out how to get this economy working for all Americans – But I know who you are, and I just want to say that Mitt Romney doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Not at all. I am college-educated, but look where I’m working now. I can’t find a better job now. And, and (she went on to say…) I’m on food stamps. I didn’t have a choice. I’m making about $12,000 a year now. And I need them. I work hard. And I’m looking for other work. But just because I’m on food stamps doesn’t mean I’m not taking care of myself. Doesn’t he know that? Doesn’t he get it? (No, Mitt Romney does not get it. He does not understand.)

By ecthompsonmd|2012-09-25T19:48:09-04:00September 25th, 2012|Elections, Foreign Affairs, NFL, Party Politics|4 Comments