Aaah, Black Friday

Another year, another list of shit that the big-box retailers are selling for "bargains". Look around and you'll find that the things you want are on sale, but that the "doorbusters" are typically no-name brands, old merchandise, or things you really wouldn't want to or need to wake up at 2am to get. Stories about people sitting in lawn chairs all night make me wonder where priorities are these days. Its no wonder that people can't get their financial act together when they are waiting outside walmart at 3am for a fuckin fake hamster or westinghouse tv. Just can't get in line quick enought for interest payments on those credit cards, can ya?

Anyways, I have done Black Friday before and I do understand how it can be so appealing. But things level out (or fall), Amazon.com always has better deals, and I doubt that buying DVDs at 5am really helps the economy. All we really get is a bunch of people wiht more debt and useless gifts.

Ho Ho Ho, here is your gift: Stop spending money on worthless shit from China.

Total Bullshit Coins

This has been building for a while, and I wish I posted it before. I am a self-proclaimed coin expert, collecting and studying them when I was a kid. There NEVER was an advertisement in public for any sort of coin in the past, but now they are all over the place. The problem is... companies selling them are complete scams artists selling bullshit fakes (called "tributes") that are stamped out in China no doubt. When you see the "New York Mint", the "National Collectors Mint", or any other outfit selling these things, RUN!! The only real mints are the US Mints in Philly, Denver, and San Franciso. Period. Why would you pay 20 bucks for something that is 100% worthless? They use the terms "24-karat gold blah blah blah" then have "clad" as the last word in the sentence. Clad mean "mixture of metals", so essentially they are worthless.

The other thing I see with coins is some outfits selling "rare" silver dollars, found in a "horde" that was discovered recently. BULLSHIT. Morgan dollars are plentiful, almost always found in near-mint condition, and always have been. They sell 1921 Morgans, which is the year they made by far the most ever produced. Yes, they are silver, but an ounce of silver is worth 10-12 bucks, and to sell these coins for 30 or 40 is a ripoff.

In case this entices you, National Collector's Mint also sells other shit at 75% more than it is worth. Sounds great, huh? Must work well for people who are watching TV at 3am....

Why I don't live in FL

http://failblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/fail-owned-weight-watchers-fail.jpg?w=500&h=414

From the FAIL Blog, but still....

Watch the food sizes

Food manufacturers and grocery stores have found another way to keep things affordable. Keep the prices the same or only modestly and lower the size of the food. We had an old tuna can and noticed that they lowered the size from 6 to 5 ounces. I noticed that all brands have done this. By the way, the price went up a bit, and they lowered the size by 20%. Want more examples? Look around at the store. Things have gone from 12->10, 16->, and so on. Even more reason to play the coupon and deal game at the stores. We get 5 flyers every week and need to pick the 1 or 2 stores with the best deals. Thats the way it is.

Your Walls

http://www.chinesedrywall.com/

Well, well

So the economy sucks. I, like most, have lost countless thousands waiting for the market to stabilize. I should have known it would all fall apart. Really sucks that every industry is laying off, houses are worth crap, and we are still importing everything. Not sure if Obama can make change start to appear in a year, but it would be nice. Tax cuts are cool, but I would rather see things get better.

Speaking of, I guess that house prices being so low could be a good thing if I try to buy an REO or foreclosure. Might be cool to try.

Nice