Barter Kings Crap

So the other day, I got my first view of this show called 'Barter Kings.' This show is another fake, scripted, and overrated shows. So here is the scenario that happens on the show. The bald guy on the show starts out with an ipod touch. He takes the ipod touch and trades it for a lighting up beer sign. The ipod is valued at $100 and the lighting up sign is valued at $300. I can totally understand that type of trade and its not too far fetched for me. Of course the guy who gave the sign is his buddy. So next they find a guy who has this piece of crap freezer that he offers for the sign. When they show up, they ask him if he has anything else. Suddenly the guy remembers that he has an $800 Nippon Gakki guitar that he would be willing to trade. This is ridiculous that he would trade an $800 guitar for the sign, but I will go ahead and keep seeing what will happen next. I looked on ebay at the Nippon Gakki guitar that they were looking at, and it was anywhere from $100-$400 to buy the exact same guitar. Their valuation is quite high, but lets continue. So they take the guitar and trade it for a vinyl record signed by the Eagles that is supposed to be worth $1500. I have no idea how much the value of the record is, so I won't comment here. So here is where the show gets completely ridiculous. They walk into some type of pawn shop. The owner of the shop has a diamond ring that is worth $7500. So after they look online and try and verify the authenticity of the record, they agree to make the trade. Why in the HELL would he give him a $7500 ring for a $1500 record? Can you please explain that to me? He obviously owns his own shop and can sell the ring for himself. Even lets say, he sells it for half price at $3,750. He could then use $1500 of the cash to buy the record and still have $2,250 to blow on whatever he wants. That's even selling the ring at a discount of half-off. This show is so stupid, when they are arguing about the authenticity of the record, you can see them both laughing under their voices. They were obviously friends or something. The show is a fraud.


I do believe its possible to make money at bartering and trading up. But its usually a slow and steady process. There was a kid a few years ago that had an ipod at 14, and it took him 2 years of trading up until finally he had a used Porsche. Its possible, but this show is fake and lame. I will not be watching any more of it.

Please feel free to comment below about if you enjoyed the show, or if you too think its filled with crap.

Pre-existing Health Coverage

Today's gripe is about the new pre-existing conditions and health coverage in the Obamacare. First off, lets talk about what exactly this provision covers.

Imagine, you have no insurance and work at a dead end job at Burger King. You make $10.00 an hour and its just enough to pay rent and food to survive. Suddenly you discover that you have cancer in your leg bone. You need an immediate surgery to remove the cancer and it will cost about 1 million dollars. You ask your rich uncle for the money, but unfortunately he doesn't have the full million.

You decide to go to an insurance company in order to try and get coverage for this expense. You walk into the insurance companies office and tell them you need to sign up for insurance. Normally it would cost $200 per month, but because you are a smoker and heavy drinker, it's going to cost you $350 per month. You figure you will pay the $350 for 3 months and then get the surgery and stop paying for the insurance policy. Basically you want the insurance company to pay out 1 million dollars because you gave them $1,050. As soon as the insurance company finds out about your pre-existing condition, they will immediately deny your request for insurance. An insurance company would not be able to stay in business if people could sign up whenever they want.

So you can see an example of why an insurance company would deny a pre-existing condition. Obamacare wants to force everyone to have insurance and as a result they promise to cover Mr. Burger King. The reasoning is that if Mr. Burger King and all his co-workers are forced to pay $100 a month for their entire life, it will cover the million dollars of surgery that Mr. Burger King wants. Makes sense because it help Mr. Burger King to live, but it forces millions of people to buy something they don't want.

Its looking like Obamacare is going to be struck down due to its forcing people to buy a product. Never before has the government forced every individual to purchase a product. The attorney for Obamacare asked the Supreme Court to also get rid of the pre-existing condition, because obviously if everyone is not paying in, you can't cover pre-existing conditions.

It will be interesting to see what the Supreme Court does.

Reality

I dedicated a blog to complaining about things in life. But in reality, I don't complain because I am disatisfied, but because its fun to do. I have recently been thinking about words from a Christian hymn that goes as follows:
       Because I have been given much I too must give...
       Because I have been sheltered, fed by thy good care…
       I cannot see another’s lack and I not share-
      my glowing fire, my loaf of bread-my roof’s safe shelter over head,
      that he too may be comforted.
Truly for almost all of us that live in the United States, we have it great. People complain about the economy and jobs and whatever else. It's true that things are not as good as they could be, or not as good as they were. But tell me someone who goes hungry at night? Tell me someone who does not have shelter over their head?

We have so much in this country and expect to get so much. We need to accept that we have things great and give it to our neighbors.

Lastly, I am tired of hearing about rich people that want to be taxed. George Clooney and all his hollywood friends had a fundraiser for Barack Obama and raised some 15 million dollars. Please, take that money and help out someone. Randomly give out your money. I know for myself, I could live the rest of my life in comfort with just 5 million dollars. I would take every penny above and beyond that 5 million and give it to people.

My beef with Politics.

This is a real easy topic to complain about. Here I go, I can't stand politics. Obama has failed at creating jobs. Obama blames GOP for not passing jobs bill. Romney's Bain Capital responsible for job loss. These are some of the headlines I am sick of hearing about. Here is why.

First, the President of the United States has very small power in job creation or job destruction. They can adjust some regulations and move some money from one place to another, but in the end that doesn't change things very much. If the President had a clear way of making jobs, don't you think that Obama would have done it to make sure he is re-elected?

Second point, don't spend more then what you have. Everyone knows if you don't have the money, you don't buy it.

Another point on politics, that makes me sick. No one in politics actually mean what they say. They are all so full of themselves, and will say whatever it takes to get elected. Romney will do anything to get elected. Same thing for Obama. I just wish there was actual people saying what they truly believe. I mean, there are those type of people out there, but no one takes them seriously enough. (Ron Paul).

Lastly, there is no reason that someone should be in politics for longer then 8 years. All the senators and all the congress people should be limited. This will never happen, because in order for it to happen, you would need congress and the senate to pass a bill. Are they really go to pass a bill that gets rid of their own jobs? If I ever become a billionaire, I will take that money and get a petition started by the entire nation to make term limits for all elected officials.

Zack Out.

P.S. I am too lazy to proofread, so what you get is what you get.

Participation Awards

Here is one of the growing problems in the world. Every single kid in America is playing soccer during the summer. No matter how your team does, you are going to win an award. What kind of message is that sending to our kids? Does every business that begins get an award or a bailout? Does every job interview you go to accept everyone and give everyone a job? NO. We need to teach kids that there are winners and losers in this world. Not everyone is going to be successful. Some people are always going to be Janitors. Some people are always going to be dumb and work at Burger King. Maybe a few special ones can become managers at Burger King. Regardless, participation trophy's or awards should never be given. We need to start teaching this at a young age.

This gets me to another topic. Why in the world does everyones kids play soccer? It seems like half of the country has their kids in soccer, and yet how popular in soccer in the U.S.? How many people here can name one professional soccer player? I dare you to name a current U.S. soccer player that is doing well for themselves. We push and push and push our kids into playing soccer, and they absolutely hate it. Look at Europe, or South America or other countries where soccer is big. It will never be big here. Can we start putting our kids in basketball or football?

Participation Trophy!

I am back on the saddle.

Here we go. Its been a little while, and I am going to set a goal to post on here once a week. So yesterday I hear about this new program called airtime.com. Basically you can video chat, or send live videos or other things to your facebook friends. I have a dislike for facebook and it's desire to be in everything. Airtime is started by the guys that worked on Napster and were founders of facebook. This is just an attempt by facebook to expand their reach. Facebook's advertising scheme will not last very long. People don't click on ads when they are on facebook. The only way facebook can make money is if outside programs use facebook and then facebook can charge them money. This happens already with all the games and other things people play on facebook. Airtime is trying to be successful and then try and get other people to get on board. I have decided that at the end of the month, I will cancel my facebook account. I don't need facebook, and their privacy laws are giving way to much power to facebook.