Verizon Dials Up Wrong Number

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The head honchos at Verizon Wireless must be living in the dark ages. In their infinite wisdom they decided to implement a two dollar charge for online and telephone bill payments. Yep, that’s right a two dollar charge for the privilege of paying your bill.

Needless to say Verizon customers did not jump up in ecstasy at the prospect of paying to pay their bill. Rather they started online petitions and flooded social media and Verizon offices with complaints.

Not only did Verizon customers complain, the move also sparked the Federal Communications Commission to look into the matter on behalf of the Verizon customers.

Guess what happened late Friday. You are right, Verizon issued the following statement. 

"Verizon Wireless has decided it will not institute the fee for online or telephone single payments that was announced earlier this week,"

Verizon Chief executive Dan Mead explained it this way. The company has decided that it would encourage customers to pay by other means thereby "eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time."

Does this man still have a job?

Given the severe backlash following Bank of America's announcement of a $5 monthly fee for US debit card users and subsequent reversal, why in hell would Verizon try a stunt like this?

Talk about dialing a wrong number.

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Boehner’s biggest boner

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeSpeaker of the house John Boehner may have just made the biggest political boner of all times. He and his tea party counterparts have seriously underestimate the disdain the American people have for congress. Does he not recognize the approval rating for congress is 11%.

He and his party voting to increase taxes on a 160,000,000 Americans is just political suicide.  Their refusal to pass the payroll tax cut citing they want a year’s extension not the two months contained in the Senate bill is plain and simple B.S. That spin will not be bought by the independent voters, which both parties desperately need to win the November elections.

The evidence is clear. The congress sent a payroll extension bill up to the senate, which contained nine poison pills designed specifically to make the senate reject it.  Here is a partial list of these poison pills:

If passed the State Department would have been prevented  from finishing its review of the Canada-to-Texas Keystone pipeline, and mandate its construction.

If passed the bill would let individual states bar people from collecting unemployment benefits unless they submit to drug testing.

The bill would strip the EPA of authority to regulate incinerators and boilers.

The bill removes $8 billion from the health care act.

89 Senators(including 80 % of the Republican senators) rejected the House plan and sent back a two months extension which Mr. Boehner’s tea party (read Eric Cantor) promptly rejected. In fact would not even let the Senate bill come to a vote. So Mr Boehner, or should I make this statement to Mr. Cantor as he seems to be the one in charge, we the people are not buying what you are selling.

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Investors spooked by U.S. Federal Reserve

Image via WikipediaInvestors are fleeing the stock market in favor of bonds, which they perceive to be a safer investment. The announcement by the Federal Reserve that they have developed a new strategy to get the U.S. economy growing seems to be a major contributor to this run for safety.

The Fed announced Wednesday that in hopes of reducing interest rates on long-term loans, it would shuffle $400 billion of its own holdings. In addition, the President of Strategic Energy & Economic Research, Michael Lynch, highlighted that this bleak outlook from the Fed combined with a rare public warning by the chief economist of the European Central Bank is a confirmation that the economy is not improving.

Investors appeared to take this as a sign that the economy was not about to recover anytime soon and that a recession may be closer now than at any point during the current recovery.

This caused oil and metal to dive sharply amid fears that demand for them would fall if the world does go into recession.

In spite of the lower interest rates investors spurned stocks in favor of bonds.

No doubt the polarization of U.S. politics also contributed to the stock market tumble, as it appears the Republicans are bent on bringing down President Obama even if this means a depression for the U.S.


On an unrelated matter, The Hoss sees some irony as during these turbulent times, we have millionaire NBA players and Billionaire owners unable to agree on a contract.There are many unemployed people willing to do any kind of work to feed their families, while these fat cats squabble over how to divide millions of dollars. The rich get richer and the poor, well they starve.

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