Grey Matters

Lots of talking heads weighing in on the debt talks.

I saw a John Stossel show a while back in which 6 different think tanks weighed in with proposed U.S. federal budgets. Only one (1) of them had as its objective to actually balance the budget!

Some Big Wig Democrat, I didn’t catch his name, said we needed a “manageable deficit.” He saw no problem with continuing to borrow, he just wanted to borrow somewhat less. After all, we’re only fourteen trillion bucks in debt.

Bill Mahr (idiot) was just on Piers Morgan saying “America is arguing over whether to pay its bills!”

Sheesh. Hey, Bill! America is arguing over whether to borrow more money! America can pay its debts just fine with the income FedGov gets now. What it cannot do is pay its debts AND expand social programs to the extend Obama wants to do.

If the debt ceiling is not raised, America will default only if the Obama administration chooses to default. It can choose to pay America’s bills or it can choose to give 43,000,000 more people free health care.

We’ve gone from a national debt of less than 1 trillion in 1980 to more than 14 trillion in debt today. Some people see no problem with that and want to borrow even more. They want to spend today and let our children and grandchildren pay for it later.

Every time one of the talking heads relates how much they’ve proposed cutting spending in the latest proposal, it’s like 1.xx trillion OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS. in other words, a trifle.

A trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.

Are congressional Democrats in lock-step with Obama? All the news coverage talks about whether Obama can get a deal with Republican leaders.

Okay, you probably recall that I bought a new 2011 Ford F-150 and received it about two months ago. At that time, I registered it with the Ford Motor Company at their web site (using my Mac.com email address) where I was encouraged to set up my SYNC account with my mobile phone number so that I can get emailed vehicle health reports and whatnot. I didn’t do that. I live in a non-AT&T service area and therefore cannot use much data on my iPhone without incurring the wrath of AT&T and risking cancellation of my phone service.

Today I checked my Mac.com email and found two emails. The first:

From: syncinfo@ford.com

To: [myAddress]@me.com

Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2011 14:00:47 -0400

Subject: Thank you for setting up your SYNC Account!

[myAddress]@me.comWelcome, Marvin!

We’re so happy you activated your SYNC Owner account!

Blah-blahbity-blah.

The second email advised:

Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2011 14:11:20 -0400 (EDT)

From: “syncinfo@ford.com” <syncinfo@ford.com>

To: “[myAddress]@me.com” <marconi@me.com>

Subject: Important information about your SYNC account

Dear Marvin Khudaverdyan:

The mobile phone number 999-822-9497 is no longer Active in your SYNC account.

The mobile phone number 999-822-9497 has been made Active in another SYNC account, and therefore is no longer the Active mobile phone number for your SYNC account. You will not be able to access SYNC Services or Vehicle Health Report with this mobile phone number during the time it is Active in another account.

Blah-blahbity-blah..

So, I replied to the second email asking what was going on. I’m not this Marvin guy so what’s he and the Ford Motor Company doing using my Mac.com email account? This resulted in an auto-responder saying:

Emails to this mailbox are not monitored.

For Sync related assistance, please submit your inquiries by clicking <http://www.syncmyride.com/Own/Modules/PageTools/ContactUs.aspx>here (or typing <http://www.syncmyride.com/Own/Modules/PageTools/ContactUs.aspx)or>http://www.syncmyride.com/Own/Modules/PageTools/ContactUs.aspx)

So I went to the linked web site and started to fill out the Contact form. That’s when I received an invitation for a Live Chat. It went like this:

Please wait for a Sync Agent to respond.

Thank you for contacting the Ford & Lincoln-Mercury Sync Support Center.

You are now chatting with ‘Chauntay’

How may I assist you?

you: I received an email thanking me for setting up my SYNC account — something I have not done. I only registered my truck. I did NOT associate a mobile phone number with a SYNC account.

you: The email said: “Marconi@me.comWelcome, Marvin! We’re so happy you activated your SYNC Owner account! ”

you: Then I got another email saying: Dear Marvin Khudaverdyan: The mobile phone number 999-822-9497 is no longer Active in your SYNC account.

Chauntay: I can assist you with SYNC. Chauntay: When you register the vehicle with any Ford Web site a SYNC account is created.

you: I am not Marvin Khudaverdyan. I am Warren Michelsen.

you: You’ve let someone else into my account?

Chauntay: May I have the VIN please?

you: I don’t have that handy.

you: The email address I used when registering is [myAddress]@Mac.com, in case that helps.

Chauntay: I can look into the account to identify the issue.

Chauntay: May I have your full address please?

you: You want my mailing address?

Chauntay: May I have the mailing address please?

you: Warren Michelsen PO Box 4540 Page, AZ 86040

Chauntay: Thank you.

Chauntay: May I please have the make, model, and year of the vehicle you own?

you: 2011 Ford F-150

Chauntay: Thank you.

Chauntay: There is no active account for your VIN in the SYNC Web site.

Chauntay: Someone may have typed your email address in error when creating a different account.

Chauntay: That would explain why you received the email saying the phone number was no longer active.

you: No account. I didn’t think so. All I did was register my truck. I did not set up SYNC. I did, however, give Ford my email address. That’s why I’m writing. There’s obviously a problem!

Chauntay: When the mistake was realized, the correct account was created and the phone number was moved to where it belonged

you: Why did I receive two emails?

Chauntay: One email indicated the account was created, the next email stated the number was no longer active in the account.

you: Yes, apparently in MY account. How did that happen?

Chauntay: Someone used your email address in error. Chauntay: It is likely a coincidence that it is your email address.

Chauntay: This does not affect your vehicle or your SYNC features.

you: What a coincidence, they just happen to use my email address…and I just happen to have recently registered my vehicle with Ford using that address.

you: So, tell me, do I or do I not have a SYNC account? You told me: “When you register the vehicle with any Ford Web site a SYNC account is created.” Then you said there is no active account.

Chauntay: Typically an account is created when you register at www.fordowner.com or www.flmowner.com. There is no account for the VIN I see here.

Chauntay: If you would like to verify the VIN I can wait.

you: You mean, go out to my truck and jot down the VIN?

Chauntay: Yes.

you: Not gonna happen today, Chauntay. Honestly, the Microsoft software of your web site seems to be as bad as the buggy software in my Navigation System. This all sounds very insecure, which is one of the reasons I never set up SYNC with my mobile number. I’ll check the VIN some other day and check back then.

Chauntay: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?

Chauntay: We have not heard from you. Do you wish to continue the chat?

Chauntay: Since we have not heard from you, we will be closing this chat session. Please feel free to contact us in the future for any assistance that you require.

Chat session has been terminated by the site operator.

Sheesh.

Marvin

Next Episode

Every July 4th, my wife insists that we watch the movie Independence Day (Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum; Aliens come to Earth and blow up the White House. Later we find out they’re hostile.)

My preference is for Men In Black (Will Smith & Tommy Lee Jones as Federal Alien Police). The reason I prefer Men In Black is that we were in Roswell, New Mexico for the 50th anniversary (1997) of the big UFO crash and cover-up and that was when MIB premiered. So I associate July 4th with that movie more than I do Independence Day.

I’ve only recently learned that Will Smith has signed for both Independence Day 2 and Independence Day 3. Meanwhile, MIB 3 has stopped filming while they do re-writes.

The city puts on a fireworks show each year and we used to sit on our deck to watch but the neighbor’s tree has grown so much that the best viewing is from the roof. Or, we can walk out to the 14th green of the golf course behind our home and watch from there. No guarantees that the sprinklers won’t come on during the show though; they have in the past.

The late Paul Harvey used to call them the “gimme-gimmes” — those folks who want government to just give them everything they need/want. In later years, he stopped using the term.

But Gimme-Gimmes are everywhere. They’ve taken to protesting (and rioting and looting). We’ve seen them most recently in Greece but also in multiple other European countries. We’ve seen them in Wisconsin. We’ve seen them in California.

We’ve seen them practically everywhere where government has promised too much and is unable to deliver. Look for them somewhere near you. Soon.

They don’t want much, just cradle-to-grave security and plenty. Just the basics: a roof over their heads, food on the table, free education, free medical care, a good job with job security and generous vacations, early retirement and a good pension. That’s all.

People everywhere have been hoodwinked. They’ve been told by their governments: 1) You can have it all; and 2) Someone else will pay for it. In some cases, it may have actually worked for a while, but as more and more people demanded more and more free stuff, the system began to unravel.

And what are the Gimme-Gimmes in Greece protesting? Are they demanding the dismantling of the disastrous policies that led to this mess? Hell, no. They are protesting any change to the policies! They want their share of the loot and they want it now! And if they don’t get it, well, they’ll riot and loot and just take what they want.

Gimme, Gimme, Gimme!

“Brother, you asked for it!” — Francisco Domingo Carlos Andres Sebastión d’Anconia

“Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” — Frederic Bastiat.

“Thanks to the negligence of their opponents, [Leftists] control the terms of every debate by always demanding ‘more’ while never defining ‘enough.’ The predictable result is that they always get more, and it’s never enough.” — Joseph Sobran

“The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop.” — P. J. O’Rourke

Of every dollar spent by the U.S. Federal government, thirty-eight cents is borrowed. Put another way, FedGov is spending 161% of its income.

When BHO took office, he promised to halve the “Bush deficit” by the end of his first term. The inherited deficit, lest we forget, was primarily from two things: The (Clinton-created) housing sub-prime mortgage-related bailouts and the war in Iraq.

The Bush bailouts are a thing of the past. Much of the bailout money is even being repaid to the U.S. Treasury, with interest. U.S. participation in the war in Iraq is minuscule compared to what it was when Obama took office, most U.S. troops having been withdrawn. Yet, the deficit has grown instead of shrunk.

Is anyone going to seriously argue that the present deficit isn’t Obama’s? I mean, did he really believe he could provide free medical care for 43,000,000 more people and it wasn’t going to cost more?

Some 60% of U.S. debt is coming due in the next four years and must either be paid or refinanced. Even a slight rise in interest rates would increase hugely the interest we must pay on the National Debt (thirteen+ trillion) which would add significantly to the deficit.

Obama’s Keynesian economic policies continue to be, predictably, disastrous.

This morning Obama, at his press conference, was telling folks we’d have to reduce “food safety… critical medical research … air travel safety” and such if he cannot raise taxes on “millionaires, billionaires and corporate jet owners.” He really tore into tax breaks for “corporate jet owners.”

I dunno, will cutting off the tax break for “corporate jet owners” and such really bump FedGov’s income by 61 percent?

I’ll say it again: If FedGov would just stop doing all the stuff it does that is not authorized by the Constitution, we’d have a budget surplus in short order.