>I just compared the interest rates (APR) on my BP and Amazon cards. Both >are with Chase.
> BP: Interest on purchases: 18.24%, Interest on cash advances 19.24%. > Amazon: Interest on purchases: 13.24%, Interest on cash advances 19.24%.
> What accounts for the difference? I wonder what the late fees are and how > much that adds to the APR.
The late fees do not figure in the APR. They're a fine levied by the card company.
------------------------ Individual luxuries, acquired by themselves, signal nothing in particular. But a consistent array, understood by the other consumers, at least signals credit-worthiness. If it is not one interlocking series of objects, it will be another. - M. Douglas ------------------------
>> BP: Interest on purchases: 18.24%, Interest on cash advances 19.24%. >> Amazon: Interest on purchases: 13.24%, Interest on cash advances 19.24%.
>> What accounts for the difference? I wonder what the late fees are and >> how much that adds to the APR.
> The late fees do not figure in the APR. > They're a fine levied by the card company.
Right. I wonder what the true APR would be if the late fees were accounted for. How do you suppose they come up with dramatically different interest rates? Clearly the rates don't depend on my credit history.
>>> BP: Interest on purchases: 18.24%, Interest on cash advances 19.24%. >>> Amazon: Interest on purchases: 13.24%, Interest on cash advances >>> 19.24%.
>>> What accounts for the difference? I wonder what the late fees are and >>> how much that adds to the APR.
>> The late fees do not figure in the APR. >> They're a fine levied by the card company.
> Right. I wonder what the true APR would be if the late fees were > accounted for. How do you suppose they come up with dramatically > different interest rates? Clearly the rates don't depend on my credit > history.
Well, they agree on the cash advances - stick it to the junkies. Do they also take a cut up front?
Amazon, of course, is a discounter. :-)
I just realized that I'm getting a higher interest rate on my American Express Rebate Card than I am on my money market accounts. :-(
>>> BP: Interest on purchases: 18.24%, Interest on cash advances 19.24%. >>> Amazon: Interest on purchases: 13.24%, Interest on cash advances >>> 19.24%.
>>> What accounts for the difference? I wonder what the late fees are and >>> how much that adds to the APR.
>> The late fees do not figure in the APR. >> They're a fine levied by the card company.
> Right. I wonder what the true APR would be if the late fees were > accounted for. How do you suppose they come up with dramatically > different interest rates? Clearly the rates don't depend on my credit > history.
Whose idea was it my private financial information should be of interest to strangers? Somebody should read the fucking Constitution, and I mean fucking in the most respectful way. Our privacy and personal papers were just summarily handed over to private for-profit corporations used as tools for banks to manipulate interest rates and fees. None of that information means a thing. Look at what just happened. The burst bubble was because non-creditworthy borrowers were given loans despite the existence of the credit bureau reporting services telling the banks they were not creditworthy.
Meaningless tangle of strangers involved in our business for false pretenses, excuse to steal our money. It's a racket, boys and girls.
Brought to us by those who teach that "business" is "good", seemingly a great lie on its face.
> I just realized that I'm getting a higher interest rate on my American > Express > Rebate Card than I am on my money market accounts. :-(
I'm getting more interest on my checking account than I can get on a one year CD, less than I can get on a five year CD. Not much incentive to invest these days. As I thought, the market has been dancing around 10K. Now that the economy has stabilized, do you think it will begin to improve? If Europe gets it's act together before we do the dollar is going to take a hit. I'd sure hate to see $4.00 gas and the attendant misery once again.
> Brought to us by those who teach that "business" is "good", seemingly a > great lie on its face.
Yesterday I received a link to a video presentation on population growth. The essence of the video is that most future growth will come from immigration. I had to wonder if the presenter was unaware of our history. Moreover, I had to wonder why the presenter hasn't noticed that every chamber of commerce in this country has one goal: Increase the number of customers. Well, that isn't entirely true. The also embrace the abandonment philosophy. You know, abandon downtown in favor of development in the burbs.
> "tim" <uchkuduk...@yahoo.com> wrote in message > news:VuydnXi4Pp3-eg7WnZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d@earthlink.com... >> Brought to us by those who teach that "business" is "good", seemingly a >> great lie on its face. > Yesterday I received a link to a video presentation on population growth. > The essence of the video is that most future growth will come from > immigration. I had to wonder if the presenter was unaware of our history.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My Irish Potato-Famine Ancestors applaud you. I meet kids from other nations who will privately tell me they hope to become Americans some day that we need them and want them, for in diversity is the strength and genius of America. These kids are so damned smart and ambitious, they are prime choice for American "population growth".
> Moreover, I had to wonder why the presenter hasn't noticed that every > chamber of commerce in this country has one goal: Increase the number of > customers. Well, that isn't entirely true. The also embrace the > abandonment philosophy. You know, abandon downtown in favor of > development in the burbs.
My little corner of Michigan, though like Dorothy of Oz small and meek, is better-off than most, and in parts smacks of old wealth and new wealth, but this downturn we've suffered has has profound effects on where people live. The only city of any size around here is Traverse City, a small city (large town) invisible from the air because of all the trees planted everywhere, and TC is booming downtown. There is a construction crane hovering over construction, something we haven't seen in quite some time. All the storefronts in town are open and have merchants bidding against each other for space. But, this is not true on the edges of town and in the suburbs and bedroom communities. They are being drained of residents and school populations are down. People are leaving the rural areas for the cities.
The choice spot for "development" in Suttons Bay (six miles east of me on West Bay, a very pretty tourist town just 15 miles from TC) was "developed". A huge bluff overlooking the town and Suttons Bay the Bay of West Grand Traverse Bay, was chopped up into huge lots for McMansion construction, what was once a private air strip and very large farming operation. They offer perhaps a hundred buidling sites, and the last time I was up there I saw two completed homes and one that looked as if it was halted half way. A vast wasteland, a cruel and stupid clear-cut of a hundred acres of farm and forest. Down at the base of the bluff and across the road on the lake frontage they built condominiums, hundreds of units. They were designed to be lavish and expensive. When completed, the project in total would have doubled the size of Suttons Bay the Village.
This just rolled over on its back and died. Bankrupt, repossessed, almost no condos sold and few lots sold.
Meanwhile, the center of Traverse City bustles and works.
All this is how slime mold grows, too. Lots of things are like slime mold. Pulse, retract, redirect, pulse, contract, flee, pulse, expand, take over, dominate, send up fruiting bodies, spread spores, die. The Rise and Fall of the American Empire.
>>> BP: Interest on purchases: 18.24%, Interest on cash advances 19.24%. >>> Amazon: Interest on purchases: 13.24%, Interest on cash advances >>> 19.24%.
>>> What accounts for the difference? I wonder what the late fees are and >>> how much that adds to the APR.
>> The late fees do not figure in the APR. >> They're a fine levied by the card company.
> Right. I wonder what the true APR would be if the late fees were > accounted for. How do you suppose they come up with dramatically > different interest rates? Clearly the rates don't depend on my credit > history.
Well, they agree on the cash advances - stick it to the junkies. Do they also take a cut up front?
Amazon, of course, is a discounter. :-)
I just realized that I'm getting a higher interest rate on my American Express Rebate Card than I am on my money market accounts. :-(
> "tim" <uchkuduk...@yahoo.com> wrote in message > news:VuydnXi4Pp3-eg7WnZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d@earthlink.com... >> Brought to us by those who teach that "business" is "good", seemingly a >> great lie on its face. > Yesterday I received a link to a video presentation on population growth. > The essence of the video is that most future growth will come from > immigration. I had to wonder if the presenter was unaware of our history.
The thing to look at is the age profile. Things here look bad for the next 20 years because of the post-WWII baby boom. To be followed by their kids. Just this morning someone mentioned that the population segment with the fastest growth was the over-100s. And that the expected life- span difference between male and female was decreasing.
> Moreover, I had to wonder why the presenter hasn't noticed that every > chamber of commerce in this country has one goal: Increase the number of > customers. Well, that isn't entirely true. The also embrace the > abandonment philosophy. You know, abandon downtown in favor of > development in the burbs.
Sounds like the burbs have taken them over. Or that the local annexations have not run into competition.
There have been studies, I've collected some but nor really read them, on how things get located. In olden times, towns (i.e. markets) tended to form a hex- agonal pattern with spacing about a day's travel. I think maybe I see the same sort of pattern with shopping clusters, about 20 minutes apart by automobile. There's probably a similar pattern with different parameters for all the light industry. Needless to say, they can be intertwined, but can't really overlap very much.
Which makes the problem of providing municipal transportation even harder. Do you serve the consumers or the workers?
> "Joel Olson" <joel.ol...@cox.net> wrote in message > news:83Qkn.5881$QL4.82@newsfe24.iad... >> I just realized that I'm getting a higher interest rate on my American >> Express >> Rebate Card than I am on my money market accounts. :-(
> I'm getting more interest on my checking account than I can get on a one > year CD, less than I can get on a five year CD. Not much incentive to > invest these days. As I thought, the market has been dancing around 10K. > Now that the economy has stabilized, do you think it will begin to > improve? If Europe gets it's act together before we do the dollar is going > to take a hit. I'd sure hate to see $4.00 gas and the attendant misery > once again.
Not sure whose chart I'd been using in the past, and here is the first one I've found today: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=^DJI&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=b&p=m100,m200&a=&c=
As usual, the short-term moving average suggests a decision point - could break beneath it, or it could rebound and continue the rally. The long-term moving average says the upmove is still healthy. Actually its the second chart I found - the initial version had volume along the bottom, to which a straight- line fit would run from the 7000 figure to maybe 6500 on the right side. This shows weakening demand for stocks at current prices.
Definitely not the buying opportunity it was a year or so ago.
Internally, I suppose the experts are positioning their portfolios for the effect of the health bill.
Stocks anytime seem to me to be like sitting with the small blind with an A-Ten offsuit, and the dealer comes in with a raise 15 times the big blind. I'll let him take it.
----------------------- Stocks do not move unless they are pushed. - S. Levin -----------------------
>> "Joel Olson" <joel.ol...@cox.net> wrote in message >> news:83Qkn.5881$QL4.82@newsfe24.iad... >>> I just realized that I'm getting a higher interest rate on my American >>> Express >>> Rebate Card than I am on my money market accounts. :-(
>> I'm getting more interest on my checking account than I can get on a one >> year CD, less than I can get on a five year CD. Not much incentive to >> invest these days. As I thought, the market has been dancing around 10K. >> Now that the economy has stabilized, do you think it will begin to >> improve? If Europe gets it's act together before we do the dollar is >> going to take a hit. I'd sure hate to see $4.00 gas and the attendant >> misery once again.
> Not sure whose chart I'd been using in the past, and here is the first one > I've found today: > http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=^DJI&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=b&p=m100,m200&a=&c=
> As usual, the short-term moving average suggests a decision point - could > break beneath it, or it could rebound and continue the rally. The > long-term > moving average says the upmove is still healthy. Actually its the second > chart > I found - the initial version had volume along the bottom, to which a > straight- > line fit would run from the 7000 figure to maybe 6500 on the right side. > This > shows weakening demand for stocks at current prices.
> Definitely not the buying opportunity it was a year or so ago.
> Internally, I suppose the experts are positioning their portfolios for the > effect > of the health bill.
> Stocks anytime seem to me to be like sitting with the small blind with an > A-Ten > offsuit, and the dealer comes in with a raise 15 times the big blind. I'll > let him > take it.
From that, we are well below the long term average. I like to use the real inflation line in these because the bottom line is how affordable necessities are. It's not pretty is it?
>>> "Joel Olson" <joel.ol...@cox.net> wrote in message >>> news:83Qkn.5881$QL4.82@newsfe24.iad... >>>> I just realized that I'm getting a higher interest rate on my American >>>> Express >>>> Rebate Card than I am on my money market accounts. :-(
>>> I'm getting more interest on my checking account than I can get on a one >>> year CD, less than I can get on a five year CD. Not much incentive to >>> invest these days. As I thought, the market has been dancing around >>> 10K. Now that the economy has stabilized, do you think it will begin to >>> improve? If Europe gets it's act together before we do the dollar is >>> going to take a hit. I'd sure hate to see $4.00 gas and the attendant >>> misery once again.
>> Not sure whose chart I'd been using in the past, and here is the first >> one >> I've found today: >> http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?s=^DJI&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=b&p=m100,m200&a=&c=
>> As usual, the short-term moving average suggests a decision point - could >> break beneath it, or it could rebound and continue the rally. The >> long-term >> moving average says the upmove is still healthy. Actually its the second >> chart >> I found - the initial version had volume along the bottom, to which a >> straight- >> line fit would run from the 7000 figure to maybe 6500 on the right side. >> This >> shows weakening demand for stocks at current prices.
>> Definitely not the buying opportunity it was a year or so ago.
>> Internally, I suppose the experts are positioning their portfolios for >> the effect >> of the health bill.
>> Stocks anytime seem to me to be like sitting with the small blind with an >> A-Ten >> offsuit, and the dealer comes in with a raise 15 times the big blind. >> I'll let him >> take it.
> From that, we are well below the long term average. I like to use the > real inflation line in these because the bottom line is how affordable > necessities are. It's not pretty is it?
From the TA perspective, following the first peak, in 1929, it looks like a damping out of the oscillations prior to the next bull staring around 1950.
That one climaxed in a classic head-and-shoulders pattern in the late 1960s, followed by a bear that bottomed in the early 1980s.
The numerical dow looks to be trying to repeat a head-and-shoulders, but the adjusted figures disagree, and look more like the post 1929 shape. So I guess it depends on how much deflation you think we've had.
A can of pinto beans at Crest is now 88 cents. A few years ago, pintos were 3 cans for a dollar.
> A can of pinto beans at Crest is now 88 cents. A few years ago, pintos > were > 3 cans for a dollar.
Would you like me to pick up a sack of pinto beans at the elevator and ship it to you? I find it amusing that ND grows and ships more pinto beans than almost anyone but only consumes about a bushel a year.
> "Joel Olson" <joel.ol...@cox.net> wrote in message > news:bzhln.17016$mn6.10282@newsfe07.iad... >> A can of pinto beans at Crest is now 88 cents. A few years ago, pintos >> were >> 3 cans for a dollar.
> Would you like me to pick up a sack of pinto beans at the elevator and > ship it to you? I find it amusing that ND grows and ships more pinto > beans than almost anyone but only consumes about a bushel a year.
Michigan grows white navy beans and has large acreage in sugar beets. Why I live here, I don't know.
> "Joel Olson" <joel.ol...@cox.net> wrote in message > news:bzhln.17016$mn6.10282@newsfe07.iad... >> A can of pinto beans at Crest is now 88 cents. A few years ago, pintos >> were >> 3 cans for a dollar.
> Would you like me to pick up a sack of pinto beans at the elevator and > ship it to you? I find it amusing that ND grows and ships more pinto > beans than almost anyone but only consumes about a bushel a year.
I keep an old coffee can of them always on hand. And get the store to slice up a picnic about an inch/slice. 3 handfuls of beans, soaked overnight, 1 slice of ham, 1 onion, 6-12 of those dried red peppers (i.e. to taste) and when they've simmered to where the beans are sinking to the bottom of the pot, stir in a couple tablespoons of bacon grease. Freezes well.
But that ends up nothing like the canned beans. :-(
|
