Happy July 4th~

It is me, after all.  So here's my version of some patriotic activities for you to enjoy today.   

Eat deviled eggs. 

Drink beer. 

Watch fireworks.  

Read this.     


Listen to this:  -> 

Benefiting

I tend not to buy "Pink" products.  

No, I don't hate women who've had breast cancer.  


Yes, I'm aware of the statistics and realize it could be me someday. 

Yes, I want to see a cure.  

But do I think the concept of buying something in the grocery store to aid a cause is a bit disingenuous?  

Yes.  Yes I do.  

And don't try to equate The Pink Ribbon campaign, which you can't deny is close to the saturation point, with Suzi Smith from the local elementary school knocking on my door and selling me overpriced wrapping paper or candy because it's the not the same thing.  

Well, OK. Essentially it is.  But I'm not going to deny some cute kid the opportunity to peddle raise money for the The Man her education.  Besides, local school systems around the country have slowly been gutted over the years, teachers are under attack and I'm a huge supporter of public education. 

But I'm going to go out on a limb and say Bic isn't hurting. These marketing techniques, called "cause-related marketing", are wildly beneficial to the bottom lines of companies who throw a pink ribbon on their packaging.  There is no true philanthropy, right? I would call it schadenfreude if I was a cynic.  

(*cough*)

To be fair, Bic's money (which is to say, YOUR money if you chose to buy the product) is going here,  the gold standard for donating money for breast cancer research.  Of course, you could just give them money directly and cut out the middle man, yes?  ->

Payday

If this were my old blog, I'd go off on a rant about the evil vortex that payday loans become for many hard-working Americans.   I'd throw out numbers and percentages and links and type for what seems like a year (because the research takes forever), but once posted ends up being a few scrawny paragraphs.  And most of those links would be relatively dated since new regulation kicked in a year ago. 

As it is, let me just sum it by saying this: Even with new rules in place, payday loans are the work of the devil deregulation and therefore just another way in which corporations screw the little guy for profit.  For the love of your long-term financial health, not to mention your sanity, avoid them like the plague.  

For the record, 11 states don't have payday lenders.  Oklahoma does, obviously. And when I googled "payday loans Oklahoma City"  I got four pages of location hits.  ->

Equal

NO Credit Scoring.  

This huge banner is in front of one of the banks about a half mile from my house. 

Here's a better look:  

Huh. 

I'll admit I'm no economist, but correct me if I'm wrong: isn't not checking credit scores for housing loans what contributed to, you know, the almost collapse of the global economy?   ->

PS: This photo marks the HALF WAY point!  WHEEE!!  

We Buy

 

(Taken at 3 in the morning on the way to the hospital.  Yeah, I stopped in the middle of the road, left my car running, left the driver's side door open and took several shots of this.  What of it?)  

What's interesting about this sign is its location.  Generally advertisements such as this are in high traffic areas.  But this one is plucked down at weird 3-way intersection on a road in OKC that feels rural what with the horse farms that line both sides of the street and all. Only residents and hospital employees have reason to travel down that way.  I've never seen another one like this anywhere else. Which makes me wonder: Are they targeting a specific home owner? 

But hey!  If you want to sell your house you've got a number now.  No need to go through, you know, a realtor.  These guys seem reputable. ->