Grugger’s Way

Credit cards have become so essential to our way of living that we begin to believe that we could not live without them.

That is so wrong. Credit card companies have been so unregulated for so long that they have become the primary unsecured debt load of thousands of consumers who seek bankruptcy protection.

How credit card companies entice young people, particularly college students, into obtaining and using credit, should be outlawed. The problem is that the credit card companies will issue pre-approved cards to college students without taking into consideration any ability to pay. How can a student without a job other than work-study expect to make monthly payments on debt that will, in all probability, escalate into something far beyond their original expectations?

Concert tickets, athletic equipment, trips, clothes, and dining out are all things that college students find that they suddenly have the means to obtain, if not the means to pay for.

Older people too, are often taken advantage of, with pre-approved cards offering low initial interest rates, no-cost balance transfers, and no annual fees. When a consumer is late with a payment, the credit card company can double or triple the interest rate and they NEVER have to reduced it again!

It is no wonder that these credit card debt-loads last a LIFETIME! For many of us, we see no OUT other than bankruptcy or death. Most of us choose bankruptcy.

Thankfully, at last, there is some action in Washington to control the credit card industry. The primary sponsor of the 2009 legislation is Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut. The legislation is called the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, and if passed, would institute controls over the industry, including limitations on how long a company can penalize a customer with higher interest rates after being late or missing a payment.

The “BEST” of anything is usually just a subjective opinion at BEST, and such opinions are often nothing more than a paid promotion, particularly on blogs.

I recently read some product reviews on a commercial retailer’s site that were obviously written by a paid reviewer.

These reviews were very positive in tone, and seemed “canned;” whereas, the only “real” review stood out in stark contrast to the others, and the reviewer flat out stated that the product was flimsy and not likely to make it through a Colorado winter, and he doubted that it would stand up to wind over 40 mph and he thought he would likely regret his purchase. That sounded real, and I did not purchase the product, which was selling at a huge discount, (perhaps because of buyer dissatisfaction), as I live in Montana and we have winter and wind too.

There are always going to be shysters eager to take advantage of a naive or gullible buyer. As we get older, the shysters seem to come out in greater numbers to beat a path to our door, or to our e-mail accounts. We always have to be on guard.

Watch out for the hidden costs in the fine print. As we get older we need to protect ourselves. Oftentimes this means having a third party read contract terms and interpret them for us. This is something a good accountant or lawyer can do and sometimes save us a lot of trouble later (and money too).

Claustrophobia is pretty common, and I don’t know whether mine has become better or worse over time.

I think that I avoid potential situations more than I did as a youth, so I am not exposed to such moments as often.

Elevators have been bad experiences at times; the fear of being “stuck” in an elevator is not helped by television and movies where this happens.

Airplanes have been a source of claustrophobia for me, but I haven’t flown since 1995, so I haven’t experienced that for a long time. The size of the aircraft had something to do with it, but the worst part for me was always being in a window seat and blocked from getting out into the aisle. Following a HORRIBLE experience in 1965 when I was trapped in a window seat, in an aircraft with faulty air conditioning so I couldn’t breathe, I had to insist on aisle seats thereafter. I had to fly many times as part of my Navy career, including two 17-hour flights to the island of Guam, so when I left the service in 1995 I was more than happy to leave flying behind as well.

But…my MOST claustrophobic experience occurred when I was a young boy, about 8 years old, when older cousins rolled me up inside a big rug on the floor. It was a big rug, and my claustrophobia, or at least my knowledge of it, my fear of it, began on that day. I was screaming, I could not move, my arms were pinned at my side, and because of the screaming I could not get my breath, and I thought I was going to DIE! I was powerless.

I think that is at the root of claustrophobia, at least for me: that powerless feeling of having no control at all. That fits with both the airplanes and the elevators as well.

I’ve noticed that when the subject of peanut butter comes up most people have very strong brand loyalty.

But even more firmly than a brand name is how most people hold on to their preference for which type of peanut butter is better: Smooth or Crunchy.

Whether it is taste or mouth “feel” or simply the enjoyment of a little “crunch,” virtually everyone I know has very STRONG preferences for one type of peanut butter or the other. Many of my friends and relatives refuse to eat the “wrong” type of peanut butter. How important can Smooth or Crunchy be?

Do you think different “types” of people tend to like one type of peanut butter over the other? Do women prefer crunchy? Do kids prefer smooth? Do people with dentures only eat smooth? Do Asians only eat crunchy?

When I was a kid we only ate smooth. That was what my Mother used to make our school lunch sandwiches: smooth peanut butter and grape jelly. Not grape preserves or grape jam, but jelly only and always. (I guess we all have our jammy preferences too.)

I learned as a kid that if you put the peanut butter on the bread and THEN put regular BUTTER on top of the peanut butter, then the peanut butter would not stick to the roof of your mouth. This was common knowledge (evidently) for when you only used ONE SLICE of bread. Well, it was only necessary if you didn’t put any jelly on the sandwich.

Now I hear that peanut butter is not all that healthy for us. In fact, peanuts are probably the worst of the “nuts;” in fact, peanuts are not “nuts” at all, but are legumes. They are full of fat.

Smooth or Crunchy, it’s all the same fat to me and they taste great.