Internet Prices?!?

[chitwnvw]

exactly - this is why bitching about the high prices of consumables (especially what some people would see as luxuries) is unwarranted...

I think it's more about rethinking how we want to live and what is really important.

And yet, I am sitting at a computer typing a message to be posted on the internet...

[vdubyah73]

Can't really piss and moan about SUV's guzzling gas. Even the big ones get the same or better mileage as our Busses. The state and federal taxes on gas are more than what anybody makes in profit here in Taxachussetts.


Nano tech: I can see it now. One gear head to another. " Dude I got 4000 to the 3rd power nano turbines per wheel on this baby. You gotta hear the silence as these babies spool up!"

Bill

[spiffy]

Can't really piss and moan about SUV's guzzling gas. Even the big ones get the same or better mileage as our Busses. The state and federal taxes on gas are more than what anybody makes in profit here in Taxachussetts.


Nano tech: I can see it now. One gear head to another. " Dude I got 4000 to the 3rd power nano turbines per wheel on this baby. You gotta hear the silence as these babies spool up!"

Bill

LOL!!!!

My pencil eraser nano solar collector kept my christmas tree lights on for a week.

[Adventurewagen]

I haven't bought a CD in 10 years.
I don't have cable TV.
I don't hvae cable Internet.
DSL isn't offered yet here.
Only cell phone is company provided. (Son bought his own though... Pay as you go plan.)
I don't touch iTunes or any other invasive software (sigh... except Windoze. That's slowly changing. Once I can get my software in Linux I'm gone.)

Adjusted for inflation, $60 a month isn't much higher than the $20 a month we used to pay for dial up in the mid 90's. But I refuse to support Concast.

My internet access is through a Verizon Wireless Broadband card. Also company paid for.

I own my cars.
I haven't financed a car since 97.
Both cars get reasonable mileage.
My TV is an old 27" tube. No HD.
Local news and PBS come in just fine over an antenna.

I guess I'm just a poor consumer.

exactly - this is why bitching about the high prices of consumables (especially what some people would see as luxuries) is unwarranted...

Yeah, so I guess I was bitching but more along the lines of being frustrated why some of these consumables are stuck with such a high price.

If I had to make my own list its nearly that of Duroc's. I own my cars, no cable TV, no internet (yet... which is how this got started), Old 19" Zenith Tv, Haven't bought CD's since about 2000 when all mine got jacked and I really don't usually get anything from a vending machine :)

Luxury items or not I still think certain items cost well above what inflation has done. It's more like CD's started going to 15 then 16 then 20 bucks each and that's caused prices for things like books to go up too. I guess we just live in a society of consumers brain washed into thinking we need these certain items and thus justify whatever the cost may be to obtain them.

[Amskeptic]

I still think certain items cost well above what inflation has done.

There is an enormous and unprecedented transfer of wealth occurring in this country. That is where your money is going.
Those who are benefitting from this are also writing the rules. It is their fondest desire that the rules be accepted as the current "norm."
But the fact of the matter is, income disparity has increased exponentially with no justifiable increase in "productivity" at the top, i.e. CEO's do not materially increase the actual wealth in this country, they are parasitic losses to any corporate bottom line.
Colin
(p.s. corporate income is also being hidden or transferred to an unprecedented degree to avoid taxation)

[DurocShark]

(p.s. corporate income is also being hidden or transferred to an unprecedented degree to avoid taxation)

What's funny is in the late 80's to early 90's that is what killed companies like Commodore Business Machines. Jack Tramiel was stashing $$ in the carib and the loss of liquid assets destroyed the company.

Now, companies just cook the books (look at how AOL was charging marketing costs a couple years ago) and stay afloat.

[Adventurewagen]

A couple of years ago I wouldn't have believed you guys. I'm still not sure I totally buy that CEO's are the one and only downfall, but I bet you wouldn't think they were either.

Anyway like I said I wouldn't have beleived it until it happened to me basically. The place I work for used to pay a really good end of year bonus. It was so good it was a measurable percentage of our yearly income and as such every came to depend on it, that is until they dropped it cold turkey at the end of the year when we expected to get it!

The only place that money has gone that I can see is into the pocket of the owner of the company. We make no more money each year than we used to as a company, but for some reason that extra amount has just vanished and gone into somebody else bank account. What's even more frustrating is if you guess how much bonus everyone got and add it up its mere pocket change to the remaining amount the owner is pocketing! Its like if you made 50 million in a year and gave your employees 3 million to split up as a bonus, it could be a considerable chunk for them but whats adding another 3 million to the already 50 that you've made??? Imaginary numbers of course, but you get the point.

I can say the one thing its done is demoralize everyone, not to mention turn everyone against the company in some way or another. Nobody cares anymore is the attitude and everyone does nothing more than really just show up to collect a pay check. Problem though is when the worker bees of the company adopt that attitude the top guys will have nothing left to promote or sell. things will flatline and continue to flatline until the company will be sold, bought out or dissapear.

[tedebare]

A corporation sole purpose on this planet is to make money for the share holders. Doesn't say HOW much money the corps are supposed to make. With that in mind, the corporate powers that be decide on what the OFFICERS should make. If those powers decide that cost cutting is necessary to protect the bottom line, they don't take a cut in salary. They pass it on down the line to the WORKERS, saying that pay/benefit cuts are necessary to protect the BOTTOMLINE of the corporation. Corporations are legal entities created by law. They have no soul. Their purpose is to MAKE MONEY;therefore, they don't care about anything except money. In the 50/60's era, they promised everyone that, if you worked hard for the corp., you would be set for life.

Now, going to a world economy, they are doing everything possible to protect the bottom line,i.e. the money. They use bankruptcy as a tool to make money, while all the people who worked hard for them are finding their benefits cut, to protect the bottom line. It's sad, and I think things are just going to get worse........

Just check the salaries of the corporate big wigs. One million, ten million, the salaries will remain the same, regardless of the bottom line, it's deductible.......