ø Don’t waste your time reading this blog ø
I had to fix a flat tire. I hate flat tires not because the car is relatively immobile, but because i have to deal with scummy car repair salesmen. If I had to rate them on a scale of one to ten, 1 being people that I would like to spit on to 10 being people I would like to mate with, I would say they’re about -426. Plus or minus 5.
What I needed: two tires and an alignment. (Alignment was recommended by oil change folks @ WalMart).
First quote from Walmart: average tires for $70 a tire. Installation, tire removal, and tax. $175 out the door for all minus alignment. The lady told me it was gonna be 70-80 bucks. If I got a tire upgrade, at least 225.
I figured this is a good place to get range of price because WalMart employees aren’t economically incentivized like those bastards at your local car repair shop.
Being the internet geek that I am, i went home to research my options. I called the first Wheel Works… gave me a quote of $330. This included everything, plus the tires I actually wanted… a higher grade than the one offered by WalMart.
Then I called another one.. ask them what they would offer me… $300…
Then I called another one. This time $270.
Another one. $250.
Then I called 2 more… they would NOT go below $250. So I thought, maybe that is the rock bottom price. Then I had the urge to annoy someone else. Another quote… $230!
Then I called BACK the first guy asking him to price match because I didn’t want to drive 15 miles. He agreed. $230 out the door. He went from $330 to $230 because I spent 15 minutes calling around.
Not bad for 15 min worth of work.
But now I think about it, i could’ve probably haggled down to $200. Maybe even $100. Maybe.. have them pay ME instead for the honor of negotiating with a cheapskate like me.
Lesson: Don’t get pushed around in life… unless you are the one doing the pushing. Then it’s gravy.
Yes, I for one hate big government. I don’t like paying more taxes to pay for other idiots’ mistakes. I don’t like being punished for being a healthy, productive member of society. I don’t like government telling me what to do or how to feel. In fact, I even think Senator McCain’s ideas were, well, too liberal. I thought Ron Paul had it right, but I guess he was too radical for most people. Makes sense. I wake up 5:30 AM to go to gym, raw cucumbers make up 80% of my food base, and shun the notion of job securit, labor unions, or anything related to self-entitlement. Only crazy people like me would vote for Ron Paul.
Barack Obama in the whitehouse is much better than McCain. Even though McCain has better economic policies, Obama instills hope in people. Hope for change. Hope for progress. Of course, hope and inspiration will cause more change than any stinkin’ tax policy.
But I wonder, is he going to be the real change or is it just a mirage?
Not to say that Obama won’t be a great leader. I think he will. His approval rating is through the roof. Pretty clear sign that he is the favored leader. Not a proof or even a sign of good leadership (it’s just day 1), but still, better than a hated leader that 1/2 the people in the country would rather punch in the face.
Let’s look at the facts… how is one man going to change a multi-trillion dollar economy? Even if he has the entire congress with him on everything he does, the economy is an entity of its own. If government policies actually do work, we wouldn’t even be in the financial mess. People aren’t gonna buy more houses because we have a new freakin’ president. They will buy based on one and only one fact: their income and the perceived notion of price stability. Can the new president help this? Who knows.
People say that the racial relations will get better because we have a black president in the white house. Well, will that make a suburban, middle aged white guy actually reach out to his minority neighbors? Will people start going to multi-racial churches during the most segregated hour? Will people stop cracking racial jokes behind others’ backs? Probably not.
I’m not being a downer. In fact, I welcome the new presidency. I even watched the inauguration (well, a big chunk of it). My cynical thought came when I saw two TVs (in gym) side by side. One was a debate about how Obama’s healthcare policy is going to make an impact. The other one was the actual inauguration, where MILLIONS of people showed up since 4-5 AM (i bet some even camped out there closeby). I look BACK at my gym and there’s maybe a DOZEN or so people in gym.
There’s millions of people out there willing to be lemmings, following anyone who might give them a sense of hope … hope of change, but when it actually comes to making some changes and doing something GOOD in their life (i bet a ton of people has “lose weight” in their new year resolution), they’re NOT doing it.
Change is automatic. Progress is not.
Well, I get all worked up thinking about this… but instead I thought this: even though the economy is in shambles, people managed to get enough money to buy tickets to the inauguration. Go Obama. His economic policies are working already.
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