Hi Everyone,
Unfortunately, as I have said, too many times before and yet again today, I have to say it again. What the hell is wrong with so many politicians these days? Have they no compassion? Have they no link with reality? Have they no common sense? I have answered that last question, many times before with a definitive no, they absolutely have no common sense what so ever. Of course I am not saying this about all politicians. But unfortunately, in more cases then not, more politicians are proving that they do not have the wherewithal to lead and should be voted out of office asap.
The latest round of idiot politicians is occurring right now in Ramapo, New York. Like other states, New York State has a list of financially stressed municipalities. This list was issued by the state Comptroller's Office in June 2013. Where do you think Ramapo is ranked? If you said first, you would be wrong, but ah so close. In first place for most financially stressed municipality is Monroe County, which includes the city of Rochester. Ramapo is ranked second. Almost all of Rockland County has financial problems, but Ramapo earns the blue ribbon for having the worst, seemingly endless, financial problems.
So what do you do when you have financial issues and are in the red? Lay off employees and/or don't replace employees who have retired or resigned through attrition. Ramapo did reduce the number of their employees. So instead of saving those monies, the Ramapo Supervisor, Christopher St. Lawrence decided to give raises to his department heads effective last month. His raises are as follows:
1) Director of Purchasing: 39% increase, from $105,000 to $145,866 = $40,866 increase.
2) Town Clerk: 19% increase, from $122,614 to $145,866 = $23,252 increase.
3) Justice Court Clerk: 14% increase, from $118,949 to $135,707 = $16,758 increase.
4) Director of Parks and Recreation: 10% increase, from $140,644 to $156,271 = $15,627 increase.
5) Highway Maintenance Supervisor: 9.2% increase, from $129,311 to $141,207= $11,896 increase.
6) Dir. of Bldg, Planning & Zoning: 8% increase, from $150,623 to $163,721 = $13,098 increase.
------------------
Total for just 6 people = $121,497 increase.
The question that begs to be asked is... what is the justification for these large pay increases that totaled at least $121,497? According to the Supervisor, departments have downsized, i.e.: the purchasing department went from 3 employees to 2. So therefore, more work equals more money. It may almost make sense until you remember that Ramapo is the second worst financially stressed municipality in New York State. Ramapo has not been able to get their financial house in order for years and years. So in his, (Supervisor's) infinite wisdom, whatever savings came from downsizing, has now been given to a few management positions. Again they haven't learned their lesson on how to run their town. When will they learn?
So are they out of touch or out of their minds? The answer is resoundingly and very unfortunately yes to both!!! How sad for the residents.
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
The Pope Said It Best
Hi Everyone,
Even though I am not Catholic, I do follow what happens with the Pope. Some of Pope Francis' statements have been very open and honest and a bit surprising, especially the statement he made regarding gay and lesbians.
But, a couple of weeks ago, Pope Francis had a statement of his read to the business and political leaders assembled at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The jist of his statement was about better care for the poor. But one sentence really caught my eye. Pope Francis' statement included, "I ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it". What a great common sense and thought provoking idea.
Just imagine what our world would be like if the wealthy abided by his words. That is not to say that the Gates' and Buffet's of the world aren't already doing that. But there are many more wealthy people who could and should follow their lead. Things that we take for granted: clean water, food, and shelter, should be available to all, but is especially needed in poor third world countries.
Enough said!
Til next week.
Peter
Even though I am not Catholic, I do follow what happens with the Pope. Some of Pope Francis' statements have been very open and honest and a bit surprising, especially the statement he made regarding gay and lesbians.
But, a couple of weeks ago, Pope Francis had a statement of his read to the business and political leaders assembled at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The jist of his statement was about better care for the poor. But one sentence really caught my eye. Pope Francis' statement included, "I ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it". What a great common sense and thought provoking idea.
Just imagine what our world would be like if the wealthy abided by his words. That is not to say that the Gates' and Buffet's of the world aren't already doing that. But there are many more wealthy people who could and should follow their lead. Things that we take for granted: clean water, food, and shelter, should be available to all, but is especially needed in poor third world countries.
Enough said!
Til next week.
Peter
Sunday, February 9, 2014
The Solution is Available Now!
Hi Everyone,
It started happening last November, but the realization of the enormity of what actually took place, took a while to figure out. There is an excellent article in the February 10th issue of Time Magazine, that is all about this big problem that is just getting bigger and bigger. What am I talking about? I am talking about the hackers who were able to steal from 100 million Target customers, who used a credit card; their account numbers, names, email addresses and other info. Then the same thing unfortunately happened to customers at Neiman Marcus and Michaels stores.
How did this security breach into big businesses occur and could it have been prevented? The answers are simple and yes. Once the hackers got into their computer systems, they downloaded malware which enabled them to receive the data from each card swipe from the store's point of sales, (checkout registers). They were also able to get the info in real time. FYI, in all these cases, it didn't matter whether the customers used a credit or debit card. Any and all info was still stolen.
But could these hacking's have been prevented? How? Again, the answer is simple. Some European banks have already switched from using magstripe cards, which are used in this country, to chip and PIN cards. The difference between the two? Magstripe cards is 40 year old technology and have 3 lines of info: the first and the third lines are used by the bank or card issuer. Your vital info is on the second line. The malware specifically looks for this second line and captures all that info. Whereas the chip and PIN cards makes counterfeits and skimming impossible. When you swipe the card, your personal info is encrypted via the chip. The card also contains a pin number that the purchaser must enter correctly at each and every transaction or the transaction gets rejected. Seems so simple, so why don't we have them in this country?
Of course, money is the reason these new chip and PIN cards are not being used here. The cost of a magstripe card is $1 and the cost for chip and PIN card is $3. The U.S. has approximately 5 billion magstripe credit and debit cards. Multiply the two of them and the replacement cost is around $15 billion. That is a whole lot of greenbacks. Then there is also the cost to businesses to have the point of sales technology to accept the new cards. But finally, let's not forget about credit and debit card fraud. They say that there is approximately $12.4 billion in card fraud on a global basis in 2013. With 44% of that in the U.S., American credit card fraud amounts to about $5.5 billion per year. You can see where this is going...... card issuers have figured out that it is still cheaper to pay off the yearly losses due to fraud, than to pay for the new cards.
Side B of this whole problem is not about card issuers losses, but the losses of the card issuers customers who have had and will, in the future, have their identities stolen. The stress and strain of trying to fix your identity and get your credit score repaired, which may take years to fix, is a terrible fate that the card issuers have bestowed on everyone affected; all because of the amount of money it would cost to replace all of their outdated cards.
Where is the common sense for paying off card fraud every year, year after year, instead of replacing the old tech with new tech and let it pay for itself from the savings from not having to pay off the fraud? Well, app-equipped smart phones and digital wallets use this new tech and are now taking a bite out of the card issuers bottom line. Serves them right.
Til next week.
Peter
It started happening last November, but the realization of the enormity of what actually took place, took a while to figure out. There is an excellent article in the February 10th issue of Time Magazine, that is all about this big problem that is just getting bigger and bigger. What am I talking about? I am talking about the hackers who were able to steal from 100 million Target customers, who used a credit card; their account numbers, names, email addresses and other info. Then the same thing unfortunately happened to customers at Neiman Marcus and Michaels stores.
How did this security breach into big businesses occur and could it have been prevented? The answers are simple and yes. Once the hackers got into their computer systems, they downloaded malware which enabled them to receive the data from each card swipe from the store's point of sales, (checkout registers). They were also able to get the info in real time. FYI, in all these cases, it didn't matter whether the customers used a credit or debit card. Any and all info was still stolen.
But could these hacking's have been prevented? How? Again, the answer is simple. Some European banks have already switched from using magstripe cards, which are used in this country, to chip and PIN cards. The difference between the two? Magstripe cards is 40 year old technology and have 3 lines of info: the first and the third lines are used by the bank or card issuer. Your vital info is on the second line. The malware specifically looks for this second line and captures all that info. Whereas the chip and PIN cards makes counterfeits and skimming impossible. When you swipe the card, your personal info is encrypted via the chip. The card also contains a pin number that the purchaser must enter correctly at each and every transaction or the transaction gets rejected. Seems so simple, so why don't we have them in this country?
Of course, money is the reason these new chip and PIN cards are not being used here. The cost of a magstripe card is $1 and the cost for chip and PIN card is $3. The U.S. has approximately 5 billion magstripe credit and debit cards. Multiply the two of them and the replacement cost is around $15 billion. That is a whole lot of greenbacks. Then there is also the cost to businesses to have the point of sales technology to accept the new cards. But finally, let's not forget about credit and debit card fraud. They say that there is approximately $12.4 billion in card fraud on a global basis in 2013. With 44% of that in the U.S., American credit card fraud amounts to about $5.5 billion per year. You can see where this is going...... card issuers have figured out that it is still cheaper to pay off the yearly losses due to fraud, than to pay for the new cards.
Side B of this whole problem is not about card issuers losses, but the losses of the card issuers customers who have had and will, in the future, have their identities stolen. The stress and strain of trying to fix your identity and get your credit score repaired, which may take years to fix, is a terrible fate that the card issuers have bestowed on everyone affected; all because of the amount of money it would cost to replace all of their outdated cards.
Where is the common sense for paying off card fraud every year, year after year, instead of replacing the old tech with new tech and let it pay for itself from the savings from not having to pay off the fraud? Well, app-equipped smart phones and digital wallets use this new tech and are now taking a bite out of the card issuers bottom line. Serves them right.
Til next week.
Peter
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)