Number Six Speaks

Here’s my current thoughts on the 2010 election:

SENATE

Patty Murray, I don’t agree with her on everything, but the alternative of Dino Rossi seems very undesirable. Not to mention that I think it’s important to do everything possible to ensure the Democrats at least keep control of the Senate.

INITIATIVES:

I-1053 – Require 2/3 majority of legislature to approve tax increases, NO
Other states of have tried this and all it did was hamstring government. It allows a minority to stall action.

I-1082 – Allow private workers comp insurance, NO
Health insurance never should have been allowed to be a for profit business! This initiative will allow private insurance companies to come in, cherry pick the companies that they want to insure (read big businesses), and then leave the rest to fend for themselves. Big companies love it because it eliminates their co-pay on insurance premiums. As an employee, you’ll love it when the entire cost of your insurance is deducted from your paycheck!

I-1098 – State income tax, YES
Washington currently has one of the most regressive tax systems in the country. Let’s make it a little more fair by having an income tax! Most other states have one, and they have not imploded, or lost lots of population because of it. High income people who don’t like it can move to Alaska!

I-1100 – Privatize liquor sales, YES
Get the state of of the liquor business! Once again other states have private liquor stores, and they haven’t imploded with underage drinking or  alcoholism. Taxes and enforcement stay in place with this initiative. Plus revenue will be made up by new liquor stores paying taxes (vote for I-1098 to help offset revenue losses).

I-1105 – A different privatization of liquor initiative, NO
This initiative directly conflicts with some of I-1100, so approval of both will be a mess. This one also repeals some of the taxes, which will cause the state to lose even more money.

I-1107 – Repeal taxes on candy and bottled water, NO
Just think of this as another sin tax (do we really need bottled water and candy?) that funds education.  A yes vote on this and a yes on SR-52 (below) would be contradictory, as this would cut the funding for SR-52.

SR-52 – Allow issuing of bonds for school energy retrofits, YES
This measure allows the state to issue bonds for school energy retrofits that will pay for themselves with the energy savings.

Joint Resolution 8225 – Allow state to raise debt limit, YES
This allows the state to raise the debt limit by the amount that the state will receive from the federal government. It is kind of an accounting gimmick, but it would allow the state to borrow more money now, while interest rates are low for capitol improvement projects that will create more jobs. If the state waits, these projects will cost more, and people will not be put back to work as soon.

Joint Resolution 4220 – Allow denial of bail in cases of clear danger to society, YES
I’m torn on this one, as I don’t like the denial of citizens their basic rights, but in cases where there is a clear danger to society, I think there should be a way to limit the danger.

Paladino: Noun

Rash developed by extra scrubbing to remove excess santorum.

First let me state that if Chase had not taken public bail out money, and had not gotten such a great deal on buying Washington Mutual (2.5 billion for a company with 250 billion+ in assets), I would not find their current policy on check processing as objectionable. However, for a company to take public money, and then continue with a policy that appears deliberately designed to generate more fees for them seems unconscionable at best, and would be illegal if Congress was not such a corporate lapdog.

The policy I’m referring to is the policy of processing debits to an account from highest to lowest. What this does is ensure that if an account is going to over that the most NSF fees possible will be generated. For example, if an account has $100 in it, and three checks for $125, $10, and $5 are processed, Chase will process the $125 debit first.  The account is then overdrawn by $25 and then the next two will be processed each one incurring another NSF charge. Thus in this example Chase charges the account three NSF charges, for a total of over $90 in fees. However, if the processing order was reversed, there would be only one NSF fee, as the first two checks would clear without overdrawing the account. This would generate only one NSF for Chase for $39.

The fairest thing would be to process the checks in the order that they are presented to Chase’s system; however Chase has made the ludicrous claim that they do not have timestamps for some types of transactions (see below). Yes,  transactions may enter the system in a batch, but there is still an order in which a batch is processed, and a time associated with that processing. I’m an IT guy; unless it’s deliberate almost EVERYTHING on large scale systems is logged with a timestamp. In fact, from a security standpoint it would be asking for trouble not to timestamp and log every transaction. From what Chase is saying it appears they take a batch, sort it, and then process the sorted transactions further. They could easily leave out the sort part (or even better reverse the sort order!)

I’m not trying to dodge personal responsibility, but mistakes do happen, and Chase has set up their policy to make sure that these mistakes cost the public as much money as possible. When Chase accepted public money, they should have been forced to change this policy (jeez, they only received a paltry 25 BILLION+ in bailout money).

I will be changing banks shortly due to this policy (probably the same at most banks!), so I will be asking around. If anyone knows of a bank with a different policy, please share it in the comments below.

I’ll be curious to see what the actual Rules and Regulations say when I receive them – stay tuned.

Below is a transcript (account numbers etc. removed) of my recent interactions with Chase around this policy:

———-From Chase——————-

Dear NOT A NUMBER INC D/B/A NOT A NUMBER,

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to
contact us here at Chase. Chase strives to provide the
highest level of customer service to our customers and it
is disappointing when we hear that we have not lived up to
your expectations.

Our records indicate that most of your transactions are
submitted as a check and ACH withdrawal. This type of
transaction posts to your account between 12:00am –
6:00am. Unfortunately, there is not a time stamp for
these types of transactions.

Please note that ACH debits, non-teller processed checks,
signature transactions without authorizations will post to
the account from highest to lowest.

As you requested, we are sending you a copy of the Rules
and Regulations regarding our posting order. Please allow
five to seven Business Days for this request to be
processed.

Kindly accept my apology for any confusion or
inconvenience you may have experienced.

Chase Online(SM) offers a wide range of services to help
you manage your finances, including free Account Alerts*.
Account Alerts help you monitor your account balances and
transactions. You can have alerts sent to your e-mail
address, mobile phone, pager, PDA, and voice phone number.
To get started with Account Alerts, please visit the
Customer Center and click “Account Alerts” on the
left-hand side of the page.

*There is no charge from Chase, but message and data rates
from your wireless provider may apply.

If you require further assistance, please contact our
Business ServiceLine at 1-800-CHASE38 (1-800-242-7338).
Representatives are available to assist you 7:00 a.m. –
9:00 p.m., seven days a week.

Thank you,
Felecia M Bailey
Internet Service Center

Original Message Follows:
———Response from me———————

CIGPROFILEID :72666169

If it is indeed the policy to process items as they are
presented to your system, please send me the timestamp for
all of our recent NSF transactions (last 3 weeks), as it
sure appears that they where processed highest to lowest.
I look forward to receiving this data.

—–ORIGINAL MESSAGE – response from tChase—————–
Dear Not A Number Inc DBA Not A Number,

Good afternoon and thank you for contacting the Internet
Service Center. It will be my pleasure to assist you.
Delivering quality service to our customers is among the
highest priorities here at Chase.

Beginning on February 17, Business customers will begin
receiving letters notifying them of some key changes that
will be effective on their accounts April 1. Some of
those changes include fee changes to standardize and
simplify fees.

Posting Order – Effective 3/29/2010 (All Markets /
Products)

Items processed throughout day (e.g. ATM withdrawals,
debit card transactions, deposited checks drawn on us,
online bill pays, outgoing transfers, outgoing wires,
teller cash withdrawals, teller cashed checks on account,
etc) post at time transaction completed. Before 4/1/2010,
items posted from highest to lowest dollar amount at end
of business day. This may help customers avoid negative
balance situations.

To avoid possible negative balances in the future, you can
have Overdraft Protection set up on your checking account
through a savings account, credit card, or Home Equity
Line of Credit. Transfers are made in increments of
$50.00. There is a transfer fee of $10.00 each time this
is used. If you are interested, please contact us at the
number below.

To apply for overdraft protection, you may visit a Chase
branch or contact our Telephone Sales Center at
1-800-CHASE24 (1-800-242-7324). Telephone Sales
representatives are available to assist you 24 hours a
day, seven days a week.

Here at Chase providing excellent and efficient customer
service is our goal. I hope that I have provided you with
such service today. It has been a pleasure assisting you
and do have a great day.

If you have any questions or require further assistance,
please e-mail us via the Secure Message Center or contact
our Internet Service Center at 1-877-242-7372.

Thank you,

Joanna Lynn Trevino
Internet Service Center

Original Message Follows:
———-My original Message—————

TYPE:BUS
ACCT TYPE:CHK

Can you please tell me from a policy manual would be
great what your policy is on the order checks are
processed. It appears that your policy is to process
checks from the larger amount to the smaller. Is this
indeed the policy? And if so, why? The obvious answer is
because it generates your bank more money. For a bank that
took public bailout money that seems unacceptable. If it
is the policy, you could easily do the reverse resulting
in less fees for you, but a more satisfied client base.
The most fair policy would be to process them in the exact
order in which they enter your system. If this is the
policy, please provide me with the exact time stamp of all
the NSF checks I have had in the last month. Please be
aware that I am currently a VERY dissatisfied long time
Wamu customer for 20 years customer, and I m seriously
considering switching banks. For your bank to have taken
public money, and then continue what appears to be a
policy designed to continue to charge customers extra fees
is unconscionable at best and unethical at worst. I look
forward to your reply. Please be sure that your management
knows my views, and be aware that an unsatisfactory
response i.e. not refunding at least some of the fees,
providing time date stamps and/or at the very least
providing the written policy will lead to my leaving your
bank, and publicizing why to my many Twitter and Facebook
followers/friends. Thanks for you time and attention to
this matter.

Due to my success in getting high rankings for a small card and gift store and LED online reseller, I’m now working on raising the rankings for an author who does author and illustrator visits and a manufacturer of rechargeable LED flashlights. Once I get the rankings for those two up there, I have a better portfolio for getting other SEO work.

I’d also like to raise the rankings for this blog for the terms six and “number six”. No real reason except to see if I can. Not that that many people search for the term six by itself, and those who search for number six are most likely either Prisoner or Battlestar Gallactica fans. Of course, the most searched on term involving the number six is six flags.

A couple of other sites I’ve worked on, which I’d love to get raised in rankings is a friend whose company does events and concert promotions, and another author, who does book signings. Although neither of them will ever get much higher rankings without adding some content (ahem, Rita, Carl are you reading?). There is only so much I can do to optimize a site for high rankings. A lot of the rankings game is based on incoming links, and without content to attract such links a site won’t achieve higher rankings.  So I encourage each and every person out there who is attempting to get higher search engine rankings, write something, anything, even if it is drivel like the above. Hey, most of Twitter is drivel, yet people still read it. Of course, the more interesting the drivel is, the more likely people will link to it.

I am available to help you optimize your site for higher search engine rankings, and my rates are reasonable with discounts for non-profits. You can learn more about me on linkedin, or drop by my store most anytime, as I’m usually there during the work week.

Humans can stop reading here (or continue if you just have time to kill), as the following is just to hammer home the search terms that I used above to the search engines.

• cards and gifts
• rechargeable flashlights
• led flashlights
• six
• author signings
• illustrator signings
• book signings
• concerts and events

In a low-down move worthy of the Sopranos the Seattle Department of Transportation has decided to basically extort money from a local business. At issue is the kites that the store has been placing on the sidewalk in front of their store for the last ten years. Suddenly it is a safety issue because they have not paid their application and yearly fees.

You can just hear it now “Well, you see you have this, uh safety issue, but for the small fee we can make things safe again”.  I suppose it’s just a matter of time before they go after the signboard I put out in front of my store.

I have to wonder about SDOT,  as they also appear to be holding up a possible expansion of the Wallingford farmer’s market.

I think it’s high time (pun intended) that bars and taverns in Seattle be allowed to determine their own time for last call rather than be forced to close at 2AM as is currently the case. I firmly believe this will lead to less problems with crime/drunkenness. Currently what happens at 2AM? A large number of drunks are forced out onto the streets at 2AM at the same time. What happens when large numbers of drunks congregate in one space with nothing to do? They cause trouble! Many of these people would just as soon stay in the bar and keep drinking/socializing, something that stimulates the economy.

To the people who say this will cause more drunk driving,  the stats don’t bear this out. If you compare drunk driving stats with bar closing times in different states, you find that they really don’t seem to correlate. Many states that allow a later closing (or even 24 hr) do not in fact have a high rate of drunk driving (look at TN and AK).  The state to watch on this will be Nebraska, which has a low level of drunk driving,  and until this year, bar closing times of 1AM. They have just voted to allow local jurisdictions to go to 2AM, if desired. We’ll see what happens there.

Let the market determine the closing times for bars/taverns. Ones that find it profitable will stay open later, and ones that don’t will close as usual. Far from causing more problems with drunkenness, this will alleviate problems caused by crowds of drunks being forced together at the same time. It would also spread problems that will still occur over a larger span of time, thus not taxing police resources at 2AM every night.

I recently walked into our local neighborhood office, and noticed that there was a small baggie of water hanging above the doorway. Upon asking what this was for, I was told that it was to help keep flies out. It seemed very strange but had to note that there were no flies in the office, and the door was wide open. Normally there would have been at least a couple flies buzzing around in there. Being curious, I had to try it. So at my grandmother’s house I put a small baggie of water above both doors in her dog room. She lives on a farm, and the door to the outside is normally left open to allow the dogs free access. For the last two days I have noticed that that room DOES NOT appear to have ANY flies flying around in it – not normal for a room that has animals staying in it.

The theory is that the refraction of the light through the water causes the flies some kind of problem/distraction for the flies. All I can say is that at this point, the anecdotal evidence is that it does work. I’ll post more as I do more experiments. I look forward to hearing any theories, stories around this.

I firmly believe that Elizabeth Warren should be appointed to head the new Consumer Protection Agency. She has shown through her current work that she is not afraid to stand up to corporate interests, and that she seems truly interested in helping the working class people in this country.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD GEITNER BE ALLOWED ANYWHERE NEAR THIS AGENCY!!! He has shown himself to be hack/shill for large corporate interests and does NOT speak/care about small businesses (including mine).

I am turning off the crosslinking capabilities of WordPress for this blog due to the increasing amount of spam that I am now receiving. I know that much of this spam is simply attempts by people to raise their search engine rankings. Well, CUT IT OUT! I would really only like comments that are pertinent to what I’ve written.

Why waste the money prosecuting Goldman-Sachs? Instead of prosecuting them, I think all their top execes should be rewarded with a nice cruise. Where would this cruise go? First to Iceland. I think everybody in Iceland would like to show them a warm welcome (most likely the insides of a volcano). After Iceland the cruise should take them to the sunny islands of Greece. There once again I’m sure they would receive a very warm welcome. Since I’m sure the locals in both these countries would welcome them with such open arms, I don’t think they would ever come back to the US, and if they did, I vote we give them another cruise back to Iceland.