Window Shopper

Social network sites like Facebook and MySpace are great places to meet people and play games. They are also a great place for thieves to mine personal information for identity theft. One of the cardinal rules on the net is to not give out your social security number unless the place is fully secure and you know the website. Social security numbers are key to several things like your driver’s license, passports, banking and school records.

If you follow some precautions, you can have a great time and still keep your identity safe.

1) Don’t click on links coming from popups. Usually, they will have a form to fill out so that you can receive something for free. But there is a slight sting attached. Sometimes these forms are applications for credit to buy things like cars, laptops, desktop computers and many more things. You only get the free item when the application goes through. Of course by then, you now have a new loan or mortgage. They will ask for your social security number and a lot of personal info.

2) The quizzes will mine information out of you. If you play several of them, they can take all info and compile it into one. Marketers are looking for such information. So are the phishers.

3) If you post your phone number, someone can backtrack to get your street address.

4) When posting a photo of you, do not have anything in the pic that can show where you live such as street addresses behind you, some type of background or tshirt that shows anything about where you live.

5) You might not want friend requests from people you do not know. They can get your information easily.

6) Don’t tell people when you are going out of town or leaving home for any length of time. If they have your address, your house could be broken into and robbed.

Protect your identity! Do not allow others access to your personal info even if you think you know someone. If you met them on the net, you do not know them. Period. Chatting for hours is not knowledge of anyone. People will say anything sitting in front of a monitor. Just protect yourself!

We saw a report recently on food labels and how accurate they really are. Seems that they aren’t quite as accurate as most of would like to believe. The problem I see is that most people do count on the labeling to be reasonably accurate. But what if they are not? How wrong can we get??? I count on them to be accurate because I deal with diabetes. Many people have weight problems, either high or low, and need the labeling to be accurate there too.

For instance, a person wishing to lose weight believes the packaging label and eats whatever the item is. Then, they cannot understand why they have not lost weight. A person who is counting carbs believes the label and consumes more than they really should but they think they are only eating a certain number. People who are diabetic and need accuracy in the labels are also surprised when their blood sugar is higher than they believed it should be. What’s happening here?

The truth is there is little real truth in the labeling. The fact is that the government is allowing a 20% difference between what the label says and what it actually is. 20% OVER acceptable levels. So, what’s happening here is that your favorite brand of food is giving you way more than you thought it was. This could actually put some people in trouble nutritionally.

Good Morning America had some products tested and the results were not encouraging, to say the least. Wonderbread has 70% more total fat than advertised, Ritz crackers have 36% more sodium. There were many more. The problem is that each and every one of the products they had tested had more than the label stated. When contacted, the companies that were willing to address the issue stated that this was only one of those products and products do vary in content due to the machines that make and package them. While I do agree that is true, I also believe that the labels need to be much more accurate than they actually are.

In another case of the government having “double speak” (what a shocker), “No” does mean that there is none of that element in that product. However, ZERO does not mean none. The manufacturers are actually allowed to say ZERO when it contains up to .5 grams of an ingredient. What that means is that if you were looking for a product that has no saturated fat in it, and the label says a ZERO, there is the possibility that there is saturated fat in it up to a half gram. On the other hand, if you see on the packaging that it says NO saturated fat, then there is no saturated fat in it at all.

Now, this gets a bit sticky when you want to eat a few cookies and the label says there are ZERO trans fats in them. So, you eat a few. Who can eat just one? Those cookies could have up to a half gram of trans fats EACH!!! The government says that they can have trans fats in the product even though it also says trans fats are dangerous for us. Frankly, the government talks out of both sides of it’s mouth. The problem there is that the whole thing is so confusing that it’s likely that we should not eat at all!! Ever. Not if we do not know what’s in the product we are about to consume.

So, we are now in a pickle. What do we believe? Unless you grow all your own food, you have to depend on a labeling system that isn’t accurate. Is it any wonder that people get sicker even though they read the labels. From the consumer point of view, I believe that this is a legal scam the companies are putting on us. It’s universal too. GMA’s testing people literally found that each product tested had MORE than the label stated. MORE! That’s more fat, more sodium, more calories, more carbs and sugars. This could be dangerous to many of us.

The news came out that Google wants to be the keeper of people’s medical records. They have already started to do this with a clinic in California. 1,500 to 10,000 patients will have their records stored through the search giant. They hope to have the records of as many people as possible because they believe that it is a logical step from those searches for health information online right now. However, since the records will supposedly have a password and they are not open to the general public, I do not see how it could benefit the general public wishing to find out more about their health concerns.

What I do see is that this giant, greedy online corporation is trying to put it’s fingers into as many collective money pies as it can. So far, it has tried and, in some cases, succeeded in destroying incomes from some bloggers who need the income badly…like stay-at-home Moms and the disabled people or low income people who need the money just to get the next bag of groceries. If you do not believe me, ask ANY blogger who lost their page rank in the google smackdown.

As for me, I do NOT want my records in the hands of some outfit that has greed and more greed on their minds. These people have proved that they are incapable of compassion or caring about others. So that is not the motivation for their wanting the records. Just ask yourself why they really need those records. WHY???? I can tell you now that it will not be to benefit any other people, only themselves all the way. DO NOT ALLOW THESE PEOPLE CONTROL OVER YOUR MED RECORDS. If you do, soon, they could have more control than you know.

You go to the mailbox, get out the bills including the credit card bill that you always pay on time. The envelope is opened up and you get the shock of your life. Your credit card has an interest rate hike that you knew nothing about AND…..it was retroactive back a few months. Now, the payment you thought would be enough to bring it down is going to go for the interest payment alone. You are now wondering how you will ever pay what you owe them.

Does this sound familiar? Likely, if you have not already seen it, it will be visiting your next bill or the one after that. Banks and credit card companies are raking in the money by changing the interest rate on your credit card and they do not even have to tell you about it before they do it.

Is this fair? Absolutely not!!! Is it legal? Unfortunately, yes. They can pretty much do what they want to since you signed the agreement that says they can raise the interest rate without prior knowledge or for any reason. You can be the best customer they have and they will still raise the rates because they want to regain the money lost from others who do not pay their bills.

Banks are trying to regain the money they are losing in the foreclosure mess they brought on themselves. I admit that people should have seen the problem with a balloon payment. But now, there are thousands and thousands of consumers who, at a time of the year when it’s the hardest to make ends meet, having to deal with the greed that comes from banks and credit card companies. And GREED it is, pure and simple.

So, my recommendation is to get rid of the credit cards. Yes, Virginia, there is life without credit cards. Those of us who could not get credit cards before are now very thankful we do not have them. If you spend beyond your means, you will end up regretting it sooner or later. Seems like later is here.

I do think it is a bad idea to continue to have credit cards. Things can only get worse. I know that you can find a new card company that will give you amazing rates….for a few months. When that happens, watch out for the string attached. They may not even tell you it’s there but it certainly is there.

For those already in the situation, there is hope. Contact the company and tell them that you have this problem, the payments are too high, the rate is too high and you will not be able to pay it unless there is a change. If you have the right person on the phone, I suggest a supervisor at least, the rate will drop and you will be back in business. Once the card is paid up, get rid of it!!!! Frankly, I consider this a scam from the credit card companies and the banks. This may seem to be good business but in the end it will be a real problem for them…as well as you.

It always happens. When there is tragedy, someone comes up with the idea that those people who have already had problems, they should have more. I am going to state here that most of the people who are around tragedy step up and help those who need it most. For instance, our television station that covers the whole Kait8 viewing area, had a drive going to “Pack A Pickup” to take to the damaged areas to give people some hope and goods who need it most.

That is all about caring about your neighbor. They are at least 75 miles from the closest major damage and at least 150 miles from some other places with damage. The path of the storm is very big with three counties being called disaster areas, thus allowing them the chance to get federal help.

In the Mountain View area, it was an EF4 tornado. In Highland, Sage, Clinton and other hit areas, it was a EF3. The damage ranged from Atkins, Arkansas to Highland, Arkansas, many miles apart. Now, they are saying that ONE tornado did all that damage, destruction and death.

Through all this, you would think that there would be kind hearted people, all willing and able to help in any way possible. Not necessarily. Police and Sheriff troops were called in from other places to help with controlling the looting that always seems to come in the wake of a storm. Then there are the leaches, acting like helping individuals, who are really taking advantage of the situation and getting big bucks in the process. I will not state the type of actions they were taking but the greed is obvious. A service or item which normally would cost around $45 now costs well over $100. Is it because of the huge need of that service or item, do you think?

YES, most assuredly that is the reason. Now, I imagine that some are thinking that they should have been here to get in on the action. NO!! That is so cold hearted just as those who, in the past, were seen as being kind, considerate and helpful, are now extremely greedy in the face of tragedy. If the item or service was not needed they would just waste away like they ought to do. Some day, they will regret their actions because (and I really hate to use this phrase) what goes around, comes around. Some day, they will have needs too and watch the greedy jerks come out to claim theirs back.

Recently, there was a report that the FDA has decided that cloned meat and milk are okay to sell without any type of packaging information concerning the fact that it is cloned meat or milk. I have a problem with that. Frankly, I believe that the FDA needs to be in our corner, the consumer, not in the pocket of the meat and milk industry as it currently appears.

Why can’t we have the truth in labeling work for us on this too? I believe that the reason is that the consumers might not want to buy the product. I think that the meat and milk industry cannot take the chance without first putting the product out there so that people can try it to see what happens. PROBLEM!!!

Is there a problem? You bet. First, they have no idea whatsoever what effect, if any, there will be on people because they would have to have years of testing and they do not. What happens when the people who eat this stuff start having more cancer, more other devastating diseases? Oh wait! We already have that. Imagine that. Is it possible that we are already subject to the problems caused by this type of food? Maybe so.

Are you aware that you are already eating genetically modified food? That you are likely unable to get away from it? That there is absolutely no labeling for it and that the FDA does not require that? Are you aware that this modified food has not even been tested at all on humans? Are you aware that the FDA doesn’t even require the companies to notify them of such products going into the market? Oh yes! Genetically modified foods have been on the shelves for some time now. They are there in the form of grains that were modified to make the sale better.

The FDA does not require labeling for the genetically modified foods already on the shelves. Now they want to have cloned, or genetically modified, meat and milk on the shelves too. Also without labeling. Why? Because you might ask questions they do not want to answer.

So, what foods contain genetically modified foods then and how can I find them? Hold onto your hats, folks. Anything that has soy or corn in it is probably genetically altered. That’s actually about 70% of the foods on the shelves at the store right now.

The FDA is allowing companies that do NOT sell genetically modified foods to label their products as such. How big of them! So, if you do not want your family to eat genetically modified or cloned foods, you can do one of two things.

1) You can grow your own food or raise your own meat.
2) You can watch the labels and only eat those products that are labeled NOT genetically modified.

Nice. Doesn’t look too good, does it? I didn’t think so either. And the worst part is that the companies that do alter the foods are getting away with selling us that stuff without our knowledge. How much damage have they already done? How much??? Are our children safe? And people wonder why we have so much more of those nasty diseases out there and getting worse. DUH!!!! Where is the morality in this??? There is none. None at all.

I don’t know about you but I am getting tired of the recalls, pretty much all related to things coming from China. Does no one get a clue? This time Mattel has to recall 9 million toys from China due to either lead paint problems or magnets that could be swallowed. This is a shopping nightmare. Really, we should be starting to learn our lessons here.

First it was the dog and cat food. Pets died from food that had fillers coming from China. I do not remember the order of the list but the recalls included toothpaste, toys of several kinds and food for humans. That was after the great pet food recall. What will be next?

I don’t know about you but after this, I do not recommend buying anything that has a China label. to me, it seems that they are trying to get us somehow. Maybe that’s just me being paranoid…maybe not but I do know that if someone trys over and over to kill something or someone, it’s time to get suspicious, don’t you think?

So, don’t buy anything that says China on the label. Be smart.

Happy Shopping!!!

The scam of the month club awards it’s best in show to Aquafina who has been selling us water that we could be getting at home. The letters on the label read P.W.S. Now what the heck does that mean anyway? Why, it means Public Water System. That means that the company is selling tap water.

How could they do that, you say? Easy. People want to believe that the water in those bottles is good for you while the water coming from your sink is not. That just does not work for me. I have been drinking water from the kitchen sink for years. The bottled water just seemed to be much more expensive and did not appear to be better. Millions of people want to have the healthy life they thought they had. Well, now we know that it just isn’t so. I can smell lawsuits coming.

Maybe we should check out some of those other water bottle places too. I wonder how many are bottling the same thing you can find at home.