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How to bring down the System

Bruce Krasting's picture




 

There are a lot of angry people out there. I see it every day in my
writing. All you have to do is look at the comments at a site like Zero
Hedge to realize that fact. To some extent you saw this in the last
election. Those who vote (less than half the population) sent a message
and as a result there has been a significant change in the political
landscape.

But what do the voters get for sending the message? A slap in the face.
A few weeks later we get a monster tax break for high end earners, a
roll over of the tax treatment for hedge fund mangers (just obscene),
another $120 billion “stimulus” that won’t do a damn thing but add to
the debt and an extension of unemployment payment for yet another year
(now three years!)

If you pay bills (who doesn’t) you know that all banks, credit card
companies, utilities, insurance companies and all the others are just
nickel and diming us to death. Every month I am nicked for some damn
thing or the other. I think the FinReg rules that were supposed to
protect the average Jane or Joe actually just codified what the bastards
could charge. As a result we get hit with new fees, charges and higher
costs.

The very frustrating part of all this is that there is not a thing you
can do about it. Go write you congressperson, you’re lucky to get a form
response. Get on the phone to your CC provider and bitch over a $25
late charge on a $15 balance? Good luck.

I have been doing something for the past few months that might send a
message. If I continued for the next hundred years it would not make a
dent. If a hundred thousand did as I am doing it would be noticed but
still wouldn’t mean a thing. But if the number got into the millions it
would start to make a difference.

I have been sending 1 cent more than what is due on every bill that I
get. Citi sends a CC balance of $134.82? I send them $134.83.

I have a small sample of about 30 bills that I have been doing this
with. Well more than half get it right. On the next month CC bill you
get the Prior Balance as (-0.01). What this means is that a real person
actually got the bill and the check (or electronic payment) and made the
correct entry and gives you the once cent credit you deserve. This
result should not be surprising as people make incorrect payment amounts
all the time. What I am trying to do is force more human intervention.
That is time and money.

I paid a six-month insurance bill and added a penny to what was owed. So
far I have two letters that show the credit. How much does two computer
generated letters cost? At least a dollar a pop. There is no better
measure of success of my approach than to get a letter like this.

More exciting are the bills that do not pick up the one-cent variance.
When this happens your penny is lost. It will show up in an Exception
Report. Some computer recognizes that there is a penny that is not
properly accounted for. I assume that this happens (accidentally)
thousands of times a day. But what would happen if the number of
Exceptions all of sudden exploded to 20-50 million a month? Once again,
this would force humans to get involved.

The cost of this social protest is very minimal. Say you get 4 bills a
month. 48 pennies a year is the maximum cost. Based on my experience the
net cost would only be 20 cents or so. But the rewards on the 20 cents
just keep on giving. Every month after you can see the results. Either
they do it right or wrong. Either way there is an incremental cost. Your
penny is gumming up the system.

What if 10mm people did this on a regular basis? That would be a half
billion one-penny exceptions a year. If just one in ten resulted in an
“exception” it would mean that there would be an incremental cost
someplace of at least $50 million. In my dream world 25mm people would
do this and get just two letters a year as a result. Cost of that? Who
knows? It would imply 1.2 billion exceptions a year. That would be
noticed. (It would blow their collective minds if this started to
happen)

So if you’re mad at the system and want some revenge send an extra penny
to your friends at the gas-company, electric company, insurer, bank, CC
company, etc. I highly recommend it. The cost is negligible. Yes, it is
true that this form of protest will accomplish very little unless it
catches on like a fad. But should you get (as have I) some evidence that
your lousy penny is in fact causing someone someplace to spend time and
money trying to figure it all out you will beam with happiness at your
success. I am.

 

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Fri, 12/31/2010 - 15:55 | 840200 anony
anony's picture

Did it with a $80.00 credit balance at Chase.  They sent me a check for $80.00 in the third month. 

So they're not too far behind us and way ahead of you. 

The only thing that will work is when a few at the top of the financial firms, the FED, and Treasury and a few more in the Senate committees that juggle the bills to include earmarks are captured, tortured (i'd recommend propping their eyelids open with toothpicks while running a tape of a plunging deficit) and finally, thrown screaming to some starving wild pigs.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 15:48 | 840185 Yits and the Yimrum
Yits and the Yimrum's picture

love this Idea; let the revolution begin!

we need a think tank to think up hundreds of these ideas, and distribute these to the net

but in a Police State, is an overpayment a misdemeanor?

we better act, or its too late

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 15:35 | 840151 chumbawamba
chumbawamba's picture

Better idea: default.

They can't come after us all.

I am Chumbawamba.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 15:42 | 840165 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

(Project) Mayhem has a way of clearing the air and the dead wood from the system. Best case scenario it clears out the system itself while preparing the soil for new growth.

Thanks for cutting to the chase Chumbawamba.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 23:01 | 840985 Tsukato
Tsukato's picture

Better idea: toss a few pipe b**bs in your local bank branch office, a few more for good measure at yur local police station, and then default.

Sat, 01/01/2011 - 14:38 | 841637 Things that go bump
Things that go bump's picture

And chance killing some poor, underpaid bank teller who probably has kids and lives in your community?  At least target upper management if you're planning on going out in a blaze of glory.  

Sat, 01/01/2011 - 02:03 | 841202 Big Corked Boots
Big Corked Boots's picture

I don't think prison guards will let you post on ZH.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 16:01 | 840215 wang
wang's picture

where is Mayhem?

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 15:35 | 840149 onlooker
onlooker's picture

Keep people at jobs. Use the telephone for communications. The airline ticket will cost you a little more but it usually get me a better deal in some way. It keeps someone working and when you tell them what you are doing they are always happy. Use the telephone as much as possible. Yes there is a wait, but some one gets a paycheck for you waiting.

Illegitimi non carborundum. Don’t let the bastards grind you down.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 15:31 | 840138 wang
wang's picture

"A few weeks later we get a monster tax break for high end earners"

 

excuse me, are you suggesting that (now relabeled "Obama tax cut compromise) means that income taxes will be lower for calendar 11 than they were in 10?

Sat, 01/01/2011 - 01:43 | 841185 RockyRacoon
RockyRacoon's picture

No, that's not what he said.  "Tax Break" means a non-increase in the scheduled higher taxes.

Get it?  But you knew all that.  You were just spitting up a bit of the partisan kool-aid.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 15:16 | 840092 Goldman Sucks
Goldman Sucks's picture

This is one of the stupider ideas I've heard.  You really think a "real live human" is involved in refunding your penny.  Do us a favor and stop posting such stupid ideas.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 15:12 | 840074 vainamoinen
vainamoinen's picture

Bruce:

Great idea! - I'm on it next billing cycle.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 15:12 | 840070 moneymutt
moneymutt's picture

Bruce - Giving non-sense fees to companies...interesting, I suppose it would work if it was a movement that had some leadership that could negioate with companies and exact something in return for calling off the dogs.

If this doesn't work, I suggest the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau...their work has not taken in effect yet, but I think they will be effective means for consumers to get rid of parasitic fees and get back to making companies compete on real things, like value, service, not how well the can sneakily take money from you for nothing.

One hopeful sign was FED cracking down on debit card fees. The market did not have a good means keeping them competive (just a small margin above costs to operate) and banks and cards companies colluded, apparently in a way anti-trust laws couldn't touch. So the card guys got super profits basically for a cartel/monopoly position.

It is truly important to have markets that are competitive and are not jsut parasitical raping of consumer giving them no value, or giving them some value but at way more than neccesary prices if there was proper competition and disclosures, no fraud. Any thing but clean, competitive markets mean some one is getting money for nothing. People way underestimate how much money they are losing to parasitical fees. Most people 401ks are getting raped by them. My small company pays someone to give 15 choices of investment options, really? The mutual funds take fat fees for nothing. Our HR shops health insurance options like mad every year and we have had to change programs 5 times in last 12 years to not get screwed, even when our claims have been low. Guess what, we have a insurance broker, that gets paid $20 a month from each of our health insurance plans. I would rather our HR guy get that money, he does all the freaking work, and does it well.

 

For the folks complaining about taxes, I say money is money. If companies can drain my wallet for doing nothing other than tricking me, that is money from my pocketbook as surely as uncle sam taking my money to fight foreign wars, bailout banks, pay for Medicaid. American workers lucky enough to have health care benefits still pay more for that insurance than people in other countries do in taxes for a health care system that covers all, but I guess because we are paying it to businesses, its less offensive they paying a lessor taz to the govt. To me, money is money and its all about the value I get.

Parasitical wasteful fees either from govt or businesses are wrong, we should demand value for our money. Why people always got to see all evil in govt or all evil in private corps, when both have problems and both have benefits.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 15:02 | 840031 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

I shred all the crap in the fscking daily snail-mail CC offers they keep sending me, put it in the PPD envelope and mail their tree killing trash back to them. If I am going to subsidize their mail service, I am going to at least get my money's worth.

Forever stamps! Beyotchez!

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:59 | 840017 nontaxpayer
nontaxpayer's picture

In Finland if you pay one cent more on a road tax on your car, the police stop you and tell you you haven't paid your car tax at all, one cent more than a bill is and you will be taken to court.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:58 | 840014 Seer
Seer's picture

Where's people's business sense here?  Keep all that mail, it's carbon!  Compost it!  Yeah, free carbon while also screwing the big corporations!

A brother-in-law that I once had used to proclaim that he was going to build a steam engine and run it on junk mail.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:58 | 840011 chockl
chockl's picture

Every one flush  now.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 19:00 | 839975 ExploitTheMarket
ExploitTheMarket's picture

US Bank has pissed me off to no end--I have a CC with them that had a rate of around 10%, I recently asked for an increase in my limit and was denied (I have a perfect payment history and excellent credit) and wound up going over my limit by about $100 for two days and was hit with a bunch of charges and a rate increase to over 28%! I sent in a big payment and asked to have the fees removed and the rate returned to something less than outrageous. They of course denied my request.  Now, I could just say FU and not pay anything, and 15 years ago I would of done that, but now I actually need my credit....Needless to say I wont be with them much longer....

Sat, 01/01/2011 - 01:06 | 841083 RoRoTrader
RoRoTrader's picture

you got raped........systemic financial gang bang designed to collect pennies, nickels in reverse of what BK is writing about.........the banks, with sell-out-to-other-interests using sell-out accountants writing the numbers and attorneys giving legfal advice.......no different than S&P or MooOOdy's ratring CDOs or sovereign debt other than it is just much more prolific and predatory against an uninformed, nieve and unsophisticated victim.

rAPE chargE PeNDing.......ClAss ACTIon Law SUIT

Get the mofo MoFO accountants/s and attorneys/s

GET SMart bitch, or get ready to be fucked again, and again.

in a few words it is summed up in 'the price of need'........what you willin to pay for it dumbfuk? you need credit?

reality is you need fuck all....... except what you think you need.....or what you're led/conditioned like a milk cow to think you need.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:25 | 839925 rlouis
rlouis's picture

I've done it a few times. To support a movement I'll kick in a buck or two over the year.  The cost of human intervention - drives 'em nuts and costs a small fortune... for a penny.  When I've been really ticked at credit card companies I mail back their postage paid envelopes.  Is that passive -aggressive? lol

Happy New Year

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:20 | 839907 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

Actually, Bruce, a lot of these companies showing the penny credit are doing it based on an automated process, and more than a few will "write off" that credit after some period of time, thus your protest is merely feeding the beast since the costs of subsequent mailings to you are built into the overall finance charges paid by you and the other sheep. And the $25 late fee for being a penny short handles the other side of that form of protest. Any way you go, if you take their credit or insurance facility, you take their terms, and the terms are that you are screwed.

 

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:20 | 839906 Miss America
Miss America's picture

Hey there Bruce.

 

Happy New Year.

 

In theory, this sounds great…  but it really doesn’t do much.  Having worked at banks for 20 years, I can tell you that the buckets for unrecognized cash are enormous!  DTC processes QUADRILLIONS of cash payment, between Principal and Income, to Buy/Sell settlements, Paydowns, dividends, FX, reorg, etc…  

 

Same with the collective of Banks, Fainace Insts, Bkrs, MF Funds, retails, etc…  

 

…and MOST, work in prepayment fashion.  Reconciling those balances becomes a battle of indifference.  I’ve seen these buckets.  I’ve worked with the guys trying to reconcile them.  (I worked on enhancing their system/methodology)

 

At the end of the day, all you’ll be doing, even if you get a million others to do the same, is make one more unreconciled bucket.  (Which will eventually get escheated to the state after 3 years.)  …and you will just be adding more fuel to the “service” industry.

 

The real protest comes from awakening.  The main awakening is: 

 

STOP FEEDING THEM!!!

 

If you have a 401K, you are feeding the ponzi market system!!!  That’s it!!!  All of you would be retirees, hoping to have a pot of gold when you retire were no longer happy saving money in a bank savings account.  The rates weren’t good enough.  So you all got on board this magic retirement carpet ride which has served to create all the bubbles we know for the last 30 years. 

 

The national savings rate plunged over that span eventually breaching ZERO, as people viewed their “savings” as these retirement accounts.  (not just the 401K’s, but the pensions, mutuals, etc…) 

 

These new Stock market savings accounts let the dotcom and housing bubbles inflate, as they put cash into the hands of the “capitalist” markets that would create self propelling pieces of ponzi market paper wealth that would give the appearance of that golden retirement.

 

…meanwhile back in Gothem…

 

Holy Bonuses Batman.  The elite, those in power, those who stood to gain, etc…   all ran with it.  They bonus’d up, they cashed out, they bought and bought and bought again.  …and the collective lambs just continued to ride their magic carpets in hope of that golden retirement.  …and enabled those in power to become the oligarchs they now are!

 

You want to get back???

Come to that reality.  Stop feeding them.  If you have a 401k.  Switch it to the MMKT option, collecting 0% interests.  Get everyone else to do the same.  It is still forced savings, and should return what you put in.  (if your company matches in any way…  there’s your gain.)  …and accept that.  Stop chasing 10%, and tell your friends to do the same because you and them are just feeding this beast.

 

Then comes step 2.  The more important step.  Rather then force a worker to reconcile some meaningless penny in a service industry…  

 

ACTUALLY PRODUCE SOMETHING!

 

We made Cars, we made machines, we made houses, …and now we no longer actually “make anything”.   …except war of course.  ….which actually does the opposite, as it destroys things.

 

There is no recovery until we come to these realizations.  Stop feeding the beast, and give up on that “greedy” +10% retirement, cause that magic carpet will eventually be pulled out from underneath you like the rug it is.  …and then evolve!  Work on actually creating a better tomorrow.  Fiddle with 2 magnets and see what you can come up with?  Read a science book.  Dig up some thorium.  …and stop waiting for this to work itself out.

 

All the best,

Miss America – Rich Hartmann

Sat, 01/01/2011 - 00:19 | 841095 honestann
honestann's picture

I agree with the gist, but not the execution.

Forget "money market accounts".  Sell ALL your stocks, bonds and paper assets for cash, and move all your cash savings into your checking account.  Then convert all your cash (except one or two months of expenses) into real, physical silver and gold (or any other real, physical good you can protect, and does not generate any income for the predators-that-be (taxes) or predator-class (banks).

And yes, change your life [if necessary] to be fundamentally based upon real, physical production.  Don't push papers, don't run marketing or selling, retailing or e-commerce schemes... produce real, physical goods that people need (or want badly).  And sell to the final consumers of your products, not distributors or intermediaries.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 18:24 | 840561 Prairie Rose
Prairie Rose's picture

Nice to see you here, MA.  I remember you from the RGE days.  Happy 2011 and keep posting!

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 15:50 | 840179 Idiot Savant
Idiot Savant's picture

Stop feeding them.  If you have a 401k.  Switch it to the MMKT option, collecting 0% interests.  Get everyone else to do the same.

I'm under the impression that 401k providers don't allow money market accounts, to thwart this type of attempt. None of my previous plans offered a MM account. They offer low risk MM "type" accounts that are usually in bonds or low risk growth funds.

I'd appreciate someone shedding some light on this for me. Do any 401k providers offer true MM accounts (dollars)? Again, I'm under the impression that part of their scheme is to not offer MMs, so your money must be in the market.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 16:00 | 840213 Miss America
Miss America's picture

Many plans do offer true MMKT accounts.  It depends on  what your company/HR dept/Management decided on when they were being offered these packages by their 401k suiters. 

I'm in our MMKT.  I use it as my "shorting equivilent" as we don't have shorting funds or comodities in our plan.

If you don't get a company match or discount, cut your 401k all together, and see what you can do on your own with savings or "real investments".  Those tax free dollars in retirement funds will not last forever as the wil either vanish from implosion or be inflated away. 

That's my take.  (I've got a pretty decent track record so far)

All the best,

MA/RH

 

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 16:39 | 840299 Idiot Savant
Idiot Savant's picture

Interesting, thanks for the information. I receive such a small match, I decided to cash out last year. This was before BB made it clear that he wouldn't allow the markets to drop, so I'm not sure it was such a wise decision in hindsight.

Oh well, I have a large position in physical metals and cash, so I don't have to worry about the FED propping up the markets. Nor do I have to worry about an Argentine type confiscation of retirement accounts. I don't really see that happening in the US, but it's one less thing to worry about.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:23 | 839917 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

But we make television shows and movies that pollute the rest of the world with our way of life.  Do not underestimate the value of those exports, both in terms of hard $$$ as well as sabotage of the local way of life.  It is no accident that Baywatch was one of the most illegally watched programs in Iran.

Sun, 01/02/2011 - 18:40 | 843049 chopper read
chopper read's picture

yes, Baywatch is obviously a product of the C.I.A. serving to undermine Iran and financed from running heroin out of Afghanistan.  Hasselhoff is an operative.  

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:18 | 839905 TruthInSunshine
TruthInSunshine's picture

So we should start trashing the self-checkout lanes?

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 16:23 | 840262 johnQpublic
johnQpublic's picture

So we should start trashing the self-checkout lanes?

 

 

oh yes

immediately

or do like i do and get a human employee to help you every single time you use one

and hand clerks your credit card/dont swipe it yourself

Sat, 01/01/2011 - 02:01 | 841199 Big Corked Boots
Big Corked Boots's picture

+1

 

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:18 | 839903 Dark Space
Dark Space's picture

What you just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:17 | 839902 Cleanclog
Cleanclog's picture

This could actually help with employment too.  Hiring more humans to resolve the variances and the like.  Making deposits with a coin or two via ATMs is another annoyance for the "machines".

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:03 | 839869 johnQpublic
johnQpublic's picture

my protest goes great with this

every time you get a piece of junk mail with a prepaid envelope, overstuff it with extra junk mail and mail it on in

it has a cost as to their bill for postage and someone has gotta be going through all that garbage i send in, and they have to dispose of this garbage

annoy me with junk mail, and i got sumthin for ya

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:03 | 839867 merehuman
merehuman's picture

Have less, BE more. This could lead to respect and love for one another and a greater awareness of how  higher conciousness is the most worthwhile thing to strive for.

This has me smiling. Thank you.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:46 | 839976 Rogerwilco
Rogerwilco's picture

@mere

There is much to what you say. I read somewhere that people are happiest when they have 100 or fewer possessions. How many things does the average American or European own these days? We are often prisoners in a jail of our own making.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:11 | 839866 Mercury
Mercury's picture

Bruce, maybe you can set up a few speed-dials on your phone to the 800 #'s of these companies and just dial them up a few times a day and put the phone down...

What do you suppose the minimum (or average) cost of connecting a call on an 800 line is?

BTW, I don't know how wise this really is or if it's harder to pull off these days or what but a friend of mine, 10-15 years ago, used to hide a lot of income by getting people who owed him to pay down the balance on his credit card.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:32 | 839944 Rogerwilco
Rogerwilco's picture

So you want to get acquainted with your state's harassment and stalking laws, up close and personal? I remember a case some years ago where a clever son used a computer and modem to repeatedly dial the 800 number of a business that had ripped off his mother. The company tracked him down, filed a lawsuit, and he ended up owing them a hefty sum.

Whether it's City Hall, Big Business, or Uncle Sam, these bastards don't play bean bag anymore. If you are perceived as a trouble maker or threat, they will stomp your ass into the ground and their lawyers will laugh at the resulting puddle of goo.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 15:26 | 840115 Mercury
Mercury's picture

Oh great, you can call 911 because McDonald's messed up your order - no problem.  But "800 harassment" - up against the wall!

Somewhere Marla has a funny article about pitting two computer-voice customer service lines against each other as they query each other into a loop of robo-idiocy.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 16:22 | 840263 akak
akak's picture

Oh my God, I would LOVE to hear that!

It has to be fucking HYSTERICAL!

 

Please find!

Sat, 01/01/2011 - 03:21 | 840440 Mercury
Mercury's picture

<      >

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:04 | 839862 TruthInSunshine
TruthInSunshine's picture

In all honesty, this tactic would just cause the institutions involved to raise transaction or other fees to cover administrative costs.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 13:50 | 839831 tofu mary
tofu mary's picture

I must say, this is a creative approach that cleverly doesn't involve ripping anybody off, but it will take forever to gather critical mass. I think we could reset the system a whole lot sooner if everybody simply stopped paying their mortgages and used that money to buy physical silver instead. How cool would that be? Imagine the sheeple en masse returning to honest money as our founding fathers envisioned... it would starve the beast, squeeze the shorts, drive up the price and maybe finally crash the system that so desperately needs a reboot anyway. A real wow moment if the people pulled it off.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:40 | 839966 collinar
collinar's picture

I agree tofu mary, your approach is better and gaining steam. More people need to join. I don't have a mortgage but I removed my money from the banks and purchased physical silver. Just waiting for the reset.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 13:49 | 839829 Shameful
Shameful's picture

Love it. BTW back in high school used to work in a check processing place. Well if the amount is over/under the bill amount have to confirm the payment amount again, so it takes another step. I used to hate when people would round up, would force me to enter the amount twice to prevent errors. When I was leaving they were moving it to computers but to my knowledge there still has to be humans to confirm, so it would slow the beast down.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 13:45 | 839817 GoldmanSux
GoldmanSux's picture

Haha. Good one Bruce! I look forward to implementing this immediately.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 13:44 | 839816 Waterfallsparkles
Waterfallsparkles's picture

What I did was when my Credit Card company raised my interest from 9.9% to 18.9% I scrounged every dollar I had and paid them off.  They then send me a 0% offer with of course the 3% up front charge.  I then reborrowed the money that I would have had to pay 18.9% for 3%.  Too funny.

Fri, 12/31/2010 - 14:19 | 839904 Cleanclog
Cleanclog's picture

Brava!

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!