Outrage Over CEO Pay

Recently, we've seen a huge public outcry over the pay to CEO's of large companies like financial institutions, automakers, and insurance companies. I've heard people make comments like scoundrels, thieves, rats, etc. I'll tell you what's scary about this type of behavior, the people making these comments are duped in to believing that they should say things like this. In reality they don't even know what they're talking about. The American public for the most part is really dumb, fooled, and uninformed. They only believe what the leftist media tells them to believe, the "dangerous people" as I call them. People like Bill Maher, Michael Moore, Keith Olbermann, and the rest of the socialist cronies have convinced the American people that success is evil. Unless of course you're Bill Maher, Michael Moore, and Keith Olbermann - then its OK to make money!

$20,000,000 to Play Children's Games?

So lets drill down in to this subject a little bit and get to the real skinny of it. Last year Steve Jobs the head of Apple, made about $20,000,000 in total income and compensation. Michael Vick made $20,000,000 his last year before going away to prison. Now lets think about this for a second, Michael Vick vs. Steve Jobs - which of the two has done more for society? Which one has created hundreds of millions of dollars for his shareholders? Which one has helped advance the quality of life for millions of people via new computer technologies? Which one has helped advanced the careers of thousands of employees? Its a ridiculous comparison when you think about it, isn't it? Michael Vick can barely form a sentence, I bet he can't even tie his shoelaces. Yet the American public feels that its OK for a sports figure to make $20,000,000 to play children's games. I can throw a football, maybe not as well as Michael Vick but I can still throw a football. I can assure you that I can't run Apple at all, good or bad!

Who Will Run America, Michael Vick!?

So America wants to limit the salaries of the CEO's running companies that receive bailout money, I find this infuriating and outrageous! Think about it for a second, what if you were asked to do the same job you've always done for half the money? Oh let me guess, that's different their rich right? Maybe we should take all the money and riches from America's CEO's and throw them in prison. How dare those bastards make all that money! People wake up who do you think runs America, our politicians? Without the capitalist American spirit nothing would get done in this country. Capitalism is the force behind growth, job creations, human advancement and much more. Without the hope for gain or compensation for a job well done our spirit can become squelched. Why should we think its fine for a professional athlete to make $20,000,000 per year to work one day a week? Wake up America!

New York State Pursues Luxury Tax on Jewelry Purchases

A new bill has been proposed in the New York State Senate that would impose a luxury tax of 5% on jewelry purchases. I find this absolutely ridiculous and it demonstrates how New York State’s politicians continue to ruin that State. Most counties in NYS have a current sales tax amount in the area of 9% and an additional tax of 5% would make jewelry purchasers liable for 14%. Imagine a young couple trying to purchase an engagement ring for $5000 having to pay $700 in taxes, how absurd is that?!

The Math Doesn’t Add Up

Wouldn’t you simply purchase your engagement ring on the internet where you wouldn’t have to pay any sales tax at all? Any person on the edge or indecisive about the viability of purchasing online would certainly have cause to make the leap. That said, the 5% NYS thinks it would gain is a pitons compared to the 9% it'll lose to the internet transactions. Another competitor would be the neighboring states that don’t have these burdensome taxes. In the end it could mean fewer taxes, certainly not what New York State legislators had in mind.

Socialism in Disguise

There’s been a lot of chatter about socialism, the threat it has on capitalism, and the growing size of government. Some say that it’s not happening and that it’s all an illusion in the minds of conservatives. I say that the liberals are the ones that can’t see straight, open your eyes to what’s happening. There’s a trend on local, state, and federal governmental levels to keep spending. Here’s a great idea…..why not spend as much time creating new tax bills as you do cutting spending and working on your budgets. The attack has clearly been on the “Rich”, you know the “Bastards” of our society! How dare those bastard Rich people have that money?! How dare they spend time in school learning their craft? How dare they exercise creative skills? How dare they create products and services to better our society? Let’s tax those bastards! I read a report recently that said that the taxes on the “Rich” ($250,000 and higher) are going to be raised to 42%. In addition, itemized deductions are going to be limited and many will no longer be available. When you factor in the deductions that aren’t available any more, the tax rate will be more like 45% while much of the country is paying 28%. Here’s a novel idea….why don’t we raise taxes on everybody?! We all live in the United States don’t we? Shouldn’t we all pay our part while enjoying the benefits?

Get Your Head Out of Your Ass New York

To legislators in New York State I say…”Get your freaking heads out of your asses!” For Pete’s sake, once and for all do something that makes sense. Try to make the numbers at least add up, actually read your spending bills, lower your spending. Smart economics is taking in more than you spend. You see, it’s not that complicated! Simply spend less on social programs, overpaid state employee benefits, and wasteful spending. We’re in a capitalistic and democratic society, at least the last time I checked we were. Isn’t that why millions of immigrants flocked to the United States in the first place? I thought it was because they had free reign to exercise their creative talents and work ethic while in pursuit of the American dream.

Jewelry and Emotions

Everyone has heard that GOLD has reached an all time high in the past year. So in the jewelry industry most jewelry stores have decided to BUY GOLD. I was trained on how to test the purity of different karats and weigh the metals and convert it to cash.... one thing i was not expecting was every story to come with the piece of jewelry the customer was selling. There is a lot of emotion in this industry. Not only engagements have emotion attached to it... making girls dreams come true... Guys making the biggest decision of their lives... you know one girl for the rest of his life. But gold let me tell you has much more emotion attached. I have had customers throw their old gold at me and say give me whatever you want i just want it gone!! Usually that's the ex-boyfriend jewelry. On the other hand i have noticed that some people just need the cash and really do not want to part with their jewelry... and this is a hard thing to deal with on both sides as the salesman and for the customer. On my side we obviously want to purchase the jewelry however I don't want to take someones ring that has been pasted down from generation to generation... just to give them a quick dollar to pay for gas. I also get people who here gold is over a $1000.00 an ounce and they bring in their 10k earring stud in and expect that i buy it off them for probably more than they paid for it... and then they get mad at me because i offer them the actual price of what its worth. Its one crazy emotional place, I would have to say I am alot more knowledgeable about how big a jewelry purchase really is to a customer. But keep in mind whatever happens... don't take it out on your local jeweler,we are only here to help you!!!!

Man Trampled at Walmart on Black Friday

This Friday a man was trampled and killed by Walmart shoppers. It was said that people were pushed out of the way while they were trying to help the person being crushed by the crowd. I'm so disgusted by our society, so ashamed at the selfish acts of personal gain and greed, and so ashamed at the unconscious behavior. How could this happen? What on earth have we become? What was going on in the minds of the people at this horrific scene? We've decided that a $49 DVD player is more important than the welfare of our brothers and sisters. That our own personal and financial gain is bigger than precious life itself.

If you look at the people who attend the typical Black Friday sale, who show up at 4:00am to snatch up these products with their greedy little hands; you'll notice that they usually fit the same mold or stereotype. What's amazing is that I am watching a news cast right now and you should see the greedy little grins on the faces of the people rushing through the doors of Walmart. Despicable. Anyone who gets up at 4:00am to go to Walmart the day after Thanksgiving is probably experiencing a lot of problems in their life. They could be a little misguided or confused as to what's really important. Scoring a hot deal on a $49 DVD player should be the last thing on their minds. Maybe getting job or finding their compassionate side should be at the top of their minds. Now I know what you are going to say...."How could you stereotype people that shop at Walmart?" or "How could you say that about unemployed people, maybe they don't want to be unemployed?". Maybe most them are not bad people and maybe most of them don't want to be unemployed. But then again maybe some of them are victims of their own bad decisions and behaviors, like stomping on someone laying on the ground.

I haven't even started on the woman that created a fake person on Myspace and caused that poor young girl to kill herself. Oh my god, I can't believe the pain that we cause ourselves on this planet. I think we need to realign ourselves as a society, time to get our priorities in order. I hope we can use the Christmas Season to inspire our compassionate and emotional side

Economy and Diamond Buying

I have been working as a Jewelry Salesman going on 3 years now and I have never seen business so slow... As a sales professional I need to sell, its my job. I have been noticing that people are on a very tight budget in the last couple months.. its hurting a lot of businesses I'm sure. People/Customers are buying more necessities for gifts this year... shoes, clothes, all that good stuff.. but they don't seem to making the bigger purchases as far as jewelry, cars, TVs ext... and if they are buying the bigger gifts they are price shopping them to death. Its a hard world for a salesman these days. Usually I spend a nice amount for the holidays and even I am cutting back this year... I told people not to spend much on me so i don't have to spend much on them and that's not my style... For example last year I bought my brother a 32'' flat screen TV, my mom diamond Jewelry... This year my brother is getting a movie or 2, my mom a much more affordable piece of Jewelry than last year...always have to hook up the mother with jewelry... If I am doing this I can imagine how many other people are going to be watching their pockets... All I can do as a salesman is hope the economy gets better so we can get the business back that I have seen in the past 2.5 years.