IrishBeat.com

Below is a great little funny story today that I thought I’d share. Seems the Irish Police may need a bit more training on reading licenses. Here’s the link, but I’ve also posted the story below.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090219/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_ireland_police_polish

“DUBLIN (Reuters) – Irish police have solved the mystery of a Polish recidivist who clocked up 50 traffic offences on different addresses and who was never caught, after one officer noticed his name meant driving licence in Polish.

An internal police memo cited by Irish papers on Thursday said officers taking details of Polish traffic offenders had been mistakenly using “Prawo Jazdy,” printed in the top right corner of the driving licence, as the holder’s name.

“Prawo Jazdy is actually the Polish for driving licence and not the first and surname on the licence,” the police memo dated June 2007 said. “It is quite embarrassing to see the system has created Prawo Jazdy as a person with over 50 identities.”

A police spokesman declined to comment on the reports.

About 200,000 Polish people flocked to Ireland during the boom years of its “Celtic Tiger” economy but a poll in November indicated a third of them planned to leave due to recession.

(Reporting by Andras Gergely; Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Peter Millership)”

With all this recent commentary about the state of affairs in our economy, I couldn’t help but wonder what Christmas would be like if we had stayed with the traditions of 50, 75, or 100 years ago. I’m not old enough to have experienced a Christmas then, but in what I can see from the media, it seems like Christmas sure was simpler and more focussed on religious and family traditions. Maybe there were a couple gifts, but not this orgy of packages under the tree. Sounds kinda nice.

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Pile o crap

With the economy in the state it’s in, it feels like we’re having Christmas shoved down our throats more than ever by the corporate greedy. The advertisers are playing into our attraction for a good bargain and selling us more crap that we really don’t need. I think it’s a good pill for the economy to take if, as Americans and consumers in general, we can learn to settle back into a simpler lifestyle, enjoy Christmas and the holidays for what they are and stop spending more than we have and buying more than what we need.  And maybe we might even be able to balance our own budgets.

I read a good article about banking and the ways their sales material tries to fool the consumer into believing the bank is working for them. It’s an interesting read. Here’s the link.

10 Things Your Bank Won’t Tell You
by Jim Rendon
Monday, August 18, 2008provided bySmartMoney.com

Great article pointing out the reality of the banking industry. One thing he missed is the technical aspect that banks have lobbied Congress into allowing them to decrease the time for clearing collection transactions, yet left the hold time for deposits as it’s been for over 60 years. This means banks can hold your money for up to 10 days on a deposit, yet ensure they take it from you immediately. There are huge profits made on this float, and it’s a legal loophole that they want to ensure does not close. The fact is that the transactions clear in the same time frame with little difference as to the timing. Banking for the consumer is a farce and another example of corporations focusing on profit and not the consumer…