Monica’s opinions on the world around her. Politics, news, business, environment and family!

Mail fraud

by Monica

Last week my hubby told me that he was asked to do a secret shop for a company that was going to evaluate Wal-Mart and Western Union. There was a television news story about this type of situation a couple of years ago about this secret shop being a fraud, so I told my hubby that it is a scam designed to make us lose money. Western Union does not participate in secret shops. Well, he didn’t believe me and we had a big fight about it. And I mean big. Screaming, ranting, name-calling big.

So in today’s mail we received the package and my hubby opened it, saw what it was and handed it to me. He didn’t say a word about it, he just handed it to me. Inside was a postal money order for $990 and a letter directing him to cash the money order at his bank, go to Wal-Mart and spend $50 on anything he wanted, then go to Western Union and wire $724 to a person in the Philippines.

I called the Post Office to report the fraud and they put me on hold for forty-five minutes and then disconnected me. So I drove up to the local Post Office with then entire package and told the Post Master on duty what was going on. He looked at the money order and told me that it was a very good fake money order. The best fake he’d ever seen! But he also said that there was an email he received from their fraud department about fake money orders for $990 being circulated and he was pretty sure this was one of them. He called his fraud hot-line and talked to them. You could tell by his side of the conversation that they wanted him to arrest me!

It ended up with him “confiscating” the entire package (I turned it in to report the fraud for crying out loud!) and thanking me for reporting it and sending me on my way. Doubtful that they will be able to catch and punish the perpetrators, but I hope that they do!


What I Read

by Monica

I read the online papers in various cities every morning while I sip my cup of tea and try to wake up. It is the best part of the day for me – I’m up first and the house is quiet for about 30 minutes, so I can click through a dozen sites without any interruptions or distractions.

I read these newspapers every morning and have them bookmarked:

  • The Washington Post
  • The San Francisco Chronicle
  • The Chicago Tribune
  • The New York Times


Nutcase

by Monica

I was reading on the telegraph.co.uk website that there is a Nebraska state Senator named Ernie Chambers that filed a lawsuit last year against God! I had not heard that before now, he apparently filed the case September of 2007. Thankfully a judge dismissed the case without prejudice, saying that God cannot be sued because he has no known address! Boy, it sure takes all kinds, doesn’t it! What a nutcase! I hope that Senator does not win his re-election bid, we don’t need nutcases like that in our government


Time for more regulation

by Monica

Over the past thirty years, the government has made huge efforts to de-regulate everything that they could possibly de-regulate.  They de-regulated the airline industry, transportation, and the telephone company.  They thought that by doing this it would increase growth and be good for business.

Well, I have not seen any positive results from deregulating anything, and I think it is time for the government to reconsider it’s stance on regulation and deregulation.  The consumers need more protection from the evil people who sell us tainted foods, and need more protection from price-gouging.  Time to start reining in the big corporations that make obscene profits at our expense!


Maple syrup shortage?

by Monica

I was reading on the Businessweek website that there is a maple syrup shortage from Canada that is effecting the price of food.  I did not realize that Canada makes 80% of the world’s maple syrup!  Many consumers have been switching to maple syrup as a sweetener in their baking products so the demand for maple syrup has been increasing.  Canada had a mild spring this year, which lowered their maple syrup production.  New England, however, had a banner year and had lots of maple syrup.

As I was reading this story I found myself wondering why it took so long for this story about Canada having a mild spring (effecting the maple syrup supply) to enter the news media – their spring was six months ago for crying out loud!

And I was surprised to learn that so much syrup came from Canada because when I buy maple syrup at the store it always says it was from a New England state!