American vs. Foreign products

ONE AT A TIME

This probably sounds crazy, but just yesterday I was in Wal Mart looking for a wastebasket. I found some made in China for $6.99. I didn't want to pay that much so I asked the lady if they had any others. She took me to another department and they had some at $2.50 made in USA. They are just as good.

Same as a kitchen rug I needed. I had to look, but I found some made in the USA and they were $3.00 cheaper. We are being brain washed that everything that comes from China and Mexico is cheaper. Not so. That is also why I don't buy cards at Hallmark anymore. They are made in China and are expensive. I buy them at Dollar Tree....50 cents each and made in USA.

One Light Bulb at a Time

A physics teacher in high school, once told the students that while one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would. With that thought in mind, read the following, obviously written by a good American . . .

Good idea . . .. One light bulb at a time . . ..

Check this out. I can verify this because I was in Lowe's the other day for some reason and just for the heck of it I was looking at the hose attachments... They were all made in China .

The next day I was in Ace Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there.
They were made in USA. Start looking ...

In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else - even their job. So, after reading this email, I think this lady is on the right track.. Let's get behind her!

My grandson likes Hershey's candy. I noticed, though, that it is marked made in Mexico now.
I do not buy it any more.

My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico... Now I have switched to Crest. You have to read the labels on everything....

This past weekend I was at Kroger . .. . I needed 60W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets.

I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off-brand labeled, " Everyday Value ." I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats they were the same except

For the price . . . The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in - get ready for this - the USA in a company in Cleveland , Ohio.

So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day that are made right here...

So on to another aisle - Bounce Dryer Sheets... Yep, you guessed it, Bounce cost more money and is made in Canada... The Everyday Value brand was less money and MADE IN THE USA! I did laundry yesterday and the dryer sheets performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using for years and at almost half the price!

My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in the USA - the job you save may be your own or your neighbors!

If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your address book so we can all start buying American, one light bulb at a time! Stop buying from overseas companies!

(We should have awakened a decade ago....)

Let's get with the program and help our fellow Americans keep their jobs and create more jobs here in the USA .

I passed this on . .. . Will you???

Greediest Generation

Although her letter is addressed to an American politician, but it pretty much refers to most of the politicians all over the world..........

Alan Simpson, former Republican Senator from Wyoming, Co-Chair of Obama's deficit commission, calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared "Social Security" to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats.

Here's a response in a letter from a citizen in Montana ... I think she is a little ticked off! She also tells it like it is!

Hey Alan, let's get a few things straight..

1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS.

2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old. I am now 63).

3 My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud..


4. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and your ilk pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age 67. NOW, you and your shill commission is proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.

5. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you morons propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because you idiots mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills.

6. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you incompetent bastards spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money. Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt.


To add insult to injury, you label us "greedy" for calling "bullshit" on your incompetence. Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU.

1. How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your pathetic 50-year political career?

2. At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?

3. How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?

4. What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or, as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?

It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators called Congress who are the "greedy" ones. It is you and your fellow nutcases who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers. And for what? Votes. That's right, sir. You and yours have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it.

And you can take that to the bank, you miserable son of a bitch.

If you like the way things are in America delete this.

Pacquiao-Marquez Fight

Losing and winning are part of sports, and with the game of life. Especially in boxing, We know this fully well. Ali lost to Frazier; Frazier lost to Foreman; Foreman lost to Ali; Ali had hellfire fights with Frazier two times more (reminds us of Pacquiao-Marquez); then again Ali lost to journeymen Norton and Leon Spinks; the invincible Tyson lost to Douglas in Tokyo; and on and on.

What happened to Pacquiao on Marquez (close fight), I think is a blessing in disguise. Mayweather, through Oscar de la Hoya, is frantic about wanting to fight Pacquiao in May, 2012. Pacquiao laid a trap to draw Mayweather from his fear cave. Mayweather thinks Pacquiao is ready for the picking. Pacquiao cramps again and again, his speed will be back, and lagot si Mayweather. Let's see what happens next. But of course, there will be more excruciating moments of grandstanding of both Pacquiao-Mayweather camps. Otherwise, it will be Pacquiao-Marquez 4, an unprecedented one in boxing history. Meantime, Marquez will continue to sulk and cry and complain....and as we know, cry babies do not win in the end.

If I were a Mexican, of course. Imagine the Mexicans that Pacquiao beat already-- Morales, Barrera, Margarito, Marquez, dela Hoya, etc..years before.

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AMEN ! Well analyzed

Brod Loy's analysis well taken. As to the result, I deduce from his comment that Pacquiao won.

We all saw the fight. Like the 3 judges who came up with different scores, each one of us will have our own judgment. I would have wanted to see a knockout or at least a knockdown as Roach predicted bit it didn't come... a big source of disappointment.

The fight was VERY CLOSE. BUT PACQUIAO WON! In my card, I had it 7:5 rounds in favor of Pacquiao (or 115 points Pacquiao vs 113 points for Marquez).

Now let's see what CompuBox scored:

1. TOTAL PUNCHES THROWN & LANDED
P landed 176 of 578
M landed 138 of 436

2. POWER PUNCHES
P connected 117 of 274 power shots
M connected 100 of 254

3. Ave PUNCHES THROWN & HITS PER ROUND
P 49 thrown, 14 hits
M 36 thrown, 11 hits

The fight was less dramatic than what most wanted. But a win is a win! Let us rejoice!

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I just want to get this out of my chest. The word is "predictable". Manny has not changed his mode of attack from his last 2 fights with Marquez which is right jab then left straight.

A good analyst like Berestain would certainly practice Marquez to duck the moment Manny makes this move and counter punch with his left or right. Notice how many times Manny missed his shots because all Marquez had to do was duck. Freddie Roach could have advised Manny in the middle of the fight to do his right jab but instead of a left straight, do a left upper cut. This to oppose Marquez' duck. This would have changed the whole game with Filipinos' high expectations of a knockdown. Maybe Manny should make this adjustment if and when a rematch is made.

Are you happy with Social Security ?

I bought a sign from Tennessee and it goes "Retired person on the premises, knows all about Social Security and has all the time to tell it." That is me!

One thing that is always emphasized by investment houses is that there is no sure thing - "Past performance is not a predictor of future performance". Only thing you can do is take a balanced approach to money growth and risk. Set a goal in a way that you will not become comatose or lose your ability to become stiff when your investments suffer setbacks.

1. I am happy with SS, imagine I am getting back 10 times what I put in. Medicare initial deductible and co-pays are low. My wife's health care cost is high because she is till using my former employer's plan, with premiums going up every year ($50 when I retired, now $275), and coverages being pared (she cannot get hearing aids anymore and that was a big expense recently).

One good thing to get is long-term care coverage (which I regret did not get before when it was being offered after I retired). You will get benefits if you become comatose (I think it will supply a monthly visit from starlet grade nurses).

2. Even if SS stops when you die, your wife who survives you can resume collecting at age 62 or 65. If she can prove herself disabled (not menopause) she can collect at 50 (this according to my wife).

3. When Social Security is still there, it is hands down better than annuity (think about what you paid in, not what your employer paid in). Although it cannot be inherited by dependents, that is ok. What is the use of spending all that money to put them through college if they can't earn their keep after graduating? Only problem is if you have a child with special needs, but there are state assistance for them, only problem is the governments are cutting down on these assistance,





4. The government spending money wisely is an oxymoron. Your power to vote comes into play. Vote for leaders who will spend money on the people even if not wisely. Don't vote for leaders who want to prove their knowledge of foreign policy by waging war on weaker countries like Iraq.

5. The government employees get better benefits for what they pay for compared to privately employees citizens. But that changed when the economic debacle started. (From LA Times-maybe in 2010) CalPERS' portfolio value dropped from a historic high of $260.4 billion in October 2007 to $160 billion in March 2009. It has since risen to a high of $237.5 billion on June 30 before dropping to $220 billion on Monday. You can invest on your 401K with matching funds from the company and reap the same benefits. It is better to map your own strategy than wishing you have benefits like the government employees.

So the questions we should answer are :

Are you happy with SSS ? Did you know that if you died today your SSS pension stops? If your family is relying on that pension, better stay alive even if you are comatose.

If you kept that 15% of Gross Income and invested it in an insurance Annuity with Disability coverage, would you have been better off? The unused portion of a private pension plan is inherited by your heirs.

Do you trust the Government to tax you more and spend your money wisely?

One thing I do not understand is why Government employees have their own pension plans outside the SSS (They can also enroll in SSS by paying in the 15% so they can double dip when they retire). Why are they not mandated to "donate" to SSS?

Is Social Security an Entitlement?

For those who believe, their SSS Pensions are entitlements, read below. That is your money and you earned it already. Too bad you have to pay taxes on it too! Al Gore was the swing vote that passed the law taxing SSS pensions. You are not getting SSS Pensions because of some Party in Power. You are not even going to get all of it back because they are paying you less than what you should be getting!

Remember, not only did you contribute to Social Security but your employer did too. It totaled 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only $30K over
your working life, that's close to $220,500.

If you calculate the future value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer's contribution) at a simple 5% (less than what the govt. pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working you'd have $892,919.98.

If you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $26,787.60 per year and it would
last better than 30 years (until you're 95 if you retire at age 65) and that's with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.

The folks in Washington have pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff
ever had. Entitlement my ass, I paid cash for my social security insurance!!!! Just because they borrowed the money, doesn't make my benefits some kind of charity or handout!!

Congressional benefits ---- free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid
holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days, now that's welfare, and they have the nerve to call my social security retirement entitlements?

We're "broke" and can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless. In the last months we have provided aid to Haiti, Chile and Turkey . And now Pakistan ......home of bin Laden.

Literally, BILLIONS of DOLLARS!!!

They call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives and now when it's time for us to collect, the government is running out of money. Why did the government borrow from it in the first place? Imagine if the *GOVERNMENT* gave 'US' the same support they give to other countries.

Mayo Clinic - Aspirin

Dr. Virend Somers, is a Cardiologist from the Mayo Clinic, who is lead author of the report in the July 29, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Some heart attacks occur in the day, generally between 6 A.M. and noon, Somers said. Having one during the night, when the heart should be most at rest, means that something unusual happened. Somers and his colleagues have been working for a decade to show that sleep apnea is to blame.

1. If you take an aspirin or a baby aspirin once a day, take it at night. The reason: Aspirin has a 24-hour "half-life"; therefore, if most heart attacks happen in the wee hours of the morning, the Aspirin would be strongest in your system.

2. FYI, Aspirin lasts a really long time in your medicine chest for years, (when it gets old, it smells like vinegar). Please read on.

Something that we can do to help ourselves - nice to know.
Bayer is making crystal aspirin to dissolve instantly on the tongue.
They work much faster than the tablets.

Why keep Aspirin by your bedside? It's about Heart Attacks - There are other symptoms of a heart attack, besides the pain on the left arm. One must also be aware of an intense pain on the chin, as well as nausea and lots of sweating; however, these symptoms may also occur less frequently. Note: There may be NO pain in the chest during a heart attack.

The majority of people (about 60%) who had a heart attack during their sleep, did not wake up. However, if it occurs, the chest pain may wake you up from your deep sleep.

If that happens, immediately dissolve two aspirins in your mouth and swallow them with a bit of water.

Afterwards:
- Call 911. Unlock the door!!!
- Phone a neighbor or a family member who lives very close by.
- Say "heart attack!"
- Say that you have taken 2 Aspirins.
- Take a seat on a chair or sofa near the front door, and wait for their arrival and ...
DO NOT LIE DOWN!

The Amazing Hair Dryer

By Z. D. Zhou

Not long ago a friend took her ten-year-old boy to my house looking for my wife, saying that her child had hiccups all day long. The child was very uncomfortable and unable to eat at all. After she checked, my wife said there was a muscle spasm in his diaphragm. Without hesitation, she took out a blow dryer, turned on the power and started blowing at the boy's stomach.

about 10 minutes later, the boy burped and fell relieved. We were surprised that this thing can do the trick. But my wife just smiled.

A few days later, I had a stiff neck when I woke up in the morning. I could hardly turn my head. I recalled my stiff neck problem was treated a few times by acupuncture and cupping when I was younger. I asked my wife for the similar treatment. She said there weren't any needles at home nor any suitable small jars for cupping. She just took out a hair dryer. I couldn't help laughing. Again? This thing can cure stiff neck too? Amazing!

She blew on my shoulders and my neck for about 15 minutes. My neck was really loosened up. I could turn my head now. Later in the evening, she repeated that on me once more. The pain in my neck was significantly reduced. I crowned her the "queen of blow drying".

She explained that this was inspired by the method people used in the old days. In hospitals, with all the modern equipments we have, doctors do not need blow dryers. Back in the old days, in rural villages especially, doctors were poorly equipped with medical supplies. So they came up with other means to treat patients with common pains.

Suddenly I realized this is the thermal effect on pains with the heat generated by a blow dryer. Modern physiotherapy equipment such as electric, laser, thermal, ultrasound and others can easily generate heat for effective treatment. They are, of course, more powerful then a blow dryer. However, when they are not available, using a blow dryer to generate heat will also work, temporarily at least, on common pains such as back pain, muscle spasm, stiff neck, leg cramps, etc. It is easily accessible and easy to operate as long as there is electricity.

The blow dryer is really amazing. Try it. Hope it works for you too.