Don't Make a Collect Call from Las Vegas

While I was in Las Vegas, my mobile phone (Cingular) wouldn't get a signal at all. I don't have a calling card because I always have my mobile phone. I didn't want to call my wife from the hotel, because they display their rates right on the phone, something like $1 per minute. I actually did call my wife from the hotel right before I checked out, and the hotel charged me about $7 for a 7 minute call. I thought that was a huge ripoff. I tried using a pay phone, but I only had $2.50 in quarters and the call was $3 for two minutes.

I just received my phone bill. It was much higher than usual, and after examining it, I saw the three collect calls that I made from pay phones in Las Vegas. Two calls were with a company called Zero Plus Dialing. Each 7 minute call cost $23. That's right, 23 dollars! What a scam! A 5 minute call with Operator Assistance Network was a relatively good deal at only $15. Including taxes (how nice that Illinois can benefit from this ripoff), the 19 minutes cost $76!!!

That is total bullshit. Price gouging like that should be illegal.

It's like when I get a bill in the mail for one of my magazine subscriptions. I'm sure you get these all the time. It's an official looking bill for a magazine you receive. Heck, your subscription probably isn't expiring. It's from a company called "Magazine Clearinghouse" or some such nonsense. I'm sure many people just pay them without realizing they didn't come from the company that publishes the magazine. There is a similar billing scam with web site domain names. Yes, I'm calling it a scam, even though it is legal.

While I'm at it, let me tell you about the latest SBC DSL scam. They called me up and asked if I was interested in receiving a faster DSL rate at the same price. Hmm, something for nothing, what's the catch? When the contract is up, can I sign up at any speed or rate that I want? Sure. Wow, this actually seems like a good legitimate deal, and from a reputable company! Ok, sign me up! Then later on the radio, I hear SBC advertising their regular DSL at a greatly reduced price. So what is the scam? I have 6 months left paying $29 per month, and then (if they still have the lower rate), I could sign up for $15 per month. Instead, I'm now locked in for $29 for 12 months. Ch-ching! SBC gets an extra $84 from me.

But schneid, you say, buyer beware! That's capitalism! You should have a better mobile phone, carry a calling card, have a pocketful of quarters, or ask about the collect call rates before making the call. All true, perhaps, but the government should protect consumers from obvious price gouging like this (that's $4 per minute). Plain and simple. But the government doesn't give a damn about consumers. We may as well rename our country the United States of Corporate America. Hey, you say, it's not our fault that you're stupid! It's every man for himself. But it shouldn't be. People should look out for each other. And the entire point of having representational government is to represent the people. I'm just guessing that the majority of the people in this country don't favor $200 drug prescriptions.

Lesson learned. From now on, I'll carry a calling card in case my mobile phone doesn't work.

I think I'll start billing corporations for million-dollar pieces of equipment that they buy. I'll just raise the price 10%, collect my money, and turn around and pay the company that they actually purchased the equipment from. Oh wait, I'll probably end up in jail, because the corporations are protected by the US government. Let's see how this works:

US politics in a nutshell

- corporations donate billions to politicians
- politicians live high on the hog
- corporations do anything they want
- CEOs live high on the hog

- consumers pay billions in taxes
- consumers get screwed

And yet the current administration tries to convince us that taxes are the problem. Taxes are too high! We'll lower your taxes! Here's $400! I'm your pal! Why should you pay taxes so that other people can get those free entitlements and money from other government programs? Because you are those people! You're not some rich guy sitting on his throne in the halls of power, because if you were, you'd be too busy counting your money to read this.

Don't even get me started on filthy rich CEOs scamming their own companies (Enron, Tyco) so that they can be even richer than they already are. Only worth $200 million? Bah! Chump change! A few minor accounting changes here, some forgiven loans there...a hundred million more in your pocket. Now you can stop living like a pauper and buy that fifth house in Aspen and another Monet. No wonder the government needs to come up with diversions like investigating steroids in baseball. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

- schneid