Discovery deciding not to air an episode of MB as it may harm their advertising revenues is a moronic idea of suppression of free speech.

This is not a free speech issue. The Mythbusters are free to make the episode if they wish. However, they are not guaranteed access to a nationwide, for-profit video distribution network.

You are free to say pretty much whatever you want standing on the street, that doesn’t mean you get to make people listen, or make people copy and transmit your speech for you.

Can you imagine the cash flow problem that would create for that credit card company if a large percentage of victims all paid slow that month? I guess they’d count on the extra interest charges, but do you think all the rest of the money-changing community wouldn’t exploit that blood in the water?

Yes, actually, I do. Competition in the finance industry is a myth. All the big players are owned or controlled by a small group of people. They don’t exploit each other, they work together to exploit everyone else.

If people tried anything like this, they’d just get the government to pay for the cleanup (ie, have the police do it), probably using one of the “terrorism” laws. And even if you managed to find a way to really hurt them, they’d just get bailed out by the government – no large entity in the finance industry can be allowed to fail, campaign contributors are too heavily invested in them.

I guess the American system is one that is favouring the banks and credit companies.

Discovery deciding not to air an episode of MB as it may harm their advertising revenues is a moronic idea of suppression of free speech.

. Suppose they all agreed to pick a credit card company that month and all withhold their payments. Can you imagine the cash flow problem that would create for that credit card company if a large percentage of victims all paid slow that month? I guess they’d count on the extra interest charges, but do you think all the rest of the money-changing community wouldn’t exploit that blood in the water?

You want the CC firms to feel some pain?

Pick a month (say November 2008), and nobody uses any revolving line of credit at all.

Not for lunch, not to fill the gas tank, not even pre-scheduled payments to your cell phone carrier. Zero Dollars.

If you absolutely must pay with plastic in November, use a debit card in “debit” mode (PIN transaction), so VISA doesn’t get their 3% cut.

Cut up all your credit cards. Pay cash. Buy only what you can afford, or save up for larger items. Live within your means. Show people how your life is brilliant and happy and worry-free. Encourage everyone you know to undergo the same transformation.

I’ve never had a credit card, have been debt-free for three years and have a loving wife, a 4-year old stepson and a son on the way. No car, either.

My life is wonderful.

Of course that means you have to be responsible with your money, and resist temptation, even when they raise your limit without telling you.

Anyone who banks with Chase gets doubly dished with RFID cards. Their debit and credit cards both use the “Blink” RFID system.

Fortunately there is a way to minimize being pwned if you must bank with them: invest in a DIFRware wallet which actually masks your RFID-tagged cards with a Faraday cage until such time as you need to use them.

So what method do you propose to test and inform consumers of this security flaw? Are you and advocate of government funding of public television? Because all of our media is for-profit and advertising driven.

There is important information consumers need to have, and I don’t see any advertising driven media willing or brave enough to do it. And to top it off there’s a strong movement for tort reform so there are no other ways to expose/punish corporations for negligence.

The free market economy relies on the market communicating information. So long as information is kept from the consumers the market is flawed and not working properly.

So you are right, this isn’t technically a violation of free speech. But it is in *effect* the stifling of free speech by powerful corporate interests.

Life is pretty comfortable, I’d say. I dress well, eat well, have fun when I want to, own my car, been thinking about getting a motorbike. Why would I want to get mixed-up with those credit card shysters?

Working to pay off credit card debt amounts to indentured servitude. Cut the chains. Live free. Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses, because they’re neck-deep in debt, too.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/security/8cdd/

Cut up all your credit cards. Pay cash. Buy only what you can afford, or save up for larger items. Live within your means. Show people how your life is brilliant and happy and worry-free. Encourage everyone you know to undergo the same transformation.

I think yours is an extreme example, but I couldn’t be in more agreement.

I don’t want to sound like some crusty old man (because I’m not) but I think the issue of credit being given and extended to people who truly can’t handle it is the number one cause of so many problems nowadays.

There’s always generational differences, but in the late 1980s credit card companies made a very conscious push to force college age kids into debt. I vividly remember working at my college bookstore and being told by my manager to put credit card promotional material in all bags and popular books. At the time I did have a card, but it was an American Express that had to be paid off every month. Growing up poor I knew the value of saving and did not waste my money more than I could earn it.

Flash forward to now, you have kids who have been forced the delusional idea that they can be “whatever they want” (a whole other discussion) but a credit industry that has tapped straight into that delusion to create a massive industry that actually helps people sell personal goals short and ultimately drives them into debt.

It’s all sick. And I think it’s the root of tons of crap nowadays.

If they can’t talk about RFID someone should definitely at least persistently educate high school and college age kids about the realities of credit. This whole recession we’re in is rooted in that; this is the time it has to happen.

Although plain credit cards aren’t any better. Myself and just about eveyone I know has had their number stolen somehow.
rfid might be hackable, but there no security at all on a printed number and mag stripe.

I use my credit cards for everything. Can they track me? Yes. Could I mobilize $100K in an emergency? Yup. Sometimes credit is life or death. I’ve seen it.

I don’t use credit cards either. Hopefully I’ll never be in a position where I feel like I need one.

So you never make a purchase online? travel further than a day’s drive? stay in a hotel? Travel to another country?

Why would I want to get mixed-up with those credit card shysters?

Working to pay off credit card debt amounts to indentured servitude. Cut the chains. Live free. Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses, because they’re neck-deep in debt, too.

Having a credit card or two doesn’t have to be synonymous with having no self control.

I use credit cards, but never carry a balance, have no “credit card debt” to worry about.

Budgeted spending money sits safely in a high-interest bank account, I not only earn interest on $$$ I would otherwise carry around in cash, but also get between 1% and 3% cash back on purchases; by paying off the balance each month, I actually come out on credit card use.

With cash, any problems with a purchase, I am SOL, if I lose cash, it is gone. Credit cards offer free warranty extension, buyer protection, zero liability for fraudulent purchases, and automatic SMS alerts for any transaction over a dollar amount of my choosing.

Cut up all your credit cards. Pay cash. Buy only what you can afford, or save up for larger items. Live within your means. Show people how your life is brilliant and happy and worry-free. Encourage everyone you know to undergo the same transformation.

I’ve never had a credit card, have been debt-free for three years and have a loving wife, a 4-year old stepson and a son on the way. No car, either.

Good for you.

I have three credit cards, three cars, and no kids and no debt. So what?

Again, being empowered to get stuff now and pay for it later doesn’t force you to live beyond your means. That is your decision, not the bank’s.

One important note — having a credit card, even if you only rarely use it and pay it off immediately each time, is a strong contributor to having a good credit score.

That’s what I always thought as well, but it’s not the case. You actually get a higher credit rating if you hold a monthly balance and pay off a good chunk of it but NOT pay off all of it.

There was an NPR piece on it a few months ago, but if this is any clue, friends of mine in the credit business routinely call people who pay off their full balance each month “deadbeats”.

You see, credit card companies don’t make money off of payments. They make money off of interest and fees and someone who screws up and pays fees and interest is actually a good customer.

It’s a sick business. And maybe the solution is simply to push the card transaction business towards the debit model. But still retaining credit for major purchases.

So if someone buys something for $500 or less, that’s debit.

$501 or more, that’s credit.

There is a need for money-less transactions. But the current model is open for abuse on many levels.

As far as the rfid thing, I can’t believe they stopped the segment. It seems ridiculous that a show which is educational could have its content blocked not for being wrong or gratuitously offensive but for telling the truth about a very real safety concern to credit card customers. Kind of makes me wonder if those credit card companies are banking on poor schmucks having to pay off ridiculous balances they didn’t actually run up, or perhaps a wave of rfid-related thefts as the technology grows more popular will make credit card companies commit slow suicide.

The banking industry has become just like its illegal competitors, the “loan sharks”. Once in a while you have no alternative but to go to one, but if you do it voluntarily, you’ve asked for the fleecing you’re going to get.

Don’t expect government to solve this problem, they rely on the same methods to pay their own bills. If government ever regulates banking, it will be to protect the crooks who run it, not to protect us from them.

In New Zealand, does the EFTPOS system warn you if your funds are low?