More September 14, 2001February 20, 2017 I know I said I’d give you a break today, but who can stop thinking about this? If only we could somehow turn back time. To begin with, thanks to the dozen of you who sent the following TV editorial, broadcast from Toronto by the late Canadian television commentator Gordon Sinclair at the time of our pull-out from Vietnam in 1973. Almost everyone must have seen it by now, but for anyone who hasn’t: This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it. When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans. I’d like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don’t they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon – not once, but several times – and safely home again. You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here. When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don’t think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake. Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I’m one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those.” Robert Johnston: ‘When barbarians are at the gate ‘love, good works, good will’ doesn’t work. Think Hitler. As I recall, a few missiles lobbed into Syria certainly calmed them down.’ ☞ I’m all for striking back at the perpetrators and their abettors in the short run. But I’m also for love, good works and good will in the long run. Think the Marshall Plan. Bill: ‘I don’t care a whit about trying to understand the feelings of people in the world who ‘don’t feel heard.” ☞ I disagree. If only to fight the enemy better, we should try to understand him. ‘If and when we identify those responsible [Bill continues], I think the point needs to be made sharply that if people engage in these acts against humanity, they and those who harbor them will be squashed like the cockroaches they are.’ ☞ I agree – although I would characterize people brainwashed by religion more as lemmings than cockroaches. Someone who knowingly inculcates in someone else a belief he cynically does not share, to gain wealth or power, is a cockroach. Worse than a cockroach. But I would characterize suicide bombers who actually think they are doing God’s work as tragically, tragically misguided – think Jonestown – not as cockroaches. Jonathan Betz: ‘I keep hearing everyone say ‘you can’t stop a suicide attack,’ and I’m sick of it. If it turns out that the hijackers were operatives of Osama bin Laden, trained in Afghanistan to carry out acts of terrorism in the U.S., there is a simple solution. For as long as Afghanistan supports terrorism, for as long as it refuses to follow the standards of the civilized world, we, the entire civilized world, simply exclude it. Block all travel in and out of the country. Block all communication with anyone in the country. Block all commerce with other nations. Make it a black hole in the world’s eye. If Pakistan, Iran, or Iraq try to support Afghanistan, providing aid in communication or travel, add them to the black-out. Make them cease to exist for the rest of the world. Then we’ll find out how much Afghanistan wants to harbor a murderer. We don’t have to bomb anyone, we don’t have to directly kill innocent civilians. We only have to make it so that these ferocious killers can never reach their targets. In the future, let any country that chooses to support terrorists have this example to judge by – knowing that supporting terrorism will engender their complete exclusion from the world community.’ Robert Rogers: ‘With all these negative feelings, perhaps there is one, small positive one. Our governments (local, state and national) have acted superbly through this. From those Firemen and Police, who risked everything in their rescue attempts, to the Federal investigators who moved so swiftly to track down the perpetrators, our governments have given us much of which to be proud. Even at the Congressional level, we have seen our representatives do what we always hoped they would – put aside the bickering and address the needs of the country. Indeed, we have been brought together in a way that the terrorists never expected. We must grieve and mourn, and eventually resume our lives. Let us hope that we can set aside our justifiable thirst for quick revenge and employ a balanced, patient perspective to bring these terrorists to a proper end.’ Doug Buhrer: ‘Kill, kill and kill some more. It doesn’t much matter if the killed are innocent or guilty, directly involved or innocent bystanders. Symbolism is all that matters at this point. Pretending we’re civilized and above retribution won’t help. It won’t make the terrorists love us any better. Fear is a pretty good motivator, and maybe it will inspire countries who harbor terrorists to think otherwise in the future. That is, the countries we haven’t already blown off the face of the map. Thanks for letting me vent!’ Alan: ‘We must respond and respond strongly. There is no doubt of that. Unfortunately, I can offer no alternative. But I’m worried about President Bush and others in his administration promising ‘victory’ in this ‘war.’ A strong response of the kind he is hinting at is not likely to end attacks of terror, but instigate them. Israel hunted down and killed most of the terrorists from the ’72 Olympics; they have carried out countless retalitory attacks; they have carried out many assassinations of terrorist leaders; they have fought several major wars, and countless skirmishes. Have they won? With all the talk of patriotism, I wonder what we will be like after the war, as in Israel, has been going on for 50 years rather than 50 hours.’ Don Trivette: ‘I have a solution to the terrorist problem. Why not seal the pilots in the cockpit with no door to the passengers? The pilots would have their own outside hatch, head, and a pass-thru drawer for chow. Then no matter what took place in the passenger compartment the pilots would be in control of the aircraft. There could be no hijackings. Terrorists might kill all the passengers, but the plane would land normally. Or they might blow up the plane, but that’s a far cry from killing 10,000 people on the ground. One step more: some sort of gas system that would put everyone in the passenger compartment to sleep in the event of an incident. A few passengers might die from the gas, but that’s a chance they would take to fly. Why not design and retro-fit planes so that takeover is physically impossible?’ Kate: ‘In at least two subway systems I know, the driver is locked into his/her little booth, completely inaccessible to the passengers. They even have their own door to get into the train. I say make the ‘passenger tender’ a more serious job – trained cops, perhaps (forget handing out the peanuts), who have the authority to take charge of any passenger related situation.’ Will: ‘The letter on your site Thursday, written by an Arab, was one of the worst things I’ve ever read here. Agreed that different points of view should be considered, but this person’s is not one of the first.’ Tommy Pluhar: ‘I have friends in the Pentagon who are scared that this administration will make a rash, premature decision on how to respond. And no, they’re not all Democrats. In my e-mail dialogues with people, I have heard that some not only want Bin Laden assassinated, but Afghanistan’s Taliban, Syria’s Assad, Libya’s Ghadaffi, and Iraq’s Hussein done away with as well. They want their power circle eliminated and their countries forcibly democratized. Lastly, it has been proposed that Arafat be taken out of power. The grossly ignored fact is that the second we bomb any of these leaders – because, as our President has correctly pointed out, many terrorists within their states have no respect for the sanctity of human life – someone, somewhere, will unleash nuclear bombs. SO EVERYBODY SLOW DOWN. ‘All this passion is growing and it is unchecked by some scary, cold hard facts. Pockets of power in the Mid-East have nuclear warheads. They are for sale all over the world. Personality-wise, all the aforementioned leaders are tyrannical megalomaniacs who will put their fiercely-earned hierarchy above their conscience. Additionally, no one seems to understand that God-knows-who is God-knows-where, cooking up germ warfare in some makeshift kitchen, ready to spread, say, anthrax, on a bunch of large American cities. Millions of innocents will die if we bomb those not directly involved. There are too many variables to react rashly. It [could] all spiral out of control. ‘We must ferret out the perpetrators without causing widespread events that will lead to our own demise. We must garner the support of all the Arab nations to do this. We must all work together. To their credit, it looks like the administration is working hard to get all the Arab governments to assist in the hunt for Bin Laden’s cells, here (yes, many are still in this country), and abroad. ‘I am not justifying what happened. I am asking people to educate themselves on both sides of the conflict. In order to gain the support of the Arab governments, we have to find common ground and a common cause. And in order to do that, we must understand them. Most Muslims are just as horrified by these acts as we are. Muslim friends of mine have stressed that the Koran does not encourage in anyway whatsoever this kind of violence. Believe that the vast majority of ethnically Arab, Muslim people, here and there, condemn these terrorist events.’ Steve Lambert: ‘Wondering if there might be any local word about the folks at GFN.com (Gay Financial Network), whose offices are close to the WTC. They’re ‘off the air,’ which, of course, could simply be due to having no power. Let’s hope that’s it.’ ☞ Thankfully, they are fine. GFN founder Walter Schubert went outside to see what had happened – a small plane had accidentally crashed into the WTC next door, he thought – just as the second plane hit. He ran for his life, and made it. Not sure when GFN will be back up.
Now What? September 13, 2001February 20, 2017 The wind has shifted. We smell the smoke. One of our friends was at an early morning meeting on a high floor of the World Trade Center and has not been heard from since. Another friend works in the building next door and ran out to see what was happening. He was standing beside the second building as the second plane made impact, and ran for his life – successfully. A friend of a friend called his family from the World Trade Center to say he was trapped . . . and to say good-bye. The stories have begun to trickle in. The last time I was on a high floor of the Trade Center was for a New York City Department of Finance Tax Audit. Despite the way his department tormented me, my auditor and I came to like each other. I fear he may be among the dead. My friend Joe Andrew, chairman of the Democratic National Committee until earlier this year, had seat 6C on American Airlines Flight 77 from Washington Dulles to LAX. A meeting cancellation caused him to switch to an afternoon flight. A pilot on the flight Joe narrowly missed taking, a member of the National Gay Pilots Association, was a friend of a friend. One Liberty Plaza – an enormous, landmark skyscraper, may collapse. We are waiting to see. As I write this, they’ve just evacuated the Empire State Building. I assume it’s just a bomb scare that will turn out to be a false alarm, but I don’t dismiss it quite the way I once would have. Our wonderful maid (once a week! on the books!) has been waiting for years to coax her mother, who had never left Peru, never flown, to come visit New York. She was always afraid to come, but finally arrived for a week on Saturday. What must she be thinking? * The stock market will not be open until Friday earliest, Monday latest. My guess: Monday. So what will happen? A 6% or 7% decline as in Japan? Not so bad? Worse? Holly P: ‘I saw this idea today and think it is a good one. If you think so too, do it and pass it along. No doubt you have heard dire predictions about the financial devastation that will occur when the US stock market re-opens. This will be a second devastating attack on America if we allow it to happen. We DON’T have to allow it to happen. Here’s what YOU can do to help prevent it… When the markets re-open, in a show of support and solidarity, BUY at least one share of stock in a U.S. company. Open your minds to imagine what a SLAP in the face of terrorism it would be if the American markets actually RISE instead of PLUNGE when they re-open! Can you think of a STRONGER message we could send to those who would seek to destroy our way of life? We do NOT have to be the VICTIMS of the US stock market like we were the victims of four hijacked planes. WE are at the controls of our stock market and WE can determine its course. People by the hundreds of thousands are lining up to donate one pint of blood. Think of the effect we can have if we line up in the same way to “donate” to the American economy! For very little money you can DO something to show would-be terrorists that they will NOT win.’ ☞ It’s a nice idea, but the market will seek, and should be allowed to find, its own notion of sensible value. Pitching in to stop a decline is not practical. Trading the first day will likely top 2 billion shares. If 1 million people responded to this e-mail and bought ten shares each, not one, that would be less than half of one percent of the volume. Nothing. And in my experience, a million people do not respond to e-mails like this. (On the other hand, I do hope the SEC imposes a brief moratorium on short-selling.) Even before this horrific tragedy, the market, by many traditional measures, was overpriced – the Dow was 6500 five years ago when Secretary Rubin and Fed Chairman Greenspan worried it was dangerously overvalued. So instead of buying at the opening in an attempt to send the terrorists a message, one might be equally patriotic placing “limit orders” for stocks at prices, say, 20% below the market, instead. With luck, the market won’t drop that much, in part because a flood of such orders will have provided a “cushion,” and some psychological underpinning. If you do get the stock, your patriotism will have cost a lot less. This event itself does not deserve to deflate the stock market by trillions of dollars. It’s actual cost – or tangible cost, anyway, all in – may well be under $100 billion, which is more like a 1% hiccup, a 96-point drop in the Dow. The psychological damage is greater, but, with a bit of luck, may not prove long-lasting. So if you can snag stocks at 20% off, you could wind up doing pretty well. Note – while we are searching for bargains – that Japan’s Nikkei Dow is now at essentially the same level (9620) as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (9606). The Nikkei has not been this low in 18 years, and is less than one-fourth its high nearly 12 years ago, while the Dow, in that same time frame, has quadrupled. That is a sixteen-fold shift in relative values . . . much of it deserved – the Nikkei was preposterously overvalued at 40,000 – but it is a shift that has perhaps now run its course, or perhaps even gone too far. (The problem is that both indexes could have further to fall.) The goal of these thoughts is not to panic you. Far from it. If the Dow should open 2,000 points lower – 20% – and I don’t expect it – just remember two things. First, if you’re in it for the long haul: good. You might be able to pick up some shares on sale. Second, it could end the day, or the year, close to where it started. The all-time worst drop in the Dow Jones, 22.6% on October 19, 1987, left the index at 1738. You could have done a lot worse than to buy and hold it after that drop. * Tuesday morning I wrote: In the long run, America must win its security as much with love, good works and good will as with overwhelming force and impregnable missile shields. Bill Dunbar: ‘I vote for overwhelming force and impregnable missile shields.’ Well, we have overwhelming force, but that may not be enough because I’m not sure there can be such a thing as an impregnable defense against terrorism. One of the scarier e-mails I got yesterday was from a very well-meaning Christian exhorting his e-mail list to recognize that this is a Holy War we are in, that it is ‘the end days,’ as foretold, and that – good news! – he has read the last chapter and ‘we win.’ Somehow, this did not fill me with confidence. I found this forwarded e-mail, originated by someone named Sharif M. Abdullah, to be more logical. I’m not saying I agree with every word of it, and I recognize it will not win Bill Dunbar’s vote. It doesn’t entirely win mine, either. But in it you may find some thoughts to consider. Take those and discard the rest. (Sorry this has been such a long column. I won’t write one tomorrow, so you can amortize the time over both.) OUR WAR WITH “THE OTHER” Prayers for the Departed; Compassion for the Injured: First, I think all of us should take a break from the television and radio broadcasts, light a candle and say a few prayers: First, for our friends, families, loved ones, business associates, travel companions and others who have departed in these attacks – our prayers on the rest of their journey. Next, those of us who have been injured – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually – our compassion and prayers for healing. For the rest of us I hope that our compassion and understanding exceeds our fear, our anger and our desire for revenge. Chickens Coming Home to Roost: There are some very, very angry people out there in the world. Part of their anger is in not being heard. People who do not feel heard will do ANYTHING to get one’s attention. Some of those angry people live here in the US; some are in other parts of the world. Some look and act just like you. In general, Americans have no idea that such anger exists. It’s not that people aren’t screaming at you, it’s that you’re programmed not to see or hear them. Or, if you do hear them, you think they are saying something other than “I am angry at you”. Or, you hear the anger yet ignore it – these people can’t possibly hurt you in your middle-class, gated community, your gated lives. “We” feel “protected” by our “security.” The US government has ignored these angry people, calling ANY attack against the US or its interests “unprovoked”. The United States, directly and indirectly, supports violence throughout the world. Denying it won’t make this truth go away. We seem unable to understand the anger of someone who had their village leveled by American cruise missiles, or whose family was killed by a US-backed government. Believe me, they are angry and they feel powerless. Anger and powerlessness are the root of violence. Culture and Consciousness: A few years ago, when I was in the Sri Lanka war zone, we passed two young men who were acting in a way that I believed was consistent with Tamil Tiger attack spotters. I mentioned this to my Sinhalese companion, who said, “That’s impossible; those boys are Sinhalese.” I asked him, “Is it possible for a Sinhala person to be in sympathy with the Tigers?” He looked at me as though my head had jumped off my shoulders and flew around the room. Like the Oklahoma City bombing, the first (and predominant) thought is that the perpetrators are Islamic fundamentalists, America’s favorite “Other.” We are programmed to not hear or understand them. Americans were in “shock” when the “foreign terrorist” turned out to be blue-eyed Timothy McVeigh. Let’s not rush to see “the Other” as in any way different from yourself. The people who steered those planes aren’t “crazy, cowardly fanatics.” [Well, that’s at least debatable! – A.T.] They are people whose spiritual emptiness and frustration led them to commit these acts. Let’s not think that their emptiness is any different from our own. Forgiveness and Weakness: We may find it difficult to forgive, because many of us equate forgiveness with weakness. In the face of attack, we want to attack back. We want to find the perpetrators and make them hurt, the way that we are hurting. We believe its the only way we can relieve our pain. We have to find another way. Many of us have been talking about a change of consciousness. Many of us think that it is THE OTHER who must change; it is THE OTHER who must change their consciousness. They point to their favorite “Other”; people of different ethnicity, class or power status. It’s not “the Other” who must change first – its “us.” [I’m not sure it’s us; at the very least, it’s both. – A.T.] Beefing Security and Preventing Terrorism: There is no way to stop a coordinated suicide attack. I repeat: there is NO WAY to stop a suicide attack. The suicide attackers in Sri Lanka, in the Middle East, and now in the US have a way of making their point, with ever increasing accuracy and deadliness. The ONLY way to prevent such an attack occurring in the future is to de-fuse the attacker before the attack begins. We must work to remove the ROOT CAUSES that drive the suicide attacker. Our intelligence must be geared toward identification, understanding and transformation, not technology and retribution. We clearly have the capacity to punish: so far, that punishment has given us ever-escalating rounds of violence and terror. We must generate a much greater capacity to transform “the Other”. We cannot do this without the capacity to transform ourselves. Peace, Sharif It’s a point of view. And we owe it to the dead to consider all points of view, searching for the best path out of this awful mess. It may be that the best path involves both devastating retribution for what has happened and a change in the way we approach the future. I don’t claim to know, nor do I envy the President and his team the job of figuring it out.
No Words September 12, 2001February 20, 2017 The only thing I can think of to say right now is that, yes, we must find and bring the perpetrators to justice, one way or another. Without question. But in the long run, America must win its security as much with love, good works and good will as with overwhelming force and impregnable missile shields. And that religious zeal is a scary, scary thing. Be well. Don’t eat up too much dial tone. 800-GIVE-LIFE for blood donation appointments with the American Red Cross (redcross.org)
No Words September 11, 2001March 25, 2012 The only thing I can think of to say right now is that, yes, we must find and bring the perpetrators to justice, one way or another. Without question. But in the long run, America must win its security as much with love, good works and good will as with overwhelming force and impregnable missile shields. And that religious zeal is a scary, scary thing. Be well. Don’t eat up too much dial tone.
Good Deal (Updated) Where There's a Will, There's $10 Off September 10, 2001February 20, 2017 Some of you may have seen an article in yesterday’s PARADE suggesting that you visit nolo.com to buy Quicken Lawyer 2002 (as Nolo Willmaker has recently been recast). This software can help you write a will or a living will, prepare a durable power of attorney – even set up a living trust and/or a by-pass trust, draft a pet-care agreement, get your kid excused from gym and engineer a small international merger. (Well, maybe not those last two.) Better still, it explains what these things are, and why you might want to have some of them. At nolo.com the package is a rather modest $41.97, discounted from the official $69.95 list price. But if you wait a day or three, you can get a further $10 off. Just enter the word PARADE in the ‘coupon code’ field as you check out, or give it to the customer service rep if you prefer to order by phone (800-992-6656). Three things to explain here: First, neither PARADE nor I have even the slightest financial stake in this. If I were smart, I’d have figured some way to get all those ten-dollarses for myself, but the best I could come up with was getting them for you. (I am still kicking myself.) Second, it probably won’t work today, because I asked Nolo to activate this on Sunday, September 12, not realizing that Sunday, September 12, fell on September 9 this year. (Don’t ask.) But waiting a couple of days to save ten bucks is the kind of patience even I can summon. Third, if you are that rare PARADE reader who already bought the software, please don’t lose any sleep over this foregone $10, let alone drive Nolo crazy trying to get it. Just repeat after me: ‘Easy come, easy go.’ I promise you will be very pleased, even at $41.97. If not, Nolo boasts an unconditional money-back guarantee. PS – No, PARADE doesn’t post its articles on-line. If your Sunday paper doesn’t carry PARADE, I would move to a town with a paper that does. And this just in . . . John Bakke: ‘Good tip on Quicken Lawyer. But you can get it just as easily from buy.com for 28 cents less: click here. Shipping charges are about the same, and buy.com standard shipping never takes 1-2 weeks (at least not to NYC), as Nolo says its shipping does. Plus, if you order at buy.com via ebates (www.ebates.com) you get 2% cash back on the purchase. Yes, I realize that’s only $0.60 or so, but it adds up eventually. I’ve had $112 back via ebates on various purchases over the past year. Either way, as someone without a will (the legal kind, not personal resolve) I think I’ll put off procrastinating and order it this week.’ Tomorrow: Bad Deal Wednesday: More on How You Pay Your Bills
Starting a New Business? September 7, 2001February 20, 2017 James Janakat: ‘The book that Jerry didn’t return to the library was Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller.’ Adam: ‘I am looking into starting my own business (Vending Machines). I was wondering if you know of any books that I can get that would help me towards developing a business model. Maybe one of the “For Dummies” books to give me a run through of business models plus a business law book to go over it laws and regulations dealing with partnerships for example. I just want to make sure I track everything and analyze everything angle that I possibly can. Thank you in advance for your help!’ ☞ I’m sure there are some books closer to what you’re after (and that some of our good readers will suggest them), but in the meantime, I commend to you my friend Terry Allen’s new book, No Cash, No Fear: Entrepreneurial Secrets to Starting Any Business with No Money. It is enormous fun to read about his exploits – he started his first business, selling worms, at six and now, 20 businesses later, gives $1,000 a day to charity. You might even pick up a tip or two. Speaking of which, Terry has a web site that could be helpful to someone just starting out. For example, his ‘tip #3 – incorporate’ leads you to a site that will get you set up as a corporation or a Limited Liability Company (probably better for your purposes) and provide some of the guidance you might need. Terry gets a cut from the various tips on his web site, including, somehow, I imagine, the free business cards he’s wangled for you in Tip #8. But I find his enthusiasm and good will infectious. For the legal side of your question, check out Nolo.com. Rob Sartain: ‘I’m shocked, shocked to read that you’d suggest checking out a service (PayTrust) that charges a $1.00 fee to process a bill payment. Such advice seems contrary to the frugal advice in TOIGYEN, where you urge bulk buying of commodities and other penny-pinching tips. Heck, even avoid the $0.34 postage cost of bill-paying by getting a good on-line bank that doesn’t charge a fee to process a bill payment for its customers. First Internet Bank of Indiana is one. Well, I’m telling you this all tongue-in-cheek, of course, but really . . . why should we pay a fee for the privilege of paying a bill?’ ☞ Why indeed! The answer is that for some people, convenience and ‘features’ trump cost. But that’s what the demos are for. If it makes you feel any better (it makes ME feel better), the new suit I wore last night, in a room surrounded by $700 and $1,900 suits, cost $225. So, I haven’t entirely lost my mind.
PayTrust And More Used-Book Feedback September 6, 2001February 20, 2017 PAYTRUST How do you pay your bills? I still use CheckFree, because it still works with Version 12 of Managing Your Money, a program so old there can’t be more than 6 of us still using it (well, maybe 6,000), and so good I won’t stop using it until Bill Gates wrests the thing from my tightly clenched fist. But if I used Quicken or Microsoft Money, I would seriously consider switching to PayTrust. It’s not the cheapest way to pay your bills – they charge 50 cents to receive a bill and another 50 cents to pay it. And I’d be a little nervous about changing all my billing addresses to their billing address. But check out their web site and take the demo. There would appear to be a lot to like. MORE USED-BOOK FEEDBACK David Lazar: ‘Before everyone gets all weak in the knees about half.com, I thought I would chime in and tell your readers that of the 7 items that I attempted to purchase through their Website, 4 arrived and were the wrong item. In order to get a refund, I had to go through considerable inconvenience and in one case was denied reimbursement for reasons that were never made clear. I have given up on half.com and would find it hard to believe that I’m the only one who was wholly dissatisfied with their service.’ Jonathan Hochman: ‘Those frugal people who want to buy used books instead of new should see whether their public library has an online card catalog. Ours does, so we can almost always locate a desired book at a nearby library. Borrowing books also frees up valuable bookshelf space so we are less tempted to buy a large new house with an oversized reading room.’ ☞ Ah, but what about the travel cost and, especially, the time? (Not to mention the terrible trouble Jerry got into for not returning that library book – it wasn’t Catcher in the Rye, but something like that.) ‘And before authors complain about used books, they should think about economics. Printing costs are the enemy of authors. The public is only going to spend a certain fraction of its income on books. If libraries and used book trading become more popular, then people will probably spend the same or more, because books would be a better value. When I can find 80% of the books I want at the library, then I have more to spend on the other 20% I buy (and donate to the library afterwards). When a book buyer can resell, she is more likely to buy a book than spend the money on a trip to the movie theatre. As book revenues go up faster than printing costs, authors and publishers earn more! What matters most are profits, not revenues. Efficiency is good for profits. ☞ I like this idea. I’m a fan of audible.com, and, provided they don’t go broke, my audio purchases will be in a virtual library just a few clicks away – forever. Wouldn’t mind the same thing with inexpensive eBooks. Although a physical book, especially when it’s one you care about, will always have advantages. Val Lambson: ‘It is not obvious that the market for used books hurts authors. Readers who know they can sell a book when they are through with it may be willing to pay a higher price for it.’ Rob Meehan: ‘21northmain.com is also a great site. It’s a lot like the site that Michael Burns spoke about yesterday, abebooks.com, in that it’s a matchmaker for small mom and pop bookstores around the world. It’s a great way for these smaller bookstores to compete with the big guns like Amazon. I’ve used them quite a few times and I love them.’ Kathryn Lance: ‘First, thanks for printing my response re Amazon’s used-book button. Second, I realize you did not recommend Next Card, but your reader who did has obviously not yet had the problems of some of us who fell for the pitch. I am a person who always pays off credit cards in full. One month last spring I cancelled something I had ordered through Next Card. Unbeknownst to me, the company I bought the item from refunded $5 less than the full amount. Next Card hit me with a late fee of $29(!) plus interest for the full amount. I was on the phone a lot after that, and wrote a number of letters, explaining what had happened. I also paid the extra $5 and cancelled my card. They continue to dun me, adding $29 each month to the bill I supposedly owe. It’s now up to around $200. Their total lack of responsiveness to repeated phone calls and letters is distressing, to say the least. One of the men I spoke to threatened that they would ruin my credit, but I don’t think they can do that.’ Michael Young: ‘Thanks for printing Dan Nachbar’s comment on Amazon’s One-Click. Their enforcement of this meritless patent is just reprehensible. Dan, and the links he gave, explain this better than I would have. Still, in all fairness, I should point out that [Amazon founder] Jeff Bezos is one of the founders of BountyQuest, an organization that offers rewards for finding prior art that might invalidate specific dubious patents. The Amazon one-click patent was one of their targets, and Tim O’Reilly (another BQ founder) recently paid a reward on three near-hits. I don’t think this excuses Amazon’s behavior, and I still don’t do business with them, but it is better than nothing. ‘I don’t really need a second reason to boycott Amazon, but if I did, it would be their abrupt change in privacy policy last year. I have no problem with a company changing policy for new data that they collect, or even asking at the next opportunity if I would accept a change. Applying a serious change retroactively with a short ‘opt-out’ period is completely unacceptable.’ ☞ I take your point, but I think Amazon has done a lot more good than evil.
What Bibliophiles You Are! September 5, 2001February 20, 2017 Thanks for all your feedback: Muriel Horacek: ‘I ordered wildlife artist Robert Bateman’s book An Artist in Nature from Amazon as a ‘used’ book (original price $60, ‘used’ price $24.95). But when I received it, I realized it was actually a new book. I promptly ordered several more to give as gifts to friends.’ Paul Jakubowski: ‘One of Amazon’s used-book vendors is an outfit called Tartan Books. They sell brand NEW books that are ‘remainders’ of best sellers. So if you can wait until just before a hardback goes into paperback, you can get a $25 book for three bucks. You can buy one book up to a whole pallet of books that they choose for you. You can deal with them through Amazon, or directly. Check them out.’ Paul Langley: ‘I have used Amazon to buy used books, CDs and the like for several months now, and even sold over $1,000 worth of my own used stuff and have a 4.9 Seller Rating. BUT there’s even someplace better to do this (as I’m sure a zillion of your readers will probably write to tell you) and that’s half.com. They handle the whole thing for you just like Amazon. They don’t have One Click, but they do have something very similar called ‘Speedy Checkout.’ The shipping is cheaper too: $2.30 for a paperback or CD and $2.99 for a hardcover for Media Mail vs. $3.49 on Amazon. (Most of the sellers on half.com also offer $4.55 Priority Mail delivery.) ‘You are also apt to find cheaper prices at half.com because their commission is cheaper than Amazon (the same 15% of sale plus a cut of the postage, but Amazon also takes 99 cents per item). So to just make a penny on an item that Aunt Sally gave you – and that you hated – you have to charge $1.18 on Amazon, whereas on half.com you could in theory sell it for 2 cents and make a penny (there is however a rule that requires a minimum price of 75 cents). In reality what all this means is that items cost at least a $1 more on Amazon plus more for postage too. I’ve sold about $2000 worth of stuff at half.com where I have a 5.0 Seller Rating. ‘And lest you think that half.com is a fly-by-night, they are owned by eBay (ever heard of them?). Check them out.’ Jacki Stirn: ‘While I’m not selling books from a blanket outside B&N, I have sold used books through Amazon. I had a buyer who wanted faster shipping and emailed me. I sent the book priority mail, emailed him with the additional cost and he sent me a check. It turned out to be pretty easy all around. While I also sell though half.com and they do allow buyers to specify faster shipping, I usually get better prices for my books selling through Amazon.’ Kathryn Lance: ‘Oh, gosh, as a member of ASJA (American Society of Journalists and Authors, the premier organization for nonfiction writers), I must protest the way Amazon pushes the used copies right next to the links to the new copies of books. As someone who makes her entire living through writing books, I don’t want to see someone buying a used copy of a book of mine that was just published. ASJA is currently negotiating with Amazon to get them to at least move the button advertising used books.’ Dickson Pratt: ‘Another reason to like Amazon is the Amazon edition of the Nextcard Visa. The current version pays 1% back in Amazon gift certificates for regular purchases and 3% back for Amazon purchases. [The previous version, which I have, pays 2% and 6% respectively; the higher rates appear to be grandfathered for now.] And, like many cards, Nextcard can be paid on-line; no fussing with stamps and checks. I recently used the card to buy a bunch of Series I Savings Bonds – 2% rebate, well over a month float on the card, what a deal!’ Paul O’Donnell: ‘Used books are also available at barnesandnoble.com.’ Michael Burns: ‘If you really get into used books in a big way, especially really old books, the major site used by library (or people like me who buy thousands of dollars each year of technical books), is the Advanced Book Exchange (abebooks.com). Basically, they are a match-maker for used bookstores around the world. ABE will usually give you the option of handling the credit card transaction through them, or dealing with the specific bookstore directly.’ Dan Nachbar: ‘I too love Amazon’s features. But you should know that it is no accident that one-click is rarely found elsewhere. In fact, there is an ongoing boycott of Amazon within the computer community in response to Amazon’s irresponsible efforts monopolize one-click shopping. ‘The short version of the story is that through pure luck (really) Amazon was granted a patent for ‘one-click’ shopping. In fact, Amazon absolutely did not invent ‘one-click’ shopping. They have an excellent implementation, but they were not original. (I can explain why people are getting patents these days for things they don’t invent if you wish, but ask any computer person and they’ll confirm the fact.) ‘Unfortunately, many such mistakes have been made by the patent office. Most companies that are granted a bogus patents typically just file them away as ‘insurance.’ Sadly, Amazon has chosen to chase around other sites that also have one-click shopping and force them to remove the feature or pay tribute. While everyone knows Amazon can’t possibly enforce their patent in the end, Amazon has succeeded in making people take one-click shopping off their sites because most companies can’t afford an expensive patent court battle. ‘Please reconsider your unbridled endorsement of a company that is engaging in this sort of thuggery. Amazon’s actions are bad for consumers (it keeps a very useful feature from being widely implemented) and are an irresponsible assault on intellectual freedom. For an eloquent discussion about the intellectual freedom issue, click here.’ Joe Devney: ‘In your column today you praised Amazon’s ‘buy this book used’ feature as a consumer. If you put on your author’s hat, things might look different. Suppose I recommend your last book to my brother, and he goes to the Amazon Web site ready to buy it. This is good news for you as the author. But when he tries to order the book, Amazon encourages him to buy a used copy to save even more money. This is bad news for you as the author. The book is cheaper used partly because there is no need to pay an author’s royalty – you get nothing from the sale. Amazon’s policy of steering people who are ready and willing to buy the new book to the used market is a disservice to authors.’ ☞ Yes, but we make it up on subscriptions to our web sites.
WHO KNEW? An Important Money-Saving Tip September 3, 2001February 20, 2017 But first this shocking, copyrighted, exclusive BREAKING NEWS the Borowitz Report: Average Age of Bronx Little League Players Is 35, Officials Say — Pint-sized Horsehide Champs Have 2nd Wives, Mortgages Red-faced Little League officials revealed today that the members of the champion Bronx Little League baseball team are much older than originally thought, with an average age of 35, and with several players well over the age of 40. Officials began to suspect that the Bronx team was considerably older than the league-mandated cut-off age of twelve when they noticed that the players were driving themselves to and from game, as well as taking time out to vote and serve on juries. “What is becoming clear to us,” said one Little League official, “is that the players on the Bronx team aren’t twelve, they’re just real short.” One Bronx Little Leaguer, Jason Burton, 37, defended the right of older members of the team to play in Little League games. “Hey, people should be giving us credit for getting out on the field at our age,” said Burton, a paralegal and divorced father of three who plays shortstop for the Bronx team. “I’ve got a bum knee and a bad back, but you don’t see me bitching about it. I’m busting my ass out there.” The team’s center fielder, Buck Hartnett, 42, agreed. “I don’t think age should be a factor,” said Hartnett, a Gulf War veteran. “I’m just going out every day and trying to be the best goddam Little Leaguer I can.” The controversy about the age of the Bronx players came amid revelations this weekend that the median age of the cast of “Friends” was 47, and that the members of the “boy band” ‘N Sync were well over 50. BOOKMARK THE SITE: http://www.borowitzreport.com And now, that little piece of business out of the way, on to the Amazon: I consider myself pretty Amazon savvy – one of its first enthusiastic customers . . . one of the many authors to obsess over his hourly Amazon ranking (hey! what a good time for you to pre-order the new edition of my book! They say it will ship in January, but I wouldn’t be amazed if it actually arrived before Christmas) . . . one of the first to beg Dorothy to take her gains in its I-thought-then-wildly-overpriced stock. I love Amazon! I live for its one-click feature. And yet I didn’t know what I’m about to tell you, and perhaps you didn’t realize it, either. Quite a while back, I started noticing that Amazon generally offered links to buy USED copies of whatever book or video you were interested in. I turned up my nose and, all these months, paid no further notice. It’s not that I require a shrink-wrapped never-before-viewed copy of The Insider (that video I recommended Friday). Rather, it’s the hassle. I figured, to save $5 or $10, do I really want to start e-mailing some stranger 1500 miles away and handwrite and hand-address a check or start with the Pay Pal stuff and . . . well, One-Click is phenomenal, and I love Amazon’s reliability. So guess what? Someone finally explained to me, and I then went and confirmed for myself: One-Click convenience still works! Amazon routes the order to the vendor (which is often a bookstore or videostore, not necessarily a homeless person selling books on a blanket outside Barnes & Noble) and handles all the payment stuff itself. The one definite drawback, is that there seems to be no way to pay more for faster shipping. The used books go snail mail by what the Post Office formerly called its ‘book rate,’ which Amazon warns typically takes 4 to 14 days, and can take even longer. Still, you’ve waited this long to see ‘The Insider,’ what’s another couple of weeks? Why pay $14 when you can pay $5.25? Plus, at least in my case, there’s something nice about Postal Delivery. Sure it can be slow. But it’s easy. When Amazon sends me a book via UPS, there is first the interruption when the UPS man’s arrival is announced . . . wait, wait, wait while he gets upstairs after visiting 13 other people in the building . . . and then the interruption when he comes and gets my signature. Which is a lot of fanfare for a $5.25 used copy of ‘The Insider.’ In short, one more reason to love Amazon, and one more way to live frugally in case the stock market doesn’t come roaring back.