| 10 Tips: Beat 'Gotcha Capitalism'
For nearly two and a half years, msnbc.com writer Bob Sullivan has been exposing scams and sneakiness through his blog, The Red Tape Chronicles. Based on his investigative reporting, Bob has written a book, “Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day – and What You Can Do About It." Bob's book highlights the machinations of a system that is rigged to make most consumers throw up their hands and simply give up. After all, who has the time to wade through an avalanche of fine print and decipher all the incomprehensible fees on their cell-phone bills, credit-card bills, cable bills, hotel bills, retirement plans, gym memberships, bank statements, mortgages and student loans? .
No spin needed on desperation for residency
A Bangladeshi student I saw recently attempted suicide after failing to pay his tuition fees. On closer questioning it turned out his parents had sold off almost all their land and taken out a sizeable loan from a moneylender at an extortionate rate. They were banking their future upon him completing his degree in Australia and gaining permanent residency. As if to underline the depths of his despair, he showed me a picture of him dressed up as Santa Claus to advertise a suburban car wash business. It was one of his three part-time jobs. His situation is hardly out of the ordinary. While there are overseas students from wealthy families and developed countries, the bulk are from households of moderate means, usually from Asia. As someone born in Bangladesh, but raised in Australia, I often feel like an unelected representative of the Third World.
Roughneck, Bruised Head
Chantal Desharnais is no stranger to the outdoors or manual labour. Still, the 24-year-old Quebecker, who had previously worked in construction and spent a summer living on the banks of a B.C. river picking fruit for income had reservations about going to Calgary to work in the natural gas industry for the summer. But it was the moral dilemma of working in an industry she has ethical disagreements with, not the physical labour, she was concerned with, says the student in international relations at the Université du Québec à Montréal. As many before her, though, the lucrative work provided an opportunity to make enough money over the summer to cover her tuition fees and help with student loan debts. But while she says she was prepared for the physical rigour of the work, she never expected the sexism she would face–or the serious injuries she would sustain.
January 2003
Bob Graham, the man who wants to be the next American president, is hellbent on driving hundreds families from their homes in the Everglades. Henry Lamb tells you why
Sustaining socialism: Sustainable development is nothing but socialism in disguise, says Tom DeWeese, and one of the greatest threats to your liberty
Canada's socialist "third party": The NDP's influence in Canada: It's a popular notion in Canada that the socialist New Democratic Party is irrelevant in Canadian politics. Mark Wegierski says that's hardly the case
The hidden heroes: America's soldiers may soon be off to war and that takes a terrible toll on their families. Joyce Mucci reviews Heroes at Home: Help and Hope for America's Military Families, a book which helps them cope those long absences
Making the case for regime change in Iraq: Carol Devine-Molin believes that there isn't much of an argument for continuing to allow Saddam Hussein to remain in power
Drill in ANWR, don't help terrorists: If leftists are equating the driving of SUVs with terrorism then importing oil from Saudi Arabia can't be that much better.
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