WTF, Zogby?

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Zogby's e-mailed surveys often seem to be a little odd to me. I signed up to weigh in on political and social issues but sometimes I'm a couple of screens into it before I realize it must have been commissioned by someone interested in marketing something about  which
 I have zero interest or information. This latest one seems eclectic to say the least.  Along with typical political questions it seems to be designed to fulfill contractual  obligations to various entities. If I had to guess I'd have to say the entities in question might be Apple, some apparel marketing firm and the Heritage Foundation. It wouldn't be Zogby if there wasn't a question that raised my blood pressure. There were, but there was one clear winner.

Last month, the President proposed raising taxes on U.S. companies who do business overseas. The higher taxes would significantly increase the operating costs that these companies must pay. This additional burden would make it even harder to compete in the global marketplace against companies based in countries where the taxes are lower and overhead costs like health care are paid for by the government. Would you support or oppose changes to the U.S. tax code that would hurt American companies trying to compete internationally? 

Push polling much? The emphasis there is mine. Support or oppose, right. And the answers are...

Yes

No

Not Sure

As in "Yes, I support or oppose it.", "No, I don't support or oppose it."  I guess "Not Sure" works with the wording of the question, but a lot of us are sure. So, it's not only push polling but the writer of the question seems to have been drunk at the time he wrote it. Keep up the fine work, guys.

One Leading Indicator Is Up

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I got the first direct mail credit offer I’ve seen in months in today’s mail. They used to come every day, but since the economy melted down – nada. So I guess that’s good news for the economy. Bad news for trees. This was from Bank of America. After hearing all the news about how BofA was planning on burning some customers and dropping others I was curious about what they were offering. This was quite the deal.

This offering was for a loan. I was invited to take advantage of my excellent credit history and help myself to up to $30,000 of Bank of America’s (taxpayers?) money. Preapproved. This doesn’t sound as if they’ve learned a lot. But you can’t beat the terms. They laid out what the payments would be based on various amounts and the length of the loan all based on 8.99%. But, there are a couple of catches. I might not be approved for 8.99%. That’s the lowest APR I can hope for but it might be higher. Also, it’s a variable rate ranging anywhere from 8.99% to 24.99%. Bank of America can adjust the rate any time at their discretion. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that sounds like I could take this loan on Monday and they could hike up the rate on Tuesday if that’s what they were in the mood to do. But wait, there’s more! If I was to fail to pay my full minimum payment or pay it late on any two occasions during a 12 month period (possibly as a result of big rise in the interest rate on a loan I couldn’t really afford to begin with) the rate goes to 27.99% and that, of course, is not variable. That one’s fixed.

So, no thanks Bank of America. I’m going to have to pass, but I’m glad to see you’re back in the business of offering credit to people on terms that are risky to the lender and borrower. It must mean the economy is on the mend. Right?

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