Who Is Looking Out for You?

Back in 2005, I quoted some words from Alton Brown that he had posted on a previous incarnation of his blog:

Ronald McDonald doesn’t give a damn about you. Neither does that little minx Wendy or any of the other icons of drivethroughdom. And you know what, they’re not supposed to. They’re businesses doing what businesses do. They don’t love you.

Remember these words. Burn them on your mind. They capture an essential truth in the world today — corporations are not working in the interest of their customers; they are working to maximize profits for their shareholders, and increase the wealth of the corporation. This is key to understanding much of what is happening in the world today: why laws are as they are, why protectionism occurs, and why many rally against “big business” (and why I think corporate privacy issues are much worse than government privacy issues, for at least government has laws to answer to). Here are a number of news articles I’ve noticed this week that touch upon this notion of business being only in business for themselves:

• Wired vs. Wireless. An interesting battle is taking place in New Jersey. Verizon, operator of the telephone system there, doesn’t want to replace the traditional land-line (copper or fiber) service destroyed in Hurricane Sandy; instead, they want to replace it with “equivalent” wireless service. They want to do this primarily because of the cost of maintaining the wired infrastructure. They claim the wireless service is equivalent — but it isn’t. It doesn’t support medical device monitoring (polled calling); it doesn’t support DSL or internet services; it doesn’t support facsimile technology; it doesn’t support credit card processing. In other words — it doesn’t provide what some customers need. Still, Verizon is pushing ahead. Look to other telcos to do the same, especially in rural areas where there is no profit in running fiber.
• Dealing with Debt Collectors. Debt collectors are often slimy, doing whatever it takes to get their money… even if what it takes is illegal. This article discusses a good example of that. Basically, debt collectors are stating that it is the burden of the person that supposedly owes the money to provide they do not owe the money. This is a false claim; it is the burden of the debt collector to prove the debt is currently owed — and by citing original documents, not an entry in a database. If you have received such calls, the article provides chapter and verse of the Federal law you can cite.
• What You Eat. You think when you order a particular food, you’re getting that food. Alas, that’s not always true. National Geographic has a nice article on Food Fraud, and how labeling isn’t always correct. Why does this fraud occur? Again, the answer is simple. The labeled food is too expensive, so they foff off something cheaper on the consumer and pocket the profit. This is one reason why many have gone to local eating, and knowing the source for your food.
• Banks Should Be Boring. Elizabeth Warren, together with John McCain, are working to make banks boring. Basically, they are trying to bring back Glass-Steagall and get banks out of the investment banking business. Of course, the big banks are fighting them in order to preserve their profits. These are the same big banks that are fighting against the non-profit tax exempt status of credit unions.

 

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along The Road (on cahighways.org) as this entry by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link below; you can sign in with your LJ, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. There are currently comments on the Wordpress blog. PS: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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I Hate Orangeburg

I hate Orangeburg. I hate plumbing. Today has been a day from hell.

OK, perhaps I should explain that outburst. Backspace. Rewind.

How come the plumbing always goes out when you have friends coming over? Tonight, a family we’ve met through Livejournal is coming to spend the night while they visit colleges in the area. This is a good thing — these are good folks who I’d like to get to know better. So, in preparation, last night I was cleaning the guest bathroom. I noticed the toilet was a bit sluggish, but was working. Later I was working at my desk when I hear “gurgle gurgle”. I investigated, and discovered that the toilet in my daughter’s bathroom was bubbling as she was taking a shower. Bad news. I was seeing similar bubbling from our toilet. What this meant was that the line was almost clogged, and pressure was pushing back air. We found a coupon for a rooter special, and made an appointment for this morning.

This morning the plumber came out and investigated. We had a major backup — so major that rooting could no longer fix the problem. Why? It turns out that most of the piping in our front yard is a product called “Orangeburg“. Orangeburg is fiber-conduit with walls made of ground cellulose (wood) fibres bound together with a special water resistant adhesive, and, thereafter, impregnated with liquefied coal tar pitch. It was used between 1860 and 1970. It is not great under pressure situations (e.g., as water pipes), but is great for gravity drainage (e.g., sewer pipes). It was made in inside diameters from 2 inches to 18 inches, and due to the materials involved, was able to be sealed without the usage of adhesives. It was lightweight, albeit brittle, and soft enough to be cut with a handsaw.

That’s the good news. The bad news is lack of strength causes pipes made of Orangeburg to fail more frequently than pipes made with other materials. The useful life for an Orangeburg pipe is about 50 years under ideal conditions. Our house was built in 1962, and has been through two major earthquakes. Do the math. You can see a picture of Orangeburg pipe here.

The plumbers suggestion was to repipe the master bath side of the house with polyethylene pipe from the cleanout installed a few years ago to the connection with the street.  The cost for that was $4,800. We agreed it had to be done, but insisted on it being done to code with proper permits. That adds $160.

But it doesn’t end there folks. Working on this, they discovered that the work we had done to install cleanouts had only done that — install cleanouts. We still had Orangeburg crap from the cleanout to the connection under the house. That all needed to be replaced as well. Reluctantly… add $1,800.

Of course, that still left the line to the guest bathroom and kitchen. That line is almost completely infused with roots. They cannot root it clear because… you guessed it… it is Orangeburg. They are temporarily fixing that and tomorrow… will replace that segment of line. Cost… you guessed it… another $1,800.

All told, we’re having an approximately (gulp) $10,000 repair. We have to do it, because to do anything else might mean full-on trenching if the Orangeburg collapse. Of course, this doesn’t solve all the problems, as the (city-owned) tree in the parkway has created problems for the (city-owned) piping under the street. We’re going to talk to the inspector to see what the city can do about it. If we eventually have to replace that, that’s probably another $5K. [ETA: It turns out it is less expensive to fix the line to the street since they've already dug the hole. We're taking advantage of that -- only $3,800 -- for a grand total of $12,360 (possibly a bit more, if we decide to replace two toilets at the same time -- what the hell, right?]

We’ll figure out how to pay for it somehow — no other choice. That’s why you have emergency savings. But that’s also why I hate plumbing. Sigh. I guess it could be worse.

 

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along The Road (on cahighways.org) as this entry by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link below; you can sign in with your LJ, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. There are currently comments on the Wordpress blog. PS: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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