"One would have to assume that there was also a direct line to other social medial platforms. "
I would say its not a huge leap to think that.
I would even say its more than just other social media platforms. I would say it goes into main stream media on BOTH sides, Hollywood, sports, etc including global corporations.
Both party suck in the US . However Biden was doing the same thing and shipping illegals at night to republican states as well.
I don't see Desantis as the problem here. I see the Democrat leaders as the problem.
The democrat leaders were clearly not sincere when they declared their state as a sanctuary state ,since they got off guard by just 50 illegals. Not to mention the other democrat self declared sanctuary state having to call a state of emergency to handle the illegals they claimed to want to take in.
They could have easily housed them , being its one of the wealthiest elites playground for the uber rich.
Heck they could have even likely housed them all in one of their guest houses or servants quarter on the Island. Better yet they could have allowed them to stay on the main house for the 11 months they don't even live in their property.
This reminds me of the time Ted Kennedy was pushing for alternative wind energy until a study came back stating that the most efficient place to house them was right of marthas vineyards. Then he shut up quickly about it because it would have ruined their view. Clearly Martha's vineyard is a soft spot and off limits for the hypocrites.
I only Hope Desantis uses Florida money next to purchases property in Martha's vineyard and starts building housing for the homeless right next to them. Then will see how caring they really are.
These are the same people that love telling us what to do, but make themselves exempt from it all.
I hate the dealership experience and games they play and have always wanted to buy from carmax.
However , I have yet purchased a car from carmax, because they have been typically over $3.5K+ overpriced , for the same year ,model, and equivalent condition that I can get it at the scummy dealers.
Typical car shopping experience. Now this has to be modified a little depending if its a buyers or sellers market. However for the most part
1. Determine the car ,model,year, and condition of the car I want.
2. Browse carmax and set that as my highest price.
3. Email and go to local dealers and offer $3.5K- below carmax asking price than add tax and title to submit your offer as and out the door price.
4. Some don't responded but some do .
5. Go to dealerships ones that said they can do it at near the end of the month.
6. Then expect for them to do the bait and switch and send you to the backend manager who plays online games on his laptop for about an hour pretending to do something when they are really just trying to break you down. So when the manager comes into play I typically say great just give me a call or I come back after a couple of hours. so I don't wait there for no reason.
7. Manager plays the if he sold me the car for what I asked then they would be out of business. Then I say why did you agree to it and either I stay firm on my original offer or go up 500 bucks. they typically still don't approve at this stage which is expected and fine so I walk knowing they already have my contact information.
8. Play the wait game . Typically 1 or 2 weeks later I get a call back. They Agree for my original counter offer.
9. I go back in to sign the paperwork
10. The carsalesman is all giddy and sends me back to the manager and financier to close on the deal.
11. I get back and I see additional charges such as dealer fees and other bs which I say thank you but no thank you and the offer I submitted was out the door price. Sometimes I walk out again or they remove the charges .
fun stuff but like I said playing the stupid game has saved me $3.5K most times. The key is willing and having the time to play the stupid game with them, willing to walk, and not have an immediate need for a car.
There have been also times where I have been less willing to haggle on the price but even then I can typically get the car 1.5K below car max with little effort. When I buy new its a little trickier but I never pay anywhere near the msrp.
"this CostPlus in most areas can't beat what I would pay through insurance"
But are you taking into account how much a month you are paying into that insurance when comparing the two?
If CostPlus is coming close to what you are getting your prescription for with a paid into insurance plan, than I would call that a win for those without insurance.
Might be worth looking at lowering my own insurance coverage to one that might not be that great for prescription, as long as costplus and costco type places come close to after insurance priced meds.
I cancelled my account with them but they kept billing me for months. luckily I saved the chat logs where I opened a chat with them immediately after canceling in order to have some type of written confirmation. I also emailed the support email accounts I found online stating my request to cancel the account, because I had other bad experiences with them canceling services and wrong charges.
So each month I had to get on the phone and go through and explain it was canceled then they would apologize and say they see where i had called to cancel but a mistake was made or more often they would hang up on me when transferring the call even after finding the CEO email address and emailing him directly.
I Got tired of it and I wrote a informal complaint to the FCC. I emailed the ceo and comcast support with filed complaint and cc'd the FCC. Just a day later got a call saying they see that a mistake was made and they are removing all the erroneous charges.
Very true, but in recent times it has been much easier to try to pay a fair price. That is until covid hit where it became a sellers market. However it looks like we might have another 6more months before it switches back to a buyers market the way things are going.
For example when I want to buy a car:
I start at Carmax which I know its the highest price i can pay for the car. In history I have always been able to get a used car for 2.5K -4K cheaper elsewhere .
This is typically how it goes.
1. I determine which make,model, year car I want.
2. Determine what carmax has it listed for and make that the highest overpriced value for the car.
3. I send out emails and call dealers for similar cars ( millage,model,wear , etc) give them my price that is under 2.5K - 4K less than carmax.
4. they say sure come on in.
5. The games begin and the bs runs from the salesman script that tries to convince me that a manufactured car in the 100Ks is a custom one of a kind vehicle that I will never be able to buy again.
6. i Say here is my price and the good cop salesman than sends me to the back to the sales manager who says I will put him out of business if he sells me that vehicle for that price.
7. I say I understand then I walk out and he lets me walk out.
8. A few days or even a month later he calls me back says he can do the deal then send me back to the sales manager again.
9. the Sales manager than says oh sorry we cant do that price because its a cash offer or that I have to use his preferred loan provider. Or tries to convince me to take his loan provider anyways and then cancel it by paying cash or refinance it a week later.
10. I walk out again or I get the car. One case I had to walk out again until I got another call to come back. In most cases I only waste about an hour in the dealership all together talking to the salesguy and manager, since when the send me to the back to the sales manager I typically tell them I have 15 minutes to make it happen or you can call me back when you have all the information you need to make the decision.
So atleast today we have the no haggle places now to tell us what is the ripoff price for the car and not the dealership sponsored bs MSRP or the kelly blue book crap.
The crazy thing is that I actually want to buy the car from carmax because I do like the experience better, but its not worth paying 2.5K to 4K more for an equivalent car.
It certainly is true horror experience and why everyone hates the dealer BS experience.
However it was even more painful prior to the carmax of the worlds, where the consumer was in the complete dark about prices all together.
Atleast with the carmax and other fixed price dealers , you know what the worst possible deal is and can typically save 2.5K to 4K by going to a normal dealer. You just have to be willing to play the stupid games with them.
"Dealers do what they do because it works, and it is largely what the consumer seems to prefer."
Not likely due to consumer preference, as its a given that dealership and buying experience is often hated by the consumer. look at this thread, talk to friends,and search the internet. Sure its anecdotal but its appears to be pretty consistent across the board despite not being a scientific survey.
Heck even carmax created their business model around how the consumer hates the buying process and even though carmax often charges more in the $2.5K - $4K range than what you can negotiate elsewhere they are still around.
Its more that they (the dealership) has a very strong lobbying influence and have rigged the market in their favor where the consumer has to take it. Like making themselves a forced middleman.
kind of how comcast is often rated among its own customer at the top of the most hated company list year after year ,yet they stay in business.
AI has definitely been bastardized and hyped by the marketing departments. Interesting enough recently within the last month IBM has dropped the AI from one of their products.
The sales/pr guy wasn't even sure why or not willing to disclose the why. I wonder if it had to do with unions. However that is total speculations based on an experience with gov't and unions approximately 20 years ago where the unionw was very concerned with computer and software I had written taking over union jobs.
