Ron Paul

Things to Never Say to a Dealer

By Bengt Halvorson
Monday, October 29, 2007

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The dealership experience can be extremely stressful, but it doesn't have to be. You could know everything there is to know about the cars you're considering, but that's only a fraction of the buying process. If you want that seductive new sedan at a good price, you're probably going to need to know what to say — and more importantly, what not to say.

Some people loathe the whole car-buying experience simply because they anticipate getting conned. A few hundred dollars isn't a big deal on the price of a luxury car, but it's the idea of smart shopping and that sense of getting a good deal that's especially important. For luxury car buyers — notoriously labeled the shrewd shoppers — a good deal is icing on the cake.

"The educated consumer is the one who will drive away with the best deal and the best experience," says Rob Gentile, director of car-buying products at Consumer Reports.

To help you take the driver's seat in the buying experience, first learn to play the game, and you might even end up doing some smooth talking of your own.


Ready, Set, Go!

1. "I'm ready to buy now."

This is an admission of weakness and an invitation for the dealer to throw out a price that's slightly below the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) to see if you'll take the bait. It shows that you're too eager and willing to consider an offer, and it also gives salespeople the advantage by allowing them to talk you up as opposed to you talking them down. But by adding some very precise parameters, you'll sound confident and strong from the start.

"Don't let them know that you're ready to buy without being very particular. If you're ready, say that you'll buy, but only under these particular conditions," says Gentile.

There are two schools on negotiating. Going into the process, Gentile reminds consumers to be wary of the dealer cost. Consumer Reports has something called wholesale price, which is the normal dealer invoice price minus all relevant rebates and incentives. Similarly, most longstanding price-information services advise buyers to research the dealer invoice, along with any relevant incentives, then make a lowball offer that's maybe just a few hundred dollars above invoice. The dealer will follow your figure with a counteroffer that then allows you to go back and forth until there is a compromise.

Conversely, a second school believes that making the first offer puts the buyer in a weak position. "When you make an offer on a car, you're digging yourself into a hole," says James "Spike" Bragg, a consumer advocate and founder of Fighting Chance, an information service for new-car buyers. "That offer will be as good as it gets. There's so much today in 'under the radar' sales incentives to dealers, you don't want to limit yourself."

According to Bragg, many of the dealer incentives today are awarded on a dealer-by-dealer basis, often handed out for meeting sales targets. Because of this, you can't pin down these incentives on a particular vehicle, and you never know which dealership might be able to provide the better price at a given time.

Bragg's method involves faxing quote requests from several different dealerships and asking them for their best bottom-line price on a particular model. His clients sometimes manage to negotiate prices well below invoice, even considering all published incentives. In this day of increased under-the-radar incentives, this method doesn't limit you to a bottom line and certainly has its merits if you're willing to put in the effort.

On ForbesAutos.com you can pursue both options. On each of our Reviews pages there is a link to detailed MSRP and invoice pricing. Also, if you go to our "Buy a Car" section, you can select a model, configure it how you like and then request a free dealer price quote.


Monthly Payment



2. "I can afford this much per month."

"Don't tell the dealer what you're willing to pay per month. This is the biggest mistake a shopper can make. Often the dealer will focus on a monthly payment scheme, insisting you are receiving a great deal, but at the end of the day you won't really know what you paid, advises Gentile.

If the dealer can get a number out of you, a common trick is to ask if you can squeeze out a slightly higher monthly payment, then raise the bottom-line price accordingly by hundreds or even thousands. Avoid this by insisting that you focus only on the purchase price. Walk away if the salesperson only wants to talk in monthly payments. Trade-in


Trade-in

3. "Yes, I have a trade-in."

Don't tell salespeople you have a trade-in until a final transaction price is set. If you do and the deal hasn't been made yet, they may try to distract you with the "great" deal they're giving you on your trade-in as they skimp on the real deal. And if you catch that, they may try writing your trade-up for less.

"You'll see games being played — they'll play one off on the other," Gentile says. Once you've decided on a sale price, then you can see what they'll give you for your old car.


Cash-Only Please

4. "I'm only buying the car with cash."

Car dealers make a significant chunk of added profit when they sell you financing. If you don't at least leave the dealer with the possibility that he or she might sell you financing, you simply won't be getting the best deal. Bragg recommends saying something like "I haven't really thought that through yet. Maybe we'll see what you have after we agree on a price."

But be truly noncommittal with financing, even though it's a good idea to line up tentative financing with your lender before you go car shopping.

Still Debating

5. "I'm not sure…which model do you think I need?"

If you're this undecided, you may end up driving away in a vehicle you neither wanted nor needed. Do the research in advance, and make your first shopping trip a short one. Use this opportunity to gather information and take your spec vehicle for a short test drive. If your uncertainty is apparent, you may end up buying the model with the most add-on equipment, the highest sticker price and, of course, the most profit for the dealer. Before you go shopping, narrow your choices down to three or four vehicles that fit your needs.


My Dream Car

6. "Oh, I've wanted one of these all my life."

As soon as you've lost yourself in the dreamy vision of that gleaming convertible, the salesperson has you hooked, and your chances of getting a great deal are over. "Don't get caught heavy breathing," says Bragg. "Certainly don't admit to your spouse — with the salesman listening in the backseat — that you're in love with the car." Here's where you need to have a communication plan. Try to sound objective and rational. Point out some pros and cons and be observant and calm. Just don't say that you have to have this car.


What Everyone Wants

7. "I'll take whatever the popular options are."

Don't ever ask for the "popular options" especially on a luxury model that already comes loaded. It's an open invitation for overpriced dealer add-ons such as interior protectant, window etching or undercoating. They're all things you can come back for later. Instead, go through the equipment list at home after your first visit to the dealership and then decide exactly what you need.


Lowest You Can Go

8. "What's the lowest price you can give me?"

Most likely, this question won't be taken seriously, and you will be met with a predictable performance. The salesperson will wince, maybe talk to the manager, fiddle with numbers and eventually come back with a price that probably isn't a very good deal for you. But there may be so much apparent effort in this performance that you'll be pressured into settling for that final number. Don't. To avoid this, make an informed and reasonable low offer, then wait for a counteroffer. Don't be afraid of silence. Conversely, don't be surprised if there's even a little drama.


Doing The Math

9. "Sure, I'll look at the numbers with you."

Perhaps quite early in your visit, the salesperson will most likely make an offer to "just go look at the numbers." Dealers do this when they sense you're undecided, but they want to be in the position of control. Getting you in the office makes it harder for you to back out. Wait until you can call the shots of what you want at what price.


The Haggle Factor

10. "I think you can do a lot better than that."

Never scold or accuse the salespeople. Be polite. Compliment them, and show respect. You'll never get the best price if you talk down to them. At least for the moment, you want them to be your friends. Let the scene play out, but leave when the deal's not good enough by quietly suggesting that the competition across town might be more willing to work with you.

Copyright © 2007 Forbes.com LLC

Immigration raids hurting farmers - Growers say crackdown is causing workers to flee; now they want reform

By Moira Herbst

Updated: 2:37 p.m. ET Oct. 26, 2007
Maureen Torrey, an 11th-generation farmer in the rural town of Elba, N.Y., has been losing sleep. Just as rows of cabbage and winter squash stand ready for harvest on her 11,000 acre farm, she can't find enough workers to bring in the crops. She needs about 350 workers and is 70 short of that number. "I wake up at 3:30 in the morning and my mind doesn't shut off," she says.

The problem, she says, is fear. Torrey Farms, a 14-crop vegetable farm located an hour east of Buffalo, has been raided twice since last October, when she says immigration officials kicked in the doors of workers' housing and apprehended 34. In August, officials arrested seven workers and 14 more fled the area. Amid continued talk of a federal crackdown on undocumented immigrants, she's afraid still more of her workforce will flee to less hostile terrain. With a population of about 9,000, the town of Elba, "Onion Capital of the World" to locals, may not have the manpower to replace them.

"With all the raids, people get scared and leave, and I don't blame them," says Torrey. She says now rumors are running rampant that another sweep is planned for Nov. 15. "It's terrible. This is the worst I've seen."

A climate of fear is spreading among undocumented immigrant workers, causing turmoil in industries dependent on their labor. In August the Homeland Security Dept. announced that employers would be required to terminate workers who fail to produce valid Social Security numbers. Implementation of the new rule is delayed pending the outcome of a lawsuit brought against the government by the umbrella labor union group, the AFL-CIO.

But while the new rule has yet to take effect, its impact is already being felt by farmers like Torrey. An estimated three-quarters of agricultural workers in the U.S. are undocumented, and growers are starting to feel the paralyzing effects of losing their workforce. They say that unless the government implements workable reforms, the future of the U.S. as a food-producing nation is in jeopardy.

Import workers, or import food
Agriculture does not play the role it once did in the U.S. economy, of course. Though the amount of farmland used has remained fairly steady over the past century, changes to the structure of farms and improvements in productivity have cut the number of people involved dramatically. In 1900, for example, 41% of the U.S. population was employed in agriculture, while that number now stands at less than 2%. Farmers hire workers for about 3 million agricultural jobs each year, but only one-quarter of that workforce is legally authorized. Agriculture also makes up a lower share of the U.S. gross domestic product than ever, accounting for less than 1%.

Still, farm advocates say that immigrant workers are allowing U.S. farmers to compete in a fierce global marketplace, and that losing the workforce means losing domestic sources of food. "The choice is simple: Do we want to import workers or import food?" says Craig Regelbrugge, co-chair of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform.

U.S. consumers may see little or no effect from the crackdown, but farmers like Torrey certainly will. Losing farm labor in the U.S. is likely to result in a shift of market share to foreign producers from domestic ones, rather than much change in food prices. "Farmers all over the world are salivating at the prospect that we won't be able to produce here," says James Holt, an agricultural labor economist. "They are more than happy to produce for us."

The chief issue in lost U.S. production, say Holt and others, is security. "What's at stake here is not prices, but food safety," he says. Torrey and other farmers agree. "We need to wake up to the realities of food safety and security issues," says Torrey. "A country not in control of its food supply is a weak nation."

While some employers of immigrants fear the limelight, the 55-year-old Torrey is unabashedly vocal in her opposition to the government's proposed crackdown. She set up the Web site www.saveUSFarms.org, which allows farmers to sign a petition and make donations in support of the AgJobs bill (S. 1645/ H.R. 3142). She also testified before Congress on the issue. The bill, currently being debated in Congress, would streamline the H-2A farm worker visa program and also allow workers a path to permanent resident status.

"Every day I'm picking what crops my crew should tend to because I don't have enough workers for all of them," says Torrey. "We need Congress to act before the end of the year; farmers are in a crisis."

Many agriculture experts agree. On Oct. 4, farmers and economists testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives' Agriculture Committee to plead their case for reform. "The U.S. agricultural industry is in the midst of a labor crisis, the resolution of which will determine whether U.S. producers…are more than marginal participants in U.S. and global markets," said Holt in his testimony in support of AgJobs.

While AgJobs is debated, some growers are advocating more employer-friendly regulations. The Bush administration is currently rewriting federal regulations, to accommodate employers' needs, that forgo the promise of permanent residency for agricultural workers. The Homeland Security Dept., State Dept., and Labor Dept. are involved in that effort, which was announced alongside the call in August to crack down on workers with suspect Social Security numbers.

It is unclear how much progress Congress can make on immigration reform before it lets out for the year in mid-November. As farmers like Torrey are pushing for AgJobs, other employer groups disappointed by the failure of comprehensive immigration reform in June are stepping up efforts to pass narrower reforms. For example technology companies including IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle, are pushing for more visas for skilled workers, while tourism and hotel groups advocate for more non-farm, unskilled visas.

Pay is not the problem
One question in the background of the debate is why employers do not raise wages to avoid legal problems and attract a native-born workforce. But unlike other industries that might attract more workers with greater pay — such as nursing and segments of the technology industry — it is not clear that raising wages for agricultural work would attract Americans to these jobs. Between 1990 and 2006, wages in agriculture have increased 54%, from an average of $6.12 per hour to $9.44 per hour (both figures are in 2006 dollars). Yet shortages remain common.

Employers and their advocates say that the fact that wages have increased so much and workers are still scarce is evidence that pay is not the problem. "This is not just about wages," says Regelbrugge. "Who wants to get up 3 a.m. and milk the cows? It's not a lifestyle many Americans opt for, especially when there are more comfortable alternatives."

Others argue that raising wages would undoubtedly attract more workers. "Labor shortages are created by employers," says Ana Avendano, director of the immigrant worker program for the AFL-CIO. "Employers say they can't find workers, but look at the conditions they are offering. Some of them are atrocious."

But Torrey says she offers good working conditions, and provides housing and a 401(k) plan for her workers. Workers start at $7.15 an hour, and the average wage on the farm is $10.95 to $11.95 per hour. "It doesn't matter if I raise wages," says Torrey. "We just don't have the population base. There's no one out there."

Copyright © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.

Richard Lee McNair AKA Robert Jones

Fri Oct 26, 3:17 PM



By Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press

ADVERTISEMENT


CAMPBELLTON, N.B. - A notorious U.S. fugitive who was captured this week in northern New Brunswick told RCMP officers who tackled him on a dead-end gravel road: "You have captured a big fish."


Richard Lee McNair, a convicted killer who was considered one of America's 15 most-wanted fugitives, was arrested near Campbellton on Thursday, about 18 months after he escaped from a Louisiana prison where he was serving a life sentence.


The RCMP held a news conference in Campbellton on Friday to reveal the details of the dramatic capture that began when an off-duty police officer reported seeing a suspicious white van in the area Wednesday.


The vehicle drew his attention because its back windows were darkly tinted. Suspecting it might be involved in smuggling across the nearby Maine and Quebec borders, he decided to call it in.


RCMP spotted the van the next day and tried to stop it. During a brief pursuit, the van turned onto a dead-end backwoods road and the driver bolted on foot.


McNair, 48, ran about 400 metres before being tackled by one of the officers.


"We placed the cuffs on him and I escorted him to the car," said Const. Nelson Levesque. "At that time he told me we all got a big fish."


Levesque said their captive identified himself as McNair, but it was only after checking with Canadian and U.S. authorities that they realized just how big that fish was.


McNair escaped last year from a Louisiana prison where he was serving his sentence for the 1987 killing of a grain elevator worker in Minot, N.D.


McNair, who was trying to rob the place, shot and wounded Richard Kitzman in an office, then went outside to a rig waiting for a load of grain. The driver, Jerome Theis, of Circle Pines, Minn., was eating ice cream in the cab when he was killed.


"I've been waiting for this for a long time," Vern Erck, sheriff of Ward County in North Dakota, said Wednesday after hearing word of the capture.


McNair has a history of legendary escapes.


In February 1988, he used a tube of lip balm to slip out of handcuffs at the Minot police station. He was captured after jumping from the third floor of a building.


The second escape came from the North Dakota State Penitentiary. Officials said McNair and two other prisoners escaped through a ventilation duct on Oct. 9, 1992. He was on the lam until the following July 5, when he was captured in Grand Island, Neb.


Eventually, with North Dakota authorities unable to hold him, McNair was shipped to the maximum-security federal prison in Louisiana.


On April 5, 2006, McNair smuggled himself out in a pile of mailbags.


Since then there have been many reported sightings, including about 300 in Canada.

"I feel good," said Const. Stephane Gagnon, a rookie officer who had only been with the force for six weeks before tackling McNair.

The Mounties said McNair wasn't armed when he was arrested but did have lock picks. He spent the night in an RCMP lockup in Campbellton before being transferred to the maximum-security Atlantic Institution in Renous, N.B.

Insp. Roland Wells told reporters McNair was friendly and forthcoming after he was captured, but clammed up quickly.

"I think somebody like this enjoys the notoriety, and I think he wanted the members to know he was McNair," said Wells. "However, when we fingerprinted him and asked him to sign, he refused to sign his actual name, and signed the last known alias."

The signature read: Troy Snyder.

The van McNair was driving stolen in Ontario.

Police said it appeared McNair had been living in the van, which contained numerous items including computer equipment that they suspect may have been used to make fake identifications.

Wells said investigators were examining the van for evidence of other crimes.

"We're not ruling anything out," he said. "We're having them look for blood, we're having them look at the computer equipment in the vehicle, we're having them look for all physical evidence that's there.

"We're not letting this guy leave the country until we're sure that nothing more serious has happened here that we're not aware of yet."

However, McNair is expected to be turned over to U.S. authorities within the next few days.

While on the lam, McNair sent a Christmas card to Tim Schuetzle, warden at the North Dakota prison he escaped from.

Schuetzle called McNair's capture "great news," adding Wednesday he was confident he would eventually be found.

The warden plans to make McNair the first state prison inmate to be placed on indefinite lockdown, allowing him to leave his cell for one hour a day and only in restraints.

"He's our inmate and our responsibility," Schuetzle said. "I don't know of any other state that will accept him now with his escape history."

Schuetzle wasn't the only U.S. official celebrating the capture.

Wells said he spoke Thursday to one of the original investigating officers in the McNair file. He wanted to know how to spell Gagnon's name - the Mountie who tackled McNair - so he could name a child or grandchild after him.

From Slate.com - Beer Ok, Moonshine No?

Why Is Moonshine Against the Law? You can make your own wine and beer, can't you?
By Michelle Tsai
Posted Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007, at 6:50 PM ET

Two Georgia men pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges of operating a moonshine still in the Chattahoochee National Forest. One of the bootleggers faces up to 35 years in prison for his crimes: making the brew, selling it, and not paying taxes on the proceeds. Back in college, the Explainer had friends who brewed their own beer, and that wasn't against the law. So why is moonshine still illegal?

Because the liquor is worth more to the government than beer or wine. Uncle Sam takes an excise tax of $2.14 for each 750-milliliter bottle of 80-proof spirits, compared with 21 cents for a bottle of wine (of 14 percent alcohol or less) and 5 cents for a can of beer. No one knows exactly how much money changes hands in the moonshine trade, but it's certainly enough for the missing taxes to make a difference: In 2000, an ATF investigation busted one Virginia store that sold enough raw materials to moonshiners to make 1.4 million gallons of liquor, worth an estimated $19.6 million in lost government revenue. In 2005, almost $5 billion of federal excise taxes on alcohol came from legally produced spirits.

Until 1978, it was illegal to home-brew any alcoholic beverage—even wine and beer. But a growing number of oenophiles and beer connoisseurs wanted to make their own, and they helped pressure Congress to decriminalize home-brews across the country. Today, federal rules say a household with two adults can brew up to 200 gallons of wine and the same amount of beer each year. (A few states have their own laws prohibiting the practice.) The 1978 law didn't legalize moonshining, though; you still can't brew spirits for private consumption. It is kosher, however, to own a still and process alcohol—but only if you're using the alcohol as fuel and you have a permit from the ATF. (In some states, you can purchase a legal version of moonshine from commercial distillers.)

Despite the Appalachian stereotypes, not everyone swigs moonshine just for fast, cheap intoxication. Some folks are accustomed to the taste of unaged whiskey, and they prefer the buzz that comes with it. These days, moonshine is even going upscale, as a new breed of amateur distillers in California, New England, and the Northwest are taking an artisanal approach to the hobby.

Government prosecutors point out that moonshine poses serious health risks, including heavy-metal toxicity. So, how dangerous is it? There's no inspection of the manufacturing process, so quality—and levels of contamination—vary. (There are some informal and imprecise ways to test the purity of hooch: You can light some on fire and check for a blue flame or shake the pint and look for clear liquid drops that dissipate quickly.) Aside from drinking too much and doing something dumb—oh, like attacking somebody with a chain saw and fire extinguisher— the biggest risk is lead poisoning, since a homemade still might consist of car radiators or pipes that were dangerously soldered together. One study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine in September 2003 found that more than half of moonshine drinkers have enough lead in their bloodstream to exceed what the CDC calls a "level of concern."


Explainer thanks Michael Birdwell of Tennessee Technological University; Brent Morgan of the Georgia Poison Center; Art Resnick of the U.S. Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco, Tax and Trade Bureau; and Matthew Rowley, author of Moonshine.

Letter to the Consulate - Living Condition of Etowah County Detention Center

The Embassy of ABC
Consular Section**** Massau Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008


August 21, 2007


To Whom It May Concern,

Greetings. This is Unknown Contributor (A#**-***-***), an ABC citizen detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) at Etowah County Detention Center in Alabama. I hope this letter find you well.

I am writing you this letter to you since I was recently not able to reach the Consulate General of ABC in Atlanta GA.via phone. Mr. XYZ at this office has been my direct contact to the Consulate, and he has been a tremendous help in this whole process. He has even mentioned that he has been keeping in close contact with my mother upon my progress.

It has come to that my detention here in the Etowah County has been getting tougher and tougher as the I.C.E. decides to delay on scheduling my flight. They have already obtained my valid passport in their possession and have varified my citizenship in ABC, and I signed the Final Order of Removal on the 17th of July, 2007 as well. However, they have not yet to proceed on actual deportation for well over 2 months now. (I have now been under I.C.E. custody for total of __ days now.) My Deportation Officer, K.Chasteen has not seen me, nor talked to me in any form since the 17th of July, 2007.

As I patiently wait for this draining procedure, not only it is taking a toll on me motionally, but also I believe that it is putting my mental, physical, and social health at serious risk. We, the detainees, are barely fed all throughout the day. The average estimate on our food intake is only about 1,200 calories; there is absolutely no fruit and raw vegetable in our diet, there is hardly ever any fish and meat served. For the last two months I have been here, they have served fish only twice. On average they serve meat products only up to 2 to 3 times a week. All meals are very small in portion. By any means do I believe that the portion they serve is adequate for any adult male nor female.

We do not have any direct exposure to the sun here, either. And we do not have any means for physical activities and exercises. The recreational room, which is only available one hour per day, is about 20 ft. by 30 ft. in size, there is no fitness equipment, nor recreational tools such as basketballs and soccer balls provided whatsoever.

Although every person here is detained for a reason such as our past records, I believe that the way we are treated here is unsuitable and inappropriate. I strongly believe we could even make a case to say that some things going on here are very close to being a violation of human rights. We are civil detainees, not cattles.

I desparately need your help. I wish to get back to ABC and to be united with my aging, widowed mother as soon as possible. I also wish to get back to my business and to start to be productive again just as I had always been before this detention.

Here is all the information I have of I.C.E. personnels directly relating to my case;
K. Chasteen – My Deportation Officer: 77 Forsyth St. SW Room G-81 Atlanta, GA. 30303; Phone (404)-331-2765 ext. 5436.
D. Rivera – K. Chasteen’s Supervisor: 77 Forsyth St. SW Room G-81 Atlanta, GA. 30303; Phone (404)-331-2765 ext. 5438.
Travel Unit Officers in charge of scheduling flights for deportees are;
B. Freeman – (404)-331-2765 ext. 5432.
T. Applegate – (404)-331-2765 ext. 5447.
C. Walters – (404)-331-2765 ext. 5409.

I was not able to verify of which officer above is actually in charge of booking my flight back to ABC. But I trust that this information is more than enough for you, the Embassy, to encourage U.S. I.C.E. to start moving forward with my case. If there is any question, please feel free to contact me at any time. I wish to hear from you very soon.



Yours truly,

Custody Review

This blog and the previous blog are what I typed for Mac while detained at Etowah County.

This letter goes to the Department of Homeland Security and to the County Judge 2 weeks before your 6 months is up. This is to challenge them on why you are still detained despite of the long hold and the clock ticking.

Previous blog is the actual body of the letter.
This is the cover page:


DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
HEADQUARTERS POST – ORDER DETENTION UNIT
801 – 1 STREET N.W., SUITE 800
WASHINGTON, DC. 20536









REQUEST FOR RELEASE UPON DETERMINATION OF NO SIGNIFICANT LIKELIHOOD OF REMOVAL IN THE REASONABLY FORESEEABLE FUTURE PURSUANT TO 8 C.F.R. § 241.13












IN THE MATTER OF

McLoren Williams

A# 042-27*-***

ETOWAH COUNTY DETENTION CENTER
827 FORREST AVENUEGADSDEN, AL. 35901