My phone service is with AT&T. Been with them for many years. I started with Cingular before they were swallowed up by what American Telephone & Telegraph eventually morphed into. I don't necessarily love AT&T as a corporation, but I don't distrust them, and I have a pretty sweet service cost for two phones stemming from my first contract with Cingular. I also hold a few shares of their common stock because it pays good dividends, so it's easy to stay. Staying with my plan also means no texting and no data, as neither service was more than a gleam in a young nerds eye when the contract was started. This frustrates AVG-WIFE because she REALLY wants an I-Phone. Those of you who are married just figured out how sweet a deal I got from Cingular way back when. 
I also hold Costco stock for dividends and I was a customer before I was a shareholder. Rarely do I walk out of there without dropping $200. $300 is common and $400 happens all too often. Simply put, in the retail world, Costco rocks. The only thing I don't like about them is how far I have to drive to get to one - but I'm partly responsible for choosing to live out where the green grass grows.
Most of the other stocks I'm holding for trade are start up medicals for the growth potential or closed end funds for the dividends.
I wish I had purchased stock in Apple. I looked at it during the "no Steve Jobs" years when it was cheap and that's one decision I regret. Oh well, shit happens - I looked at the stock before I was a customer. Apple absolutely rocks as a company today. They're not perfect, but I trust them to do the right thing when faced with an issue. I love their products. I drive a 17" PowerBook G4 that's eleven years old and made with the last of the Motorola processors. Someday it'll go tits up and I'll wish I'd done a better job of backing my stuff up. When that happens, I'll replace it with another Apple, embracing all the joy and sadness of having to find a new girl friend.
Netflix is another stock I would like to have because I use and like their product.
(Insert your preferred Deity here) BLESS the U.S. Post Office.
My camera is a Nikon and it's not my first. There's probably comparable equipment out there but I started with Nikon and they never gave me a reason to switch. My guitar is a Martin and it's my first. So far I haven't had a desire to do more than look at other guitars when I'm buying strings. I always play Martin light gauge steel and I probably won't practice enough to entertain anyone but me before I retire.
I read labels to find out where stuff was made and I try to avoid Chinese goods, alternatives being available and reasonable. If we ever go to war with those folks there will be a LOT of bare-foot Americans. I don't know why I avoid Chinese goods, except for the influence of coming of age and learning to be a consumer in the 70's & 80's. I suppose I'm also not happy with the way the Chinese government treats the Chinese people, but they don't seem to mind, so I'm not sure why I give a shit.
I shop Wal-Mart for convenience over price and, though I spend a bit there, I don't like them as a company. Unless I'm buying something very common like batteries, the selection usually sucks and I have to settle if I buy anything at all. The store between AVG-HOUSE and AVG-WORK usually seems understaffed. I trust them to protect the future exactly as the law requires and no more. I have neighbors who work for them and that makes it easier to shop there, but I have no desire to own Wal Mart stock.
I'm all about price when it comes to gas and my Jeep still loves me. Wal-mart usually gets the retail end of the contract, which comes due around every 10 days and usually runs about $50. I have no idea who drills for it or where it came from and I don't really care. I ass-u-me that with a $20 billion boo-boo still smarting in the pants of Big Paul, Earth's oil companies are considering the future just a smidge more than the letter of the law requires, and in my humble opinion the regulations on Big Oil are both not enough and riddled with stupidity as a result of paid for political influence.
I like being able to control my environment and I use chemicals and other dangerous products both indoors and out, trusting in the law to protect the future if not the corporations that manufacture and retail those products. I realize that this is politically irresponsible of me, but frankly I don't want to spend my time doing that much research on every product I need to survive the way I want to in the 21st century. I skim the directions and check the warnings for things that aren't common sense, but if any products I use regularly are killing me or the Florida environment, I'm trusting the lawyers, both left and right, to continue to straighten things out as various forms of shit hit the fan going forward. I also trust that the free flow of information will keep companies from fucking things up on purpose, but only because "companies" are organizations of people who, for the most part, love their grand children same as me.
I'm 50 something, still working, and I'm trusting you, me and all the rest of mommas little bastards who comprise We, The People to make sure that the 15% + 15% that I've been kicking in to Social Security and Medicare since I started working 36 years ago will at least keep me from living on and/or dying in the street when I'm to old to be productive. I'm also trusting myself to squirrel a little something away because dying at work is no way to live.
Fuck, this is a long post.
Sorry. Hope it was a decent read.
So... Which organizations do you trust and distrust in the market place?
I also hold Costco stock for dividends and I was a customer before I was a shareholder. Rarely do I walk out of there without dropping $200. $300 is common and $400 happens all too often. Simply put, in the retail world, Costco rocks. The only thing I don't like about them is how far I have to drive to get to one - but I'm partly responsible for choosing to live out where the green grass grows.
Most of the other stocks I'm holding for trade are start up medicals for the growth potential or closed end funds for the dividends.
I wish I had purchased stock in Apple. I looked at it during the "no Steve Jobs" years when it was cheap and that's one decision I regret. Oh well, shit happens - I looked at the stock before I was a customer. Apple absolutely rocks as a company today. They're not perfect, but I trust them to do the right thing when faced with an issue. I love their products. I drive a 17" PowerBook G4 that's eleven years old and made with the last of the Motorola processors. Someday it'll go tits up and I'll wish I'd done a better job of backing my stuff up. When that happens, I'll replace it with another Apple, embracing all the joy and sadness of having to find a new girl friend.
Netflix is another stock I would like to have because I use and like their product.
(Insert your preferred Deity here) BLESS the U.S. Post Office.
My camera is a Nikon and it's not my first. There's probably comparable equipment out there but I started with Nikon and they never gave me a reason to switch. My guitar is a Martin and it's my first. So far I haven't had a desire to do more than look at other guitars when I'm buying strings. I always play Martin light gauge steel and I probably won't practice enough to entertain anyone but me before I retire.
I read labels to find out where stuff was made and I try to avoid Chinese goods, alternatives being available and reasonable. If we ever go to war with those folks there will be a LOT of bare-foot Americans. I don't know why I avoid Chinese goods, except for the influence of coming of age and learning to be a consumer in the 70's & 80's. I suppose I'm also not happy with the way the Chinese government treats the Chinese people, but they don't seem to mind, so I'm not sure why I give a shit.
I shop Wal-Mart for convenience over price and, though I spend a bit there, I don't like them as a company. Unless I'm buying something very common like batteries, the selection usually sucks and I have to settle if I buy anything at all. The store between AVG-HOUSE and AVG-WORK usually seems understaffed. I trust them to protect the future exactly as the law requires and no more. I have neighbors who work for them and that makes it easier to shop there, but I have no desire to own Wal Mart stock.
I'm all about price when it comes to gas and my Jeep still loves me. Wal-mart usually gets the retail end of the contract, which comes due around every 10 days and usually runs about $50. I have no idea who drills for it or where it came from and I don't really care. I ass-u-me that with a $20 billion boo-boo still smarting in the pants of Big Paul, Earth's oil companies are considering the future just a smidge more than the letter of the law requires, and in my humble opinion the regulations on Big Oil are both not enough and riddled with stupidity as a result of paid for political influence.
I like being able to control my environment and I use chemicals and other dangerous products both indoors and out, trusting in the law to protect the future if not the corporations that manufacture and retail those products. I realize that this is politically irresponsible of me, but frankly I don't want to spend my time doing that much research on every product I need to survive the way I want to in the 21st century. I skim the directions and check the warnings for things that aren't common sense, but if any products I use regularly are killing me or the Florida environment, I'm trusting the lawyers, both left and right, to continue to straighten things out as various forms of shit hit the fan going forward. I also trust that the free flow of information will keep companies from fucking things up on purpose, but only because "companies" are organizations of people who, for the most part, love their grand children same as me.
I'm 50 something, still working, and I'm trusting you, me and all the rest of mommas little bastards who comprise We, The People to make sure that the 15% + 15% that I've been kicking in to Social Security and Medicare since I started working 36 years ago will at least keep me from living on and/or dying in the street when I'm to old to be productive. I'm also trusting myself to squirrel a little something away because dying at work is no way to live.
Fuck, this is a long post.
Sorry. Hope it was a decent read.So... Which organizations do you trust and distrust in the market place?
