Random Law I'm torn on, poorly written OP :)

[G.T.]

This morning on a Generic Radio news cast, I heard that the Government signed a law that Gift Cards have to be valid for at least 5 years.

A true story, I've actually had roughly 3 or 4 instances in my life where I argued with business managers to use my expired gift card, and I won each time. The argument? You were already paid for its use. That's basically it.

But............

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.
....
.........

I see the point of Conservatives where the Government seems to be meddling more and more-so. So, ok.

Are they little by little attempting to mandate a more serene society? I won't accept the "they just want control" theory, because many of these meddling Laws don't much give them power that they'll ever physically "realize."

I just..........I dunno. This Law got me thinking about bigger picture sort of stuff because I'm personally torn on its existence. What a convoluted, wishy washy OP. SAWWWWWWyyy. Discuss.....

 

[Annie]

This morning on a Generic Radio news cast, I heard that the Government signed a law that Gift Cards have to be valid for at least 5 years.

A true story, I've actually had roughly 3 or 4 instances in my life where I argued with business managers to use my expired gift card, and I won each time. The argument? You were already paid for its use. That's basically it.

But............

.
.
....
.........

I see the point of Conservatives where the Government seems to be meddling more and more-so. So, ok.

Are they little by little attempting to mandate a more serene society? I won't accept the "they just want control" theory, because many of these meddling Laws don't much give them power that they'll ever physically "realize."

I just..........I dunno. This Law got me thinking about bigger picture sort of stuff because I'm personally torn on its existence. What a convoluted, wishy washy OP. SAWWWWWWyyy. Discuss.....

I've had two bad experiences with gift cards. Both times wrote to the company and said due to their policies I'd never shop there again. Both times got apologies and double my value gift cards.

People need to take ownership of their own problems, they don't need government to do so. BTW, I would not have patronized either store again if they hadn't made good.

 

[rightwinger]

This morning on a Generic Radio news cast, I heard that the Government signed a law that Gift Cards have to be valid for at least 5 years.

A true story, I've actually had roughly 3 or 4 instances in my life where I argued with business managers to use my expired gift card, and I won each time. The argument? You were already paid for its use. That's basically it.

But............

.
.
....
.........

I see the point of Conservatives where the Government seems to be meddling more and more-so. So, ok.

Are they little by little attempting to mandate a more serene society? I won't accept the "they just want control" theory, because many of these meddling Laws don't much give them power that they'll ever physically "realize."

I just..........I dunno. This Law got me thinking about bigger picture sort of stuff because I'm personally torn on its existence. What a convoluted, wishy washy OP. SAWWWWWWyyy. Discuss.....

Gift cards are a horrrible value for the consumer.

If they are allowed to expire with no value they should have an expiration date clearly written on them

 

[xotoxi]

This morning on a Generic Radio news cast, I heard that the Government signed a law that Gift Cards have to be valid for at least 5 years.

A true story, I've actually had roughly 3 or 4 instances in my life where I argued with business managers to use my expired gift card, and I won each time. The argument? You were already paid for its use. That's basically it.

But............

.
.
....
.........

I see the point of Conservatives where the Government seems to be meddling more and more-so. So, ok.

Are they little by little attempting to mandate a more serene society? I won't accept the "they just want control" theory, because many of these meddling Laws don't much give them power that they'll ever physically "realize."

I just..........I dunno. This Law got me thinking about bigger picture sort of stuff because I'm personally torn on its existence. What a convoluted, wishy washy OP. SAWWWWWWyyy. Discuss.....

I've had two bad experiences with gift cards. Both times wrote to the company and said due to their policies I'd never shop there again. Both times got apologies and double my value gift cards.

Now, double value gift cards are out the window!

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD!!!

 

[xsited1]

This morning on a Generic Radio news cast, I heard that the Government signed a law that Gift Cards have to be valid for at least 5 years.

...

That's ridiculous. If you spend $20 on a gift card, in 5 years is won't be worth $20. The government causes inflation and then requires companies to take the hit. That's not right.

 

[G.T.]

Well,

The reason I'm torn basically is because (I'm going to guess) that 99.9999% of consumers would agree with the premise of the Law, so all it does is serve to "make things easier" and all of our thousands of stories of expired gift cards go away at no expense to anyone.

....but...........The Government doesn't exist to "make life perfect," and even if it did, who defines "perfect," etc...etc............

I don't know.

 

[The Rabbi]

And soon we'll see that not honoring a gift card will be a felony.
It is government regulating social and business behavior. We don't need more laws.

 

[G.T.]

That's ridiculous. If you spend $20 on a gift card, in 5 years is won't be worth $20. The government causes inflation and then requires companies to take the hit. That's not right.

That's a good point, if the Dollar is of lesser value at that point which is probably so.

ETA: The business may want to not sell Gift Cards; though, if that's the worry. I dunno........

 

[Midnight Marauder]

I won't accept the "they just want control" theory, because many of these meddling Laws don't much give them power that they'll ever physically "realize."

Taken in whole or in part?

And by the way, your OP is not "poorly written" just so's you know.

 

[The Rabbi]

If enough consumers get burned on them they will stop buying them. If enough businesses get burned, they will stop issuing them.
So far that isn't the case.

 

[G.T.]

I won't accept the "they just want control" theory, because many of these meddling Laws don't much give them power that they'll ever physically "realize."

Taken in whole or in part?

And by the way, your OP is not "poorly written" just so's you know.

Well, I'm just not much on Conspiracy theories. And here's what I mean:

I'll (in my mind) accept an argument that there's symptoms in our Government of payoffs, backroom deals, etc which are bad news: but, I think that an "organized" plan for "Control" is ridiculous. It's always going to LOOK like one, of course, but as the population increases, as Commerce increases and Cities become more and more infested with Businesses and Dynamics, Government will increase also and so will the angst against it.

It's a canaard, to me. The American Dream, for the most part, means becoming successful at your God Given Talent, which usually takes the form of your CAREER. Monetary success has been convoluted to mean the American Dream, or Capitalism.

And everyone wants a part of this dream........so.....it becomes easy to manipulate people with Money. So, Capitalism creates Power Hungry Politicians, but their Government Salaries don't give them the power, the back room deals (directly caused by the goal of the American Dream, big profits, Corporate buy offs, etc..... you feel me?).......

What I'm saying is that, the whole thing is a canaard and society needs to hit the refresh button every so often, and the more industrialized and populated any nation becomes, the bigger (necessarily, IMO) Government becomes, and the more corrupt it becomes as any "too large" entity does, it seems.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

the more industrialized and populated any nation becomes, the bigger (necessarily, IMO) Government becomes, and the more corrupt it becomes as any "too large" entity does, it seems.

I don't believe it's ever necessary for the government to get bigger. When the government gets bigger, individuals get smaller.

Just like right now with the IRS, who truly was the big winner on the HC bill. Getting a huge, hundreds of billions of dollars infusion for their operating budget every year, 16,000 or so new workers right away, and massively, toweringly new and intrusive powers.

That's necessary?

 

[G.T.]

the more industrialized and populated any nation becomes, the bigger (necessarily, IMO) Government becomes, and the more corrupt it becomes as any "too large" entity does, it seems.

I don't believe it's ever necessary for the government to get bigger. When the government gets bigger, individuals get smaller.

Just like right now with the IRS, who truly was the big winner on the HC bill. Getting a huge, hundreds of billions of dollars infusion for their operating budget every year, 16,000 or so new workers right away, and massively, toweringly new and intrusive powers.

That's necessary?

Well, that's a random example and probably debatable if it's necessary or not and I'd like to think you'd need certain qualifications to determine if it were necessary:

A thorough understanding and study of the complete healthcare SYSTEM
A thorough and complete understanding of the healthcare BILL, knowing exactly HOW and WHY each function works (or doesn't, frankly).
A thorough and complete understanding of the United States Constitution.

99.999999% of internet users and politicians and political analysts and talk show hosts don't posess all three of these qualifications, and so I won't accept the validity of ANY of their arguments or spend my time raving for or against it, pretending doth just like to protest.






But anyways, my argument for saying it's necessary is that I don't believe "free markets" would ever simply exist without corruption. I'd think that would be naive, just IMO. So the more Businesses and Dynamics popping up on said markets, the more protections we as Citizens/Consumers would need. But again, who decides what and how much is intrusion is a BIGGER, more important discussion.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

I don't believe "free markets" would ever simply exist without corruption.

Governments don't either. And government corruption is much worse and far more damaging.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb, contesting the outcome."

-- Ben Franklin

 

[Midnight Marauder]

But again, who decides what and how much is intrusion is a BIGGER, more important discussion.

The bigger more important discussion is, how much harm to liberty does a large, intrusive government do?

The founders and framers told us, but no one is listening anymore.

 

[G.T.]

I don't believe "free markets" would ever simply exist without corruption.

Governments don't either. And government corruption is much worse and far more damaging.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb, contesting the outcome."

-- Ben Franklin

I like that quote. But if Rights were Endowed by a "creator," and not by "man law," then Lamb gets eaten every time because TRUE Natural Law is the food chain.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

I don't believe "free markets" would ever simply exist without corruption.

Governments don't either. And government corruption is much worse and far more damaging.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb, contesting the outcome."

-- Ben Franklin

I like that quote. But if Rights were Endowed by a "creator," and not by "man law," then Lamb gets eaten every time because TRUE Natural Law is the food chain.

If we're really talking about lambs, yes. Actual lambs aren't endowed with any rights.

Which by the way is exactly what large, intrusive government MAKES out of us! Lambs! Sheep!

THAT is what Ben was tryna tell ya!

 

[G.T.]

Governments don't either. And government corruption is much worse and far more damaging.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb, contesting the outcome."

-- Ben Franklin

I like that quote. But if Rights were Endowed by a "creator," and not by "man law," then Lamb gets eaten every time because TRUE Natural Law is the food chain.

If we're really talking about lambs, yes. Actual lambs aren't endowed with any rights.

Which by the way is exactly what large, intrusive government MAKES out of us! Lambs! Sheep!

THAT is what Ben was tryna tell ya!

And I'm trying to say, Ben was just a man also. So is our Government, all men (and women). God can't Govern. Unalienable Rights were decided on by Enlightened Men who found them to be self-evident, but they're only self-evident for modern, enlightened man and not self-evident in ACTUAL nature, and so I conclude that our "unalienable" rights were decided upon by mere mortal, fallable, men. And if they can decide on which rights are (self evident or not, is a matter of opinion) unalienable, then they set a precedent for deciding.

I'm just opining that I don't get scared of the big bad boogyman Government, because without it, chaos would occur. With it, chaos occurs, and people always want something to Protest. Some decide Corpos, some decide Government, but Corpos own Government so who's arguing for what, really. Live you life.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

I like that quote. But if Rights were Endowed by a "creator," and not by "man law," then Lamb gets eaten every time because TRUE Natural Law is the food chain.

If we're really talking about lambs, yes. Actual lambs aren't endowed with any rights.

Which by the way is exactly what large, intrusive government MAKES out of us! Lambs! Sheep!

THAT is what Ben was tryna tell ya!

And I'm trying to say, Ben was just a man also. So is our Government, all men (and women). God can't Govern. Unalienable Rights were decided on by Enlightened Men who found them to be self-evident, but they're only self-evident for modern, enlightened man and not self-evident in ACTUAL nature, and so I conclude that our "unalienable" rights were decided upon by mere mortal, fallable, men. And if they can decide on which rights are (self evident or not, is a matter of opinion) unalienable, then they set a precedent for deciding.

Man created "god" in his own image, not the other way around. I've never been big on the "creator" stuff. Neither was Ben. We are the creator. Ben knew that.

I'm just opining that I don't get scared of the big bad boogyman Government, because without it, chaos would occur. With it, chaos occurs, and people always want something to Protest. Some decide Corpos, some decide Government, but Corpos own Government so who's arguing for what, really. Live you life.

Know what it was which prompted you to create this thread?

It was that little, tiny, atrophied and nearly dead liberty lover you have locked in the glove box of the Cadilliac of life, screaming LET ME OUT! GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!!!!!

Get him out of the glove box and in the driver's seat, with your heart in the passenger seat holding the map, where it belongs.

 

[G.T.]

If we're really talking about lambs, yes. Actual lambs aren't endowed with any rights.

Which by the way is exactly what large, intrusive government MAKES out of us! Lambs! Sheep!

THAT is what Ben was tryna tell ya!

And I'm trying to say, Ben was just a man also. So is our Government, all men (and women). God can't Govern. Unalienable Rights were decided on by Enlightened Men who found them to be self-evident, but they're only self-evident for modern, enlightened man and not self-evident in ACTUAL nature, and so I conclude that our "unalienable" rights were decided upon by mere mortal, fallable, men. And if they can decide on which rights are (self evident or not, is a matter of opinion) unalienable, then they set a precedent for deciding.

Man created "god" in his own image, not the other way around. I've never been big on the "creator" stuff. We are the creator.

I'm just opining that I don't get scared of the big bad boogyman Government, because without it, chaos would occur. With it, chaos occurs, and people always want something to Protest. Some decide Corpos, some decide Government, but Corpos own Government so who's arguing for what, really. Live you life.

Know what it was which prompted you to create this thread?

It was that little, tiny, atrophied and nearly dead liberty lover you have locked in the glove box of the Cadilliac of life, screaming LET ME OUT! GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!!!!!

Get him out of the glove box and in the driver's seat, with your heart in the passenger seat holding the map, where it belongs.

I know what you're saying, but the most fucked up part of it is I'm not a "liberal" or "on the left" with my stances on many issues like "Message board" Conservatives like to presume simply because I'm not a hater on all things Obama. Just like I wasn't on Bush.

I don't know why people can't accept in their minds that SOME PEOPLE don't pick a side, they take things issue by issue and sometimes agree with a Politician's view, and sometimes disagree, and the schism created on message boards is that THAT notion is PROPOSTEROUS!! IF YOU LIKE OBAMA, YOU HATE THE FOUNDERS!

I don't believe in that dynamic, man. Of course I want Liberty, but I simply don't see the intrusiveness of a lot fo the things that are bitched about, looking at it with an even keel. I mean, LAW, at ALL, in and of itself is intrusive if you want to be 100% literal about it. Other than that, if I don't think gift cards should expire, and all other citizens don't think gift cards should expire, than i'm not really going to be "against" a law barring their expiration. What I WOULD BE totally against is FORCING Companies to sell them, to begin with.

But I'm neither for, n'or against this new law. I simply "agree" with it.