Memories of the 28th Century

I looked at the Economist this morning, and the cover story was on Scams, especially online scams and crypto-currency and related matters. The lead-in was gentle, a story about the president of a small bank who was found by an online scammer, a woman (maybe), who convinced him to invest in her crypto scam. He went in a little way and got a good return, so he plunged in further, then he lost everything of his savings, savings for child’s education, church treasury, and $47m from the bank that he ran. He is now in prison and will be for a long time. Such stories are not rare.
A few years ago, an online acquaintance said that she had bought a lottery ticket for me, and it won. She had put it in my name, so she couldn’t cash it. And I would have to set up an account with that country’s lottery to jet it. One of the things that I would need was my bank’s international account number. When I asked the branch manager about that, I was told that it was a scam. The branch manager was right, and I learned that even better after looking into the websites involved.
The article in the Economist explained how they scammers spend years making things look good, and it mentioned that several countries in Asia get a large part of the GDP from scams. I had been looking at sites in the hope of finding a woman, and many look good, but after waiting a while I learned to doubt the validity of the ones who are too fast to try to close the deal. And it seemed like Central Asian countries were full of scammers, and anyone who claims to have gotten my email address from my friends is certainly lying.
The article mentioned a few more examples, and the following article is about Elon Musk, which I thought was very appropriate, since Musk seems to have been running scams since he violated his initial visa by getting a job, and that visa violation made him ineligible for permanent resident status or citizenship.
After that there was an article about Trump, who has been scamming other businesses and the government for decades, but he doesn’t want people to remember that. Do you remember how he didn’t bother paying contractors who did work for him? Or do you remember the scam university he set up that was found guilty of educational fraud?
Not many people remember that electric vehicles were popular in the early 1900’s, but within a few years, the cost, weight, and short range made potential buyers look elsewhere. The subsequent popularity of internal combustion engine vehicles was the result of a successful marketting ploy. Steam engine automobiles were cheaper to build, more reliable, and had better range, and were easier for repairs. The manufacturers, principally Stanley and Doble, used relatively expensive chassis so they could charge more per car for the fancier bodies; some Dobles cost $5000. Then Ford turned out cars with a simple gas-powered engine and sold it for about $1000. Other producers of gas-powered cars made things a little fancier but priced them for much less than Doble.
The electric car manufacturers mostly went out of business before WW I, and the steam powered car companies died in the 1920’s, but the cheaper and less reliable gas cars are still around, and they still are less efficient and more complicated than steam cars.
There are several things that make me think that someone is trying to scam me. They include telling lies about what is going on, using crypto-currency, and selling electric powered cars. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are uses for electric vehicles: they make good industrial lift trucks, where they can spend every night on a charger, but they are not very good for road vehicles. Crypto—currency was clearly a scam from the beginning. It has no value and depends on someone even more foolish buying at a higher price for investors to make any money. There have been several shady characters who became president of the U.S.A., starting with Andy Jackson and going downhill from there, but I think the U.S.A. should have honest people in charge, again.
The points that I think readers should take away from this post are: avoid scams, crypto-currency, electric vehicle (except for forklifts), and don’t do business with Trump or his allies. You might also want to read the article in The Economist. And if you are looking for love online, be dubious of potential mates from Asia.