This article is a small sample of things that would change if Marijuana was decriminalized.

An American Citizen is charged for a Marijuana related crime every 30 seconds. There were 1,663,582 marijuana related arrests in 2009 (13.0 percent of the total arrests in 2009)

“The U.S. federal government spent over $15 billion dollars in 2010 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $500 per second.” Said drugsense.org

Can you believe that? That would cost the Fed 1.5 trillion over the next 100 years. And that’s just at the Federal level; local governments also spend money cracking down on Marijuana. This requires larger police forces, larger jails, and of course, the problem of people being locked up for possessing a dried flower. 

    Additionally, if you didn’t stop at decriminalization, and allowed for it to be sold under local restrictions like alcohol and tobacco, the expected tax revenue federally would be 6.2 billion annually. That’s 0.62 trillion in 100 years… That equals a 2.1 trillion federal savings over 100 years, without counting inflation.

    That 2.1 trillion could be used to help pay for our huge debt, and help balance budgets for States and other local governments. And I’m not including the commercial and tax benefits of Hemp, that’s a separate but similar issue. Because Marijuana “Cannabis” is the drug, and Hemp, a rope like byproduct derived from Marijuana that cannot be used as a drug… The economic benefits of Hemp are much larger than Cannabis, because it is likely to replace cotton as the main material for fabric, replace trees for paper, as ass produce more than 5000 other products. (To learn more about Hemp, Read http://socyberty.com/issues/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-hemp/ )

In conclusion, decriminalizing Marijuana would have many great benefits for our economy, people, and environment. 

Shop Early

I know people that start their Christmas shopping literally as soon as Christmas is over, on boxing day. Now this may seem crazy, but its actually a great idea! There are tons of great deals on boxing day. You don’t have to be that crazy but starting your shopping a month or two ahead can help, because stores all raise their prices once Christmas time rolls around.

Shop online

This can save you a ton of money, especially if you know where to look! Shop on eBay and amazon, some people may have something they would love to be rid (meaning they are probably selling it cheap) of that maybe someone in your family would love to have! Another great site is quibids.com. If anyone hasn’t heard of the site, it is amazing, if you know how to use it. How it works is that you buy bids for 60 cents a bid, then items are auctioned off on a set timer. Every time someone bids the price goes up by a cent. If your the last person to bid on the item then you get to keep it! This is a great system and if you know how to use it you can get items for about 90 percent off! Laptops and game consoles selling for 50 dollars! Gift cards also go up for bids on the site and have very little bidding competition, so for example you could get a 30 dollar Tim Hortens card for only pennies!

Coupons

Have you ever seen the show extreme couponing? If not you should check it out, there are actually people using coupons so effectively that the store is paying them to take hundreds of dollars of items out of the store! You don’t have to be crazy like that, but many coupons can be found for free in most local papers. Look for them! Some of them are pretty good!

Credit Cards

Yes! Believe it or not you can actually save money by using credit cards. The best one I have ever heard of is the Walmart credit card. Its a credit card that you use specifically at Walmart, the best part of it is if you pay using this card then you save 5 percent on your purchase! Imagine it, Walmart, the place where you could potentially do ALL of your Christmas shopping, maybe check out with a couple thousand dollars worth of gifts, saving 5 percent could mean saving hundreds of dollars! Other things such as frequent flier miles, cash back, and discounts are also incentives to use credit cards.

Make Homemade Gifts

Now this is only for some people, but if your and artsy or crafty kind of person than you could potentially make the gifts that you give to others. Especially if you were making a toy or something for a child, that wouldn’t be too hard to make.

Shop Late

This goes completely against the first point, but seriously, if you go shopping on December 24th the deals are incredible!

Well that’s the list, hope it helped!

<a href=”http://expertscolumn.com/content/christmas-saving” title=”Christmas Saving”>Christmas Saving</a>

What is happening in othe parts of the world is also of grave concern, sounding alarms of economic melt-downs that are giving way to discontentment, revolutions and mayhem.  It seems the time has finally arrived when political establishments would become meaningless, while sound economic institutions are gradually weakening and the bonds that essentially unite the nations are fraying, as a result of debilitating effects of global calamities. 

Instead of trust and goodwill, suspicion, scams and honesty are becoming dominant, in spite of our technological advances, in this age of computers, cell phones, etc, while consumers seem to be uncertain about the merit and veracity of offers on the Internet that might be doubtful and harmful. The age of technology should be regarded as a “miracle;’ yet, we hear rumbles of violent upheavals around the world, wails of hunger and famine in Africa, confusion in Europe, bickering in the halls of Congress, as well as religious and racial animosities.

What is intended herein is not pessimism but hope that, in the not too-distant-future, the days of ”golden opportunities” will once again begin looming on the economic horizon — one that will benefit those within and outside of the United States where hunger and famine continue to persist and the yearning for peace and togetherness is dangerously lacking.

• It will be paid for by savings in the health care system and modest tax increases on the wealthy;
• It will not increase the cost of health care;
• It will make health care available to everyone;
• It will improve the delivery of health care services to everyone;
• There are no losers from the program.

Let’s quickly answer each point.  

• By making health care cost-free to everyone, there will be huge increases in usage.  The models do not anticipate changes in people’s behavior that will result by price changes.  In the initial first two years, the projections may work out, just like the first several years of the social security program worked fine.  Over time, people adapt to take advantage of cost-free goods.  This entitlement program will require more and more money each year, and taxes on the wealthy will soon be taxes on the middle class to pay for the program.
• Adding 40 million people to the health care system without a proportionate increase in doctors and hospitals will increase the cost of medical care, or if the price is controlled by the government, then it will lead to shortages and rationing like in every country that has tried a national health service.  Also, behavior changes will occur over time that also increase the cost of care.  Individuals will not bear the full cost of their reckless behavior; the rest of society will subsidize poor health habits of people.
• Health care will be more available, although we will have to wait for it.  The system currently allocates health care by ability to pay through the price system.  The new system will allocate health care by time — that is, the ability to wait in line to see a physician or get a procedure — eventually, other rationing will take place because the system cannot serve everyone at once.
• There will be some expansion of health services unless the government does not reimburse for the costs, in which case it will be the same facilities for a greater number of people.  It will be like visiting the post office on April 15 — many people wanting service with the same number of windows to serve customers.  Delivery will be to many more people but allocated by time rather than by price.
• The winners will be private clinics in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.  A second, private, cash-only health care system will emerge to allow wealthy individuals to buy their care outside the public system.  If the federal government by law prohibits such a system, it will emerge right over the border in Mexico and Canada to serve U.S. citizens paying cash for care.  Everyone else will wait for care in the public system.  Private insurance companies will eventually leave the market unable to compete with the free government option.   The losers will be everyone who has a choice today in selecting their insurance or payment options.  The winners will be a new army of federal bureaucrats who will have lifetime employment working in the new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for health care financing. 

A better solution would be to eliminate all tax benefits for health care benefits and return to a cash-based system of paying for care.  This would make health care like any other good and would require individuals to take responsibility for their health decisions like smoking, drinking, taking drugs, etc.  Individuals could also buy insurance for catastrophic health issues.  Those in need who could not pay for care — and the system treats these individuals and illegal immigrants currently at emergency rooms across the country — could avail themselves of charity clinics staffed by physicians volunteering their time at free clinics.  Furthermore, each state could adopt its own system to pay for medical care for the indigent, rather than having an expensive, one-size-fits-all system at the federal level.  This is the way things used to be before the government began funding health care in earnest in the last 1960’s.  Allowing the state’s to experiment will allow successful programs to emerge and failed systems to be shut-down without affecting the entire country.  ObamaCare is another massive government program that we cannot afford.  We will hear more about it during the upcoming presidential campaign.  Let’s see who tells the truth about the program.  Clearly the solution is not more government, but less.

The most common and crazy stores are the big name stores such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Sears, and etc..  

So I want to know where you will be going and why?

Whether you’re looking for a T.V. or appliances, Wal-Mart, Target and Sears are definitely the way to go as they have a wide selection of all of those at great prices.  But for those purely electronics people like me, Best Buy is Heaven.  There are 1080p T.Vs being sold for under $200.00.  I have never seen any sales even close to this.  

Usually all the stores will open at 12:00 a.m. on friday and have lines forming out starting as early as 6:00 on Thanksgiving day.  Traditionally, the first x-amount of people will get a prize of some sort or a gift card which makes the waiting worth-while.  I hope to go to Best Buy on Thanksgiving night at 9:00 and camp out for some great deals and I look forward to seeing others with me.

Hope everyone stays safe this Black Friday and gets the deals they were hoping for.  Feel free to leave a comment saying where you are going for Black Friday or what deals you got/are hoping to get.

However, sоmе оf thе best paradises wherein а buyer cаn actually get а hold оf latest deals includes names like 6Ave, Ace Hardware, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Dell, Dick’s Sporting Goods et al. Initial figures which were аt sоmе time, over thе years, released by these stores tоо k thе internet shopping space by storm which refused tо recede.

Reports suggest thаt during 2009 and 2010, online retailers experienced а phenomenal growth оf аbоut 15.9 per cent іn sales hitherto therefore thе price range оf аn average order also rose 12.1% frоm around $170 per order tо $190.80.

With thе concept оf online shopping having madе things more simpler fоr thе customers, thе sales during Black Friday 2011 іs anticipated tо rise meteorically tо $1 billion whеn compared tо thаt оf $ 595 million during 2010.

During Black Friday 2011 one cаn expect evеn greater growth аs more number оf people have easy access tо thе internet, which іs also compounded by mobile connectivity. As per data records frоm 2010, аbоut 5.6 per cent оf traffic іn 2010 came frоm mobile connectivity, which wаs calculated аt 26.7 year over year release. It is, however, anticipated thаt thе number оf shoppers іn 2011 іs expected tо rise tо а whopping 200 million іn 2011 whеn compared tо thаt оf 195 million іn 2010. Savings wіll bе thе primary approach оf thе customers іn thе upcoming Christmas.

However, if one were tо rely оn thе archival data provided by National Retail Federation, during 2009 and subsequent years, thе avid shoppers spent around $ 45 billion whereas thе actual figures stood аt $ 41 billion, which is, іn any case, expected tо multiply during 2011.

All these abysmal results аrе sure tо shock any layman. But thе truth is, іt wіll MULTIPLY over thе years. Many studies and polls, which were conducted ahead оf Black Friday 2011 suggest thаt online shopping іs thе next big thing and а number оf respondents аrе good wіth thе fact thаt they wіll carry оut their holiday shopping sitting аt home without giving іntо their spouse’s demands.

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I remember when MyCokeRewards first came out.  I didn’t have high hopes of ever getting anything big, but when I was browsing through the rewards catalogue, I saw some pretty cool things for lots of points.  This was all I needed to save all of the codes I got with my many Coke products and beverages.

For about two years, I didn’t buy a thing!  I never saw anything great again.  There was nothing I really needed that they had.  I was a little disappointed but I figured I would keep after my points regardless, and that maybe one day something decent would come up.

My thinking with this changed.  A few weeks ago, I went to the movies with my fiance.  We were shocked at how much movie tickets had cost; the price seemingly rose!

This caused me to remember that I had seen movie tickets and packages for this on the Coke site.  Once I got back on the computer to check it out, I saw a deal that was perfect for us; two tickets with some drinks and popcorn!  I ordered it up, but was disappointed to read that this would take nearly 8 weeks to arrive!  I don’t understand why this could not be a print-off type of item.

Even though we are not avid movie-goers, it will be a nice treat to get out of a night and go see anything, for basically free!  It’s nice to get something back and have sort of a simple treat.

I have also seen car rentals on the site, which I plan to take advantage of for an upcoming trip.  Why should I put the miles on my car?  I also plan to get a fairly economical car to save on gas, which helps even more since my own car is very gasoline hungry.

The rewards that Coke offer can come in handy, as you see.  It’s certainly worth it in my opinion to do through the simple steps to add your points and get rewarded!

• Buy your cards/tree/lights in January. You will probably know that just after Christmas is the best time to get a bargain, but many of us don’t see the point in buying things as they will just be cluttering up the house for the whole of the year. However, if you have the space to store things then January sales is the place to get them. Certainly in card shops you will be able to buy the things that you need for next year and, if you need to buy an artificial tree, you should be able to get a good bargain.
• Pick things up from October. You might find that, in certain shops, things which people buy for Christmas are slightly higher in price during the festive period as shops anticipate that they will be able to make a rather good profit on them. If you start to buy things like alcohol, sweets and biscuits during the months leading up to it then you should find that you are able to escape these price rises.
• Make your own gifts. If you are a good artist or sculptor, then you might find that it would be much better for you to make things for your family and friends rather than buy them. Not only will this work out as much cheaper, but you will also find that people appreciate them a lot more because you have put more thought into them. If you have children then you should allow them to make cards and gifts, as it would keep them quiet for an afternoon and mean that you would have something to give to your family and friends as well.
• Grow your own vegetables. Things such as sprouts, potatoes and carrots can be grown easily and, if you choose to do these yourself, it will mean that you don’t have to spend as much money at the festive time of the year buying these. They will probably taste better than ones that you can buy in the shops as well.

If you take all of these tips into account, then you should probably find that you will be able to save a lot of money in the run up to Christmas.