Rob Cheng's Blog
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29Nov
2011
International Travel With Children

I made the flight reservations for November 25th for 5 people (me, Solange (my wife), Teddy, Jesse, and my mother in law Maria). The reservation was for approximately $1000 a person with US Air. I only fly US Air to Myrtle Beach because I refuse to fly Delta ever again, because Delta ripped me off for $2500 which I already documented on this web site. The price I felt was reasonable.

After that, the unexpected happenned. My wife is doing quite well in school, and in Brazil if a student is not doing well then they have the option to take an additional set of exams to try to pass the course. That was not necessary in my wife’s case because she is learning her coursework well. But… last week, she had an exam and the professor did not show up for the exam. They were told that he was in the hospital, and that my wife would have to wait a week to take her last exam. I called US Air and they nailed me for $400 but what could I do? So I paid.

Now, only four of us are travelling (me, Maria, Teddy and Jesse). My wife drove us to the airport to say good bye. When we get to check in they informed us that we were unable to travel since we do not have my wife’s written permission to allow me to travel with the kids. Apparently, they just passed a new law in Brazil in the last two months to stop parents from abducting their children to foreign countries.

I was bummed but I was more nervous because I was sure that US Air would nail us for fees. We go to the US Air counter, and we argue with them, and guess what? US Air actually changed our ticket to the next day for free! I really don’t know why they didn’t stick it to us because I was fully expecting it.

We were told that the location to get the documentation for permission to travel was open 24 hours 7 days a week in the center of Rio de Janeiro. So we decided to show up there at midnight, and it was actually a painless process. And it cost us nothing other than the taxi fare to get to the place. Apparently, they didn’t get the memo that they should be trying to screw us because we would pretty much have paid any reasonable fee to allow us to travel.

The next day, we get to the airport more than 3 hours before the flight took off just to make sure we did not have any more probems. Well there was. I am not sure what happened, but I called my mother in law to get her exact name for the plane reservation and she gave me the wrong name. Unbelievable. She gave me her married name and she had not been married for more than 10 years. I was sweating bullets. Geez. But then US Air came through again. They allowed us to change the name on the reservation to the name on the passport. Again, they did not charge us anything. On top of that, they changed her seat so she was no longer sitting with us. US Air changed it back without charging us anything. Wow! This is different than Delta that tries to actively find angles to screw you.

Then we finally board the plane and Teddy falls immediately asleep. He slept for 9 hours on the plane! It was a miracle. Jesse only slept for 6 hours but it was awesome.

I don’t know what it is about international travel but it is now my expectation after having dealt with Delta, that something will go wrong and somehow somewhere, someone will screw you. They know you are just trying to get to your destination, and if they can screw you to make money they will. Delta in my book is of course the king of screwing passengers.

So we go through immigration and customs, and there was not one problem. Did everyone not get the memo, that it is better to screw people when they are travelling? But then I spoke too quickly.

The four of us board the plane, and this young stewardess approaches us and inquired whether my two kids had paid for their tickets and therefore could have their own seats. They had and I told her. Shortly before take off, Jesse was in Maria’s arms resting peacefully. The same stewardess came by and told us that the plane could not take off because Jesse was not in his seat with his seat belt buckled. Jesse is just 2 years old. So I relented, and we put Jesse in his seat. Jesse did not like it one bit, and started screaming bloody murder. Maybe the stewardess was happy but I was not. I have travelled with my kids a lot, and no one ever had said anything like this. As matter of fact, if our flight was not almost totally empty there is no way that the stewardesses can make sure that all of the kids that are in laps are not actually ticketed.

So the plane finally takes off, and I take Jesse out of his seat and give him to his grandmother again. Jesse is quiet and there is peace in the world. Or so I thought. Next thing I know, the stewardess is back. She is very annoyed that I gave Jesse back to his grandmother. I just figured once the plane took off, that we could return to normal and it was not necessary for Jesse to cry the entire time. I was wrong. She was pissed and not afraid to show it. She started lecturing me about safety and her job, and all kinds of things. Maybe I was tired, or I just didn’t feel like hearing this retard lecture me about how to take care of my kid, but I laughed. It was not intentional but it did happen. This made things worse, and now she told me that we would have to turn around the plane and go back to Charlotte. She was now threatening me. I looked at her and said, “Let’s go back to Charlotte”. She trounced away to bitch to her superiors.

She was bluffing and I knew it. Was it a good idea to call her bluff? I am not sure, but that’s what I did. Bluffers don’t like to get called, and they don’t like it when you laugh at them either. I really don’t blame US Air for this. The stewardess is one bad apple, and I suspect she has not been working in the hospitality much time, and I also suspect she would better suited working for TSA or other mammoth government agency that enforces a lot of meaningless rules. Maybe the IRS or something like that.

Finally, we got back to my house in Myrtle Beach. And then I realized that I left my Kindle on the flight from Rio to Charlotte. Darn it. I love my Kindle and I was able to read a few chapters on the plane while the kids slept. I called US Air and the woman was very nice. Almost too nice. But she informed me that they had not found my Kindle. I thought to myself. If I found an Amazon Kindle in the pocket in front of my airline seat, would I actually return it? I think I would, but I also can see how a lot of people wouldn’t. I also think that maybe US Air keeps all of that stuff and then sells it off at auction to make more money. Either way, I am going to buy a new Kindle. In some weird way, I am looking forward to it. I am not going to buy a Kindle Fire nor an Ipad because I love the battery life on the Kindle. I read a lot and I guess that I have to recharge less than once a month. I figure that I never have to recharge my book. so an eBook should behave roughly the same way.

After all that, it’s nice to be back in the land where I was born and raised. There is no doubt in my mind that airline travel keeps on getting worse. I shudder to think how bad it will be 10 years from now.
22Nov
2011
The Future Is Gone

Somewhere in the 80’s or perhaps the early 90’s, the American dream changed. The American dream became to own a house. Before that time, it had been about the future. I was raised to believe that if you were smart and worked hard, you could build a better future for yourself. Also, I have always wanted to believe that whatever future I could build, my children would have a brighter future than me. I no longer believe this.

Many of my friends and relatives childrens are becoming of age to go to college or enter the work force. It makes me sad because they do not have anywhere near the opportunities I had when leaving college. There were literally a line of companies that wanted to interview me. I was 20 years old flying throughout the entire country for free trying to select the best company for me. It made me feel great about myself and my future. Today’s college graduates are lucky to get a job at all much less get wined and dined by the most attractive companies in the country.

So how did we get here? How did such a bright future turn so bleak in the course of one generation? It has taken me a while but I have figured out the answer. It is the Fed. The Fed has ruined the future. Let me explain how.

The core of the issue is ZERO percent interest rates. What are interest rates? What does that mean? Interest rates are generally thought to be the time value of money. So therefore, if you want to borrow $100 today and interest rates are 10%, you must pay back $110 one year from now. More importantly, if you pay back in two years, you now owe $121. Basically, the longer you wait to pay, the more you owe which in general is not good.

How are interest rates determined? Interest rates historically have been considered a price between the supply and demand of money. Back in the gold old days, if a lot of people were saving money in their bank accounts, this would drive interest rates down. Conversely, if a lot of people wanted to borrow money, that would drive interest rates up. This entire equation has been broken in the last 10 years but one retard named Alan Greenspan who was the chairman of the Fed under Ronald Reagan, George H. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

During the end of Clinton’s term, and throughout all of George W. Bush’s term, Greenspan consistently pushed interest rates down. It’s not hard to do. He just snapped his fingers and more money flowed into the economy and interest rates are pushed down. This raises many questions about our country and our society. What gives this asshole the right to just print money out of thin air? What is the impact on us citizens when he does this shit?

Here is the impact. Imagine if someone could counterfeit money in our country. Imagine if they could print and spend one million dollars each and every day. What would be the impact on all of us? The reality is that it would not impact us much at all. The counterfeiter is devaluing all the people that hold dollars in the world. Given that there are so many dollars in world wide circulation, and no one would notice the impact of one million dollars a day.

That’s what Alan Greenspan was hoping for. That we would not notice! Instead what we notice is that money is cheap. Rather than save for something, it is better to borrow. Where are we borrowing from? The future. And so we have. Let’s be clear. This zero percent interest rate has entrenched itself in every part of our society and country. Our citizens are in debt like no other country in the world. Our state and local governments are now flowing in debt. And of course as we read in the news, our federal government is the poster child for fiscal malfeasance. The ONLY reason that all of this has happened is because money is too cheap. Way too cheap.

Circling back to the theme of interest rates. Since interest rates are supposed to reflect the equilibrium between supply and demand of money, what does zero percent interest rates mean? It can only mean one thing. There is infinite supply of money. As long as their is a person, state, city, county or country that wanted money, we would give them the money. It did not matter whether they needed the money. It did not matter if they could ever pay back the money, we would lend it to them.

NONE of the financial tragedy that has happened in the US would have happened if interest rates were not so low if Greenspan had not gotten our nation addicted to cheap money. It was Greenspan’s responsibility to regulate and deter this propensity of society, instead he encouraged it.

All of this leads us to one unavoidable conclusion. Zero percent interest rates mortgages our future. It mortgages the future of our cities, counties, states and our country. But more important than that, it mortgages the future of our children. As long as we have zero percent interest rates, our children will NEVER have a better life than us.

There is only one solution to this entire mess. The Fed must STOP intervening in the market place and let interest rates rise to an equilibrium between supply and demand. I am going on record now and state with 100% certainty that it will happen. In my view, it should happen sooner rather than later, but it will not. The reason is that allowing interest rates to rise will significantly contract our economy. Unemployment will go up not down. 401K’s will decline in value. The Dow Jones will fall like a rock. So therefore no one even discusses this issue.

Think about it. The root cause of our entire mess is cheap money from the Fed which bankrupts our future. Do we hear any candidate Republican or Democrat discussing this issue? Aside from Ron Paul, all the other candidates run from this issue. They try to blame our issues on everything but the Fed. Worse yet, even if a candidate believed that the Fed was the problem, our government is powerless to fix things since the Fed is actually not part of our government. The Fed can basically do whatever it wants, and so it does.

America is going through a hard time right now, but if we want to fix our country, we need to let interest rates rise. If we do so, then it will get really bad, but we can secure our long term future as a country and also for our children. The problem is that we live in a democracy and soon as there is a little pain, our democracy will vote away the pain. We are stuck at zero percent interest rates. And QED. Our future has no value. Sorry.
12Nov
2011
8 Tips For Driving In Rio de Janeiro

Shortly after getting married in 2006, I decided to purchase a car here in Rio de Janeiro. We bought a brand new Chevy Astra for about R$48,000. At the time, that was about $20,000. Still today, it is perhaps one of the most popular cars in all of Brazil. Our Astra included leather seats, a 2.0 liter engine, and an MP3 player. Also, I could not live without the rear sensor which lets me know when I am near something when in reverse. After 5 years, we only have about 15,000 kilometers on the car (10,000 miles), but it still has been a great investment.

1. Consider Parking

By and large, we do not drive in Rio de Janeiro. The main reason is that you should not take out the car unless you feel comfortable that you will be able to park the car. For example, a popular weekend activity is going to the beach, however, I would never take my car because you could literally spend 1-2 hours just looking for a parking space. There are however lots of stores and malls that have ample parking. There are many restaurants that have valet parking. Some but not all of the valet parking is free.

2. Obey The Rules

This is not as easy as it sounds because by and large no one else is obeying the rules. It is clear to me that the there is really no traffic police on patrol and so it is basically a free for all. On my street, Epitacio Pessoa, there is a very hairy place when leaving Copacabana, where suddenly 4 lanes are condensed to 2 lanes. If there is traffic, then it slows to a halt as every one vies to get a car length on the other cars. Worse yet, this happens near a gas station, and it is not uncommon to see people zipping through the gas station, to gain an edge on the other side. I always obey the rules. For example, if there is bumper to bumper traffic, and there is an ambulance behind you, then get out of the way and let them pass.

3. Know Your Route

Rio de Janeiro is one of the most complex cities in the world. Worse yet, many of the streets are not very well marked. Now with the internet, spend a good amount of time studying the maps to understand how the road system is put together. One good way to get to know the city is to just drive around on the weekend where there is less traffic and you are not as rushed. It is such a big place.

4. Traffic Is A Killer

It is normally a 45 minute drive from where I live to Recreio. One afternoon, it took close to 3 hours. You don’t know when it will hit you or where, but sometimes you can get stuck in traffic for hours, literally. Sometimes the traffic patterns are predictable. Fridays are the worst day to drive because many people leave Rio de Janeiro. Same goes for the day before a holiday weekend, and there are a lot of holidays here in Brazil.

5. Beware Of The Buses

There are a lot of buses in Rio de Janeiro and the people that drive them are all training for NASCAR. Buses are a lot bigger than cars and they know it. There is definitely a pecking order and buses are on top. If you see a bus, you should assume that they will not see you and cut you off. Pass buses with caution.

6. Motorcycles And Scooters

On the other end of the pecking order are the motorcycles and scooters. They are everywhere and they follow no rules. If there is a tiny space or crack in traffic, they will try to drive through it and some times at high speed. They are hard to spot in a rear view mirror. The one thing that I have learned is that scooters and motorcycles can stop much faster than a car. It is well documented but each day, 4-5 motorcycle drivers die. All I can say is that I am higher up in the pecking order. One note for pedestrians. When crossing the street and the traffic is all stopped, beware of the bikes that are darting between the cars trying to get ahead.

7. Relax

If you look from the outside, it seems like a daunting tax. With all the traffic, horns honking, buses cutting you off, and motorcycles darting in and out, it might drive you insane. The one by product of all this and no one obeying the rules, is that traffic moves slowly. You don’t need to have lightening reflexes nor be nervous. Most things are happening to you like in a slow motion movie. Most of the time when driving in Rio, I am driving around 50 km/hour (30 miles/hour), which by American standards is not very fast.

8. Use Alcohol

By law, all cars accept both gasoline and alcohol. We always use alcohol. It is cheaper, better for the environment, and made by sugar cane in Brazil.