Credit cards

I have been wondering about the security of credit cards, and other bank cards. I have this piece of plastic from the bank. It has some numbers on it. Whenever I buy something I give a copy to the shop.

I want to be able to shop on the internet, and be able to trust that no-one else will use my card.

What can I do? Is there a better way?

Some options, to improve security now

Please add a comment if, you know of any of these or current techniques, that are in current use (especially in England), and where I can get a card.

• Send a text on every transaction. Then we can see if there are any unexpected transactions.
• Pre-payment cards, to limit exposure to how much money can be stolen.
• Book of single use cards.
• Bank intermediary, I securely ask the bank to pay on my behalf.

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Footnote

There are attempts to make the shops/internet sites store the numbers securely, and to pass the numbers to internet sites using encryption, both of which are not yet satisfactory. If 99% of establishments store your numbers securely and don’t use them inappropriately, then 1% don’t.

Economics

The word economics comes from the Greek word to study the home.

If we look at the home/house/family as a model, then we will find some things that may work at a world or country scale and some that won’t.

I have heard lots of suggestions of things, that I don’t think will work.

Suggestion 1:
Buy lots of stuff, throw it away, and buy more stuff.

This does not work at the home/house/family level. Some dis-functional families do this, but it does not lead to good. The same is true at the global or country level.

Suggestion 2:
Get a lazy person to vacuum the carpet, even when it is clean, to produce work.

This may help with training, distribution of money, and avoiding free-loaders, but that is all.

Suggestion 3:
Give money to the rich and hope that it trickles down.

This can help in a closed system such as a family. But in a closed system, where does the money come from? In country wide system, there is no problem of money creation, but the effect is just inflation(this is bad as reduces savings), and reduction of debts(this is good). Therefore the creation of money also creates irresponsibility “it is better to be in debt than to save”. Targeting of the needy or of the cause of the problem makes this irresponsibility problem even worse.

Here are some that I think may work, or at least be better.

Suggestion 1:
Encourage people to do useful work, that benefits society as a whole.

Suggestion 2:
Pay everyone in a society a living allowance, not means tested. Everyone retains a right to work, without loosing this allowance. Take away all means tested benefits, such as unemployment benefit.

There can be additional allowance for disabilities, based on a fair judgement, not on whether you do or don’t work, but on needs and whether you can or can’t work (irrespective or if you do or don’t). If a person can’t but does work, then there status is still can’t work so they still get the benefit. If it is can but does not work, there status is can work so they don’t get additional benefit. If they need equipment they get an allowance for it. If they get it cheep second hand (charity shop, ebay etc), then good for them, they get to keep the difference. People should NEVER be punished for doing what is best, even if it costs more. In the long term this is best.

This encourages people to do the right thing, the best thing is that we do not need to know what the right thing is. We just stop rewarding behaviour that leads to bad outcomes(capitalist). And we give an allowance to everyone, without judgement (socialist).

Free Software is not about price, but some times it is about cost.

It was only £200, that is not much!

Two weeks trying to get a Microsoft licence.
Two weeks of poor productivity for new member of staff.
Several days of other people’s time to purchase licences.
A one hour telephone call, that did not result in acquisition of licences.
Being forced to do an on-line test just passing with 70%, to become a partner.
Trying to get authorisation for purchase.
Trying to arrange payment, finding someone with company credit card.
Two more weeks of waiting.
Manual install of software.
Typing in product keys.

I would have paid £1000 (per seat) for a Free-Software alternative such as Debian or Ubuntu. Don’t let the price fool you. You can get Debian or Ubuntu for £5 or the price of a download. But do not let this low price fool you into thinking it is of low quality. Studies have shown it to be better quality than proprietary Unixs. And Unix is the OS that no one could afford in the 1980s, so they bought MS-DOS then MS-Windows. Because now you can afford it, you think it can not be any good.

Give it a go download the CD, run it from CD for a few days, don’t install it, just try it. Or install in in a virtual box.

http://www.debian.org/ The most stable Gnu/Linux distro. It used to be just for techies but is now easier to install than Microsoft’s Windows.

http://www.ubuntu.com/ A bit less conservative than Debian, so more up-to-date software. However it is less concerned with your freedom, so it is much more easy to install non-free software. Use the LTS Long Term Service releases, unless you have a good reason to use the frequent release versions. LTS is supported for 5 years with updates and can automatically update to the next LTS when it comes out.

What is wrong with economic theory

This is just some thoughts from listening to so-called experts on the radio. I call them flat earth economists, as they are like the flat earth believers of old. You had to believe it or everyone would think you are an idiot.

Occasionally someone will get on who will discuss their ideas about turtles and elephants, or a giant space ship. The real economists that think for them-self and are not mad (well no more that normal) that say what they see, hardly got a look in. So here is some things that I see.

Rewards for doing wrong

Don’t reward bankers for doing wrong. Governments should not bail-out institutions, but let them go. But some times it is necessary to save customers. Therefore if a bail-out is needed then the government should take-over the institution to save the customers and take any profits.

Combining utility with speculation

This makes bail-out necessary. Bail-outs are bad. Therefore legislate that utilities (banks) do not partake (or lend to) in speculation.

High pay

It has been proved that pay above a level does not motivate. It is also evident that those getting the bonuses can not do their job. Therefore do not pay too much, consider hiring it more unusual people.

Growth

Growth can not go on forever, and history shows it does not. Therefore do not depend on it.

Confidence

You only need to rely on confidence if it is not true. Therefore if someone tells you that confidence is dropping or rising, get out quick.

Leverage through borrowing

If you borrow to invest, and the investment goes bad then you owe a lot of money that you can not repay. Therefore do not borrow or lend. However you can invest and issue equity.

Belief in self-interest

It is often said that when an individual pursues his self-interest, he indirectly promotes the good of society. Is this true. If so, then when your car is stolen then it is for the good of society, and the thief should not go to jail (or the law should be revoked, indeed all laws should be revoked). Therefore don’t believe everything you are told.

Belief in Perfect Markets

It is said that the markets are perfect, because everyone works as individual. It is not true for the simple reason that most people (without even studying economics) believe that everyone else is acting rationally and knows something they don’t (they attribute there not knowing what is going on to a personal attribute[personal attribution bias]). They then follow the crowd. The crowd follows the crowd. The blind follow the blind. Therefore don’t believe everything you are told.

Money is real

Money is not real, goods and services are real. Financial institutions do not make anything, they are not even providing a real service, it is at best a secondary service. Therefore do not call it the banking industry.

Inefficiency

If I run my house like a country (following macro economic theory) I would be in debt and have no stuff. I would smash-up everything to try to increase growth. Therefore beware macro economic theory and don’t believe everything you are told.

Efficiency

Having a small number of large companies may be efficient, but is fragile, and is inefficient for customers. Therefore have a large number of small companies.

Statistics

The use of Gaussian statistics to predict markets suggests that the event that happen every 10 to 20 years are billion year events. This is clearly not true. There is no other statistics that can predict (though some types can predict the general shape). Therefore do not try to predict, just buy when under valued, and sell when over valued.