Mitch hawks Iraqi dinar scam
I was over at Shot in the Dark because of match's post responding to mine about Minnesota's rogue pharmacists who refuse to do their jobs, and I was disappointed to see that Mitch's BlogAds are hawking the infamous Iraqi dinar scam.
Bet on Iraq is a con that plays on conservatives' genuine desire for Iraq to succeed. It's a con for a couple of reasons. First of all, they talk about the pre-war value of the dinar versus the dollar, and argue somewhat reasonably that the dinar should eventually rise to its pre-war value. But Saddam set that by fiat, and if the currency were freely traded, it wouldn't have been "worth" that much. Second, Iraqi dinars can't be traded outside of Iraq. So even if your investment in dinars does pay off, you won't be able to cash in without catching a flight to Baghdad. Finally, the biggest reason this is simply an out-and-out scam is that Bet on Iraq is charging significantly more for the dinars than they are worth. I appreciate that getting them out of Iraq costs money, but Bet on Iraq is, quite frankly, screwing people over with their prices.
But don't take my word for it.
Oklahoma City TV station KFOR reported on this scam: Dinar dupe: currency con man touts value of Iraqi money
Brad Sester explained in detail why this is a bad deal on his weblog: Just because one dollar currently buys something like a million and half Turkish lira ...
And Jesus' General congratulated Power Line for betting on Iraq in his own inimitable style...
posted by Luke Francl @ 6:37 PM |
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11 Comments:
Jebus, have you seen the skin Powerline is sporting? That ACLU lady's hey-heys look like they're about to burst out of her unbelievably-tight-leave-nothing-to-the-imagination t-shirt and right under that ad is another harlot taking her pants off! They're starting to look like City Pages. Thank goodness for decent folk like us.
Taking Hewitt's lead of course. These guys try to milk Spew Spewitt for all he's worth, and then find out he's actually an ass. To paraphrase Pickles Bush.
So how is this whole thread not just one big personal attack?
-Censored
Yeti, my problem is that I have some respect for Mitch. That's why I'm disappointed that he's been taken in on this scam.
Swiftee McCensored asks, "So how is this whole thread not just one big personal attack?"
I'll forget for second that that's coming from the same guy who just in the past few days wrote this:
"Morons, All of you. 'Let's write letters!' Who cares, they aren't making anything on your medicare lithium prescriptions (sic) anyway."
As usually Swiftee/Censored (I like your new alias. It's very Guckert/Gannon.) is trying to change the debate, because his right wing pals are doing something which is at best stupid and at worst deceitful. Just address the facts "Censored" or stop playing. Your trolling has grown tiresome. Here's a simple question: Do you defend Powerline's use of well-known scam artists as advertisers?
So much vituperation and just plain straw. So little time.
First, Luke: Maybe it's because I started in radio at such an impressionable age, but I've grown pretty used to taking a "caveat emptor" view of these things. However, let's be accurate: I'm not hawking anything. Blogads is. I mean, the City Pages carries ads for adult entertainment - does that mean Steve Perry is "hawking porn?" Hardly. If I hear there's anything legally actionable, I'd pull the ad, but until then - hey, I'm no trust-fund baby. Gotta pay for this hobby somehow.
"Yeti": I don't imagine you've read my blog a whole lot; there are no Shot "Boys", just me. I'd like to know where you think I've "hawked" the war. I've been reading military history most of my life, and writing it for quite a while, too; there's no "hawking" involved. And if I were 25 rather than 42, and didn't have kids to raise, I'd have joined the Army long ago; I'd look good in a tank.
As to the "lemmings" crack - I have no idea how many people actually buy Iraqi dinar, but it's probably not as many as, say, contributed to Howard Dean via the internet. Speaking of con jobs.
WHT: I am probably erring grossly in assuming you have given this any sentient thought, but how is it that I, or we, are "milking" Hugh Hewitt? As to the appellation - Oh, I bet you say that about every conservative in the media! Hugh is one of the most intelligent pundits anywhere in the media today, and (very unusually for the radio industry) a genuinely good human being, and a friend of mine. But what would I know, having actually met the man.
Hugh's put in a good word for the Northern Alliance, and for me personally. Beyond that, I'd be interested in knowing what "milking" is going on, and who you people think is doing it. The radio show and the blog alliance both got nice sendoffs from Hugh, but beyond that they are completely organic.
Finally, John: Before we "defend" Powerline's (or my) advertising, shall we apply the same approach to every media outlet out there - transfer the credibilty of *advertisers* to the outlet's editorial content? Because it would not be pretty. I've worked in the business; it's a glass house for everyone involved.
a cynic would point out that by buying Iraq Dinar you are buying Iraq on the cheap, may not be a con after all, lot of oil there boys
You guys think you know it all...fact is your just parroting crap from one side or the other...left..right...lib...con..
hey why do some of you guys knock the dinar? i think you want to keep it all for your self! why else would anyone care? i personally bought 1,000,000.00 worth for less than 700.00 usd beats a trip to the casino and i ask my cpa and if i lose its a tax write off.BIG-DEAL If it goes up even .10 usd i make 999,300.00 for sitting on my @ss in front of a computer for a couple of hours.Sounds like the american way to me. as for cashing it in who needs to fly to bagdad for that I can do it over my computer the same way i bought it!seems to me like you guy need to do some more research. let me put it to you like this i think buying dinar is a better shot at getting something back than say buying 700 lotto tickets? now if you can't run with the big dogs stay under the porch
I purchased 1.5 Million Dinar two years ago and nothing has happened because of the insurgents. Iraq was reported pumping 2.5 million barrels of oil a day today. At $70 per barrel they are making $175 million dollars a day.
I expect it will be a long time before the country gets stable and the oil revenues are worked out.
The dinar is a long term investment not a scam.
Funny, the people that argue it is a scam and cite all of the reaosns why they say it is a bad investment do seem to ignore the reasons it could turn out to be a good deal.
Like comparing the Dinar to Turkish Lira..what a stupid comparison. Turkey isn't sitting on one of the largest oil reserves as oil aproaches $100/barrel.
And who cares what Saddam artificially pegged his Dinar at? makes no difference. What only matters is that as Iraq gets sorted out and gets on its feet and begins pumping that oil like it will, the Dinar will rise to a value higher than it is now. And that is all that matters.
The only way you get scammed is if you pay too much. And that isn't really a scam, it's just being a poor shopper.
Likely the BHDSers don't want this to succeed, just like they don't want anything in Iraq to succeed.
You can buy 1M Dinars for about a much as you'd spend in a casion in an evening or two, and with a better chance of return.
So what's the problem?
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