Caribbean Vacation Travel

“We have the lowest prices you will find anywhere. If you find a price for your caribbean vacation that is lower than our advertised price, we will beat it. Don’t delay because we only have a few seats left to your favorite Caribbean destination.”

How often do you hear similar claims from sellers who want to persuade you to come into their store and buy their selected goods. How many of these claims are true and how many times do the savvy marketers fulfill their part of the bargain.

Obviously, if a travel agent told me I will get a huge discount if I book my holiday plans with them for my trip to Barbados, I will hope that they come through for me. If they backpedal I would assume they just wanted to get me to buy from them but did not have my best interests at heart.

I called a seller’s bluff on a claim something like this recently. The marketer in his sales copy made a bold claim. He said he would give me the stuff he was selling without charge if I found anyone online that was offering the same or better deal as he was offering.

I immediately knew it was just sales hype and wrote him telling him I know of such a great deal. I also included the website address for his attention. Lo and behold, he responded to me in quick time asking a hypothetical question, which he answered himself and offered that as satisfaction to refute my challenge.

I wrote again asking why he included something different from what his claim was about as justification. He responded the sales copy had several inclusions of the item that concerned me. In other words, you are wrong and I am right.

I immediately dropped my concern and did not buy from him even though I could use the product he offers.

So when you decide to plan your next trip to the islands pay attention to the hype your travel agency may throw at you. Call their bluff on the vague claims they make.

If you are just returning from your caribbean vacation you may not have heard that Republican Representative Jeb Hensarling thinks the financial bailout bill is tantamount to hypocrisy.

The practical representative further asked, “How can we have capitalism on the way up and socialism on the way down?”

Well, perhaps you think enough is enough and will book another holiday to Barbados where the cost of living is expensive but everyone pays for their own lunch. After all, you did leave home thinking you lived in a capitalistic society where some people believe that welfare recipients should find a real job.

For some people the bailout of American banks will mean long-term unemployment. Some financial executives will lose their jobs. Of course, this also means that other people lower in the totem pole will also have to find a new way to earn a living.

However, don’t cry for the executives because they are likely planning to spend some of the severance they receive on a long sabbatical in the Bahamas. This is a time for them to lick their wounds and prepare to rebound into another well-paid benefit package.

It is true that some of these islands spend in a year less than one percent of this total rescue package. It is also true that some Americans have labeled some of them as socialist states because of their generous giving of basic needs to their people for doing little or no work.

But in hard times everyone becomes vulnerable and looks to someone else to accept their responsibility. During tough times a capitalist becomes a diehard socialist. The United States is a great empire, but no greater than the small Caribbean islands that dot the map in the Caribbean Sea. Eventually, we have to suppress our ego and recognize our interdependence.

The world, the planet, is at a critical stage right now because many people do not believe that methane gas emissions threaten to wipe us off the face of the earth. Just as Bush and Paulson heeded the hurry call of their friends, so too will all of us when we realize it is too late to save the world.

The greatest financial handout in America’s history may give our people some time to think about the larger view than just the economy. Will it save the United States and the rest of the world from the real cause of financial reversals?