Archive for the ‘Commentary’ Category

I like my CDs and DVDs, thank you very much

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Smart Money's recent article, Ten things not to buy in 2010, listed the who's who of soon-to-be-obsolete consumer products.  Among them:  CDs, DVDs, and newspapers. Newspapers, I can understand, especially after seeing a comedian absolutely decimate the folks at the New York Times.  (Though I do fully recognize their point that ...

Credit card companies can profit from Haiti donations all they want

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

This Huffington Post article puts a big spotlight on all of the money that credit card companies and banks are making by being the broker of donations to charities that support rescue and aid over in Haiti: About 97 percent of these donations will actually make it to the designated organizations ...

Inflation is to cart as COLA is to horse

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

I suppose in some ways it might look like zero inflation is bad for you.  After all: Social Security checks don't go up. Marginal tax bracket cutoffs don't go up. The standard federal income tax deduction doesn't go up. Interest rates on savings accounts are in the basement. Etc., etc., etc. These bad things are all ...

$150k plus $700/month for 175 square feet

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Makes me wonder:  If I were to ask a New Yorker about the real estate collapse, they might tell me, "Real estate what?" Tough Money Love commented on Zaarath and Christopher Prokop's postage-stamp real estate purchase: a 175-square-foot "microstudio" apartment, secured for the cool price of $150,000 plus a $700+/month maintenance ...