I am loving the wailing and gnashing of teeth in the government over the budget shortfalls. As an IT professional, I’ve been fortunate to have made a decent living in my career, even in the era of failed dot-coms that never should have been started to begin with. Still, I have to manage a budget…
Category: Finance
Web Panhandling Pays Off
See how Karen Bosnak mooched her way out of a $20,000 debt. Oddly, Karen seems to have stirred up some resistance to her leech-like behavior. Who says there’s a recession on? We’re going to look into this ourselves…
Brazil and the IMF
Brazil is going to get a big infusion of American support via the IMF during the next year. Read the IMF news release. An NPR report on the subject left little doubt the Brazilians feel economic policy strings attached to the loans are unfair, apparently feeling they are entitled to borrow another $30 billion dollars…
Precious Metal
In a recession, the hardest currency of all used to be a fool proof way to hedge your bets. Not so now. Read the MSNBC article.
401k Losses Frustrate Investors
401k investors have lost a bundle lately. But is it a problem with the 401k plans themselves? Jane Bryant Quinn of NewsWeek thinks so. “We need to be protected from our own mistakes”, she cries. How noble of her. A 401k plan is an investment, in other words, a gamble. The problem with these investor’s…
Fraud Legislation
President Bush has signed the Accounting Industry Reform Act. Read the CNN article by Suzanne Malveaux. The real question is obvious: will it be enforced? If so, America may well be rewarded by a healthy Wall Street. If not, how can a small, “outside” investor reasonably put money into a game that is highly likely…
State Government Tear-jerker
I read an amusing article today at Slate.com. “Pity the Poor, Penniless Governors” by Jack Schafer. Seems many states are suddenly noticing there’s a recession on. “Not enough money? What will we do?!”, they cry! As Mr. Schafer points out, state legislators simply need to tighten their belts and acknowledge economic realities. This means cutting…
Bush Stock Trades Not News
The Whitewater-like mini-scandal embroiling President Bush over his trades of Harken Energy stock twelve years ago is much ado about nothing. In fact, it is merely a Democratic tit-for-tat, an obligatory retribution for the assaults on former President Clinton. Democratic leaders have chosen to flex their political muscle during the pre-election summer campaigns to minimize…