From the category archives:

Criticism

Paying for Christmas Light Hanging Service? Absurd

You’ve probably heard about the services that will hang Christmas lights on your house for you each year for a fee. I knew the services were out there but never actually knew anyone that used one, nor did I contemplate what the service would cost. I figure regular able-bodied people either hang the lights themselves [...]

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Renters Subsidize Homeowners with Tax Deduction? Think Again

With all the class warfare rhetoric of late, a popular “subsidy” to knock of late is the mortgage interest tax deduction. One of the largest constituents arguing for removal of this tax deduction is of course – renters. See renters often cite the notion that they are in effect subsidizing homeowners by way to the [...]

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Should Congress Extend Unemployment Benefits – Again?

One of the first things the new Congress is going to have to wrestle with is another extension of unemployment benefits. Presently, about 2 million workers are going to see their benefits expire if Congress doesn’t act in the next few weeks. Termed “the 99ers”, this cohort has exhausted the 26 weeks funded by the [...]

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Store Theft Will Cost You $423 This Year…and Other Hidden Costs in Life

According to a recent Global Retail Theft Barometer (report), Americans will shell out an additional $423 per family this year to account for the theft that occurs throughout the supply chain in various retail shopping segments. This number for America is higher than the $186 global average, but I guess that shouldn’t come as a [...]

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Who Would Make the Best Use of $Billions – Bill Gates or US Govt?

As the saying goes, “No good deed goes unpunished”, with the recent announcement that several billionaires will end up donating much of their wealth to philanthropy before they die rather than passing it on to heirs (along with a substantial portion to US coffers by way of the estate tax), many prominent Europeans are coming [...]

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For-Profit College Scams – Really Think Before Enrolling

The GAO released a damning study of the for-profit college industry which showed outright lying and deceptive tactics by personnel in order to dupe prospective students into enrolling in their programs when it was questionable as to whether doing so was in their best interest. Many of the personnel used high pressure sales tactics and [...]

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Charitable Contributions – Avoid being Ripped Off

While people mean well by donating money to seemingly noble causes, often times that money ends up being eaten up by administrative costs, waste, or outright fraud. The other day, I came home from work and my wife was at the door with a teenage kid holding a clipboard talking about clean water and pollution [...]

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Elliott Wave: Dow 1,000 Here We Come?

There are often obscenely optimistic, pessimistic or outright ridiculous titles to get clicks in major financial outlets and the vast majority of the time it’s complete bunk. From the book Dow 36,000 to predictions of gold prices at astronomical levels, it’s a game of one-upmanship to see who can devise the most outrageous theorem and [...]

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