Should Teacher Salaries Be Published for All to See?

The other day, a friend sat down at my wife’s table at a kids’ school function and seemed a bit sad and said, “Well, now that you all know what my husband makes…that’s how my day’s going”.  My wife and the others at the table actually didn’t know what her husband made (until she made […]

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Are You Prepared for 5% Annual Returns for Years to Come?

In yet another common refrain from the Bond King Bill Gross, he stated this week (CNBC) that anyone realizing even 5% returns on stocks or bonds should consider themselves in the upper echelon of performers in the years ahead due to the debt issues in the EU and US which are anticipated to restrict growth […]

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It’s That Time of Year – How to Calculate Your FSA Contribution Amount for 2012

For those of you who have a Flex Savings Account option at work, it’s time to set the total annual allotment for 2012 before the year starts.  I’ve always had mixed emotions about this provision of the tax code.  On one hand, you’re allowed to deduct medical expenses from your income normally subject to federal […]

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Should Americans with No Kids Be Able “Opt-Out” of School Taxes?

I was at a family gathering this summer and the usual topic of complaining about the ineptitude of local government officials and school boards came up.  That then led to older participants questioning what their tax dollars were being used for and why they’re even paying school taxes to begin with.  It led to an […]

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I’ll Never Buy Music Again – Except Monthly :>

Throughout my life I’ve gone through a series of various philosophies on music listening, performance and consumption.  As a kid, I was REALLY into  music.  I started playing guitar at about 13, went on to be in various “Battle of the Bands” and other concerts, etc. and was a voracious consumer of rock and metal […]

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Are You Selling Stocks Prior to the Aug 2 Debt Limit Expiry?

Around the office, some of my co-workers are talking about how they just unloaded all their stock holdings and shifted into cash or bonds because of the impending Aug. 2 deadline to extend the debt limit.  To do otherwise, assuming the government is unable to “prioritize” payments to bondholders (which would entail curtailing payments otherwise […]

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Learnings from Advanta High Yield Notes: Investors to Get 38 cents on the Dollar

After some prolonged legal proceedings following Advanta’s collapse, there’s a new settlement whereby investors in their high yield notes will get 38% of the money owed.  This follows months of warnings (April 2009, May 2009, Jun 2009 and then…boom!) from me highlighting that as the company continued to blow more and more money on ads […]

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Everything on Earth Should Have Variable Pricing

I was reading a story the other day about how utility companies are starting to put “smart-meters” on the homes of Americans, in many cases against their will.  See, the power grid isn’t very good at “storing” energy, so during the day when businesses are buzzing and everyone’s running their central air units, that energy […]

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The Inflation Conspiracy? EAT ME

CBSMoneyWatch published a piece of screed this week on the Inflation Conspiracy pretty much mocking and patronizing people who question the value or validity of the government’s official measure of inflation.  The author somewhat misrepresents the intent of mainstream inflation critics by saying they “believe that somehow there’s an inflation conspiracy going on, and the […]

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