Consumption Rules

Source: CNN Money

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If this is an indication of the administration of any of the candidates, which I’m sure it is, looks like it’s business as usual in Washington. High-cost programs with no way to pay for it…except to raise taxes. CNN.

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Apparently not. Yet it’s a story that stayed on the front page of news for about 15 minutes today, before being buried deep in the business section with some headline about a sputtering economy. The news media want a recession.

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• A woman who says she lost more $1 million gambling in Atlantic City sues some casinos for $20 million, claiming they should’ve stopped her compulsive gambling.

• People who bought houses they couldn’t afford with loans they didn’t understand want their lenders to change the terms.
• Congress authorizes a war and then tries everything it can think of to get out of it.
• Our country gets addicted to oil and then blames OPEC when it doesn’t like the price.

  See Glenn Beck for the answer.

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Don’t want to pay to find out your FICO score? Find out your estimated score using bankrate and myfico’s Credit Score Calculator.

It’ll be fairly accurate (as accurate as your answers to their questions are honest), but you get what you pay for.

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The poor:

So right after the Bear Stearns funds blew up, I had a thought: This is what happens when you lend money to poor people.

Don’t get me wrong: I have nothing personally against the poor. To my knowledge, I have nothing personally to do with the poor at all. It’s not personal when a guy cuts your grass: that’s business. He does what you say, you pay him. But you don’t pay him in advance: That would be finance. And finance is one thing you should never engage in with the poor. (By poor, I mean anyone who the SEC wouldn’t allow to invest in my hedge fund.)

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As if gift cards weren’t backhanded enough. Here’s news from CNN:

As more retailers file for bankruptcy or go out of business, more than $75 million in gift cards are at risk of becoming worthless pieces of plastic this year.

“If I knew this was going to happen, I would have used them right away,” said Jon Tapper, a public relations executive from Boston who received two Sharper Image cards as business gifts just a few weeks ago. Their total face value is $50.

“I love gift cards, but now this makes me think twice.”

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Here is a 48-page economic policy summary From Barack Obama. It’s fairly impressive. I think, as does The Economist, that he understands economics a lot better than he sometimes lets on. They gave him a fairly decent review, actually, and pointed to his economic policies as being surprisingly substantive.

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From The Wall Street Journal:

“More than anything else, I want my candidacy to unify our country, to renew the American spirit and sense of purpose. I want to carry our message to every American, regardless of party affiliation, who is a member of this community of shared values . . . For those who have abandoned hope, we’ll restore hope and we’ll welcome them into a great national crusade to make America great again!”

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From LDS.org:

As Elder Ballard noted earlier in this session, various crosscurrents of our times have brought increasing public attention to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Lord told the ancients this latter-day work would be “a marvellous work and a wonder,”1 and it is. But even as we invite one and all to examine closely the marvel of it, there is one thing we would not like anyone to wonder about—that is whether or not we are “Christians.”

By and large any controversy in this matter has swirled around two doctrinal issues—our view of the Godhead and our belief in the principle of continuing revelation leading to an open scriptural canon. In addressing this we do not need to be apologists for our faith, but we would like not to be misunderstood. So with a desire to increase understanding and unequivocally declare our Christianity, I speak today on the first of those two doctrinal issues just mentioned.

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From CNN Money:

…some financial advisers (and a couple of books) have begun to voice a dissenting view: If you invest in your 401(k), they say, you’ll end up paying more in taxes than you have to.

On the face of it, this argument looks plausible. If you buy stocks or stock mutual funds in a regular brokerage account, you will pay a 15% long-term capital-gains rate when you eventually sell. But you’ll have to pay ordinary income tax rates of 28% or even 35% on your 401(k) withdrawals. Could the 401(k) skeptics be right?
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Find out with Wells Fargo’s Retirement Secure Index.
Simple. Corny. Commercialized. Marginally effective.

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…and some dunks you just have to see in slow motion to believe:

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What is the difference between an IRA and a 401k?

Not much of a difference, but it can be significant in certain instances. I don’t think you can take loans from IRA’s, which is a minor detail, and you can only contribute to a Roth IRA if your income is below a certain limit (Roth 401(k) doesn’t have this restriction), but the biggest difference is the contribution limits: In 2008, for example, the limit for contributing to an IRA is $5,000 plus an additional $1,000 “catch-up” for those over 50. You can contribute the full $15,500 plus an additional $5,000 catch-up if you’re over 50 to either a traditional or a Roth 401(k), not including any employer contributions (match or profit sharing, for example). The total limit of all contributions is either $46,000 or 100% of your income. So, for example, if I’m making ~$45k a year, and I put in 6% of my salary then there would be virtually no difference between a 401(k) and an IRA, aside from difference in loan availability (which I think is a bad idea anyway). But, let’s say I own my own business and make around $300,000/year. I could set up a 401(k) (even if it’s a one-person business) and get all of the tax benefits of a 401(k), and potentially save up to $46,000 a year tax-deferred. Over 10-20+ years until retirement that could save me a lot of money.

What is the advantage of a Roth IRA vs just buying stock? Both are with after tax dollars and both can be sold at any time. I’m sure there is good reason or people wouldn’t be making such a big deal about it. Read the rest of this entry »

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The “economic stimulus” checks will be coming in the mail starting sometime around May. Find out how much yours will be for:

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The Wall Street Journal explains to us about the long-term ramifications of the promises Barack Obama is making in his inspiring speeches on the campaign trail. Let’s just say, he will definitely bring about change…

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One of my take-aways from Tuesday’s Super results is that political machines have a hard time influencing caucuses, when they can easily dominate primaries. Take a look at Romney’s many caucus victories versus McCain’s none. The same is true on the Democratic side with Obama winning an overwhelming majority of the caucuses (the only exception on this side is Nevada) over Clinton

Is it significant? Perhaps not, but I think it provides at least a small window into the hearts of the American voters. When they’re allowed to discuss, persuade, and influence among each other the results are quite a bit different then if they’re isolated in booths or with mail-in ballots. Caucuses are old-fashioned, grass-roots efforts from the ground up. Movements by the people, where neighbors influence neighbors, and friends campaign with friends. Primaries are persuaded by perceived national opinion - they seem more likely to be based on who the polls say is ahead, or who the media projects will win.

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The democrats are looking more and more inevitable. I’m trying to decide which one to pick.

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