It wasn’t too long ago that the only way you could get free stuff was to sign up for a credit card or show up at Costco on the weekends (love those samples).  The sources of free back then were designed to either incentivize you use a certain product or were a sample designed to [...]

Remember the first time homebuyer tax credit?  Well it expired last spring.  And what has happened to home prices since then (click the image to make it bigger)? For those that need help reading the chart: tThis is showing a few different measures of housing prices.  But they all show the homebuyer credit providing an [...]

I really don’t like the fake Jesus fish that have “Darwin” written on the inside of them and little legs sprouting from the bottom.  The idea is a play on evolution over creationism.  But it’s been more broadly expanded to express anti-Christian sentiment on the basis of the creationism argument. What bothers me the most [...]

Perhaps. I’ve long considered the two-party system to be flawed in many ways. It gives too much control to a small group of leaders and those leaders tend to dictate what those parties stand for. The primary voting system in the US is a ridiculous race to garner attention to one’s own state and forces [...]

When I was in college my favorite place to shop was Goodwill. I got awesome tshirts for just a buck or two. I amassed an amazing collection. But the days of wearing those shirts have gotten fewer and further between. We’re also in the process of switching residencies soon and me and the wife have [...]

Anyone who’s anyone knows that that 21st century is all about China. And seeing how the 21st century is drawing to a close their time has come. Okay maybe I’m ahead of myself, but all the great thinkers are. I think. But why has China risen to prominence so quickly? Few would argue it’s the [...]

The statistics don’t lie, just the people that talk about them. There are no shortage of statistics out there supporting the idea that rich people pay too much in taxes. Stuff like the wealthiest 2% pay most of the taxes and all that. For all I can tell, these figures are somewhat accurate. But if [...]

It’s those pesky financial derivatives that caused so many problems in the financial crises. CDOs, CDSs, CEOs. Okay that last one might have been a problem but it wasn’t a derivative. Derivatives are financial products that are based around an asset. So say you’re in the market for a car. You find a good deal [...]