Author's Archives

17
Mar

A Reminder We’re Not Out Of This Recession Yet

Posted by The Weakonomist in Wednesday, March 17th 2010   1 comment so far   

What created this recession in the first place? People were sold mortgages they couldn’t afford. Payments caught up to them because the interest rates reset. Had they gotten fixed rate mortgages they wouldn’t have had this problem. Of course, had they gotten a fixed rate they probably wouldn’t have been able [...]

under: banking, business, economics, loans    
16
Mar

Finance Reform Is Coming, But What Will It Look Like?

Posted by The Weakonomist in Tuesday, March 16th 2010   3 comments already   

Senator Chris Dodd has shown us what happens when you don’t have to worry about meeting the obligations of your biggest campaign donators. For Dodd, that was the financial services industry. But since he isn’t running for reelection he doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. That’s why he’s putting his name [...]

under: banking, business, economics, government, loans, personal finance    
15
Mar

Social Security Cashing In IOUs

Posted by The Weakonomist in Monday, March 15th 2010   2 comments already   

Since the 1980s the Social Security Administration (SSA) has been collecting more in taxes than it pays out. This is a good thing because it allows the administration to build up a surplus that will be needed later. The 80s and 90s were when the Baby Boomers were making the good money, and [...]

under: economics, government, loans, personal finance    
13
Mar

Weakend: Intelligence Squared

Posted by The Weakonomist in Saturday, March 13th 2010   2 comments already   

Nowadays I spend a lot less time in my car than I used to. This means I listen to a lot less podcasts than I used to. This is partially because I lost my iPod and don’t like using my iPhone in the car as an MP3 player.
Now I only listen to a [...]

under: weakend    
12
Mar

Weak Ways to Pay Off Debt

Posted by The Weakonomist in Friday, March 12th 2010   2 comments already   

The following is a sponsored guest post by Jeremy Cabral.  Jeremy writes for Credit Card Finder an Australian credit card comparison site that helps you compare no annual fee and balance transfer credit cards.  See here for additional information about guest posts.
When you are faced with any sort of debt, it can be tempting to [...]

under: loans, personal finance    
11
Mar

What We’re Learning From the Forbes List of Richest People in the World

Posted by The Weakonomist in Thursday, March 11th 2010   Leave a reply   

Last year, I looked at the list of Forbes richest people and concluded a few things. A lot of billionaires lost huge percentages of their fortunes (up to 90%). Many of these people are very wealthy, but a large portion of their wealth is tied up in less liquid assets. For example, [...]

under: business, lists, media    
10
Mar

Comparative Advantage: Why You’re Not A Plumber

Posted by The Weakonomist in Wednesday, March 10th 2010   4 comments already   

My wife says I’m not very handy. I’m just as handy as the rest of the world. I have two hands. I just don’t know how to use them for much more than typing or lifting a coffee mug. But I also believe my lack of handiness is because I’ve never [...]

under: economics, jobs    
9
Mar

Six Lessons Jack Bauer of 24 Can Teach Us About Money

Posted by The Weakonomist in Tuesday, March 9th 2010   1 comment so far   

There aren’t many shows I’m addicted to, but 24 is probably one of them. And even though the current season is boring and the show has lost some of its fire, Jack Bauer is the most badass dude on TV. Chuck Norris can sit down, the Jack Bauer jokes are much more hardcore:
[...]

under: lists, personal finance    
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