...you may be my grandmother. I swear, she had exactly the same experience in the 1930's. (Of course, that was the Great Depression, so a lot of people were having that experience, but still...)
I think you're exactly right - there is a difference, and it's about choice. You can't always control how much money you make, but you can control how you use it, and that's your power.
What an excellent read and shed light to the crisis and where things are heading. I presently live in southern Ontario, Canada but have a brother working in the mortgage industry in FL. I've heard nothing but whining from him for a while now but because I'm not living there anymore, wasn't really privvy to what was truly going on. I'm going to send this article to him and see what he has to comment. Now I have to wonder where he stands with things...whether he thought he could make a quick buck or if he's innocent and unknowing in all this. Thanks for the GREAT article!
Vinegar works great for removing odors from clothes, like body odor. Or musty/mildew odors from wet towels. Just keep a spray bottle by your washing machine. Give the clothes a few sprays prior to putting them in the wash. Or pour about 1/2 to 1 cup of vinegar directly in the wash for the towels.
You know, I was thinking about doing a paper clip piece, but I thought after the last two office supply posts it might be overkill. If you really want the info, I'll consider doing a piece on the oh so humble paper clip.
Thanks for posting.
Oh, I know one thing we used them for in the classroom was to hang at the end of strings attached to the suspended ceiling grid and clip student art to them for extra display space . . . might be useful in a kids' room . . .
If a counterfeit banknote ever passed through my hands, I didn't notice it, and no one I know has ever mentioned getting one, so they're obviously pretty scarce in the US as well.
During 2005, the Federal Reserve pulled from circulation as counterfeit 6.4 notes per million processed. The equivalent number from the European Central Bank is 7.8 notes per million processed. (Those numbers cited in the Currency Design report published by the St. Louis Federal Reserve that I linked to at the end of the article. It has a discussion of the security features of the Singapore dollar, but says that data on the volume of counterfeits is "not available." Apparently the Monetary Authority of Singapore, unlike most central banks, doesn't publish any statistics on the incidence of counterfeits for its banknotes.)
Of course that one statistic doesn't tell the whole story. Lots of countefeits are noticed before they reach the central bank--spotted by a cashier or a bank teller. Other counterfeit notes may well be out there, but circulating in a way that keeps them out of banks. Still, six (or even eight) out of a million is a comfortably low number. Low enough to justify the extremely casual attitude that most people have to accepting a bank note with no more than the "look and feel" test.
we use these (rubber bands) to close food packages, along with large paper clips, any other uses for the paper clips? other than holding paper of course.
I always wash my sneakers. Never pay more then $20 for a pair. It is true that you get what you pay for, but you can find quality sneaks at Payless or Walmart. I like to buy skateboarding shoes for $20 a pair. For some reason, they look expensive. I receive complements all the time. Here are my current pair of kix:
Most states require collection agencies to be licensed in that state to do business. Often the collection agency is national in scope and ignores this requirement when they make dunning calls to your home.
Most states have a web site that makes it easy to look up business licenses.
If the collection agency doesn't appear to have a business license in your state, report them, either to the same department where you looked up the business license information or the state attorney general's office.
This should turn off the calls for a while and give you the satisfaction of making the collection agency go through a few hoops and expense themselves.
In my case, I got dunned recently by a collection agency making automated calls to my home looking for someone who apparently had my telephone number six years earlier. I am enjoying a lot of schadenfreude after reporting them to my state's department of finance.
If you really are a deadbeat and don't want to pay your bills, you can also use this information when the collection agency sues you. If they haven't paid their fees to do business in your state, then they shouldn't have access to your state's courts, and their suit should be tossed out until they conform. That waste of expense may encourage them to settle.
And for those who say it's easier to just pay your bills on time, sure. Unless your spouse ran up the credit card on a slot addiction or you got t-boned by some jackass without insurance. There's always more to the story.
How on earth would anyone not notice the paper was plain!!! It could never happen here in Australia where our money is brightly coloured plastic. The jewellery store was especially hard to swallow. I have a feeling it was set up or something.
Ok, well, I'm finding that I'm liking this blog very much and will have to add it to my bookmarks. :) Anyway, when I redid my kitchen I got very lucky on finding a great deal on the fridge I really wanted. (I bought it as a floor model and saved about $300!) What I didn't realize when I bought the thing was that it has this useful/annoying feature--a door alarm. My boyfriend came over one day and grabbed something out of the fridge. A short while later, we heard this strange beeping. I followed the sound directly to the fridge and discovered the door was slightly ajar! I closed the door and went about my business and suffered no loss of food. It can be annoying if I need to have the door open for a little while in order to put groceries away, but after reading this post and the comments, the annoyance is worthwhile!
So, I just got an offer to refinance from Countrywide Home Loans, who suggest that I change my mortgage to a 40-year loan. Can you imagine? They also addressed the letter to "A. Andrea". SOMEBODY didn't learn how to use mail merge properly.
I actually do feel very sorry for people who were hoodwinked into taking out mortgages that were too much too handle. I can see how easy it would be.
Also, the practice of bundling and reselling all kinds of loans and insurance to Wall Street strikes me as increasingly common - I wonder if any other industry is going to face the kind of drama that subprime is facing now?
Here's another example of consumers paying what the market will post: I buy a LOT of AA batteries to power the quartz-movement promotional clocks that I build. In bulk, I pay about 40c each for Energizer ProCells; these coming from the same company where I purchase the clock movements. (That would average $1.60 a blister 4-pack.) Occasionally, I will have the same batteries sent to me for free (usually 15-20) when I've bought a large order of clock parts.
And it also doesn't help that you have self interested groups that continue to
hype the real estate market. The subprime mess has really dragged many lives and households into the hole.
I've noticed on my blog that whenever I write about a particular brand or company, visitors originating from that company will later visit my site, according to my tracking information. I think companies are always monitoring internet traffic to ensure that their interests are protected and that the news and information is spinning favorably for them. It's rather disconcerting at times.
Paul, true--the National Debt has been huge for a long time. But under Bush the government's borrowing cap has been raised something like five or six times on Bush's watch. If memory serves, I read someplace that previous occupants of the White House generally raise it once, maybe twice, while in office. So, you know you're on to something with this article! Fiscal responsibility is not exactly Bush's strong suit. :)
Are you kidding me? Unless your bank only has one branch that happened to be in Lakeview or St. Bernard Parish, this "underwater bank" thing is just a little bit blown out of proportion. I live in New Orleans and stayed near the MS gulf coast during the aftermath of the storm. We were fine w/ money. Cell phone service and gas was a different story...but the biggest problem with getting cash was when the ATMs physically ran out of money.
And the last time I checked you are supposed to stock up on water, cash, gas, food, etc., and evacuate BEFORE the storm hits.
...you may be my grandmother. I swear, she had exactly the same experience in the 1930's. (Of course, that was the Great Depression, so a lot of people were having that experience, but still...)
I think you're exactly right - there is a difference, and it's about choice. You can't always control how much money you make, but you can control how you use it, and that's your power.
What an excellent read and shed light to the crisis and where things are heading. I presently live in southern Ontario, Canada but have a brother working in the mortgage industry in FL. I've heard nothing but whining from him for a while now but because I'm not living there anymore, wasn't really privvy to what was truly going on. I'm going to send this article to him and see what he has to comment. Now I have to wonder where he stands with things...whether he thought he could make a quick buck or if he's innocent and unknowing in all this. Thanks for the GREAT article!
Mary
Vinegar works great for removing odors from clothes, like body odor. Or musty/mildew odors from wet towels. Just keep a spray bottle by your washing machine. Give the clothes a few sprays prior to putting them in the wash. Or pour about 1/2 to 1 cup of vinegar directly in the wash for the towels.
You know, I was thinking about doing a paper clip piece, but I thought after the last two office supply posts it might be overkill. If you really want the info, I'll consider doing a piece on the oh so humble paper clip.
Thanks for posting.
Oh, I know one thing we used them for in the classroom was to hang at the end of strings attached to the suspended ceiling grid and clip student art to them for extra display space . . . might be useful in a kids' room . . .
If a counterfeit banknote ever passed through my hands, I didn't notice it, and no one I know has ever mentioned getting one, so they're obviously pretty scarce in the US as well.
During 2005, the Federal Reserve pulled from circulation as counterfeit 6.4 notes per million processed. The equivalent number from the European Central Bank is 7.8 notes per million processed. (Those numbers cited in the Currency Design report published by the St. Louis Federal Reserve that I linked to at the end of the article. It has a discussion of the security features of the Singapore dollar, but says that data on the volume of counterfeits is "not available." Apparently the Monetary Authority of Singapore, unlike most central banks, doesn't publish any statistics on the incidence of counterfeits for its banknotes.)
Of course that one statistic doesn't tell the whole story. Lots of countefeits are noticed before they reach the central bank--spotted by a cashier or a bank teller. Other counterfeit notes may well be out there, but circulating in a way that keeps them out of banks. Still, six (or even eight) out of a million is a comfortably low number. Low enough to justify the extremely casual attitude that most people have to accepting a bank note with no more than the "look and feel" test.
we use these (rubber bands) to close food packages, along with large paper clips, any other uses for the paper clips? other than holding paper of course.
The governance here is very strong that you wont find counterfeit money in Singapore. :)
Great article you have here. Its effect is a big-big global one. The stocks sentiments on this issue...
This was listed on GAGFILMS.COM
I always wash my sneakers. Never pay more then $20 for a pair. It is true that you get what you pay for, but you can find quality sneaks at Payless or Walmart. I like to buy skateboarding shoes for $20 a pair. For some reason, they look expensive. I receive complements all the time. Here are my current pair of kix:
http://penny-pinching.blogspot.com
Most states require collection agencies to be licensed in that state to do business. Often the collection agency is national in scope and ignores this requirement when they make dunning calls to your home.
Most states have a web site that makes it easy to look up business licenses.
If the collection agency doesn't appear to have a business license in your state, report them, either to the same department where you looked up the business license information or the state attorney general's office.
This should turn off the calls for a while and give you the satisfaction of making the collection agency go through a few hoops and expense themselves.
In my case, I got dunned recently by a collection agency making automated calls to my home looking for someone who apparently had my telephone number six years earlier. I am enjoying a lot of schadenfreude after reporting them to my state's department of finance.
If you really are a deadbeat and don't want to pay your bills, you can also use this information when the collection agency sues you. If they haven't paid their fees to do business in your state, then they shouldn't have access to your state's courts, and their suit should be tossed out until they conform. That waste of expense may encourage them to settle.
And for those who say it's easier to just pay your bills on time, sure. Unless your spouse ran up the credit card on a slot addiction or you got t-boned by some jackass without insurance. There's always more to the story.
Except Darren Brown would probably spell his own name correctly...
How on earth would anyone not notice the paper was plain!!! It could never happen here in Australia where our money is brightly coloured plastic. The jewellery store was especially hard to swallow. I have a feeling it was set up or something.
...too busy spending my tax dollars in Iraq :P
Neat!
I hadn't seen those before. I've heard of using a binder clip, but that wouldn't include your card like these seem too. Interesting . . .
Ok, well, I'm finding that I'm liking this blog very much and will have to add it to my bookmarks. :) Anyway, when I redid my kitchen I got very lucky on finding a great deal on the fridge I really wanted. (I bought it as a floor model and saved about $300!) What I didn't realize when I bought the thing was that it has this useful/annoying feature--a door alarm. My boyfriend came over one day and grabbed something out of the fridge. A short while later, we heard this strange beeping. I followed the sound directly to the fridge and discovered the door was slightly ajar! I closed the door and went about my business and suffered no loss of food. It can be annoying if I need to have the door open for a little while in order to put groceries away, but after reading this post and the comments, the annoyance is worthwhile!
Your article let me have a clear picture of the subprime loan crisis. Thanks you very much.
So, I just got an offer to refinance from Countrywide Home Loans, who suggest that I change my mortgage to a 40-year loan. Can you imagine? They also addressed the letter to "A. Andrea". SOMEBODY didn't learn how to use mail merge properly.
I actually do feel very sorry for people who were hoodwinked into taking out mortgages that were too much too handle. I can see how easy it would be.
Also, the practice of bundling and reselling all kinds of loans and insurance to Wall Street strikes me as increasingly common - I wonder if any other industry is going to face the kind of drama that subprime is facing now?
Six items I'll never use. Still paying homage to the E.B. My list of items that don't need batteries.
Tennis Shoes
Bicycle
Bottle of Beer
Shovel
Tylenol (tm)
Steak Knife
Here's another example of consumers paying what the market will post: I buy a LOT of AA batteries to power the quartz-movement promotional clocks that I build. In bulk, I pay about 40c each for Energizer ProCells; these coming from the same company where I purchase the clock movements. (That would average $1.60 a blister 4-pack.) Occasionally, I will have the same batteries sent to me for free (usually 15-20) when I've bought a large order of clock parts.
And it also doesn't help that you have self interested groups that continue to
hype the real estate market. The subprime mess has really dragged many lives and households into the hole.
I've noticed on my blog that whenever I write about a particular brand or company, visitors originating from that company will later visit my site, according to my tracking information. I think companies are always monitoring internet traffic to ensure that their interests are protected and that the news and information is spinning favorably for them. It's rather disconcerting at times.
Paul, true--the National Debt has been huge for a long time. But under Bush the government's borrowing cap has been raised something like five or six times on Bush's watch. If memory serves, I read someplace that previous occupants of the White House generally raise it once, maybe twice, while in office. So, you know you're on to something with this article! Fiscal responsibility is not exactly Bush's strong suit. :)
I've found these to be a perfect wallet alternative:
http://www.money-band.com
Are you kidding me? Unless your bank only has one branch that happened to be in Lakeview or St. Bernard Parish, this "underwater bank" thing is just a little bit blown out of proportion. I live in New Orleans and stayed near the MS gulf coast during the aftermath of the storm. We were fine w/ money. Cell phone service and gas was a different story...but the biggest problem with getting cash was when the ATMs physically ran out of money.
And the last time I checked you are supposed to stock up on water, cash, gas, food, etc., and evacuate BEFORE the storm hits.