I think it's worth pointing out that explaining how poor people can become fat through their food-buying decisions (or lack thereof in reality, when the economics of it all is considered) is not the same as saying that:
a. fat people are fat *only* because of what they eat
b. fat people are poor, lazy, irresponsible, ignorant etc.
c. only poor people are fat
d. all poor people are fat
All of the above statements are clearly false, and their corresponding truths (people are fat for a variety of reasons, fat people may not be poor, poor people may not be fat) don't invalidate the argument that "poor leads to fat" can happen in the way Philip describes. The fact that it doesn't happen *every* time doesn't make it any less of a social issue.
If it happens *at all* shouldn't we recognize it and want to do something about it?
Thanks for the note on this web site. Beware, though, that all the merchandise offered is not law enforcement stolen or unclaimed stuff. It looks to me like there is also a bunch of discontinued or open box items from various vendors.
What a rip! You can't eat blue corn bread everyday all the time. Dude writes an article on how much one can save money, eat healthy and go local and fresh and gives ONE recipe.
This is only anecdotal, but anyway. I remember seeing a tv documentary with my mother about Holocaust survivors. The survivors were elderly people telling their storiess to the journalist and I remember they were all severely overweight/obese. My mother told me this was a very common aftereffect from the severe hunger of the death camps. People couldn't stop eating afterwards. Maybe someone has the science to back this up. I'm too lazy to go looking.
Vibeke
Do you have any pointers for getting started on finding projects/contracts to work on, without incurring expenses such as paying $5,000 to join a project-to-talent matching program?
I have been working for a year as a W2 employee under a company that serves as an "intermediary" to take care of the payroll work for the major corporation where I work at on a daily basis. My contract will end in the second half of 2008 and need to look at alternatives.
I am in the systems engineering services field in the wireless communications industry; both commercial and government/public safety.
Any left over cards can be turned into gift tags. Cut out the picture on the front (unless there is writing on the other side). Then use a hole punch and a piece of curling ribbon to make a really nice tag. Kids can help and you can store them with the wrapping paper and ribbons for next year.
There are an awful lot of economists. As a group they're terrible when it comes to making economic predictions, especially about the future. In fact, they can't even be counted on to make accurate predictions about the present. They are, however, pretty good at analyzing the past.
The National Bureau of Economic Research is generally accepted as the authority on when recessions begin and end. They date recessions from the peak to the trough of economic activity, and then date the expansion from the trough to the next peak. The last trough was in November of 2001, so we've been in an expansion since then.
The thing is, though, it's always months after growth ends before the peak that marks the end of the expansion is evident. (They didn't call the March 2001 peak until November 2001--the same month the recession ended.)
So, yes, we've been in a period of growth since then. But a recession may have started already--we wouldn't know about it for a while yet.
I am holding onto the ones I got from family and friends and am going to cut out the picture and place it on card stock and send it back to them.
As for the envelope, I think I can make my own or even use a classy seal to keep the card together when it is mailed.
It is a helpful post. However, your opening line hits a hot-button with me. There are folks who know if we're in a recession. We call these people economists. They say we aren't.
I'm not saying it is your fault for believing we might be. For some reason, the country seems hell bent on thinking we're in a recession, even though we're in a period of growth.
Although it's tempting to try to time the market--pull funds out of stocks in anticipation of a downturn--it rarely works out for the best. The reason is that upturns in the market can happen so quickly. I've seen studies where having your funds out of the market on the 1% of the days with the biggest gains could cost you most of the market's total return. (Of course your plan would be to be back in the market for those days, but how would you know?)
Here's one article with some numbers on the dangers of being out of the market on its best days: The Folly of Market Timing.
My advice is to start with a good, big emergency fund--big enough to handle an extended period of unemployment, with enough money to cover your planned major expenses. Once you've got that covered, determine an appropriate asset allocation--one rule of thumb is to calculate the stock portion of your investment portfolio by subtracting your age from 100, so a 25-year-old would put 75% of his or her investments in stocks. Then go ahead and take the plunge.
Remember that a falling market is a great time to buy--you're getting the stocks on sale. (Obviously a fallen market is even better, but nobody can reliably know when it's hit bottom.)
Right now is probably a great time for someone with only a small investment portfolio to start moving more heavily into the market, as long as you remember that your investment horizon is decades.
Nice treatment of 2 companies where I also happen to have accounts. An update on Sharebuilder, they were recently purchased by ING Direct and trading fees have been reduced to $9.95 market and limit orders in all accounts types. The automatic investment plans (Tuesday buys) remain as before, as does the no-fee IRA fee. As for that fee, a careful reading of the fee schedule reveals that one need only enroll in the Standard program (6 buys for $12) during the renewal month to avoid the IRA fee. Renewals are January or June depending on the opening date of the account.
I think this is a really helpful post Philip. What would you suggest in regards to investments in times of recession? Leave them alone? Move into more conservative funds? Not check your 401(k) account three times a week while stocks continue to fall? I'm curious as to what your thoughts are to the emotional side of preparing for a recession.
I think a lot of people keep the gift receipts for the gifts they give. What if you give a gift and the person receives two of the same thing? What if you give a gift and it's defective? Asking for the receipt isn't always a case of wanting something else. And from my point of view - I'd rather my gift get taken back and exchanged for something useful than sit around collecting dust. Who wants to pay money for a dust-collecter?
Same here, we got 4 branded D cells out of a Duracell Alkaline battery. An Eveready yielded the same results of that second "hoax" video, 4 cells longer than a D wired together (be careful removing them, shorting them together makes them hot and leak). Some 9V transistor batteries yield 6 AAAA cells while others have a stack of rectangular cells.
I think one thing to remember is to avoid getting angry if a telemarketer does get through to you. Always remember that they are still people too, and likely enough have this job because it is the only one available to them. I work at a call center to help put myself through law school (and many others or using it to get through school.)
And trust me, not matter what 'clever' idea you think you have to deal with telemarketers, we've seen it before. It isn't clever and will likely encourage us to call you at an even more inopportune time :)
Great Post! Thanks for the idea.
I think it's worth pointing out that explaining how poor people can become fat through their food-buying decisions (or lack thereof in reality, when the economics of it all is considered) is not the same as saying that:
a. fat people are fat *only* because of what they eat
b. fat people are poor, lazy, irresponsible, ignorant etc.
c. only poor people are fat
d. all poor people are fat
All of the above statements are clearly false, and their corresponding truths (people are fat for a variety of reasons, fat people may not be poor, poor people may not be fat) don't invalidate the argument that "poor leads to fat" can happen in the way Philip describes. The fact that it doesn't happen *every* time doesn't make it any less of a social issue.
If it happens *at all* shouldn't we recognize it and want to do something about it?
There are some items here from vendors, but they don't make up the bulk of the site and it's still really cheap.
my bad, i just woke up and stumbled on your article.
If you follow the link to the USDA's Food Stamp Nutrition Connection Recipes Finder, you'll find several hundred recepies with nutrition and cost data provided.
Thanks for the note on this web site. Beware, though, that all the merchandise offered is not law enforcement stolen or unclaimed stuff. It looks to me like there is also a bunch of discontinued or open box items from various vendors.
What a rip! You can't eat blue corn bread everyday all the time. Dude writes an article on how much one can save money, eat healthy and go local and fresh and gives ONE recipe.
I've been a PropertyRoom lurker for years. I've bid but never won anything yet. Great article!
This is only anecdotal, but anyway. I remember seeing a tv documentary with my mother about Holocaust survivors. The survivors were elderly people telling their storiess to the journalist and I remember they were all severely overweight/obese. My mother told me this was a very common aftereffect from the severe hunger of the death camps. People couldn't stop eating afterwards. Maybe someone has the science to back this up. I'm too lazy to go looking.
Vibeke
Andrea,
Do you have any pointers for getting started on finding projects/contracts to work on, without incurring expenses such as paying $5,000 to join a project-to-talent matching program?
I have been working for a year as a W2 employee under a company that serves as an "intermediary" to take care of the payroll work for the major corporation where I work at on a daily basis. My contract will end in the second half of 2008 and need to look at alternatives.
I am in the systems engineering services field in the wireless communications industry; both commercial and government/public safety.
Thanks,
K
Wonderful suggestions!
Welcome to Wise Bread Catherine. =)
Any left over cards can be turned into gift tags. Cut out the picture on the front (unless there is writing on the other side). Then use a hole punch and a piece of curling ribbon to make a really nice tag. Kids can help and you can store them with the wrapping paper and ribbons for next year.
There are an awful lot of economists. As a group they're terrible when it comes to making economic predictions, especially about the future. In fact, they can't even be counted on to make accurate predictions about the present. They are, however, pretty good at analyzing the past.
The National Bureau of Economic Research is generally accepted as the authority on when recessions begin and end. They date recessions from the peak to the trough of economic activity, and then date the expansion from the trough to the next peak. The last trough was in November of 2001, so we've been in an expansion since then.
The thing is, though, it's always months after growth ends before the peak that marks the end of the expansion is evident. (They didn't call the March 2001 peak until November 2001--the same month the recession ended.)
So, yes, we've been in a period of growth since then. But a recession may have started already--we wouldn't know about it for a while yet.
I am holding onto the ones I got from family and friends and am going to cut out the picture and place it on card stock and send it back to them.
As for the envelope, I think I can make my own or even use a classy seal to keep the card together when it is mailed.
It is a helpful post. However, your opening line hits a hot-button with me. There are folks who know if we're in a recession. We call these people economists. They say we aren't.
I'm not saying it is your fault for believing we might be. For some reason, the country seems hell bent on thinking we're in a recession, even though we're in a period of growth.
Thanks for the kind words.
Although it's tempting to try to time the market--pull funds out of stocks in anticipation of a downturn--it rarely works out for the best. The reason is that upturns in the market can happen so quickly. I've seen studies where having your funds out of the market on the 1% of the days with the biggest gains could cost you most of the market's total return. (Of course your plan would be to be back in the market for those days, but how would you know?)
Here's one article with some numbers on the dangers of being out of the market on its best days: The Folly of Market Timing.
My advice is to start with a good, big emergency fund--big enough to handle an extended period of unemployment, with enough money to cover your planned major expenses. Once you've got that covered, determine an appropriate asset allocation--one rule of thumb is to calculate the stock portion of your investment portfolio by subtracting your age from 100, so a 25-year-old would put 75% of his or her investments in stocks. Then go ahead and take the plunge.
Remember that a falling market is a great time to buy--you're getting the stocks on sale. (Obviously a fallen market is even better, but nobody can reliably know when it's hit bottom.)
Right now is probably a great time for someone with only a small investment portfolio to start moving more heavily into the market, as long as you remember that your investment horizon is decades.
Thanks for the updates. I have seen ads about Sharebuilder's lower real-time rates, which does make it attractive.
Nice treatment of 2 companies where I also happen to have accounts. An update on Sharebuilder, they were recently purchased by ING Direct and trading fees have been reduced to $9.95 market and limit orders in all accounts types. The automatic investment plans (Tuesday buys) remain as before, as does the no-fee IRA fee. As for that fee, a careful reading of the fee schedule reveals that one need only enroll in the Standard program (6 buys for $12) during the renewal month to avoid the IRA fee. Renewals are January or June depending on the opening date of the account.
I think this is a really helpful post Philip. What would you suggest in regards to investments in times of recession? Leave them alone? Move into more conservative funds? Not check your 401(k) account three times a week while stocks continue to fall? I'm curious as to what your thoughts are to the emotional side of preparing for a recession.
I think a lot of people keep the gift receipts for the gifts they give. What if you give a gift and the person receives two of the same thing? What if you give a gift and it's defective? Asking for the receipt isn't always a case of wanting something else. And from my point of view - I'd rather my gift get taken back and exchanged for something useful than sit around collecting dust. Who wants to pay money for a dust-collecter?
i try to be polite also....being in a call center sure changed my perspective on irritating callers.
i wish i can get another job.
Same here, we got 4 branded D cells out of a Duracell Alkaline battery. An Eveready yielded the same results of that second "hoax" video, 4 cells longer than a D wired together (be careful removing them, shorting them together makes them hot and leak). Some 9V transistor batteries yield 6 AAAA cells while others have a stack of rectangular cells.
Good blog, Nora! Your introduction is great. I always enjoy reading your blogs.
I think one thing to remember is to avoid getting angry if a telemarketer does get through to you. Always remember that they are still people too, and likely enough have this job because it is the only one available to them. I work at a call center to help put myself through law school (and many others or using it to get through school.)
And trust me, not matter what 'clever' idea you think you have to deal with telemarketers, we've seen it before. It isn't clever and will likely encourage us to call you at an even more inopportune time :)
I heard this trick years ago and it cracked me up! When the telemarketer calls, whisper into the phone "I can't talk right now, the cops are here."