May
19
Bailout Investments? Where are My Returns?
May 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Some banks are returning the money they got from government. Promised returns may not show up. Should the government invest Taxpayer’s money?
We do invest already, in a variety of ways. First of all, let’s define the bounds of the idea of investing. Dictionary.com first definition is “the investing of money or [...]
Feb
25
Education is Priceless, or… is it?
February 25, 2009 | Comments Off
Last night our President established the public or publicly subsidized education system a priority. He even pointed:
“…an education system that produces one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized nation — and half of the students who begin college never finish.” Obama – Data corroborated with Census Bureau data, and presented in [...]
Jan
6
XO Laptop Dream …. Just a Dream
January 6, 2009 | Comments Off
I had heard a lot about Negroponte’s XO Laptop project, but had not touched one until this last summer (picture attached). The machine sure is cool and shows a lot of ingenuity. The fact that it costs under $200 is amazing, and the hope that it can teach computing skills to a kid on a [...]
Nov
12
The Three Holy Grails
November 12, 2008 | Comments Off
For many years we had three goals, as a society:
Maximum Home Ownership
Minimum Unemployment
Maximum Citizen Participation in Equity Markets (Stocks)
In a way, we are being victims of pursuing these three. These three are killing us.
Maximum Home Ownership – A house makes people more responsible – when they own something they take care of it. Problem is, [...]
Nov
12
Government Changes Any Plan … for the Worse?
November 12, 2008 | Comments Off
Treasury Secretary Paulson dropped a bombshell today: Those two painful, market bruising weeks of heated debate in Congress about a month ago about the $700 Billion Bailout program are gone to waste: the plan has been dramatically modified to the point its name doesn’t even describe what the plan will do. The Trouble Assett program [...]
Oct
24
Ironies of the Dollar – Hitting Deep Into The Heart
October 24, 2008 | Comments Off
Months ago I really thought that the Euro was going to take over the world — or at least diminish the importance of the dollar to the point that we would end up holding useless pieces of paper. Ironically, the Euro was at 1.26 USD this morning. No clue where it will be next. Given [...]
Aug
9
Monopoly of a Union
August 9, 2008 | Comments Off
A monopoly exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it. — wikipedia at Aug 09, 2008 – See also oligopoly, and U.S. Anti Trust Laws.
Our society has created laws against the traditional monopolies [...]
Jul
28
Mortgage Rescue Bill : Mixed Emotions
July 28, 2008 | Comments Off
Over the weekend Congress passed a mortgage rescue bill that the President has no choice but to sign (asuming he wants to keep his party afloat just enough to compete on November). There is a big chance this will not be the last economy rescue package in the near future, and an almost equal chance [...]
Jul
15
iPhone Economy
July 15, 2008 | Comments Off
It turns out that the iPhone is sold out in 21 states. To me, it could only mean one thing: consumers feel that their ability to pay for the extra communications expenses is still very good. Where is the gloom and doom everyone is telling about?
Unfortunately, the iPhone is not sold out on Massachusetts yet. [...]
Jul
10
Miles and Award Travel Keeps Depreciating
July 10, 2008 | Comments Off
A promise is a promise until someone decides to break it. That is exactly what could happens and could keep happening with travel loyalty programs (miles and points).
For business travellers like me, hoarding miles may not be such a great choice. Last week Delta decided to charge ‘fuel surcharge’ on award travel. [...]
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