“Pennies do not come from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth.”
It’s a Deal: 110 Items On Sale Under $50 at Garnet Hill
The summer sale at Garnet Hill is offering discounts on hundreds of items, some of which are marked down by 50 percent or more. More details here.
Q&A with Josie Daga of PreownedWeddingDresses.com
In the market for a wedding dress? Most brides (hopefully) only wear theirs once—which means there are an awful lot of very-gently-used wedding dresses out there. Hence, a lot of dresses that could be a perfect fit, financially and otherwise, for soon-to-be brides. Josie Daga, founder of PreownedWeddingDresses.com, an online meeting …
So much for international financial regulation
John Gapper on where things stand in reforming the global financial system:
This leaves us precisely where we started, with France and Germany tilting misguidedly at hedge funds while the UK and the US fear to clamp down on large banks in case they move from New York to London (or vice-versa) or locate themselves offshore.
It does seem …
What Will a Cheapskate Spend Good Money On? Part IV
Even a cheapskate has to spend money sometimes. I’ve asked various frugal folks—bloggers, writers, money-saving and consumer experts—to compile personal, totally subjective lists of the products, services, experiences, and other “things” they’re willing to shell out good money on. Because if a cheapskate is willing to drop cash on …
It’s a Deal: Energy Drink for 1¢ at AM.PM Stores
One cent, along with a coupon, will get you an Unbound Energy drink at AM.PM stores, valid through September 1, 2009. Print the coupon here.
The gold standard: Neither free-market nor nutty
I was on the Diane Rehm Show last week, talking about my book, and Jacob from Ypsilanti, Michigan called in to say:
I wanted to ask your guest why we so often … demonize the free market without discussing the Federal Reserve’s policy of regulating the value of currency through interest rates and how that subverts that same market.
Ah, …
How to Fire Someone—Or Just Watch a Co-worker Get Fired
It’s etiquette time. The day when someone you’ve worked with for years, or even for a few months, gets walked to the door with a box of personal items (and perhaps some pilfered notepads and pens) is awkward, to say the least. Since layoffs are so commonplace nowadays, it behooves everyone to have a clue what to do. How should the …
A frying-pan-shaped housing market recovery
David Stiff, chief economist at Fiserv (which powers those somewhat-known Case-Shiller Home Price Indexes), stopped by this morning for a chat. In talking about how we might emerge from our housing malaise, he doodled on his notepad (which I’ve captured above thanks to help from Emilie at our photo desk). As a journalist, I have a duty …
Is the Minimum Wage Hike a Good Idea?
On July 24, the minimum wage will increase from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. Every worker deserves a living wage, but the timing of the pay hike is less than ideal. The national jobless rate is nearly 10 percent, and among American teenagers—who are likely to work many of those minimum-wage jobs seeing a pay increase—the unemployment rate …
Job Help: Get Your Resume Read, Avoid Job Scams, Switch Careers
When will the job market pick up again? Economists shrug their shoulders. Maybe by next summer—maybe. Until then, most workers have little choice but to stick with their current jobs, even though chances are they’re overworked, underpaid, and all in all unhappy. If you’re one of the unfortunate millions currently unemployed, the task …
Would dismantling the Fed prevent financial crises? Nope
I watched Ron Paul’s questioning of Ben Bernanke yesterday, and it got me thinking. “The Federal Reserve, in collaboration with giant banks, has created the greatest financial crisis ever seen,” Paul said. This particular crisis certainly has the Fed’s fingerprints all over it. But if we dismantled the Fed, as Paul advocates, would the …