Open Source Blogging

I thought it would be fun to start off 2009 by making a handful of predictions as to what the coming year will hold in terms of your money and your lives. We’ll check back at the end of the year to see how I did.

The Dow will not go below 8,000 this year. I believe the stock market has already hit its “bottom.” Generally, when you see a long leveling off period even in the face of some bad economic news, the market is full of roughly equal numbers of buyers and sellers, and as soon … Continue Reading

Quick story for you.

I was flying back last night from Chicago via Southwest Airlines. After we landed, there was a long taxi to get to the gate - and to pass the time, everyone was talking to each other (it was actually pretty loud).

About a minute into the taxi the Southwest flight attendant asked if anyone wanted to hear a story. Within 10 seconds, over 100 people were completely quiet, and so, she told the story.

Once upon a time there as a man and a woman.The man was in love with the woman.So, the man asked the woman … Continue Reading

This information is for all the people who keep emailing me about the “secret Obama backed bailout plan for free government money to pay off credit card debts.” You win and I’ll tell all.

I’m not sure who let this rumor out of the bag but if I find them I’d have a very stern talk with them.

Maybe the problem is that while people keep reading the news about large companies getting billions of dollars in bailout money, they assume that there is free money waiting for them.

I’m the first to agree that if we want … Continue Reading

President-elect Barack Obama may soon have to give up not only his (gasp!) Blackberry, but all email correspondence as well once he becomes president, the New York Times reported recently.

For Obama — just as it would be for many of us — that is a huge sacrifice. Some of us might opt not to become president if we had to stop email, IM, Facebook/MySpace messages, texting and the like. It’s a deal-breaker.

Many of us, in fact, have a hard time staying away from email for more than a day or so. What about you?

Could you give up email for … Continue Reading

The election is over. Where do we go from here? Barack Obama might be President-elect, but that doesn’t mean that everything has suddenly changed in the world.

After two years of presidential campaigning, we wake up in an America that’s really not much different than the one we woke up to yesterday. We’re still (on average) in quite a bit of debt. We’re still (on average) not saving for retirement. We’re still wasting time at work and wasting time in our personal lives. We’re still trapped by the same old fears, and we’re still choosing … Continue Reading

The headline screams “no one in tech can defend McCain.” So, who wants to take up the other side? Anyone?

I found two. John Dvorak bet me $100 that McCain would win. My producer, Rocky Barbanica, who was a software engineer for decades before switching careers, bet me another $100 that McCain would win.

Over on Twitter and FriendFeed most of the participants there, including me, are for Obama, but there are a few who are staunchly for McCain.

This is your last chance to talk politics for a while! Whew, glad to hit Wednesday and be done with all of this.

      … Continue Reading

American credit card debt is up more than eight percent from a year ago. That’s the highest amount ever recorded. In these tough economic times, it’s important to keep a close eye on your credit cards. Consumer Reports says some companies are doubling or even tripling their interest rates- and it’s not just happening to people with a bad credit rating.

John Carmichael says he always made his credit-card payments on time and had never had problems with his credit rating. But earlier this year, the interest on his Bank of America Visa card nearly tripled overnight. From around eight percent … Continue Reading

So there I was on opensecrets.org and looking at the financial disclosure form for presidential candidate Senator John S. McCain, III, and right there on page 27, there it was.

John and Cindy McCain have a joint credit card with Chase bank with a balance of between $10,000 to $15,000 and they are paying 25.99% on it. That hit me like a ton of bricks, why would the McCain’s be paying a penalty rate of 25.99% unless they had missed payments, had some recent credit problems or had a bad credit score?

According to the … Continue Reading

Dave Winer wrote a post about not being a liberal.

I’m going further than Dave. I’m not an American.

I believe that those who have a different idea than I do are not only American but have a right to have a different idea than I do because of our Constitution. But what do I know, I’m not an American.
I believe that SOME wealth should be redistributed from rich people to other places to improve our society. Like paying for schools, building roads, or even helping all people get access to health care. To me that seems fair … Continue Reading

One question I often get from new and expectant parents is how much they should be saving each month for their child’s college education. Obviously, if you’re looking at paying for college eighteen years down the road, there are going to be a lot of unknowns: how will college funding change by then? How much will tuition go up? How will parent contribution … Continue Reading