MONEY: CD rates are the answer to the wrong question

Thursday, October 4, 2012

BANKING
Is It Stupid to Save? 5 Alternatives
With low interest rates here to stay, we look at options that can beat putting money in the bank.
http://www.smartmoney.com/plan/banking/is-it-stupid-to-save-5-alternatives-1348525179055/?cid=djem_sm_WeekontheStreet_t

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I find it amusing when articles give financial advice without any context. No that I’m a financial guru. But at least I’d stratified my advice into some tiers:

dirt poor — you should be focusing on burn rate and “months of cushion”

poor — you should be focused on pyramid and how you establish a basis going forward

young family man — should be thinking insurance and home ownership

youngsters — save your nickels and develop 10 part time jobs

… … before you start worrying about savings rates!!!

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Posted by reinkefj

INSPIRATIONAL: California Legalizes Self Driving Cars

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/09/26/1621200/california-legalizes-self-driving-cars

California Legalizes Self Driving Cars
Posted by Unknown Lamer on Wednesday September 26, @12:36PM
from the third-place-leaders-of-the-free-world dept.

*** begin quote ***

Hugh Pickens writes writes “The Seattle PI reports that California has become the third state to explicitly legalize driverless vehicles, setting the stage for computers to take the wheel along the state’s highways and roads … ‘Today we’re looking at science fiction becoming tomorrow’s reality,’ said Gov. Brown. ‘This self-driving car is another step forward in this long, march of California pioneering the future and leading not just the country, but the whole world.’ The law immediately allows for testing of the vehicles on public roadways, so long as properly licensed drivers are seated at the wheel and able to take over. It also lays out a roadmap for manufacturers to seek permits from the DMV to build and sell driverless cars to consumers. Bryant Walker Smith, a fellow at Stanford’s Center for Automotive Research points to a statistical basis for safety that the DMV might consider as it begins to develop standards: ‘Google’s cars would need to drive themselves (by themselves) more than 725,000 representative miles without incident for us to say with 99 percent confidence that they crash less frequently than conventional cars. If we look only at fatal crashes, this minimum skyrockets to 300 million miles. To my knowledge, Google has yet to reach these milestones.'”

*** end quote ***

I’d buy one of those if they are available for sale here!

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Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Is there a “thumb on the scale”?

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/taylor-swift-love-life-17371914

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/taylor-swift-glamours-cover-girl-17371916

A fun experience was interrupted by the garish “commercials” pro-Obama anti-Romney 47%.

This brought an interesting thought: is ABC’s website providing propaganda support?

How is that accounted for to its stockholders?

Reported to the FEC?

Just seems odd to me. Revisited the site at random and got the same ad. Considering that the underlying story is “youth oriented” maybe this is an another “thumb on the scale” attempt. 

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Posted by reinkefj

GOLD: Western Economies Are Screwed

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

http://www.businessinsider.com/deutsche-bank-issues-a-terrible-warning-on-the-health-of-the-global-financial-system-2012-9#ixzz276ey6kNP

DEUTSCHE BANK: Western Economies Are Screwed, And Investors Face A ‘Disturbing Paradox’
Matthew Boesler | Sep. 20, 2012, 12:54 PM 

*** begin quote ***

In a new report entitled Gold: Adjusting For Zero, Deutsche Bank analysts Daniel Brebner and Xiao Fu paint an incredibly dark picture of the bind the global economy is in right now.

*** end quote ***

Regardless of who wins the US elections, we are faced with a situation of Japan in the 80’s. It will take two generations to unwind the excesses of the past half decade.

  • A rotation out of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency will effectively put the USA politician’s on a fiscal “diet”.
     
  • Gas prices are going to cripple the middle class.
  • The public pensions will cause a crisis as there are far more takers than makers.
  • The “free riders” and those on the dole, including Social Security, will make final discipline impossible.
  • The class warfare will end with the makers, like the Little Red Hen, just stop making; can’t take what isn’t made.

At some point in time, “We, The Sheeple” will recognize that they are being killed; not merely shorn.

That’s when the merry go round stops.

Gold, or nickels, is your best bet to survive.

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INTERESTING: Couple sues game show

Monday, October 1, 2012

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2208220/Couple-sues-Fox-game-losing-580-000-despite-answering-question-correctly.html

Couple sues Fox game show after losing $580,000 ‘despite answering question correctly’
By Hugo Gye
PUBLISHED: 00:44 EST, 25 September 2012 | UPDATED: 05:31 EST, 25 September 2012

*** begin quote ***

A couple who appeared on a short-lived Fox game show are suing the producers two years later, claiming that they were denied more than half a million dollars despite answering a crucial question correctly.

Andrew and Patricia Murray, who are both airline pilots, were contestants on Million Dollar Money Drop in December 2010.

They now claim the question which lost them the chance to win $580,000 was incorrect and was ultimately a ‘trick question’, according to TMZ.

*** end quote ***

Entertaining when they blow it. 

Interesting if they recover.

Is there an insurance company behind the lawsuit?

Did they have a hand in the staging of questions that would keep the payoffs low?

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Posted by reinkefj

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