dollarish's Dollarish

You Might Be a Bad Coworker If...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:11:00 GMT

U.S. News & World Report published a funny list of the top five attributes that make up a bad coworker. Read on:

You delegate... late. Whether you're a boss or just another cubicler, nobody likes to have an assignment dumped on them late in the game. It will make people think you don't care, and that you're sloppy. More Here...

Experts Discuss the College Question

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:30:00 GMT

The New York Time's college blog called The Choice linked to an interesting feature in The Chronicle of Higher Education called "Are Too Many Students Going to College?" For the article, editors of the Chronicle asked a panel of education experts to weigh in on some heavy questions: Should everyone go to college? If so, what types of programs? Is college worth the expense and debt? Does it help the individual, society, neither, or both?

The Chronicle also mentioned President Obama's recent charge for all Americans to seek out at least one year of college or vocational school. Is that the most sound advice? More Here...

The Cost of Gold Hits a Record High

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:52:00 GMT

Yesterday, the price of gold soared to $1,123 per ounce. Experts said the increase was contributed by the weak dollar and a strong liquid assets.

Many people have been buying the metal with stronger currencies, making gold more valuable each day.

I'm not that shocked since the Dollar has been weak for awhile, and I expect it to go down more. The people in Cash for Gold must be rolling in their riches now.

Do you think the price of gold will go down anytime soon?

Phone Wars: AT&T Sues Verizon

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:03:00 GMT

I love clever advertising, so I've been really enjoying Verizon's "There's a map for that" commercials, which poke fun at Apple's "There's an app for that" ads for the iPhone, along with AT&T's spotty 3G coverage. But instead of firing back with some likewise savvy advertising, AT&T is suing Verizon for "misleading" consumers about its coverage, according to DailyFinance. More Here...

Fed Regulates Overdraft Protection

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:11:00 GMT

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It's time for a ticker tape parade! The Federal Reserve initiated some much-needed policies protecting consumers from bank overdraft fees today, as reported in The Los Angeles Times.

Effective July 1, 2010, the Fed will require banks to inform consumers of the rules and fees relating to overdraft charges before they can sign up for overdraft protection. Debit card holders without overdraft protection will now simply have their purchases and ATM withdrawals rejected if their bank account is lacking in funds. More Here...

Stress/Vice Round-up: Cigarettes & Chocolate

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:42:00 GMT

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For the first time in 14 years, the percentage of smokers in the U.S. increased from 2007 to 2008. The increase was small—the current number is slightly less than 21 percent of Americans, up from 19.8 percent in 2007—but some experts believe this reversal is significant, signaling that public health officials have "hit a wall" in their battle to reduce U.S. smoking. More Here...

Ten Ways to Pay for College

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:11:00 GMT

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The U.S. News & World Report published a list today of ten ways students can raise money for college. The list:

Money from Relatives: Grandparents, aunts, uncles, everything—they're all often willing to pony up for a loved one's future. More Here...

Funemployment: The Downside to Severance

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:12:00 GMT

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Maybe you've seen the movie The Full Monty, where one character, recently laid off, continues to leave his house in his work clothes so that his wife doesn't know he's out of work. He also buys her a tanning bed. Well, a new trend Gawker is calling "Funemployment" is basically the real-life equivalent, when out-of-work people maintain their old lifestyles using their severance packages, which—for many of them—are about to run out. More Here...

New Life for Old Gadgets

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:24:00 GMT

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I recently moved to New York, which means my apartment has room for about 25 percent of the stuff I need, and everything qualifies as essential. But whenever I go home to my Dad's house, I'm struck by the sheer amounts of stuff we've managed to hold on to, much of it tech-related. It's funny, even though I'm pretty much positive I'll never use my first iPod again—a second generation model that turns on very, very rarely—I'd feel weird throwing it out.

So, to make myself feel better (and entertain myself), I looked online for some of the coolest ways to give new life to old gadgets: More Here...

Stop Re-releasing Albums!

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:11:00 GMT

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Sometimes, I wonder if the major music industry enjoys jerking our hard-earned cash from our pockets or if they are simple or slow, when it comes to the power of music industry economics. By this, I mean, the terms of releasing an album.

Earlier, I went to listen to a new album, only to find that The Fray has re-released their second album with bonus versions of this and past songs and a DVD of their videos. Their album was released months ago this year. I saw this happening in the past with albums from Beyoncé, Chris Brown, Björk and Taylor Swift.

The question I have is: what person with any grip on economics is going to buy the same album twice? More Here...