• 15. Who are the worst tippers? – Waiters comment on which groups of people are the worst tippers, and no one is spared. (Dec 9, 2009)

Previous entries:

• 25. Colorado Springs: City of the future? – Anti-tax haven Colorado Springs finds itself in desperate fiscal straits, touching off schadenfreude and defensiveness on the Web.
• 24. Sub-prime the Musical – college student creates series of podcasts on the causes of the credit crisis and, naturally, adds song parodies to illustrate the concepts.
• 23. Friday photo gallery Nov 20, 2009
• 22. The Skyscraper Index – This metric shows that the world’s tallest buildings rise on the eve of economic downturns.
• 22. Chances of passing a health care bill – On March 10, Bush administration economist Keith Hennessey upped the chances of health care’s passage from 10% to 40%.

• 22. Friday photo gallery Oct. 30, 2009
• 21. If persons were treated like corporations – Political cartoon from Kevin Moore’s In Contempt site.
• 20. Rappin’ economics – Rap adaptation of the classic econ textbook “Principles of Economics.”
• 19. Friday photo gallery Oct. 9 2009
• 18. Facebook “likes” by city – 210 million Facebook profiles broken down into which pages users click the “like” button on, organized by city.
• 17. Repaired Things – The blog – collection of pictures of things that have been repaired
• 16. Podcast: Local currency bucks the dollar – cash-strapped communities throughout the U.S. make their own money
• 16. Defriending over health care – Did you defriend anyone on Facebook, or were you defriended, in the midst of the furious health care debate?
• 16. Cards of change – altered business cards uploaded by people who have either been laid off or experienced a change in career situation

• 16. Podcast: Local currency bucks the dollar – cash-strapped communities throughout the U.S. make their own money (Nov 12, 2009)
• 16. Defriending over health care – Did you defriend anyone on Facebook, or were you defriended, in the midst of the furious health care debate? (Mar 25, 2010)
• 16. Cards of change – altered business cards uploaded by people who have either been laid off or experienced a change in career situation (Jan 28, 2010)

  

Previous entries:

• 25. Colorado Springs: City of the future? – Anti-tax haven Colorado Springs finds itself in desperate fiscal straits, touching off schadenfreude and defensiveness on the Web.
• 24. Sub-prime the Musical – college student creates series of podcasts on the causes of the credit crisis and, naturally, adds song parodies to illustrate the concepts.
• 23. Friday photo gallery Nov 20, 2009
• 22. The Skyscraper Index – This metric shows that the world’s tallest buildings rise on the eve of economic downturns.
• 22. Chances of passing a health care bill – On March 10, Bush administration economist Keith Hennessey upped the chances of health care’s passage from 10% to 40%.

• 22. Friday photo gallery Oct. 30, 2009
• 21. If persons were treated like corporations – Political cartoon from Kevin Moore’s In Contempt site.
• 20. Rappin’ economics – Rap adaptation of the classic econ textbook “Principles of Economics.”
• 19. Friday photo gallery Oct. 9 2009
• 18. Facebook “likes” by city – 210 million Facebook profiles broken down into which pages users click the “like” button on, organized by city.
• 17. Repaired Things – The blog – collection of pictures of things that have been repaired

• 17. Repaired Things – The blog – collection of pictures of things that have been repaired (from Oct 22, 2009)

Previous entries:

• 25. Colorado Springs: City of the future? – Anti-tax haven Colorado Springs finds itself in desperate fiscal straits, touching off schadenfreude and defensiveness on the Web.
• 24. Sub-prime the Musical – college student creates series of podcasts on the causes of the credit crisis and, naturally, adds song parodies to illustrate the concepts.
• 23. Friday photo gallery Nov 20, 2009
• 22. The Skyscraper Index – This metric shows that the world’s tallest buildings rise on the eve of economic downturns.
• 22. Chances of passing a health care bill – On March 10, Bush administration economist Keith Hennessey upped the chances of health care’s passage from 10% to 40%.

• 22. Friday photo gallery Oct. 30, 2009
• 21. If persons were treated like corporations – Political cartoon from Kevin Moore’s In Contempt site.
• 20. Rappin’ economics – Rap adaptation of the classic econ textbook “Principles of Economics.”
• 19. Friday photo gallery Oct. 9 2009
• 18. Facebook “likes” by city – 210 million Facebook profiles broken down into which pages users click the “like” button on, organized by city.

The F in the web site FMYLife doesn’t exactly stand for “fabulous,” if you know what I mean. Here, people post short anecdotes about what’s recently gone wrong in their world, and since they’re about somebody else, they’re often quite funny.

Some related to money and work:

Today, I received a call from a collection agency saying I owe $27,000. Apparently my mother has been using my identity because I had so much money saved up and such good credit. I was going to use that money and good credit to put a down payment on a house to get away from her. FML

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Today, I went to the movies. When I got out, I saw that someone hit my car but were nice enough to leave a note. It said, “Ouch – that’s going to cost you some money.” They signed it with a happy face sticking out its tongue. FML

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Today, I bought an app on my iPod touch that was $900 because I thought it was just a joke. Turns out it wasn’t. My mom gets mad at me if I just buy an app that’s costs 99 cents. I’m scared to leave my room now. FML

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Today, I received a rejection letter from a potential employer in the form of a post card. FML

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Today, I learned that my younger sister spent the sterling silver dollar I had bought her from the Vancouver 2010 Olympics to buy herself a KitKat bar. I spent a good $60 on that coin. FML

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• 21. If persons were treated like corporations – Political cartoon from Kevin Moore’s In Contempt site.
• 20. Rappin’ economics – Rap adaptation of the classic econ textbook “Principles of Economics.”
• 19. Friday photo gallery Oct. 9 2009

  

• 18. Facebook “likes” by city – 210 million Facebook profiles broken down into which pages users click the “like” button on, organized by city.

Previous entries:

• 25. Colorado Springs: City of the future? – Anti-tax haven Colorado Springs finds itself in desperate fiscal straits, touching off schadenfreude and defensiveness on the Web.
• 24. Sub-prime the Musical – college student creates series of podcasts on the causes of the credit crisis and, naturally, adds song parodies to illustrate the concepts.
• 23. Friday photo gallery Nov 20, 2009
• 22. The Skyscraper Index – This metric shows that the world’s tallest buildings rise on the eve of economic downturns.
• 22. Chances of passing a health care bill – On March 10, Bush administration economist Keith Hennessey upped the chances of health care’s passage from 10% to 40%.

• 22. Friday photo gallery Oct. 30, 2009

From the blog EV Grieve: Something that all the foreclosed homeowners out there might not find so amusing. A 13,000-square foot dog facility is opening up near Wall Street. The Fetch Club will include an indoor dog park, “social club,” hotel/spa, and boutique. Great. The Fetch Club. When they open up The Kvetch Club, gimme a call.

From the blog Tales From the Recently Laid Off:

Confessions of a former unemployed

Since I’ve been employed now via contract work I’ve been playing in pseudo-employed world. Having a job and feeling self-sufficient has been euphoric, but honestly there’s a post-traumatic unemployment disorder (PTUD) that’s become a part of me. I’ve talked to friends who’ve felt similarly after being laid off. It’s this late-night-in-your-head-never-leaving-nagging-voice that waits for the floor to disappear. When is it going to happen again. When I’m going to be left with nothing. It has nothing to do with the present and all with the past and while I struggle to regain fiscal confidence, I also struggle to regain personal confidence as well.

Today is about my lessons in responsibility in the fiscal sense. When I first became unemployed I took to the phones and called all my creditors. I was on top it. I had to be. The second time I was laid off I was less on top of things. I was moving to a new apartment, looking for new jobs and lost track of a lot of things. Fast forward to the present and having to make a payment so I don’t have a block on my credit report. It’s not a fun feeling. It’s my fault in all senses of the world. It’s my fault for being in debt to begin with. I lived beyond my means and I learned that. Did I need to learn it again and again? No, but that’s life. Should I have paid better attention to the junk mail I received? Yes. Maybe that’s wasn’t junk mail but a credit bill. Lesson learned? Yep. I was able to set-up payments for the next five years. In five years I’ll be thirty-three. That’s a)scary b)intimidating c)hopefully will have less debt and d)learned my lesson from my twenties — I’m hoping for all over the above and for it to be paid in less than five years, but I’m not holding my breath.

The Bonddad Blog takes the economic blogopshere to task for its persistently negative outlook:

Anatomy of a Doom and Gloom Blog Post

I just read a post at another blog and it says we’re all doomed

Cited passage from another economics blog which says the economy is in fact headed straight to hell. The citation also includes at least one basic mathematical error and/or one misunderstanding of a basic economic concept or number which a simple reading of the data explanations would have avoided. For example, “not in the workforce” has a very specific meaning — or, more specifically, it does not mean that everyone who “left the workforce” simply ran away from the job market screaming to the hills. As another example, the unemployment rate is a lagging economic indicator.

Because this above referenced web site said we’re doomed, it must be true.

In addition, all government economic numbers are wrong.

But wait — this number (also issued by a government agency) is correct! Why? Because it’s a bearish number, and we all know that all bearish numbers are correct! So, I’ll trumpet this one from the hills.

Continue Reading

Last week, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania said it won’t make a scheduled bond payment of $425,282 due on May 1st.

Some commentary:

Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis

I do not like Munis here. For starters, I think there will be a number of counties in Florida that go bankrupt. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (the state capitol) is likely to go bankrupt as is Detroit, Michigan.

Yes, everyone is aware of those.

However, when liquidity is flowing everywhere, as it has been since March 2009, nothing seems to matter. Indeed, it is easy to be complacent because nothing matters. The correct way of thinking about this is: nothing matters “now”.

Add in a few cities going bankrupt in California, and in a liquidity crisis I can practically guarantee it will matter. Although there may be some good bets out there, munis seem to be richly priced which means there are better opportunities ahead.

Liquidity is a coward. 2008 in the face of Bernanke’s heroic efforts should be proof enough. Should panic strike again, far better prices lay ahead.

What applies to munis also applies to junk bonds, corporate bonds, and the stock market as well. Whatever you are holding, take some chips off the table.

Continue Reading

As we head toward the finish line at EconomyBeat, we continue to count down our top 25 posts. These three are tied at No. 22:

• 22. The Skyscraper Index – This metric shows that the world’s tallest buildings rise on the eve of economic downturns.
• 22. Chances of passing a health care bill – On March 10, Bush administration economist Keith Hennessey upped the chances of health care’s passage from 10% to 40%.

• 22. Friday photo gallery Oct. 30, 2009

Previous entries:

• 25. Colorado Springs: City of the future? – Anti-tax haven Colorado Springs finds itself in desperate fiscal straits, touching off schadenfreude and defensiveness on the Web.
• 24. Sub-prime the Musical – college student creates series of podcasts on the causes of the credit crisis and, naturally, adds song parodies to illustrate the concepts.
• 23. Friday photo gallery Nov 20, 2009