Archive for October, 2007

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007

Walmart is Good For US(A)

Wal-Mart is not an uncontroversial company in America. In many ways, the story of Wal-Mart is the story of two companies. One is the ultra-competitive retail giant that is able to force suppliers to help them sell us lots of products at low prices. The other is a mega-corporation that is so obsessed [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in Consumption by Jack

Thursday, October 11th, 2007

Wal-Mart is Bad for US(A)

This is part 2 discussing how Wal-Mart has impacted the US economy. Part 1, which briefly discusses some positives can be found at Walmart is Good For US(A). There will eventually be a follow-up post with my own stance on this subject, and if there are enough quality comments between these two posts, [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Consumption by Jack

Friday, October 12th, 2007

Death and Taxes 2008 Poster

Short post today.  I found what looks to be an awesome poster for anybody who cares where their federal tax dollars go.  It is a poster that is packed full of information based off the President’s 2008 budget request.
Now, I now this sounds like about the last thing anybody would be interested in hanging on [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Taxes by Jack

Saturday, October 13th, 2007

Curse of the Packrat

I Am a Packrat.
There. I’ve gotten that off my chest. I find it hard to throw things out. There are people who are much worse off about it but the average person does better than I do.
There are boxes that have moved more than twice without having been opened. Leftover parts [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Off-topic by Jack

Monday, October 15th, 2007

All The Home You Can Use

I am in the process of designing my next house.
My wife and I recently purchased a lot to build our house on.  Since it is a flat piece of dirt right now, something will need to go on it.  You see, our current house is a nice enough home.  We have decided that while staying [...]

2 Comments » - Posted in Home by Jack

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

What I Am Reading Now: Greenspan

A lot of my fun reading is centered around sci-fi and fantasy books.  I like to visualize new and different places and those books let me do it.  As a bonus, wrapping my thoughts around a different kind of world is fun too.  The idea that magic or science can give a completely different way [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Economics by Jack

Wednesday, October 17th, 2007

Federal Debt Discussion

This is the root post for the discussion about the Federal Debt and Deficit and its impact on us.
As I work through my exploration and education about the Federal Debt and Deficit, each of those posts will be linked back to this one.  That will allow this post to act as a central hub for [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Jack

Wednesday, October 17th, 2007

The Scale of the Federal Debt

This post is part of the Federal Debt Discussion series.
The American National Debt is a staggeringly large number. It is several times larger than the total amount of US Dollars in circulation. Even trying to visualize that much money in stacks or circling the globe many, many times is very difficult to do.
Fortunately, [...]

2 Comments » - Posted in Debt, Federal Debt by Jack

Thursday, October 18th, 2007

Somebody Is Doing Something Right

Patrick, over at {Cash Money Life} relates to us his financial life story in brief.
Unlike many of us (myself included), he appears to have done the right thing from the very beginning. That, with no life-busting emergencies has him sailing smoothly. The best part? He has the freedom to be doing the [...]

3 Comments » - Posted in goals by Jack

Friday, October 19th, 2007

The Scale of the Federal Deficit

This is a post in the Federal Debt Discussion series.
Previously, we discussed The Scale of the Federal Debt. This debt did not magically appear. It has been built up over a number of years, and has gone up and down during that time period based on the annual deficits (and occasional surplus) [...]

2 Comments » - Posted in Debt, Federal Debt by Jack