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7 hours ago
Here are a few things bargain-hungry consumers need to know before they hit stores before dawn the day after Thanksgiving. Here's a Black Friday reality check: Of the hordes of pre-dawn shoppers who line up for hours outside stores on the day after Thanksgiving, most will not bag the best bargains that appear in merchants' circulars. Look at the fine print that appears next to an advertised "doorbuster deal" at the bottom of the page in this year's circulars. It will either say "While supplies last," "Minimum 2 per store," "No rainchecks" or "All items are available in limited quantities." A quick scan through a few of this year's Black Friday circulars show quantities as low as a "minimum of 5 per store" on some models of large plasma and HDTVs and popular brands of home appliances such as a washer-dryer pair. Should Black Friday deal hunters feel cheated? Yes they should, say some retail ...
3 days ago
According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the average annual utility bill in the United States is currently $1,767, and energy costs are expected to continue to rise over the next few years. But the financial burden of high monthly utility bills is only one part of the challenge of energy production in America. Energy independence is rapidly becoming a priority since it offers great opportunities in the areas of job creation, manufacturing and environmental preservation. The DOE has determined that energy conservation is the cheapest, cleanest and fastest way to reduce the environmental impact of energy production and improve national energy security. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was signed into law in February of 2009 and is an economic stimulus package meant to create jobs and jump-start the American economy. As well as providing funding across a number of industries -- including health care, agriculture, and education -- the ARRA ...
5 days ago
"The task force advised on Monday that most women should not start routine screening until they are 50, as opposed to the current standard of 40. The reason, according to the task force, is that studies show that “the additional benefit gained by starting screening at age 40 years rather than at age 50 years is small" The additional benefit is small.....unless you are a women in her 40s developing cancer... Then what? How many women would have developed cancer and died from it had they not had screening... Statistical analysis, the cold hard facts, unless you are in the small percentage affected, then the benefit becomes substantial
6 days ago
California taxpayers may soon see smaller paychecks. In an effort to shrink the state's budget deficit, California lawmakers authorized a 10 per cent increase in taxes withheld from worker paychecks beginning November 1 Californians to see smaller paychecks
7 days ago
Regulation is situation-specific; values guide people on what to do in any situation Everywhere I travel, I hear the same refrains: "We need more regulation," or on the flip side, "If we hadn't deregulated, we wouldn't be in this financial mess." It looks like the White House is of this mind-set. Citing Wall Street for helping to create a "culture of irresponsibility," President Obama wants to impose more rules on the financial industry by, among other things, creating a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. More regulation, and in particular a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, could be a very good thing, but I would suggest we don't rush to regulation without careful consideration of two key questions: What is the source of the regulation? Is regulation being imposed on people from the outside or is it coming from within ? Is the mechanism another list of "dos and don'ts" or is it something deeper, something ...
