Sunday, November 29, 2009

Going Broke: Why Americans can't hold on to their money by Stuart Vyse

Mostly statistics and some slightly interesting psychology. Some blaming of advertising and the ease of credit card use and some studies about it. Eh, but totally glosses over the fact that wages have stagnated a the cost of living continues to rise. When your paycheck is two dollars less than your mortgage amount, how are you going to contribute to a 401K?

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Utopia by Thomas More

I never thought something so old could be so enjoyable, even funny. I loved his tone of "I'm not SUGGESTING anything, I'm just tellin' ya what I heard." As for the actual description of Utopia, I remember thinking a lot of "hellz yeah, we need that" and "no way, that would suck" and "would never work". Once again I find myself wishing I could figure out the third option. Capitalism obviously doesn't work in its current form (or maybe it does and what is actually not working is what we have which is an oligarchy.) And communism didn't work. Each has their points, but neither one appeals to me in its entirety. There's gotta be something in the middle that would work. Hmmm...Anyway, Utopia did sound pretty sweet but the lack of room for artists and fashion I found disappointing.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save money, breathe easier, and get more mileage ot of life by Chris Balish

Mostly and advertisement for the lifestyle. He had me at "How". The rest is just details and testimonials that anyone could easily figure out for themselves if they'd take the time to think about it. I'm so ready to give up my car, but without the fam on board, no dice =(

The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches: A practical (and fun) guide to enjoying life more by spending less by Jeff Yeager

This guy has a lot of great ideas if you're not already living on the brink. I'm sure it feels great to save so much money when you're actually making some. But when you have to be this cheap because you don't make much money, scrimping pennies is less satisfying when there's still nothing left over. Living under your means is great advice, but when you are making less than what the government considers poverty, it's just not possible. These tips are not new if you've had to figure it all out from necessity.