The Atlantic: Simpler Taxes.
”It is little wonder that the vast majority of the poorest families must pay a tax preparer to claim these benefits.” My old man used to step down from his usual attorney duties to do taxes for a set of minority cleaning ladies in Princeton. For a pittance. As much as he supported progressive taxation, he felt the implementation was designed to keep revenue high on the backs of the poor and did what he could to personally remedy the situation in his circle of influence.
naked capitalism: Indian Outsourcers Complain Re Difficulty of Finding US Staff.
The Atlantic: Mapping Troubled Housing Markets.
Don’t like that yellow and orange in NM. Looks like Santa Fe County is outside those boundaries, however (phew).
CNet: For 99 cents, Amazon sells shows, Apple rents them.
”As an eagle-eyed CNET reader noted, Amazon is selling some TV shows for the same price that Apple plans to charge for rentals ...” Ruh-roh. It’s the television equivalent of workflow that will count here ... call it ‘viewflow.’
The Atlantic: Maybe July Wasn’t as Bad as We Thought.
WSJ: For Sale: T. Rex, Good Condition, Woolly Mammoth, Needs Repair.
“Prairie Dog Town, near Oakley, Kan., is for sale, with an asking price of $450,000, says its owner, Larry Farmer, who also wants to retire. It comes with 37 billboards advertising the attraction, 400 prairie dogs and — for anyone not sufficiently excited by burrowing rodents — a live, six-legged cow.”
marketcircle: Billings Pro.
I bought this a short while ago, and like it very much. Making it multiuser makes it better. Price is a little high for Pro, IMHO - they should offer a limited-user version for a price point between Billings and Billings Pro.
One personal observation: The templating system for invoices is confusing and needs much better documentation. Trial it and see if you can construct invoice templates with your business ID satisfactorily before purchase.
The Atlantic: 3 Politically Impossible Fixes for the Economy.
Number three is what will eventually fix us. Though there’ll be a lot of screaming and yelling in the process.
The Atlantic: Flashcard series, 9 Ways to Fix Social Security.
Hopefully Congress isn’t as toothless as the illustration. Better to head off problems now; everyone’s been saying they would do something ... noone has. Makes ya want to kick ‘em right in their ‘lockbox.’
Autistic Disdain: HuluPlus Comparison Chart.
ProPublica: A Crib Sheet on Wall Street’s Self-Dealing Money Machine.
“… there was still a lot of money to be made if they kept the CDO market going. So they found a way to do so — artificially. They created fake demand.” CDO’s bought CDO’s. No wonder there was such a huge cascade, falling-house-of-cards effect.
Washington Monthly: College Dropout Factories.
The Atlantic: Deficit Fears and the Pollster-Pundit Complex.
“This article is part of an unfortunate pollster-pundit complex where columnists, who are supposed to inform the public, instead recite public opinion without proper context or criticism, creating an infinite feedback loop that loses the central question: Is the public right? Halfway into the article, Zuckerman finally gets there: ‘Of course, the question remains whether public sentiment coincides with sound economics.’”
The Atlantic: This Is What the Student Debt Crisis Looks Like.
And we only demonize medical insurance. This is a terrible shame - education is our future.
NPR: Why Coffee Is Getting More Expensive.
CJR: Bloggers at the Treasury.
“Later, Smith mulled the threat of journalists being coopted, but dismissed it on the grounds that the meetings aren’t held that often and bloggers don’t get that much out of them, anyway. [snip] Indeed, she wonders whether meeting the Treasury Secretary is worth bloggers’ time. This is a new day, isn’t it?” Sure is. The article lists who is frequenting these meetings.
The Atlantic: Home Prices May Drop Another 25%.
”Eyeing the chart, the value looks to have hit around 147 in May. For it to drop back down to 110, home prices would have to decline another 25%. That’s still a pretty long way to fall.” Horrible to contemplate, but forewarned is forearmed.
The Atlantic: Where the Creative Class Jobs Will Be.
Yowzer, look at Boulder. Albuquerque over Santa Fe.
Macroadvisers: Conflict with Iran: Economic Consequences of Alternative Scenarios.
For those who think war will help our economic crisis.
Mashable: Philadelphia Tax Code Sparks Big Controversy with Small Bloggers.
Ye gods, don’t let NM know they can collect gross receipts on internet ad revenue. Next thing you know, we’ll have to register our blogs as businesses.
The American: Why Small Businesses Aren’t Hiring.
True, but hinging off something I linked yesterday, I think that home ownership gives small business access to a home equity credit line. Small business needs financial ‘grease’, through home equity, credit cards, small business loans. Small business by nature is a risky one, especially at startup. Tightening regulations and credit supply are strangling small business. IMHO.
Later: Wow, BillFloat might help.
The Atlantic: How Bad Was July’s Plummet in Home Sales?
Bad. I think there’s an expectation among buyers that home costs should be much lower, while sellers don’t want to accept the fact that there’s been a ‘great reset.’ When folks get desperate enough, the twain shall meet and deals will be cut. It’ll take some time.
naked capitalism: Credit Card Companies Jack Up Rates Despite Flagging Economy, Super Low Funding Co
The author wisely points out that higher credit card rates squash small business. In this and in so many other sectors, banks and financial institutions should be loosening things up to help the economy move forward. Every neuron in my brain says they’d make zillions by removing their artificial props from under the rates and allowing volume to fill their coffers.
If they loosened credit rates, I’d bet we’d see people slowly begin to take advantage of the historical low mortgage rates as their monthly financial commitments eased. If this happened, America might stop choking in first gear and start building some momentum in second.
TheStreet: Weekend Brings New Credit Card Rules.
The Atlantic: Why Not Print the Bill of Rights on the Dollar Bill?
Eye-catching, certainly. Probably way too easy to counterfeit.
