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Does America Need to Wake Up Financially?

July 8, 2008 by Lazy Man 17 Comments

I might not have mentioned it, but I’m in Los Angeles this week, staying at a swanky hotel called The Omni. (I’ll tell you more about it after my stay, but it’s essentially free.) They dropped off a copy of USA Today yesterday and for the first in months, I read a physical newspaper. It’s a general interest newspaper, but the front page seem dominated by financial concerns. There is a “Nation’s gas gauge” in the top left showing how much the price of gas has changed in the last day and the price a year ago. (It’s 37% more expensive for the regular stuff in case you were wondering.) The cover story was, As food costs soar, it’s back to basics for meal planners. At least they didn’t have an article on adjustable rate mortgages rising and people foreclosuring on homes. Maybe the editor didn’t want to depress everyone on the same day.

That’s what America is faced with today. Food prices through the roof. Gas prices through the roof. Home prices through the roof. It’s going to cost you more money to commute to your job. The money you make there is going to less quantity or quality of food. Then you come home and worry about how you are going to pay the mortgage. At least basic clothing is relatively cheap, right?

As Ben Stein says, this isn’t so much of a problem for the highly skilled/educated lawyers, doctors, investment bankers, etc. When you bring in six figures or more, you can usually a few hundred dollars a month. However, if you are on the lower pay scale you likely have bigger problems. The rise of gas and food is huge. When you might have been scraping by before you might be in even bigger trouble now. In the aforementioned article, Ben Stein is quick to point out that “Since [1974], real wages both hourly and weekly for all non-government workers, on average, have fallen by about 5 percent, very roughly.”

I’d like to revisit that USA Today article on food costs. It is filled with anecdotal evidence of people reacting to food costs:

  • Retirees Sally and Robert Jones reverted back to some of the menus that got them through graduate school, living on beans, stews, and soups.
  • Nancy Sierra eats peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch.
  • Tiffany Nicosia whips up new recipes with whatever is left in her refrigerator.
  • Rebecca Woods and her family of five saw their grocery bills double from $800 to $1,600 a month.

However, the part that I want to focus on is the Rebecca Woods quote:

“We were eating whatever we wanted “” yogurt, bagels, name-brand cereals. I wasn’t looking at the price of anything. I was at the point where I bought the same thing every week. I ran into the grocery, I bought what I needed and ran out.” Later she says, “I realized we were sinking financially and couldn’t go on that way.”

Are you like Rebecca was – spending money without looking at the prices? Do you know someone who is? Do them a favor and use the little e-mail icon at the end of this story to send them this article.

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: adjustable rate mortgages, food costs, food prices, gas prices, mortgage

Links: Comcast Outage and NFL Draft Edition

June 14, 2008 by Lazy Man 2 Comments

Yesterday, I woke up excited for the NFL draft. It had been heavily publicized for the last two months. I was disappointed to find that Comcast, my cable television and Internet provider, was experiencing an outage. Right before the draft, they got the television working, but the Internet was down all day. I finally called Comcast late last night to find that when they fixed the outage, the cable modem needed to be recycled. I lost a days worth of work with the Carnival of Personal Finance due out tomorrow because they didn’t tell me to unplug the modem and plug it back in. This solidifies the hate portion of my love-hate relationship with Comcast.

As for the draft itself, it’s been relatively boring. In the past there’s been some drama with a player being stuck in the green room for an excessive amount of time. Yesterday it emptied out in the first hour. As for the Patriots, the team I follow, their draft has been solid, but not the barn-burner that I’ve come to expect the last couple of years. They didn’t trade for an extra first round pick or pick up a Randy Moss/Wes Welker-type star. That said, the Patriots picked up some quality at the positions they needed it. It’s the third round and they traded third round pick for a future 2nd round pick and a fifth round pick. I love when they do this – next year I’ll be very happy when they have two second round picks.

On to the links I liked this week:

  • Brip Blap became the newest problogger on the block. It sounds to me like the timing is perfect for him to give a try with his contract expiring.
  • Another Pro-blogger, The Digerati Life, gives tips to save 80% on groceries. I should start to use coupons, I still just buy generic foods – which is a Lazy Man’s way to save.
  • I was prepared to laugh at Generation X’s Finance article saying that maybe higher food prices are really good for us as a society, but his logic is sound. I do see some good things that can come from higer food prices.
  • The Sun’s Financial Diary gives says we could green a portfolio with Claymore Solar ETF. I might be interested in throwing a few dollars into this ETF.
  • Money Smart Life writes about Blockbuster’s free trial. I’ve been happy with Netflix thus far – I haven’t used Blockbuster’s service.
  • Million Dollar Journey is getting organized for tax season. I need to organize myself a bit, I’ve been especially Lazy there.
  • My Dollar Plan tells you how to create your own dollar plan.
  • Mighty Bargain Hunter found there’s a price to pay for stamp choice. I bought 100 stamps at Costco a month or two ago. I didn’t think much about it at the time. Why even sell non-forever stamps?
  • Free Money Finance gives an example of turning a hobby into an income
  • No Credit Needed writes about his $100-a-day-rule. It doesn’t mean you can spend $100-a-day like I thought it did.
  • We were included in two carnivals the carnival of money stories and the carnival of personal finance.

Filed Under: Links Tagged With: cable modem, cable television, comcast, financial diary, food prices, groceries, internet provider, nfl draft, patriots, personal finance

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