Misery Index, Zappos and Expensive Loans
June 13, 2008 by TFBI’m catching up with some reading because I’ve been busy with work lately. Here are some interesting articles I liked:
Hedonically-Adjusted, Well-Spun, Nominal Misery (The Big Picture) - Are the reported inflation and unemployment numbers artificially low compared to what were reported years ago? Maybe. But what can you do about it?
Credit/Debit/ATM Cards and Foreign Exchange (FlyerGuide Wiki) - All you want to know about spending money and getting cash when you are in a foreign country.
Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit And You Should Too (Harvard Business) - Zappos sells shoes online. I’ve always had great service from them. Although their prices are not always the lowest, unless they are much more expensive, I always choose Zappos. Great service is worth a few bucks.
Why Is This Legal? (Credit Slips) - How do we strike the balance between consumer choice and consumer protection? Should expensive loans be illegal? What about other expensive stuff? Should we regulate prices?
In 2028, 1.40% EE bonds will earn 50% in one day (Savings Bond Advisor) - The 1.4% EE bonds are a rip-off. Why is this legal?
I’m pretty sure the government has decided that it doesn’t really care if they actually sell savings bonds or not. In fact, they are probably looking for a reason to shut it down completely.
$5,000 limit per type per year basically limits investments to gifts for kids.