Yes Yes, Jon Did Excellent Work: Everybody seen these clips from the Daily Show eviscerating CNBC and Rick Santelli? Great, let’s move on.
Barbie Turns 50: and the hard-hitting financial news reporters and comentators of Forbes are there! Way to expose her age, Forbes!
Don’t Fall for this Scam: Some financial companies try to collect debts from the dead. Now, strictly speaking death doesn’t end one’s legal obligations. However, the next of kin is under no obligation to pay on the behalf of the dead when the estate can’t cover it. What are they gonna do? Ding Late Aunt Mildred’s credit score? Oh no, she may not be able to finance a house in the afterlife!
How dare the poor have contact with reality: Somebody is actually upset that someone in a soup kitchen was able to take a cell-phone picture of Michelle Obama serving people. Not because of security concerns, but because here was a person without enough money for a decent meal who nonetheless had a charged up cell phone with a camera in it. First, many cell phones are free with a service plan (as anybody with a grasp of reality knows), and now it’s hard to get one that does not have a camera. Second, cell phone plans start at very cheap. Third, a phone number is almost required to get someone to call you in for a job interview. Smart man indeed if he kept his cell bill paid while letting all else slide. More on what Mrs. O was up to here.
Forbes has a solution: They theorize that we consume too much health care in certain areas because there are too many doctors and hospitals. So it follows that “Decreasing or eliminating supply-sensitive care could greatly reduce health spending without rationing beneficial care….” The other way to describe this “solution” is to round up doctors and relocate them to under-served areas. Yeah, that will go over well.
Nouveau Archeaology: Man-made ruins, courtesy of ArtificialOwl.
This paragraph is a bit depressing, or, I Hate This Part Right Here: Presented with minimal comment, Bankruptcy filings up; World GDP growth expected to be negative for the year; Ford sales plummet, selling fewer than 100,000 vehicles in February (and they aren’t the only hurting automaker); unemployment at its highest level since 1983; in addition to 651,000 jobs lost in February, the experts revised the January and December numbers upwards. All I can really say is “Wow.”
On the idea of College For Everybody: Unnecessary.
The SBA Rides Again: The Obama Administration has budgeted $700 million for the SBA, which should back $28 billion ($28 thousand million) in SBA loans. No word on where they are going to find small businesses that actually have the equity to apply for those loans.
The Financial Crisis Made Simple: And vaguely amusing.
Just say no to slave labor: our current lax enforcement standards on employers who hire illegal workers has an interesting end point, modern slavery.
And finally, I’d like to close with some happy news: Pink Dolphin. It’s real.