Credit cards: Use them or lose them

If you don't charge anything (or don't charge enough), some card issuers will cut you off, often with no warning, and your credit scores could take a hit as a result. Full Story

A suggestion for using your credit card when you don't want to:

1. Find out when your cycle end date is. This is the date interest is charged and your statement is printed.

2. Let's say you have $200 budgeted for something for the next couple of weeks (food or gas or whatever). Just spend as you normally would, putting your purchases on the credit card.

3. Before your next month's close date*, pay off the balance so no interest accrues. You have used your card and lost nothing.

*Confirm the next month's close date because they will vary from time to time depending on the month, weekends, etc.

April Fool's Virus Alert: no reason to panic

April Fool's Conficker Threat is Likely Hype

The Cupcake Indicator

5 signs of the recession's end.

It took the government a year to tell us the economy was in a recession; here's how to tell when we're out of it... Full Article

10 things credit card issuers don't say‏

Some of the card companies' little-known rules are costing you money -- and putting your credit, your identity and your family at risk... Full Article

13 Comfortable Homes Built from Recycled Shipping Containers

Have your prayers done for you!

Information Age Prayer is a subscription service utilizing a computer with text-to-speech capability to incant your prayers each day. It gives you the satisfaction of knowing that your prayers will always be said even if you wake up late, or forget.

Information Age Prayer

President's News Conference tonight - Watch here!!

Obama on Leno

Yay... McCain goes after Ann Coulter!

His daughter Meghan, I mean.

Nice! She says it so well. I have recently been expressing my feelings about Ann to some of you, and Meghan's comments reflect what I have been saying, the're just appropriate for TV.

I also love Meghan's ARTICLE in the Beast.

Here's a good one...

"Maybe [Coulter's] popularity stems from the fact that watching her is sometimes like watching a train wreck."

Is your bank healthy? How to tell

A quartet of key data points will help you understand whether your savings account is at risk. Plus: How 4 big names stack up... Full Article

Volunteer Vacations on a Budget

You could pay a lot of money for the privilege of donating your labor to a worthy cause somewhere around the world on a volunteer vacation. Or you could just throw your sleeping bag in the car, drive to a nearby park, and for as little as $150, spend a week in the wilderness rebuilding trails with other nature-lovers... Full Article

All alone? Get a group discount

There are good deals in numbers, but being solo doesn't mean you have to miss out. Online opportunities expand the advantages of co-ops for buying cars, food, gas and more... Full Article

repoWEr America

100% Clean Electricity in 10 years

The state of California is ready to take action to reduce global warming pollution from cars, and 13 other states are ready too.

The opposition has their sights set on slowing this progress -- arguing that statewide actions won't work and claiming that automakers don't need any encouragement to make cleaner cars.

We can't let the special interests block this much-needed action.

Your voice will make a difference. There's not much time left in the public comment period -- send your comment to the EPA right now:http://www.RepowerAmerica.org/epawaiver

This is what I wrote in the "(Optional) Add a personal note." Feel free to use mine or embelish on your own:

The fact that we are the most powerful and advanced country in the world and we are still driving gas guzzling polluting vehicles is absolutely pathetic. We have had the technology and ability to advance the auto industry to having highly efficient and clean vehicles for a while.
The auto industry would not be in the trouble they are right now if they had just made the advancements available to them. How disgusting is it that our species is being held back by greedy people who lack the vision of a more advanced future.
You are the Environmental Protection Agency... so protect our environment! Show the "fat cats" with no vision or desire to improve themselves or the world that their stagnant ideals of keeping the status quo are out dated, stale, and, frankly, un-American!

Iraqi Reporter To Spend 3-Years In Jail For Throwing Shoe At Bush

The Dow Predicts The President's Performance

CNBC is a great financial advisor!

The Dow tells you how well the president is doing!

Why Rick Santelli is always right!

And other things that just AREN'T TRUE!!!

A MUST SEE!!!

Sex and The Obamas

Sex in America: Can We Change The Conversation?

"... Who knows what really happens in the privacy of the Obamas' bedroom, but there is an unmistakable erotic tension that emanates from Michelle and Barack Obama..."

Tell Congress: No more secret scores

Credit bureau Experian's recent move means lenders can see FICO scores that you can't. That's just wrong, and the law needs to catch up with today's credit scoring practices... Full Article

Again, she gives resources to contact your congresspeople. I am keeping to my talk and have e-mailed and written Obama.

My next task will to write my representatives.

And Rediculous...

Injured good Samaritan ticketed for jaywalking
Man helped push 3 people out of path of pickup truck before being struck...

An Honest and Generous Banker!!!

Miami banker lavishes $60M on his employees

At a time when bankers are being pilloried on Capitol Hill as heartless and greedy, Leonard Abess Jr. stands apart...

Piyush "Bobby" Jindal

Piyush "Bobby" Jindal's response to Obama's Tuesday's speech. He is the current Governor of the state of Louisiana.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The quote Jindal refers to, "we may not be able to reverse" from Obama's article in the Washington Post, is taken out of context. I thought it was a good speech until then. The context is as follows:

"Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse."

This is disappointing. Jindal is "considered a rising star in Republican ranks and a likely 2012 presidential candidate." Why, then, is he using the old tactics that McCain and Palin used of using things Obama said out of context to make it seem that he said something completely different. At first, I was wondering why the Associated Press reported that "Insane. Childish. Disaster." were some of the "kinder" words used as critiques, but the speech has "drawn flak from Republicans and Democrats alike."

It would also be nice for our elected officials to know the history of the US a bit better. I suppose that Jundal would also criticise the formation of the FDIC, SEC, Social Security, FHA and programs formed around the time of Roosevelt's creation of the New Deal in the midst and aftermath of the Great Depression. Many of the New Deal programs of the New Deal were eventually killed by conservatives, but they were OK with Social Security and the other aforementioned ones. It is obvious to most that the government must intervine because of the very fact that inaction will lead to a situation "we may not be able to reverse."

Obama Speech, Tuesday, Feb 24th

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29289533/vp/29378488#29354483

A Fiscal Summit? How responsible!

Obama talks to congresepeople about their group discussions! The 1997 Balanced Budget Negotiations talks were the last time something like this was done. No wonder the US's budget is screwed up. Everyone gets together to really discuss it once a decade!

Sure is nice to see the president intelligently discussing issues with everyone. The first person he called upon to talk about their discussion was John McCain!

more content

Eric Holder calls America "a nation of cowards" - incites ...

Michael Eric Dyson says Eric Holder's remarks on race and black history were courageous.

In remarks delivered Wednesday to the Justice Department to commemorate Black History Month, Attorney General Eric Holder offered one of the most courageous and honest speeches on American race by a political figure in quite some time... Full Article

Oscars 2009: Wolverine shows his softer side

Do Something About It

On the heels of Experian's move that now makes it impossible to know all three of your credit scores, here is a great article that addresses what we can do about it. The laws, regulations, and lack of protection in this country continue to errode the responsible consumer's ability to be treated fairly.

My apologies for this ultimatum-type statement, but if the way consumers are being treated pisses you off, do something about it! By making this statement to you, I now have a responsibility to walk the walk and take action myself. It's great that I let you know how screwed up the system is from time to time, it would be nice to do something about it. This article has fantastic real world solutions.

Whether you take action or not, this is one of the best articles I have seen because it gives a great explanation of where consumerism has brought us and and our only real recourse.

How Consumerism Hurts Consumers

"As businesses cheat us with hidden fees and crazy contract terms, our focus on beating 'the system' diverts attention from fixing it. But you can help change that." Full Article

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day from Experian!

Yes, Experian, the credit reporting agency, has a Valentine's Day gift for you.

On February 14th, you will

NO LONGER BE ABLE TO PURCHASE YOUR EXPERIAN FICO SCORE.

There are other agancies that give out credit scores, but only FICO scores are the ones that matter when it comes to getting a credit like a mortgage, car, or a credit card. For example, mortgage lenders go by your middle score. How do you know what your middle score is? You can't. Oh, wait, you can, but only by having a lender pull your credit, thereby putting a "ding" on your credit, which can lower your credit score.

In these hard economic times, it's great to know that we can be screwed over just once more by the credit industry.

Timothy Geithner lays out plan (3:20)

Obama's first prime-time address (59:07)

Why the CEO salary cap is a joke

The sighs of relief -- and celebrations -- on Wall Street should tell you that the limits on executive pay at bailed-out financial institutions are all but meaningless. Full Article...

No Telemarketers On Your Cell Phone

Cell phone numbers went public last week for telemarketers.

Call this number to register your number, it takes about 30 seconds!

888-382-1222

You must be calling from the number you want on the "Do Not Call" list.

After 31 days, if you receive telemarketing calls, you can file a complaint:

To file a complaint, your phone number must have been on the registry for 31 days, you will need the date you got the call, and either the name or telephone number of the company that called you.

http://www.donotcall.gov/

Stewart Renames Cheney

Best article about Phelps and, umm, other stuff

Quit crying double-standard over Phelps

There is no bigger fan of racial double-standards than yours truly. But those of you looking for one inside Michael Phelps' bong are misguided, stuck in the 1960s and worship at the Church of Al Sharp-tongue... Full article

Why I'm saving up $15,000 this year

No, this MSN Money writer is not crazy. Her family's expenses are $5,000 per month and this is about having 3 months savings. Three months is kind of the industry standard for emergency savings. Whether it is loosing/quitting a job, getting injured, family emergency, etc, most of these things can be resolved in a couple months. The second step and a more advanced savings will be for 6 months, but 3 is a good start. read article...

Imagine if there was a lifestyle of saving in the US.

Imagine if people were more concerned with the amount of savings they had stashed away, instead of being obsessed with all the stuff there is to be had.

Imagine if the news was talking about how long people were able to live off their savings instead of how long people are waiting in line to get government assistance.

Imagine if people were more concerned with the amount of savings they had stashed away, instead of being obsessed with all the stuff there is to be had.

Imagine if, when people knew they wanted to buy something, they saved up for it instead of using credit and using all of their monthly income.

Us Americans are experts at using whatever money we have. If we get more, there is always something to buy and we'll find a way to use it. Our grand parents always told us to save money. They saw what happened on October 29, 1929. Why is it that the saying, “Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it” seems to be continually forgotten.

A modern take on posessions from Tyler Durden... (2:08)

5 steps to slash your property tax

Was your home's value assessed during the peak of the housing bubble? It may pay to see if you can have the value adjusted...

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Obama takes steps on car efficiency

Obama moves to let states cap car emissions
EPA is told to review Bush policy; Clinton also to name climate envoy

WASHINGTON - Plunging into energy and climate change policies, President Barack Obama on Monday moved to give states a freer hand in curbing greenhouse gas emissions from cars, and to get his government moving on fuel-efficiency standards that could remake the auto industry.

Obama stressed that his goal was not... Full Article

I Pledge

Obama to America: 'Grow up' (1:24)

Fareed Zakaria says it right again!

Interesting Articles of the week

Obama signs executive order to close Guantanamo Bay

Democrats not in lockstep with Obama

Jobs with under 40-hour work weeks

House Dems push tax breaks through committee

Kennedy's withdrawal creates a political mystery

Watch the Inauguration and Speech

The President of the United States

Happy Obama day!

Today is that day. The one we've been waiting for. This is the day WE begin our work. As usual, I will keep you informed and will share what you share with. After the innoguration, I will put it up here for easy viewing. Before we get into that, I highly reccomend having some fun with Obama's help. Here, you can help him say the thing you have alwasy wanted to hear him say. Have fun...

Obama Sound Off

Throw a Shoe

Sorry about this, but it's really fun. If you wanted to throw a shoe at our outgoing president but feel you never really had the chance, here it is. Great graphics and fast paced action...

Ego Shoe-ter

-Thanks Jennifer!

How Obama may affect your finances

When it comes to the economy, Barack Obama has been managing expectations the way Joe Torre managed the 1990s Yankees: with grim-faced seriousness and an aversion to rah-rah cheerleading.... full article

Countdown to Obama!!

Obama Countdown