Obama Gets an “F” in Tuition Economics

The vote buying season is in full bloom, manifested by President Obama’s speech decrying the rising cost of a college education.

The President is a smart man. Why does he embarrass himself this way? Read more

Credit Cards are Bad for Your Financial Health: It’s Science

I am one of the few credit card haters among personal finance bloggers. Most of my blogging colleagues advocate their use to gain cash back “rewards.” Many bloggers go beyond mere use advocacy – they promote acquisition of new credit cards because they are paid to do so.

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Black Friday Sanity v. Consumer Craziness

An entire mini-industry has been constructed around Black Friday, our newest national holiday. Much more is written about Black Friday deals, leaks, strategies, and other craziness than is written about the origin and meaning of Thanksgiving. Now some some stores are opening at midnight (Target being one of them), forcing employees to work on Thanksgiving. It is all so pathetic.

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Obama Buying Votes instead of Prosecuting Fraud

A sinking President Obama is trying to buy votes from those who are already underwater. It is a waste of valuable government time and resources that could be better used.

The federal government has never accepted that all of its attempts to “rescue” the housing market are fruitless. Bad loans and unqualified homeowners are a sad fact of the real estate bubble. Nothing that Congress or the White House says or does can change that.

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Businesses that Should be Taxed into Oblivion

My general view of government is that sticks its bureaucratic nose into too much of our personal business. There are exceptions, one of which I was reminded of during a recent visit with my cousin in Chicago. I would like to see the government use more of its taxing authority to drive universally bad businesses – well – mostly out of business.

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Is Consumer Stupidity Incurable?

I saw this headline and had to comment: Banks continue to rake in huge amounts in overdraft fees.

Wait – it gets worse when you read the specifics: Banks and credit unions received $30.8 billion in overdraft fees in just the first 6 months of 2011.

That’s $30.8 BILLION! Read more

Do Bored Economics Professors Deserve Tenure?

The U.S. has too many unprepared and unmotivated students attending too many lousy colleges. (I use the word “students”  loosely because being a student implies that there is actual “studying” involved. A more accurate term would be “attendees” because so many college attendees place studying well below drinking, partying, and hooking-up on the list of must-do college activities.  But I digress. Read more

Thank-You Tea Party for our Damaged Retirement Accounts

Mr. ToughMoneyLove is as fiscally conservative as most but I am also pragmatic. The same can’t be said for our tea party members of Congress who robotically activated their “no new revenues” autopilot.  Then they didn’t know enough to deactivate it. They refused to see what was apparent to everyone else – that compromise was the only way to reach an agreement that consumers and the investing community would accept as a positive outcome. Read more

10 Ways to Get Americans Spending Again – But Why?

Amid fears that we are entering the second dip of a double-dip recession, the “why don’t we spend more” hand-wringers are at it again. They want to know why American consumers aren’t prowling the store aisles and throwing crap in their carts.  They also want to know what can be done to make them throw more crap in their shopping carts. Read more

Pushing MBA’s Out of the Driver’s Seat

Long-time readers know that Mr. ToughMoneyLove is not a fan of MBA programs and, generally, their graduates. The former are mostly cash machines for students looking to borrow their way to an upgraded life. The MBA graduates, if they learn anything at all, it’s to bean count their employer into bad decisions. Witnesseth: Wall Street 2008 and U.S. car companies. I’m not the only one who thinks we need more engineers and fewer bean counters.

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