philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Feb 10, 2012, 10:02 am
The economy is measured by gross domestic product. Everything we’ve focused on in terms of stimulus, housing, employment, and even the deficit has been about GDP. What will changes to these things do to GDP? Why do we care about GDP? There’s an assumption that if the economy is doing well pe...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Feb 9, 2012, 10:41 am
Steve Jobs was never much interest in making money through software.  Apple was always a hardware business and one of the few in their industry able to build a decent margin into the business. You may not remember, but when the first iPhone came out there was no app store.  The original vision wa...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Feb 8, 2012, 10:13 am
A new study says that a significant majority of people would be fine to have their employers temporarily increase the amount the employee contributes to retirement plans up to 10%. I would certainly fall into that category myself as most of you likely would too. But isn’t that sad? Why don’t ...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Feb 7, 2012, 10:23 am
As of this writing we are converging on the 6th year of this housing mess, and for almost 6 years we’ve heard people from the head of the Federal Reserve to real estate experts to Jim Cramer say we’ve reached the bottom of the housing market. For too long self-interested parties have made claim...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Feb 6, 2012, 10:43 am
That’s what the US Department of Treasury may be telling investors in the near future.  What that effectively means is that the rate the US pays to borrow money would be negative.  Investors would be paying the US for the privilege to lend to them?  How can this happen in a world where our debt...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Feb 4, 2012, 12:20 pm
There’s perhaps nothing grosser than watching a cat work on a hairball. Their entire body is working on the pile that is just about to land on your floor. Then you get to see whatever it is they’ve eaten recently. Most of my life has been spent living with cats, even in college. It was The S...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Feb 3, 2012, 3:21 pm
Cars are a huge part of our economy, and automakers spare little expense in terms of advertising.  They notoriously go all out for the Super Bowl too and I enjoy the commercials.  Volkswagen had a great Star Wars commercial last year, easily one of the most memorable. And for some reason I alread...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Feb 3, 2012, 10:45 am
The following is a guest post provided by Forex Traders. Views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Weakonomics.com The year of 2011 may go down in history as the year that never was. Our financial markets, despite a rollercoaster ride throughout much of the period, ended the year a...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Feb 2, 2012, 10:13 am
Joanne Muller over at Forbes did some interesting digging on the car buying habits of Americans. Less than 40% of rich people (defined in this case as those making $250k+) actually buy luxury cars. And about 8% of people earning less than six-figures do. Now that doesn’t sound all that crazy bu...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Feb 1, 2012, 10:26 am
Last week Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a press conference. In the conference he was asked about a number of things, including the Fed’s target inflation rate eroding away the savings of people. You likely know your bank account it paying practically nothing in terms of interest, say 1% (for ar...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 31, 2012, 10:54 am
Welcome to a world where Storage Wars and Hoarding are well watched.  A world where candles serve as decoration, where there are 4 TVs in a house, and we can’t fit cars in garages anymore for all the crap we have.  Where did we go wrong?  I’ve got older relatives that have been wearing the sa...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 30, 2012, 10:45 am
Not much bandwidth is wasted on this blog cheer-leading companies. Especially companies that already have a track record of creating incredible products and generating enormous profits. Please don’t consider me an Apple fanboy. This post is being written on a Samsung/Windows machine using a Goo...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 28, 2012, 11:16 am
I’ve had this mouse for almost nine years now.  I remember exactly when I got it.  At the time, optical mice were just hitting the mainstream and mine was purchased to go with my new laptop. In all that time this mouse has lived in 7 places in 4 cities.  I’ve bought two wireless mice to repl...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 27, 2012, 9:43 am
Does this statement disturb you? In 1950, finance and insurance in the United States accounted for 2.8% of GDP, according to US Department of Commerce estimates. By 1960, that share had grown to 3.8% of GDP, and reached 6% of GDP in 1990. Today, it is 8.4% of GDP, and it is not shrinking. The Wall ...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 26, 2012, 10:34 am
Cats were always my thing growing up. But, as evidenced by the branding on my site at some point dogs entered my life. Enter: The Sheconomist too. Dogs are great, and mine is the best, and now I consider both types of furry animals to be valuable members of a stable household. One of the best way...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 25, 2012, 10:23 am
Yesterday Mitt Romney released his tax returns to the public and the world.  He made more than $20 million in each of the last two years.  His effective tax rate was less than 15%. There are no real surprises from any of his returns.  Mitt is likely an honest guy and all we’re really going to ...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 24, 2012, 9:59 am
The Super Bowl is now just a couple of weeks away. Tom Brady and Eli Manning, two of the most well-paid athletes in the game, will go at for all the glory of football. And then when that’s over much of the sporting world will focus on professional basketball. Baseball too is only a couple of mo...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 23, 2012, 10:14 am
Books don’t get reviewed here very often but when something that crosses the insight of Freakonomics with the subject of sports, you’ve got a potential winner on your hands. The topics of the Freakonomics books have always taken some kind of conventional understanding and turned it on its head....
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 22, 2012, 5:50 pm
I’ve been on Weight Watchers three months. I have to lose two pounds a week. I’m at 38 pounds now. They come and weigh me every two weeks. I ain’t never missed a weigh-in. Never going to. I’m feeling much better. But I ain’t giving away no money… I’m not giving away no free money. I th...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 21, 2012, 10:54 am
More videos from BBC Earthflight Related posts:Weakend: I’m Going To Miss Physics Weakend: 3D Printing Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 20, 2012, 1:37 pm
If you’ve been wondering why people are so up in arms about SOPA and PIPA, this video does a great job of explaining it. The plain English version is this: If these laws passed and someone posted a comment on Weakonomics linking to a site that might be doing something like letting you download mo...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 20, 2012, 9:56 am
You can find a poll to support just about anything. And recent polls support that idea. Another recent poll is showing people are very interested in changing the income tax deduction on mortgage interest and about a quarter of people are okay with eliminating it altogether. Back before the days o...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 19, 2012, 10:01 am
Obamacare hasn’t gotten much attention recently.  And with Mitt Romney the likely frontrunner as GOP opposition, I doubt his strategists will be attacking the president on the controversial legislation too much. But it’s certainly going to be a point of conversation and will once again grab so...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 18, 2012, 9:31 am
Do you remember when you used go to the store and buy music? Then you’d go home, put it in your player and listen to it? Then you would own that music forever or until you lost it moving but it doesn’t matter because you weren’t sure what you were thinking when you bought it in the first pla...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 17, 2012, 9:30 am
I’d almost forgotten about how much I loathe the personal finance magazine and site Kiplingers (see here and here). Should you not be familiar with the publication, Kiplingers publishes many articles which I find to be lazy and in some cases, irresponsible. A lot of people subscribe to the site ...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 14, 2012, 10:46 am
Been there. In the audience, and unfortunately, facing it… Via: Curiosity Counts Related posts:Weakend: Come On Irene Weakend: Targeted Ads Weakend: Stupid Men Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 13, 2012, 10:02 am
Let’s be honest with ourselves for a second and acknowledge that for all intents and purposes, Mitt Romney is the Republican nominee.  As a passive observer of campaigns so far, he seems to spend more time attacking Obama than defending himself against his GOP rivals.  But that hasn’t stopped ...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 12, 2012, 9:49 am
Times are rough in a number of European countries.  Much like in 2008 here in the US, credit markets are tightening across the pond.  But, whereas things froze overnight here, there things are just tight; like your pants usually are in January.  And like the US the banks are  cutting back on len...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 11, 2012, 9:49 am
Every year, you and I consume 45 gallons of soda.  That works out to a little bit more than a can per day.  I certainly consume more coffee than that, but my soda habit is considerably smaller.  That means someone is making up for my deficit.  It’s no wonder our country is so fat.  A recent s...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Jan 10, 2012, 9:55 am
Less than 100 years ago, an American woman might not have had the right to vote depending on where she lived. Various states had granted some rights but it wasn’t consistent by a long shot. The 19th Amendment fixed that, but the right to vote was really just one milestone towards equality. The ...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Nov 3, 2011, 10:54 am
In the business world, there’s a term called “Voice of the Customer”, or “VOC“.  Some businesses ignore VOC while others devotes millions of dollars and resources to it.  I’ve seen the term used quite loosely, but essentially it refers to the process of capturing what the customer want...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Nov 2, 2011, 10:37 am
Think about it.  Some people like to donate money to charities.  And when they do the government gives them a tax deduction.  This encourages people to donate more as it lowers their tax bill. Larger employers make it really easy for their employees to donate too.  You sign up to give, probably...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Nov 1, 2011, 10:53 am
Time can be a precious commodity. Older people wish for more time, younger people want time to fly by, and just about everyone in between wonders where the time went. This is why we are paid for out time. We’d rather be doing something else, but the pay makes us want to work. There’s a simpl...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 31, 2011, 11:05 am
So say their donation records at least. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Indiana University, the types of charitable contributions people make vary greatly depending on their income. They broke down the charitable giving into 7 categories: Religious Education Arts Basic Need...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 29, 2011, 10:30 am
NASA is now but a shell of its former self. Relegated mostly to launching satellites and resuming the search for bacteria on foreign worlds. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but NASA won’t get the kind of pop culture attention it once did. Hopefully the private sector and step up, b...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 28, 2011, 10:42 am
This week Obama announced a more aggressive version of his original plan to help people saddled with student loan debt.  The details are pretty simple, under the new plan you won’t have to pay more than 10% of your income towards student loans and after 20 years of doing that whatever else you ow...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 27, 2011, 10:52 am
Back in September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released their annual report on consumer expenditures.  It’s a comprehensive look at what American’s spend their money on.  The report covers data up through 2010, and compares it to prior years going back to 2006.  It’s quite interesting to...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 26, 2011, 10:48 am
Obama had it made this spring.  Winning the reelection was going to be a breeze.  The economy was in (a slow) recovery, Bin Laden was dead, and Republicans were showing themselves to be no more useful than Democrats at running a chamber of Congress. But the tides have turned lately.  The economy...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 25, 2011, 10:42 am
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, or that’s likely what Macy’s is telling you when you walk in the door.  Though I feel like it hit slower this year, the holiday shopping season is now upon us.  Yes, exactly two months from now the main holiday of the season, Christmas, takes place.�...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 24, 2011, 10:39 am
This weekend, Bill and Melinda Gates published an article in the Wall Street Journal about the efforts of their foundation to improve education in the US. The foundation does a lot of things, and this article focused on how the proper measurement of what makes for a great teacher is critical to the...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 23, 2011, 10:17 am
The new iPhone is out and many people have rushed out to get themselves one.  Mostly really just to play with Siri, Apple’s new voice-guided assistant that can help you do everything from setting an alarm to the answer of a math problem to composing an email with a simple button press and your wo...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 21, 2011, 10:44 am
Believe it or not, not too long ago our government actually thought we would have the national debt paid off.  When Clinton was preparing to leave office some of his officials and economists were looking at the possibility of having the national debt paid off by 2012.  And they were worried about ...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 20, 2011, 11:02 am
Or at least less unprotected humping.  In news that won’t surprise anyone, people have less babies during recessions.  The Pew Research Center apparently thought it was worth the  money to confirm what many people already know.  Pew looked at birth rates for 25 states in the union and found th...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 19, 2011, 10:46 am
Fans of football or video games may be familiar with the the John Madden Curse, but for others I might need to explain. There is a very popular video game that provides realistic football game play called “Madden”. Since the late 90s the game has featured a well known football player on the co...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 18, 2011, 10:47 am
The telecommunications industry has always been a fickle one. They had monopolies, they were broken up, they gradually monopolized again, and face very little competition. They were originally granted monopoly power in order to make it worth their investment in all the telephone poles they had to ...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 17, 2011, 10:45 am
In most cases, a good education is the most important foundation to a successful life.  We’re taught this by parents, and economists regularly corroborate it with statistics showing lower unemployment rates and better incomes for people with greater education. But of course we are regularly remi...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 15, 2011, 11:56 am
Living a number of feet off the ground I have a few of traffic flows around a few blocks in my area.  A large number of commuters drive by so I get to see traffic flows like a bird might from above.  Of course we all have the benefit of sitting in traffic.  But for the most part we hate traffic, ...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 14, 2011, 10:45 am
I’ve awaited Tim Allen’s return to TV for a long time.  Home Improvement was a fantastic show.  His new show is called Last Man Standing.  Since I first saw a commercial on TV for the show, I knew it would be a flop. It will very likely be a flop, but that’s okay.  It’s just good to see...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 13, 2011, 10:54 am
Boing Boing ran a story the other day talking about a paper that tests the IKEA effect.  It’s a simple test designed to show that we place more value on objects we assemble compared to objects someone else put together.  The details of the study are in Boing Boing’s post, but the spoiler alert...
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philip w. posted an article on Weakonomics?Common sense for our dollars and cents - Oct 12, 2011, 10:40 am
Yesterday we listed 10 things where you don’t get the value for the dollar you spend.  Naturally this had to be followed by a list of things that do give you value for the money. Toilet Paper: If you’ve ever used a public restroom for a twosie or worked in an office with any eye for turning a ...
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