The $300,000 clunker
The Detroit Free Press ferrets out some fascinating details from government data about the recently concluded Cash for Clunkers program. Someone traded in a 1997 Bentley Continental R, which had an original price of more than $300,000, in exchange for no more than $4,500 credit toward a new car.
Some enthusiasts would have paid many thousands of dollars for the rare 1987 Buick GNX destroyed under the program; only 547 were built. The nation’s supply of used Chevrolet Corvettes was thinned by 131, including 34 convertibles, and the program also liberated 22 Americans from the burden of owning a Peugeot.
And this
And 37 people decided to clunk models that were less than a year old.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Oh, you beautiful (homeless) doll!
American Girl’s latest creation is unlike any they have ever issued. Gwen is homeless, but you can give her a home for $95. The New York Post reports:
Gwen’s father walked out on the family. Her mother lost her job. As the little kiddies learn to read about this doll as if she’s a human being, one learns that, as fall turned into winter, Gwen’s mom lost her grip. Mother and daughter started bedding down in a car.
Don Mecoy
Business News
Table for Mr. Jackson
Is a well-greased palm the key to a life of priviledge? Tom Chiarella, writing in Esquire, heads out in New York with a stack of $20 bills to find out. The short answer? It works, unless you’re asking someone to something that might cost them their job.
I always grease Bobby H., the bellman at my hotel, and on my first night, within minutes of the pass, he suggested that I might request a room upgrade. He even gave me a room number to ask for. Another twenty at the desk and I was out of two queens, snug in my one king. The next day, we ran the same drill, and wham, I was in the minisuite. The twenty after that, I was in a full suite with a view of Times Square. We used a different desk guy each day. When you’re passing twenties, Bobby H. told me, you have to spread the wealth. “It’s a one-time trick,” he said. “You don’t want anyone to catch on.” Somehow he managed to take a twenty each time, having caught on fully some time ago.
However, Chiarella is a bit less successful in buying favors during a trip west. (via kottke)
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Take back your personal data
Google has established a site called Data Liberation Front (a riff on the Judean People’s Front from Monty Python’s “Life of Brian”), designed to walk you through the steps to transfer your personal data into and out of its plethora of online services. The site also seeks input from users about ways the company can live up to its “Don’t be evil” creed.
we always encourage people to ask these three questions before starting to use a product that will store their data:
Can I get my data out at all?
How much is it going to cost to get my data out?
How much of my time is it going to take to get my data out?The ideal answers to these questions are:
Yes.
Nothing more than I’m already paying.
As little as possible.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Most urgent request … to the Shire
Physicist and blogger Stephen Granade noted that opening chapters of “The Hobbit” made it clear that the character Thorin Oakenshield was running a scam. Granade expanded on that theme by imagining and creating a Nigerian scam letter as written by Thorin.
Dear MR BAGGINS, Fellow Conspirator,
I am Thorin Oakenshield, descendant of Thrain the Old and grandson of Thror who was King under the Mountain. I am writing you to discuss our plans, our ways, means, policy and devices for rescuing our treasure from the dragon Smaug.
During the reign of Thror our kingdom was a prosperous one. Kings used to send for our smiths, and reward even the least skillful most richly. Fathers would beg us to take their sons as apprentices, and pay us handsomely, especially in food-supplies, which we never bothered to grow or find for ourselves. Altogether those were good days for us, and the poorest of us had money to spend and to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things just for the fun of it, not to speak of the most marvellous and magical toys, the like of which is not to be found in the world now-a-days.
(via boingboing, with a hat tip to Robb Billy)
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
And you thought your morning commute was tough
Bike trickster expert Danny MacAskill performs his magic in this viral ad for a Scottish jobs company.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Banks declining TARP funds show better returns
CNNMoney.com reports on banks that opted not to partake of federal TARP funds distributed to shore up the industry during the financial collapse. As editor-at-large Paul R. La Monica notes, it looks like it was a good decision for those that declined the government aid:
Consider this: Shares of the 54 banks that didn’t want a bailout are, on average, down just 16% since last September. That’s compared to a 30% drop for the KBW Bank Index and 36% plunge for the S&P Regional Bank Index.
And why did these TARP-shunning banks hold up better than their peers? They didn’t get involved in as much risky subprime lending as other banks. In fact, only three of these 54 banks reported a loss over the past four quarters.
Tulsa-based BOK Financial Corp., parent of Oklahoma’s largest bank, was the largest bank to refuse the TARP money.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
More on overdraft fees
The American Bankers Association has responded to a series of stories appearing in newspapers and elsewhere about the high cost of overdraft fees at many of the nation’s banks. The Oklahoman recently ran a story on the topic.
A survey commission by the association found that 82 percent of bank customers did not pay an overdraft fee in the past year, and that 96 percent of those who did pay a fee were glad the bank covered their check.
“Clearly, consumers who pay overdraft fees are the minority, and that number is shrinking. More importantly, most consumers want banks to pay their overdrafts so they can avoid the inconvenience, embarrassment and potential costs of having a payment or transaction rejected,” said Nessa Feddis, ABA senior federal counsel and retail banking expert.
Feddis said the fees are designed to be “a deterrent,” and that the fees are easily avoided by careful consumers.
However, he doesn’t address the fact that many of the nation’s largest banks charge among the highest fees and some use programs designed to boost those fees by paying larger checks first to deplete accounts and trigger more payments as smaller checks clear. Those fees can make pay-day lenders look like pikers. The FDIC reported that a bank charging a $27 fee to cover a $20 purchase made from an overdrawn account is loaning money at an annual percentage rate of 3,520 percent if paid back in two weeks.
Overdraft fees have become a major revenue source for many banks. Last year, 45 percent of U.S. banks and credit unions made more in overdraft fees than in profits.
The key is to shop around. Some Oklahoma banks charge less than $20 for overdraft protection, and customers generally can opt out of the service.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Rounding up
The ubiquitous .99 typically tacked onto prices may be going the way of the gas station attendant and the credit card imprint device. Consumers Reports Money blog notes that a couple of news organization have reported that some British retailers are shunning the .99 for the “round pound.”
There appear to be a number of reasons behind the switch, a major one being that consumers are no longer fooled into thinking that £1.99, for example, is really significantly less than £2. The higher price may actually seem more honest.
Seems like a great idea. Let’s bring it across the pond. And the first place to implement it should be on the 9/10 of a cent we pay on each gallon of gas.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Consumers stressed about finances
Despite recent gains in the stock market and some improvement in the economy, consumers remained very worried about their finances, according to Financial Finesse, which provides financial data to employees of large companies.
The study shows that counter to recent signs of recovery on Wall Street, economic conditions are actually worsening for many Americans.
“Above all right now, American consumers are financially stressed,” says Liz Davidson, founder and CEO of Financial Finesse. “We’re seeing employees’ financial stress reaching serious levels that we need to be concerned about.”
An overwhelming 98% of employees who used the Company’s online financial planning platform in the second quarter reported they are stressed about their finances, 35% indicating their stress level is either high or overwhelming.
In the second quarter, employees inquired nearly twice as frequently about tapping retirement accounts as they did in the previous quarter, the study showed. Over the same period, calls regarding investing dropped, a sign that consumers aren’t ready to jump back into stocks.
The entire report is available here.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
