Dory Devlin, Shine staff’s Blog
By Dory Devlin, Shine staff Last updated: Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:47am PDT-
It's been five months since the $787 billion stimulus packaged passed, and the chorus of critics is getting louder every day, questioning whether the infusion of taxpayer money into the economy is doing any good.
AP via Yahoo! News
Unemployment reached 9.5 percent nationwide in June, and it has crossed into the double digits in harder hit regions. Consumers are holding on to their money, for fear things will get worse. Housing prices are not recovering.
So while critics say the behemoth stimulus has not turned the economy around, the Obama Administration is saying nothing could turn this struggling economy on a dime. Read More »- Let’s talk: Comment (100) | Blog
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If you've been on the fence about whether to use online budgeting software to track where you are spending all of your money, Consumer Reports' ShopSmart takes a helpful, quick look at the key websites and tools to help you decide which one is best.
I like the way the mag breaks down its "smart picks" depending on where you fall on the budgeting spectrum--whether you want a tool to help you take a quick look at finances, want more comprehensive budgeting help, want to get help from a community of others looking to budget, or want to keep it simple and use whatever software your bank and financial institutions offer. Read More »- Let’s talk: Comment (5) | Blog
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Look around and it's clear pet owners are taking their furry ones with them more places these days. Have you noticed more small dogs and cats being carried onto planes with their owners in carry-on bags lately? A pet-only airline launched this month, while Petfinder ranks the top five airlines for pet travel in 2009. Read More »
AP via Yahoo! News
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In true Jack Welch fashion,
the former CEO of General Electric and lauded biz guru, recently
made some pretty definitive statements about work-life balance to a
group of HR professionals. "There's no such thing as
work-life balance," he told the Society for Human Resource… Read More »
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Okay, so if my kids find out I'm already writing about saving money on back-to-school shopping, they would be very unhappy. Just the other day when I was taking my soon-to-be 7th grader and her friend out for cool-drink treats, her friend asked, "How many weeks until school starts?" Immediately, my daughter put her hands over her ears and made loud "la-la-la" noises. Her way of saying, let's not count down just yet.
Getty Images
The fact is the start of the school year will be here sooner than some of us would like, and the shopping will begin even sooner. So, it's never too late to think about ways to avoid a budget-breaking back-to-school shopping frenzy.
Here's what's worked for us, some years more than others: Read More »- Let’s talk: Comment (26) | Blog
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Oh, you bet they are.
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Now that credit flows less freely, and customers are struggling to pay off debt in a tough economy while Congress has taken a tougher stance with credit card companies, the companies are mining the data available to them about how and where we spend. Then, as this fascinating New York Times Magazine story shows, they are using some very basic psychology training to figure out what it all means when dealing with customers one on one. Read More »- Let’s talk: Comment (31) | Blog
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In the end, 31.1 million people watched the Michael Jackson memorial on TV, more than the 29 million who tuned in to the American Idol finale but less than the 38 million who watched President Barack Obama's inauguration. A full accounting of the Internet and worldwide TV audience is not yet available, so you know millions more were watching at some point in the day.
AFP via Yahoo! News
Not so many showed up in person, however, which is a good thing for the financially strapped city of Los Angeles. Read More »- Let’s talk: Comment (342) | Blog
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Sarah Palin donned fishing waders and invited lots of reporters along a family fishing excursion to explain her stunning decision to quit the Alaska governorship. Only, after all the interviews filmed in time for the morning news shows were done, a clear-cut explanation remained elusive, and lots of questions remained. Read More »
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One hundred and fifty years.
That should do it. But will it? Calling Ponzi-scheming,
money-stealing Bernard Madoff's crimes "extremely
evil," Judge Denny Chin
sentenced the fake financier to the maximum… Read More »
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We've all heard stories
of parents gone overboard when it comes to doing for their kids.
Maybe we even could be accused of taking the helicopter up a few
times to hover when hovering time should long be over. Say, maybe
we ran forgotten permission slips and saxophones on band day into
school for… Read More »
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