WhyTheHeck

Next to “plastics” the most famous line in The Graduate might have been where Benjamin announced to his father that he was going to marry Elaine Robinson.  Mr. Braddock firsts proposes congratulating the Robinsons (who Benjamin says haven’t been told), then Elaine (ditto) and finally asks:  “When are you going to pop the question?”   Benjamin [...]

For years Americans spent most of their income largely on the assumption that their increasing home values provided wealth.  The entire economy, from retailers to restaurants, builders to banks, expanded to capture this spending.   Sustaining the increase in home values which generated this apparent wealth required the reduction of interest rates and the relaxation of [...]

This Posting sumamrizes the Best of the Ideas from the only website paying $1-million for Yours

Food labels have listed ingredients for decades.  Some people ignore them while others read them before making a purchase decision.   No one questions the value of the information to the consumer, though.
Appliances have been sporting Energy Star labels for two decades too.  Once again, some people ignore them while others don’t, but no one questions [...]

Imagine a way to stimulate the economy and put more money into the hands of both the working poor and small businesses, while reducing both the foreclosure rate and the federal deficit, all without raising taxes.
Economic alchemy, you say?   Read on.
Chances are, if you in the demographic which reads these essays, you have never applied for, [...]

One way to significantly impact overall costs is to insist on ‘broker’ fee transparency. The brokers fees can be as high as 15% (they are often less) of the fees paid to the insurance company and are often not identified to the buying employer. Brokers have on occasion caused the buying employer to spend more [...]

It does not appear that allowing businesses which “round down” cash purchases to refuse to accept pennies even requires an Act of Congress.  It is part of what the Treasury Department is authorized to do under existing legislation.  Further there is no negative budget implication so there is no need for a review by the [...]

Pennies are a complete waste, a tax on consumers and retailers which raises nothing for the government. Yet the zinc lobby always defeats legislation to eliminate them. This post proposes a simple win-win change to current law which even the zinc lobby could not defeat: Allowing businesses which agree to “round down” to refuse to handle pennies. We are also proposing civil disobedience to get there. The civil disobedience would take the form of businesses doing exactly that until the law is changed.

The biggest ripoff in consumer lending is the refund anticipation check. Tax preparers offer their clients +/- 90% of the value of the anticiated refund, on the spot, a very high implied APR. This posting shows how the government can replace this with loans at much better terms, get the money into people’s hands faster and — in conjunciton with the Stimulus Gift Card — even ofer MORE than the value of the refund in an immediate gift card. Economic stimulation AND profits for the government AND a windfall for consumers.

Why don’t hotels have no-frills “green rooms” ? Here’s how it would work. First, instead of those little disposable bottles of shampoo and conditioner and body lotion (who the hell even uses the body lotion?), they’d have a dispenser. Second, if you want changes of sheets and towels you’d pay extra. In fact, maid serivce [...]