Can Borrowing Money be Dangerous?

Many are trying to hold their own during this recession and recovery.

"Unless it's a real emergency, lending money enforces dependency, rather than someone going out there and trying to do it on their own," Gurney said. "It reinforces someone feeling like a child again, that they have to come back to their family. That's not a good place to be in."

Says psychologist Kathleen Gurney. Amid these hard times in our economy, many may be tempted to lend money to family members in need. Initially, this would seem simply a selfless act, but there can be consequences for even the most generous lender.
Ruth Mantrell, in her article for marketwatch.com, points out that borrowing money can cause problems for some one too. If one borrows money, the lender many times will become too involved in the borrower's life, as a result of wanting to know what the money is being spent on. This would be quite a nuisance, and fosters dependence on the part of the borrower. Some may even lend out money just so they can have a sense of control over others, which isn't healthy.

"The relationship is the most important thing to guard here. Have an agreement; it can be a handwritten agreement. Help the family member come up with a game plan, how they are going to pay you back," Gurney said.

What is important is that all consequences are considered before borrowing or lending money. There should be a written agreement, and a plan should be set up on how the borrower will repay the lender. This way everything is secure.

Moderate Hiring for the Upcoming Quarter

Cautiously Optimistic. That's the term most everyone has been using for the state of the economy, and rightly so. But cautiously optimistic is still optimistic. Recent data has suggested some good things for the number of jobs in America today.

Around 6% of firms say they plan on hiring, as opposed to -2% last year. Better yet, over 70% of employers don't intend on firing any staff, which should put many at ease. So the job situation we have may not be getting better fast, but it isn't getting worse, and that is a start. The fact that employers aren't hiring rapidly is a good thing, because it could cause problems if the economy began shrinking quickly.

Ruth Mantell on marketwatch.com provides the figures for the employment outlook in the upcoming quarter, and they are definitely a reason to be hopeful.

"For each industry sector, here are the figures for the net employment outlook for the second quarter, not seasonally adjusted, in order of most positive first.

Leisure and hospitality, 17% in the second quarter, up from 4% in the first quarter

Professional and business services, 15%, up from 5%

Mining, 11%, up from -1%

Manufacturing, nondurable goods, 9%, up from 1%

Financial activities, 9%, up from 2%

Transportation and utilities, 8%, up from -6%

Manufacturing, durable goods, 8%, up from -3%

Information, 8%, up from 0% "

A restored economy may not be too far out of reach.

Save Some Extra Cash

There are some relatively easy ways that you can save some extra cash, which everyone could use nowadays.
When looking for good deals on travel, George Mannes from CNN writes:

For last-minute deals and extras such as free meals, sign up for all the airline and hotel-chain loyalty programs and newsletters you can, says George Hobica, founder of airfarewatchdog.com. And check kayak.com.

And Mannes also shows you how to fix the fact that you may be getting too much money deducted from your paycheck.

With the average federal tax refund around $2,700, chances are you've been giving the government an interest-free loan by having too much money pulled out of your paycheck. With your most recent pay stubs and tax return handy, go to irs.gov and use the withholding calculator to get specific instructions for filling out new W-4s. Your payroll department will adjust your withholding accordingly.

Also, Mannes says, Qualifying Expenses (aka things that your job will pay for) could include more than you might think, such as contact lenses solution or at-home pregnancy tests. These benefits should be taken advantage of.

So take advantage of these things! A little savings here and there can add up in the long run.

Good Enough for God, It's Good Enough for Palin!

I got a good laugh when I heard about Palin writing her talking points on her palm, but it really didn't seem like a big problem to me. I'd probably forget some stuff if I was under that much pressure to impress the nation to. But then, she said this:
"Hey, if it was good enough for god scribbling on the palm of his hand, its good enough for me".
My main problems with this statement are that:
1) God and Politics should be completely separate. Separation of church and state, for cryin' out loud. (She should've written that somewhere on herself). The fact that "god wrote on his hand" has nothing to do with her inability to remember what she wants to talk about.
2) She just compared herself to god. God wrote on his hands, so I can do it too, since me and god are pretty much the same.
I may be an atheist but seeing as Palin holds her God in pretty high regard, she should not have compared herself to him/her.

We are not a "Christian Nation", and it's slightly disturbing that some identify it as that. Personally, I'd vote that politicians shouldn't be allowed to use any reference to religion in there campaigns, end of story.

Nissan LEAF

Boy oh boy, am I smitten for the new Nissan LEAF.

This car is 100% electric, 0 emissions and boasts 100 miles of driving on a single charge, which is absolutely wonderful. Oh and it's a 5 passenger car. None of that smartcar 2 passenger junk. This will let the car be usable by so many more drivers.

A full charge costs less than 3 dollars. Another awesome aspect is that you can preheat or pre-cool the car before you get in it using your smart phone, and the LEAF can send your phone an alert when it is fully charged.

All this information can be found on the Nissan website, which says the car will be available late 2010. And it claims the LEAF will be "affordable", whatever that means. I have high hopes for this car.

Waiting on Health Care

Health care is still a highly debated topic, even after the health care summit. It seems some progress was made, but there are still a lot of things that are holding this bill back from being passed. David M. Herszenhorn writes for the New York Times about the issue:

Some House Democrats who voted for the health care bill in November have said that they will oppose any version of the legislation that does not include the tight restrictions on insurance coverage for abortions that they succeeded in inserting into the House measure. Mr. Obama’s plan adopts the Senate provisions on the abortion issue, which are less restrictive.

This means that there are still things to work out with the issue of abortion funding, among other things. I am pro-choice, and therefore believe that the government should fund abortions. While each party is trying to get what they want in the bill, the Democrats are working at a way to speed up the process of passing this bill. Herszenhorn writes:

At this point, Democrats and Republicans have concluded that the only way the health care legislation can be completed is for Democrats to make revisions to the Senate-passed bill and attach those revisions to a budget reconciliation measure.

To be completely honest, reconciliation confuses the heck out of me, and I'm still trying to understand it. But if the bill can get passed faster, I'm all for it. This bill just needs to get passed, one way or another, because as soon as it is, focus can go back to pulling the economy up and getting it back on its feet.

Bargain Hunting... At the Doctors?

The basic idea of this, is to show that if you need a "simple" procedure, it is in your best interest to go looking at different practices, because some are radically cheaper than others. So why doesn't everyone do this? Well, in my family, we all have one doctor that we've been seeing for almost our entire lives, and we trust our doctors. So I think many people would rather just stick with their own doctors and be confident they will get good treatment. And though this "bargain hunting" may be beneficial, it might not help those whose health care only allows them to go to a specific doctor or hospital. That all being said, I think it's worth considering, especially if it means saving a chunk of cash.