News and other tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share
Wired has a technical-but-understandable explanation of the key factor behind the near-collapse of the banking, mortgage, and investment industries.
Link: http://www.wired.com/…
(via The Consumerist)
The linked article lists the major effects that the stimulus bill will have on everyday Americans. There’s some pretty good stuff. Of note:
Link: http://consumerist.com/…
Back in 1961, astronaut Gus Grissom took two rolls of dimes into orbit on the Liberty Bell 7 spaceflight. Upon returning to Earth, Grissom’s capsule sank in deep ocean waters and he was forced to leave the coins behind. The capsule was retrieved in 1999, and the dimes now reside in a space museum.
Link: http://www.associatedcontent.com/…
(via New Scientist)
It’s Y2K all over again! The National Debt Clock no longer has enough digits to accurately display the US national debt. They’ve got a temporary workaround, but we’ll have to wait until next year for a new clock with two additional digits. (God forbid the national debt should ever reach $1 quadrillion in my lifetime…)
Link: [Video] http://www.youtube.com/…
(via digg)
Link: [Non-Video] http://ap.google.com/…
Back on Monday, September 8th (yes, the Chad’s News submission queue is getting a bit long) United Airlines stock lost 75% of its value, or $1.14 billion, and its trading was temporarily halted. It all turned out to be a misunderstanding, and by the end of the day the stock had mostly rebounded to its previous price. There’s been a lot of finger-pointing and inconsistent announcements, but here’s the best take on what happened:
So the headline of this article isn’t completely accurate, but in the confusion following the event Google was one of the parties being blamed.
Link: http://blog.wired.com/…
(via The Consumerist)
The linked article explains, in layman’s terms, how the largest bankruptcy in history occurred. I figure we, the taxpayers of the United States, should know something about AIG since we now own the company. And for those who want a more general explanation of “What the #$@(&* happened to our economy, there’s this Freakonomics article.
Mental Floss is holding a contest for students, where five winners will each receive $10,000 to be applied towards tuition. Even if you’re not eligible for the prize, the site is one that I regularly read and recommend.
With the stock market chaos, and with the surge of bankruptcies/government takeovers in the financial industries, you may be wondering if it’s time to drain all your accounts and store the cash inside a mattress. The linked article helps reduce the confusion by explaining exactly what is and what is not insured by the FDIC.
Link: http://consumerist.com/…
The linked article explains some rights and responsibilities of credit card ownership.
Link: http://consumerist.com/…
Due to the massive increase in the price of gasoline, the Internal Revenue Service has raised the standard mileage deduction. As of July 1st, it is $0.585 per mile instead of $0.505. The new rate applies to travel performed from July 1st to the end of the year. Note that the old rate still applies from January 1st to June 30th, 2008.
Link: http://www.irs.gov/…
(via The Consumerist)
This guy took advantage of the fact that when you set up an online brokerage account, the brokerage company will “test” your bank account by making a small deposit. So he wrote a script that opened thousands of accounts linked to a few bank accounts. He was able to collect about $50,000 before getting caught. Although illegal, this was absolutely ingenious. I’m a bit jealous I didn’t think of it first.
Link: http://blog.wired.com/…
(via digg)
If you’re looking forward to your economic stimulus payout, The Consumerist has details on when your deposit/check should arrive.
Link: http://consumerist.com/…
