The senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, is right. The Chinese government has pegged its currency, Yuan, artificially low against the US Dollar and that gives the country an unfair trading advantage. Branding China as a currency manipulator, isn't far from the truth at all. The cheap Yuan gives China the power of pricing where — Continue reading »
Oracle and Sun
📆 December 18, 2009
Oracle reported stellar earnings tonight that promises to send the stock up to a 9-year high tomorrow, at least judging by the after-hours activity. The company's latest acquisition of Sun Microsystems, announced back in August, is still pending EU regulatory approval, but the latest signs appear to indicate that it will clear that hurdle soon — Continue reading »
Credit Card Interest Rate Games
📆 November 23, 2009
Citibank MasterCard - for me it started years ago like many others. The 0% offer in the mail and the 1% cashback, and I was in the game. Fast-forward a few years and the cashback is still there but I just received a notice that the interest rate on the card will soon be 23.99%. — Continue reading »
Madoff's Programmers
📆 November 13, 2009
Bad reputation. Lawyers have it, used-car salesmen have it, priests and clerics have it. And now computer programmers? That's what I thought when I read about the two programmers working for Bernard Madoff's Ponzi investment firm being arrested and charged with fraud. It seems that their skills were put to good use by fabricating reports — Continue reading »
Madoff's Programmers
Bad reputation. Lawyers have it, used-car salesmen have it, priests and clerics have it. And now computer programmers? That's what I thought when I read about the two programmers working for Bernard Madoff's Ponzi investment firm being arrested and charged with fraud. It seems that their skills were put to good use by fabricating reports — Continue reading »
Stock Market – Back to Greed?
📆 August 10, 2009
For those of us who held on to our 401(k) investments and stuck to our contributions even as the market was plummeting, the rewards are nearly at hand. Looking at my 401(k) balance I was pleased to see a bit of life back in it. The stock market is still off its highs (for NASDAQ — Continue reading »
Cell Phone Tax
📆 June 15, 2009
Saw this article the other day that makes one wonder how desperate the government must be. Seems like if you have a company-issued cell phone and you use it for anything personal, the value of that use should be reported as income to be taxed. So guess if I'm in the office and scribble a — Continue reading »
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