It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe…
Blogs I’ve Been Following This Week
I know what you’re thinking… Yep, I even work on Christmas Day. No, I’m not Jewish.
Happy holidays and welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance. Here’s what caught my attention over the past week…
Moolanomy… Now that your presents have been opened, I’m sure some of you are wondering what you’re gonna do with the lamer gifts you got from some of your clueless family members. One option is to throw them away but, as a financial blogger (that’s right – you don’t need a license to do this, folks), I would advise you to regift all your white elephants. By saving room in our landfills, regifting is environmentally friendly. Best of all, it is financially savvy. Why spend $3.95 on a gift at Target (not including the gas to get you there) when you can simply rewrap something you already have. For a complete how-to guide on regifting, check out A.B.’s article.
My Life ROI… This week I had some very interesting dialog with MLR via Twitter regarding our respective thoughts on socialism and, more specifically, what is the definition of a socialist. That is easier said than done when you’re trying to do it via direct message and stay within Twitter’s 140 character limit. When he wasn’t busy engaging me on Twitter, MLR put together an interesting piece on last minute shopping tips. Although the Christmas shopping season is now mercifully over, the article is still very worthy of a look. For example, MLR highlights something you can use called Price Trace to check the price history of products – that’s a great tool to potentially keep you from buying too high at any time of year.
Money Saving Blog… Kathryn reports that Christmas shoppers in the UK spent 5-billion British pounds this weekend. That’s welcome news for their struggling economy. Coincidentally, here in the US, after a week of Christmas holiday parties and family gatherings, Americans gained 5-billion pounds.
Mighty Bargain Hunter… Those of you complaining because you aren’t getting a cost of living allowance (COLA) this year need to check out MB’s article on why you shouldn’t lose any sleep over it. I’ll argue that, while there are worse scenarios we could be in right now – like hyperinflation – zero inflation is not ideal either because a growing healthy economy expects a modest degree of inflation in the neighborhood of 3 percent or so. Zero inflation definitely has its benefits but, for the sake of our economy, we need to see prices gently ticking upward over time.
Consumerism Commentary… A week or so ago I got this email from “Flexo,” and I have to tell you, it made my heart skip a beat. You see, I had an old girlfriend in college affectionately named “Flexo.” Good times. No, great times. (Sigh) Ah, the things she could… Sorry, I digress. As you can imagine, my heart sank when I found out it was the other Flexo from Consumerism Commentary. Dang. Anyway, Flexo (not my ex) had a post this week that caught my attention where he asked if we are better off now than we were in December 1999. The end of the year is always a great time for reflection. Check out Flexo’s post and read his and some of his readers thoughts on how they did over the past decade.
Spend on Life… Talk about a fun idea for a post: Ashley compiled excerpts from a whole bunch of blogger’s very first posts, including yours truly. It is interesting to see what was going through everybody’s minds on their first day at work.
The Smarter Wallet… Meanwhile, I found this cool article from guest poster David who went on an African safari tour and shares with us how he did it on a budget.
Joe Taxpayer… On Wednesday, Joe wrote about a trip he has planned to NYC. Joe was saying how he likes to give money to the homeless because, like most people, it makes him feel good. Hey, I completely understand and I think the intentions behind the gesture are noble indeed. But I never give money to beggars. Ever. As I told Joe, “there is no need for anybody capable of standing on some street corner on their own two feet to beg for money with a cup in their hand – my God, this is the United States of America, the greatest country on earth! The land of opportunity. Have a little self-respect. Despite the tough economy, there are entry level jobs everywhere. This ain’t Bangladesh.” If you think that makes me a heartless SOB, so be it. But whenever this topic comes up I always offer the same suggestion, instead of handing money to beggars we’d all be much better off if we gave it to a local homeless shelter instead.
Frugal Dad… In this guest post, Jackie wants to know what I’ve done right lately. Why did Jackie have to ask such a difficult question? It kind of makes me wonder if Jackie has been talking to the Honeybee; she asks me that very same question almost every day. My standard answer: I married you, didn’t I? Of course, she always comes back with, “I said lately.”
Credits and Debits
Debit: Despite overwhelming opposition by the American public to Obamacare, the Senate passed its version of the legislation early Thursday morning on a strict party-line vote of 60-39. The Senate bill will now enter the reconciliation process with the more liberal House version. Absolutely amazing.
Debit: Meanwhile, earlier this week on the Senate floor, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) excoriated Senate Republicans responsible for holding up the pending health care bill and accused their supporters of being “birthers” and fanatics in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups. I can only assume his comments extend to Americans like myself who are staunchly opposed to socialized medicine and any type of radical overhaul of the best health care system in the world.
Credit: The mid-term elections in 2010 are less than a year away. Let’s hope the Democrats will be severely punished for this grievous political miscalculation.
Credit: If history is any guide, they just might. According to Michael Barone, the last time such a polarizing and seemingly unpopular bill was approved on strictly partisan lines against the wishes of the American people was 1854 with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. According to Barone, “the results of the next election were pretty convincing. The Republican Party was suddenly created to oppose the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the 1854-55 elections transformed the Democrats’ 159-71 majority to a 108-83 Republican margin. Democrats didn’t win a majority of House seats for the next 20 years.”
Debit: Meanwhile, police were recently dispatched to a house after receiving two 911 calls from the same residence. One was a hang-up, but the other was more chilling – screams were heard in the background. Upon arriving at the house, officers interviewed a woman who told police that she called because “her husband did not want to eat his supper.” If the meal stunk, lady, why should your hubby have to eat it? Next time instead of dialing 911, call somebody with a mindset similar to yours – Senator Whitehouse, perhaps?
By the Numbers
66 According to the most recent Rasmussen poll on the subject, the percentage of Americans who say free market competition between insurance companies will do more than government regulation to reduce health care costs.
60 According to the latest Rasmussen poll results of December 21st, the percentage of senior citizens opposed to Obamacare.
58 From the same poll, the percentage of Americans who believe Obamacare will drive prices higher…
57 …the percentage of Americans who say passing nothing is preferable to passing Obamacare…
45 …the percentage of Americans that strongly oppose Obamacare…
19 …the percentage of Americans that strongly approve of Obamacare.
3 The number of GOP challengers Senate Majority leader Harry Reid currently trails in the latest Rasmussen tracking polls.
312 Days to the 2010 mid-term elections.
Letters, I Get Letters (But not this week…)
No letters this week – everybody must have been out Christmas shopping. (Yeah, that’s it.) If you have a question you’d like to ask, or a comment you’d like to make regarding some of my irritating opinions, please feel free to drop me an e-mail at: Len@LenPenzo.com
I’ll feature the most interesting question or comment I get each week here on Black Coffee – assuming I get one, that is. If you’re lucky enough to be the only question in the mail bag I’ll highlight your letter, whether it’s interesting or not. 
Other Useless News
Just for fun, next week I will be highlighting “The Best of Black Coffee” – a look back at some of my favorite Black Coffee blogger recommendations, excerpts, letters and wise-cracks from 2009. It should be a lot of fun!
My Top 5 referring personal finance blogs so far during December…
1. Wisebread
2. Ask Mr. Credit Card
3. The Consumerist
4. Monevator
5. Joe Taxpayer
I really appreciate the links, folks! 
As a reminder, if you happen to enjoy what you’re reading – or not – please feel free to follow me on Twitter. And don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed too!
The Way-Back Machine: Past Posts You May Have Missed
From April 2009:
Personal Finance for Dummies: It’s As Easy As A-B-C – This is currently one of my top 20 posts. For those of you who want a quick and easy read on the basics of good personal finance, I’ve put together a series of quotes and general wisdom – including at least one of my own – regarding money and personal finance that are the official Len Penzo dot Com version of Cliffs Notes. In fact, I call this my A-B-Cs of good personal finance.
Carnival News
This week I had articles featured at the following carnivals:
- The Carnival of Personal Finance at Mighty Bargain Hunter
- The Carnival of Dads Who Prefer Spiked Egg Nog at Junior Got A New Guitar for Christmas!
- The Festival of Rebellious Children at Awkward Family Photos
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Thank you for the link! Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you too, MB!
Thanks for the link, I enjoyed the discussion! Pricetrace is awesome.
BTW — I think the poll you are referring to is due to the majority of people being against the public option in the health care reform. Since that poll, the public option has been dropped (to the best of my knowledge).
Enjoyed the discussion too, MLR!
Re: poll… all of the numbers were from Dec 21, which is long after the public option was dropped. The Senior Citizen question though was from back in October, which I believe was before the public option was dropped, MLR.
Ok, so what *is* your definition of a Socialist?
.-= Susan Tiner´s last blog ..Financial Organizing Soap Opera Episode #7: Name that Soap Opera! =-.
That depends on whether you are using a capital “S” or small “s.” To me, both are comfortable with redistribution of wealth – the difference is the “Big S” Socialists are willing to bypass democracy to get there while the “little s” socialists believe in achieving those ideals through the democratic process.