Yesterday was a big day for the US’s credit rating, and not in a good way. Credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s downgraded the US from AAA, the highest rating, to AA+, the 2nd highest rating. I wondered, what countries are still rated AAA, and what does their debt profile
Continue readingCategory: Economy
Sears Recommendations
Sears and I have not gotten along recently. It took 3 separate deliveries and 1 repair visit to get the washer and dryer working properly. The Kenmore grill had to be returned because it was faulty. When I got my patio furniture home, it was damaged and had to be
Continue readingBrilliant Lowe’s Email
At 9pm tonight, received an email from Lowe’s: Send an e-Gift Card to your dad for Father’s Day and have it arrive within 12 hours. Brilliant marketing! Didn’t work on me though. My dad is getting a card and a call.
Continue readingWhat’s the most expensive city to live in Washington?
Following up on my last post using Mint.com data, I decided to look into living expenses by city. Mint breaks down living expenses for 12 cities in Washington. My guess was that Bellevue would be the most expensive to live in, and Spokane would be the cheapest. Monthly expenses by
Continue readingWhich Bellevue Restaurant is the most popular?
I recently came across a site created by Mint.com that anonymizes and aggregates users spending behavior. Data.Mint.com allows the public to access its data on consumer spending habits in a searchable and sortable format. I wondered, what sort of insights can one glean from this data? I have a list
Continue readingEconomic indicator: Cargo ship containers and frequency
Last April I posted how ships coming into the Puget Sound appeared much fuller than last year. In November, I re-visited Marrowstone Island and was able to observe the frequency and cargo of container ships. Things are stabilizing… November 2010 cargo ship: Similar boat, April 2010: You can count the
Continue readingGreat Marketing: Turbo Tax delivers a great direct mail piece
I got a CD in the mail from Turbo Tax this week. It looks like free software, but it’s not. It’s the same software you can get in stores or access online. You must pay for it. It really is great marketing. I thought it was free software, but it’s $60
Continue readingWhere your tax dollars go
Here’s a great breakdown of where your tax dollars are spent. Not surprisingly, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid top the list. Over 5% of your taxes are for interest payments on the national debt. Military expenditures make another big bucket of spend, higher than social security when each bucket is
Continue reading“Buying Locally” from big businesses makes sense too
I’m a big fan of buying locally. For items like food at a farmer’s market, there are huge benefits to the buyer, seller, and community: Buyer: Healthier food that has not been siting in a warehouse or trailer bed for days or weeks Seller: Lower costs of shipping and disintermediation
Continue readingThoughts about hiring a coach
In the world of work, there’s usually a defined process for hiring someone: Create a job description, including both the responsibilities of the role and the desired skillset of the person to be hired Review hundreds of resumes Interview the top X candidates Invite a select few back for further
Continue reading