$20 in Quarters for $26.99

Washboard - where they will ship you $20 in quarters for only $26.99. It sounds like an SNL skit.

The Brick Bank

I'm going to start a bank - negative deposit rate guaranteed!

E-mail me and we'll work out the details. I'm willing to do up to 100% negative rate for the right depositors.

Ink

Because the promise of a paperless society* has not materialized... we need to change our default fonts to save millions. I already use 6 pt fonts to save disk space.

* And where are my jet packs and flying cars?!?!

Google's Next Acquisition

Google's Next Acquisition: Skydrop - the Nest of irrigation systems. Time for someone to create an open-source controller!

Via Uncrate

Coin

Coin:

"Q. What is a Coin? 

A. Coin is a connected device that can hold and behave like the cards you already carry. Coin works with your debit cards, credit cards, gift cards, loyalty cards and membership cards. Instead of carrying several cards you carry one Coin. Multiple accounts and information all in one place."

Leveraging the existing card form factor and transaction process (aka the swipe) is really smart. I'm surprised it will only store 8 cards at a time on the Coin.

Budgets

I always suspected, but now I know how budgets are created.

Moose Out Front

In my Twitter feed today...

erronious Sorry folks, the country is closed. Moose out front shoulda told ya.

Reference

US Government Shutdown

Funny - Day 1.

Monoprice and Amazon Basics

I've bought my share of inexpensive electronics. If I need some cables, adapters, or other miscellaneous small electronics and I am wanting to save money, but avoid some risk, I usually check two places.

Monoprice (Coupon "xmasinjuly" good for 5% off today and tomorrow.) - I've bought a ton of network patch cables from them along with other cables.

- or -

Amazon Basics - These are Amazon store brand electronics. I've had bad luck with iPhone chargers and the like from overseas. Amazon's stuff is higher quality without paying a premium.

Retail Therapy

I just bought one of these... and that's the cheapest of my three recent purchases. More on the other two later.

Oleg on Being Rich

Preach it, brother!

"Ah, to be rich! If only I had 30 hour days…"

Don't get me wrong -  if I won the lottery, I'd love to have the money. But the real benefit would be all the time it would give me.

Homes as Inventment

"So, why was it considered an investment? That was a fad. That was an idea that took hold in the early 2000's. And I don't expect it to come back. Not with the same force. So people might just decide, "Yeah, I'll diversify my portfolio. I'll live in a rental." That is a very sensible thing for many people to do." 

Adam Johnson also noted that this was in line with Shiller's assessment that real U.S. home price appreciation from 1890 to 1990 was just about 0 percent. This is explained by the falling costs of construction and labor.

Crossover 27Q

The Chinese continue to crank out the inexpensive electronics. In this case, it is not a radio, but a monitor - the Crossover 27Q. It is said to use the same LCD panel as the Apple Thunderbolt Display. Yet another opportunity to save a lot of money if you are willing to take a risk.

196

"And .000063 percent -- 196 Americans-- have given more than 80 percent of the super-PAC money spent in thepresidential elections so far."

Taxes, Transfers, and Voting

Roberta X has an extreme proposal...

"It's simple: if the Feds give you money, from a handout to a paycheck to a bailout, you can't vote."

Alan comments

"I always said you shouldn't get a vote unless you were a net tax payer."

Speaking of "net tax payers," I read this depressing bit of news that the middle class is no longer a net contributor (via Althouse):

"Because transfer payments are, in effect, the opposite of taxes, it makes sense to look not just at taxes paid, but at taxes paid minus transfers received. For 2009, the most recent year available, here are taxes less transfers as a percentage of market income (income that households earned from their work and savings):

Bottom quintile: -301 percent
Second quintile: -42 percent
Middle quintile: -5 percent
Fourth quintile: 10 percent
Highest quintile: 22 percent

Top one percent: 28 percent

The negative 301 percent means that a typical family in the bottom quintile receives about $3 in transfer payments for every dollar earned.

The most surprising fact to me was that the effective tax rate is negative for the middle quintile. According to the CBO data, this number was +14 percent in 1979 (when the data begin) and remained positive through 2007. It was negative 0.5 percent in 2008, and negative 5 percent in 2009. That is, the middle class, having long been a net contributor to the funding of government, is now a net recipient of government largess."

Maybe this means President Obama was 60% right about building things on our own. (Also via Althouse)

Take 15, Graduate in 4

Take 15, Graduate in 4:

"When I went to college, you were expected to graduate in four years.

For today’s college students, this expectation has somehow gotten off-track.

We have embarked on an all-out effort to make on-time graduation the new norm for our students. Starting in the fall of 2013, our full-time undergraduates will be charged for 15 credit hours per semester—the number they must take to graduate in four years. They now pay for only 12 credit hours, regardless of how many they take. "

"This new plan will be a money-saver for students and their families. Adding just one year of college costs an extra $24,000."

Look how much we are saving you! Ignore that tuition is going up! Sounds like spin to me. And I took 21 hours a semester on occasion, so it is safe to say that I'm okay with people taking more than 12 hours.

$75,000

DrewEdwardsUT Fantastic premise. RT @richarddeitsch: A pair of researchers ask the Q: How much money do you need to be happy? nyti.ms/PtFC7TSun, Jul 08 00:18:16 from Tweetbot for iOS

Euron a.k.a. Drunk Cows

The SCOTUS decision on Obamacare has everyone's attention, so we've forgotten for the moment what is going on in Europe.

It reminds me of Enron Cows.

Europe link via Uncle

It is a Tax

Even before the decision yesterday on Obamacare, where did people think the money was coming from? That's right... Obama's magical stash.

Chief Justice Roberts Is A Genius link via Uncle

Opportunity Costs

Year2 The iPhone debuted on 6/29/07 for $599. If you bought $599 of Apple stock on that day instead of the phone, it'd be worth $2,857.08 today.Sat, Jun 23 00:02:59 from web retweeted by MikeGriffith32