Boost My Pay Check

Still feeling a little depressed about the economy?  Well, read this article and you may feel a little better.  I’m serious.  This article had me feeling so good, I want to dance!  Almost every paragraph began with statistics from different companies that were on the rise.  Don’t believe me?  Look at these quotes:

-At 9:55 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) was up 60 points, 0.6%, at 10,558. The S&P 500 ($INX) was up 6.5 points at 1,112, the Nasdaq ($COMPX) was higher by 6.6 points.

-The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell by 11,000 to 457,000 during the week ended July 24 from a revised 468,000 in the previous week. Economists had expected the number of new claims to remain unchanged, according to Briefing.com.

-Exxon, the largest publicly traded oil company, said second-quarter earnings almost doubled to $7.56 billion, or $1.60 a share.

-Rival Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) said second-quarter net income increased 15% to $4.39 billion.

-Southwest Airlines (LUV) said its second-quarter profit soared to $216 million, or 29 cents, excluding costs related to fuel hedging.

-Sony, the maker of PlayStation 3, swung to a profit in its fiscal first quarter and raised its earnings outlook for the year.

-Motorola surpassed second-quarter expectations with a profit of $162 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with $26 million, or a penny a share, a year ago.

-Siemens (SI), the German industrial conglomerate, said its fiscal-third-quarter net income rose 12% to 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion).

And I could have added more!  This is good news especially if you’re thinking about getting a loan.  If you need money quickly and you’re not sure what to do, then consider an auto title loan.  This is a really good site.  They even have this cute woman who visually guides you through the process.  Out in California?  Then check out this California title loan site.  They are great as well…

-DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: I have a direct relationship with a brand, topic, or product that is mentioned herein and may have received compensation, either directly or indirectly, for the opinions expressed.

Well, if you hadn’t (and let’s face it, most of us hadn’t heard of her before) and you have paid attention to the news, then by now you should have undoubtedly heard of her.  Evidentally, the growing Tea Party, released the following video:

Then there was this whole hubub and Mrs. Sherrod was forced to resign.  Well, here is the whole video and clearly the above was taken out of context:

And the woman whose farm was saved and whom Sherrod referenced in the speech came to her defense as well explaining that they were friends and that she saved her farm.  Here’s what happened since the release of the video:  1.  She was basically forced to resign and supposedly the White House had a lot to do with it.  2.  The NAACP criticized her and then rescinded the criticism and apologized 3. The White house has apologized 4.  The Goergia department of Agriculture is now reconsidering her resignation and 5. She does not know if she’d accept the job again.  And that I can understand.  What do we learn from all of this?  That politics, the media, and bullshit, are often times one in the same thing…

Many of you are familiar with the new credit card laws.  As we are lead to understand it, laws were enacted to

Credit cards can be explosive. You might want to consider a car title loan instead...

 primarily protect consumers against abusive practices.  But credit card companies have good lawyers and people working for them who target ways to get around laws.  And there are loopsholes to the newly enacted laws.  Getting a credit card or using your old credit card can come at a major cost.  The big thing is that companies are raising interest rates and lowering credit limits (doesn’t sound any different than the issues we had with the companies in the first place does it?).  Here is some more info from an article addressing the changes:

“If you make all your monthly payments on time, that 15.99% rate on your existing balance is safe.  But for that giant flat-screen TV you’re thinking about buying, watch out: The rate on future balances can skyrocket — hello 29.99% — as long as your credit card company warns you 45 days ahead of time, and you’ve had the card for more than a year.  That’s for fixed-rate cards. With variable versions, you can face higher rates in two ways.  First, your card is likely tied to an interest-rate benchmark, say, a few points above the prime rate. If the benchmark goes up, so will your card’s rate.  Second, the card company can raise the margin above that benchmark, as long as it tells you 45 days in advance.Don’t be surprised if you’re suddenly switched from a fixed- to a variable-rate card — that’s happening more and more, and it’s legit as long as you get a heads-up.  “One of the biggest misconceptions people have about the Card Act is that issuers can’t raise interest rates anymore,” said Beverly Harzog, contributing editor at CardRating.com. “But they actually can do what they want on new balances, as long as they give 45 days notice.”"

You know, auto title loans tend to get a bad reputation.  Critics often times argue that the high interest rates make it difficult.  But it you look at credit card companies, their interest rates are rising and rising and the collectors are getting nastier and nastier.   Things can get really complicated and because of that it seems like, more and more, credit card companies can blind side you.  They have to give warnings of what they are going to do, but they can still do it!  And what’s more, they might send you a letter, but have you seen the size of those letters?  I had rates raised on my credit card recently, but I had no idea because they sent me a letter and I through it out because it looked like a marketing scam.  At least with car title loans you know what you are getting into.  You can sit and talk with an agent.  Things are broken down for you and shouldn’t be surprised…

-DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: I have a direct relationship with a brand, topic, or product that is mentioned herein and may have received compensation, either directly or indirectly, for the opinions expressed.

What was once surreal only a few days ago is now even more real to Clevelanders. This sign stood prominently in downtown Cleveland for years. It was taken down today...

By now you have probably hear about the huge news that Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh had decided to team up in Miami to play for the Miami Heat.  So much has been made of Lebron’s “The Decision” episode that appeared this past Thursday.  And most of what has been written is extremely critical of James “Decision” to go on national television and announce his plans for the whole world to see as if we were most interested in his personal happiness in moving on to the sunny skies of South Florida.  What he forgot in all of this (most likely due to his massive ego) was that there were many more people from the city of Cleveland whose lives were destroyed (and I mean literally destroyed.  Many businesses will be foreced to close because their income was based on Lebron’s presence) by this decision.  Most of us relate to the collective disappointment of the city of Cleveland more than we do with an international superstar with a talent for putting a basketball through a basket.  In his mind he was marketing his brand, when really all he did was stab a knife in the back of Clevelanders.  Would they have been upset had he left anyway?  Of course…bitterly upset, but Lebron’s choosing to rub people’s nose in it was a poor “Decision”…one that I personally hope serves the purpose of ruining his brand more than anything…