I just read about this site, and signed up for an account. This is by far the most intuitive and easily usable personal finance tool on the market. It is a free site that allows you to enter you’re budget and expenses, as well as track your spending habits and know where you’re money is going. I’ve been someone who’s budget has always resided in my head, and this helps me visualize the overall picture of my finances.
Check out the website here.
I have read both “The Tipping Point” and “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell, and thoroughly enjoyed both books. Both of the books are very well written, and cover interesting topics worth checking out. “The Tipping Point” is about how trends start and take hold, here is an excerpt from the book:
Yawning is incredibly contagious. I made some of you reading this yawn simply by writing the word “yawn”. The people who yawned when they saw you yawn, meanwhile, were infected by the sight of you yawning–which is a second kind of contagion. They might even have yawned if they only heard you yawn, because yawning is also aurally contagious: if you play an audio-tape of a yawn to blind people, they’ll yawn too. And finally, if you yawned as you read this, did the thought cross your mind–however unconsciously and fleetingly–that you might be tired? I suspect that for some of you it did, which means that yawns can also be emotionally contagious. Simply by writing the word, I can plant a feeling in your mind. Can the flu virus do that? Contagiousness, in other words, is an unexpected property of all kinds of things, and we have to remember that if we are to recognize and diagnose epidemic change.
-The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell.
Blink deals more with the psychology of split second decisions and why we make them. I don’t think I could pick a favorite between the two, they both are great in their own way!
Malcolm Gladwell also occasionally writes for “The New Yorker”, all of his writing is very readable and easy to understand.
Check out his site for more of his writing and to buy the books.
It always amazes at the level of ignorance of some people… take globalization, for example. Agreed, globalization can do incredible things for business and economic growth, create economies of scale, specialize industries, blah, blah, blah. But what amazing is what has been overlooked. Inherently, it is a system that is unequal. What people don’t realize, is that’s the ONLY way it will function effectively. It is by no means a win-win scenario. Only with subordinate countries can the majority (or minority) of people enjoy prosperity and comfort. This is due to the lopsidedness of the system. True, the system allows people to break through cultural and economic boundaries in order to prosper, but let me ask this… What happens when we all have white collar jobs? Who are the laborers? Where does that CHEAP labor force come from? I emphasize cheap because that is exactly what is necessary to maintain the system we have in place. In a world where everyone would expect the best, nothing would happen. I speak on my behalf as well. If it were not for the hard work of others, I could not be typing this. It comes down to a natural caste system that has worked itself into the fabric of society and has become the basis for how we approach work and work ethics. This caste system has become our world, and breaking free of it would consist of the postindustrial world (namely the States, Canada, and Europe) take a step BACK towards the rest of the world. There is no catching up to us. That’s how the system was designed. We are just the lucky few that were born at the top. Enjoy the view.
Milton Friedman died on Thursday November 16, 2006.
He single-handedly changed the direction of our country with his economic revolutions and his forward thinking social views. Here is an article that sums it up well. He is in my mind one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century. If you don’t know much about him or what he did, visit here for more details. Here’s a short list:
1. Revived interest in money supply as an determinate of the real GDP- This means he started using the money supply as a way to value everything produced.
2. Created a monetary history of the US.
3. Created/refined the permanent income hypothesis- This is about how consumers will spend money based on long term strategies, not money on hand (this changed the way we look at the stock market and credit).
4. Created the first tax systems in America.
5. Was a leading advocate of welfare, drug legalization, school vouchers, and eliminating the draft.
6. Was not a darsh.
This guy played a direct role in how we live our lives. Learn about him. He dreamt big and lived it.
In this life, we can't control much. But control isn't what this life is about. My life isn't about the destination- it's about the journey. With that said, this site is a reflection of the happenings of my life.
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