The New American Pie: Breached, Tracked and Strip Searched

For those of us who care about privacy, these past seven days have truly sucked. With relatively little fanfare in the midst of a cacophonous (that means "noisy," Senator Santorum) parade of news, three significant...

Hey, Get Out of My Face(book)

Over the past few months there’s been a growing hue and cry over reports that some employers ask job applicants for their Facebook login and password information as part of the vetting process. They...
Student loan

The Next Bubble: Is It Time for the Feds to Cap College Tuition?

At $1 trillion dollars, student loan debt has eclipsed credit card debt for the first time in American history. To make matters worse, come July 1 the interest rate on federally subsidized Stafford student...

Sluts, Snobs, Seamus and the Almighty Dollar

I've always been a political junkie. Since my earliest days as an observer and later as a participant in all things electoral, the golden rule has not changed: love thy neighbor's wallet as though...

Flipping the Bird: Is the Fed on Twitter a Horrible Idea?

Even the farsighted Founding Fathers could not have foreseen this -- the Fed is now on Twitter! Just think of the possibilities -- one fine Friday any Fed functionary could foment a world crisis...

National Consumer Protection Week: It’s Up to You (Sorry!)

Once again National Consumer Protection Week falls smack in the middle of Lent. Is this yet another coincidence, or rather a celestial reminder of the benefits of occasional restraint? This year, in particular, no one...

Best Way to Win the Gas Game: Don’t Play

Earlier this week, the New York Post shouted the headline "US Credit Card Debt Nearing Toxic Levels." The article was referring to the latest report from the Fed that in December, total consumer debt,...

Identity Theft: Are We Doomed?

Opening my e-mail reminds me of walking through the bazaar of a third world open air market -- the pickpockets are everywhere. In the last 30 days I have received spam purporting to be...

Mortgages, Greece & Obama’s Budget: The Global Financial Literacy Crisis

Seven days, three seemingly disconnected announcements, and one subtle theme: what we have here is a failure to communicate... or more to the point, a failure to educate. America and much of the world...

Eastwood Meets West Wing: No Permanent Foreclosure Crisis?

I am a New Yorker. I am a Giants fan. They made my day last Sunday. Sorry, Gisele. Like over 100 million of you, I saw the Chrysler commercial and, for the record, Clint Eastwood...