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Chestnuts, Jack Frost and Wall Street’s Spring Bonuses
As we ring out what has been a pretty lousy year for most of us, Wall Streeters are all aglow -- thoughts turning to sugar-plum fairies dancing in their brains, bearing bundles of spring...
Playstation Invasion: Child Identity Theft is No Game
By now almost everyone I know (and millions of people I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet) has read or heard about Sony’s announcement last week that its PlayStation network was hacked and...
Debt Collector: I’m From the Government – As Far As You Know
In a monumental act of hubris and deceit, an Erie, PA debt collection firm had employees pose as sheriff’s deputies and staged phony courtroom sessions where they bilked delinquent consumers out of their money.
We’ve...
The Next Osama Bin Laden Already Has Your Social Security Number
A massive cyber attack on American infrastructure is the 21st-century equivalent of the neutron bomb. All buildings remain standing but systems inside them are rendered useless. Human beings aren't killed on a large scale,...
What the Death Penalty and Foreclosure Have in Common (You Will Be Surprised)
There is so much news---mostly ugly news from the consumer point of view---about the foreclosure crisis, but it seems one of the most important initiatives taken against the banks that caused the crisis has...
Tea Time for the Occupation
Historically, America's greatness as a country could be measured by the social mobility of its citizens. If you worked hard enough at a well-defined goal, you could get where you're going, no matter who...
I’m a One Percenter Who’s Pre-Occupied with Wall Street
I confess I'm a one percenter.
I guess I'm one of the folks that the people down on Wall Street are pointing their fingers at. I don't blame them, I'm upset too.
That said, none of...
If You’re Worried About Medical Privacy, Better Take Some Xanax
It was announced recently that nearly 5,000,000 patient records of military personnel were stolen. There was no elaborate hacking, and no technical skill was required on the part of the thieves -- some tapes...
Bank of America, Adam Smith and a Fee Market System
This week, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill) made a remarkably pithy statement on the floor of the Senate that Bank of America patrons should "vote with your feet, get the heck out of that bank."
By...
Memo to Obama: Push for Jobs, Don’t Shove Employers
The American Jobs Act provides yet another example of President Obama potentially snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. It proposes a punitive response to a problem that now plagues the country -- employers...