Black Coffee: My Favorite Blogs, Money News & Opinions #25

It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe…

Blogs I’ve Been Following This Week

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance. Here’s what caught my attention over the past week…

Once again, time limitations are forcing me to go to the lightning round for this week’s links, so put 60 seconds on the clock and here we go…

Bucksome Boomer… for teaching me all about Groupons.

Hope to Prosper… where Bret shares his story about recently winning a case against someone who defrauded him out of a lot of money.

Financial Samurai… for Sam stirring the pot and asking us whether women are unfairly paid when compared to men who work identical jobs.

Budgets are Sexy… where J. insists money CAN buy happiness! I’ll give you it can buy short-term happiness, but for longer-term bliss you need something else (check out my comment to see what that is).

Darwin’s Finance… who recently rejected a 90% pay increase with a prospective new employer.  Good for him!

The Smarter Wallet… for Millie Kay’s review of Lending Club.

Ask Mr. Credit Card… where Jason discusses potential ideas regarding perks for his dream credit card.  What would be the top perk for my dream card, you ask?  Why, one that never sent me a bill for everything I charged to it, of course! 

Poorer than You… for showing us the secret of holiday gift-giving on a (student) budget.   Obviously this article is for folks who don’t have my dream credit card.

Credits and Debits

Debit: Jobless claims for state unemployment insurance rose by 17,000 to 474,000 last week after five weeks of declines.  The uptick was caused by seasonal industries laying people off and by applications that had been held back during the Thanksgiving holiday week.  Clearly, the economy still has a long ways to go.

Debit: Then again, if you’re a government worker, the economy is doing just fine thank you very much.  According to a USA Today analysis of federal salary data, the number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession.   Although all agencies are reaping the rewards, it is the Department of Transportation where the party is really humming.  To wit, when the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more.  Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.

Debit: From the same report, Jessica Klement, government affairs director for the Federal Managers Association, was quoted as saying that the federal workforce is highly paid because the government employs skilled people, and repeated the tired canard that federal employees make 26% less than private workers for comparable jobs.  Of course, that doesn’t jibe with the facts.  USA Today noted that the growth in six-figure salaries has now pushed the average federal worker’s pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector.  Oh yes, and unlike those of us in the private sector, those underpaid government hacks also get pensions guaranteed by law to be paid in full by the United States taxpayer.

Credit: For the second straight quarter, Americans’ net worth rose last quarter - this time by 5 percent.  Obviously those numbers are thanks to the recent rise in the salaries of government workers.  However, don’t get too excited: those gains are expected to slow in the coming year, along with the broader economic recovery. Credit remains tight and consumers still aren’t spending freely.  In fact, some analysts fear the Fed’s policy of cheap lending and the weak dollar are now inflating stock market performance and encouraging too much speculation.

Credit: Ah, yes.  Winter is almost here in the northern hemisphere and that means ski season is upon us.  As most skiiers will tell you, lift tickets aren’t cheap.  Prices are so high apparently some  people will now do just about anything to get a little relief.   For example, this week a woman was charged with theft over $500 and criminal impersonation after she tried to use a ski pass belonging to a man.  When she was questioned about why she tried to use a ski pass that belonged to a man, the woman claimed to be in the middle of a sex change.  Now I know lift tickets are expensive, but are they really more than $500?

Credit: In a scene right out of A Christmas Story, in what has become an annual tradition across the country, another kid got the surprise of his life when he got his tongue hopelessly stuck to a frozen metal pole    Rescue workers in Boise responded after a woman driving by saw the 10-year-old boy and called 911.  Firemen poured warm water down the pole to free the boy, who then continued his journey to school.  I wonder if his teacher bought his story for why he was tardy.

By the Numbers

19 The percentage of government workers now earning over $100,000 per year.

17 The US unemployment rate, if part-time workers who want full time jobs and laid off workers who have given up looking for work are included.

10 The percentage increase in the number of federal government jobs since June.

6 The percentage decline in the number of private sector jobs over the same period.

0 The percentage of rational people that continue to buy the claim that government workers are underpaid when compared to their counterparts in the private sector.

Letters, I Get Letters (Well, sometimes)

No letters this week, but  if you have a question you’d like to ask, or a comment you’d like to make regarding some of my irritating opinions, please feel free to drop me an e-mail at: Len@LenPenzo.com

I’ll feature the most interesting question or comment I get each week here on Black Coffee – assuming I get one, that is.  If you’re lucky enough to be the only question in the mail bag I’ll highlight your letter, whether it’s interesting or not.

Other Useless News

Hey!  My blog is one year old today!  I’ll put together a more formal retrospective soon…  This happens to be my 201st post.  If you’re interested, check out my very inauspicious first post.

In other news, I’m very excited to be hosting the Money Hacks Carnival this Wednesday, December 16th. Click here to submit your article – it should be a lot of fun!

As always, if you happen to enjoy what you’re reading – or not – please feel free to follow me on Twitter. And don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed too!

The Way-Back Machine: Past Posts You May Have Missed

From April 2009:

A Simple Way to Break Your Habit to Overspend – This article is based upon an article I read in the March 2009 edition of Discovery magazine; it had a very intriguing discussion piece on how the human brain works.  Within that article a Princeton University professor of neuroscience gave out some practical advice to help increase personal willpower.  I thought those who have trouble controlling their spending might want to consider trying to apply his advice – you have nothing to lose, right?

Carnival News

This week I had articles featured at the following carnivals:

-  Carnival of Personal Finance at Suburban Dollar

-  Come Again? at Confusing Policies

- $10 Car Washes! at Um, No Comment