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I’m writing this Sunday evening when the bailout package has been finalized but not yet voted on. I’ve been stunned by the speed that this bailout has rushed through Congress, much like the Iraq war rushed through.  I stopped and imagined for a minute what would happen if we had an all-hands massive push combining the executive branch and both parties in both houses of the legislative branch to enact:

Meaningful healthcare reform
Decisive actions to achieve energy independence in ten years
A comprehensive and complete revision of the tax code, eliminating loopholes for lobbyist-inspired deductions and adding good ones, like tax [...]

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I watched the debate with great interest on Friday. I also dealt with some serious out-of-the-blue back pain starting Thursday evening.  The back pain was unusual since I have never suffered from back pain, so my best guess is that it’s time to start being slightly more careful when swinging Little Buddy around, now that he’s getting bigger (and stronger).  I hope that’s the reason (just a wrenched back) rather than stress contagion from my Wall Street coworkers.

photo credit: paolo màrgari

As a completely non-scientific aside, when walking down Wall Street and the nearby areas a few days [...]

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As I mentioned yesterday, my second marketplace interview with Jim of Blueprint for Financial Prosperity and Lynnae of BeingFrugal.net is now available. You can listen to it here. You can also download an MP3 of the show here. If you like the interview, it would be a great help to Digg it (just click that link) or use some other social media to promote it. I think it’s a good interview - I hope you agree!

If you’re just arriving at my blog for the first time after hearing the show, welcome! Here are a [...]

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If you remember, I taped an interview with Tess Vigeland of American Public Media’s Marketplace Money show that ran back in August. Today I was interviewed for a second time, once again along with Jim of Blueprint for Financial Prosperity and Lynnae of BeingFrugal.net.  The radio program is scheduled to run this weekend if they can get it edited in time.  This time we’re weighing in on - you guessed it - the current economic crisis.  If you missed the earlier interview, you can go here and listen to it online, or download an mp3 of the show.  [...]

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In the midst of all of this talk of financial apocalypse - which is probably a little bit overstated - I realized that the idea of saving money in times of crisis is a lot different from saving money in a time of plenty.  Cutting back on Nintendo games is a lot different than learning how to heat the house with paper scraps.

A common debate that goes on in my consultant-infested workplace is the debate over “good” investments. I have some colleagues who cling to the stock market; some who swear by real estate; some who preach the [...]

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