vintageanchor:

Alexander McCall Smith on the etiquette of ‘regifting.’

It is the perennial Christmas dilemma: how to deal with unwanted presents?

“For some, the idea of “re-gifting” those novelty socks and chocolate fondue sets is the height of bad manners. Others argue it is a kinder alternative to binning ghastly gifts or consigning them to the back of the cupboard for all eternity. Alexander McCall Smith, the author, has come up with some advice to guide people through the moral maze. According to the creator of the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, giving away or even selling a rubbish present is perfectly acceptable as long as one waits a month to do so. Dispensing words of wisdom to his Twitter followers, McCall Smith wrote: “Christmas brings a major moral problem: what to do with unwanted gifts. Initial reaction: one must pretend to like them…”

Read more in The Telegraph.

(Source: blackfreethinkers, via socialuprooting)

(via socialuprooting)

(Source: jaimelaweed, via misswitchdoctor)

via www.greenovationtv.com

sautter:

15. United States. External debt is over 95% of GDP.

The World’s Biggest Debtor Nations - Slideshows - CNBC.com

elledark:

Consumer Society - “Too many people spending money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” .. Will Smith

(Source: socialuprooting)

thedailywhat:

Sweet Justice of the Day: When Bank of America tried to foreclose on Collier County (FL) homeowners Warren and Maureen Nyerges, the couple went to court to prove they never had a mortgage to begin with, having paid in cash.

It took a year, but the pair won their case, and the judge ordered Bank of America to cough up the legal fees. When, after five month, the bank still hadn’t given the Nyergerses a dime, the couple went to their local branch to collect — bringing a foreclosure defense lawyer, Sheriff’s Deputies, and moving trucks along with them.

Turning the tables on Bank of America, attorney Todd Allen instructed his entourage to seize the bank’s assets. “I instructed the deputy to go in and take desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets, including cash in the drawers,” Allen told WINK News. After a standoff that lasted about an hour, the bank manager cut the couple a check, and Bank of America apologized for the delay, blaming an attorney who went out of business.

“As a foreclosure defense attorney this is sweet justice,” said Allen, “because this is a symptom of a larger problem.”

[wink / mefi / video: adg.]

Earlier: A vampire from Philadelphia who foreclosed on his bank.

azspot:

10-Year Real Wage Gains Worse Than During Depression

(via pdl2h)

jaundicedeye:

This is a re-imagined Donald Duck cartoon remix constructed using 50 classic Walt Disney animated shorts from the 1930s to 1960s. Donald’s life is turned upside-down by the current economic crisis and he finds himself unemployed and falling behind on his house payments. As his frustration turns into despair Donald discovers a seemingly sympathetic voice coming from his radio named Glenn Beck.

Will Donald’s feelings of disenfranchisement lead him to be persuaded by his radio’s increasingly paranoid and divisive rhetoric? Or will our favorite Disney duck decide that this voice is not actually on his side after all? Watch and find out! 

YouTube - Donald Duck Meets Glenn Beck in Right Wing Radio Duck

hilker:

“NEW YORK (AP) - A New York dealership group says hundreds of its members have left the Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government.

The president of the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association says about half its 425 members have stopped offering rebates from the program because they can no longer afford them.

Mark Schienberg says the group’s dealers have been repaid for only about 2 percent of the clunkers deals they’ve made, leaving many short on cash.

The program offers up to $4,500 to shoppers who trade in gas guzzlers for a more fuel-efficient vehicle. Dealers pay the rebates out of pocket then must wait to be reimbursed by the government, but administrative snags have created a bottleneck in unpaid claims.”

i’ve heard 4% as the reimbursement number for missouri.

[via digg]

Hawk in Hoc: Obama pretends to be frugal as we sink deeper in debt. - Reason Magazine

We’ve ceded incredible portions of our future income to the Government, and we’d done so with little deliberation or debate.  And weirdly, I don’t think many people have the sense that these cumulative trillions of dollars are going to change the function of Government in any appreciable way.  There seems to be an inherent understanding that much of this money will simply dissolve into the bureaucracy, funding jobs that do little, buying chairs and desks and lots of paper that will be piled on the desks, moved from desk to desk, and then eventually filed in a warehouse to make room for more paper on the desks.  I don’t think most people believe that the immense sums we’re committing will do much more than that, and yet people are largely fine with this.  They are fine with it in the same way they were fine with buying large houses with no money down.  But at least then they got a large house.

(via jeffmiller)

(via hilker)