Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.
Election Polls
The National Journal had a recent article covering recent polling numbers. It seems people, at least those polled, are confused. A majority wants lower taxes, no surprise there. Who doesn’t. A majority wants more government spending for job creation too. So the government gets less tax income and should spend more. What happened to lowering the deficit?
One thing they are not confused on, they want change. That is, about 65% of those polled don’t think their representative deserves reelection. Change is good!
Campaign Funds
Seems political contributors have accepted the government mantra of throwing money at the problem. With political ads kicking into high gear, it will be interesting to see how much all that money influences voters. As on May 31, the Obama and Romney campaigns had raised about $375 million.
It hasn’t reached the heights of the ’08 election’s $1 billion, yet. But it’s early. And this doesn’t include all the Super PAC money (now at $246 million) which could change the election landscape this year.
It might be a good time to invest in a DVR that skips commercials.
Last Call
- The Libor Scandal’s Consumer Upside – If you want an easy to understand explanation of the LIBOR scandal, here you go.
- How Long Is Wrong? – A nice look at the past six years and the bigger bubble predictions analysts have made.
- Don’t Blink! The Hazards of Confidence – A great article on how confidence affects our decisions, especially clouding our investment choices. Not sure if I agree with all of it, but I might just be overconfident.
- Too Important to Fail – This ones on my weekend reading list. If you have any interest in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and it’s possibility of success, take a look.
