I watched the episode of The Daily Show interview of Jim Cramer again. I think John Stewart does a good job. He’s surprisingly harsh with Cramer. No matter what Stewart does, he still comes off sounding like a nice guy. Stewart correctly points out that although Cramer has become something of a whipping boy in this whole mess, it’s not his fault. I couldn’t help but be struck by how damning that Cramer video was, though. He admitted, on camera, to purposefully trying to manipulate stock prices in order to profit. He bragged that the SEC couldn’t stop him because they didn’t understand what he was doing. Ethically, I think Cramer is a train wreck. I stand by the article I wrote earlier this week encouraging you to ignore his advice. I think the data is pretty convincing. On a personal note, this Sunday is my wedding anniversary (I still have to get my wife a gift!). Hopefully we’ll have nice weather. Anyway, without further ado, here are some of the things that caught my eye over the course of this past week:
Steps Toward a More Sustainable Life of Less @ Zen Habits – We throw around the term sustainability a lot on this site. It’s relevant to so many things we believe in. Live a lifestyle that’s sustainable – one that’s green enough to sustain life on this planet, frugal enough that you have money left over at the end of the day, and happy enough that you want to keep living it. This is a great article at one of my favorite sites.
Guide to the Green Projects in Obama’s Stimulus Bill @ Tree Hugger – This isn’t new this week, but I read it this week, so I’m including it. Check it out. For the people passionate about green energy, no one’s ever doing enough. I would simply say that green projects appear to mean something to Obama. That’s a positive thing. Also check out this guide to all the green tax credits.
Beware Stimulus Check Scams @ Bargaineering – A friend of mine has emailed me several times asking me about all the bogus ads floating around the internet about large stimulus checks. I haven’t really known what to say, except that I was confident that they weren’t legit and not to click on them or share any information. Jim has the low down. For a more detailed account, check out this article at CNN Money.
Buffett Downgrade Is Another Blunder @ The Motley Fool – Berkshire Hathaway and GE both lost their AAA credit ratings, leaving just 4 non-financial companies in the highest rated class. The Fool thinks this is a mistake. I couldn’t say whether it is or not. The derivatives Buffett owns reportedly expose the company with a potential maximum lost of over $30 billion. Buffett doesn’t seem to be worried about it (read his letter). My bet is that he understands his investments better than the rating agencies do. One thing that seems incredibly unfair, and Buffett mentions this in his letter, is the fact that Berkshire’s cost of borrowing is much higher than, say AIG’s, Bank of America’s or CitiGroup’s – companies with much, much worse balance sheets.
Lending Club $25 Sign Up Bonus @ The Sun’s Financial Diary – I’ve been sort of jonesing to enter the peer to peer lending foray as a lender for a while now. I might use the $25 bonus as a catalyst to get me started. Of course, I realize I might not be in the best position to assess risk or create a diversified portfolio of loans, but I’d like to dabble a little on a small scale, anyway.
Well, there you go. There are a few of the articles that caught my eye this past week. Hopefully you found something of interest in that mess. Thanks for reading.
Related posts:
- This Week in Review It’s been another crazy week. I got an extension...
- This Week in Review, 4/3-4/9 I’ve been completely slammed this week. I have an...
- This Week in Review 4/26-5/1 This is my 100th blog post. I feel a...
- This Week in Review, Getting Well Edition My wife has been sick ever since we got...
- This Week in Review – Another Graduation Edition Last week, my wife graduated from medical school. This...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
