| Stimulus package comes with wrong advice
Consumers for years have done more than their share of propping up the economy. And what do we have to show for it? Steep credit card debt. Little or no savings for retirement or college. Rising bankruptcies. More late payments on car and home equity loans.
Yet now, with the economy in danger, politicians are calling on consumers to spend even more. They're even giving us the cash to do it.
Instead of spending the $300 to $1,200 tax rebates we'll be getting, use it to improve your finances. Pay off high-rate credit card debt. Invest in a 529 college savings plan. Start an emergency fund. Salt away money for retirement. Do something that will leave you in better financial shape - not just for a week or month, but longer term.
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The Broadcasters’ Big Payday
Hillary Clinton's surprise victory in New Hampshire guarantees a longer, more competitive Democratic primary season. It's like money in the bank for broadcasters, as the first billion-dollar presidential campaign continues. While the world's oldest democracy, the United States, spends trillions of dollars claiming to bring democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq (through the barrel of a gun), what have we got here? A process driven by major donors shoveling huge sums of cash into the troughs of television broadcasters, who are holding the electoral process hostage through their control of the public airwaves. The same broadcasters arbitrarily exclude viable candidates from their so-called debates, elevating themselves to kingmaker. According to TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG, a group that tracks political advertising, overall spending by the presidential candidates in Iowa topped $50 million.
Face of Mexican wealth in S.A.
San Antonio can expect a steady stream of affluent Mexican investors over the next decade, and a substantial number of them likely will invest in local business, a study released Friday concluded. While the majority tends to keep money in banks and stocks, 46 percent of well-heeled Mexican natives who have moved to the Alamo City invested in local businesses. Another 35 percent invested in their own local business, said Luis Escobar, president of EG&A Direct International Inc., a local market research firm that also consults Mexicans on U.S. investments. The study was confined to 1,291 Mexicans who have established residency here and have annual earnings of more than $100,000. Escobar conducted the survey to put a face on what he described as the top Mexican investors, those with high incomes, investment portfolios of at least $50,000, homes in San Antonio and all above the age of 30.
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