WhyTheHeck

Next to “plastics” the most famous line in The Graduate might have been where Benjamin announced to his father that he was going to marry Elaine Robinson.  Mr. Braddock firsts proposes congratulating the Robinsons (who Benjamin says haven’t been told), then Elaine (ditto) and finally asks:  “When are you going to pop the question?”   Benjamin [...]

ThinkOOB proposes one instance in which a government subsidy, followed by a more-than-one-to-one payback to the government, makes a lot of sense.    A bank account is more than just a convenience.  It’s one of those things, like your voice, which you only learn to appreciate when you lose it.   Take direct deposit.  You don’t think [...]

This Posting sumamrizes the Best of the Ideas from the only website paying $1-million for Yours

Imagine a way to stimulate the economy and put more money into the hands of both the working poor and small businesses, while reducing both the foreclosure rate and the federal deficit, all without raising taxes.
Economic alchemy, you say?   Read on.
Chances are, if you in the demographic which reads these essays, you have never applied for, [...]

The author is my sister-in-law (I am widowed; she is talking about her late sister, my wife). She proposes that the Yankees sell Lou Gehrig’s #4 jerseys with proceeds going to ALS. When I saw that idea, I thought, the team must already be doing that, but no. They sell those jerseys the same way they sell their others. I recommend reading this posting to learn much more than you knew about Gehrig and his ALS, and then bombarding the Yankees with requests that they do exactly that. I can’t imagine they’ve made a conscious decision not to do this. I just think no one has suggested it to them.

In this economy, the people who suffer the most are the ones who can least afford it, due to the steep decline in philanthropic human services contributions. There are two types of philanthropic human services contributions:
(1) Maintenance programs – shelters, food banks, etc. These programs are the “social safety net,” for which government [...]

The biggest ripoff in consumer lending is the refund anticipation check. Tax preparers offer their clients +/- 90% of the value of the anticiated refund, on the spot, a very high implied APR. This posting shows how the government can replace this with loans at much better terms, get the money into people’s hands faster and — in conjunciton with the Stimulus Gift Card — even ofer MORE than the value of the refund in an immediate gift card. Economic stimulation AND profits for the government AND a windfall for consumers.