Consumerist
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menu labeling
Does Posting Calorie Counts On Menus Sway Consumers?
Starting last year, fast food restaurants in New York City were required to list the total calories of every item on the menu. The idea was to provide greater transparency for consumers so that they can make smarter choices. Has it worked? Professors at New York University and Yale have completed a study that shows that the labeling makes consumers think they're being healthier, but in fact they're ordering more total calories than before the law went into effect. More » -
retirement
Social Security And Medicare Will Be Insolvent Even Sooner Than Predicted
If you plan on retiring after 2037, you'd better get really serious about saving now. It might not hurt to also take a vow of poverty; that way you'll feel like it's your decision to live off of cardboard and dumpster fruit in your sixties. More » -
recession
Impoverished High School Seniors No Longer Able To Finance Gaudy Proms
The recession continues to rot America's cultural core, this time by attacking one of our most cherished traditions: prom. Gone are the ice sculptures and $1,000 dresses. America's children are now buying dresses off racks and trading limos for the family car. Imagine! More » -
education
How To Raise A Smarter Kid
It turns out kids in wealthier homes have higher IQs, not because of genetics but because of environment. Surely you can be frugal (or just plain poor) and raise a smart one? A psychology professor suggests you focus on praising effort over achievement, and teach delayed gratification—something that also helps when it comes to financial responsibility, so it's a win/win skill. You should also explain that IQ is expandable, not inherent: "Students exposed to that idea work harder and get better grades."
"How to Raise Our I.Q." [New York Times]
(Photo: Flyinace2000) -
video
Stephen Colbert Supports Payday Lending, So You Probably Should Too
Chicago Democrat Luis Gutierrez introduced a bill last month that supposedly reforms out of control payday lending, where interest rates can exceed 300%, but actually gives payday lenders the freedom to charge annual interest rates that can exceed, um, 300%. It doesn't sound like much of a reform, and in fact Gutierrez has been heavily funded by the payday lending lobby. But luckily for you and me, Stephen Colbert explains why this is all a good thing. More » -
charity
Salvation Army: Some People Who Used To Be Donors Are Now "Clients"
If the Salvation Army is a charity that you usually support, they could really use your help this year. Donations are down and, according to a press release issued Tuesday, former donors are now "clients." More » -
suggestions
New Ideas For Kids' Books About The Lean Times Ahead
Last week, Slate published a list of children's books about poverty, unemployment, shoe-eating, dust bowls, depressions, and recessions. From a late-19th century series called The Five Little Peppers through to 2007's How To Steal a Dog, the list captures over 100 years of poverty-level slice of life—what we might call the Plight of the Raggedy Children.
"If publishing history repeats itself," Slate writes, "the financial crisis of 2008 will probably produce a new crop of poverty lit for kids." We agree, and below we offer some ideas for you opportunistic writers out there. More »
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lotteries
Study: The Poorer You Feel, The More Lottery Tickets You Buy
Very Short List notes that "America’s lotto kiosks are currently reporting heretofore unheard-of earnings," despite the average rate of return—53%—being less than slot machines. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon recently completed a study in which they primed people to feel relatively poor, then offered them a chance to buy lottery tickets, and the results suggest that the poorer you feel, the more likely you'll waste your money on a lottery. More » -
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poverty
Kelly's Will Rent-To-Own You This Wii For $948
Here's a perfect example of what a ripoff rent-to-own or "lease-purchase" (to use the Kelly's phrase) arrangements are to the consumer. This $250 Wii console can be yours for only $79 a month, and after 12 months, it's yours to keep. By that time, you will have paid $948 for it. By comparison, if you charged it to a credit card with 18% interest, you could pay $23 a month and have it paid off after 12 months. Kelly's offer will cost you $673 more than paying with the credit card. More » -
usury
Study Says Payday Lenders More Prevalent In Areas Of High Christian Conservative Power
A law professor and associate professor of geography set out to create the most comprehensive map of U.S. payday lenders to date. What they found, to their surprise, was "a surprising relationship between populations of Christian conservatives and the proliferation of payday lenders." And it's not a side effect of a poor population that happens to be Christian, according to the authors: "Our research showed that the correlation between payday lenders and the political power of conservative Christians was stronger than the correlation between payday lenders and the proportion of a population living below the poverty line." More » -
heating
Gas Company Abandons Plan To Report Delinquent Customers To Credit Agencies
Last fall, CenterPoint Energy—Minnesota's largest natural gas supplier—announced it was considering reporting the payment histories of its customers to credit reporting agencies in an effort to reduce delinquencies. Advocates said this was a stupid idea, because the people who can't pay their gas bills are too poor to pay their gas bills, and derogatory credit only makes life worse for them. Now they've said they won't (at least for now). Good. More » -
debt
Burger King Lets You Charge Your Whopper
We know that technically it's a great thing that you have multiple options to pay for your food at Burger King, but this is just a little too sign-of-the-times, and it makes us sad. Somewhere out there is a guy who's still paying off the Whopper he ate in June. More » -
The One Laptop Per Child's "Give One Get One" 2-week sale starts today. $400 buys you a cutting edge (if oddly cheap-looking) laptop and pays for another one to be given to a poor kid elsewhere in the world. [OLPC]
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The forthcoming XO laptop's price has officially hit $200 now—double the initial $100 target. [Reuters]
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energy
Heating Costs Will Break New Records This Winter
If you're poor, maybe you just shouldn't have a winter this year. Government energy officials have announced that prices this winter for heating oil, electricity, propane and natural gas will all be at record highs: 28% more for heating oil, 30% more for propane, 7% for electricity, and 5% for natural gas. More » -
studies
US Poor Punished For Saving Money
As if the American poor don't suffer enough, now it turns out trying to get a leg up may only backfire. Yesterday, the National Center For Policy Analysis warned of catastrophic financial problems for poor people who save money. The Los Angeles Times story on the study explained that "each $1 saved by a single mother earning $15,000 a year would cost her $2.60 in higher taxes and lost government benefits." More » -
starbucks
Starbucks Thinks You're Homeless, Tosses You And Your Coffee Out On The Street
A woman was tossed out of a Glen Ellyn, IL Starbucks after being mistaken for homeless. From the Daily Herald: More » -
payday
Do PayDay Loan Centers Target Minorities?
Do payday loan centers target minorities? If there's any doubt in your mind, consider an instructional course offered by the Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA,) a payday loan trade group. The couse is titled, "Building Community Support: Strategies for Business Survival." More »
poverty
New York, 12:34 PM
Wed Nov 11
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