"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.

Finger Food
A poor small town banks its future on a severed fingertip that young Elba Franklin finds in a can of beans. Before they can collect the hush money, though, opportunists from all over the country get involved, including newscasters, attorneys, bloggers, and the crotchety old man who wants his finger back no matter what it costs the town.

Rich on Paper
Micah "Crayon" Ponokie says his family is richer than god, and he can prove it by the mounds and mounds of cash they've got stashed all over the house. In this delightful picture book, Crayon and his younger brothers use the bills for everything from paper mache ninjas to flower bouquets for their unemployed mom—because it turns out paper money is worthless in Crayon's world. On the last few pages, Crayon and his brothers moan because they discover mom's making Dollar Bill Pizza again tonight.

Luv in SuvTown
Shades of S.E. Hinton color this YA novel, where Sara Elizardo and her cousins live with other homeless families in a "suvtown"—a collection of SUVs that have been abandoned because they're too expensive to drive—at the edge of a former Super Walmart parking lot somewhere in the Midwest. These modern day "stationary gypsies" have wild adventures with the law, usually involving being accused of loitering at the nearby Jack-in-the-Box, and they spend their nights sneaking through the abandoned big box store and pretending to sell each other cheap electronics and household goods. When a strange young man shows up with his unhappy, hostile parents, Sara sees a kindred spirit who might be the one to help her co-sign on a by-the-week apartment. Depressing and pathos-riddled, yes, but don't you remember those S.E. Hinton books?

Mommy's Dollhouses
Five-year-old Gertie Prentice loves going to work with her mommy. Her mommy is a cleaner—she goes into recently-foreclosed houses and makes them look good as new so they can be put back on the market, and she sneaks Gertie in with her because daycare is too expensive. Gertie goes through the forgotten toys and left-behind dishware in each house and makes up fantasies about the people who used to live there, and she wonders why the people would leave such nice houses behind. (This could be a tie-in to the YA novel above, if you're a smart publisher.)

"Mom, What's a Credit Default Swap?" [Slate]
(Images: Finger Food, Madamoiselle Green; Rich on Paper, labasta, Getty Images; Luv in SuvTown, stephentrepreneur; Mommy's Doll Houses, lumaxart, Todd Baker << technowannabe)

First up:

I believe all credit card companies print "not valid unless signed" on the back of the cards they issue. The credit agreement is with the credit card company, so why would someone think they can circumvent this requirement? Many say they are protecting themselves against fraud.

[...]

Technically, cards must be signed with the holders' names, according to both Visa Inc. and MasterCard International Inc., the two largest payment networks, and cards with "See ID" or "Ask for ID" written on the back are not a valid substitute.

Next up:

Some customers may think writing the terms on the panel on the back of the cards would deter fraud or forgery. But Visa's rules for merchants say that "In reality, criminals don't take the time to practice signatures: They use cards as quickly as possible after a theft and prior to the accounts being blocked. They are actually counting on you not to look at the back of the card and compare signatures - they may even have access to counterfeit identification with a signature in their own handwriting."

Some readers don't like showing identification, which is fine. Nothing in the cardholder agreement forces you to take out your driver's license.

"Ask for ID" appears on our card next to our signature. Few people ask for ID. The ones that do, though, almost always ask when we're making a large purchase, the kind we don't want surprising us on our credit card statement.

It doesn't relieve us from protecting our card from misuse, but those three simple words make an excellent last line of defense.

What do you think? Annoying invasion of privacy, pointless distraction, or essential safeguard? Duke it out in the comments.

'See ID' phrase on back of credit cards doesn't deter fraud [Boston Globe]
(Photo: Getty)

I bought two books on Amazon - and my total came to $24.74. So I scouted around and found a site (www.filleritem.com) that lets you choose a small priced item to bump the price over the $25 to qualify for free shipping. I chose a small wooden knob for $0.72.

So today I got email - they did a partial shipment! Guess what's coming in the first box? Yep, the knob I didn't really want - the one that's only there to get me over $25.

Why doesn't Amazon make a new item "Give money to charity" for any amount - that qualifies for free shipping - and not cost them an extra $2.28 (plus their labor and materials)? They would get good press, save money, and save me from receiving and discarding an item I had no use for - full of win all around.

[The 'which charity' question could either be a big list (complicated) or just a simple top-ten list - most everyone could find a charity they don't object to with the Salvation Army and the Red Cross and United Way and some military hospital charities in the list.]

============================================

The following items have been shipped to you by Amazon.com: —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
Qty Item Price Shipped Subtotal
—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
Amazon.com items (Sold by Amazon.com, LLC): 1 Laurey Au Natural Wood Mus... $0.72 1 $0.72

Shipped via USPS (estimated arrival date: 19-March-2008).
Tracking number: 9102xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—- Item Subtotal: $0.72
Shipping & Handling: $2.28

Best Value Savings $0.00 Super Saver Discount $-2.28

Total: $0.72

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—

You have only been charged for the items sent in this shipment. (Per our policy, you only pay for items when we ship them to you.) The following items will ship separately, as soon as they're available: —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
Qty Item Price Not Yet Shipped
—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
1 (book 1 ) $7.99 1 1
(book 2 ) $17.16 1

This shipment was sent to: (redacted)

(Photo:Robert Scoble)

Last week, a good quarter of our stories came from reader submissions. They're invaluable to us, running this site. We can't be everywhere at once; we can't extend pineal gland and beam your story directly into our own heads. We need you to tell us.

So if you've got a tip, a commendation, a complaint, mail 'em in. We're only interested in stuff that happens in America: sorry! Also, keep in mind that this site aims to go into a more Lifehackery direction, with more stories on how to play the system. So if you've got such a tip or have a question in response to which you'd like us to give some advice, hit us with them. Has any of our past advice just been plain out wrong? Tell us that too.

Last weeks reader-submitted stories, after the jump.

JetBlue Tests Pilot Fatigue Limits, With Passengers Aboard
Garden Guy Homophobia Applauded By Area Newspaper
Ask The Consumerists: Can Hyundai Drive Over My Warranty?
The Consumer Ethicist: Stop The Telemarketers!
Western Union Makes Cash-Broke Ex Play The Waiting Game
The Heifer Project: Not BS
Macy's Sweeps Stolen Carpet Under The Rug
Best Buy Canada: Still A Bunch Of Bozos
Joey The Customer Service Rep's Guide To Online Shopping
Garden Guy Refuses To Work For Gays
Get A Human Quicker By Pretending To Speak Spanish
HOWTO: Get A Live Best Buy Human On The Phone
It's A Matter Of Degree. Of Bullpoopy
DirecTV Is A Bird Turd
Ask The Consumerists: Wood Filler In Coffee?
AOL To Close 3 Retention Centers
Call Centers Go Emo
A Swell Experience With Republic of Tea
Audio: Sprint Waives Activation Fee If You Ask Nicely
No, Dell Ain't Charging For Replacement Batteries
Dell Charging Users For Recalled Exploding Laptop Batteries?
Tape On Your Wet Cellphone Won't Help You At All
Sprint Encourages Its Retail Stores To Lie
McDonald's Unleases Spyware On Japan
Consumerist T-Shirt Prototype Unveiled
Update: Tresemme Color Thrive Conditioner And The Really Bad Hair Day
At Least Sam Walton Got Bandaids
Is Your Water Meter Crazy?
Dental Insurance Is A Blue Cross To Bear
Dell Curse-Laden Answering Machine Message

What does this mean? It means a forum dedicated to telling us what industries you want us to go after and what type of stories you'd like to see next week is just the ticket! Or, heck, if you just want to compliment or kvetch, this is a swell place to do it too. Consider this your peopke's square.

So fill up the comments here with any trends you're noticing in businesses that you think we should cover or companies that seem to really enjoy rooting around in their own ass. Got a personal story you'd like to see published on this site? Mailing us is still the best way to do that.

For one, it allows the editors here at the Consumerist to make our post quota and fill our pockets with Gawker's ill-gotten lucre without actually having to hunt down stories ourselves. But more importantly: this is your site. The Consumerist isn't Joel Johnson or Ben Popken or myself, but rather, it's you guys. We want to know the consumer issues you're concerned with. We want to know your bad experiences with companies and escalate them if we can. We want to follow-up the stories you're most interested in. We need to hear from you to get a better feel for the very issues we're trying to cover.

So if you've got an anecdote about a bad experience with a company, we'd like you to tell us about it. If you see a story on Slate and think to yourselves "This is the kind of story I'd like to see on The Consumerist", send it in. Likewise, if we seem to be focusing on a specific aspect of consumerist affairs and you don't think that's particularly interesting or helpful, let us know. If you're looking for advice on how to deal with Customer Service Reps or deal with your credit card company, write us and we'll see if we can't get our thoughtful stable of regular commenters on the case. And if you want to be one of our commenters, write us and we'll hook you up with an account.

The email address is tips@consumerist.com. Write us if you can think of anything — we'd really like everyone who reads this site to become more involved. Companies think they have us at a disadvantage — they know we both need and love to consume. What they don't seem to realize is that we don't always complain with our mouths full.