The price of gasoline and oil are reaching a record high in the United States. In some places we are seeing a gallon of gas for $5.00. One way to offset the increasing cost is to reduce to your expenses. Start with how much you pay for your car insurance.
There are many ways to reduce your car insurance premium.
Get quotes from different insurance companies. It usually pays to call different companies to find out how much they’re willing to reduce your premium in order to have your business. If you are a good driving record, usually you can get discount by switching to a new company.
Review your vehicle coverage. Your insurance premium is calculated based on the type of vehicle coverage you select. Unless you have an extremely luxury car, usually you don’t need to select all coverages and have the maximum deduction. In particular, pay attention to PIP (Personal Injury Protection). Depending on your State law, you may be able to waive PIP coverage if you’ve sufficient emergence fund saved in the bank.
Select higher deductions. You can reduce your premium if you choose to pay high deductible. You should alway choose the highest deduction that you can afford. Don’t be afraid if you go from $250 to $500 or $500 to $1000. If you drive carefully, the chance you need to pay a lot of money to fix your car is relatively low.
Ask for discounts. Call your insurance company and ask what kind of discount is available to you. Insurance companies usually offer different types of discount — for example, university alumni discount, good driver discount, combine home and car insurance policy discount, and auto-pay via an checking account discount.
China will continue to enforce a one-child policy for at least another decade. I’m fully support of this decision. China current has more than 1.3 billion people, making it the most populous nation. Without a one-child policy, an increase of population not only will increase the demand for food and energy in China, but also will stress the supply of energy and food in the world market.
All humans are capable of creating new ideas. In the past, to communicate creative ideas would require a deep marketing and sales budget, if you really want your voice be heard. For example, if you were an artist or a writer, your best hope was to seek a media company to back the distribution of your creative products. Without an army strong marketing and sales, individuals (including myself) have limited opportunities to express unpolished ideas and share which with the public. Today, Web 2.0 applications have changed the way individuals communicate their creative ideas.
While preparing my lecture slides on SlideShare, I stumble upon a presentation titled “the thin ideal” — an interesting look into the history and culture expectation of thin women. On SlideShare, not only you can browse through the presentation slides, but also you can hear the narration of the presentation given by the author. This is an extremely powerful way to expressive an individual’s creativity.
Sites like SlideShare and YouTube encourage individuals to create. They eliminated the expensive cost that were previously required for marketing and sales. People are now free to create without worrying that their ideas can’t be heard.
Also, Web 2.0 applications have made easy for audiences to submit feedbacks. Take “the thin ideal” as an example. After the slides were posted, a reader submitted a related YouTube video as a comment. As I accidentally discovered the slides, I also discovered a separate video presentation that is relevant to my context.
Web 2.0 is changing the way people share and communicate ideas. If you have ideas to share, examples like “the thin ideal” should encourage you to publish your thoughts online. You publish, they will come.
Hillary Clinton won Ohio and Texas. People are discussing what this will entail for the US future. Some readers wonder Clinton will pick up Obama as her running mate, or the other way around. Some others think that if either one of them becomes the President, this country will go to “hell” — the end of capitalism and the destruction of the US mighty military power.
In addition, some are willing to go so far to say that China will take freedom away from the US if the next President is a Democrat.
politicalman11: The best part of your commentary, is what you didn’t mention..Congress..19 percent approval rating to Bush’s 35%…Democratic President and Democratic Congress will destroy capitalism, destroy the military and leave us vulnerable to China who is increasing their military spending 18%/year… That scares me a whole lot more than anything else…Freedoms are taken for granted for now by so many…
Why do some people so afraid of China? Do they think China will start a new Cold War or invade the US soil? The only plausible explanation, I think, is that certain people are just plain ignorant. They lack the knowledge about the World’s geopoltical issue. Their understanding of it is based on a limited view of events that occur no more than a short-distance drive from their homes. Their perception of other countries is based on whether or not these countries share a common culture with the US — if not, they must be the enemies of the US.
People, wake up! It’s time for you to read The Economist on a weekly basis.
Eonomists and policy makers are wondering if the US economy is in a recession. It’s always difficult to tell whether an economy is in a recession because a formal government announcement usually come only after the event has unfolded. In other words, it’s possible that we are in a recession, but no one is sure of it, or no one wants to make a hasty claim about it.
Nevertheless, there are somethings we certain of. First, the economy is not as strong we have hoped. Second, inflation and the housing mortgage trouble are hitting the consumer spending, which in turn affects the US economic growth. Third, many banks and lenders are in serious financial trouble, not knowing how much they’ve lost in the high-risk investments. Lenders start tightening their lending practices, which affects the borrowing power of small businesses and consumers. Again, this affects the US economic growth.
When it comes to the US economy and investment, I listen to what Warren Buffet has to say:
Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRKA $140,000) Warren Buffet said in an interview
on CNBC that he is no longer offering to back $800 billion in municipal
bonds that are insured by the nation’s largest monoline insurers. Buffet
also said he believes the US economy has entered a recession and stocks
are not cheap. Though he does not rule out a big downturn, he does not
yet feel that the current situation is anything like what was seen in
the 1970s.
Source: Schwab Morning Market View for March 03, 2008
