Category: Economics

Clara’s Kitchen – Wisdom, Memories, and Recipes from the Great Depression Review

Clara’s Kitchen – Wisdom, Memories, and Recipes from the Great Depression Review

A while back I wrote about my definition of the la cucina povera or the kitchen of the poor.  I view la cucina povera as a style of cooking centered on cooking with whatever, non bourgeois, ingredients are in the house.  My family in Calabria once cooked in the above manner (mostly due to economic reasons but also because what was “in […]

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Best of Money Carnival #52 : Practical Money Edition

Best of Money Carnival #52 : Practical Money Edition

(photo: while rice balls have nothing to do with personal finance, they are indeed delicious and contribute to a great quality of life!  Thanks A. Williams for sharing her Crispy coated Pesto Sausage Arancini with Mozzarella, served with Basil Pesto photo!) Welcome to the 52nd Best of Money Carnival! If you’re not familiar with the concept of a “blog carnival”, it’s simply a […]

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Personal Finance Beginnings: What To Tell Your Kids About Money

Personal Finance Beginnings: What To Tell Your Kids About Money

(photo: my young uncle washing his hands in an outdoor fountain in Bagnara, Calabra – Village of Pellegrina) One of the most important life skills you can teach your child is how to save or, more specifically, why it’s important to save.   My parents would often bring me to the bank as a small child and I observed my mother writing and cashing […]

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Against the Mainstream: Is the Cash for Clunkers Program For You?

Against the Mainstream: Is the Cash for Clunkers Program For You?

This entry will, hopefully, be the first in a series entitled, “Against the Mainstream.”  The series will aim to dispel popular, or mass media, themes, trends, recommendation, tips, or programs.  Does the Cash for Clunkers government program make sense for a practical or frugal individual?  Before we dive into the question, let’s consider some facts via the official Cars Allowance Rebate System […]

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Conspicuous Consumption and Personal Finance: Do You Work To Want Things?

Conspicuous Consumption and Personal Finance: Do You Work To Want Things?

Daniel Gross, a columnist at Newsweek and Slate, published a recent article in the NY Times Book Review that argued that today’s über rich are essentially leisure-less tycoons who need to work around the clock.  Gross goes on to argue that, “among Type-A, self-made members of the leisure class (read ultra wealthy), there’s a sort of reverse prestige associated with […]

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Breaking News: $15,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved an amendment to the economic stimulus bill by U.S. Republican Senator Isakson, Georgia., that gives a $15,000 tax credit to anyone who buys a home in the next year. The amendment would provide: – A tax credit to any homebuyer who buys any home.  – The amount of the tax credit would be $15,000 or […]

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Calling All Parents: Establish A, Italian-American, Financial Foundation For Your Children

Calling All Parents: Establish A, Italian-American, Financial Foundation For Your Children

(photo: thanks to the Pittsburgh Post) I come from a very giving family, as is the case for most recent immigrants.  My mother and father, while lower middle class, have always provided their children with whatever was in their means.  As a small child, my parents purchased hi-quality clothes and shoes for us, paid for braces, prepared wonderful meals, purchased […]

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Should You Spend During Hard Times or Save Your Pennies

Should You Spend During Hard Times or Save Your Pennies

Many of the best personal finance blogs I read on a daily basis, including Get Rich Slowy (which Money Magazine called the most inspiring money blog today), The Simple Dollar, Free Money Finance, and Money, Matter, and More Musings focus on how to save money or lead a frugal life, however we often hear via the media that the US economy is […]

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What You Can Learn From Immigrants on Personal Finance and Running Your Home

What You Can Learn From Immigrants on Personal Finance and Running Your Home

My parents emigrated from Italy in the early to mid 1970’s.  My father has the equivalent of a technical high school education and my mother finished her formal education in the 7th grade.  Yet my parents are one of the most financially savvy couples I know, often making smarter economic decisions then their US-born Boomer peers (with BAs and Master’s […]

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Random Thought: “We Are the World” Where Have You Gone?

Random Thought: “We Are the World” Where Have You Gone?

“There’s a choice we’re making we’re saving our own lives. It’s true we’ll make a better day just you and me” I think it’s time Wall Street gets together and records its own version of We Are the World, maybe something along the lines of “We Are the Capitalists”. Seriously, folks, have a listen to the original 1985 recording and it […]

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