Feb 11
There are at least three good reasons for building the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline. An improved environment is only one of them. Read the rest of this entry »
Blogging about calculators, financial affairs, technology and good governance.
Welcome to the Pine Grove Software's Financial Reading Room. Here you will find a collection of blog posts written and edited by experts in various fields. We hope they give you something to think about.
As this blog grows, we'll add posts dedicated to individual calculators. Feel free to use the comment space for asking questions or to make suggestions for enhancements to a particular calculator.
A note about the category "Good Governance": When so moved, we'll write an opinion piece about a particular government policy or program. We do NOT intend to write about politics however. The point of the category will be to discuss possible solutions to society's (usually financial or economic) problems. Postings will not be about left or right, Republican or Democrat, but instead about what works, what does not work and what may solve the problem being discussed. Your comments should be written from the same perspective.
Lastly, if you are inclined to write something that fits one of our blog categories, we would love having you write something for us. Naturally, if you have a website, you'll receive a backlink from us. This site was viewed by about 50,000 visitors for each of the past two months (as of December 2011).
Jan 3
Without a doubt, the single biggest issue of the 2012 election cycle will be the problems facing the US economy. Part of the discussion will certainly center around the national debt which currently stands at about $15.1 trillion.
In fact, the conversation about our debt has already started. In The New York Times on January 2nd, Paul Krugman writes in Nobody Understands Debt "the way our politicians and pundits think about debt is all wrong, and exaggerates the problem’s size". On the same day, the Libertarian Jew took another view.
The timing for these posts could not be better. We thought that it would be useful if we could help visitors comprehend the size of the national debt on personal terms. Thus, today, we have released:
Jan 1
Yesterday, I had taken to task the press for not reporting a total number for projected US Federal Government spending in FY2012. I wrote the post before I read yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. In their editorial, “The Spenders Won 2011″ they report the following:
"…total federal outlays are estimated to be $3.65 trillion in fiscal 2012, up slightly from $3.6 trillion in 2011."
At least now we have a paper reporting an amount for total Federal spending in FY2012. (Though it was reported in an editorial and not, as far as I can find, as part of the coverage of the news.)
Do you notice something though?
Here we have two of the country’s leading newspapers reporting on what should be a clear cut point of fact and yet their reporting contradicts each other. Read the rest of this entry »
Dec 31
As I do almost every morning, I started my day by reading the New York Times (I also read the Wall Street Journal). The paper’s lead editorial "The Damage of 2011" got me aggravated, and not for the reasons you might think. I could care less that they are picking on the Republicans for doing “significant damage in 2011″. I’m not even upset about their implied position that the US Federal Government is not spending enough money. These are the standard positions of this paper.
What then stirred me enough to take the time to write this post?
The answer is found in one little sentence: Read the rest of this entry »
Dec 28
Edited by Bruce A. Marlow
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America (as reported by HousingWire), mortgage originations should total about $1.1 trillion for 2011, for one-to-four family homes in the United States. In addition, the United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports that there were 7.53 million new passenger automobiles sold in 2010, for a total retail sales value of $311 billion. If as in years past, approximately 70% of these new car purchases were financed, total new debt for new passenger car purchases would be approximately $240 billion. With the total value of new debt in these two categories exceeding $1.3 trillion for 2010, and assuming an average interest rate of only 6%, debtors will pay over $78 billion in annual interest carrying charges alone for just their single-year new purchases of homes and automobiles. The enormity of these amounts leads to a simple question:
Is it possible for borrowers to reduce their debt service costs? And if so, how? Read the rest of this entry »
Dec 27
by Richard Russell, editor Dow Theory Letters
MAKING MONEY: The most popular piece I’ve published in 40 years of writing these Letters was entitled, “Rich Man, Poor Man.” I have had dozens of requests to run this piece again or for permission to reprint it for various business organizations.
Making money entails a lot more than predicting which way the stock or bond markets are heading or trying to figure which stock or fund will double over the next few years. For the great majority of investors, making money requires Read the rest of this entry »
Dec 23
A White Paper written by Morris A. Nunes, Attorney
Outside of banking circles, the Rule-of-78′s is little understood, even though it is commonly applied to many consumer and business loans. For the borrower, it tends to have a pernicious effect in the nature of a hidden prepayment penalty. The borrower’s disadvantage is heightened by Read the rest of this entry »
Dec 22
As our first post, we thought we would republish some of our favorite financial quips. They have been on our site for years, but none-the-less, we think they are still truthful.
- Take care of the dollar, and someday it will take care of you.
-Unknown