Sheldon | Unexpected Leisure

February 7, 2011February 7, 2011

It May Be a Job, But It’s Gotta Pay

It's common knowledge that jobs ain't what they used to be. Just because someone creates a new job doesn't mean that it actually replaces one of the many jobs shipped offshore or otherwise eliminated for American workers. In other words, one new job will not be enough to provide for one worker's income. More and more a family needs two jobs to make up for a lost job. Read more [...]

February 7, 2011

Taking a New Approach to Housing the Homeless

A remarkable story about "Housing First", a program for getting the most vulnerable homeless people into housing with no strings attached. Read more [...]

February 6, 2011

The Quiet Revolution

The best way to summarize what is happening is that small (and some not-so-small) communities are starting to erect defenses against losing their local economies, natural resources, and quality of life to major corporations who are wont to move in, undermine or crush the local small businesses and replacing them with something less wholesome for the local environment, however one chooses to define it. Read more [...]

February 5, 2011

Unemployment’s “New Math”

The official unemployment rate bears less and less resemblance to reality because it fails to count those who are no longer on unemployment as well as those who have simply given up. That latter number, by the way, continues to grow. Read more [...]

February 4, 2011February 4, 2011

Building a Deep Pantry

Assuming you still have a job, you might want to consider putting together a pantry with enough in it to see you through more than just the end of the week or even the month. I'm talking about a serious food supply that can sustain you and yours, albeit with diminished variety, for the better part of a year. Read more [...]

February 2, 2011February 2, 2011

Toward a New Aesthetic of Ostentation

The imperative to keep up with the Jonesâ€™ has driven many a consumer to spend beyond their means. Purveyors of stuff, particularly expensive stuff know this and pitch their wares accordingly. As a culture we have seen an entire set of standards developed and imposed on us to dictate what we buy and why we buy it. Read more [...]

February 1, 2011

No More Upward Mobility

There is a myth that America is the "land of opportunity" and for many who come to her shores from wretched circumstances there is an opportunity for a better life than the one they left behind. Read more [...]

January 31, 2011

Two Animated Bears Explain the Bank Bailouts in Six Minutes

Here in about six minutes, the bears explain the bailout and why you should be extremely pissed off at how the banks have screwed American taxpayers, and how the government let them do it. Read more [...]

January 29, 2011January 29, 2011

A Nifty Tool to Ease Health Care Expenses

Even if your company doesnâ€™t make much money (and mine doesnâ€™t), you can start to write off expenses associated with the work you do. One of the most useful write-offs I get through my company is through my Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA). Read more [...]

January 28, 2011

Dealing with Zombie Bank Fees

The banks have made it quite clear that no matter what the government does to try to reign in their penchant for nickel-and-diming us all to death, they will do everything they can to continue to charge silly fees. Read more [...]