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People I am going to take a bit of a break from my usual bargain hunting posts to take a look at the rather serious subject of climate change and how it impacts the world of economics and business. While some call it placing obstacle in economic progress and placing curbs on free enterprise, this is a shortsighted view. We have to preserve and conserve now, so that we don’t destroy our resources and have the wherewithal to continue to produce tomorrow.

A couple of months ago, just such an initiative was underway in Copenhagen where the future of business was decided during the World Business Summit on Climate Change. The aim of this summit was for top CEOs to discuss how their firms can help solve the climate crisis through innovative business models, new partnerships, and the development of low-carbon technologies. The object was also to send a strong message to the negotiating governments on how to remove barriers and create incentives for implementation of new solutions in a post-Kyoto framework.

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Tags: Environment, Government, world by Nicole Price
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One of the most fascinating stories in international finance currently is that of the Ambani Brothers, Mukesh and Anil, from India. Theirs is a sweeping family saga spiced with money, ambition, avarice and sibling rivalry which is keeping the financial markets not only of India but the world over riveted.  These two men are among the richest in the world, with vast business holdings, enormous riches and tremendous clout in the financial markets of the world. If one sneezes, the Indian stock market catches cold!

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Tags: Government, Rich List, world by Nicole Price
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I have spoken before about the recession, and how we can try to cope with it, and now articles I have read are telling me that that is so.

This Newsweek article, The Recession is Over, reaches this conclusion based on the fact that the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, holds that a mixture of targeted investments, tax credits, subsidies, reforms, and direct purchases can preserve or create jobs in the short term, improve America’s economic competitiveness in the long term, and catalyze private-sector investment.

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Tags: General, Government by Nicole Price
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The United States has a brand new president; those of us who watched the live presentation of the Inauguration certainly saw history being made! However his presidency is fraught with unenviable challenges which people expect him to sort out right away: the US currently is facing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s. And since it is ALL ABOUT THE MONEY (which is also this blog’s tagline in case you didn’t notice) I thought it makes sense to make ourselves aware of what it is that the new president and his Vice President plan to do to pull the US out of the black hole of economic depression that it is currently sunk into. Let us take a look at how the new broom plans to sweep clean the economic mess.

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Tags: Business, Government, politics by Nicole Price
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Over the past few weeks I have been watching the Israel Gaza conflict unfold, in horror and in indignation: horror at what Israel was doing and indignation that no one in the world was doing anything to stop it. I feel indignant at the nonchalant way in which Israel creates incursions into territory that is not its own, attacks with impunity and kills with utter brutality with no regard for whether it was a child that was killed or a hospital that was bombed. The current ceasefire has done little to undo the harm done.

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Tags: Government, politics, world by Nicole Price
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Like I keep saying, that which is good for the environment is also good for us and our finances. And that is even more so when you consider that environment friendly decisions can get you some very useful tax cuts. Although global oil prices have eased a great deal since I did a post about tips to save gas, it still pays to be energy efficient in terms of your home: heating, cooling, insulation, etc. not only for the savings in terms of the energy consumption bills but also in terms of the tax credits you get.

The reason that the government gives you tax breaks is so that you are encouraged to make purchases that reduce energy consumption on the whole, lowering pressure on grids and helping you reduce you carbon footprint and therefore lowering emission and pollution levels.

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Tags: Environment, Government, Money Saving by Nicole Price
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There is a lot of buzz around news circuits about the devaluation of the dollar worldwide, and a lot of trade pundits are predicting more doom and gloom. So does this mean that the position of the US dollar as the most important currency in the world is threatened? Is a recession really impending and will it drive the US dollar from its coveted top spot? I don’t think there is any immediate fear of that happening but that set me thinking, how did currency come into being? How old is the tradition of paper money and when was the barter system replaced by currency?

While the system of barter (trading or swapping an item with someone who requires it, in return for acquiring something that you need), which was used over centuries had its own obvious limitations. For instance, a vegetable farmer may be willing to offer his produce in return for some tools that another individual is making, but the tool-maker may not, at the time have any need for the farmers produce, and by the time he does, the produce of the vegetable farmer would have been spoiled, so the barter becomes untenable to that extent. So what was then required was to have an intermediate commodity that doesn’t perish and is reliably in demand throughout the year. In earlier times, items of intrinsic value such as copper, gold or wine were used as currency. Early settlers in Australia traded with rum as a currency! Grain and cattle were other items used as and by way of currency.

Even in ancient times, coins were minted by the ruler of the land were stamped with an emblem that guaranteed the weight and value of the metal and used as currency. These were usually made from precious and semi precious metal so that they carried intrinsic value and were stamped with the ruler’s seal thereby imbuing it with an intangible value stemming from authority as well.

The reason for the emergence for paper money was twofold; one, the shortage of precious and semiprecious metal and secondly, ease of portability (soon coins became too heavy to carry around). In Europe the first paper money consisted of paper ‘coins’ issued in Protestant Leyden (today, Leiden) in the Netherlands during the Spanish siege of 1574. Later, governments directed citizens to replace precious metals with paper money to hasten the general acceptance of paper as currency.

Usually currency notes are made by adding cotton paper, linen or other textile fibers so as to make them more resistant to wear and tear. There is also a thin layer of varnish to protect them from soiling. In order to make it impossible or at least very difficult to make counterfeit notes, currency is usually enhanced by a water mark, the thread component and several other factors. Over the years, bank notes have also been printed on materials such as polymer, silk, leather etc.!

So fascinating is the subject of currency, that numismatics is the term coined for the scientific study of currency and its history in all its varied forms and I found this very interesting site devoted to numismatics which gives you access to bank notes from around the world and you can also order any that you want!

Tags: General, Government by Nicole Price
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Spring is a lovely time of year, but it is also about this time that you have to file your taxes. Doesn’t sound all that lovely now, huh? I have been trawling the inter-web trying to find the best ways to pay the taxman as little as possible. Because, remember it is OK to manage your income in a way that you avoid paying taxes as far as possible, so you should try and get every tax advantage you can. So I thought I’d share with you any pearls of wisdom I came across on the net.

This CNN money article, is a real useful ready reckoner. It gives you information about the new tax breaks, like those for mortgage insurance and mortgage debt forgiveness. Unless you are in a really high income tax bracket, you are probably entitled to a one time stimulus tax break this year. This article has a very useful list of exemptions so check it out.

This article by William Perez talks about how one couple were able to eliminate paying taxes altogether. This article talks about how you can substantially reduce or eliminate your income tax by saving for retirement, owning a home, sending your kids to college. William Perez has compiled a comprehensive list of ways to lower your taxes with links to more details on each point, so that you can get more information of any of the basic topics he has covered.

On the official IRS site there is a tax topics index where you can seek out detailed information about whichever deduction you need for instance Topic 451 deals with IRAs. Here you will find articles about general information, IRS procedures, collections, alternative filing methods, Filing Requirements, Filing Status and Exemptions, Adjustments to Income, Itemized deductions, methods of computation and pretty much everything you want to look up.

Did you know (I suppose you did) that The Energy Policy Act of 2005 of encourages you to be green? This is how: there are tax benefits for energy-efficient homes, vehicles and equipment. Earlier you could get tax credits for buying and owning a hybrid vehicle, but that provision is now no longer in force. Apparently the government does not want to encourage you to lower emissions and gas consumption or want you to reduce your gas bill. Ah well, in a year’s time we will see a new US president, perhaps a woman or a black man (or not, who can predict?), and then there will be a bunch of new stuff to contend with!

And just to put a smile back on your lips, here are a couple of links to some tax related humor:

http://www.offthemark.com/tax/tax.htm

http://www.martybucella.com/taxtoons.html

Enjoy!

Tags: General, Government, Make Money by Nicole Price
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