So, all the complaining people do about the budget and the deficit and the spending and the taxes in our country and they always have a solution to the problem.

Well, here’s your chance. Play Budget Hero (brought to you by your friends at Market Place Money) and see if you can balance the nation’s budget. I wasn’t so great at the actual balancing part (I basically took away a ton of $$ from the military and gave it to the schools) but the game itself is pretty educational and does a decent job explaining what cutting or adding money in different areas could mean for the short and long term effects on jobs, people, economy, etc.

Leslie Bennetts is the author of the book The Feminine Mistake and says “says women who opt out of the workforce — or never join it in the first place — are putting their financial lives at enormous risk.”

You can read the whole interview here but here are a few quotes that I found intriguing.

Regarding financial planning:

All the investment advisers and financial planners that I talked to said that women have a tremendous tendency to leave these things to men. They may pay the household bills, but they don’t really involve themselves with the larger financial planning of the family.

Regarding becoming a widow:

The average age of widowhood in America is only 55. (according to the AARP)

Regarding the long-term planning and risks of being a stay at home mom;

I am not saying it’s not a valid choice to stay home with your children; I’m saying it’s an extremely dangerous choice and one that works out very badly for many women and their kids. In my book, I say was it really worth it to be home when your second child lost his fourth tooth if something happens to your husband and you end up losing your home entirely? I’ve talked to so many women who find themselves suddenly without a breadwinner and a lot of the adverse consequences of divorce in the society are really a result of the economic impact. Women’s standard of living plummets by 38 percent in cases of divorce, whereas men’s standard of living goes up by 26 percent. But it’s the women and the children who suffer. So I’m not criticizing the inherent worth or value of the decision to be home with your children, but I am saying it’s a very risky choice.

Before I get angry comments from all my stay at home mom friends, let me just say this: I am jealous of your ability to stay at home with your kids. But for me, being a working mom is not a choice because a) we need the income, b) staying at home is not in my nature (trust me, Lexi and I would kill each other if summer break lasted longer than 3 months), and c) while my family always comes first, I love my job and would feel like I was missing something if I wasn’t teaching.

I do agree with what she is saying about women needing to learn about their family finances and being prepared if something were to happen. Just something to think about.

(Be forewarned - the next few posts are all recaps of things I’ve heard/read on NPR’s Market Place Money. Aside from the humor shows on NPR Market Place Money is one of my favorites. I’m always sitting in the car an extra 5-10 minutes so I can hear the end of a story they’re airing.)

While I was poking around the website looking for the link to a different story I came across this article. Tess’ Trash Challenge. Tess is the host of Market Place Money and for a project series called Consumed and explored whether or not our consumer culture is sustainable. (I believe it aired last fall.) She agreed to carry around her family’s garbage with her in a trash bag. There were some rules involved (she couldn’t carry animal waste, really stinky stuff got double bagged, she couldn’t bring the bag into a restaurant because they may kick her out) but basically she hauled around the hefty bag containing all the trash she couldn’t recycle, reuse, compost, or in some way stop it from being part of a landfill.

The EPA says Americans generated 245.7 million tons of municipal solid waste in 2005. That’s 20 percent more than what we tossed away in 1990, and 102 percent more than what we generated in 1970.

She invited others to participate with her, even if it was for only 2 days (instead of her 2 weeks) and you can read about her experiences and those who joined in at the above link.

Have you heard this show on NPR? It’s one of my favorites. It’s right up there with the Car Talk Guys and Good News, Bad News, or No News.

Today tuned in towards the end when they play bluff the listener. They give the listener 3 news stories. 2 are fake and the listener has to chose the real story.

Today’s stories were on the theme of “How the internet has improved my life.” The stories were:

A: A high school principal wrote a computer program that gives a 5 question pop quiz when his son tries to log on to the internet. 5 correct answers earns him 3 hours of web time. 3 correct answers earns him 1 hour and 2 or less correct earns him a message that tells him to go study and locks up the computer for the calendar day. The program was so successful with his son he put it on the school computers as well.

B. A partnership between google and parents magazine created an implant that goes into a child’s ear (surgically) and the child can then hear his mother’s voice where ever he goes. The nagging never ends!

C. You’ve Been Left Behind dot com

For $40 per year you can join a rapture notification system that will notify your heathen friends and family that Jesus has returned and taken you back to heaven with him and those punk sinners have a second chance:

We have set up a system to send documents by the email, to the addresses you provide, 6 days after the “Rapture” of the Church. This occurs when 3 of our 5 team members scattered around the U.S fail to log in over a 3 day period. Another 3 days are given to fail safe any false triggering of the system.

Personally, I would have picked (A) as the true story, if I hadn’t seen this. The listener actually picked (B) as the true story. It was pretty funny when the announcer said (C) was the answer. You could hear the audience do a half gasp and a very odd laugh…almost as though they couldn’t believe that there were people out there who were that naive and that there were people out there that feel there is an actual need for this service.

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P.S. Yeah, I did copy the quote straight from Kevin’s blog.

On the way home from work today I was listening to NPR. They were running a story on a pianist named Henry Butler. He studied voice and piano in college, learning the to read the music in braille, memorize it and then play it. He studied classical but his music seems to be mostly influenced by the jazz and blues of New Orleans. Now, this is all pretty cool and amazing. He’s one of those great success stories - born in the projects, had a great talent, went to school refined that talent and is blind. I’m impressed. Then they go on to say that they guy is a freakin’ photographer as well. Seriously. Can’t see but takes these incredible pictures.

I hate flying and I am terrified of snakes, which makes Snakes on a Plane number 2,783,468 on my list of must-see movies. Not only does the movie contain two of my least favorite things, it wins in the award in the following categories: Most Uncreative Title and Lamest Plot. Although, it did pick up the awards for Best Reason to Change A Movie Rating From PG-13 to R (Rumor has it the rating got upped so that Sammy J. could tell everyone (and I quote) “I want these motherfucking snakes off this motherfucking plane.” Don’t we all Sammy, don’t we all.) and Best New Phrase That I Really Hope Catches On And Is Used On A Regular Basis: “Meh, snakes on a plane”. To be used when something does not happen in your favor.
For example,
“I’d like to buy a ticket to see the new Samuel L. Jackson movie, please.”
“I’m sorry, Ma’am, we’re all sold out.”
“Damn, well, snakes on a plane.”

Kevin blogged about this clip, but so far, this is my favorite link related to the movie, listen to the clip of the show starting at 2:30.

And if you don’t like the links, oh well, snakes on a plane.