Economy

Debit card dangers

By Miriam Pepper, Star editorial page editor

The banks sure have a way with words. Overdraft protection sounds so soothing. What it masks are the costs of that protection. Those costs brought in $28 billion in fees in 2008.

That's a whole lot of protection, for the banks' bottom lines.

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Submitted by Miriam_Pepper on November 6, 2009 - 5:06pm.
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George Soros creates $50 million institute to spur new economics

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

George Soros will spend $50 million to create an Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) designed to reject traditional economics. In particular Soros's new institute will reject the efficient market theory that has performed so poorly in predicting our current economic recession.

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Submitted by larry_marsh on November 1, 2009 - 7:49am.
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Great Plains Q3 call: local analysis

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

There are times when we read the national news and wonder how it affects us in the Kansas City area. The transcript of today's Great Plains Energy (KCPL) Q3 call (read here) is good local analysis.

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Submitted by tryan on October 30, 2009 - 4:53pm.
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Recession and Recollection

By Maggie Jackson, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

As this recession lumbers along at a painful pace, I am reminded of what my mother used to say about friends. “Friends are the people who stick when you hit bottom.” The same can easily be applied to family.

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Submitted by MaggieJackson on October 26, 2009 - 8:47am.
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Devalued dollar trend is good

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

However our dollar has been devalued, for all the reasons both domestic and international, supposedly it’s good right? We don’t talk about this often. It’s awkward for the President. Perhaps in those G-20-something summits they planned this. I hope they planned some of it.

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Submitted by tryan on October 25, 2009 - 11:33pm.
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Sorkin’s Wall Street baseball card collection

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Andrew Ross Sorkin’s new book called “Too Big to Fail” gives the reader an inside-the-room feel for what (may have) happened during the economic meltdown last year. It’s a very good read...

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Submitted by tryan on October 25, 2009 - 2:38pm.
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The next frontier in economics: Markets for mental energy

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

The financial crisis has exposed a deficiency in economic theory.

The underlying cause of the financial crisis was the failure of individuals to exert sufficient mental energy to properly evaluate the risks involved in both the housing and financial derivatives markets. In short, people just didn’t do the math.

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Submitted by larry_marsh on October 23, 2009 - 11:07am.
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Brooksley Born’s ultimatum

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Jason Bourne, please step aside. We need to read about this real person named Brooksley. You may have met her before. You may remember her warning about the black box market called OTC Derivatives, her testimonies before Congress.

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Submitted by tryan on October 21, 2009 - 10:22am.
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Obama talks while China drills

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Set aside Sarah Palin’s calls for “drill baby drill” strategies on the domestic front, for a moment. An ironic result of our foreign excursions of late has been to clear the way for China’s oil company, CNPC to produce more oil and gas.

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Submitted by tryan on October 19, 2009 - 5:11pm.
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Espresso Book Machine offers hot book with your coffee

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

On Demand Books has partnered with Google Books to sell an Espresso Book Machine that can print and bind a 300 page paperback book with full color cover in 4 minutes for a suggested retail price of $8 per book. You can now purchase books literally hot off the press.

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Submitted by larry_marsh on October 17, 2009 - 9:24am.
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The business of business news

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

People presently look anxiously for bottoms…in the housing market, for example, but businesses cannot be forthcoming with all of their news despite our desire for transparency and honesty.

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Submitted by tryan on October 16, 2009 - 10:48am.
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Ostrom and Williamson win Nobel Prize in Economics

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University in Bloomington and Oliver Williamson from the University of California at Berkeley won the Nobel Prize in Economics for their work on economic governance and the organization of cooperation.

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Submitted by larry_marsh on October 12, 2009 - 6:04am.
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A noble piece price

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Paul Krugman was last year's Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences. Paul’s award lecture, delivered in December 2008 is here here if you’d like to read it.

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Submitted by tryan on October 10, 2009 - 9:58am.
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Google Books changes everything in student teacher education

internet-kidsBy Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

A nation has an infinite number of possible histories. There is only one history that happened, and many histories that didn't happen. If America is to lead the world throughout the 21st century and beyond, we must grasp the full implication of the Internet now and fundamentally change our education system.

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Submitted by larry_marsh on October 5, 2009 - 6:49am.
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Washington DC is a money bag

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

We’re good-hearted loyal law-abiding citizens who pay our taxes. We send money there. Truckloads. But economic competition is fierce. Sure some of the bucks trickle back home. Have you been to the real Emerald City lately? Take a field trip to visit your subsidized rich cousins, back east.

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Submitted by tryan on September 30, 2009 - 12:05pm.
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Revealed preference "Daily Me" key to online newspaper survival

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

The individualized newspaper (aka "Daily Me") that caters to each reader's personal preferences is coming soon. The Google News approach of allowing each reader to customize the display by selecting topics or phrases is not adequate for a newspaper's long term survival.

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Submitted by larry_marsh on September 29, 2009 - 7:29am.
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Is Missouri doing enough to bring in jobs?

The Star's Tuesday editorial

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has come in for criticism on the economic development front lately. So his announcement of a state-provided boost for the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport Monday was a welcome opportunity for the governor and for Kansas City.

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Submitted by mschofield on September 28, 2009 - 3:55pm.
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Jason: it's business not culture

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

The business of sports at KU is business; very lucrative and serious for those with a financial stake in victory and image. Jason Whitlock’s recent column about hip hop culture misses another angle on this feud.

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Submitted by tryan on September 26, 2009 - 9:40pm.
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Bank fees: Customers should be notified

The Star's Wednesday Editorial

Congress is giving greater attention to the problem of bank overdraft fees, and rightly so.

Most banks automatically offer transaction-covering loans to cover insufficient account balances, and then charge customers a fee — the average is $35 — often without immediately notifying the customer.

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Submitted by mschofield on September 22, 2009 - 2:39pm.
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Bullies Beware of Buckley’s Dance

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Last year, a young entrepreneur in England developed an anti-bullying kit. Right now he’s his own boss at 10. Watch how he charmed a venture capitalist out of £5,000.

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Submitted by tryan on September 21, 2009 - 7:24am.
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Jobless Recovery--Is Job Security Gone Forever?

By Dean Hubbard, Kansas City Star Editorial Advisory Panel Columnist

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Submitted by Dean_Hubbard on September 20, 2009 - 6:58pm.
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“Great Recession” likely over?

By Maggie Jackson, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

So the Great Recession is finally ending, or at least that is what Fed Chairman Bernanke stated on Tuesday. Many blue collar, middle class workers couldn’t agree less.

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Submitted by MaggieJackson on September 17, 2009 - 12:27pm.
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Sprint shines its apple for Deutsche Telecom

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

It’s Sprint’s time to shine in preparation for their possible acquisition by Deutsche Telecom. But in Kansas City, this is a story about people we know.

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Submitted by tryan on September 17, 2009 - 9:58am.
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Cheap Chinese tires challenge Obama trade strategy

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

Since this was written, President Obama has signed an order for a 35 percent tariff on Chinese tires. Obama's gesture is pointless since the tariff is temporary and only applies to China. Low income American consumers should not worry. Wal-Mart will find cheap tires from another low-wage country to quickly fill the gap.

President Obama must make a key decision about which way to lead America in the 21st century. Should he hit consumers with a 55 percent increase in the price of imported Chinese tires at Wal-Mart and other discount tire outlets to protect workers at American tire manufacturing plants and risk retaliatory curbs on American exports? Or, should he resist union demands to fend off the cheap Chinese tires? Cooper Tire in Albany, GA has already laid off over 2,000 workers.

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Submitted by larry_marsh on September 9, 2009 - 2:27pm.
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And a big global one

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

"Look, it’s something that you have in your head, in your way of seeing things. It’s not there. Come back to reality and just consider this for a moment...

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Submitted by tryan on September 6, 2009 - 10:14am.
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Gardening for the nature of the economy

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Unemployment the worst since 1929, businesses failing, and the government worried as to how to turn things around. Chance, or Chauncey Gardiner as people called him, spoke about gardening and people listened.

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Submitted by tryan on August 28, 2009 - 11:54pm.
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Obama's financial market reforms are badly needed

By The Kansas City Star Editorial Board

Health care reform isn’t the only initiative of President Barack Obama running into headwinds. His financial-markets reform package is also meeting opposition.

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Submitted by mcclanahan on August 21, 2009 - 12:13pm.
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Winners, losers in Cash for Clunkers

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

The federal government's Cash for Clunkers program was a winner for almost everyone except U.S. taxpayers.

-- Car buyers got rid of junk and ended up with new vehicles.

-- Car dealers moved autos off showroom floors.

-- Car makers revved up sales.

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Submitted by Yael T. Abouhalkah on August 21, 2009 - 10:45am.
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Enhance financial security, cut income tax with tax-deferred savings plan

By Larry Marsh, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

Greed reveals itself not in income but in consumption. Warren Buffet has lived in the same modest house since 1958, but other wealthy people live in enormous houses costing tens of millions of dollars. Many famous people have just one or two homes and just a few vehicles while others spend lavishly on eight or nine homes and dozens of cars.

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Submitted by larry_marsh on August 18, 2009 - 8:33am.
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GM's Volt claims eye-popping 230 mpg

By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

GM's eye-popping claim Tuesday -- the new Volt will get up to 230 mpg in city driving -- is newsworthy but also questionable.

For starters, how much will GM charge motorists to buy a vehicle that supposedly will get that many miles a gallon?

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Submitted by Yael T. Abouhalkah on August 11, 2009 - 8:57am.
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