Category Archives: Personal Finance
The City Is a Good Place for a “Low Risk” Crime: Anti-Smoking Efforts Can Backfire
Perhaps even virtue has need of limits. That’s because a good thing—such as persuading people that smoking is a bad thing—can go too far. We see it here in New York, where some of the highest smoking taxes in the world have led an avalanche of illegal cigarettes brought into the city and state. They…
Are You a MoneySense Person or a Money Mad Person?: The Mentality of Thrift Versus the Mentality of Buy Everything Now.
Many people say they want to be financially comfortable; to be free of the need to work for somebody and required to be part the rat race. But, as with so many goals, there are some basic questions: Are you all talk or are you serious? Are you ready to make the hard choices to…
Ben’s Best Destruction—A Reminder of Why Americans Need to Rediscover Jefferson and Decentralization: Lord Acton, along with the traditional friends of limited government, believed in limited government
“The government that governs least, governs best. The government that is best is closest to the people.” Here, in essence, was the Jeffersonian philosophy of limited government that made America a beacon of freedom in the 19th century. Thomas Jefferson was one of the leaders of a classical liberal philosophy that was popular in the…
Ben’s Best, Kosher Deli, Queens Institution, Dies: A symbol of countless other small businesses driven to a premature death by relentless regs and taxes imposed by a distant, uncaring, city government.
Recently I attended a wake in Rego Park, Queens, a county which is unfortunately a part of New York City. It was the end of a wonderful kosher deli that was beloved by Jew and non-Jew alike, Ben’s Best. This terrific eatery might have died a natural death—many of its elderly patrons were moving to…
Why Is Your Adult Son or Daughter Still Living in the Basement?: Job recruiting professionals say maybe he or she doesn’t have a good resume or doesn’t know how to sell his or her skills. Warning for resume writers—don’t drone on and on.
My son or daughter graduated from a good university but can’t find a first job. Such is the complaint of some parents who toiled to ensure that a son or daughter became the first member of the family to graduate from a university. What Went Wrong? Even though prospects are bright for new college graduates…
Income Inequality: One of the Ways to Help Wreck an Economy
“Give a man fish. Feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish. Feed for a longtime.” Spanish proverb. How can we help the people who aren’t keeping up, who are slipping into poverty? The politically popular answer these days is to demand policies of income equality. The latter will be achieved, supporters of…
