Ministry of Propaganda - 05/Nov/2003: "Spending money"
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Spending money
Let's talk money today. Spending it, spending too much of it and not spending it.
First I spent some money and ordered a Nikon COOLPIX 3100 Digital Camera. I received the mail today that it has now been shipped. If I'm lucky I'll be at home when it arrives, otherwise I'll pick it up from the depot latest Saturday. I've already got an Olympus E-10 (predecessor to the Olympus E-20P) which, although it is a fantastic camera, is too big and heavy to always take with me. The Nikon is a very small camera which should just fit into my pocket. In future I will have the Nikon for everyday use and the Olympus for "special occasions" (in lack of a better word).
Others seem to be spending a bit too much money and Warren Buffett is getting nervous about it. Unfortunately the full article is only available to subscribers, but if you have a subscription or can get the dead tree edition I recommend to read this. An excellent description of the US trade deficit and its potential impact. Some of the data and similar thoughts are available in a post by Billmon about the Economic Limits of the Empire. In a way the rest of the world will soon own large parts of the US, the US is largely depending on the goodwill of other countries. And there isn't much the US can do about that, unless they make a few huge changes.
Finally it looks like UK interest rates will go up soon. I don't have any debts, so I'm not worried about it. But I'm wondering if the banks will pass any of it on to savers or if they will only pass the rise on to borrowers as usual. The interest rates for savers are a bit of a joke at the moment. Not really an incentive to save money.
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Entry trivia
When writing this entry the weather was: clear, fairly mild
When writing this entry I was listening to: In Time: The Best of REM 1988 - 2003. Yes, still. Powerplay.
During the last hour before I wrote this entry I visited this website: BBC News Champions League Ticker (as of writing Celtic lead 3-0 over Anderlecht)
End of entry trivia
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