slamboard

The charter service that operates www.FlyPrudent.com has a very interesting plan for up front payment. Basically, you choose to place any amount in a third party escrow account. Unused funds have a guaranteed return, it’s not huge, but it’s probably better than you bank account. When you decide to book a flight, the charter service immediately takes action with regard to finding the best value. Some charter services pocket empty leg discounts for themselves, but Prudential Aviation passes the savings on to you.

They have access to a wide range of aircraft from 5 passenger jets right up to full size jet airliners. Gordon Gerstein at Prudential Aviation (Gordon(at)flyprudent.com) can get you hooked up for on demand flight charters that are safe, dependable and affordable.

I was at a loss for content, so I typed the word business into the search box on YouTube. I plan on doing a long post about MS Surface this weekend. Tonight I am just going to put this 26 minute documentary about the financial grey area that is at the core of scientology ( A rotten core BTW ).

I think the longevity of this messed up cult lies in the revenue streams that it provides for those who perpetuate it. I have fairly strong feelings about this issue, but to be honest, I am also hoping to generate traffic by creating controversy.

I think this site called RetailMeNot.com is a brilliant idea. Users can share coupon codes that they find on the Internet. What you end up with is a huge, almost comprehensive list of all available coupons. Do you want a lands end coupon code? How about a circuit city code?

I was browsing the coupons for a few minutes before the thought struck me…what if these coupons don’t work? Then I noticed that there are buttons on the right side of each coupon for users to click indicating that it worked or it didn’t. Each coupon also has a comment section.

The coolest thing I saw was the Firefox extension that will alert you if you are about to pay full price for something for which you can get a coupon code. That boggles my mind.

Shoppers will not be subjected to a credit check as a condition of receiving a Wal-Mart MoneyCard.

The Visa debit card can be used just like a regular Visa card to shop in retail outlets or online. The debit accounts can be topped up with cash, paychecks or direct deposit.

The retail giant expects to have 1000 MoneyCenters open by the end of 2008.

Visa debit cards are a very useful tool for consumers. I’m not certain of the details, but I believe that having a Visa debit card opens up some eCommerce opportunities. Couple that with the Dell sales at Walmart and I am picturing a mini-wave of wannabe web entrepreneurs.

Source: MarketWatch

Having a good idea, or rather thinking you have a good idea, can be stressful. I am lucky to have one human being who I trust to tell my ideas to. Having a joint bank account probably helps with that trust.

Anyway, what I am getting at is that any good business idea that relies on WOM buzz to help it take off is risky because somebody with more resources, or more connections, or somebody who is just stronger and faster than you…can just steal your idea. I wish there was some kind of arena in which to hash out ideas without worrying about having them stolen. I think it is a good idea, you can steal it if you want, because I don’t see how you could monetize it.

EDIT: There is a blog called Idea Sandbox. I don’t think it is much like the undeveloped thought that I had, the one that I have to find a new name for.

I read in this article that US government officials are asking the big lending companies to say it isn’t so and back it up with some proof.

The tricky thing about this ethical question is that traditionally black colleges still have a predominately black student body. Since every school has different fee structures, it stands to reason that lenders would have differing policies for different schools. The lenders are interested in the bottom line. If repayment statistics aren’t as favorable in one school as they are in another school, it stands to reason that a lender would charge a less favorable rate. It will be quite an indictment of the industry if the numbers do bear witness to racial prejudice. I think there are going to be a lot of semantics thrown around as this issue is dealt with.

ConsumerRightsGroup.com is a site that is devoted to assisting people with finding options under Creditor Harassment and Bankruptcy laws. This free and open website empowers those who are enduring creditor harassment and/or folks looking for a fresh start altogether.

A bankruptcy lawyer is well versed in the laws that most of us hope we never need to learn about. Things like the The Fair Debt
Collections Practices Act are put in place to protect us from unethical collectors, but if we don’t have the help of someone who understands the act it is just a piece of paper.

You may not even realize that there is more than one class of bankruptcy. The glossary of bankruptcy terms provided on the website is a good place to start learning about this stuff.

I will preface this post with the admission that I am too much of a wuss to try to make money by trading options. Having said that, I can get excited about the concepts.

OEXOptions.com has a mentoring system. The landing page intrigued me. I liked how the site is willing to lay out the strategies by way of examples. A detailed explanation of a sound geometric approach to profitable option trading is right there.

The examples given make a lot of sense to me. I don’t know if traders are as organized and decisive as the pretend trader in the example. I would guess that mentors must deal will new investors that are tempted by a let it ride mentality. I am reminded of Homer’s investment in pumpkin futures. He had watched the stock rise all October and extrapolated a huge windfall sometime in January. If he had had a mentor, he may have been told otherwise.

The man in the centre is most probably who George W. Bush is picking as the new Head of the World Bank. Hopefully the dollar won’t drop to a new low of Tuppence a Bag.

His name is Robert Zoellick. He is qualified for the position. The other people in the picture are actors. They were never even shortlisted for the position.

In Switzerland wealthy foreign residents who do not have any local earnings can negotiate a special annual tax fee that is based on their expenditure. This has been providing people like Shania Twain a lucrative discount compared to the income tax that they would pay in their home country.

The Swiss municipal governments may be in the process of deciding that this is too good to last. I can only assume that the slow process of deciding on a change is because they have to figure out how to squeeze some golden eggs out of these rich people with out squeezing too hard.

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