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Like a 4-year-old child at the checkout counter in a supermarket, American consumers want just one more impulse buy to make their buying day complete, and apparently the more expensive it is, the better.

Here is an example: A 68-year-old, semi-retired businessman shells out $600,000 for a recreational vehicle which costs about $550 to top off at the pump. He and his wife are tooling around the country in an effort to have fun while they can.

His comment on the decision is that "This isn't a dress rehearsal for lifethis is it. We're curtailing nothing." Those big tears you see following his comment might well come from any children who see their inheritance fading away into the sunset with dad and mom.

Like a dog in heat, if we have it we tend to spend it in America.

All of this impulse buying is detailed in a recent usa Today article with this headline: "Spending is hotter than the 4th of July". And indeed it apparently is.

Although the median amount of credit-card debt carried by the typical American is about $6,600 (this is not a typo), 13% of respondents in a recent online poll reported balances higher than $25,000, according to CardTrack.com.

"Never have Americans, who have always liked their toys, been faced with a situation where their impulses are so hard to control," says Stuart Vyse, a professor of psychology and author of the upcoming book Going Broke: Why Americans Can't Hold on to their Money.

The fact is that we as consumers can buy almost anything we want anytime we want on the easiest terms we want. Sellers and lenders have no compunctions about selling us what we do not need at a price we cannot afford and at a rate of payment that can eventually drive us into bankruptcy.

Sellers and lenders, especially credit card lenders, have raised this willingness to line their pockets at our expense to an art form. And yes, I understand and agree with the observation that we all need to be responsible for our actions.

What I do disagree with is this: How can doing the right thing with right thinking and right motives justify lending consumers money and credit when they do not deserve it, and then leaving them no smarter but broker and deeper in debt in the process?

All of this unmerited lending is creating and concentrating wealth among America's very rich, and the rich club in America is growing faster and farther away from America's poor and middle classes.

"For the first time in history, more than half of all earned income, specifically 50.4%, is going to 20% of the U. S. population, which amounts to $3.5 trillion in the hands of 23 million households," says Peter Francese, a demographic trends analyst for ad and marketing giant Ogilvy & Mather.

So more than half of the earned income in America is going to 20% of the population, leaving the other half to 80% of the working stiffs that are left to continue buying things they do not need at prices they cannot afford on credit.

A key component of this impulse spending happens because too many Americans think they can afford it when they cannot.

Families are less frugal today, in part because only 25% of households have married couples with children, a significant drop from 50% in 1960 and the lowest percentage in census history. We have a census procedure in this country to learn these kinds of sociological shifts.

There are more working couples without children who have more disposable income and keep spending rather than realizing their good fortune and saving. Leading the spending spree are the seniors mentioned at the beginning of this article.

Seniors have so much spendable income that a luxury Marketing Council has been created to advise top brands on consumer trends for a growing group of seniors that have at least $1 million in liquid assets. They do not need to sell their home to buy a $125,000 Maserati, they simply write a check out of one of their accounts.

I personally would not encourage this kind of spending among any consumers, and especially on an automobile which is a decreasing asset. If you cannot control your impulse to buy, at least buy land or developed properties that might well appreciate over time.

The usa Today article carried information by Pitney Bowes MapInfo which identified the Top 20 Counties nationwide with the highest average expenditures annually per household. Here are the Top 7:

1) Marin, CA - $68,782

2) Fairfield, CT - $65,263

3) Fairfax, VA - $63,569

4) San Mateo, CA - $63,229

5) Morris, NJ - $62,995

6) Somerset, NJ - $62,345

7) Westchester, NY - $61,425

I identify these counties as "high rent districts" which are too expensive for most people to buy a home. One thing is for sure, if you do not make some major money, you are not going to be able to keep up with those earners who can.

Not all of us suffer from this apparent impulse to buy.

The answer to impulse control just might be in yoga. yoga taught me "impulse control", the ability to feel an urge and delay acting on it. yoga also taught me that when stability becomes a habit, maturity and clarity follow.

While earning money has a way of increasing financial intelligence quickly, I learned a long time ago that a fool and his money are some parted.

I will keep the $125,000 and you can have the Maserati. I will keep the $600,000 and you can have the recreational vehicle. Eventually, cash is king; the car and the recreational vehicle will eventually end up in the junkyard with a lot of other impulse purchases.

Copyright 2007 Ed Bagley

Ed Bagley is the Author of Ed Bagley's Blog which he Publishes with Original Articles on Current and Past Events, including Analysis and Commentary on Lessons in Life, Movies, Sports, Internet Marketing, Jobs and Careers that are intended to Delight, Inform, Educate and Motivate Readers. Visit Ed at . . .
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/MovieReviewArticles.html
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/LessonsinLifeArticles.html

posted by 45193  # 10:46 PM 0 comments

One golf grip tip is to not grip the club too tight. By gripping the club too tight, you reduce your wrist action involved with the swing. this is important because your wrist action is a power source and allowing your wrist to rest comfortably will allow you to get the most of your power.

A tip to get the most of your wrist power is to place the club in your fingers rather than your palm. The fingers are the most sensitive part of the hands, and placing the club in the fingers will help increase the amount of wrist hinge.

Another way gripping the club too tightly can affect your shot is through the control you will have on your shot. By tightening up your grip, generally the muscles all the way up your arms and into your shoulders tighten up as well. By overworking these muscles and being tense, you wont get the proper swinging motion that is necessary for an accurate shot.

There are a number of ways you can grip your golf club, but in particular there are three that are most common. The first is The vardon Overlap, which is also referred to as the Overlapping grip. this is by far the most popular and common grip among all types. To get a feel for this grip, you start by placing your hands on the handle with your little finger on the trailing hand placed between the index and middle finger on the lead hand. The lead hand thumb should fit in the lifeline of the trailing hand. For right-handed golfers, the lead hand is the left.

The next common grip among the three is the interlocking grip. The name of this grip says it all as you literally lock your hands together. You will take your little finger on the trailing hand and intertwine it with the index finger on the lead hand. The lead hand thumb should fit in the lifeline of the trailing hand. Many people with smaller hands and weak forearms and wrists tend to prefer this style.

The last grip style is the ten finger grip, which is sometimes referred to as the baseball grip. this is a rather simple grip, which is why it is often taught to beginners. All you do for this grip is place a perfect lead hand grip, and then place the little finger of the trailing hand close against the index finger of the lead hand. You will lastly cover your lead hand thumb with the lifeline of the trailing hand.

Although these are the three most common ways to grip a club, the best way to find what works for you is by going off of what is most comfortable. The more comfortable you are the better wrist action and power you will get from your swing.

Joshua Spaulding is an Author and an avid golfer who provides professional, Free Golf Tips like Chipping Golf Tips through his Website at http://www.freegolfswingtips.net/

posted by 45193  # 2:56 PM 0 comments

discount travel is the word of the travel Industry and it has made many Persons who cannot travel otherwise also to travel to distant places. All of us want to travel the whole world and it is impossible for many People who are not that much affluent to spend huge amounts on their Travel.

How can everybody do that is the most asked question? The introduction of discount Travel has made travel easy for many travelers. This allows all the travel lovers to travel without hurting their Bank balance because the discount Travel has made them travel at a fraction of their original cost, and it has become cheap.

The most important development in discount Travel has probably been the widespread availability of cheap Flights. Many Companies use the yield management system that allows Prices to vary wildly depending on when you book your Flight. If you book far advance your fair will be less. And you can enjoy your Travel at a lower Fare. Booking online makes it possible to look through all the dates available for Months in advance and choose the one that will be cheapest for you.

Third-party price comparison Websites allow you to then compare the Fares from different Airlines that fly on the route youre looking for, meaning that you can fly with the cheapest Airline on the cheapest day with very little effort. Regardless of whether you are planning a business trip or a much anticipated family vacation, the cost of Travel can be significant.

If you learn how to find the best travel deals, then you can put some extra bucks back into your wallet where they belong. Companies understand that while traveling the traveler just need a bed to take rest and nothing else. So they search for cheap hotels. This is economical and comfortable.

This made the hotel owners to build rooms with a bed or a dormitory. This will be cheaper during long travel. This type of hotels is called budget hotels. Budget hotels are exploding in popularity all around the world, making it cheaper to stay abroad today than it has ever been before in history.

If you like to travel and if you have less money you need not worry because there are lot of agencies which can arrange you for a part time job in the place where you want to Travel. Even students who like to visit a Country go to the Agents and ask for studies and part time job.

So discount travel along with advancements in the Communication and Travel Industry have changed the Travel Industry completely and has become more Customer friendly.

John Gibb is the owner of discount travel resources, For more information on discount travel check out http://www.Discount-Travel-recommendations.info.

posted by 45193  # 11:18 AM 0 comments

dell offers a full line of refurbished laptops on their website, dell.com. Look for Outlet Refurbished Laptops. There you will find a full range of popular models that run just as reliably as a new machine for hundreds of dollars less than you would pay for new versions. This is because dell refurbished laptops are inspected for good-as-new quality. The only differences are the red label on the bottom of the unit and a lower price.

Dells most popular refurbished laptops are Latitude and inspiron. The Latitude series of notebook computers is no longer manufactured, but is still a great buy for someone looking for an up-to-date machine. Latitude is an apt name for these models: they afford you great leeway in updating, expanding, or otherwise changing the internal workings of the computer. With its black chassis and clean lines, it is a rather normal looking computer. It is a middleweight unit, but sized to fit any standard laptop case, along with AC/DC adaptor, mouse, floppy and zip disks, and other accessories. The dell Latitude C600, cpx, and L400 are the three most popular models in the line.

The inspiron series of notebook computers is still manufactured today, with some modifications. Slightly older versions are still a great way to meet all your computer needs. Inspirons are not quite as expandable as Latitudes, but, with their jazzy black-and-silver chassis, have a distinctive look. inspiron laptops are also a bit more affordable than Latitudes. Furthermore, inspiron ranks among the highest performing laptops available, with famously long battery life The dell Inspiron 1100 and 1150 are the two most common models in the line of refurbished laptops at dell.

If you are looking to get the lowest price on a dell laptop, look for one that uses a Celeron processor instead of an intel. Celeron is less expensive, and also uses less battery juice, than intel.

Refurbished Laptops Info provides detailed information on quality, cheap refurbished laptops by manufacturers like dell, ibm, toshiba, and HP, as well as refurbished laptop batteries and related products. Refurbished Laptops Info is the sister site of Rack Mount Computers Web.

posted by 45193  # 5:20 AM 0 comments

To take full advantage of the great number of HDTV stations you can get with your satellite system, you will want a television with a breathtaking picture and mind blowing sound. When shopping for a television today, you have many more options than just a few years ago. From several hundred dollars, to a price similar to that of a new Corvette, you can choose the television to fit your budget and lifestyle.

If you want to watch satellite programming you will need a tv that is at least HDTV ready. Your satellite service provider will supply you with an HDTV tuner. Even if you will not be watching much HDTV programming, there is still a huge benefit to watching a digital television. All HDTV and HDTV ready tv's contain upconversion circuitry that cleans up the picture with even non HDTV signals.

If you watch a lot of movies or dvd's, you might want to purchase a widescreen television. A widescreen tv has a 16:9 aspect ratio screen, as opposed to the traditional television screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio. You can enjoy watching movies on a screen shaped like a movie theater screen, and view non digital programming in a side cropped view, or stretch the picture to varying degrees to fill the screen. All HDTV programming uses the 16:9 aspect ratio.

The least expensive option is the good old fashioned CRT (cathode ray tube) television. It has been around since 1927, and it is the least expensive option. It is built around a single picture tube, and provides excellent contrast and overall picture quality. A higher end picture tube television will actually give a smoother appearance of motion than a flat-panel tv. The primary drawbacks of tube tv's are their immense weight (compared to newer technology), and the considerable depth of the sets themselves, both severely limiting your installation choices. Also, the largest tube television available is 36", so if you need a larger picture, you might want to step up to flat-panel television.

LCD and Plasma screens are the two options available in flat-panel televisions. Both are incredibly thin and lightweight, and can be wall mounted if you choose to do so. An LCD (liquid crystal display) contains thousands of crystals sandwiched between two glass or plastic plates, which are acted upon by electrical current, creating images on the screen. A plasma screen consists of thousands of pixel cells filled with gases that excite phosphors, producing light, and thereby your picture.

The weight of an LCD and a plasma tv are comparable, with the LCD models being slightly lighter in the 40" range. As the screen size approaches 60", the weight of the LCD overtakes that of the plasma screen. The display panel tends to last longer with the LCD than with the plasma models. LCD televisions are not vulnerable to burn-in, also known as image shadowing or ghosting, like plasma screens. burn-in is essentially burned, or worn out pixels in a plasma screen that have been damaged over a period of time and retain color information from static images like network logos, etc... Plasma tv's tend to have more accurate color reproduction than LCD models, and are currently less expensive than a comparable LCD. While the largest LCD tv at this writing is 65", that is likely to change quickly as the technology evolves with the latest innovations in the computer monitor industry. The largest plasma screen television currently produced is the Panasonic TH-103PZ600U103", which boasts a massive 103" screen, and is expected to carry a whopping retail price of about $70,000 when is hits US markets in late 2006.

Remember the old, bulky rear-projection televisions that were almost a yard deep and weighed nearly as much as a VW Bug? Todays digital big screen tv's take up much less space, and a 60" television can weigh under 100 lbs. Digital big screens are capable of brightness that is unmatched by the older CRT televisions, and do not suffer burn-in like the plasma tv's. These digital big-screens also contains a consumer replaceable lamp that restores picture quality to its original brilliance. prices for these sets are very reasonable, usually one half to two thirds the price of a similar sized plasma or LCD television. One disadvantage of the big screen tv's is still size; even with technological advancements, these models take more room for installation than the flat screen televisions, and are not practical for wall mounting. The ideal viewing angle is only achieved straight on, and in a seated position.

For a true movie theater experience at home, a front projection tv may be a good choice. This is a two piece system consisting of a projector and a screen. They offer picture sizes up to 300", and do not include any type of tv tuner, instead displaying signals from a satellite receiver or cable box. The best viewing experience with a front projection setup requires a fairly dark environment, and is definitely not for everyone. However, for cinema lovers, there is no better way to bring your favorite film to life. Pricing for good projectors starts at just under $1000, and screen prices vary according to size, with most models falling somewhere between $300 and $1500.

Whether you watch mainly sporting events, movies, or dvd's, a modern television can give new life to your favorite programming. As technology advances at an astonishing pace, prices for larger and more sophisticated television sets continue to come down. If you do some shopping online and find that you can't quite afford the tv that you want, save money for five to six months; no matter how much or how little you are able to save, chances are you will be able to afford the set you want as prices come down. Just don't blow the money you have saved - you might need to build a new room to house the larger set you will be buying in two years.

Gregg Pennington owns the website http://satellitetv.easy-lookup.com, a site dedicated to satellite tv and television technology.

posted by 45193  # 5:15 AM 0 comments