Archive for 'Economy and Politics'

From 1 October 2007, the national minimum wage (shouldn’t that be national hourly rate minimum?) for 2007/2008 will go up in the UK:

• Adults over 22 can expect a minimum of £5.52 per hour (let’s hope you’re getting more though!).
• 18-21 will earn a minimum of £4.60 per hour which is not much at all, especially for students.
• 16-17 year olds are totally undervalued at a £3.40 per hour minimum

It’s really not much at all, but at least it’s something for those on the minimum wage who never receive an annual cost of living increase. Unfortunately, there are many more of us who never receive an annual cost of living yet prices are rising continuously. Companies get greedier as they get richer and the poor get poorer.

There will be another increase in October 2008… yay (!).

For over a year now, The Cramer Report has been delivering cover of Jim Cramer’s Mad Money TV show. It was more or less an over-night success, having generated a lot of interest over a short period of time. And a year later? The site has only grown in popularity

The Cramer Report also provides the latest lightning rounds bears and bulls along with comments from Jim (James) Cramer. It’s an essential source if you want to keep ahead and make sure your portfolio is going to perform at a high level consistently. Let’s face it, Cramer’s rarely wrong so it can’t do any harm to keep up-to-date.

TCR knows that not everyone reading the site will have a lot of knowledge about stocks and Jim Cramer so you can find there a beginner’s guide to stocks, a Jim Cramer Biography and various Mad Money related articles.

That’s just one of the many reasons why the site is such a success, but I guess the site owner will keep all the secrets of his success a closely guarded secret. And it only keeps getting better.

Anyone who knows me is aware that I have a keen interest in the stock market, but I have little knowledge in this area. So, of course, I was quite happy when I found a very informative blog, Investing Blog, which covers topics such as stocks, mutual funds, investing and hedge funds (more on that later).

Not only is it informative, but the information is presented in an easy-to-understand way, so I recommend reading the earliest posts for each category if (like me) you’re still learning about the stock market and related topics as the terminology is explained in a simple manner and will help you understand the later posts.

I finally found out what a hedge fund is and this has cured my curiosity about it, as I had read several times or heard about it on the news (or in films) but never understand what the term meant. It seems like being a manager of hedge funds can make quite a bit of cash (in 2004 the top 25 hedge fund managers made an average of $251 million!!!), I wonder if it’s perhaps time I gave up my day job?

Admittedly, the site has quite a US slant, but let’s face it their currency and economy has an impact on every economy in the world, one way or another, so even for non-US based people such as myself the news updates are worthwhile reading (it will also help understand what’s happening at home and why). These days, this is also true of China and Japan, though, especially with China’s economy growing at such a high rate.

For those of you with a curiosity about the stock market and want to read regularly updated information and advice about the financial markets, check out Investing Blog - I wasn’t disappointed, so I’m sure you won’t be!

Recently, a friend of mine asked what to do when he was having problems with a government department. I suggested he contacted his local MP as a first step in complaining about it. I believe it’s worth firing off some complaints, make them work a little for their money, even if it’s just a few minutes reading and replying to an email.

Get in touch with your local MP and tell him/her what’s annoying you regarding central/local government, maybe s/he can help, maybe s/he can’t, but they least they should do is point you in the right direction.

You’ll be able to contact your local MP by visiting http://www.upmystreet.com/commons/l/.

On my way to work, as ever, I was reading a copy of Metro newspaper and the frontpage headline was "Safe sex campaign crippled by debts".

It’s sad to read that the NHS (National Health Service - in the UK) is struggling financially (unfortunately, it’s been this way for some time) and even sadder to read that such critical areas as sexual health are having their funding diverted (or even cut altogether).

Read more…