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One benefit of creating this daily links section is that I can also toss in miscellaneous administrative content now-and-then. For example, I forgot to announce the winners of the “join the discussion forum” contest. Andrea, Gnashcick, Pszalapski, Emlombardo, and Siobhan were each randomly selected to win one personal finance book. Long-time reader RJ was the grand-prize winner. He received five personal finance books. Thanks to everyone for participating. (And if you haven’t joined the GRS discussion forum, it’s a great place to ask questions and share ideas about personal finance.
>> Michael Pollan: You are what you grow <<
After our discussion of Rebecca Blood’s Thrifty Food Plan Challenge, Golden Lady e-mailed me this recent Michael Pollan story from The New York Times Magazine (which I still wish I could get a la carte). The article describes how current U.S. agricultural policy encourages certain types of food, namely calorically-dense processed products. It explains why it’s cheaper to buy a potato chips than it is to buy potatoes.
>> Double trouble for ID-theft victim <<
Rachel Poor had her identity stolen, and now she’s trapped in a real-life nightmare. Because her checking account number was stolen (and not her credit card number), many conventional anti-ID theft tactics aren’t working. The criminal just drains her account as fast as she can add money. And Bank of America isn’t helping. [This story was sent in by Sabino.]
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May 10th, 2007 at 5:00 am
Michael Pollan’s web site has a number of this other articles, all of which are great.
May 10th, 2007 at 8:47 am
The comments left on the identity theft article are very telling. So many things could have been done differently for Rachel.
I hope BofA has an opportunity to reply on this issue.
May 10th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Make sure you read that article about food choices. It’s a great read about why America is unhealthy and what you can do about it. These products are only cheap because the government subsidizes them, but there are hidden costs such as bad health, environmental damage and a poor economy.
If you’re looking for alternatives, I just posted an article in my blog about farmers markets. They’re good place to find cheap and healthy foods.
GJ
May 10th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Why on earth did she continue to put money in that account?
Yes, she’s the victim, and she definitely deserves to get everything back and to get better service, but you’ve got to be a particular kind of stupid to put money into an account that’s
1. Known to be compromised and
2. In the red with stuff you shouldn’t have to pay for.
May 10th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Thanks again, JD.