Bring Back the Mug Shots!

The Greene County Prosecutor’s Office has made its website more functional lately, and they’ve posted some lists. One is the Criminal Warrant list, which can be found here: http://www.co.greene.in.us/prosecutor/one1_files/page0031.htm The other is a dead-beat dad (and mom) list found here: http://www.co.greene.in.us/prosecutor/one1_files/page0030.htm It would be nice to see photos of the people, too, as they have had on the website in the past. Most of us do not know these people personally, but could possibly spot them at Wally World, the gas station, or otherwise around town.

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor…

This op-ed piece really makes a person think:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/opinion/11friedman.html?em

Where Will The Billions Go?

Just how is the government planning to spend the billions in stimulus recently passed?

Well, there’s a nice little run-down of things in this New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/your-money/13money.html?8mon&emc=yma1

Another good resource for more in-depth discussion of the stimulus:
http://taxpolicycenter.org/taxtopics/conference_stimulus.cfm

Linton-Stockton Schools Performance Figures

Some interesting school performance figures out for Linton-Stockton Schools:

http://dew4.doe.state.in.us/SCHLSTATS/APRPT/2008/f2950.pdf

THE ONLY Long-Term Solution

Mandatory financial education in the schools is the ONLY way out of this credit meltdown long-term. Sure, stimulus this and stimulus that may get us out of the doldrums for a while, but until people know what they’re doing, financially-speaking, we as Americans will be set on yet another collision course – perhaps even worse next time!

After all, Lord helps us all if we actually teach something so practical in school! With all due respect to those other courses, what is more practical than personal finance for a student? Writing checks, using a credit card, and taking out a home or car loan will probably be in 100% of all of the students' lives at some point in their life.

One teacher is teaching a course in personal finance and the article can be found here:
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090214/NEWS02/902140456/

I was glad to see this article. And yes, it’ll be a slow process, but financial education is the only long-term solution. So, we better get started now!