What Caught My Eye Today - Presidential Election, Personal Finance

Presidential Election - Fred's Note: My, my, what a difference a debate makes. Prior to the first presidential debate, the media had all been pronounced the death of Mitt Romney's presidential bid.  Boyfriend promptly went and delivered a masterful performance and drawn even with incumbent President Barack Obama and slightly ahead in some polls.  Now if you are to believe these same expert pundits who claimed Romney's campaign was effectively over, Obama had a bad night and showed a bit of rust in his debating skills. That likely won't happen a second time.  Interestingly, the overall Electoral College map hasn't changed much since before the presidential debate last week, suggesting yet again, that most people have pretty much made up their minds who they plan to vote for on election day. In Congress, it is looking less and less likely that the Republican party will be able to take control of the Senate, but unless something pretty dramatic happens, they will continue to rule supreme in the House of Representatives. Next up, the veeps get their moment in the sun. Unless I am very much mistaken, I doubt either Joe Biden or Paul Ryan will claim that they can see Russia from their backyards.

Personal Finance - The fine folks at Business Insider have compiled a fascinating list of ways that the public wastes money. Blame the government or blame the economy, but Americans should also blame themselves for their declining net worth. We waste a whole lot of money. Seriously, over half a trillion dollars. This list is based on estimates due to limited available data, and the true total is surely higher. They included things like cigarettes and gambling, even though some would claim they are are worth their cost.

• $6 billion in unused gift cards each year. $41 billion in gift cards went unused from 2005 to 2011, worth $6 billion a year. Most of these are considered lost or discarded.
  No wonder I see so many of these so-called Gift Card Mall at the grocery store. They're like free money for the retailers. Well, I for one have had enough. Next year, instead of sending out a bunch of gift cards for birthday and holiday gifts that won't get spent, I spend the money on myself.
• $7 billion in ATM fees each year. Americans pay through the nose at the ATM machine, and these penalties are higher than ever right now.
  Kind of like salt in the wound, if you ask me. Not only are these rat bastards getting taxpayer bailouts for making dumb ass investments, but they are screwing those same taxpayers at the ATM.
• $12 billion in traffic tickets each year. Americans spend 7.5 to 15 billion dollars on traffic tickets, assuming 25 to 50 million traffic tickets, costing an average of $150 with an insurance surcharges for half of them costing around $300.
  You know, there is a simple solution to this. Just move to Texas (click here). How many street legal cars could actually hit 85 m.p.h. anyway?
• $29 billion on candy each year. Most candy has negative nutritional value. US confectionery sales totaled $29 billion in 2010, with 60% spent on chocolate.
  Negative nutritional value? Says who? I find a piece for chocolate makes my boss and my spouse much easier to deal with, which in turn help me avoid heartburn.
• $31 billion on lottery tickets each year. The average lottery ticket pays 47 cents on the dollar, meaning that Americans wasted around $31 billion.
  47 cents on the dollar, huh? That's roughly the same as I am likely to receive from Social Security when I retire. Okay that's a bit of an exaggeration; currently, I'm on pace to receive 74 cents for every dollar that I contribute. So does mean I should stop contributing to Social Security?
• $44 billion on tobacco each year. It's become such a problem that low-income earners are spending a quarter of their annual salary on cigarettes.
  I'm not a smoker, but I bet if you asked one, he or she would strongly argue that the money they spend on cigarettes is wasted.
• $49 billion on credit card interest each year. The average cardholder had an unpaid balance of $2,210 at the end of the month. Throw in an average APR of 12.75% for 174 million cardholders, and you get total annual interest payments of $49 billion.
  These would be those same rat bastards who are collecting all those ATM fees.
• $50 billion on alcohol each year. One might argue that booze isn't a waste of money but, Americans spent $50 billion getting drunk.
  Has it occurred to anyone that if the banks weren't ripping us a new one, we might not drink so much?
• $69 billion at the casinos each year. Casinos earned gross revenue of $125 billion in 2010. An estimated 45% was returned to gambler's in winnings. That leaves $69 billion money that people willingly gave away.
  Let me see if I got this straight. No smokin', no drinkin' and no gamblin'? Why don't you just take me out back and just shoot me.
• $76 billion on soda each year. These drinks provide no nutritional value, and you're better off drinking water.
  Or you could just stick with the booze and save a cool $26 billion.
• $146 billion in wasted energy each year. This calculation in based on $443 billion in annual home energy costs, and the claim that consumers could cut energy costs by a third if they followed recommendations from the government-backed Energy Star program.
  I know this screams socialism, but wouldn't it be a bit easier if all energy consuming products were just mandated to adhere to Energy Star standards?
• $165 billion in wasted food each year. When you trash food, you throw out money. The habit costs $165 billion nationally, according to the National Resources Defense Council, which means it costs $529 per person.
  Ironically, one in three people in the U.S. is overweight, so one could argue that we aren't throwing out enough food. What's that you say...smaller portions? Well, now you are just talking pure nonsense.