Articles written by Paul E. Zimmerman - Page 4

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I'm here for the money, and really, I hope that you are, too.

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Personal Finance > Budgets & Saving The saving crisis: A generation of Americans who can't save money: 43 of 44
While it is true that some people simply cannot save, a large part of the current concern of our national savings rate really has to do with how "savings" is defined. Typically, the "savings rate" people speak of is a simple government tabulation of income versus expenses, with the remainder being savings, if any. What is no... More..
Society & Lifestyle > Social Values & Norms Society has its priorities confused: 70 of 70
In short, the answer to the question of whether society has its priorities confused or not is "no." The term, "society," refers to an abstract idea, not a conscious being, and conscious beings are the only things that can have their priorities confused. Any given society is really only a collection of individuals, all with t... More..
Arts & Humanities > Awareness & Reality Why the passing of time seems to accelerate as we age: 45 of 45
I think the answer to why it is that time seems to pass faster as we get older is that as we mature from children into adults, we find ourselves with more things to do and more things to be aware of. Childhood is rather simple - you have your play interests, maybe a few favorite cartoon shows (my mother tells me that I used ... More..
Celebrations & Holidays > Christmas The difference between saying 'Happy holidays' versus 'Merry Christmas': 16 of 16
Yesterday, I received an email from one of my now former students about some personal business, and the student signed off with "happy holidays!" I responded with my customary "Merry Christmas!" I then had a mental twitch and wondered if I would next receive some sort of admonition for "assuming" that the holiday I celebrate... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Party Politics & Ideology What it means to be a libertarian: 12 of 12
While looking over a social networking website that caters to college students recently, I came across the profile of one person who expressed a desire for one Rigoberta Menchu, a darling of the far left despite the fact that her socialist-endearing life story is a fraud, to become the next president of Guatemala. This caugh... More..
Computers & Technology > Internet (Other) Internet-based affiliate businesses: 7 of 7
What is entrepreneurship? Obviously, there's the dictionary definition of entrepreneurship, of course: "entrepreneur 1. a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk. 2. an employer of productive labor; contractor. verb (used with object) 3. to deal with or ... More..
Arts & Humanities > Writing & Rating at Helium How to create paragraph breaks in your Helium articles: 4 of 4
If you're like most Helium writers, you no doubt have written great articles only to see them run into one giant paragraph upon submission. What happened? What you wrote probably had paragraph breaks, but ended up without them after you clicked "submit." This has no doubt frustrated many a writer here, myself included. Witho... More..
Personal Finance > Mutual Funds Making sense of exchange traded funds (ETFs): 3 of 3
Exchange Traded Funds (ETF's for short) are baskets of investments that in many ways resemble more familiar mutual funds. ETF's have key differences from mutual funds, however, and these differences might make them inappropriate as a replacement in your portfolio for mutual funds. The main feature shared between ETF's and mu... More..
Personal Finance > Credit Cards Don't take that 3.99% credit card offer: 3 of 3
Don't take that 3.99% credit card offer... unless it lowers your over-all interest rate. This is what I think this topic should have been entitled. The first article submitted under this title describes accurately what happens when one accepts a low, fixed rate balance transfer offer on a card that already has a balance: pay... More..