Free Shipping!

Reminder...free shipping day is Thursday, Dec. 17th on products bought online.

Some 700 of them, will ship orders for free and vow to get them delivered to you by December 24.

Consumer Reports
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/money/2009/12/free-shipping-day-is-a-week-away.html

Financial Crisis Resources Update

I posted an earlier entry that had some websites for finding information about the financial crisis.

Yesterday I saw that Mark Cuban has a new blog called Bailout Sleuth. Included in the blog is an RSS feed.

http://bailoutsleuth.com/

Financial Crisis' Pathfinders

This was on the BusLib-Listserv last week and thought this might be helpful to everyone.

Resources for Financial Crisis:

1. Folger Library
http://library.umaine.edu/social/crisisreports.htm

2. San Diego Public Library has a "Hot Topics" segment on the crisis: http://www.sandiegolibrary.org/. Click on the "Hot Topics" button on the right side of the web page.

3. Colorado State U: http://libguides.colostate.edu/financialcrisis

4. BeSpacific: http://www.bespacific.com/. Use the search query box, enter the term: financial system

5. Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore: http://www.prattlibrary.org/locations/businesscenter/index.aspx?id=24628

Banks cut rates

Seen in the news -

Fed, ECB, Central Banks Cut Rates in Coordinated Move (Update5)
By Scott Lanman
Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and four other central banks lowered interest rates in an unprecedented coordinated effort to ease the economic effects of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
...

The Fed reduced its benchmark rate to 1.5 percent. The ECB's main rate is now 3.75 percent; Canada's fell to 2.5 percent; the U.K.'s rate dropped to 4.5 percent; and Sweden's rate declined to 4.25 percent. China cut interest rates for the second time in three weeks, reducing the main rate to 6.93 percent.
(cont.)

Flat fee legal billing

Meet an In-House Cost-Cutter Who Believes in Fixed Fees
Cisco general counsel champions innovations in billing and technology
Leslie A. Gordon
GC California Magazine
August 29, 2007

Cisco GC Mark Chandler uses a variety of methods to keep his budget in line while streamlining certain routine legal processes. The reporter discusses how Chandler uses a mix of flat fee arrangements, meetings with outside counsel to ask "how can we be better clients", and streamlined internal processes to keep legal costs for Cisco down. One internal process: automated non-compete agreements.

What's a Dollar Worth?

What's a Dollar Worth?
http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/research/data/us/calc/

This site by the Federal Bank of Minneapolis presents a consumer price index calculator. What would an item or service purchased in 2006 be worth in 19?? dollars? Enter years as 4 digits (1913 through 2006). Enter dollar amount without commas or $ sign in box on first line. Click Calculate button to compute dollar amount shown on second line.

Related site: http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl
Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator

From site-of-the-day