Word: spendthrift
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...only 6% of spouses said they would cut back on gifts for each other, so in just two years the number of spendthrift spouses has increased almost nine-fold. "This holiday season, parents are telling us that they still worry about job security, and they are desperately trying to cut down on debts," says Beemer. Even the pooch may be getting better treatment than Pops. In a separate Consumer Reports survey, 22% of women who expected to reduce their holiday spending said they would be cutting back on gifts for their spouse. Only 14% said they would cut back...
Ultimately, every interrogation is a cat-and-mouse game, and seasoned interrogators have more than one way to coax, cajole or trick their captives into yielding information. Lying and dissimulation are commonplace. When a high-ranking insurgent spoke of his spendthrift wife, Alexander said he sympathized because he too had a wife who loved to shop. The two men bonded over this common "problem"; the insurgent never knew that Alexander is single. The Army manual even includes a "false flag" technique: interrogators may pretend to be of other nationalities if they feel a captive will not cooperate with Americans. (Read...
...every analyst is convinced that a $4,000 or $5,000 rebate would convince suddenly spendthrift U.S. consumers to buy a new car - especially the sort of customers who would own a clunker in the first place. "Either this program won't make them buy, or they're just poor," says Wolkonowicz. But a cash-for-clunkers deal with tough enough fuel standards would at least be a way to throw Detroit another lifeline without sinking the planet - even as Washington seeds longer-term demand for more-efficient vehicles. The key, like any used car contact, is to check...
...exception, though, is Uncle Sam. Even before the financial crisis forced the government's hand, the U.S. had again become addicted to deficit spending - relying on the kindness of strangers (in this case, mainly Chinese and Japanese central bankers) to finance its spendthrift ways. In September the Congressional Budget Office's baseline deficit forecast for 2008 was $407 billion. Now, with the Treasury's massive intervention in support of banks and financial markets ($700 billion at a minimum) and with a second economic-stimulus package a political certainty, the government deficit could soar next year to $1 trillion...
...possible benefit of turmoil: the bear market of 2008 may have ended the spendthrift ways of the 80 million--strong boomer generation, which is now heading rapidly toward retirement, and refocused them on saving. "We must have a reset on consumer spending; frankly, it is out of control," says Daniel J. Houston, president of retirement investor services at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa. The average contribution to a 401(k) plan is 7% of salary, yet the average person may need to save 13% to 15% of his salary to maintain his standard of living in retirement...