Friday Linkfest

• Where can my kid learn about money? - Some resources for teaching kids about money.
  
• Home prices grow at slowest pace in 14 years - Maybe I should forward this to my local county tax office, because they insist my property value has increased 8% since last year.
  
• High gas prices burn April factory orders - Car demand down 3.3%. Wake up auto industry, maybe its not that we don't want to buy new cars, but that the only efficient cars you are giving us are overpriced hybrids or matchbook sized hatchbacks that don't get any better mileage than they did 20 years ago. We know you can do better.
  
• Insurer tattles on kids who speed - Great concept, but I'm not sure about having it run by my insurance company. How long until they start raising your rates when they notice your children are speeding?
  
• Fed rate cuts gone - More good reasons to stay away from debt and save for the things you want to buy.
  
• GM CEO hypes green alternatives - A car company insists moving from gasoline is the way to go, the same company that DID it 10 years ago, then yanked the cars away and crushed them. Sorry, GM, your green reputation is crushed. I'll be keeping my eye out for what Honda and Toyota may have to offer.
  
• Steer clear of those 5 car rental traps - Good advice. Renting a car is downright criminal in regard to the extra fees they add and do not tell you until you come to pick it up. Fortunately most websites are disclosing the fees, but there may be others hidden. You can usually find the specific fees that apply to you, if you know what you are looking for and scrutinize their various 'fees' and 'terms' pages long enough.
  
• Cost of borrowing money creeps up - More of the fallout from high defaults I imagine. The solution isn't to make borrowing more expensive, its to make credit less attainable!
  
• Get used to gas price runups - Blame seems to have narrowed onto the refineries, their lack of capacity or their limited numbers. Expect seasonal gas increases? I already do, and my own gas spending tracking shows a calculable trend.
  
• McDonalds sale surge - Of course they do, assign any lovable character to any product and it will instantly sell. Marketers know this. What does Shrek have to do with unhealthy junk food? Not the toy you get in the happy meal. Greed, plain and simple.
  
• No buzz for Starbucks - Is this really any surprise? Starbucks is an overpriced luxury beverage, one that is consumed by its customers on a daily or more basis and that has a dramatic impact on their budget. With high gas prices and costlier credit, consumers are going to be looking at their frivolous coffee spending first, and likely they will conclude that its an easy place to cut costs.