The Gwartney and Stroup text is a standard college level 2-semester course covering macro and micro. Bauml and Blinder also have a text. Mankiw is another choice that a lot of students like. All of these are going to be fairly similar in their presentation of material. There are others, but I can't think of them right off of the top of my head. Whether to cover macro or micro first is an on-going debate among economics professors. I would suggest choosing a book and sticking with the order that is presented within that book. I am an economics and finance professor. I have not taught the principles of economics course in a number of years, but if you have any quetions pm me.

If you are flying American Airlines, according to this site, there is no weight limit for carry-on bags. http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/blog/10460865/airline-carry-on-bag-policies/

In addition to the oz limit per bottle, all of your liquid and gel containers must fit inside one quart size zip lock bag and you may only take one quart size bag. (There are exceptions if you are carrying medicines.) The weight and size limits of carry-ons vary by airline. If you check the website of the airline you are flying, it should provide details regarding size and weight limitations.

I had leather seats when my kids were young. Our car seats were almost impossible to install; they would just slide on the leather. I think car seats have improved and the belting mechanisms in cars are better for car seats today, but you might consider trying the car seats out on the leather before choosing leather.

I was 6; we went to our next door neighbor's house so that we could watch it in color. They had a color television set and we had only black and white. I don't know what I had thought was going to be so colorful on the moon.

College Station, TX might be a possibility. Given a large number of university professors living there, you find a group that is dedicated to education and that offers some diversity. Yet, the town is conservative. You are only about 1 1/2 hours from Houston, which offers many activities and a diverse population (much due to the oil industry) and only about 1/2 hours from Austin--much more liberal, but it gives some variety.

Has your child ever participated in an investments club? If so, what did you like or dislike about it? My 13 year old is interested in the financial markets and we are talking about the possibility of starting up an investment club. We are just in the brainstorming phase, so we would be interested in hearing any input or ideas.

There seems to be more to the story than what has appeared in the news stories. One of the two siblings that she is supporting is away at college. The younger sibling is living with family members.

We live in a town with a similar ordinance. While it is annoying at times, it does make it easier for the police to notice something odd at night as the drive by glancing down the streets. It has allowed them to stop a number of crimes. A few weeks ago they noticed a car parked on the street at 2:30 in the morning and went to investigate--found a prominent man from the adacent town (who was apparently unaware of the parking restrictions) in a car with a minor male he had met in an online chat room, which led to his arrest for sexual assault among other things. The ordinance also came in handy several weeks ago when we had invited a single friend over for dinner, not realizing quite how lonely he was and at 2:00am he was still at our house! We were able to say politely, "Our town tickets cars parked ont he street after 2:00am" to give him a hint... It has also put an end to some large, late night teen parties in the neighborhood.

No, this is not the same. The original owner of the house is not taking the house back and selling it to someone else ofr the smaller amount. Also, the purchaser of the house was taking the risk that the price of the house would fall in the future (just as she was taking the risk that the price would rise.) If people want to see a home as an investment and gain when housing prices rise (as the previous owners of the home did) they must be willing to take the downside risk also.

The issue isn't that she is paying $250,000 for something worth $75,000. She DID buy something and paid $250,000. That is in the past. That $250,000 went to the previous owners of the house. She didn't have $250,000, so borrowed it from the bank. Her decision now is not whether she should pay $250,000 for something worth $75,000; her decision is whether to honor the agreement she made with the bank. Would it be "strategic" if she saw a pair of shoes she loved for $100 in Macy's, but didn't have the cash to pay for them. So she charged them on her bank credit card. After she wore the shoes for a while, she saw they were on sale for $25. She was upset because she owed the bank $100 for something that was only worth $25! So she decided not to pay her credit card bill.

When I had my wisdom teeth out everyone suggested mashed potatoes, but I found them to be the most difficult thing to eat--they would just mush up and get messy and stuck in all of the crevices in my mouth. Something liquid like soup which would go straight down was much easier. Actally, the easiest thing eat was chocolate fudge--it would just melt in my mouth:001_smile:

I am sorry for your loss. Personally, I don't like information like this being shared on Facebook (but then again, I don't post anything on Facebook). Earlier this year, my cousin posted on Facebook that our aunt had died. The aunt had not died, yet. Yes, she was close to death, and her children had been called in. But, she had a son who is stationed overseas in the military who had not made it home yet, and saw this incorrect posting on Facebook. I didn't think it was the cousin's place to post this, even if it were true.

I have felt this way with my dd, also. Although she was extremely mature, I thought it was too much of a burden for her to hear some of the things she heard. She wasn't ready to be in that position. The group rules were included confidentiality, and I had to make it clear to her that no one was to tell her that she could not talk to us as parents about something. In addition, she wasn't getting the study and Biblical education she was desiring because the group was beoming an "accountability" group, focused on sharing. Also, I had some concerns about the young teens being told to share with the group when I did not think that some of the others in the group could be trusted not to share the private information at school, on Facebook, etc. I have been in a number of groups with women, however, and have not had the same concerns. I have been in groups with committed, wise Christian women who were dear friends. I felt very supported in those groups and hope that I was able to support others. However, my personality is such that I shy away from groups where people "share all" immediately with people they barely know.

I column or a bar chart would work if you are trying to show how many were correct for each individuals (providing a total 5 out of 21) won't show any information by individual. If you have the majority of your observations as "zero" I would question how useful a chart is going to be because "zero" doesn't show up well in visual presentations.

In 2011 nonfarm worker productivity grew only 0.4%; however, hourly compensation grew 2.5%. This indicates that the wages of workers increased much more than did their productivity. Even if it were true that worker productivity were growing faster than wages, most increases in productivity are not due to workers working harder or faster; most increases in productivity come from investments in capital. So, should the returns go to those investing in capital?

We have traveled to Europe with kids ranging in age from 2 months old through high school. Our favorite place is Austria. We have rented apartments in the Innsbruck area at reasonable rates. We have found that having a homebase for a longer period of time and traveling from there works best for us. Innsbruck is two hours be train to Munich and Salzburg and three hours to Zurich. Italy is only 30 minutes to the south. Fussen is not far. There are many family friendly activities and outdoor activites for a wide-range of ages.

Yes, the base pay in many of the finance positions is often quite low. I was in NYC last week and visited with a former student who is now working on Wall Street. He graduated at the top of his college class three years ago. Interestingly, given recent threads regarding what type of lifestyle a minimum wage job should provide, he has three roommates in a small apartment to make ends meet. He works until at least 10:00 every night. (He feels he is lucky because some of the divisions work until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.) He works Thanksgiving and other holidays (the financial markets are open in other parts of the world that don't take Thanksgiving as a holiday, so he must work to take care of the clients.) One hundred people started at the firm when he started; less than three years later over half have quit--it is a grueling lifestyle. Bonuses are paid in February. Part of the reason for this is to keep people from quiting when the work load is heaviest--if you don't stay until February you get no bonus.

Most airlines charge more if you book over the phone, or even in person at the counter, than if you book on their website. I usually check travelocity.com and then the individual airlines websites for the flights that look the most promising. Depending on the market in which you are flying, remember that some airlines, such as Southwest, do not show up on some of the sites such as travelocity.com.

Also, over 1/2 of the people working at a minimum wage job live in households that are in the top 50% of the income distribution. Of course there are exceptions, but the majority of people working at minimum wage jobs are not living in poor families.

Alan Blinder, economist at Princeton, wrote a book "Hard Heads, Soft Hearts" a number of years ago, which provides down-to-earth explanations of economic issues. It provides a "hard heads" analysis--a thorough understanding of economics--balanced with "soft hearts"--a care and concern about fairness and equity issues, as opposed to a cold, academic economic viewpoint.

In many situations, the school has to verify that the student is actually registered for classes before any funds will be disbursed. I would check to make sure what dh's registration status is with the school.

I read a study done by psychologist a number of years ago that followed people several years after a divorce. It found that 1/3 of the people were "happier", 1/3 of the people were "less happy", and 1/3 of the people reported the same level of happiness several years after a divorce. I can't remember the details (who did the study, etc.), but the results stuck in my head. Every situation is unique and there isn't an obvious answer.

The discussion of whether an individual's income should be enough for a family of four to live on, made me start thinking about if this were easily done in the past. My paternal grandmother did not work for wages, but she worked hard on the family farm, raising much of the food that the family ate. Therefore, I wouldn't consider that getting by on my grandfather's salary alone. The family of eight (4 sons and 2 daughters) lived in a two bedroom house without electricity for many years. She never had a car. They never ate out. I know of her going on one short vacation in her life (paid for by her kids). My maternal grandmother worked at a paying job during the early years of her marriage and did not become a mother until her mid-30s. One of the reasons that she and my grandfather got by on one income once they were parents is that there expenses were low. They lived in a two bedroom house, never had a dishwasher, never owned a clothes dryer, and shared one car. My mother did not work when I was younger, but did once I was older. So, my family history is not one of a stay-at-home Leave-it-to-Beaver mom with dad making enough money to support a family at a comfortable lifestyle. Was that really the norm in the past?