I'm not sure what's more heartbreaking about Cyclone Nargis, the military's junta's failure to forewarn residents of Myanmar about the deadly storm or the regime's reluctance to allow western governments and relief groups into the country to provide assistance during the crucial early days when victims need food, water and medicine. I suspect that this gives many would-be donors pause -- people don't want to give if they're not sure the food and supplies purchased with their donation will get to those in need.

I contacted Michael Forhan, a friend's father, who has lived in Myanmar and runs Burma Border Projects, a non-profit group founded to aid refugees along the Thai-Burmese border. "Some aid may be allowed in, but the bulk of the aid that's waiting to go still hasn't and may not ever make it in time," he said in an email. "My fear is that giving to larger international organizations may not be as efficient or timely as so many of them are having difficulty getting their aid into the country."

I am hopeful that pressure from the United Nations will persuade the junta that the crisis requires urgent international assistance or else famine and disease could increase the death toll, which is already in the tens of thousands. Meanwhile, Michael suggested donating to two grassroots organizations already on the ground and helping:

The Mae Tao Clinic (MTC), provides free health care to refugees and migrant workers who cross the border from Burma to Thailand. The clinic has an emergency assistance team working to get food, water, cooking equipment, clothing, shelter and medical services to cyclone victims.

Avaaz, a global organization co-founded by moveon.org, is sending money to the International Burmese Monks Organization, which has launched a relief effort through the grassroots monasteries in Mynamar. According to Avaaz's web site, the monks (referred to as "the most trusted and reliable institution in the country") are the only source of shelter and food in some remote areas affected by the cyclone.

Read | Read | Read | Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

• Chance that the avian flu will reach Europe before it reaches the U.S: 80%
• Chance that Osama bin Laden will be captured before George Bush leaves office: 15%
• Chance that the Democrat nominee will win the U.S. Presidency in 2008: 65%
• Chance that the Republican nominee will win the U.S. Presidency in 2008: 40%
• Chance that Hilary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee for President in 2008: 20%
  

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Given New York City's reputation for conspicuous consumption, I'm often surprised by the impressive level of philanthropy that the city has generated over the years. From Carnegie Hall to the Public Library system to the Maine Memorial, New York is covered with the impressive legacies of generous rich people. Of course, a disturbingly large number of these projects date from the nineteenth and early twentieth century, but I am still overwhelmed by the ways that the city's richest segment used to feel such an obligation to do its part for the rest of us slobs.

This is particularly striking when one considers our current crop of obscenely wealthy people. After all, while Tilden and Astor's New York Public Library was the result of a series of bequests, Donald Trump's much-touted restoration of the Grand Central Facade had to be tacked on as a precondition for one of his real-estate deals. The next generation is even worse: from where I stand, it seems like the only things that the Lizzie Grubmans and Paris Hiltons have to offer are DWIs, clandestine sex tapes, and the occasional hit-and-run. There was a time when public service was considered the duty of the wealthy. It was a sort of Calvinistic quid-pro-quo; while rich people enjoyed the benefits of incredible amounts of money, they showed their thanks with considerable generosity toward others. Nowadays, it seems like something that you do to get a tax break or score brownie points in court.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Time banking is a must do for anyone interested in doing good and saving money at the same time.

Time banks ask their members to provide services to their community neighbors, in return for Time Dollars. Those Time Dollars can then be spent on a service that you would like to have. The services range from giving someone a ride to the airport to cooking dinner for a family whose parents work late, but all services offered depend on who is a part of the time bank and what they have to offer.

A Time Dollar is basically equal to an hour's worth of work. If you do community service for the time bank for an hour, you then receive one Time Dollar and can then use that Time Dollar to "purchase" an hour's worth of work.

Local businesses are also getting on the time banking train. Loretta Bega is a member of a Pennsylvania based time bank and says that she was able to use her Time Dollars to get tickets to the symphony. I spoke with Loretta for an article I wrote on Mainstreet.com and she said her trip to the symphony was all made possible because they are also a member of her time bank. Volunteers stuff envelopes and act as ushers for the symphony and in return the symphony donates tickets to the time bank.

Business aren't only getting in on the act by volunteering donations to their local time bank. Many are beginning to offer discounts to anyone who is a member. The Visiting Nurse Services of New York Community Connections TimeBank in Upper Manhattan has more than 80 business partners as a part of its time bank, and every one offers something of value to their members. Discounter COSTCO offers a two for the price of one membership deal, CitiBank makes time bank members eligible for special checking accounts with no minimum balances, free international wire transfers, free financial reviews and a $500 discount on first mortgage closing costs. Enterprise Rent-A-Car offers 10% off all car rentals. And that's just for example. Time Banks are a growing trend.

To read more about how TimeBanks came to be, check out my related story.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Recent reports suggest New York Governor Eliot Spitzer spent as much as $80,000 on hookers. In the spirit of good economic analysis, I took a look at the opportunity cost of those assignations. For that money, and for the sake of his career, perhaps The Spritzer should have spent the 80 grand on one of these pleasures, instead.

1. A Fisker Karma hybrid sports car. From the designer of cars for BMW and Aston Martin, this plug-in hybrid gets 50 mpg, but more importantly, does it with panache.

2. Four cases of Dom. Romane Conti 1997. At $1,540 per bottle, this French red Burgundy is known as one of the best wines in the world.

3. A week and a half in the most luxurious suite at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, the world's tallest hotel. Built on its own island in the image of a ship in full sail, the Burj offer dining in its underwater restaurant, a private cinema, and airport shuttle in a Rolls Royce Silver Seraph. But no hookers.

4. Ten-game rental of the best Hall of Fame suite (holds 18-30 people) at Yankee Stadium, including parking and catering. Crying towels not included.

5. A used 48' Hinckley sloop sailboat, the Starlight, offered by a committed seller entangled in a divorce. (You might want to get his number for advice, Eliot.)

6. Two years at Princeton, including room, board, tuition, books, and a healthy weekly allowance. Hopefully they teach 'Managing your public image'.

7. Three years of a personal chef to prepare meals in your kitchen. No touching the cook, though.

8. A Jean Schlumberger Bird on a Rock brooch from Tiffany & Co., featuring a 107-carat emerald-cut aquamarine and 2.73 carats of round brilliant diamonds in 18k gold and platinum. Eliot, perhaps you should pick one of these up today, as a token. Ask Kobe how well that works.

Eighty grand seems like a lot to pay to ruin your career. But I suppose the real cost will be far greater, in opportunities lost, with nothing to show for it except some sordid memories and the disdain of millions.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read | Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

The first call came from a man in Texas. He said he received a cashier's check from a bank in Alabama in exchange for $3,000 in baseball memorabilia he was selling online. The package arrived by Federal Express and the shipping label listed my name, address and phone number. He called me because he was suspicious because my address is in Connecticut but the bank is in Alabama.

After the second of several similar calls, I figured out that someone had stolen my credit card and was shipping counterfeit checks all over the country using a Federal Express account opened in my name.

I had heard that identity theft, where someone gains access to personal information then uses it to open credit cards and take out loans in other people's names, was rampant. I wasn't sure if that's what was happening to me, but I quickly learned to act on my suspicions. After some research, I realized I needed to make three critical calls, and fast:

• Contact the three credit bureaus: I immediately called my bank, and they contacted the three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and Transunion, which collect information about consumers' credit activity. Citibank placed a fraud alert on my files with all three bureaus, which will monitor my credit reports for 90 days to make sure no one has tried to open accounts using my name.

• File a report with the police department. They will work with other police departments to try to track down the criminals.

• Notify the Federal Trade Commission. It enters the information into its identity theft data clearinghouse, and use it to help catch thieves. The information will also be also used for filing an identity theft report once I get the official police report and fill out some other paperwork the bank sent me.

In the next few days, I received two checks made out to other people but sent to my home address. I turned them over to the police. If I were to deposit the check and it bounced, my bank would mail it to the sender, who could try to access my bank account.

Of course, I called Federal Express and shut down the account early on. I also called my credit card company, and reviewed the charges to my credit card to see if there were any that my husband or I did not make. There were several, including a few to Federal Express, $600 in an online purchase and a few to Craigslist.com. I filed a fraud report and put a block on the account.

A week later, there has been no activity reported, which means that most likely mine was a case of account takeover rather than true identity theft. All tolled, roughly $3,000 was charged in my name on my credit card or via Fed Ex. Fortunately, I'm not responsible for any of the expenses. One charge that was puzzling was three donations totaling $1,200 to CARE, the international relief agency. When I spoke with a CARE representative, Debbie Varble, she said that it was not unusual for thieves to do this on non-profit web sites. "We don't sell anything and we don't ship anything, she explained. "So thieves use non-profits as a testing ground to see how much they can charge."

Read more about identity theft and steps you can take to prevent it here.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Tired of the same old Applebee's and Cracker Barrel fare? Well, fortunately, you're living in the 21st century, where choice reigns. We've pulled together some suggestions for places that offer novel dining experiences.

All of the restaurants in this series share one attribute; they employ a unique theme for the purpose of making money. Except, that is, the Terra Bite Lounge.

The Terra Bite Lounge, in Kirkland, WA is a not-for-profit café/deli which operates on the policy of voluntary pay, the concept that Radiohead recently adopted with its most recent release. Diners eat what they like, and pay what they wish. There are no prices on the menu.

If someone wants to walk out without paying, that's OK. If enough diners throw money into the kitty that there is a surplus at the end of the week, that money is donated to a local charity. The spot also offers free Wi-Fi and free xBox gaming in its gaming boutique.

The concept has been relatively successful in other similar spots such as the One World Café in Salt Lake City.

Food provides energy, but a restaurant like Terra Bite might provide even more, the energy that comes from cooperation, compassion and bonhomie.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

And then later I started doing some research on the family, when writing this post, thinking that maybe I'd try to give them some publicity by submitting a link to a story about their plight. And if I found the correct family that this fund raiser is going to be helping, the mother has recently been indicted for writing over $2,000 in bad checks last year. I'm not against the fund raiser. There are a lot of kids in the family, but suddenly it put this family in a different light, or at least the mother.

I'm not quite sure what I'm getting at here, except that when it comes to money, it's often not green: it's gray. And that makes it even harder to teach your kids about money, how it's important, why it's important, why it makes some people do dumb things, and still others to do illegal things

I've been trying to teach Isabelle and our four-year-old daughter, Lorelei, about money ever since they were born, I guess. OK, maybe I waited until they were six or seven weeks, but you get the idea. I've thought it was important to teach a child the value of money, ever since I started collecting debt in my twenties, right after college, and I had that notion validated today when I was doing an interview for a publication with Thom J. Fox, the community outreach coordinator of the Cambridge Credit Counseling Corporation in Agawam, Massachusetts. He was telling me how important it is for little kids to learn about money at a young age, since , if you don't, you tend to grow up to be the sort who leaves college and buys a plasma TV before realizing that should have been allotted for the rent money.

No, I didn't do anything like that. They didn't have plasma TVs 15 years ago. No, I bought a sporty-looking car that I couldn't afford.

"It really does fall down on the parent on educating kids about money," said Fox, before adding, "although unfortunately so often the kids are getting their education from people who still don't understand how to read credit card statements."

Since he doesn't know me, I don't think he was referring to me, and he wasn't being a jerk when he said that; after all, we were talking about how credit cards are often misused. Still, what struck me was that he didn't sound like he was being condescending, just very matter-of-fact. And that's when he told me about a web site called It's a Habit. It's aimed at children from ages three to 10 and features a character called Sammy Rabbit. And the motto? "Changing Children's Lives One Dime at a Time."

So naturally after we said our good-byes and hung up, I logged onto the web site and did a quick look at the landscape. It appears promising, I have to say, and just what any young child could use, years before navigating the complex world of interest rates and private mortgage insurance. Sammy Rabbit is colorful and cute, as is the entire web site, though I couldn't help but notice one of the colors appropriately displayed in some of the background on the home page: gray.

Geoff Williams is a business journalist, primarily for Entrepreneur magazine, and the author of C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race: The True Story of the 1928 Coast-to-Coast Run Across America (Rodale, 2007).

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

I had my first Savers shopping experience recently, and hallelujah! I'm a believer.

This chain is literally and figuratively the granddaddy of all thrift stores, with a 54-year history, a kickin' business model and beaucoup merchandise laid out really well in-store. (I'm assuming, of course, that the Daly City, CA location where I shopped is indicative of how Savers runs its other 200-plus stores, but that would seem to be a given.)

First, to the shopping. I walked out with two coats, a pair of pants and an old-school phone (so I'll have a functioning land line when the power goes out) for less than $25. This total was thanks in part to the monthly coupon in the Savers calendar, available for $1.99 or free with your purchase of $20 or more. I got an additional 20% off for bringing in a bag of stuff to donate, which is a great way for those of us whose itemized donations don't always add up to a tax break to get some sort of return for them. (The downside, according to my Savers-savvy friend, is seeing your old clothes on the sales racks on your next store visit and wanting to buy them back.)

More altruistic shoppers can bring their donations to one of the nonprofits allied with Savers, both national groups such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and local organizations like HOPE Rehabilitation Services (which just happens to be in my 'hood). Savers pays its nonprofit alliances based on the number of boxes and bags of merchandise they deliver. Nonprofits also get a percentage of the individual donations customers deliver directly to the stores. In all, these alliances have generated more than $1 billion for the nonprofits involved.

Savers' charitable bent began with its founder, William O. Ellison, who opened his first store in San Francisco in 1954. Ellison's grandfather and great uncle, Ben and Orlo Ellison, were instrumental in building the Salvation Army's thrift organization in the 1930s and '40s.

With thousands -- possibly tens of thousands -- of items for sale, Savers staff deserves all props for keeping clothing grouped by type and, more importantly, by size. Usually, I experience emotional peaks and valleys when thrift shopping when I pull a really cute blouse off the rack only to find out that despite being placed among the mediums, it was apparently either shrunken or stretched by its previous owner. At Savers, everything is right where it's supposed to be, and it's priced to move.

Items that don't sell get shipped to developing nations, completing what Savers calls its thrift cycle. It's a cycle I'll happy to repeat.

Read | Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Some of us do better pursuing goals when we make a public vow, backed up with cash, to our coworkers to lose 10 pounds, to our spouse that the garage will be cleaned out by the end of the month. Those who are inspired by putting their money where their mouth is might be interested in stickK.com.

The site, started by three Yale economists, offers an online equivalent to a bar bet. You sign up, register your vow, and place money on the reaching of that goal. You also name a person as your referee, who must acknowledge the completion of your vow.

stickK.com takes the amount of your commitment from your credit card immediately. From there, only two things can happen to your cash; you reach your goal, and the money is returned to you, or you fail. If you fail, the money will go to either a recipient you've chosen beforehand or a charity on the site's list of worthy charities.

The site has a few sensible exceptions; weight loss is capped at two pounds a week, and the bet can be rescinded by providing proof of a medical condition that inhibits the reaching of your goal.

The site makes its nut via advertising, so 100% of your money goes either back in your pocket or to a designee of your choice. If you're the kind of person motivated by such bets with yourself, stickK.com is an interesting alternative.

By the way, if you're going to vow to lose weight, I wouldn't mind being listed as your designee in the event you fall short. Not that I'm doubting your resolve...

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments