Boston Gal's Open Wallet

Good for the environment, the pocketbook, and perhaps even the social life, car pooling would seem, at this particular moment in history, to have a lot going for it. Environmentalists and traffic planners say it's one of the easiest and cheapest ways for cities to decrease pollution and congestion - never mind helping individuals reduce transportation expenses, which as of 2006 consumed approximately 15 percent of the average American budget (12 percent for those in the Northeast), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And unlike public transit, a car pool requires little in the way of costly taxpayer-funded infrastructure or maintenance.

But Americans don't carpool much. In fact, over the past quarter century, despite increased traffic, fuel costs, and growing awareness of environmental issues, we've been doing it less and less. According to the federal Department of Transportation, the number of solo drivers on US roads nearly tripled between 1960 and 2000. In 1980, when the US Census began tracking car pooling, almost 20 percent of American workers shared rides to work. By 1990, the number had fallen to 13 percent. In 2006 - the newest data available - it was down to about 11 percent. Now, however, with 2008 poised to go down in history as the Year of the $4 Gallon of Gas, drivers are showing an interest in alternatives. MBTA ridership jumped 6.4 percent between January and June. A spokeswoman for the state's Mass-RIDES program, which maintains a ride-matching database, says her office is getting more calls than usual from commuters feeling the pinch. With so much attention focused on the cost of driving, policy makers have an unprecedented window of opportunity to encourage car pooling. "It's something people can do immediately that would have a fairly dramatic impact on what they're spending on gasoline," says David Luberoff, executive director of Harvard's Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

When exactly did Barnes & Noble replace the public library?

I was shocked a couple of years ago when I learned a fellow worker with small children didn't know where the neighborhood branch of the local public library was. Turns out any time his kids wanted a book, he went out and bought it for them. Same for his own reading.

Talk about extravagance.

If it wasn't clear before Tuesday, it is now: This is no ordinary economic crisis, and it won't be over anytime soon. In fact, problems are multiplying. A year ago, the financial virus seemed confined to subprime mortgages, defaults on loans given to those with less-than-perfect credit. Now, much of the banking system appears rickety, and the U.S. economy has slowed to a crawl. But thanks to robust demand from still-growing countries such as China, the prices of commodities from oil to food have soared — hitting Americans from the gas pump to the grocery checkout.

"There's no hope of an early recovery at this point," says economist Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University. "The best-case scenario is we have a long but mild recession — and that's the best-case scenario."

Generation X, defined here as Americans between 28 and 43 years old, are also getting especially pinched. They are particularly vulnerable because they are more likely to have young children, recently purchased a home or are in the market for one, and fall mostly within the middle class.

But that doesn't mean there's no fun to be had. Many Americans are leaving the car in the garage and staying on their living room couch. A whopping 50% of Americans plan to buy an HD or flat-panel TV in the next year, the study showed, with little difference between those who are hardest hit by the downturn and those who are not. Cable and satellite TV subscriptions are also way down the list on cutbacks.

Labels: Funny Money

Which is another way of saying that Mr. Halpine and his family are energy efficient to a fault, dedicated to getting the greatest return for their time and calories.

“My father, when he retired, put four inches of insulation in his basement and a wood stove, and solar hot water,” Mr. Halpine said admiringly.

Not that his dad called himself green. “He’s a cheap Yankee and he couldn’t fathom paying good money for heat.”

The FDIC planned to reopen the bank on Monday as IndyMac Federal Bank, FSB.

Deposits are insured up to $100,000 per depositor.

As of March 31, IndyMac had total deposits of $19.06 billion.

Some 10,000 depositors had funds in excess of the insured limit, for a total of $1 billion in potentially uninsured funds, the FDIC said.

Customers with uninsured deposits could begin making appointments to file a claim with the FDIC on Monday. The agency said it would pay unsecured depositors an advance dividend equal to half of the uninsured amount.

During a conference call with reporters, FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair said the agency would cover all insured deposits and then try to recover its costs by selling IndyMac's assets.

"We anticipate trying to market the institution as a whole bank," Bair said. "How much money we derive from that will depend on who gets paid what."

Holders of unsecured IndyMac debt may not fully recover their investment, Bair said.

"Generally if a creditor is secured, they are at the top of the claims priority," she said. "If they are unsecured, they're pretty low on the claims priority and probably will take some type of haircut with this, but we have not had a chance to do a thorough analysis to know ... how extensive those losses will be."

IndyMac spent the last two weeks trying to reassure customers that it was not near default.

It’s the rest of the package that keeps me up at night. Seven months ago the market was too soft to think about selling our old home; hence the idea of renting it out. Although we found reliable tenants — knock on wood — I’m not sure we really examined the true cost of maintaining a rental.

It’s a headache. And a bank-ache. We are going to put at least $4,000 into the rental house this summer alone. We can deduct that as an expense, and it will partially offset the $9,000 we’re getting in rental income. My accountant thinks we’ll break even, but I still fret. I hate knowing that we are on the hook if anything goes wrong. Can our emergency fund cover all the calamities that might strike two properties: foundation trouble and roof leaks and clogged plumbing, oh my?

WE assumed that we could sell the rental house in a year or two when the market perked up, thus preserving our equity. But there’s no perking in sight. Now we think sanity is more important than profit. “Even if it’s a wash, let’s unload it next spring,” my husband said. At this rate, let’s hope it’s not a loss.

As happy as we are in our current home, sometimes I question the tens of thousands of dollars that went into buying it. What if we had put that money into our old home instead, and renovated it rather than moved? Would that have been a smarter investment? If we had stayed where we were, our mortgage and heating bills would have been about half — half! — of what it will cost us to live in this big barn of a place.

Labels: MP