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Month: May 2014

Getting Unstuck

ARGG!! Two thirds of U.S. adults want to quit, 76 percent working in the wrong field

May 15, 2014 Bob Sullivan 0

There’s an epidemic of stuck in America.  It shows up in the economic data, of course, but more important, it’s really hitting folks’ lives hard. A new survey by Rasmussen College found that more than half of U.S. adults “say they don’t have significant growth opportunities in their current positions.” [Keep reading]

Getting Unstuck

Squirrel! Why distractions can ruin your future (I’m sorry, what were you saying?)

May 14, 2014 Bob Sullivan 0

Feel an urge to check Facebook one more time before diving into this story?  Do it.  A little hungry? Grab a bite to eat.  Use the restroom if that’s on your mind.  Cold? Grab a blanket. OK, now that those things are out of the way, let’s talk about distraction. [Keep reading]

No Picture
Privacy

EU Court: Right to be forgotten trumps right to know; Google must remove search results on request

May 13, 2014 Bob Sullivan 0

It might be the Pandora’s Box of all Pandora’s Boxes.  A European Union court has ruled that Google must remove results from its search engine that point to a newspaper post about a Spanish resident’s 1988 auction of his repossessed home.  With the ruling, the European Union Court of Justice [Keep reading]

Technology run amok

If you post to Facebook and no one likes it, does the post really exist?

May 13, 2014 Bob Sullivan 0

It’s easy to make fun of “Facebook makes us sad” research. After all, when we were kids, we didn’t even have Facebook while walking uphill to school both ways.  But Facebook is the way we live now; ignore such research at your own peril, and the peril of the folks [Keep reading]

Gotchas / Consumer

Hidden ‘gotcha’ fees are bad enough, but how does a ‘credit’ become a fee?

May 12, 2014 Bob Sullivan 0

Penny Williams watches her bills very closely, so she noticed right away when her CenturyLink high-speed Internet bill rose mysteriously by $1.88. A glance at the paperwork revealed two new fees accounted for the difference, but the listed explanation didn’t make much sense. One line of the bill included the [Keep reading]

Getting Unstuck

A mother’s hope, dashed? Most career paths stink now. How do you steer your kids?

May 9, 2014 Bob Sullivan 1

A Mother’s heart has to be big, and endure many things, but among the most painful — seeing your young adult child thrash about, unable to find a clear path to happiness.  Jobs aren’t everything, of course, but the 20s are all about finding satisfying work that pays the bills [Keep reading]

Technology run amok

Why your friends make the best hackers (Or, why your friends are a hacker’s best friends)

May 9, 2014 Bob Sullivan 0

The Facebook status update got the attention of Bryan Rutberg’s friends right away: “BRYAN IS IN URGENT NEED OF HELP!!” Rutberg’s friends soon received emails with frantic pleas for aid. He was stuck in London after a mugging and desperately needed money to get his family home. Rutberg’s daughter, at [Keep reading]

Technology run amok

Why would I want to rip my screen from my keyboard? And where can I buy a normal laptop now?

May 7, 2014 Bob Sullivan 0

I went laptop shopping this week and became horribly depressed. Not only were the laptops so much more expensive than I was expecting, and if you feel the same, check out this article on the best laptops under $400 to save you some money, but every laptop I came across [Keep reading]

Getting Unstuck

I’m no Big Data hater. Some of my best friends are 1’s and 0’s. But….

May 6, 2014 Bob Sullivan 1

During numerous appearances on CNBC last year, producers there gave me a pet name. “Big Data Hater.” Whenever they wanted to do a segment on the wonders of Big Data, they trotted out experts talking about how much money was to be made by dumping everything into a spreadsheet. Then [Keep reading]

No Picture
Money and Life

Another turbulence incident injures airline passengers; what we should do about choppy air

May 5, 2014 Bob Sullivan 0

It’s time to take the issue of passenger airplane turbulence and injuries seriously.  It’s time to require more choppy air data from the airlines — right now, they provide essentially none.  And it’s time you simply kept your seat belt on every moment you are in the air. For the [Keep reading]

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About me

BOB SULLIVAN is a veteran journalist and the author of four books, including the 2008 New York Times Best-Seller, Gotcha Capitalism, and the 2010 New York Times Best Seller, Stop Getting Ripped Off! His latest, The Plateau Effect, was published in 2013, and as a paperback, called Getting Unstuck in 2014. He has won the Society of Professional Journalists prestigious Public Service award, a Peabody award, and The Consumer Federation of America Betty Furness award, and been given Consumer Action’s Consumer Excellence Award.

Bob Sullivan

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