Just Sad: The 10 Wimpiest Muscle Cars Ever, The 1978 Ford Mustang King Cobra had a V-8, but it only produced a meager 139 hp. 10 wimpiest muscle cars ever, There’s a dead zone in the history of performance cars between the hairy-chested muscle cars of the 1960s and the rebirth of power in the mid-1980s: the 1972-82 “malaise era,” when machines were so strangled by new emissions rules that their performance levels were an embarrassment to even today’s compact cars. Automakers slathered flashy paint and taped racy stripes and stickers to the hoods of the cars, but these 10 just couldn’t get’er done at the dragstrip.

Ford’s legendary performance car hit its nadir with the downsized Pinto-based Mustangs of 1974-1978, called Mustang II. Although this generation of Mustang came with a V-8, it was a 302 cid V-8 with a mere 139 hp. Yes, you read that right. Second-gen Mustangs pumped out just 19 more hp than you’d get from the 1.6-liter four-cylinder in today’s Ford Fiesta.

Seven Signs You Have A Shopping Problem, If you start to get these kinds of feelings during and after purchases, you could be addicted. 7 Signs You’re A Shopaholic, It’s one thing to surrender to the occasional impulse buy – that watch gleaming from behind the display case, or a pair of black shoes that will add the perfect dash of sophistication to your favorite business suit. But when your purchases shift from impulsive to compulsive, it’s the first sign that you might be grappling with a more serious condition: a shopping addiction.

Researchers estimate that up to 6 percent of Americans are so-called shopaholics. And with retailers ramping up their promotions on TV and even more intensely online, this number is likely to rise. In our society, the phrase “shop till you drop” translates as frivolous and fun, but when spending presents a real problem, the glamor fades.

Psychologists call it Compulsive Buying Disorder, which is characterized as an impulse-control issue – just like gambling or binge eating – and has the potential to create a whirlwind of emotional and financial distress.

In the video below, Money Talks News founder Stacy Johnson reveals some of the telltale signs of shopaholics and explains what they can do to curb their spending.

Are you or a loved one a shopaholic? Here are seven signs of a potential problem. For a more complete*n*lysis, also check out the Compulsive Buying Scale, developed by psychologist Gilles Valence and his associates.

1. You have many unopened or tagged items in your closet
We’re not talking about the sweater your aunt gave you last holiday season, but about items you selected on your own that sit unopened or with their tags still attached. You likely even forgot about some of these possessions – boxes of shoes lining the bottom of your closet or jackets that have never seen the light of day.

2. You often purchase things you don’t need or didn’t plan to buy
You’re easily tempted by items that you can do without. A fifth candle for your bedroom dresser, a new iPod case, even though yours is fine you get the idea. You’re particularly vulnerable if you’ve admitted to having an “obsession,” like shoes or designer handbags. Just because your splurges tend to stick to one category doesn’t make them any more rational.

3. An argument or frustration sparks an urge to shop
Compulsive shopping is an attempt to fill an emotional void, like loneliness, lack of control, or lack of self-confidence. Shopaholics also have a tendency to suffer from mood disorders, eating disorders, or substance abuse problems. So if you tend to binge on comfort food after a bad day, studies suggest that you may be more likely to indulge in a shopping spree too.

4. You experience a rush of excitement when you buy
Shopaholics experience a “high” or an adrenaline rush, not from owning something, but from the act of purchasing it. Experts say dopamine, a brain chemical associated with pleasure, is often released in waves as shoppers see a desirable item and consider buying it. This burst of excitement can become addictive.

5. Purchases are followed by feelings of remorse
This guilt doesn’t have to be limited to big purchases, either; compulsive shoppers are just as often attracted to deals and bargain hunting. Despite any remorse that follows, though, shopaholics are adept at rationalizing just about any purchase if challenged.

6. You try to conceal your shopping habits
If you’re hiding shopping bags in your daughter’s closet or constantly looking over your shoulder for passing co-workers as you shop online, this is a possible sign that you’re spending money at the expense of your family, your loved ones, or even your job.

7. You feel anxious on the days you don’t shop
It’s one thing to feel anxious if you haven’t had your morning cup of joe, but if you’re feeling on edge because you haven’t swiped your debit card all day, be concerned. Shopaholics have reported feeling “out of sorts” if they haven’t had their shopping fix, and have even admitted to shopping online if they couldn’t physically pull away from their day’s responsibilities.

Best Prepaid Mobile Plans, Why should you stay on a contract plan with limited data and pay twice the price when you can get unlimited data for half that and no contract? Many are reconsidering the idea.Now may be a good time to start considering pre-paid phones. While in the past no contract often meant getting terrible signal and being stuck with an out-of-date, featureless phone, that may no longer be the truth. Pre-paid phones have come a long way and two of those services are now offering the newest iPhone to boot.

This may hurt a little. If you want a pre-paid iPhone you’ll have to pay for the phone’s full price up front. The damage is a total of $650. While that may sound like an automatic deal breaker, it isn’t really and you will likely still save money.

Getting a cheaper phone on a contract plan is much like making car payments instead of buying a car with cash. It may seem that you are only paying $200 for a fancy phone, but in the long run you are actually making larger monthly payments to compensate for what the phone company has lost by offering you such a cheap price for the phone. To make matters worse, in the end it also means that you are paying the company interest as well. Do you really want to pay interest on a $650 purchase? (Christian Post)

Federal Job Cuts, 154 federal government employees in Newfoundland and Labrador were issued redundancy notices on Wednesday.Most of the impact was felt at Service Canada, where 118 notices were issued. At Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 30 employees, mostly at the inland fisheries division, also recieved notices.

In addition, it was announced on Wednesday that at least two Transport Canada offices in the province will be shuttered.

Boating safety offices in Lewisporte and Corner Brook will be closed, eliminating four jobs. The remaining two jobs with boating safety will be relocated to a central office in St. John’s. (CBC News)

Ingenious Ways People Cheat Casinos, Using age-old and high-tech methods, crooks scam millions a year, an expert says.There’s no doubt about it, gambling means big business. Casinos in the U.S. raked in $62.8 billion in 2011, according to Spectrum Gaming Group, a research and professional services firm.

But with the good comes the bad for the gaming industry — cheating is also a big money maker for those who find ways to deceive the house. Thanks to technology, it’s getting harder to pull off. Casinos have cameras trained on every table and are always on the lookout for anything suspicious. But some people still manage to do it. Casino cheating expert George Joseph of Worldwide Casino Consulting estimates the industry loses tens of millions of dollars a year in scams.

The scams can be pulled off with age-old sleight-of-hand tricks or with the aid of high-tech devices. Either way, they are illegal and could mean time behind bars for those who are caught. However, penalties vary from state to state. In Nevada, for example, someone convicted of cheating faces one to six years in prison, or a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

So what are some of the ways people cheat in casinos? CNBC.com spoke with Joseph, who is author of “The 101 Most Asked Questions About Texas Hold’em and Poker Cheating,” to compile a list. Some are common cheating methods; others are employed less frequently but can result in a big payday.

This casino cheat needs the participation of the casino’s card dealer to work. The dealer employs a false shuffle, which is meant to look like a regular shuffle but secretly leaves some cards in place. That allows the players involved in the conspiracy, who have been tracking the cards, to know when the unshuffled cards are dealt.

It was a scam used to great effect by the Tran Organization. The gang hit casinos all over the U.S., pocketing up to $7 million in false shuffle mini-baccarat and blackjack games. The organization was ultimately brought down, and more than 40 people pleaded guilty to charges relating to the cheating scheme, including its founders, Phuong Quoc Trong and Van Thu Tran.

Best Places To Retire In The U.S. In 2012, This northwestern city has a low crime rate, nice climate, and the average home costs just $118,000. It’s time for our annual list of the Best Places to Retire.Reflecting what retirees say they want, there’s a slightly bigger bias toward warmer climates in states like Florida, New Mexico and Arizona. Only about a half-dozen Best Places are located in what could be called chilly parts of the country.This group includes Bloomington, Ind., Fargo, N.D. and Pittsburgh.

But the bigger bias is the importance we place on day-to-day economic issues: the average price of a home, the cost of living and the tax burden on retirees. So there are no entries here from states where it costs a lot to get by, such as California, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York.

We reviewed data for hundreds of cities in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. Besides the usual financial factors, we looked at weather, availability of doctors, serious crime rates and encouragement for an active retirement. To do this, we considered evaluations by Bicycling Magazine and volunteeringinamerica.org.

More and more retirees are working, at least initially. So we also took into account both unemployment rates and rankings of job and economic growth compiled by the Milken Institute.

Nationwide, the average price of an existing single-family house is $163,500, according to the National Association of Realtors. Only four cities on our list have median prices above that, and none really by all that much. The priciest, at $198,000, is Asheville, N.C. At the other end, the average price of a home in Atlanta is only $91,000, followed by Cape Coral, Fla. at $116,000 and Boise, Idaho, at $118,000.

Couple Living The Retirement Dream, At 68, they live very comfortably in this tropical paradise – on less than some pay in rent. ‘How did you find Bali?” and “What do you do all day?” are the two most common questions asked of us. I am a retired lawyer from California; my husband is a vintner (plus many other things). We’re both 68 years old, and most people can’t wrap their minds around the change we made moving to Bali, Indonesia, seven years ago.

As we approached retirement age, we kept a watchful eye for those places that were exotic, less expensive (we lived in California for 35 years) and comfortable for Americans. A top priority was warmth. We both grew up in Connecticut, and I spent four winters in Buffalo, N.Y., so we were done with cold and snow. We visited all the warm climates we could find on the globe.

It was by chance that a client/friend asked me to visit her in Ubud, Bali. When I returned, I said to my husband, “This may be it.”

What was “it”? A constant 85-degree temperature, stunning landscapes, and a warm and gracious people with smiles so perfect that seeing them every day is added sunshine. We moved to Bali in May 2005. Unless changes in our health necessitate a return to the U.S., we plan to spend the rest of our lives here.

Bali, with a population of about four million, is one of about 17,500 islands that make up Indonesia. We settled in a suburb of Ubud, which is considered the cultural and religious center of Bali. In our village, women and men wear sarongs as daily clothing, children take off their shoes and walk barefoot when the school day ends, and the entire community goes to a sacred spring to retrieve holy water.

We leased a half acre of land for 20 years for $50,000. The property overlooks a river valley with a small waterfall on the far side. We built a “villa,” as a single-family home in Bali is called. Our house has a swimming pool, furniture handmade to our specifications, and flowers everywhere. But in Balinese fashion, there is no front door. An opening, yes, but no door to shut.
The cost to build our house today (approximately 2,000 square feet) would be about $350,000. That said, a perfectly nice home could be built for half that amount. A reasonable monthly budget for home maintenance, transportation, food and entertainment is about $1,000.

When it comes to cooking-and cleaning and all of those other daily time-consumers-we hire Balinese help. Our cook, who is paid $75 a month, shops in the market at 6:30 a.m. and prepares all of our meals from scratch. It’s very healthy. Sundays we are on our own, and that is our brunch and pizza day. (We wouldn’t want to forget our roots.) A meal costs about $15 with no alcohol. Alcohol comes with a 300% customs duty. The local beer is good and keeps us looking younger.

Tips From The ‘Garage Sale Millionaire’, Aaron LaPedis made his first million dollars by “flipping” second-hand items.Aaron LaPedis threw his first garage sale at age seven and has been buying and selling items ever since. In fact, he made his first million dollars by “flipping” garage-sale finds and used that money to open an art gallery in Denver.

This “garage sale millionaire” writes a monthly column for The Denver Post and hosted a PBS TV show on collectibles. Wiley releases the second edition of LaPedis’ book, The Garage Sale Millionaire: Make Money with Hidden Finds from Garage Sales to Storage Unit Auctions and Everything in Between, in June.

With yard-sale season upon us, U.S. News chatted with LaPedis about his strategies for pricing items, spotting money-making opportunities, and more. Excerpts:

How did you get into garage sales?

All I really knew when I was seven was comic books and baseball cards, and that’s what I started with. When we had our first garage sale with my mother, my mom said “we’ve got to go through all your toys and whatever toys you don’t want anymore, we’re going to sell them, and I’m going to sell some stuff in the house that we don’t need and whatever money we make is the only money that you can use for new toys.”

The sale did so well that around noon, we had nothing else to sell. So when my mother went to make lunch, she told me I was in control and to make sure we keep on selling. I went to the house and went to the living room and took some lamps, end tables, and some other stuff I could lift and brought onto the front lawn and sold that stuff. It wasn’t until the next day that she realized I sold half of her stuff in the living room.

Need A Job? Head To One Of These Cities, Eight metropolitan hot spots appear to buck the trends of the sluggish economy.Though we expect job creation nationwide to continue its sluggish pace, some areas will fare much better than others.

Here are eight metropolitan areas that we think are poised to become job-creating machines in the years ahead.

We zeroed in on metro areas of at least 1 million people and a track record of above-average population and job growth coming out of the 2008-2009 recession.

Our*n*lysis also considers demographic trends and industry growth that point to rapid job creation. We think each of these eight cities will outpace the nation’s 7% job growth average between now and 2017, a forecast based on U.S. Department of Labor projections plus our reporting.

They’re not the usual suspects — the Houstons, Austins and Seattles that are riding high because they’re well-known homes to lots of energy or tech firms. Take a look:

Metro area population: 1.6 million
Current unemployment rate: 6.5% (vs. 8.2% nationally)
Job growth next five years: 18%
Number of new jobs: 140,000

Nashville wins the prize for fastest two-year job growth among all the metro areas on our list — four times as fast as the U.S. as a whole. Vanderbilt University, the largest employer, will continue to add a variety of health care, education and service jobs. Nissan North America will add manufacturing jobs at its auto assembly plant and office jobs at its Nashville-area headquarters.

Why The American Dream Is A ‘myth’, A Nobel laureate says the U.S. is no longer the “land of opportunity” – and has numbers to prove it. Income inequality has become the subject of much debate in this country, in large part because of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

In his latest book, The Price of Inequality, Columbia Professor and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz examines the causes of income inequality and offers some remedies. In between, he reaches some startling conclusions, including that America is “no longer the land of opportunity” and “the ‘American dream’ is a myth.”

While we all know stories of people who’ve moved up the social stratosphere, Stiglitz says the statistics tell a very different story. In the last 30 years the share of national income held by the top 1% of Americans has doubled; for to the top 0.1%, their share has tripled, he reports. Meanwhile, median incomes for American workers have stagnated.

Even more than income inequality, “America has the least equality of opportunity of any of the advanced industrial economies,” Stiglitz says. In short, the status you’re born into – whether rich or poor – is more likely to be the status of your adult life in America vs. any other advanced economy, including ‘Old Europe’.

For example, just 8% of students at America’s elite universities come from households in the bottom 50% of income, Stiglitz says, even as those universities are “needs blind” – meaning admission isn’t predicated on your ability to pay.

“There’s not much mobility up and down,” he says. “The chances of someone from the top [income bracket] who doesn’t do very well in school are better than someone from the bottom who does well in school.”

Because the children of those at the top of society tend to do better than those at the bottom – thanks, in part, to better education, health care and nutrition – the income inequality that’s slowly emerged over the past 30 years will only widen in the next 10 to 20 years.