Airborne Product Settlement and Refund

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Popular vitamin supplement maker Airborne Health has agreed to a $23 million settlement for false advertising (such as claiming Airborne products could cure or prevent the common cold).  Final approval of the settlement is expected in June. 

If you purchased certain Airborne products between 5/1/01 and 11/29/07, you can file a claim for a refund.  Visit www.airbornehealthsettlement.com or call 888.952.9080 for more information.  Here are some highlights:

  1. You can file a claim for the full purchase price of products purchased, excluding sales tax, assuming you can find proof of purchase (yeah right, like I'm gonna find an old receipt for Airborne purchased at Trader Joe's on June 23, 2001).

  2. More realistically, you can file a claim for up to 6 purchases with proof of purchase.  The refund will based on the average retail price of the products.  You still need to provide an approximate purchase date and purchase location.

  3. You can file claims online or by mail.  If you have receipts, you can either scan and submit them online or mail them in.

  4. You have until 9/15/08 to file your claim.  If the final approval of the refund, is appealed, it may take awhile for you to get your refund (if at all).

  5. If total refund claims exceed the "settlement fund" ($23 million less attorneys fees and other expenses), then refunds will be reduced proportionately.

Will this $23 million settlement hurt Airborne?  Nah, probably not.  Last year they were No. 149 on the Inc magazine list of fastest growing private companies, with 2006 revenues of $145 million (up from $10 million in 2003).  And with only 22 employees!

Pursuing Your Passion: The Artwork of Chuck Trunks

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Chuck Trunks Touching up Just PeachyWhat is the typical career progression of someone with a bachelor's degree in biochemistry, who does graduate work in molecular biology and spends the next 18 years working at the world's largest biotech company?

My good friend Chuck Trunks had a passion for art going back to his childhood in Philadelphia.  It was probably 10 years ago that I first saw some of his "precision abstract" artwork at his home in Camarillo.  I knew that eventually the rest of the world would join me.

Boy was I right.  Chuck left Amgen last fall to pursue the goal of working on his art full time and sharing it with the world.  This is a challenge to say the least as he gave up a steady salary and great benefits for the uncertain world of art.  But the world is already getting to know Chuck.

Chuck has completed nearly 30 works of art in four collections that share some of his thoughts about the world.  His "USA" and "True Love" collections deal with societal and relationship issues, respectively.  His "Interference" collection covers technology.  The collection he currently works on is called "Hopes and Dreams."  Each collection can take up to a year to complete.

As Chuck's friend I am well aware of his keen eye for detail.  Chuck is the guy you want to travel with because he'll have everything nailed down so you can just relax and have fun.  He'll also quickly notice if a kernel of corn is lodged in your teeth or there's a smudge on your mirror.  This knack for detail is well apparent in his meticulous work.

 

To learn more about Chuck and his work, check out his aptly titled website, www.ChuckTrunks.com (update: website currently

Chuck's latest work, "Pop Star" (Summer 2008):

http://www.chucktrunks.com/

Free eBooks at Project Gutenberg

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Project Gutenberg is the largest collection of FREE eBooks in existence.  The project has been run by volunteers since 1971.  There are over 20,000 eBooks amd Audio Books in the collection. 

What is the catch?  For one, you will only find books in here for which copyright protection has expired or that are in the public domain.  So you will not find the latest Tom Clancy and Steven King books in this collection.  Any book published pre-1923 is part of the public domain.

I explored the site and while it is not exactly Amazon.com easy-to-use, I was certainly able to find many interesting books.  (Now if only I actually had the time to read them!  Some books are available in audio format however!).  For example, it took less than a minute to download the entire text and pictures from Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (published in 1884).  I was surprised that both the text and all of the original pictures from the book came with the download.

Other classic books I saw in there included Pride and Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities, The Raven (Edgar Allen Poe), The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Beowof and others.

So if you would prefer to have a bunch of classic books available on your laptop to read rather than checking them out from the local library, here's your opportunity!

I did come across a Barnes and Noble website that has a collection of literary classics available free online in a readable online html format.  However pdf download of the books are not free.  Check it out by clicking here. 

Project Gutenberg

www.gutenberg.org

Looking For The Lowest Local Gas Prices?

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A buddy of mine tipped me off to www.VenturaGasPrices.com, a website dedicated to providing detailed information about gas prices throughout Ventura County.  VenturaGasPrices.com is part of www.GasBuddy.com, a national network of over 170 websites tracking local gas prices.

So if you are looking to save a few bucks, take a look at this site before gassing up.  Tonight I saw that premium gasoline at the Oxnard Costco is $3.11 per gallon as compared to $3.47 per gallon at the Chevron located at Thousand Oaks Blvd. and Rancho Road.  That difference would amount to over $6 on an 18 gallon tank.  Might be worth a trip to some of you.

For those who enjoy charts and historical data, there is a nice tool on the site that allows you to see gas price trends in throughout the country for periods up to 6 years.  That is, if you can stomach the fact that gas prices have doubled in the last 5 years.  (Whereas the price of ExxonMobil stock has tripled in that same period.)

Ah, time to start checking out those hybrids.  Love the fact that city mileage is higher than highway mileage on a hybrid!

Handwashing on the Downturn

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A study funded by The Soap and Detergent Association and the American Society for Microbiology in August 2007 found that only 77% of people washed their hands in public restrooms, while in a separate telephone study, 92% of adults said they wash their hands.  Hmmm, kind of a discrepancy there.

Harris Interactive performed the study.  They conspicuously observed 6,076 adults in public restrooms in Atlanta (Turner Field), Chicago (Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd Aquarium), New York City (Grand Central Station, Penn Station) and San Francisco (Farmers' Market).  This does not sound like a particularly enticing job if you ask me.

Observers were told to groom themselves while observing and to rotate bathrooms every hour or so to avoid counting repeat users.  Better make sure to wash your hands next time someone fiddles with their hair an excessively long time in a public restroom!

The bad news is that handwashing declined by 6 percentage points from a study 2 years prior.  The guys only washed their hands 66% of the time.  The good news is that 88% of women washed their hands.  So women washed their hands 33% more often then men.  Makes you want to carry a bottle of hand sanitizer with you, doesn't it?

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Economic Stimulus Act of 2008

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On Thursday, the Senate finalized H.R. 5140, the "Economic Stimulus Act of 2008" and sent it off to President Bush for his expected approval this week.  There were a few changes made from the original House proposal but it is largely the same.  In summary:

1. We will receive the greater of a) 2007 federal income taxes paid to a maximum of $600 (single) and $1200 (married) or b) $300 (single) and $600 (married).  To be eligible you must have paid at least $1 in 2007 taxes or had $3000 in employment income + veterans' disability payments + social security payments.

The major change is that rebates are now allowed for disabled veterans and seniors living mostly on Social Security who do not have earned income.

2. If you receive $1 or more in rebate and have kids, you get another $300 per kid.  This is based on your 2007 tax return, so the rebate applies to kids on hand as of 12/31/07.  Any new bundles of joy circa 2008 will not get you more rebate.

3. The rebates still start phasing out at 5% of adjusted gross income (AGI) starting at $75K (single) and $150K (married).  So effectively if your AGI is greater than $87K (single) or $174K (married), then no rebate for you!  The phase-out applies to both the basic credit and the child credit.

The only other "no rebate" scenario is if your tax liability was zero and your wages/disability/social security was less than $3000.

4. No credits will be issued for anyone without a valid Social Security Number on the 2007 tax return.

5. The rebates are not considered taxable!  Well that's good news!

6. For single family home loans made between 7/31/07 and 12/31/08, the Act raises the conventional loan limit from $417,000 to $729,750.  FHA loan limits will also be increased to as much as $729,750 or even $829,750 if warranted based on market conditions until 12/31/08.  This should provide some help to homeowners who need to refinance into something more affordable this year.

This is incentive to file your 2007 taxes on time, as rebates are expected starting in May.  And hopefully the $106 billion in rebates and $45 billion in business tax incentives this will cost in 2008 will truly help stimulate our economy!  I bought Apple stock recently in anticipation that everyone will buy another iPod with the extra cash this summer!  New idea.

For more detailed information, visit the Senate Finance Committee website by clicking here.

The Social Security Tax Trap

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DollarSign.jpgWe all love paying Social Security taxes, don't we?  Both employees and employers have been paying a 6.2% (12.4% in total) Social Security tax for years.  Paid by 164 million American workers, these taxes funded $585 billion distributed to 50 million Social Security recipients in 2007.

In 2008, these Social Security recipients received a 2.3% cost of living adjustment on their payments, so that $585 billion in 2007 will grow by over $13 billion.  Where does this money come from?

Well, the Social Security "wage base" was raised from $97,500 to $102,000 in 2008, a 4.6% increase.  Seems a little unfair!  This means that Social Security taxes are increasing by double the cost of living increase for those earning over the wage base. 

The Social Security Administration says that 12 million American workers and their employers will pay more taxes as a result of the wage base increase.  This translates into up to $6.7 billion in additional taxes, covering about half of the $13 billion increase in payments above.

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