Starting Jan 1st the great state of New York is going to raise its minimum wage. The wage hike is part of a three year increase finally settling at $7.15 an hour. Starting January first the new law will hike the rate up to $6.75 per hour as compared to the federal minimum wage law of $5.15 per hour. Now you may think this hike would be great for our economy and great for its workers, but it has a very negative effect on both.

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Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season. Here are some financial definitions for you to brush up on for before the new year starts. Enjoy!

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From all of us here at the Lapa family - we wish you and yours a safe and happy holiday season. Now is a good time to trade out those losers and under-performers of the year (like General Motors (GM) if you own it) and get ready for the New Year. A new year that will consist of a new economic chairman, Ben Bernake, to replace the legendary Greenspan. Bernake is well-qualified candidate with a more flexible attitude when it comes to controlling inflation rates. I would expect the markets to grow at a quicker pace for the duration of his term in office as oppose to the Greenspan era.

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For the second day in a row now the NYC Transit Union has left millions of angry New Yorkers without an effective way to commute about the city. The worlds largest transit system, carrying an estimated 7 million passengers (round trip ticket sales) per day, has shut it doors for measly 6% increase in pay request. Of course the 1 million dollar a day fine is quickly wiping out this 6% increase fine for going on strike. What really worries me here is the ever-looming possibility of a terrorist attack. Should these transit systems need to be up and read to go incase of an emergency - they of course will not be ready.

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Hi everyone! Well after a long "vacation" from the blogging community - I have finally caved into all the peer pressure and reinstated the fun with a much more focus driven site. This of course does not mean I will not talk about personal stuff, but the main idea behind this new site was to talk about investment ideas, politics and other worldly issues as well travel and business. Geared towards the young professional, this site will be written by successful young professionals who are ambitious and driven to succeed in life.

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