--- title: 'More Money Thursday roundup: Secret frequent fliers & lessons from the rich and infamous' description: 'Personal finance from around the web: Financial "innovation"? Yeah, right. Former Fed chair Paul Volcker told some of the world''s top bankers this week that…' authors: - name: timestaff url: https://money.com/author/timestaff/ articles: 459 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes former_staff: true published: '2009-12-10T22:17:14.000Z' modified: '2024-05-07T08:38:46.000Z' section: Lifestyle word_count: 170 canonical: https://money.com/more-money-thursday-roundup-secret-frequent-fliers-lessons-from-the-rich-and-infamous/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![More Money Thursday roundup: Secret frequent fliers & lessons from the rich and infamous](https://money.com/img/logo-social.png) Personal finance from around the web: - Financial "innovation"? Yeah, right. Former Fed chair Paul Volcker told some of the world's top bankers this week that the [only innovation in the last 20 years has been the ATM machine](http://seekingalpha.com/article/177300-paul-volcker-atm-was-the-peak-of-financial-innovation). He also [blasted other complex products](http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article6949387.ece) like credit default swaps. \[Seeking Alpha, Times Online\] - NPR looks at the world of exclusive, secret frequent flier programs: [The "Skull and Bones" societies of the sky.](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121238800) \[Morning Edition\] - They've entertained (and perhaps horrified) us all year long, but we can also learn a thing or two about personal finance from this year's "rich and (in)famous." \[Thicken My Wallet\] - Our progressive income tax system may not be so progressive: [The richest pay fewer taxes than the rich.](http://www.tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/MSUN-7YJ5KA?OpenDocument) \[Tax.com\] - This summer one frustrated airlines customer [took to YouTube to get his complaint addressed](http://moneyfeatures.blogs.money.cnn.com/2009/07/09/musicians-damaged-luggage-complaint-is-smash-youtube-hit/). Now, another example of [customer service vigilantism via YouTube](http://consumerist.com/2009/12/video-man-pays-best-buy-for-washerdryer-it-doesnt-appear-takes-laundry-to-store-gets-kicked-out.html), this time aimed at Best Buy. See the videos below. \[The Consumerist\] The stunt: [Watch video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r90oeuY-Wxw) The resolution: [Watch video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UlGV1Aojog) *Follow More Money on Twitter at [http://twitter.com/moremoneyblog](http://twitter.com/moremoneyblog)*. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/more-money-thursday-roundup-secret-frequent-fliers-lessons-from-the-rich-and-infamous/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Travel", "item": "https://money.com/travel/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "More Money Thursday roundup: Secret frequent fliers & lessons from the rich and infamous" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/more-money-thursday-roundup-secret-frequent-fliers-lessons-from-the-rich-and-infamous/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/more-money-thursday-roundup-secret-frequent-fliers-lessons-from-the-rich-and-infamous/", "name": "More Money Thursday roundup: Secret frequent fliers & lessons from the rich and infamous", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2009-12-10T22:17:14.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/more-money-thursday-roundup-secret-frequent-fliers-lessons-from-the-rich-and-infamous/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/more-money-thursday-roundup-secret-frequent-fliers-lessons-from-the-rich-and-infamous/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-07T08:38:46.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "More Money Thursday roundup: Secret frequent fliers & lessons from the rich and infamous", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://money.com/img/logo-social.png", "width": 300, "height": 300 } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "timestaff", "url": "https://money.com/author/timestaff/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/timestaff/#author" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2009-12-10T22:17:14.000Z", "description": "Personal finance from around the web: Financial \"innovation\"? 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