Top all-time · #15530
Rob Berger
Personal blog · fivecentnickel.comeconomics
Rob Berger writes RobBerger.com, a personal blog at fivecentnickel.com about economics. Since 2009, 5 different Hacker News readers have linked it 5 times. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-02, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (3) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers cite Rob Berger's Five Cent Nickel posts as sources on Visa and Mastercard surcharge rules, real federal minimum wage history, and tax brackets. No comment praises or criticises the writing.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 3 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
TL;DR: I've made the decision to close ConsumerismCommentary.com and FiveCentNickel.com and bring all relevant content here.
What Hacker News says?
I believe that is against the terms of service for Visa and Mastercard. If you were to offer such a discount they would simply cut off your access to credit cards. Edit: From the visa terms ( http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2010/02/26/visa-credit-card-ac... ) Merchants must always treat Visa transactions like any other transaction (with a minor exception). They may not impost a surcharge for using a Visa card, but can…
Comment linking /2010/02/26/visa-credit-card-acceptance-guidelines/
on “It’s Instant”Submitted What a Threat Begets as a story · 5 points
HN discussionHey, great. So you're for minimum wage increases, then, because we haven't been raising the real minimum wage. See here: http://www.fivecentnickel.com/images/minwage_2008_1.png You can see that the federal minimum wage peaked in real dollars in 1968 (not coincidentally, the heyday of labor) - since that time, capital won the class war and the real minimum wage has dropped, even though the nominal federal minimum wen…
Comment linking /images/minwage_2008_1.png
on “Venture capitalist says a $28 minimum wage would create a more robust economy”Submitted The Fallacy of Relative Price Evaluation as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI do not believe the wisdom of the board is correct. I believe at the discontinuity Bob earns more. This seems in line with both the bracket system of progressive taxation and my experience with preparing taxes. But if somebody has a real, live explanation from an accountant, I'd love to see that link. Happy to be wrong. EDIT: Here's the link I was looking for. I stand corrected. http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2008/1…
Comment linking /2008/12/04/how-do-federal-income-tax-brackets-work/
on “Earning six figures and just scraping by”
