For those of us who don't work during the academic year, a special significance is attached to those times when a nice chunk of cash comes our way for no reason other than the fact that we were forced to sock it away for one reason or another. In the spring, the tax refund is a welcome source of Spring Break cash, although this year it should be fairly small, given that I didn't make much money working at school last summer. Nevertheless, if it wasn't taken out in taxes, I would have spent it already.
The second major release of illiquid assets is the annual book buyback. After spending $500 on textbooks in September, usually at least some of them have held on to a little value and you can walk out of the bookstore with a lighter load and $150 in walking-around money for winter break.
This year, they wouldn't buy anything. Not one book from this semester. Not one old book, either, since they're all out of date within a year.
Jesse Dukeminier died three years ago! How the hell did he publish a new edition of Property?
www.half.com.
If it's an outdated edition, nobody will buy it because nobody's assigning it.
Maybe it has something to do with the rule against perpetuities?