For now at least, cheap is cool. Frugality is viewed as acceptable, sensible. The assumption is that this “Great Recession,” which has thrown the nation (and our retailers) all for a loop, will have lasting effects. Here’s why it won’t.
Careers & Workplace
A Dozen Disturbing Health Care Statistics
Most people know the big number: 45 million. That’s the generally accepted tally of Americans currently without health insurance. With the prospect of a public option all but gone, it appears that any change that does occur will pretty much bring more of the status quo—meaning more numbers like these.
Ten Odd Economic Indicators: Hot Waitresses, Men’s Underwear, Blacked-Out Football Games, and More
It’s hard for the lay person to wrap one’s brain around the rise or fall of GDP, new residential sales, money supply, and other traditional economic indicators. What do those numbers really mean? Well, here are some other indicators that do as advertised, truly indicating in simple terms how people are living, what they’re doing to keep …
Recession Indicators: Jobless Hikers Crowding the Appalachian Trail, Japanese Shopping at Wal-Mart
When you lose your job, why not take a hike? When your economy tanks, why not embrace the deals at Wal-Mart?
The Haggler’s Guide to Cheaper Health Care
A 53-year-old man who used to cover the health insurance industry as a journalist purposefully decides that health insurance isn’t worth the money, and so he goes without it. He negotiates with doctors, haggles over the costs of services, and asks for discounts because he’s paying in cash. Over the course of a year, he’ll save $6,000.
Health Insurance Premiums Up 131% in Last Ten Years
Today, the average cost of a family health insurance offered by an employer is $13,375. That’s up 131% over the last decade—a period in which inflation rose only 28%. And one estimate says that if costs continue on their current trajectory, premiums will go up another 166% in the decade ahead.
Cheapskate Wisdom from … Elmo
“Elmo understands Elmo can’t get everything Elmo wants, and Elmo’s parents save money to get what they really need like food.”
Deep in Credit Card Debt? Ask and You Might Be Relieved
Millions of people in credit card debt are getting their terms changed—sometimes meaning they pay no interest—simply by asking.
Ten Links to Help You Find a Job
In honor of the holiday that celebrates the working man (and woman, forgive the male-oriented language), here are ten tips for actually finding some work.
Which Comes First: Financial Security or Baby?
Biological clocks, steady employment and income, and couples’ relationships are ducks that don’t always line up in nice, neat rows. This is especially the case during the recession. The uncertainty of the economy has pushed condom sales up and birth rates down.
Is It Better to Be Joe College or Joe the Plumber?
Going to college—the best college possible—used to be a no-brainer. But now, in light of the big loans and bad job prospects recent grads are facing, perhaps the equation has changed.
1849 All Over Again?
You lose your job. Then the home goes into foreclosure. What do you do? Go west to strike it rich in the gold mines. These are scenes from the 1800s, and from the Great Depression, and from today.
