“Flea markets proliferate a volume of goods needing to be sold and people who are hungry — emotionally and aesthetically — to sort out the meaning of life … For most people who go on these ritualized scavenger hunts looking for something that they may not know exists, it is a kind of pilgrims’ process through the detritus of the past.”
Foreclosures: Are Bank Regulators Messing Up the Housing Recovery?
Foreclosures are down. Time to celebrate? Not really. Realtytrac, which monitors foreclosures, says the number of people losing their homes is dropping not because people are having fewer financial problems but because banks are taking longer to process foreclosures. And that’s not because they are modifying loans and helping people stay …
It’s a Deal: Free Sweet Potato Fries Today at Chick-fil-A
Here’s yet another quasi-holiday: Friday, May 13, is Free Sweet Potato FryDay, and Chick-fil-A locations are giving away its newest menu item—sweet potato waffle fries—from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Celebrate the Quasi-Holidays: Give Something Away, Bike to Work
‘Tis the season to bring your clutter to the curb and offer it to the masses for free. It’s also the time of year to dust off your two-wheeler, pump up the tires, oil the chain, and—if it’s even in the realm of possibility—pedal your bicycle to work.
Will Big Oil Get A Bigger Tax Bill?
You can practically set your watch by it. As petroleum prices soar—and with them, oil company profits and pain at the gas pump—sooner or later members of Congress will haul Big Oil executives into a hearing and Demand That Something Be Done. It happened in 2008, the last time oil prices breached the $100 a barrel mark, and on …
Alligator Trapping Just Doesn’t Pay Like It Used To
In another quirky sign of the times, it’s probably smart to now scratch “alligator trapper” off your list of possible careers. Here’s a job that would never be described as easy. And because of rising gas prices, a falloff in the market for alligator meat and hides, and strapped government budgets that refuse to pay more for trappers to …
Raj Gets Nailed. The Ratings Agencies Beat the Rap
So the Feds got their big fish. The takedown of Raj Rajaratnam for insider trading is going to give U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara plenty of momentum in using an old prosecutorial weapon to go after a new set of miscreants. Rajaratnam was fried by his own words, obtained by the kind of wiretap that the prosecutors use to go after Mafiosi, …
It’s a Deal: 20% Off Everything at Converse.com
Through May 12, Converse has a site-wide sale with 20% off all merchandise, with a few exceptions (no gift cards or design-your-own products). No promotional code required.
A Brief List of Goods and Services at All-Time High Prices
It’s not your imagination. You really are being asked to pay like never before for everyday expenses.
Nowadays, the Rich Actually Pause Before Spending, Care About Value
Research shows that in the post-recession era, wealthy Americans are more inclined to wait for items to go on sale before making purchases. Brand names mean less to them, marketing has less influence as well, and the number of well-off shoppers who say they trust salespeople has plummeted. In other words, the rich today are more likely …
Do Americans hold “simple” ideas about China’s economy?
Wang Qishan, China’s vice-premier, caused a bit of a stir this week when he accused Americans of having “simple” ideas about his nation during an interview on “The Charlie Rose Show.” According to a transcript, Wang said:
It is not easy to really know China because China is an ancient civilization and we are of the oriental
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Are High Oil Prices Good for U.S.-China Trade?
The U.S. trade deficit climbed 6% in March, according to numbers out from the Commerce Department. But the widening trade gap, the highest since June 2010, may not be as worrisome as it seems. Much of the jump has to do with the recent uptick in oil prices, which makes the U.S. bill for oil imports more expensive. But if you take oil …
