As social-networking giant Facebook prepares to go public, the company continues to attract criticism over its corporate governance structure, which is set up to give founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg iron-clad control over its …
Why Giving Your Kids an Allowance May Not Teach Them Anything
Parents have been paying their kids an allowance since the Industrial Revolution on the theory that it will help kids better understand budgets and spending choices as adults. Now a prominent academic says it’s all been a waste of time
Watch Out Visa and MasterCard: PayPal Is Coming to a Brick-and-Mortar Store Near You
Products like Square and early mobile wallet innovations are already nipping at the heels of the traditional payment-processing infrastructure that merchants use every time you swipe a card to buy something at a store.
But …
Are China’s Big State Companies a Big Problem for the Global Economy?
The most important economic story of the first half of the 21st century is how China is changing the global economy. There are a lot of benefits to this change – hundreds of millions of new consumers to drive global growth, …
Can Jeremy Lin End the MSG/Time Warner Cable War?
He may have outplayed NBA superstar Kobe Bryant in the Garden Friday night, but the pressure keeps mounting on New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin. Now, the pro-basketball Cinderella Story is being counted on to end the entrenched …
Why Free Birth Control Will Not Hike the Cost of Your Insurance
Initially, the controversy over President Obama’s proposal that all insurers cover contraception focused on religious liberty. After polls revealed that 98% of sexually active Catholic women have used birth control, though, …
Buying a New Car? Let a Website Handle the Haggling
The new car purchase is easily one of the most painful and confusing of all shopping experiences. Most business relationships are built on trust, yet there’s good reason to distrust nearly everything seen or heard at a car dealership, from complex financing terms, to claims that a certain figure is their “absolute best price,” to the …
Apple Threatened with iPad Shipment Ban in China Trademark Fight
Apple’s trademark dispute with a Chinese firm over the term “iPad” is getting knottier by the day for the U.S. technology giant. Proview Technology, which says it owns the trademark for “iPad” in China, plans to ask Chinese …
United Airlines Will Turn Your Unwanted Gift Cards Into Miles
Still don’t know what to do with all those gift cards you got for the holidays? United Airlines will now take them off your hands in exchange for frequent flyer miles. But considering how often frequent flyer miles expire …
Bad Drivers May Be Asked to Pay More For Homeowners Insurance
The burgeoning business of predicting risk is a sprawling and sometimes intrusive one. Some insurers and even employers use credit reporting data to try and gauge if a person will be a careful driver, or a dependable worker. A …
Plastic Surgery as Economic Indicator
Most plastic surgery procedures are considered non-essential, or elective—as in, the patient can elect to have work done, just don’t expect health insurance to cover it. Or as in: When the economy’s shaky and money is tight, it …
Paul Volcker Defends Eponymous Rule
Though the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform act was passed way back 2010, much of the law remains to be implemented. One reason for the lag between passage of laws and their implementation is that when federal agencies propose new …