Pink Floyd and Ronald Reagan would be happy: Some walls are being torn down. The walls of office cubicles, that is. The recession has quite literally pushed millions of workers out of their cubicles due to layoffs, and when people bounce back and do find work, they’re now more likely to land in an nontraditional workplace—perhaps in a …
Commute, Run Errands for $40 a Year
This is probably not going to bolster the struggling car industry, but if it helps the environment, eases road traffic, and saves folks some money, people will get over it pretty quickly. Bike-sharing, which has long been available in cities throughout Europe, and got a brief preview during last fall’s presidential conventions, will get …
Bernie Madoff talks! And talks and talks and talks
Between his admission to FBI agents in December that he’d been running a Ponzi scheme and his sentencing for his crimes last month, Bernie Madoff didn’t say much—at least not where any of us could hear him. Now that he’s in prison for several lifetimes, though, he’s turned chatty. Attorneys Joe Cotchett and Nancy Fineman—who …
It’s a Deal: 50% Off Any One Item at Michaels
A coupon grants half off any one regularly priced item at arts and crafts specialty store Michaels. The offer is valid today only, July 29.
Learning about bubbles by living through them
Alex Tabarrok offers a handy summing-up of what experimental economics has taught us about bubbles:
In the lab we can create artificial assets with known dividend streams and thus known fundamental values. Since Vernon Smith’s classic experiments (JSTOR), we know that even in these cases efficient markets fail and bubbles are common.
…
Sales Tax Breaks: Help the Economy and Stick It to the Government at the Same Time
Sales taxes of as much as 7 percent will be taking holidays in 15 states in the coming weeks. The dropping of sales tax has become a summer tradition to spur on back-to-school shopping. Some people worried that states dealing with budget crunches might suspend the annual tax break, but it looks like the shop-a-thon is on.
Connecting three pessimistic stock-market dots
The first data point comes from a press release from the Jerome Levy Forecasting Center (it’s not online):
According to the just released July 28 Levy Forecast, while many give the private economy credit for resiliency, “Few understand that the government deficit now accounts for all of the economy’s profits.”
The second is in Mark …
It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s … a Cartoon Warren Buffett Teaching Kids About Finance?
An Internet cartoon starring Warren Buffett is expected to be released sometime later this year. It’ll be called “Secret Millionaires Club,” starring America’s most lovable 2-D billionaire, along with four cartoon kids who cover the range of ethnic makeup and skin color in Benetton-ad fashion.
The Great Recession: Is “Great” the Right Word?
Sometimes, an adjective seems inappropriate. Take “great.” It seems both overused and misused. Wayne Gretzky? No doubt about it: GREAT. Alexander the Great? Sure. Muhammad Ali? The Greatest. But plagues, wars, floods, depressions, economic panics, riots, and recessions? If any of these things are occurring, the situation seems less than …
It’s a Deal: Flights to Ireland from $139 Each Way
A sale from Irish airline Aer Lingus offers flights from New York City to Shannon or Dublin airports starting at $139 each way. Prices departing from Boston and Chicago start at $194 each way. Tickets must be purchased by July 31. More details, including departure date restrictions, here.
Netflix successfully crowdsources its R&D. Now what?
Almost three years ago, Netflix announced it would award $1 million to anyone who could improve its movie-recommendation algorithm by at least 10%. (That’s the computer programming that tells you that if you like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, chances are you’ll also like Kurosawa films—odd as that may sound.) Well, for the …
What Will a Cheapskate Spend Good Money On? Part VII
Even a cheapskate has to spend money sometimes. I’ve asked various frugal folks—bloggers, writers, money-saving and consumer experts—to compile a list of the products, services, experiences, and other “things” they’re willing to shell out good money on. Because if a cheapskate is willing to drop cash on something, you know it’s worthwhile.