You might think that a financial crisis and a dreary, prolonged economic downturn might be a total bummer. People wouldn’t find much of anything funny, and they wouldn’t exactly be in the mood for other kinds of fun, either. Actually, it appears the opposite is true: In tough times, people seek out releases more than ever—and what are …
The minimum wage just went up, from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. Many observers say that the timing of the wage hike—in the thick of the longest recession on record—is unfortunate if not counterproductive. But now a coalition of religious and community leaders is pushing for another minimum wage boost—to $10 an hour by 2010.
My very amateurish work as a statistician turned out to be pretty on the money, if I do say so. A few weeks ago, at the Major League Baseball All-Star Break, I took a look at which teams paid proportionally the least—and the most—for their wins. Seeing as cheapskates are always concerned with value and wise spending, the idea was to …
Studies are showing that most—but not all–Americans should be following U.S. Secretary of Energy Steve Chu’s recommendation that people paint their roofs white. On hot days, it’s 20 percent or more cheaper to air-condition a house with a white roof rather than a traditional charcoal-colored asphalt roof. It’s another simple solution …
What beer will they drink? That’s been the big question around the meeting of President Obama, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Cambridge police officer James Crowley to discuss race relations in the aftermath of Gates’ arrest.
Three months ago, President Obama challenged his cabinet secretaries to come up with $100 million in budget cuts. Apparently, the task wasn’t that difficult. They’ve already found 77 different ways to save a total of $102 million. Most savings came through the simplest of solutions, like eliminating unused phone lines and printing on …
A new Rolls-Royce limo model called the Ghost is $135,000 less than an older model, the Phantom. The “cheaper” and “less ostentatious” model that’s being called a “recession-ready limousine” can now be yours for a mere $245,000.
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 …
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 …
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.
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.
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 …
