The U.S. unemployment rate has fallen from 9% to about 8% in the last year, to the delight of everyone from job seekers to the Obama re-election team. But traditional economic theory tells us that shouldn’t have happened unless the economy was growing by double its current 2.5% rate.
Solutions to 9 Puzzling Financial Frustrations
What Will Replace the 401(k)?
The venerable 401(k) has been under fire since the recession. Here’s what could replace it.
U.S. Federal Reserve Earned $77 Billion Profit in 2011
The Federal Reserve turned a profit of $77.4 billion last year, driven by a dramatic increase in its balance sheet due to its policy of buying up securities to help stimulate economic growth. The central bank’s profits came from …
The Top 10 Biggest Money-Losing Movies of All Time
How Bell Labs Invented the World We Live in Today
In the decades before the country’s best minds began migrating west to California’s Silicon Valley, many of them came east to New Jersey, where they worked in enormous brick-and-glass buildings located on grassy campuses …
Where Gas Prices Have Soared Even Higher Than California
California tends to get a lot of the attention in terms of rising gas prices. The state does have the highest prices in the Lower 48, now averaging $4.35 per gallon, up from $3.83 in mid-February. But over the last five or so …
Lawmakers Try to Ban Facebook ‘Shoulder Surfing’ by Employers
Even in a marketplace where people routinely trade access to their personal data for small freebies like online games and coupons, some employers have provoked outrage by demanding to see job applicants’ private Facebook pages. Now, lawmakers are wading into the fray with legislation that would prohibit the practice of “shoulder surfing” …
Apple Sells Three Million New iPads on Opening Weekend
Apple’s new iPad boasts relatively modest incremental improvements from the previous version — most notably a sharper screen as well as faster computing and wireless speeds — but consumers proved over the weekend that demand …
Make Your Cube a Better Place to Work
Many people spend more time in their office than they do in their bed. You deserve a comfortable workspace. Here are three ways to make your office a place where you can accomplish your best work:
You’ll Never Guess the New Big Thing in Housing (Think: Not Big)
The next big thing in residential real estate isn’t big at all. It’s small. Because of cost and aesthetic considerations, a strong “anti-McMansion attitude” has surfaced among home designers and buyers, according to one of the …
Why Text Mining May Be The Next Big Thing
“Big Data” is a hot topic in the business world these days. But there’s a subset of this broad field that has yet to take a turn in the spotlight. It’s called “text mining,” and you’re probably going to be hearing a lot more …