Brita sold the U.S. rights to its best product to Clorox. So it started Mavea to take on a familiar foe
Return of the Shopper: Why Is Consumer Spending on the Rise?
Even with high unemployment numbers, a struggling real estate market, and a consensus opinion that a comprehensive economic recovery will be a slow slog, consumer spending is on the rise. Explanations anybody?
Will the Stock Market Plunge Continue?
I usually ignore stories trying to predict stock market drops. Who really knows? Not me. But with stocks down more than 250 points today, Fortune’s article earlier this week by veteran writer Shawn Tully is looking very prescient:
Here’s how I see the odds. The chances are about one in three that we suffer a huge, wrenching correction in
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It’s a Deal: 30% Off Everything at Foot Locker
Use the coupon code EMFLT594 for a 30% discount on purchases made at FootLocker.com. Or, for 30% off in-store purchases, print out a coupon via this dealnews link. The 30% discount is valid through May 24, no minimum purchase required.
Q&A with Kate Bingaman-Burt, Artist and Author Behind ‘Obsessive Consumption’
Kate Bingaman-Burt, a graphic design professor at Portland State University, spent three years chronicling and drawing at least one of her purchases every day. And the purchases tended to be everyday expenditures: a pen, a cup of coffee, headphones, a haircut. Why did she do this? And what did she learn about herself, her shopping …
Feingold Delays Financial Reform
The vote to close debate on the financial reform bill in the Senate failed. All but two Republican Senators voted against the moving the bill to a final vote. That’s not much of a surprise. The surprise is that two Democrats voted against the bill. And a look at why Russ Feingold of campaign finance reform fame voted no should give you a …
Is Gold about to Bust?
The consumer price index, which measures inflation, was out this morning and it was down slightly in April. Here’s what Calculated Risk had to say:
The disinflationary trend continues – and with all the slack in the system (especially the 9.9% unemployment rate), it is hard to see inflation picking up any time soon. The high unemployment
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Royal Cheapskate: Queen Mother Was Too Much of a Tightwad to Buy a TV
When the Queen Mother died in 2002 at age 101, it was reported that she had a £4 million overdraft with the royal bankers. But the late queen wasn’t the spendthrift some made her out to be. Quite the opposite, actually.
Save on Electricity: Have Dinner in the Afternoon, Do Laundry after Midnight
Some utilities have introduced “smart” meters, which monitor how much electricity is being used in the community at all hours of the day—and which, because of supply and demand, use tiered pricing structures to charge more during certain “peak” hours. The new pricing also obviously charges less during non-peak hours, so by going …
It’s a Deal: 20 Free Birth Announcements from Kodak Gallery
The folks at Kodak Gallery have a gift for new parents: free photo-card birth announcements. Well, at least two sets of the cards (20 cards in total) are free. Shipping costs extra, as do additional sets of cards.
Banks Reduce Overdraft Charges: Smaller Fees Better Than No Fees At All
Instead of forking over $35 or more each time you use your debit card and don’t have enough money in the account to cover the bill, you might only get hit with a fee of $10 or $19.
Word of the Day: ‘Returnaholic’
The term doesn’t necessarily apply to consumers who frequently return items they’ve purchased. Instead, the word generally refers to customers who partake in extreme and borderline criminal behavior, by returning items they never bought in the first place, or by returning stuff that they’ve used. And “returnaholics” may be ruining return …