That’s one of the first things Cathleen Benko said when she visited TIME today. And you’re going to want to hear why because
a) that’s Cathleen Benko, as in the vice chairman of Deloitte Touche, and
b) she’s just written a book (co-written by Anne Weisberg) that executives around the country are going to pore over, and
c) one of those …
Now we know: telecom kingpin Joe Nacchio believed more than anybody else in his company’s future. Yeah, right.
Former Qwest CEO Joseph P. Nacchio, convicted of insider trading charges in April and sentenced to six years in prison, is appealing his conviction, the Journal reports.
Full disclosure here: I reported on Nacchio’s shenangans at Qwest for Fortune in 2003, so I’m not unhappy to find the Joe Nacchio saga come to a conclusion with some …
400 Years of Corporate Scandal: An Anniversary
I wanted to do an item about the economics of exploration on Columbus Day, but now it’s two days late, and I’ll take advantage of another, related anniversary: 400 years since the founding of the Jamestown Colony in Virginia.
Yes, that was a long time ago. I wouldn’t stop the presses for this either. If you just want to get the latest …
Lazy Sexy Money, Or Why the TV Rich Don’t Work
Writing about economics gives me plenty of chances to zig when everyone else zags. The rest of the blogosphere is going to be telling you about last night’s Republican debate. So I’ll talk about what’s on TV tonight: Dirty Sexy Money, the new ABC show about the mega-rich.
Yes, I know. This probably means my Serious Journalism License …
Is the American workplace hostile to singles?
This I know: WiP often reads like a parenting blog. Or a marriage blog. Or both. That’s because
a) I’m a parent, and
b) I’m married.
I defend my right to kvetch in this space on these topics, as it says right here in my mission statement that Work in Progress is a blog about “life on the job–and the job of life.” Having a family deeply …
Would You Charge 75 Cents To Save A Child?
The New York Times has an extraordinary story today about getting mosquito nets to the poor. It’s billed as science section story, but it’s an instructive economic story too.
Mosquito nets treated with DDT or other insecticides are a key line of defense against malaria in poor countries. They cost, according to Reuben Kyama and Donald …
10 things commuter couples need to know
In last week’s issue I wrote in the magazine and on the blog about the rapid growth in the number of long-distance marriages in this country. I’ve since had some e-mails and comments from people in these relationships. Most were plaintive, resigned notes from folks struggling hard to make it work. For most of us, living apart from our …
One bad way to fight global warming that both Democrats and Republicans love
Of the ideas batted about for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and slowing global warming, few have gotten traction as powerfully and suddenly as the notion of taxing carbon dioxide emissions. Unlike most other plans that have the word “tax” in the title, this is one that has found takers among both Republicans and Democrats, left and …
Britney: No. 1 again! The economics of instant gratification
Thanks, Justin. That was an extraordinarily graceful and generous introduction. I’m now going to repay it by turning your economics blog into a forum to talk about Britney Spears.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBTIqZByx5A]
I just checked the new Billboard Hot 100 chart of top downloads: at No. 1, Britney Spears, “Gimme More”. …
Welcoming a guest to the Curious Capitalist
Ever since I started at Time in late January, I’ve been neglecting a book project I should have wrapped up a long time ago. So I’m going to devote this week to book work, and my friend Mark Gimein will be stepping in to do a bit of guest blogging.
Mark and I worked at Fortune together, and he wrote some of the best stories in the …
Would you pay a fee to get a mortgage? Or would you prefer to get a really bad mortgage?
Jeff Lazerson, a mortgage broker and faithful Time reader from Laguna Niguel, Calif., has been bugging me for a while to write about something he’s devised called Mortgage Grader. It’s software that he developed with a grant from the Ford Foundation that essentially uses the credit scoring process that dominates mortgage lending these …
The evolution of Dad: he’s no Mr. Mom
Does being more of a dad make you less of a man?
That’s the question we asked in a story running (finally) in today’s TIME, Fatherhood 2.0., co-written by me and Lev Grossman. I began asking this question of dads back in May, when we first embarked on this assignment. I asked this of stay-at-home dads. I asked this of one top exec dad …