In the Internet age, the travel agent has become a punch line, cruelly bashed as unnecessary, useless, a dying breed. But no one (including, ahem, journalists) wants to be called obsolete, and travel agents have been fighting back and countering the insults with data and anecdotes demonstrating how valuable their services truly are.
President Obama
Obama Inauguration Tickets – Which Are Distributed Free – Listed Online for $7,500 Apiece
No one present at next week’s swearing-in ceremony of Barack Obama as president is supposed to pay a dime to attend the event. But some attendees may be paying thousands of dollars for the privilege.
Payroll Day Blues: Economy Adds Just 96,000 Jobs in August
The Democratic party spent all week (and millions of dollars) trying to convince voters to return President Obama to office in November. But perhaps the most important set piece — the August employment situation report — was …
Obama Letter Fetching $5,000 in Online Auction Is Just a Copy — Worth $5
As the joke goes, “The problem with quotes from the Internet is it is hard to verify their authenticity — Abraham Lincoln.” That adage holds true for presidential correspondence, too. On Tuesday, media outlets reported that …
Must Be an Election Year: Bullets Are Flying Off the Shelves
Another election is approaching and it’s no coincidence that 2012 is shaping up to be a huge year for sales of bullets and guns. President Obama is even being referred to as “salesman of the year.”
As Economic Concerns Mount, President Obama Says, ‘The Private Sector Is Doing Fine’
President Obama attempted Friday to improve his chops as an international leader working hard to protect American workers and save Europe from its own political dysfunction. But his morning appearance in the White House briefing room is likely to be remembered, instead, for a single sound bite he surely wishes he could take back: “The …
What President Obama Wants You To Tell Your Kids About Money — and When
A useful new government website has just gone live, offering easy teaching points for parents who want to help their kids grow up knowing a thing or two about compound interest and 19 other key financial concepts.
Stop Fighting Over Interest Rates — There’s a Better Way For Congress To Fix the Student Debt Crisis
Interest rates on federal subsidized Stafford loans were cut from 6.8% to 3.4% during the current economic downturn. This “temporary” reduction is scheduled to expire this summer, halfway through an election year. With
…
Goldman Sachs: Best Way to Survive the ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Is Sending Obama, Republicans Back to Washington
Market observers are worrying about a new obstacle in the path of economic recovery: America’s impending “fiscal cliff.” Economists from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to Alan Blinder have been warning of the $600 billion that …
The JOBS Act Signing: A Giant Step for Entrepreneurship in America
At the White House yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching one of the most forward-thinking pieces of pro-business bipartisan legislation to date signed into law by President Obama: the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) …
Students, Your Loan Interest Rate Is About to Double
Prepare yourself: on July 1, as many as 8 million college students will see their interest rates on federally subsidized student loans double, from 3.4% to 6.8%. According to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, that increase …
Curious CapitalistEconomy & Policy
Why Lower Corporate Taxes Won’t Create More Jobs
Yesterday, President Obama announced a long-awaited proposal to cut corporate taxes in America, which U.S. businesses complain are much too high by international standards. The proposed reform is intended to prevent companies …