Tag: economy
-
Retrospective rubbernecking at the subprime mortgage disaster
17 November 2011As I mentioned once before, I have a block on ‘formal’ book reviews, so consider this just a friendly little chat, okay? I trust Stacy’s opinions implicitly, particularly on matters of journalism, so when in passing she praised Michael Lewis’ The Big Short, the very next thing I did was hit the library web site […]
-
An unflinching look at America’s dangerous fascination with ‘cheap’
5 September 2009Even before I’d finished Ellen Ruppel Shell’s new book Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, I decided I should review it on Pocketmint. I then spent two weeks artfully procrastinating on doing so. Apparently I have a block on writing formal ‘book reviews’. I have no trouble discussing books, verbally and informally, but the […]
-
Movie helps kids relate to economic woes
24 June 2009If tough economic times are causing you stress, you can bet your kids are picking up on the tension as well. Knowing how much to tell them about financial matters can be tricky; you don’t want to overburden and worry them, but neither do you want to leave them surprised and unprepared. I thought the […]
-
Which President would economists pick?
19 October 2008The presidential candidates have finally figured out that the top concern of most Americans right now is our floundering economy, and predictably they’ve both claimed to have the best economic solution. As I wrote before, I’m skeptical about how much influence the President has over the economy, especially in the short term. But I’m just […]
-
Economics and the Presidency: can one person make a difference?
18 September 2008Okay, so we’re all worried about the economy right now, for obvious reasons. And because it’s a Presidential election year, we’re hearing the usual promises from both candidates about how their administrations will improve it. There’s a lot of discussion about whether Obama or McCain will be better — for the national economy as a […]
-
Should we worry about WaMu? and other disasters
16 September 2008Sorry for the recent silence; I’ve been having a rough couple of weeks on the Life front. No financial crises, though, at least not yet! Thanks for all the recent comments — it cheers me up to see so many people reading. This week got off to an interesting start for us with the early-buzzard […]
-
The giant sucking sound at the bottom of the global pool
22 August 2008If you’re not a regular listener of This American Life, you may have missed the May episode entitled “The Giant Pool of Money”. It explains why what we have now isn’t just a ‘sub-prime mortgage lending crisis’ but a ‘worldwide credit crisis.’ It’s masterfully written, taking all the jargon and translating it into plain, often […]
-
If I were the President … if I were Queen for a day …
12 August 2008Do you ever get frustrated by the way Congress and the President spend your tax dollars? Do you ever read about tax legislation in the news and think, “Geez, even I could do better”? National Public Radio’s Marketplace has developed an online game that will let you do exactly that. In Budget Hero, you start […]
-
Inflation or unemployment: pick one
8 August 2008The last time the economy took a sharp downturn it hit me hard. With dot-coms failing right and left, suddenly there was a huge glut of Internet-industry workers. Employment levels took four or five years to fully rebound, during which I got by on intermittent income and credit-card debt. This time, though Jak and I […]
-
24 July 2008
Millions of Americans got a raise today. I am grateful to not be one of them. I’ve worked for minimum wage. During and just after college, I waited tables in Texas where ‘tipped employees’ were paid just $2.13 an hour. That number hasn’t changed at all in the last twenty years, and guess what? Today’s […]