In recent months, car sales have been booming at the same time that consumers have been paying more per vehicle. Because demand for cars is high, it would seem like a safe assumption that people need new wheels because we’re all driving more nowadays. Actually, the opposite is true.
When gas prices soared in 2008, protests erupted around the world, and automakers in Detroit had to beg the federal government to bail them out lest they go out of business. Gas prices are soaring again in 2012, yet the auto industry is booming, and drivers, while annoyed, are mostly taking rising fuel costs in [...]
Whatever happened to wanderlust? Over the years, Americans in their 20s have grown less and less likely to move away from their home states. During the recession era, young adults have becoming increasingly unlikely to leave even their parent’s homes, let alone move out of state. If and when the nation’s young workers finally do [...]
There has been an especially sharp rise in online shopping during the first couple of months in 2012—a time period that just so happens to coincide with an unusual spike in gas prices.
A year ago, observers speculated that 2011 would become the “Year of the Cord Cutter,” during which a record number of consumers would drop their cable subscriptions. Needless to say, the vast majority of American households still have a pay TV plan. When, if ever, will a massive cutting of the cord take place?
The number of teen drivers has dramatically decreased over the past couple of decades.
For the first time in two decades, the number of U.S. households with at least one TV has declined. So why would the rates charged to TV advertisers be rising?
Most consumers like the idea of pay per channel cable TV, in which the customer would select a la carte the channels he actually watches, rather than pay for a bundled service with dozens, sometimes hundreds, of channels that are quickly skipped past with the clicker. Cable providers obviously prefer selling channels in bundles, ensuring [...]
If you live in an area served by Comcast and your kids receive free lunches at school through the National School Lunch Program, you may qualify for a new Internet service from Comcast, which costs just $9.95 a month.
For eons, the concept of keeping up with the Joneses fueled people’s desires to acquire the markings of wealth and show them off. With the rise of the Internet, the Joneses aren’t just next door or around town—they’re everywhere. And considering how easy it is to create an identity online, the countless Joneses you’re subconsciously [...]
At an industry event this week, cable executives laughed off the idea of large-scale “cord cutting,” or that Netflix and Internet video could one day replace their businesses. They also justified high prices charged for cable packages by pointing out that pay TV was one of the last expenses consumers cut back on during the [...]
