Tonight, the winning numbers of a record-breaking $640 million lottery will be announced. The monster jackpot is causing a frenzy across the country, with players waiting up to three hours to buy tickets at "hot" stores and math nerds debating whether it's worth buying a ticket.
The stumbling economic recovery has led many of us to rein in our expenses, even on necessities like diapers. But there are a few lucky sectors that benefit from a weak economy — things that let us escape, give us momentary pleasure or temporarily relieve our stress. They’re the small things, like donuts and yoga [...]
Consumer activity gives a good indication of how the economy is holding up, and here are five trends indicating that consumers are having a particularly hard time lately.
There’s no shortage of experts offering advice about where to buy things and how to score the best deals. But sometimes, shopping smarter means not buying at all. As satisfying as it might feel to get a great deal, sometimes the best thing you can do for your wallet is to keep it closed.
Read up and pay attention or you’ll have good reason to complain too.
A sleek new jet-black lottery ticket was designed with ritzy images of Johnnie Walker Black, the elite American Express black card, and Lotus Formula One race cars in mind. The $5 lottery ticket is being introduced in ads with fancy script fonts, and on first glance you might think they’re marketing decadent chocolates or gourmet [...]
Gambling is widely considered to be recession resistant. When times are tough, people may in fact be more likely to take a chance. Sales of lottery tickets, for instance, were up in most states. So why have state tax revenues from gambling dropped?
The recession has provided a moment to step back and contemplate, to come to a truer understanding of life lessons like that happiness is not derived from material things. The financial downturn has also passed along some slightly odd teachings, like that fewer people die at the workplace when there are fewer people actually at [...]
