Sometimes, an adjective seems inappropriate. Take “great.” It seems both overused and misused. Wayne Gretzky? No doubt about it: GREAT. Alexander the Great? Sure. Muhammad Ali? The Greatest. But plagues, wars, floods, depressions, economic panics, riots, and recessions? If any of these things are occurring, the situation seems less than great. Not even good, or [...]
On July 24, the minimum wage will increase from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. The timing is less than ideal. The national jobless rate is nearly 10 percent, and among American teenagers—who are likely to work many of those minimum-wage jobs seeing a pay increase—the unemployment rate is nearly 25 percent. A mandatory wage increase should help people who are currently making minimum wage, so long as they get to keep their jobs, of course.
Hmmm … should I read waste some time wwilfing at The Onion or dig into a little light reading about macroeconomic theory at Econbrowser? According to a WSJ story, more and more people are going the latter route, trying to figure out where the economy is heading by way of blogs penned by giant-brained econogeeks.
Divorced couples are living under the same roof because it’s too expensive to really split up right now. There are either more people around the house (because they’re out of work) or fewer people around the house (because they’re working second and third jobs to pay bills and get health coverage). More people are doing their own chores and giving maid services and landscapers the boot. And other big and little ways the recession is affecting home life.
The news is making the rounds that in the first half of 2009, 1.53 million properties in the U.S. were in the foreclosure process. It’s likely that some people are looking at their drastically depreciated homes—and their inflated mortgage payments—and are strategically walking away.
Everyone would love to eat well without spending a fortune. So how do you do it?
At a secret meeting of the Justice League 3.0, Michael Moore, Pope Benedict XVI, the Dalai Lama, Bill Gates, Optimus Prime, Nelson Mandela, and the ghost of Che Guevera gathered to solve the global financial crisis.
