Feb 09 4 reasons not to trust Social Security’s benefit estimates By Laurence Kotlikoff Social Security expert Larry Kotlikoff recommends you retrieve your annual statement each year to check that Social Security has correctly credited your covered earnings. But don’t trust the statement’s projections of your retirement benefits or the benefits available to family… Continue reading
Feb 08 Poll: Slim majority approves of Obama job on unemployment By Emily Swanson, Associated Press Americans' views of President Barack Obama have improved slightly in the past two months, and opinions are more positive about the direction of the country and the health of the economy, an Associated Press-GfK poll finds. Continue reading
Feb 07 Obama: Scaling back college savings benefits wasn’t worth it By Nedra Pickler, Associated Press President Barack Obama said Friday that he dropped a widely criticized plan to scale back tax benefits for college savings accounts because the savings weren't worth it. Continue reading
Feb 06 Watch 7:01 How music on demand is killing the album By PBS News Hour To be able to listen to a favorite song, you used to have to buy a whole album. But the rise of digital sales and streaming music has unbundled the single from the rest of the record. What does that… Continue watching
Feb 06 Watch 5:16 Job growth on a roll, will wages follow? By PBS News Hour The recovering U.S. economy has made its strongest showing yet. Employers created a million jobs since November -- the best three-month average in 17 years. And January also boasted the biggest wage rise in six years. But not all sectors… Continue watching
Feb 06 Watch 9:24 Will new manufacturing ease Mississippi’s ‘psychosis of poverty?’ By PBS News Hour In Mississippi, where the unemployment rate peaks at 15 percent in some areas, pockets of new manufacturing have ignited hopes for an economic rebirth. And while signs of growth give some people hope for a new era, how much will… Continue watching
Feb 06 Why a higher unemployment rate may be good news for the economy By Simone Pathe The unemployment rate increased from 5.6 to 5.7 percent in the first month of 2015, but economists greeted that as good news. Even more encouraging, the economy added 257,000 jobs in January and average hourly earnings were up 12 cents. Continue reading
Feb 05 Watch 8:23 What ‘Gangnam Style’ can teach us about the Psy-chology of investing By PBS News Hour Continue watching
Feb 05 In Venezuela, a box of condoms runs $755 as oil prices plummet By Marina Lopes As the petroleum-rich country’s economy is slammed by falling oil prices, expensive imports like condoms are becoming a luxury only the wealthy can afford. Continue reading
Feb 05 Finally, random admissions: How one Yale class chooses its students By Vikram Mansharamani Vikram Mansharamani's business ethics class at Yale was so oversubscribed, he let the students decide who'd gain entry to the course. What followed was a true lesson in business ethics, where random selection was the final arbiter, and transparency was… Continue reading