Dec 05 Watch 4:55 Revved up employment growth offers ‘meat-on-the-bone’ jobs, but mostly more minimum wage By PBS News Hour Job growth surged last month, with more than 300,000 new positions added. Hourly wages increased, too. Is there a catch? Diane Swonk of Mesirow Financial joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss how the economy took a step in the right direction… Continue watching
Dec 05 What’s the most reliable indicator of monthly job gains? By Simone Pathe Friday's jobs report showed a surprisingly high 321,000 jobs were added in November. Inspiring even more good cheer, however, average hourly earnings for private nonfarm payrolls actually rose 9 cents last month. Continue reading
Dec 04 Why college education isn’t a bubble By Vivek Wadhwa PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel has argued that college is overvalued in this country and that not everyone should go. He's even called it a bubble -- like housing. But entrepreneur and academic Vivek Wadhwa defends higher education, calling Thiel's ideas… Continue reading
Dec 03 Should you ditch your employer’s insurance for Medicare? By Philip Moeller In the last few days before Medicare open enrollment ends for the year, Making Sen$e Medicare Maven Phil Moeller takes a question from a reader of a certain age who's not sure whether he should choose one of his employer's… Continue reading
Dec 02 Watch 5:36 Cozy relationship between Fed and big banks draws scrutiny By PBS News Hour While monitoring Goldman Sachs, New York Federal Reserve supervisor Carmen Segarra made secret recordings that suggested the Fed was too soft on the big bank. She was fired a few months later, for reasons the Fed claimed were unrelated. Judy… Continue watching
Dec 02 Does Monopoly’s Atlantic City still exist? By Ruth Tam Americans know the Monopoly board. But how familiar are they with the city it's modeled after? A tour of Atlantic City and a conversation with Mayor Don Guardian reveal just how much "America's favorite playground" has changed since it inspired… Continue reading
Dec 01 Collect your Social Security as if you may live to 100 By Laurence Kotlikoff If you live to 100, which is increasingly likely for middle class Americans in decent health, says Social Security expert Larry Kotlikoff, you’ll be extremely happy you waited until age 70 to collect your retirement benefit. Continue reading
Dec 01 This is why the middle class can’t get ahead By Nick Hanauer Billionaire venture capitalist Nick Hanauer explains why today's middle class is feeling stuck, how that hurts the whole economy and what President Obama can do about it -- with a stroke of his executive pen. Continue reading
Nov 30 Watch 3:41 Spending behaviors shift over holiday shopping weekend By PBS News Hour Experts expect tomorrow's so-called "Cyber Monday" sales to see an uptick over last year. But will it be enough for businesses to consider the extended shopping weekend a success? For some insight, Shelly Banjo of the Wall Street Journal joins… Continue watching