Dec 10 A food stamps success story By Miles Corak A yawning gap has opened up between market income poverty rates and total income poverty rates, which can only be heralded as a major success story for out-of-work assistance, particularly those components under federal control, argues economist Miles Corak. Continue reading
Dec 08 Good news for the Affordable Care Act in jobs reports By Dean Baker In the wake of November's jobs report, Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, argues that the Affordable Care Act is allowing more young parents to choose to stay at home with their kids. Continue reading
Dec 06 Watch 8:21 A distant dream? Crowdfunding still beyond reach for many entrepreneurs By PBS News Hour Raising a large pool of money from many small contributions online, known as crowdfunding, was supposed to be an option for startup business to raise money when President Obama signed the 2012 JOBS Act into law. But today, that method… Continue watching
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