May 27 Making Sense: 'Hey Paul: Do Something Useful For Once' By Paul Solman Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users on business and economic news most days on his Making Sen$e page. Here's Friday's query: Name: Jerrold Jones Question: Hey Paul, Do something useful for once. Prove… Continue reading
May 26 Mortgage Form Makeover: What Do You Think? By Paul Solman The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently announced plans to simplify the mortgage paperwork that has long confused potential homebuyers. "The current forms can be complicated and difficult for consumers to use. They are also redundant and… Continue reading
May 24 Making Sense: The Rising Price of Oil By Paul Solman Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users on business and economic news most days on his Making Sen$e page. Here's Tuesday's query: Name: William Bair Question: What, if anything, is be done on the… Continue reading
May 23 Marcia Coyle: 'It's Homestretch Time at the Supreme Court' By Elizabeth Summers Supreme Court (Photo by Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images) Monday's sharply divided ruling ordering California to release tens of thousands of inmates from its overcrowded prisons was just one of several widely-anticipated decisions the Supreme Court is expected to issue… Continue reading
May 23 Making Sense: Is it Dumb to Play the Lottery? By Paul Solman Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users on business and economic news most days on his Making Sen$e page. Here's Monday's query: We received a fascinating email in response to last week's installment of… Continue reading
May 20 Furry Robots, Foldable Cars and More Innovations from MIT's Media Lab By Elizabeth Shell We recently visited the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for our story on George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen's ebook, "The Great Stagnation." Cowen argues that our economy is slowing down because the… Continue reading
May 19 Foodie Economist: How to Find Great Eats By Elizabeth Shell When economist Tyler Cowen finishes his day job at George Mason University and dinner time rolls around, he sinks his teeth into his hobby: blogging about -- and eating -- ethnic food in and around Washington, D.C. Continue reading
May 18 Making Sense: The Two Faces of Dominique Strauss-Kahn By Paul Solman Paul interviewed Strauss-Kahn in September of 2009. Watch the interview here. Dominique Strauss-Kahn was as urbane and well-mannered an interviewee as ever you'll meet. Sensible and clear, as in a NewsHour interview during the heat of… Continue reading
May 17 Can You Make it Through the Month? Financial Decisions of the Poor By Paul Solman Here's an online "game" found for us by one of our most trusted advisers, Boston University Finance Professor Zvi Bodie. "Spent" was created through a collaboration between Urban Ministries of Durham in North Carolina and the advertising firm… Continue reading
May 16 'Demand' Driving Inflation? A Viewer Begs to Differ By Paul Solman A complaint lodged with the PBS Ombudsman that was passed along after Friday's broadcast and seemed worth answering in a public forum. "I do not understand why Paul Solman did not challenge Roberto Rigobon when he said… Continue reading