May 22 Does It Ever Make Sense to Dip Into Your 401(k)? Creative Commons photo by Flickr user Thomas Hawk. Paul Solman answers questions from the NewsHour audience on business and economic news here on his Making Sen$e page. Tuesday's question comes from an in-house NewsHour staffer who… Continue reading
May 21 Is It Better to Save or to Spend? Banner protesting austerity measures in Brussels, Belgium. Photo by Morgan Till/PBS NewsHour. Restricted as this page usually is to questions (and answers), its posts can, I realize, seem more than a bit off the news. This is especially true… Continue reading
May 18 Why Not Raise Taxes Instead of Interest Rates to Reduce the Deficit? Image by Spark Studio via Getty Images. Paul Solman answers questions from the NewsHour audience on business and economic news here on his Making Sen$e page. Here is Friday's query: Name: Phil Webb Question: When the economy starts… Continue reading
May 17 Aren’t We All Better Off if Fannie, Freddie Forgive and Forget? Fannie Mae headquarters in Washington, D.C. Photo by Flickr user futureatlas.com via a Creative Commons license. Paul Solman answers questions from the NewsHour audience on business and economic news here on his Making Sen$e page. Here is Thursday's… Continue reading
May 16 Why Isn’t There a Single World Currency? A pile of money from around the world -- currencies of the U.S. (dollar), U.K. (pound), and Europe (euro). Creative Commons photo courtesy flickr user Images_of_Money. Paul Solman answers questions from the NewsHour audience on business and economic… Continue reading
May 15 Are U.S. Wages Enough to Live On? A waitress carries a pizza to customers at Gino's East restaurant in Chicago. Wait staff in Illinois earn $2.13 an hour, before tips. Photo by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Paul Solman answers questions from the NewsHour audience on… Continue reading
May 14 Worried About Retirement? An Excellent Free Video Tool Debuts Image of "Curious Behaviors" used with permission of the Financial Security Project at Boston College. A suggestion for those pondering retirement: a [new interactive video tool](http://fsp.bc.edu/curious/) introduced by old friend Alicia Munnell, professor of management, director of the… Continue reading
May 11 The ‘Safest Investment’ for Americans Finance professor Zvi Bodie talks to Paul Solman in 2011 about pension woes. In response to our post of May 9 on the benefits of Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, this arrived from the eminent finance guru from Boston… Continue reading
May 10 ‘The Scream’: For Love or Money? "The Scream," painted by Edvard Munch in 1895, sold at a record price of $119.9 million on May 2. A few belated thoughts on the economics of art in the wake of the $120 million price fetched by Edvard… Continue reading
May 09 Hot TIPS on Where To Invest Photo by Kick Images via Getty Images. Readers of this page regularly ask about Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (see note below), which I've long said are my own preferred investment vehicle. Do TIPS still make up more than half the… Continue reading