Mar 09 The Public Worker Battle, Cartoonified By Paul Solman With all the strife over public-sector unions, including irate e-mails in response to our pension coverage on the program, we thought we'd lighten the mood by sharing some recent political cartoons. Continue reading
Mar 08 Making Sen$e Tool$ Tuesday: Tips For Lessening the Pinch at the Pump By Paul Solman You may have noticed that gas prices are up rather dramatically, in tandem with the drama in the Middle East and North Africa. No coincidence, obviously. The fear of supply disruptions, sabotaged wells, and turmoil in general have… Continue reading
Mar 07 More Thoughts on Latest Jobless Numbers, Mexico’s Drug War By Paul Solman February's 192,000 net new jobs breaks down into 222,000 jobs added in the private sector and 30,000 jobs dropped by government. This provides evidence for one side of the economic policy debate of the moment, you could… Continue reading
Mar 04 February Unemployment Numbers: Good, But Don’t Pop the Champagne By Paul Solman The unemployment numbers for February are in, and though economist Peter Morici advises, "Don't Break Out the Champagne Just Yet," the data are encouraging. There are two separate surveys, remember - of "establishments" (places that employ… Continue reading
Mar 03 Making Sen$e: ‘Feelin’ Lousy’ – Financially Groovy In Song By Paul Solman EDITOR'S NOTE: Last month, we featured a week-long series of songs by our country crooning friend Merle Hazard about the Euro-debt crisis: Spain, Ireland, Italy and Germany, and an encore of the infamous… Continue reading
Mar 02 Making Sen$e: Earth to Paul- Wisconsin is Not Rhode Island! By Paul Solman EDITOR'S NOTE: Paul has spent the past few days responding to some of the many questions and comments we received regarding last week's broadcast story, "In Tiny Rhode Island, a Massive Public Pension Crisis Looms" and the Making Sen$e… Continue reading
Mar 01 Making Sen$e: How States Have Responded to the Pension Crunch By Paul Solman EDITOR'S NOTE: We received a number of responses from viewers like you regarding last week's broadcast story, "In Tiny Rhode Island, a Massive Public Pension Crisis Looms" and the Making Sen$e web piece, "Paying For Public… Continue reading
Feb 28 Save the Pensions: Tax the Rich By Paul Solman EDITOR'S NOTE: We received a number of responses from viewers like you regarding last week's broadcast story, "In Tiny Rhode Island, a Massive Public Pension Crisis Looms" and the Making Sen$e web piece, "Paying For Public… Continue reading
Feb 25 The Economics of a World Run Riot By Paul Solman Are there any economic explanations for the world running riot, especially in North Africa? Maybe, says investment adviser Ed Yardeni, an otherwise pretty consistently conservative economist. He cites distinguished Brandeis University historian David Hackett Fischer and Fischer's 1996… Continue reading
Feb 24 Making Sen$e: Paying For Public Pensions By Paul Solman Editor's Note: As the fire over collective bargaining and public worker benefits burns across the country, on Thursday's broadcast we're looking at perhaps the issue behind it all: public pensions and how to pay for them. Our story… Continue reading