I'm sure that railroads are a tough business. Probably takes a lot of skill and savvy to turn a profit. I'll give you that. But you know what is not a tough business in which to profit? Selling food and drinks at a virtually unlimited markup to a captive audience with no other options. Amtrak cannot even make a dollar doing that.
Yes, we know that we advised you all to avoid buying private jets during the recession, lest you suffer some bad PR. And hundreds of millions of you listened to us, judging from the number of non-jet owners out there! But things have changed: now is the time to buy a private jet, everyone. Do not miss this buying opportunity!
Not to be a gloomy Gus about the molasses-like rate at which our shattered global economy is pulling itself out of a deep dark depression hole, but the news today is not stunningly good. The U.S. economy is growing by a mere 1.5% in the past quarter. How would you describe that, media? "Tepid," "Slow," "strangled," and "Dismal." Thank you, media.
In the past 40 years or so, CEOs have gone from earning 20 times more than the average worker, to more than 230 times the average worker. Over the same period of time, unions have weakened to the point that successful companies feel comfortable asking for unprecedented concessions from workers at the same time the company is reaping record profits. What do these things have to do with each other? Everything.
The student loan bubble that threatens to envelop America is a truly remarkable form of penury: your debt ruins you financially, and you may never even reap any benefits from it, thanks to our nation's horrible economy! And now, a second, even more devious peril is becoming clear: you could still be repaying your student loans when it comes time to help your kids get their own student loans.
Many times in the past, we've solicited stories from people who work at various terrible places—Target, Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, and others—in order to cut through the PR and hear firsthand what life is like on the inside of America's churning corporate machines. Now, we'd like to hear from perhaps the most vital group of American workers: the unemployed.
Most humans possessing a first-grade education—including precocious preschoolers—are well aware that shopping malls, once a glassy symbol of American cultural homogeny, are as dead as MusicLand. Dead-dead. And those that are not dead are dying. And the ones that already died are coming back as anything but malls. Because malls are, you know, pretty much dead. EXCEPT for those brave malls being dragged into the future—in a quirky way, if necessary.
In the economy, as in life, men are first in, last out, on top, and super successful. (And deserving.) Yes, the recession was a hard time for everyone. But everyone, whether man or woman, will be happy to learn that men are getting themselves back on track, more than women.
Americans are weird. You all say that you respect success and achievement, but your actions belie your lies. When will the average American stop waging class war by correctly observing that they are on the losing side of a rigged financial system?
Sure, it's true, cities and counties from Alabama to California have given up and declared bankruptcy due to this ongoing Recesssion of Doom. Hell, San Bernardino just declared bankruptcy yesterday. But those cities are quitters. They've taken themselves out of contention, the losers. For an American city that is still trying to survive financially, and failing miserably, there is no better example than Scranton, PA—the jewel of Lackawanna County.
There are two equally valid and not incompatible reactions to have towards the WSJ's big investigative story today on political spending by unions. The first is that there is clearly some effort here by the (not particularly pro-union) WSJ on behalf of the right wing and/ or business interests to insinuate that union spending is a counterbalance to corporate Super PAC spending, so everything is fair. The second is that unions need to spend their money on different shit.
Are you panicked to the point of irrationality about the unpredictable ups and downs of the Dow Jones Industrial Average? Are you as far as one could possibly get from a "Wall Street insider," yet still overconfident in your ability to beat the market? Are you unable to control your urge to do something, even something stupid, when you begin to feel the slightest bit of discomfort? If so, you may be qualified to join America's hottest horribly ill-advised financial trend: day trading with your retirement money.
If you read "the business section" or invest in a "portfolio" or are a member of or have ever gotten into an argument with a member of "the Republican Party," you're probably familiar with the argument that corporations have a moral and legal duty to act solely to grow their value for their own shareholders. If you are not a corporation's shareholder, in other words, it has no duty to do shit for you. Now, this idea is being challenged. BUT: should it be?
The whole "big idea" behind having a system of public schools to educate our nation's children is that the public schools are free to attend. We pay taxes, and those taxes pay for schools. The schools are open to all the kids, for free. If you're paying money in order to attend a school, that's called a private school. New system: all schools are private!
The key rule of responsible long term financial planning is: Whenever you build a financial surplus, even for a moment, immediately blow that surplus on a plan that will also eliminate a steady source of long term income. I was kidding! That is not actually a "good" rule of financial planning. But it is a craven political rule, and isn't that what's really important?
The Fed announced today that the average net worth of an American family dropped from more than $126,000 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010, meaning that nearly two decades worth of wealth accumulation have been completely vaporized in the Great Big Recession Thing of Aught Eight And Ongoing. Is there any good news?
