money-matters

Food Is So Expensive Now

Hamilton Nolan · 03/03/11 12:12PM

Do you like food? Ohhh, shoot. Sorry. I was hoping you'd say no! Because food prices are, like, crazy right now.

Report: Women Slowly Creeping Up on Men

Hamilton Nolan · 03/01/11 11:25AM

Women: always sneaking up behind men, trying to take our money. The latest confirmation comes from a new White House report on the "state of women," which confirms what you'd always suspected: women are catching up. Oh, they're still lagging—women make about 75% as much as men these days, for the same jobs—but they're creeping up from behind elsewhere. They're getting more college degrees! Getting married later in life (30, for college-educated women)! And the wise refusal to be dragged down by a family:

Greedy Prisoners Are Stealing American Jobs

Hamilton Nolan · 02/25/11 11:28AM

A vast number of the states in our fine union are facing deep and painful budget cuts, thanks to the ongoing not-having of money, combined with lots of spending of money that we didn't have in the recent past. Education, social welfare, health care—the entire social safety net will have to be slashed. But with a little ingenuity, we'll be able to preserve our prison-industrial complex!

Everyone's Leaving Ireland Again

Hamilton Nolan · 02/24/11 04:12PM

Remember when all those people left Ireland thanks to the potato famine and then your grandparents would never shut up about it? Uh oh, it's happening again! (The leaving Ireland part.)

Chicks Paying For Things Now

Hamilton Nolan · 02/24/11 01:42PM

Encouraging news from the trend-heavy New York City dating world: single ladies have money now! Seventeen percent more money than their twentysomething male counterparts, according to a study that was immediately seized upon and churned into a New York Post trend story. You know what that means, fellas? Now it's time for you to have a "sugar mama!" Here's the scoop from one wealthy lady who gives her age as "29:"

Why Aren't Americans Shopping at Wal-Mart Any More?

Hamilton Nolan · 02/23/11 11:34AM

Box-shaped trinket warehouse Wal-Mart announced its fourth quarter sales figures yesterday, and the news was dark: although profit was up, sales at its U.S. stores fell for the seventh straight quarter. Why don't we love our Wal-Marts, any more?

The Borders Aftermath: Who Falls Next?

Hamilton Nolan · 02/17/11 12:54PM

Borders filed its long-expected bankruptcy yesterday. Hundreds of its stores will be closing in the next few weeks. Besides Borders employees, two other groups are worried: book publishers, and mall owners.

College Cuts Price

Hamilton Nolan · 02/17/11 11:09AM

Breaking newsworthy news story: a college, in America, will not charge as much this year as it did last year. That's right: Sewanee, the University of the South, in Tennessee, will cost 10% less this year than the $46,000 it cost last year. This moderate price cut at an otherwise unremarkable regional college earned stories in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.

Real Estate Market Collapse: Now Coming to the Nice Cities

Hamilton Nolan · 02/14/11 11:05AM

Even during the worst days of the collapse of the housing bubble (Sundays through Saturdays), it was widely assumed that the real pain would be confined to Vegas, and Florida, and other places where people woke up and realized that they'd just paid $1.3 million for a particleboard McMansion in the middle of a desert and/ or swamp.

The Next American Gold Rush Is On

Hamilton Nolan · 02/11/11 05:05PM

Pop quiz: what's the correct conclusion to draw about our economy from the following news? The NYT reports that 1850s-era gold mines in California—many of which have not been working mines for 40 years or more—are now being reopened for prospecting. "Gold will soon be big business again in California's Mother Lode, in the same area of the Sierras - and occasionally the same mines - where the old-time prospectors once used pick axes, ore carts and burros to chase their riches."

Borders Filing for Bankruptcy

Hamilton Nolan · 02/11/11 03:45PM

Faltering book chain Borders, which has been on a financial death watch for weeks, will file for bankruptcy next week, after failing to get a lifesaving loan. "Borders initially plans to close about 200 of its 674 stores." Initially. [WSJ]

The Most Expensive Ball-Kicking in History

Hamilton Nolan · 02/10/11 09:18AM

This Saturday, Manchester City will play Manchester United, in soccer. Total combined cost that both teams paid for all their players: $850 million. Most expensive ballgame in history. And Manchester is not even a big (or attractive) city. [WSJ]