Earn What You Spend

As you may know if you read this blog, I live in Brooklyn, New York.  Although the subway is my primary means of transportation, I occasionally indulge in using a car service to get to the airport or during exceptionally rainy days.  This is not, as those who live in Brooklyn can attest, an extravagant [...]

It was a slow train coming.  General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection this morning.  This path certainly has a number of pitfalls, but, according to the WSJ, has the potential for a rosier scenario: 
Bankruptcy should allow GM to pull off one of the most expedient downsizings in the industry’s 120-year history. Long hampered by laws, union [...]

When things go sour, it is not uncommon for politicians (or anyone, for that matter) to demand a head.  Actual culpability is not the issue - people want to feel like someone is paying for the consequences they are feeling.  
If there is one positive to the Bernie Madoff scandal, it’s that it has a [...]

It has become common to read about bankruptcies in businesses.  We all know the big names that went bust: AIG, Lehman, Bear Stearns.  But we also know those in our own locales: restaurants are closing, banks are going belly-up, retail stores shuttering.  What we often don’t realize is that governments - from cities to states to [...]

A mere six months ago, the phrase the ‘Paradox of Thrift’ was unknown to virtually everyone besides dedicated economists and academics.  It has now spread into our common parlance - it’s hard to pick up a newspaper these days without seeing at least one reference to this economic theory.
The reason behind its emergence is simple: [...]

He is known as one of the more pessimistic economic prognosticators out there.  Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics and International Business at Stern, writes a well-known blog and newsletter, RGE Monitor.  At this year’s World Economic Forum, the economists are taking center stage, and Professor Roubini is no exception. 
Here is a clip from Youtube of Roubini [...]