The widening gap between the wealthy and – well, everyone else in America has occupied news headlines since the housing collapse of a few years ago. As the famous one percent gets richer and the other 99 do not, a new theory suggests that income inequality is really...
California’s Drought Hits Wallets – and Health
It takes nearly five gallons of water to cultivate a single walnut - more than it takes to grow a head of lettuce. But in drought stricken California, the water it takes for those and other fruit and vegetable crops is in drastically short supply – and that has...
Wikimedia Fights NSA For Your Civil Rights
The National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance operations hit the headlines last year to a volley of outraged objections from civil libertarians in the US and abroad. But while the news coverage has faded, the spying hasn’t – and a new lawsuit filed against the...
Millennial Entrepreneurs Change the Economic Game
Millennials get a lot of press lately – most of it bad. This generation of new and recent college grads keeps on making headlines for its staggering student loan debt, problems fitting into the working world, and lack of interest in traditional “adult” goals. But many...
Can Apple Turn Gold Into Profits?
Gold – that ancient standard for wealth and beauty – has had a roller coaster ride in the world’s money markets lately, trading down from last year and struggling against other commodities in global investing. But a new maneuver from Apple Corp is poised to change all...
What’s Ahead for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?
Fannie and Freddie are still headed for the chopping block. The demise of those venerable home loan agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac might not seem to matter to anyone who’s not looking to buy a house. But some market watchers worry that the dismantling of the...
Students Strike Against Loan Debt
The much-discussed US student loan debt load has hit $1.2 trillion, and in spite of government-sponsored debt forgiveness and other measures, it isn’t likely to shrink. Now, a group of students is taking matters into their own hands by simply refusing to pay off loans...
Will Deflation Derail World Economies?
Low prices delight consumers. But those falling prices may signal darker days ahead in the form of deflation, which flattens economies and leads to long-term recession. As prices drop and sales flatten in many of the world’s leading economies, experts fear a global...
Deflation and Oil Prices: Should Investors Worry?
Oil prices are falling, dropping below $200 USD for a barrel of crude. And while that makes US consumers happy, the tumble in prices is fueling worries of a looming round of deflation that could ripple throughout the economy and trigger another round of intervention...
US Banks Hit By Swiss Franc Fallout
In the tightly knit world of global finance, what happens halfway around the world can have devastating effects at home. Case in point: the fallout from the recent Swiss bank decision to drop its cap on the franc, which is hitting even US banks and the sturdy dollar....