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Archive for November, 2011
Are Black Friday deals really to die for?
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011The Christmas shopping season is upon us once again. Black Friday – the biggest shopping day of the year – proved to be a massacre as retailers nationwide opened their doors on Thanksgiving night to give their customers a jump on holiday deals. YouTube is crammed with footage of shoppers behaving badly, rioting over everything [...]
The supercommittee failed – now what?
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011Well, all the dire predictions came true. Despite many hours of meetings and negotiations, the Congressional supercommittee that was supposed to come up with a plan to cut the national deficit wasn’t able to deliver on deadline. It’s not a surprise, really. After all, if Congress as a whole couldn’t come up with a plan [...]
Thanksgiving first, please!
Monday, November 21st, 2011Okay, I know that times are tough and retailers are scrambling to make a little money this holiday season, but my trip to the mall this afternoon was really disheartening. Glitzy red and green decorations abound, special sale prices are posted everywhere, the radio is blaring Christmas music, and the pressure to buy, buy, buy [...]
Two months after Occupy Wall Street began, reasons to protest remain
Thursday, November 17th, 2011It’s been two months since protesters pitched their tents in lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park to remonstrate against the state of the nation’s economy. Their Occupy Wall Street movement has spred across the country to many major cities, including my own home town of Washington, D.C. Even now, northern Virginians who commute into the city every [...]
With 7 billion people on Earth, we need a new model for economic growth
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011Okay, it’s official. According to the United Nations, the Earth now has over 7 billion people on it, which means that the global population has roughly quadrupled in the past 100 years. And it’s not as though that number is going to decrease anytime in the foreseeable future. Although birth rates are projected to level [...]
For the sake of future generations, it’s time to address the wealth gap!
Monday, November 7th, 2011The Associated Press reported today that the wealth gap in the United States between the young and the old is the widest it’s ever been in recorded history. Thanks to the continued economic downturn, young people are buried under increasing housing and college debt even as the high unemployment rate deprives them of job opportunities [...]
Why would anyone partner with Smithfield Farms?
Friday, November 4th, 2011Departing from my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, let’s turn to a story that’s making headlines today. The Huffington Post reports that The Humane Society of the United States has filed an SEC complaint against Smithfield Farms, the company that supplies pork for McDonald’s McRib sandwich. HSUS alleges that Smithfield Farms’ [...]