Articles on Financial News

Another path to recovery: higher incomes

Preventing a collapse of the financial system is part of preventing a depression. However, the shorthand term for this--getting the banks able and willing to lend--is misleading.

Best Money Tips: Electile Dysfuntion

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips roundup. This week's posts share why being nice saves you money, how to save on dining out, how much to put into your retirement savings,

Best Money Tips: Wall Street Rollercoaster

In this week's Best Money Tips roundup: the Dow keeps dropping, why now is the time to pay off your credit card, why complete and utter armageddon isn't going to happen, simplif

Best Money Tips: NPR Explains Financial Mess in Terms the Average Joe Can Understand

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips roundup. This week, learn how to travel for less than you live on at home, the tricky new grocery pricing trap, 6 simple steps to create

Peak Debt

Is there a limit to how much Americans can spend? Clearly there is: All they earn, minus savings and service on their existing debt, plus new borrowing. Since the Bureau of Econ

What I've been trying to say

You can choose how you want to live. If you choose to live simply, you gain a certain kind of freedom. In particular, you're free to choose to do the work that's the most satisfy

The weird logic of economic growth

Ever notice that we have names for a period when the economy isn't growing (recession or depression), but there's no name for when it is growing?  If they call it anything,

How Do You Take Advantage of the Federal Interest Rate Cut?

The Federal Reserve just cut the interest rate by 0.75% between two official meetings! This is the largest cut since 1982 and it was like an adrenaline shot to the sagging stock ma

Common Currency: A Primer

These postings will pertain to the economy of life, which is all about personal alternatives that shape our financial world.

Trade versus localization

Localization--eating locally grown foods and buying locally produced goods--has become trendy just lately. For the past twenty years, though, globalization has been the dominate f

Should George W. Bush write for Wisebread?

I'm not sure how many of you watch the news or read the news blogs on a daily basis. I know I can't, it's way too depressing to do every day. But when I saw that George W. Bush, ou

Deadweight loss of Christmas: Economist explains why gifts are inefficient

The term "deadweight loss" doesn't exactly smack of Christmas cheer, but ask yourself — are you spending too much on holiday gifts?