If you aren’t planning on getting a big loan in the next couple of years, you probably shouldn’t be worried about your credit score right? Wrong.
economy
Starbucks Lays Off 870 Assistant Store Managers
By 2.11.09
Starbucks announced today that they will be laying off 870 assistant store managers and not filling 530 vacant positions. In addition, 500 non-store positions will also be eliminated. Read the memo inside.
Private Jet Manufacturers Annoyed At Backlash, Claim Jets Are Practical
By 2.11.09
Did you know that private jets are actually quite practical? We didn’t. The Wall Street Journal says that private jet manufacturers are angry at the backlash against private jets and are speaking out to “counter business aircraft misinformation.”
NY AG: Before Losing $15 Billion, Merrill Lynch Quietly Made 696 Employees Millionaires
By 2.11.09
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wrote a letter yesterday to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), head of the House Financial Services Committee, (which is currently holding hearings Washington on how banks are spending bailout funds.) In the letter, Cuomo expresses concern that Merrill Lynch moved up their bonus schedule so that they could make sure that taxpayers would get the bill.
Here's A Shock: Fewer People Are Quitting Their Jobs
By 2.10.09
NPR’s Planet Money blog alerts us to the existence of a statistic called the “quits” rate — which, you guessed it, monitors how many people are quitting their jobs. You’ll be shocked to hear that for months the quits rate has been at the lowest point since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking it.
By 2.10.09
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Senate approves $838 billion economic stimulus bill 61 to 37. C-Span says three Republicans broke ranks to vote for it: Senators Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Arlen Specter.
Store Cards Turning Into A Nightmare For Retailers
By 2.10.09
Our eyes shoot fire when stores make their poor employees harass us about opening a store card, so we’re feeling a perverse sense of joy at the news that store cards are turning into a nightmare for retailers.
Notes On Obama's Press Conference
By 2.10.09
Obama is giving a press conference right now, mainly about the stimulus package. Here are the highlights, none of which are earth-shattering:
By 2.9.09
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Want to know what the latest version of the stimulus package looks like? “We’ve trimmed the fat, fried the bacon, and milked the sacred cows,” Sen. Ben Nelson said in a statement. [Consumer Reports]
Pre-Loaded Benefit Cards Nickle And Dime Unemployed
By 2.9.09
Pennysylvania’s unemployed are getting nickled-and-dimed by pre-loaded unemployment benefit debit cards that come come pre-loaded with hidden fees.
Capital One: Sorry, Due To "Extraordinary Changes In The Economic Environment" You Need To Pay More
By 2.9.09
Capital One apparently believes in “honest and open communications” (even though they’ve been accused of purposefully dicking their customers around in the hopes of generating more fees). How do we know this? Because they’ve written their “valuable customers like you” letters letting you know that due to “extraordinary changes in the economic environment,” everyone needs to pay a little more interest. Don’t worry, you haven’t done anything wrong. That’s just the Capital One honesty you’re feeling. Read the letter inside.
By 2.9.09
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Nissan will cut 20,000 jobs as US sales plunged 31%. “Our worst assumptions on the state of the global economy have been met or exceeded,” said Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn. [Bloomberg]
Is Bank of America About To Become THE Bank of America?
By 2.5.09
Bank of America‘s stock slid to a 20 year low today as investors became increasingly convinced that the bank would be nationalized. Share tumbled 18% early today, before climbing back up in the afternoon, says CNNMoney.
By 2.5.09
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You can now get unemployment insurance for your vacation. How depressing. [MSNBC]
By 2.5.09
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626,000 people filed for unemployment benefits last week. The number of people on unemployment rose to 4.8 million, the highest since records started being kept. [AP]
By 2.3.09
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The January 30th episode of This American Life features some interesting thoughts on John Maynard Keynes and the inevitability of putting his controversial theories to the test, whether we want to or not. [This American Life]
The Mess DHL Left Behind When It Pulled Out Of The US
By 2.3.09
When DHL ended domestic shipping and laid off 9,500 people back in November, 60 Minutes says it was losing $6 million a day. Now the people of Wilmington, Ohio are cleaning up the mess that DHL left and are wondering what’s next.
