As college costs continue to rise, it’s reasonable to step back and take a look at how much a bachelor’s degree may be worth in terms of career earnings. [More]
inflation
Rising Gas Prices May Lead To Fuel Surcharge Increases On Shipments
By 4.27.11
Surging gas prices affect not only those with gas guzzlers, but potentially just about every product you buy. Rising shipping costs will likely be passed on to consumers, who will have less money to cover the costs because of other ways expensive gas is sucking them dry. [More]
Wholesale Meat Prices Up 25 Percent From A Year Ago
By 4.6.11
It’s gotten tougher over the last year to bring home the bacon, as well as the rib eye, hamburger and rump roast. [More]
4 Foods That Jumped In Price Last Year
By 2.9.11
Inflation can hit your refrigerator the hardest. Rising food prices amid stagnant salaries and a stiff job market can make it tougher to make ends meet. [More]
Man Says Penis Enlarger Never Worked, Even After 500 Hours Of Use
By 1.10.11
What with all that free healthcare and those easygoing natures up north in Canada, there’s not much to get upset about. So why not sue over a penis enlarger to stir stuff up? [More]
Do We Need A Little Inflation To Get The Economy Moving?
By 9.28.10
Inflation is good, at the right time, and in moderate amounts. Like adding just a smidge during a recession when there’s a lot of people in debt. Knowing that prices will rise, some consumers and businesses are prodded to crack open their pocketbooks. The value of debts drop, easing the burden on strapped borrowers. Having used up a lot of options already, the Fed could slightly raise its inflation target and let prices slowly rise over the next few years, but they’re unlikely to announce anything remotely close to that in their meeting this week. Namely because people really really really hate inflation. Why is that? [More]
Brand Name Drug Prices Rise Significantly In Past Year
By 8.25.10
Here’s yet another reason to go for generic drugs when you can: drug makers keep raising prices on brand name products. If you group generics and brand names together, drug prices rose by 3.4% in 2009, according to an industry report. However, if you look at just brand name drugs as the AARP did in a new report, the average price hike was 8.3%. An earlier AARP report from May points out that if you look at specialty drugs “widely used by people in Medicare” then the hike jumps to 9.2%. [More]
Save $10K On Something That Only Costs $400
By 5.24.10
Ice found this uncool sign at Staples, which says it saves you nearly $10,000 off a printer that costs $400. [More]
Lower Cost Of Living Means Less Income For Some
By 10.17.09
The good news: the cost of living is decreasing, or at least isn’t increasing. The bad news: Colorado is the first state to actually decrease its minimum wage, from $7.28 to $7.24, and Social Security recipients will not be receiving their routine cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA for 2010.
The Five Universal Financial Truths
By 8.2.09
Saving can be boiled down to a few universal financial truths. The sooner you know and internalize them, the sooner you can start enjoying a responsible, sustainable lifestyle.
Fed: The Economy Is Recovering — Even If Nobody Has A @#$*@* Job
By 7.21.09
Fed Chariman Ben Bernanke testified before the House Committee on Financial Services today, reassuring lawmakers that the bailouts were working — but cautioned that they shouldn’t expect their constituents to have jobs again until 2012.
Stuff Is Cheaper Now Than It Was Last Year, Consumer Price Index Reveals
By 6.18.09
Even though gas prices keep rising, businesses haven’t been sticking customers with price hikes. In fact, the bear economy has staggered the Consumer Price Index once again, with the index rising only 0.1 percent in May. The miniscule, less-than-expected increase, following a flat April, means that prices were 1.3 percent lower in May than they were a year ago — the largest year-over-year drop since 1950.
If Gas Prices Fly As Expected, Busineses Need To Ground Themselves To Avoid Crashing
By 6.15.09
Things that are headed up these days: unemployment, foreclosures, adorable Pixar characters whose houses are attached to helium ballons, Daisuke Matsuzaka’s ERA and, argh, gas prices. A Russian energy group is predicting oil, which is currently just over $70 a barrel, will eventually pierce the stratosphere at $250, meaning it’ll pretty much be Mad Max time for everyone.
Consumer Prices Fall For The First Time Since 1955
By 4.15.09
Grab your nearest economist and hold them tight, prices are falling. The Labor Department says that the obsessed-over Consumer Price Index fell 0.4 percent for the year — the first annual drop since 1955.
Never Mind, People Still Aren't Buying Anything
By 4.14.09
Just when we thought we saw a light at the end of the tunnel, retail sales dropped “unexpectedly” in March after a three month period of growth. Why is this bad? Because it makes economists worry about deflation.
Certificates Of Deposit Aren't Risk-Free
By 3.2.09
With the stock market gyrating wilder than a dashboard hula doll, you probably want an investment that won’t depress you when you open the paper. Certificates of Deposit or “CDs,” an insured savings account with a guaranteed interest rate may sound like the antidote, but even they are not without risk.
