Unemployment declined in February 2015 for the second straight month, to 11.42%. This is the lowest unemployment has been in the US since June 2009, when unemployment was 11.26%. The Reporting Gap, which indicates how under-reported the official BLS figure…
Overpopulation and the Growth Obsession
Did you ever wonder why property values always (2008 aside) go up? It just feels like one of those economic truths we imbibe at a young age, probably before we even take an Economics class, for those of us who…
Pancakes Make Me Hungrier
That term: “pancakes make me hungrier” appears nowhere on the Internet as a phrase. Until now. I had pancakes for breakfast yesterday, the second time in about a week, at a place that New Orleanians seem to adore called the…
Moment of Reflection
Last night, I had a disquieting and somewhat absurd realization that most people think it’s fine for some people to be rich and other people to be poor. I was struck anew by how difficult I actually find that to…
In the Ballpark
New Orleans has brought me my first-ever NFL game and second- and third-ever NBA games in quick succession (and I have a feeling that, at those ticket prices, we’re going to become Pelicans semi-regulars). But it sadly lacks an MLB…
401(k)’s and IRAs are a Pyramid Scheme
The stock market is booming! On Wednesday, February 25th, 2015, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all-time record-high of 18,224.57 points. This is getting awfully close to triple the March 2009 lows and is, according to all the…
Rim to Rim to Rim Revisited
When I was in college, one of my closest college friends, Stina, spent the summer of 2000 working at a cafeteria in the Grand Canyon. It’s one of those quirky little facts of American life that you might not think…
For the Love of the Train
I took the streetcar home yesterday. I don’t always take the streetcar to and from work, like I did with BART when I worked at Glide in San Francisco. I often take the car, dropping Alex off on the way,…
The Unexpected Virtue of Mardi Gras
I’ve been trying to explain to people all week what I loved so much about Mardi Gras. For those who were here, or have been here, the explanation works a little better. I am here attempting to distill an explanation,…
The Sound of Silence
One of the great challenges of the modern age is finding sufficient solitude. By “modern age”, of course, I don’t mean the 1950s, which I guess took hold of that term a while back and didn’t let go. I mean…