Yearly Archives: 2013

Can We Pay a Minimum Wage That Makes Everyone Rich?

"More people -- an increase in the supply of labor -- want to work at McDonald’s at a rate of $15 an hour than $7.25. That leads to an influx of workers into the labor force and higher unemployment as new entrants fail to find a job. The road to a higher-paying job goes through education, training for the jobs of tomorrow, and incentives such as the earned income tax credit, not through the imposition of a floor on wages. So the next time someone tells you that the U.S. needs to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, ask him what’s so special about $15. Why not raise it to $50, or $100, and make everyone rich?" Continue reading →

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McDonald’s Dollar Menu Is About To Become “The Dollar Menu & More”

"McDonald's Corp. says it has been testing higher priced versions of its famous value menu. The Dollar Menu & More that was tested has three price points -$1, $2 and $5 or 'shareable' items such as 20-piece McNuggets. Another version that was tested has prices of $1, $1.79 and $4.99. Earlier this year, Wendy’s revamped its 99-cent menu to a 'Right Price Right Size' menu, with prices ranging up to around $2. Sure looks like signs of price inflation, not deflation, to me." Continue reading →

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When It Comes To Healthcare, Paul Krugman Is Wrong 100% Of The Time

"In a recent New York Times column Krugman pronounced Obamacare a success before it has even been tried. Why? Because the premiums to be charged in California health insurance exchange are apparently lower than what the experts thought they would be. Aah… let’s see… Everybody thought health insurance premiums would be 100% higher. In fact, they are only 60% higher… Hooray… Break out the champagne! I’ll come back to these price comparisons in a minute. For the moment, I would ask: What kind of an economist would celebrate an expected price decline without asking what happened to quantity or quality? This is an Econ 101 mistake." Continue reading →

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Stolen Public School Textbooks Went Unnoticed for Five Years.

"A Long Beach book buyer has been accussed of stealing thousands of new and used textbooks from four school districts in a massive scheme that involved 12 other people, including two librarians, a campus supervisor and a former warehouse manager. During a two-year period beginning in May 2008, Frederick allegedly paid more than $200,000 in bribes — from $600 to $47,000 per person — for school employees to steal textbooks in literature and language arts, economics, physics, anatomy and physiology." Continue reading →

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Entire School District Shuts Down — Out of Money

"Michigan’s Buena Vista — 'Good View' — school district in Michigan shut down this week. It is out of money. Some teachers say they will teach for free. But will all of them do this? In any case, it’s illegal. Michigan doesn’t allow it. The state cut funding by $3 million, due to declining enrollment. The nearby Pontiac School District is close to bankrupt. It can’t meet payroll. Two districts in Arkansas are bust. The Philadelphia district in Pennsylvania is begging for money from the state. We are in an economic recovery. What happens in the next recession?" Continue reading →

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Snapple Guy’s Overnight Success Took Decades

"A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. Marsh was the child of Jewish immigrants from Russia. His father was a cobbler. Mr. Marsh and his brother-in-law Hyman Golden originally ran a Brooklyn-based window-washing and office-maintenance business. In 1972, they teamed up with Arnold Greenberg, who operated a health-food store in Manhattan's East Village, to create Unadulterated Food Products Inc. The company made juices and sold eggs and produce. After renaming the company after one of their early products, carbonated apple juice, the founders became known collectively as the 'Snapple Guys.' They built up the brand one cooler at a time in New York City's pizzerias and bodegas." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnapple Guy’s Overnight Success Took Decades

A Great Handicap of Economies Run by Political Authorities

"Little is ever taught about great entrepreneurs who started with next to nothing and ended up creating great things. More than money it takes alertness and drive to carry out the vision that one is alert to, how often do students learn this in school? Teachers from the college level on down are generally the least alert people on the planet, they have no understanding of the subject. Most teachers started their careers after a life of formal education and nothing else. For them life is about scored tests, quizzes and exams, with the answers all known in advance. Real life is the opposite. It is about opportunities that are sometimes only seen by one individual." Continue reading →

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Nasty Gal: From eBay To Multimillion-Dollar Company In Seven Years

"I'm a capitalist, I'm a CEO, I run a big business, I'm an employer,' says Sophia Amoruso, the 29-year-old head of Nasty Gal, the online fashion retail empire that she transformed from an eBay vintage store into a $240 million company in just seven years. 'But it's all secondary to the way it happened, because I could be anything.' What Amoruso has created is a sizeable niche business in the high-margin fast-fashion space. Her company sells edgy, retro-inspired looks at reasonable prices—$50 tops, $70 dresses—and some actual vintage items to a rabidly loyal customer base of young women, frothed up by almost constant social media interaction." Continue reading →

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Elon Musk’s New Hologram Project Invites ‘Iron Man’ Comparisons

"In the 'Iron Man' trilogy, billionaire inventor Tony Stark uses a gesture-controlled hologram to draft new designs of the titular armor, sending virtual parts flying around his lab with the flick of a wrist. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk—who is often compared to Stark by the tech press—is apparently creating the real-life equivalent of that fictional hologram system. 'We figured out how to design rocket parts just w hand movements through the air (seriously),' he Tweeted August 23. 'Now need a high frame rate holograph generator.' In a follow-up Tweet, he added: 'Will post video next week of designing a rocket part with hand gestures & then immediately printing it in titanium.'" Continue reading →

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How Millennials will shape the future of work

"92 percent of Millennials believe that business should be measured by more than just profit and should focus on a societal purpose. Millennials want the flexibility to work from home and make their own hours. A Cisco study shows that 70 percent of students believe it is unnecessary to be in an office regularly. Millennials will make working from home or from shared office spaces the norm — goodbye cubicles! The New York Times reports that the average amount of office space per employees in the U.S. has already dropped from 400 square feet to 250 and in the future will be reduced to 150. The idea that we’ll be walking into a major office building will face away." Continue reading →

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