Tis the season when charities are making a final holiday push for money to fund their causes.  They know how to tug at the heartstrings, but some folks still appear to have money to burn. Recently, I read the auction houses,  Sotheby’s and Christie’s, are offering purses wit

While in public office, I opposed local government giveaways that enticed corporations to move to their communities.  The promise of jobs and payrolls taxes  seldom matched expectations. One company decided to build in Portland after receiving huge incentives. What the locals got in

Last week, I planned to board a bus and head for the city center.  The art museum was displaying a dozen, old upright pianos that had been ornamented with the work of local artists.  After the viewing, musicians would treat the audience to a piano concert.  Unfortunately, I had the

Knowing the difference between good and bad debt can have a major impact on a person’s financial health. So writes Ben Steverman of Bloomber.com (Excerpted in The Week, August 14, 2015, pg. 33) Bad debt is credit card debt which imposes a higher interest rate than other types of loa

How does a ticket priced at $75 to a live theater performance end up costing $1400 on the street?  The answer is  scarcity.  Being a miser, I think $75 for 1 to 2 hours of entertainment is pricy enough.  I don’t pay that much to the woman who cleans my apartment and her service

Americans have a strange relationship with money.  Everyone wants to be rich but most resent those who are.  Bernie Sanders would tie the wealthy to a pyre and light a match, even though he made over a million dollars last year. That schizophrenia between striving to be rich and hav

Once again, the deck chairs are being rearranged at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA).  After the venerable Philippe de Montebello retired as director, Thomas Campbell (Blog 4/26/17) took his place, bringing with him a “new broom” approach to modernizing the institution.  Hi

As the saying goes, “It’s an ill wind that blows no good.”  Despite the war of nerves Donald Trump is playing with  North Korea’s leader, Kim Jung-un, bad political news means good business for some.  Since North Korea launched a missile that could reach the United States,

While the U.S. government sits on its hands and does little to regulate tech monopolies, (Blog 8/16/17) Europe takes an aggressive stand.  For example, The European Commission has hit Apple with a claim for $13 billion in back taxes; Uber faces criminal charges for unlicensed taxi 

As I noted recently, tech monopolies are a growing concern in Europe, though not in the United States. (Blog 8/10/17). American consumers are content because: 1) a variety of merchandise is available with a mouse click; 2) purchases arrive at the speed of light; and 3) those purchases