It’s rockets and feathers. All over the economy. As economists and politicians keep wringing their hands about inflation, I sure wish they would read up on asymmetric price adjustment — a phenomenon dubbed “rockets and feathers” in this 2009 paper. Prices rise faster than they fall. Inflation always “sticks” longer [Keep reading]
The $15 minimum wage battle cry always rang hollow to me. I know, $15 sounds like a lot to people who grew up in the 1970s or 80s (the minimum wage was $3.35 when I got my first job. Come to think of it, this would be a fun first [Keep reading]
We all want tech to solve the world’s most vexing problems — and we’ve all spent time with tech that hasn’t lived up to its promises. The printer that lets us down as we’re rushing to a meeting. The concert ticket app that suddenly fails as we’re trying to get [Keep reading]
We’ve all had the maddening experience of being shuttled off to a mindless chatbot when we need real customer service help. Few things can raise your blood pressure like a nonsensical automated response designed as a stall tactic when you have a real crisis on your hands. I hope you [Keep reading]
This is the summer of the blockbuster concert, and why not: Music fans have years of pent-up Covid frustration that they are ready to release. Sold-out shows by megastars like Taylor Swift are the perfect venue to release all that energy. Unfortunately, all this pent-up demand has created the perfect [Keep reading]
Welcome to this scam roundup. I’m trying something new; a quick collection of scam stories that have come across my desk in the past week, along with follow ups on stories we’ve told at The Perfect Scam podcast, which I host for AARP. Seen a scam? Contact me here. I [Keep reading]
By my calculations … at the low end, she may have stolen 3% of the population of Montrose. Last week I introduced the story of Diana McBride, who had just begun a quest to discover the truth after her step-dad’s cremains went missing following his untimely death. When Diana’s mom, [Keep reading]
I’m often asked, “Isn’t there a truth in advertising law?!!??” by consumers who feel cheated by a company that embedded a gotcha in its advertisements. My sad answer is often some variation of “No, not really.” At least that’s been the on-the-ground reality for some time. There’s a glimmer of [Keep reading]
I lost my managing editor, Rusty, this week when he got promoted. Best boss I ever had. Let’s be clear, he was a very involved manager. I didn’t book a lunch, take a story assignment, go to bed, or even walk across the apartment without consulting him first. He had [Keep reading]
More than a decade ago, I started writing a column on everyday consumer frustrations called The Red Tape Chronicles — my mailbag overflowed with rage. Piled high in my inbox every day were missives about mysterious late fees, overcharges, surprise interest rate hikes, and really all manner of sleazy, sneaky [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan