By Jeanna Smialek and Ben Casselman Throughout early 2023, a chorus of economists forecasted a recession that, against all odds, never materialized. Their predictions, rooted in historical data and models, expected the inflation spike and subsequent Federal Reserve interest rate hikes to precipitate a downturn. Instead, the U.S. economy exhibited remarkable resilience, growing by 3.1 percent last year, […]
Why do you tip? And have your reasons for tipping changed lately? Is there less gratitude in the mix and more — shall we say — fear? I sense that changes in tipping technology and custom have shifted the balance of power away from the customers and toward the providers of service. People seem to […]
Is the Fed’s monetary policy hearting the banks? A columnist for the NYT argues that the sudden and successive rise in the rate of interest is responsible for the failure of Silicon Valley Bank. The spread in the rate of interest was too high for the bank. It was paying high interest rates on the funds […]
I just came across an interesting article in today’s NYT that reports how some companies classify their workers as “managers” to avoid paying them overtime. I guess it is a clever way to cut cost, but workers are not buying it. A few years ago I had a good student who used to attend class regularly, and […]
Banks are teetering as customers yank their deposits. Markets are seesawing as investors scurry toward safety. Regulators are scrambling after years of complacency. Fifteen years ago, the world careened into a devastating financial crisis, precipitated by the collapse of the American housing market. Today, a different culprit is stressing the financial system: rapidly rising interest […]
