How companies cut materials, service and durability when they can’t keep raising prices. In the autumn of 2022, frying pans across the country started spitting water. People who had used Smart Balance spread for years put a dollop into a…
How Apps Turned Investing, Sports, Politics, and Uncertainty Into an Endless Stream of Bets A single NFL game today can generate hundreds of separate live wagering markets: next play, next first down, whether the next field goal clears the crossbar…
How the Gig Economy Turned Job Security Into a Luxury The median gig worker earns $2.17 less per hour than minimum wage law would require of an employer, a gap that comes out to roughly $3,400 a year. Fourteen percent…
Why buying a new car is becoming harder for ordinary people, even as technology keeps getting cheaper. 1. The simple question: where did the cheap new car go? In the early 2010s, an American with about $14,000 could walk into…
First Half Every day, thousands of Americans complete one of the largest financial transactions of their lives. Before a lender releases hundreds of thousands of dollars, it verifies the borrower’s income, credit history and the property’s value. It also asks…