The bottom line

A good year for employment

In 1968, when the minimum wage hit an inflation-adjusted peak of $10.70, 81 percent of men over 20 years old had jobs. Today, with a far smaller minimum wage, only 67 percent of them do.

Businessweek.com

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The economy under Democratic presidents

Over the past 64 years and 16 presidential terms, the U.S. economy has grown at an average rate of 4.35 percent when a Democrat was president, according to research by economists from Princeton University. When a Republican held the office, the growth rate was just 2.54 percent.

The Wall Street Journal

The TSA's loose change

More than $500,000 in loose change was left at TSA control points in U.S. airports in the last fiscal year. Foreign currency made up about $32,000 of that total, which goes into an “aviation security fund” to translate airport signs into different languages and other “overhead costs.”

Los Angeles Times

A booming market for gift cards

Sales of gift cards have risen 47 percent from $80 billion in 2007 to a forecasted $118 billion this year. More than $1 billion in value on the cards goes unredeemed annually.

MarketWatch.com

Holland loses AAA rating

The Netherlands left the elite group of countries rated AAA by all three major ratings agencies this week, leaving just Canada, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Australia, Singapore, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Denmark.

The Wall Street Journal

Buying the gifts of the “12 Days of Christmas”

Holiday shoppers who buy all the gifts in the “12 Days of Christmas” would spend $27,393 in 2013. That’s up 116 percent from 1984, when they came to $12,673.

TheAtlantic.com