The recession and household income
U.S. household income has fallen more in the two years since the recession ended than it did during the recession itself, according to census figures. Between June 2009, the official end of the recession, and June 2011, median household income fell 6.7 percent, to $49,900. During the recession, from December 2007 to June 2009, it fell 3.2 percent.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Chain restaurants lose their appeal
As the use of online restaurant-review sites has grown, the popularity of chain restaurants has declined, according to a new Harvard Business School study. The theory: Consumers are more likely to try out smaller, independent restaurants thanks to the reviews. The study also found that a one-star increase on review site Yelp improves a restaurant’s revenue by 5 to 9 percent.
The Washington Post
Record sales for iPhone 4S
First-day preorders for Apple’s new iPhone 4S topped 1 million, breaking the record set by last year’s iPhone 4, which sold 600,000 units on its first day. The new smartphone is being sold for the first time by three U.S. carriers—AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon.
Reuters.com
India's $35 tablet computer
India has unveiled the world’s cheapest tablet computer. The Aakash, which means “sky” in Hindi, costs about $50 to produce but will be sold to Indian students and schools at the government-subsidized price of $35. The touch-screen tablet can handle basic computing, such as e-mail and Web surfing.
Los Angeles Times
The stock market's worst decade
A $1 investment in the S&P 500 Index in 2000 was worth just 91 cents by 2010, following the “worst decade in stock market history,” says the Journal of Investing.
Harvard Business Review
-
Delhi's dogs earn Supreme Court reprieveIN THE SPOTLIGHT After an outcry from the public and animal rights activists, India's Supreme Court walks back a controversial plan to round the city's stray dog population into shelters
-
8 hotels with ace tennis courtsThe Week Recommends Bring your A game
-
Abrego released from jail, faces Uganda deportationSpeed Read The wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego García is expected to be detained at an ICE check-in and deported to Uganda
-
The bottom linefeature Working families continue to struggle; The least-trusted industries; The bestselling vehicle; Mobil device use triples; Global unemployment among the young
-
The bottom line
feature The cost of e-filing; Dipping into nest eggs early; What Americans are drinking; Planning for death; How tax refunds are spent
-
The bottom line
feature Building bigger houses; And tuition at OSU is?; Christmas at McDonald's; Self-gifting at Christmas; Lloyd’s prepares for Hurricane Sandy claims; Google's billions
-
The bottom line
feature Good results for the third quarter; Compensation at financial firms hits a high; Three cities with recovering economies; Good year for car sales; Broadway's best performance ever; Tax bite is less in 2010 than in 1980
-
The bottom line
feature Airlines cut domestic flights; Income up in small cities and rural areas; Bond and Lincoln lift box office earnings; Don't be fooled by Black Friday; The high toll of identity theft
-
The bottom line
feature The gender pay gap; U.S. economic growth; Parents who argue about money; Online subscriptions rise
-
The bottom line
feature Can the U.S. keep up?; Airlines spend billions on runway taxiing; Americans exaggerate their working hours; The Dow Jones's 67.9 percent gain; Success and summer babies
-
The bottom line
feature Consumer confidence jumps; Wall Street cuts jobs, raises pay; Goldman Sachs's muppet hunt; Desktop web searches decline; Pizza Hut scraps debate freebie