Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Tax reformers’ hope springs eternal, but don’t bet on a big tax deal in 2015 or 2016. Don’t bet on a medium-sized one either. The parties are too far apart to enact a sweeping reform of the U.S. tax code that includes the personal-income tax. Most Republicans want fewer tax breaks, lower rates and especially…
Photo Credit Keetra Dean Dixon close shareTools YEARS ago, while producing the hit TV series “The Shield,” Glen Mazzara noticed that two young female writers were quiet during story meetings. He pulled them aside and encouraged them to speak up more. Watch what happens when we do, they replied. Almost every time they started to…
close shareTools At every age, the chances of not working have changed in the last 15 years. Teenagers are far more likely not to work. Older people are retiring later and working more. In the ages in between — the periods of life when most people work — the changes have been smaller, but they…
Another month, another attempt by the BLS to mask the collapse in the US labor force with a goalseeked seasonally-adjusted surge in waiter, bartender and other low-paying jobs. Case in point: after a modest rebound by 0.1% in November, the labor participation rate just slid once more, dropping to 62.7%, or the lowest print since…
paging_filterThe commercial avenues of Park Slope are filled with cute little shops and restaurants, and many of them are the first and last of their kind, existing only here. But a significant number are part of a slightly more successful species: the neighborhood mini-chain.Bark, a hot dog joint, has a second location in Greenwich Village….
The cubicle may be cozier, and more creativity inducing, than we think. Illustration by Mark Weaver Photo: Mark Weaver What do we give up when we all become freedom-seeking, self-determining, autonomous entrepreneurs? A lot, actually. One October day, I sat in on a seminar at the Freelancers Union called “Building a Foundation for Your…
On Wednesday, October 8th, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk. The case pits warehouse workers Jesse Busk and Laurie Castro against their former employer. The issue at hand is time: Should minutes spent waiting to be screened at the end of the workday—Integrity manages warehouses that…
David Walentas paid $12 million for an entire Brooklyn neighborhood in 1979. He transformed it into one of New York’s glitziest locales. Photo: David Yellen For Forbes. Cash crises, political grudge matches, suicide. None of it stopped David Walentas from forging a ten-digit fortune by creating an entire neighborhood in New York’s underdog borough. And…
Ask someone who doesn’t work in advertising what it means to “make an impression,” you will likely get a reasonable response like “to do something that someone remembers.” However, inside the advertising industry, the definition of “impression” is not nearly as simple. Why? Because if you run an advertisement on TV, radio, or print, you…
Why did the Orange County Register send reporters and photogs to cover 40 — yes, four-zero, 40 — high-school sporting events in one weekend? No, it’s not another news mob. Nor is it a one-time thing. At a time when many newspaper companies are starting to think digital first, the Register is investing in print. The…