ECONOMY

For The Unemployed, Ideas To Help Bridge The Gap To Work

8:01pm January 02, 2014

by Chris Arnold

More than 1 million people lost their unemployment benefits as 2014 began. Whether or not those benefits get extended, economists say there are ways to change the program that will make it work better. One suggestion is work sharing, which has helped reduce Germany's unemployment.

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The Widening Wealth Gap: Bringing Income Inequality Into Focus

6:18pm January 02, 2014

The widening gap between the rich and poor in the U.S. has become a central touch point for economists, pundits and politicians across the U.S. New York City's newly sworn-in mayor, Bill deBlasio, was elected after campaigning against a city divided between the haves and have-nots. President Obama has called tackling inequality the defining challenge of our time, saying that growing inequality and a lack of upward mobility jeopardizes the American dream. But what, exactly, is income inequality? Audie Cornish puts that question to Drew DeSilver, a senior writer for the Pew Research Center's Fact Tank blog.

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Economy

Cabbing Home From That New Year's Party? Expect To Pay A Premium

6:56pm December 31, 2013

by Yuki Noguchi

Planning on celebrating the New Year? If you are worried about driving home and plan to take a cab, you'll have plenty of competition. Cab fares soar during the first few hours of a new year, and then come back to normal around 3 a.m.

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Twitter made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in November. Both the social media giant and the relative newcomer Snapchat are valued in the billions, but neither company has yet turned a profit.

$0 Profits Couldn't Hold Back This Year's Tech Darlings

6:30pm December 30, 2013

by Steve Henn

In Silicon Valley, zero profit and even zero revenue don't make a company a loser. Tech companies like Snapchat and Twitter, which have not yet turned any profit, can be worth billions of dollars based on future potential alone.

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Energy companies are adding workers, but fatal accidents are on the rise, too.

On-The-Job Deaths Spiking As Oil Drilling Quickly Expands

7:15pm December 27, 2013

As baby boomers retire and drilling increases, energy companies are hiring, adding 23 percent more workers between 2009 and 2012. But the hiring spree has come with a terrible price: Last year, 138 workers were killed on the job, twice as many as in 2009.

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Oil Company Looks To Great Lakes As Shipping Demand Booms

7:15pm December 27, 2013

by David Schaper

North Dakota and western Canada are producing crude oil faster than rail cars and pipelines can take it to refineries. Now, one company wants to ship it by barge across the Great Lakes. That worries environmentalists, who say a 2010 tar sands oil spill near Lake Michigan has yet to be fully cleaned up.

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PLANET MONEY MAKES A T-SHIRT: The Lives Of The Workers Who Made Our Shirts

Nixon And Kimchi: How The Garment Industry Came To Bangladesh

10:35am December 27, 2013

by Zoe Chace

The business that transformed the nation is the product of an obscure but hugely influential trade deal — and a cultural struggle over Korean food.

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Kevin Petrovic, 19, and his business partner, who's also 19, raised about $6 million from venture capitalists in Silicon Valley to launch FlightCar. The company is trying to make its mark with car-sharing for travelers.

Economy

Cars Are Next Frontier For Sharing Services

9:57am December 27, 2013

by Chris Arnold

Two 19-year-olds from New Jersey noticed all of the cars in long-term parking at the airport. They had an idea: Why not rent them out? They raised $6 million in venture capital funding for their company FlightCar.

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Obama's Position On Free Trade Marks Subtle Evolution

8:06am December 27, 2013

by Scott Horsley

Two decades after NAFTA created a giant North American free trade zone, the U.S. is negotiating more big trade deals that would span the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. President Obama has embraced the potential agreements as a way to improve the U.S. economy.

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The Secret Protectionism Buried Inside NAFTA

7:49am December 26, 2013

by Zoe Chace

In order to get the North American Free Trade Agreement signed 20 years ago, a specific trade-off was made. The trade-off would not protect U.S. jobs from moving overseas.

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