Every year, PNC Bank publishes its “Christmas Price Index” to track the cost of the Twelve Days of Christmas. For 2021, it’s a hefty $41,206 — up 5.6% since we looked two years ago. (Have you heard about the “supply chain”?) The index may not be completely accurate — for example, the ten lords-a-leaping are… Read More

Four hundred years ago, a group of 50 pilgrims sat down with 100 Wampanoag guests for a three-day feast that we now celebrate as the first Thanksgiving. It was a mostly young, mostly male group that survived the colony’s harsh initial year in New England. The menu featured venison and shellfish — while Governor William… Read More

Roughly 180 million miles into space, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, astronomers have found millions of asteroids — solid rocks that failed to form a planet. Most of the time, those asteroids coexist quite peacefully with earth. However, occasionally one drops out of the belt to check us out a little closer. If… Read More

The men and women who write our nation’s tax laws aren’t known for their sartorial style. Ohio Representative James Traficant, who served 17 years in the people’s House before serving seven years in the “big” house, raised eyebrows with an occasional denim suit. (We’re pretty sure a Canadian tuxedo would get him fined today.) And… Read More

Back in The Good Old Days, fame was something you earned by throwing a ball, selling a million records, lighting up a cinema screen, or landing on the moon. Then Paris Hilton decided she wanted to be famous without all that bother. So, armed with little more than a famous family name and fortune, a… Read More

In 1895, H.G. Wells launched his sci-fi career with a tale about a Victorian gentleman who travels to Earth in the year 802,701AD. The “Time Traveler” discovers that humanity has evolved into two different species: the Eloi, elfin descendants of the upper-classes, and the Morlocks, ape-like descendants of the working classes who live underground and… Read More

People have always aspired to “make the grade” and take their place on the lists of the world’s most famous and accomplished people. A generation ago, business executives and politicians aimed for Who’s Who in America, while athletes aimed for the Hall of Fame and entertainers pined for stars on the Walk of Fame. Today,… Read More

Fifty-five years ago, NBC debuted a new series that producer Gene Rodenberry called “a Western in outer space — a so-called Wagon Train to the stars.” Star Trek starred a journeyman Canadian actor named William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, helming a crew of comically diverse stereotypes (the Russian! The Scot! The Vulcan!) aboard… Read More

Back in 2000, a scrappy little startup named Netflix was losing millions every month on their business renting DVDs online, mailing them to subscribers through something called the “Post Office.” (Remember them?) The founders had the bright idea to sell their company to Blockbuster video — for the princely sum of $50 million — and… Read More

Ronald Reagan won the White House in 1980 partly by campaigning against incumbent Jimmy Carter and partly by campaigning against the 70% top income tax rate. Reagan preached a new gospel of “supply-side” economics, arguing that tax cuts would put money back in the pockets of ordinary Americans and unleash a wave of new economic… Read More

Democrats in Congress are working on an impressive list of spending priorities they hope to pass as soon as this week. There’s an infrastructure bill with $1 trillion for roads, bridges, climate resilience, and broadband access. There’s a budget reconciliation package with another $1.75 trillion for fighting climate change, child care and universal pre-kindergarten, and… Read More

Captains of industry like John D. Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and JP Morgan created enormous fortunes before dying and passing their wealth to their heirs. A century later, most of that money is so old it’s gone, vanished into the spray of mansions, parties, and philanthropy that defined Gilded Age and Gatsby-era wealth. Forbes estimates today’s… Read More

Everyone knows that Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer — one last blowout weekend for trips to the beach or lake, cookouts, and carefree fun. So which holiday kicks off fall? Obviously, that’s National Talk Like a Pirate Day, which we celebrate on September 19. Talk Like a Pirate Day kicks off a… Read More

Back in the early 1880s, American workers toiled as much as 12 hours per day at the coal mine or the bobbin factory. Peter J. McGuire, co-founder of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, proposed a parade followed by a picnic for a demonstration of the budding labor movement’s solidarity and a… Read More

To paraphrase Tolstoy, “All honest taxpayers are alike; every dishonest taxpayer is dishonest in his own way.” But what happens when a dishonest taxpayer is dishonest in every way? Turn on your speakers and cue the theme from Cops while you enjoy this week’s story. Philip Pesin earned a degree in finance from the University… Read More

A century ago, America was “a nation of shopkeepers.” Beginning in the 1950s, we became a nation of malls. Today, we’re a nation of big-box stores. Walmart, Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Home Depot have stomped their way across our landscapes like so many commercial Godzillas. In the words of the counterculture philosopher Joni… Read More

Scientists recently announced finding a fossilized horseshoe crab brain from 310 million years ago. As the New York Times reported, “Siderite, an iron carbonate mineral, accumulated rapidly around the dead creature’s body, forming a mold. With time, as the soft tissue decayed, a white-colored clay mineral called kaolinite filled the void left by the brain.”… Read More

The much-anticipated 2020 Tokyo Olympics have come and gone. As usual, the quadrennial celebration of sport included a few surprises. For starters, there were no spectators in the audience. Gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from several marquee events with a case of the “twisties,” which seemed a perfectly reasonable alternative to paralyzing herself in a fall.… Read More

We’ve talked here a time or two about how taxes factor into every financial choice you make. Whether you’re selling a business, exercising stock options, or just treating yourself to a summer sundae at the neighborhood soft serve, you’ll find a government with its hand out. There’s no way to avoid it entirely unless you’re… Read More

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan quipped that the government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases, including, “If it moves, tax it.” Well, Uncle Sam is already chasing income, payrolls, corporations, gifts, estates, imports, and gasoline and alcohol sales. Yet we’re still almost $29 trillion in the hole. So… Read More

Fifteen months of Covid-19 have changed the face of “employment” here in America. The pandemic wiped out 20 million jobs, yet employers are struggling to hire while employees reevaluate their post-pandemic plans. Can you spin your old position into a work-from-home opportunity? Should you take advantage of soaring housing prices to make a killing and… Read More

Back in 1997, Delaware Senator Bill Roth sponsored a new kind of retirement savings account with a back-end benefit. In contrast to traditional IRAs, which let you deduct your contributions and defer tax until you pull money out, the Roth IRA lets you contribute after-tax dollars in exchange for tax-free withdrawals. Roth designed his new… Read More

Writing a funny tax column every week, and keeping it as consistently brilliant as we do, is actually harder than it looks. (Less glamorous, too.) Sometimes there just isn’t an obviously fun story to cover. What do we write about in a week with no criminals cheating, celebrities misbehaving, or holidays we can skewer? If… Read More

Fifty years ago on June 30, Paramount Pictures released an enchanting spun-sugar delight of a movie that remains a classic. Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory features Gene Wilder as the reclusive confectioner who hides five Golden Tickets in his candy bars and promises the finders a tour of his mysterious factory and a lifetime… Read More

The post-punk philosopher and M&Ms enthusiast David Lee Roth once said, “Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it.” So, if you like big boats and you cannot lie, this week’s discussion will put a salty smile on your face. Summer is here,… Read More

Most Americans would agree that capitalism is the greatest wealth creation engine the world has ever known. But it’s hard to argue that capitalism distributes its rewards equally, and today’s “winner take all” economy is concentrating wealth beyond Gilded Age levels. Forget about that top 1% the “Occupy Wall Street” movement targeted; we’re talking the… Read More

In 1979, China launched what would become the world’s toughest population control measure, the “one-child policy.” Families with just one child got rewarded with a “one-child glory certificate” and five yuan per month (about as exciting as a stack of Wendy’s coupons). There were always exceptions: in most areas, you could apply for a second… Read More

Taxes were in the news this Memorial Day weekend: the new administration leaked word that the higher capital gains taxes included in their American Families Plan would be retroactive to April when they first rolled out the bill. That’s drawn predictable fire from the usual suspects on Team Red and the editorial staff at the Wall… Read More

People have loved advice columns, in print and elsewhere, since Daniel Defoe launched the “Scandalous Club” back in 1704. Since then, we’ve lobbed questions to Abby, Ann, Polly, Prudence, Miss Manners, Dr. Phil, Dr. Ruth Dr. Drew, Dr. Laura, and even Frasier Crane. (“I’m listening.”) But few letters stand out like the one “Future Jailbird”… Read More

This is a story about a boy, a dream, a voice, and a legend. It has no beginning or end, but opens under the boundless California sky on a June afternoon in 2009. There’s an ambulance speeding down the mansion-lined streets of LA’s “Platinum Triangle.” In the ambulance, about to be pronounced dead, is Michael… Read More

Prussian Minister Otto von Bismarck once said that laws are like sausages: it’s better not to see them being made. Frankly, that comparison is unfair to sausage makers. When was the last time a kitchen full of lawmakers cooked up something as tasty as a delicate Bavarian weisswürst, or as satisfying as a classic Wisconsin… Read More

Americans love holidays — so much that if we see a blank spot on the calendar, someone is ready to fill it. Usually, it’s someone with something to sell: would it shock you to learn that something called the National Retail Federation was behind Cyber Monday? (No Virginia, there is no Cyber Santa.) Friday, April… Read More

One April day, in 1564 (We know the month, but sadly not the date) The Bard the world would someday all adore Was born to write the plays we’d see as great.   Today we think of Shakespeare’s clever quatrains. Yet he was so much more than just a scrivener. His businesses included trading grains… Read More

This time of year, millions of Americans celebrate Easter and Passover, the holiest days of their faith. But the calendar is loaded with plenty of “Hallmark holidays,” too, usually invented by companies looking to sell something. There’s Sweetest Day, invented by greeting card companies to sell more greeting cards. There’s Small Business Saturday, invented by… Read More

In 2017, country singer Luke Bryan scored a #1 hit with “Most People Are Good.” Certainly, most people consider themselves good. Of course, “illusory superiority bias” (also known as the “better than average” effect) means most of us think we’re better than we really are at most everything. One survey showed 64% of drivers rating… Read More

Time to play a word association game: what jumps into your mind when you hear the word “Canada”? If you’re like most Americans, it’s ice hockey or curling. Maybe it’s poutine, that irresistibly savory shotgun marriage of french fries smothered in cheese curds, and gravy that gives Canadians a helpful layer of belly fat to… Read More

In 1787, the founding fathers gathered in Philadelphia to fix the weak Articles of Confederation, and wound up adopting the first written national constitution on earth. (“A republic, if you can keep it,” Ben Franklin said. The jury’s still out.) The framers sought to achieve a perfect balance of power between federal and state governments.… Read More

Over the years, we’ve written a fair number of stories about frustrated taxpayers choosing to cut their bill the old-fashioned way: by cheating. In today’s America, which seems more divided than at any time since the Civil War, tax cheats truly cut across all lines — political, racial, religious, and socioeconomic. (Last year, the Justice… Read More

March 2 marks the birthday of America’s favorite self-help author, Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel. Seuss died in 1991 with an estimated net worth of $75 million, so he knew a thing or two about paying tax. But archivists recently discovered a file of unpublished manuscripts revealing just how much he resented it. His first effort,… Read More

Back in 1788, George Washington turned down his chance to become King of the new United States of America. Maybe that’s why the closest thing we have to a royal family right now — at least, as far as supermarket tabloids are concerned — is the Kardashians. While the family redefines the concept of “famous… Read More

2020 was a tough year all around. Coronavirus cast a pall over every aspect of life. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, and the stock market dropped 26% in just four days. Murder hornets showed up, and the Tiger King shot to national celebrity. Is it any wonder most of us looked forward to 2021… Read More

Walk into any suburban supermarket, and you’ll find entire aisles of food you wouldn’t have seen when you were a kid. What the heck is quinoa, anyway? Who invented kombucha? And if mom had served kale, you might have appreciated broccoli more. But there’s one whole category that delights millions, and that’s the case full… Read More

Last week, hell broke loose on Wall Street as an online flash mob of mostly-rookie traders took on the hedge fund elite — and won. Their target: GameStop (GME), a struggling retailer selling used video games, often out of shabby strip centers surrounded by check-cashing joints and tattoo parlors. Shares have soared from about $17… Read More

Odds are good that if you hear the words “Mike Tyson” and “money,” you think of the huge purses ($685 million!) that Iron Mike won, then squandered, in his colorful career. Tyson, who surely could have benefited from reading a Dave Ramsey book, was legendary for his excess. Who else would drop $1.5 million on… Read More

It’s a common misconception that accounting and taxes are all about numbers. Looking at a balance sheet or a tax return, it’s an easy mistake to make. Just look at all those numbers in all those boxes! In reality, though, it’s not about numbers, and any competent 10-year-old can handle the math. Accounting and taxes… Read More

There’s a saying, usually attributed to Lenin, that “nothing can happen for decades, then decades happen in weeks.” These last few weeks certainly feel like decades happening in weeks. The election, the coronavirus surge, and especially the violence in Washington have combined to produce a news overload unlike anything most of us have lived through.… Read More

It’s not just a new year, folks. 2020 is finally . . . finally . . . finally over! While most of us were perfectly happy to see it in with a whimper instead of the usual bang, we’re all looking forward to the day when murder hornets, Tiger King, and (“gestures wildly in the… Read More

America has always been a land of opportunity, and there are many paths to fame and fortune. If you’re physically gifted, consider professional sports. If you’re blessed with good looks, Hollywood beckons. If you’re born with the gift of gab, consider used cars (or politics). And if you’re just plain brilliant, Silicon Valley begs for… Read More

Despite the 2020 malaise, holiday season is in full swing, and we expect you’re on your best behavior to make Santa’s nice list. But there’s one famous guy who works harder than anyone else to be naughty this time of year, even in 2020 — and that’s everyone’s favorite Dr. Seuss anti-hero, the Grinch. We… Read More

The Time: July 25, 1965. The Place: The Newport Folk Festival. Master of Ceremonies Peter Yarrow steps out to introduce the singer-songwriter sensation Bob Dylan. Festival organizers are perplexed as they watch his crew setting up heavy equipment. Then Dylan takes the stage to launch into “Maggie’s Farm” — with (gasp!) a Fender Stratocaster. Dylan… Read More

“If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again.” That was Thomas Edison’s motto — and it’s a good thing, considering it took him 10,000 tries to perfect the incandescent light bulb. The Jedi Master Yoda might disagree (“Do, or do not. There is no try”). But trying, over and over until you succeed, is… Read More

In 1886, a chemist named John Pemberton concocted a sweet, carbonated “brain and nerve tonic” made with coca leaves and cola nuts. Six years later, he sold his recipe for $2,300 to the druggist Asa Candler, who spun it into multinational gold. While the current product has just half the caffeine and none of the… Read More

Here in our United States, our government is sliced and diced between Uncle Sam, 50 states, 3,141 counties, and 89,000-odd cities, towns, and villages. You would think that 244 years of independence, along with a dollop of Yankee ingenuity, would produce a crisp, streamlined system for paying for it all. Instead, we’ve got a janky… Read More

Last week, we wrote about the sad fate faced by astronauts preparing for a brave new world of space commerce. Specifically, they’re fated to wind up paying the same tax bills on their interplanetary income as they do on the earthbound work they do today. But that’s not the only thorny tax issue facing the… Read More

Cross-border tax questions present some of the thorniest issues in tax. For example: when an American company like Apple takes components from 43 different countries, assembles them into an iPhone in China, and sells it in London or Paris, who gets the income tax on that profit? The day-to-day work of answering that question is… Read More

A hundred years ago, billionaires were a big big deal. Tycoons like John D. Rockefeller, worth the equivalent of two Jeff Bezoses in today’s dollars, were celebrities, the overachieving substitutes for today’s merely overexposed Kardashians and Tiger Kings. Today, though, CNBC reports there are at least 630 billionaires in the U.S. alone, which means if… Read More

Once upon a time, the number 13 bragged “I’m the unluckiest number of all!” Then 666 came along and said, “oh no, I’m worse.” Then 2020 arrived and said “hold my beer.” Between the coronavirus, the murder hornets, the hurricanes, the wildfires, and the ugliest presidential election in recent memory, it seems like 2020 is… Read More

“If you are truly serious about preparing your child for the future, don’t teach him to subtract — teach him to deduct.” Fran Lebowitz Here in the United States, we spend about $1.3 trillion on education, including early childhood programs, K-12th grade, the whole college-industrial complex, and adult learning and continuing education. This is obviously… Read More

Writing a weekly tax column probably looks like effortless fun. But it’s not always easy mining comedy gold from the Internal Revenue Code. Believe it or not, sometimes, taxes just aren’t funny. When you see us trying to jam a tax angle into something like, say, National Feta Cheese Day, you’ll know it was a… Read More

Back before Covid-19 shuttered theaters, courtroom dramas were a cinema staple. In Twelve Angry Men, Henry Fonda shines as Juror 8, trying to convince his fellow jurors the case they were considering wasn’t so clear-cut. In A Few Good Men, Tom Cruise proves he could handle the truth while baiting Jack Nicholson into admitting he… Read More

Thirty-five years ago, cartoonist Bill Watterson published the very first “Calvin and Hobbes” strip. Calvin, an irrepressible six-year-old who’s surely destined for a therapist’s couch or an orange jumpsuit (or both), tells his dad he’s off to check his tiger trap: “I rigged a tuna fish sandwich yesterday, so I’m sure to have one by… Read More

The world of law enforcement lost a pioneer last week with the death of Gerald Shur. As a young prosecutor targeting what one member described as “a certain Italian-American subculture,” he realized his informants would be more likely to testify on Monday morning if they weren’t afraid of winding up dead on Monday afternoon. Shur’s… Read More

President Trump’s war on Tik-Tok, the Chinese video-sharing app that’s loaded with more spyware than James Bond’s latest car, illustrates just how ubiquitous those programs have become in our lives. Apple offers 2.2 million apps in their iStore. Apps help you do everything, from setting an alarm to wake you up in the morning to… Read More

Ambitious musicians have always looked for ways to monetize their name and fame. Sometimes the results fall short of a mic drop — usually half-baked restaurant “concepts.” (Remember Kenny Rogers Roasters?) But today’s artists — especially in the rap community — can be just as talented at entrepreneurship as making music. Sean Carter used to… Read More

Living as we doth in this age of Technologie, ’tis easy to believest that many Things we take for granted are new. 1,000 years ago, there was naught Internet. No reality Television. (“Tiger King” meant somethinge quyte different.) And a “Hybrid” was a Cart powered by an Ox and a Mule. But verily, some of… Read More

After World War II, a generation of returning veterans turned California into America’s golden dream. Industries like shipbuilding and aerospace created thousands of good jobs. California engineers and educators built world-class roads and universities. California vineyards started producing world-class wines. And throughout the rest of the country, young men wished “they all could be California… Read More

Coronavirus has upended nearly every aspect of American life, including of course sports. First was the chaos of interrupting leagues mid-season with no idea when, or if, they would ever return. Next was the oddity of playing games in arenas filled with cardboard cutouts of fans and their dogs. Now we have the crime against… Read More

In 2004, Stephanie Meyer sparked a bona fide cultural phenomenon with her debut novel, Twilight, recounting the romance between 17-year-old schoolgirl Bella Swan and 109-year-old “vegetarian” vampire Edward Cullen. (He only drinks animal blood, not human.) The story spawned four books, five movies (because you’ve gotta double up that final book to sell more tickets… Read More

A century ago, New York’s richest families didn’t summer in the Hamptons. (Yes, this is a story about people who use “summer” as a verb, with a straight face.) Back then, clans like the Rockefellers, Morgans, and Huntingtons headed upstate to the “Great Camps” of the Adirondacks, a constellation of compounds overlooking the area’s forested… Read More

One of the delights of living in America is the variety of local delicacies that different places champion as their own. Maine’s lobster rolls serve up a briny mouthful of golden summer tucked into a lightly-toasted bun. Wisconsin is home to amazing cheeses: milk’s bid for immortality. Nashville’s hot chicken dresses up ordinary poultry in… Read More

Forty years ago this weekend, Orion Pictures released a comedy producers pitched as “Animal House on a golf course.” The movie featured a scrappy bunch of misfit locals battling a group of rich snobs played by ad-libbing comedy legends. And while reviews were underwhelming, it went on to gross $40 million and claim a place… Read More

Coronavirus has millions of Americans rethinking where they choose to live, especially crowded cities. Back in February and March, New Yorkers led the charge, fleeing the petri dish that Manhattan had become to vacation homes in places like the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard. Silicon Valley tech-bros are gazing longingly across the Pacific to New Zealand.… Read More

Colleges looking to compete for students have added new fields like cybersecurity, political campaign management, and even beer fermentation. (That last one seems a bit indulgent, given how many college students pursue rigorous self-study programs in malt beverages with no promise of academic credit at all.) Perhaps it shouldn’t surprise you, then, that a Japanese… Read More

On June 27, 1997, an unknown British author rolled out her first novel, which she wrote in longhand because she couldn’t afford a typewriter. The book was a success beyond imagining: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone stormed the world and made author J.K. Rowling richer than the Queen. (Seriously, you can look it up.)… Read More

Here in the United States, the National Football League’s “Hypomatic 3000” machine works day and night to convince us that our brand of football is the most important contest in the world. But everywhere else, the people we call “soccer” fans know their game is what counts. Last year, a hundred million people watched the… Read More

In the world of football, one family stands out among the rest: the Mannings. In tennis, it’s the Williamses. And on television, it’s the Kardashians, Jenners, and various C-list and D-list orbiters that make up the First Family of Reality TV. What many viewers don’t realize is that the Kardashians aren’t just a family, they’re… Read More

In China, it’s a curse to say “may you live in interesting times.” If that’s so, 2020 is surely cursed. It all started with coronavirus in January or thereabouts. April brought the murder hornets to Washington State. (They might still be only in Washington, but they’re murder hornets.) And last week brought news that yet… Read More

Memorial Day weekend is fading in the rearview mirror, and we’ve ventured outside to commemorate those who gave their lives in service to their country. Summer is as officially “open for business” as it can be in this year of coronavirus. But there’s a lesser-known occasion coming up that the average American celebrates three times… Read More

Maurice Fayne, did you think you would get away with it? Did you think styling yourself “Arkansas Mo” on a show like VH1’s “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” made you the kind of guy who can pull a con on the down low? When you borrowed $2,045,800 from the Paycheck Protection Program, did you really… Read More

In 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. Ever since then, Americans have spent that day destroying Mom’s kitchen in the name of breakfast in bed, tramping through her garden in the name of bringing her flowers, and making up for the phone calls and compliments they… Read More

American law schools sponsor over 200 law reviews: dense collections of grim, wooden prose, groaning with footnotes. (Chief Justice John Roberts once said “Pick up a copy of any law review that you see, and the first article is likely to be, you know, the influence of Immanuel Kant on evidentiary approaches in 18th Century… Read More

Life comes at you fast. Two months ago, the Dow was flirting with 30,000, unemployment was at 3.5%, and the economy was looking forward to spring with the rest of us. Today, of course, we’ve put the economy in a medically-induced coma. People who are trapped at home with cranky partners and children are wondering… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the great toilet paper shortage of 2020. It gave us a great opportunity to indulge in the sort of lowbrow humor that made MAD magazine such a hit with 10-year-old boys. The problem turns out to be simple. Toilet paper makers produce two separate products for two… Read More

Our calendar is full of “Hallmark holidays”: meaningless commemorations and celebrations, usually created by marketers and publicists. Just this month, there’s National Talk Like Shakespeare Day, National Hug a Plumber Day, and National Wear Pajamas to Work Day. (That last one may not feel like a celebration right now). Food fans have National Burrito Day,… Read More

Coronavirus has turned millions of Americans who used to laugh at the doomsday preppers on National Geographic into converts. Your neighborhood supermarket is working overtime to keep shelves stocked as panicked shoppers rush to settle in for stay-at-home orders. And the first item to disappear was . . . (checks notes) . . . toilet… Read More

Millions of us who are staying at home in this time of coronavirus are discovering to our dismay just how much the clown car of halfwits, freaks, and grotesques of “reality TV” has taken over our living rooms. The endless parade of bachelors, teen moms, real housewives, and Kardashians have slowly sapped at our dignity.… Read More

The Cambridge Dictionary defines “digging your own grave” to mean doing “something that causes you harm, sometimes serious harm.” Kids who don’t do their homework, politicians who cut popular spending programs, and people who overshare on social media all dig their own grave in one way or another. It’s not every day that someone charges… Read More

If you’re like most Americans, coronavirus quarantines and “social distancing” mean you’re going to spend a lot of time in front of your TV binging on Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, and Disney+. If you’re working from home, you’ll spend more time listening to your favorite music on Pandora or Spotify. And believe it or not,… Read More

When talented musicians join forces, they epitomize Aristotle’s maxim: “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Collaboration is the essence of music, and even the most technically proficient soloists benefit from an ensemble framing and highlighting their skills. You can’t whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it. It’s… Read More

Four years ago, a consortium of European journalists broke a story based on 11.5 million documents leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The exposé detailed how the firm’s clients across the world used offshore shell companies to hide assets and evade taxes. (Remember, tax avoidance = legal; tax evasion = go to jail.)… Read More

This time of year, most Americans living in the northern half of the country are dreaming of sunshine. But there’s a heartier, usually affluent breed that can’t get enough snow. In Vermont, at resorts like Killington and Stowe, Ivy League students spend weekends hitting the slopes by day and donning LL Bean sweaters to sip… Read More

Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas, who died last this month, played nearly every role in his career: actor, director, producer, and writer. He was born before the first “talkie” hit theaters. He grew up one of seven children in an impoverished home. Then he worked his way through St. Lawrence University and the American Academy of… Read More