Economy

Economy — No Comments
5
Aug 10

Smart phones to replace credit cards?

Bloomberg Businessweek reports that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are investigating the use of mobile phones as an alternative to the leading credit card companies (Visa and MasterCard):

“While the technical details are sketchy, the service would let customers make purchases by holding a smartphone in front of an electronic reader in stores. Transactions would be processed by Discover Financial Services (DFS), the fourth-biggest payments network in the U.S. behind Visa, MasterCard, and American Express (AXP). London-based Barclays (BCS) would help manage the accounts, say the people, who requested anonymity because of confidentiality agreements. Representatives for the carriers, Barclays, and Discover declined to comment.”

Read the full story at Bloomberg Businessweek.

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Economy — No Comments
2
Aug 10

Minority Report-like advertising coming soon

The Telegraph reports IBM is investigating the use of RFID technology to deliver individual-specific advertisements in public venues:

“The new advertising hoardings will behave like those in the film Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, in which Cruise’s character is confronted with digital signs that call out his name as he walks through a futuristic shopping mall.”

Read more at the Telegraph.

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Economy / Education — No Comments
30
Jul 10

Obama: eight in 10 new jobs will require workforce training or a higher education

The New York Times reports on President Obama’s address to the 100th anniversary convention of the National Urban League in Washington yesterday, where he declared education “the economic issue of our time”:

“‘It’s an economic issue when the unemployment rate for folks who’ve never gone to college is almost double what it is for those who have,’ Mr. Obama said, according to prepared remarks. ‘It’s an economic issue when eight in 10 new jobs will require workforce training or a higher education by the end of this decade. It’s an economic issue when we know countries that outeducate us today will outcompete us tomorrow.’”

Read the full story at the New York Times.

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Economy / Society — No Comments
28
Jul 10

Is the American Dream dead for Millennials?

The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute’s “new deal 2.0″ asks, is the American Dream dead for the Millennial generation?

“At a Century Foundation presentation yesterday, four panelists told a group of college students the answer: an unequivocal ‘No.’ Hilary Doe, National Director of the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network, was joined by Greg Anrig, Vice President of Policy and Programs at TCF, Teresa Ghilarducci, the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Chair of Economic Policy Analysis at the New School, and Barbara Kiviat, a Staff Writer at Time Magazine. They teamed up to debunk myths about US debt, the economy, and prospects for the next generation.”

Read the full story at new deal 2.0.

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