Home sales remain sluggish thanks to high interest rates and a shortage of homes for sale, and that is really bad for America. Because as more Americans become life-long renters, they will never experience the misery of owning a home. My first home, which I bought as a broke freelance writer, was a fixer-upper in […]

Not too long ago, the name U.S. Steel was symbolic of America’s industrial might. It was the biggest, most important company in the world. Or maybe it just seemed like it was. Whatever it was then, now it’s just a shadow of its former self. But after decades of economic upheaval, recession, and increased competition […]

The criminal defendant’s so-called Restoration agenda is festooned with fascist goodies. Donald Trump is vowing to fire any U.S. attorney who refuses to prosecute whoever he wants prosecuted, he’d unleash the National Guard wherever and whenever he wants, he’d abolish the U.S. civil service and pack every federal job with MAGAts, he’d pardon the criminals […]

As I sit here admiring my 88-cent container of mustard, I can’t help feeling self-conscious. I know that restaurants advertise their “value menus” and retailers offer no-frills knockoffs of their glitziest products, but I keep picturing the corporate CEOs loathing such concessions as a necessary evil to appease the (ugh!) cheapskate rabble. (“I thought all […]

Well, another Mother’s Day has come and gone. All three of our sons paid great homage, of course, with cards and calls and songs, all making me get sloshily weepy. Isn’t it maddening that as we age those blubberings blubber up easier and faster than ever? That we just can’t control them as we did […]

Picture this scenario: A college president is interviewing a potential football coach. He’s promised his donors and fans that the team will be undefeated the next season, no excuses. He starts with a bold question: “Will you do whatever it takes to win every single game, even if you have to cut some corners, like […]

“Lies, damned lies and statistics.” That old saying about the levels of lying both reveals and warns about the excessive use and misuse of numbers. People love numbers. Rankings and ratings are the basis of decisions that may determine matters ranging from which country is a world power to what toaster browns bread best to […]