Barry L. Ritholtz
Big gain in stock market not really so big
Major U.S. stock markets, depending on which index you prefer, are up anywhere from 21% to 33% this year. Those are big gains, making...
Worthless holiday shopping hype returns
Let’s get this out of the way upfront: Retail sales were not up 16% during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Nor were they up 14%...
Get in the mood for retail forecasting follies
It's become a favorite holiday tradition around these parts: wait for the National Retail Federation annual holiday spending forecast each October, then write a...
Bigger paychecks are coming
On Nov. 4, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the October employment report. It is the latest in a 73-month run of data showing...
The next recession is inevitable. Big deal
You have to hand it to economists -- they say the darndest things.
In a Wall Street Journal survey, a group of economists “put the...
Health care costs ate up all your pay raises
Real, or inflation-adjusted, compensation has risen 61 percent since 1970; wages, on the other hand, have increased less than 3 percent in real terms...
Trouble hiring? Try paying more
Pop-quiz time. Which of the following explains the inability of employers to fill open positions:
n A lack of qualified workers?
n Low pay?
n Welfare state/transfer...
Investor education slips into reverse
Amid all the hoopla and theater of the national political convention you might have missed a noteworthy report about the financial literacy of the...
CEOs are paid fortunes just to be average
Verizon’s purchase of Yahoo! for $4.83 billion, while an interesting exercise in combining content, networks and mobile services, highlights the broken norms for paying...
Coal isn’t dying because there’s a war on it
I never cease to be amazed how people with an agenda massage facts, or omit them, in order to support their cause.
It comes up...