Tuesday's Assorted Links
Recession earnings, Hudson' Bay Company, retirement accounts, rising prices, and comfortable living
Hi y’all! Here are five stories from this week that contain some neat applications of economic principles or are related to teaching:
Certain stores do well when everyone’s nervous [Morning Brew]
Canada’s Hudson’s Bay has survived 355 years, but will soon file for bankruptcy [NPR]
The average 401(k) plan savings rate recently notched a record high, and the percentage is nearing a widely used rule of thumb [CNBC]
Businesses are raising prices after tariffs, even on unaffected goods [Axios]
Here’s the salary a single person needs to make to live comfortably in each state [CNBC]
A banana stole the show at a House tariff hearing, but it also highlighted a core truth of economics: we import some goods not because we can’t make them, but because we shouldn’t. Here’s what the banana taught us about trade:
We Can’t Build Bananas in America
Last week’s House hearing on tariffs took a turn for the tropical when Rep. Madeleine Dean waved a banana in the air and delivered a message that somehow still needs saying in 2025: we cannot build bananas in America.
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