Author Archives: Laura Hertzfeld

Buzz kill

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Coffee cup/Credit: Flickr user scene*s

Coffee cup/Credit: Flickr user scene*s

Just the thought of instant coffee reminds me of the jars of crystallized, icky Folgers and Sanka sitting, untouched, in the cupboard of my grandparents’ kitchen. But Starbucks is making an attempt to revolutionize instant coffee with a blend that it claims is indistinguishable (and cheaper) than their regular Starbucks brew. Americans spend billions of dollars per year on coffee. The latte habit that Starbucks helped inflict has taken a serious toll on our wallets. Could this new instant solution help curtail that?

Marketplace’s Scott Jagow compiles the first reviews of Starbucks Via instant coffee …it’s getting mixed results.

And Marketplace host Bill Radke interviewed Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on the program this morning. He says the instant move is not a reaction to the economic downturn.

In addition to supplying the caffeine that keeps us working, the coffeehouse as a place to gather and do work may be seeing a decline over all, with Starbucks closing hundreds of stores and some independent establishments starting to charge for wireless internet access, something that kept customers coming in.

Cyrus Farivar reports for All Things Considered:
“We’ve gotta turn the tables just like a restaurant does in order to be able to survive,” says Hudson Bay Cafe owner Sadri Majlesi.

Back in January, The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC launched Your Uncommon Economic Indicators. When people were asked how they had’ve changed their habits since the downturn, one of the first comments was about coffee:

“Coffee. I take a thermos to work now and save lots of $. Of course that’s bad news for the guys at the local coffee shop,” Johnny S. from Cranford, NJ said.

Have hard economic times changed your coffee habits?

Taking credit

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Credit cards/ Credit: Flickr user Gordon

Credit cards/ Credit: Flickr user Gordon

It’s not even October and already I heard the local news show anchors yammering away this morning about planning for holiday gift-buying. Given that it’s September 29, that has to be some kind of record. That said, it’s always a good time to think about credit cards, credit card debt, and how to create a budget.

Here are a few great resources:

On Tavis Smiley’s Road to Wealth blog, columnist Michelle Singletary answers questions about the drawbacks of paying down debt with other debt.

“When you use debt to pay off debt, you are not paying off the one debt. You are merely transferring it to another loan. You are shifting your debt load, not lifting it. It’s like moving the rock from one hand to the other.”

If you have personal finance questions, submit them to Michelle here.

For those just starting out in the real world, Rochester, NY’s WXXI has a show called BizKids, which teaches kids about business and finance skills. In a recent episode (Episode 205), the show profiles Lauren, a teen who racked up over $1000 in debt. The BizKids look at how credit affects your life – and that starting early with good credit is the best policy.

Youth Radio took a look earlier this spring on how changes to credit card laws could affect young people.

While credit cards may be a challenge for some to manage, are banks doing anything to give for consumers ways to protect against bad spending habits?

The NewsHour’s Jeffrey Brown talks to New York Times personal finance reporter Ron Lieber, who says that some banks are allowing debit card users to opt out of overdraft protection.

“And so that way people have the opportunity to say — to weigh all the fees involved and the potential benefits and to raise their hand and take some affirmative action and say, “Yes, I would like to be included in this coverage,” or, “No, I do not want to have it.””

New credit card rules that took affect this summer are also helping to protect customers from unexpected credit card policy changes.

Where would Michael Moore invest?

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PRI’s The Takeaway talks to controversial filmmaker Michael Moore about his new documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story. John Hockenberry asks if Moore’s high profile has affected his ability to capture the ‘gotcha’ moment.

For more economy-related videos from public media outlets around the country, check out our new video portal, videos.economystory.org.

Pittsburgh beyond the G20

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G-20 Summit/Credit: Flickr user Desiree N. Williams

G-20 Summit/Credit: Flickr user Desiree N. Williams

The G-20 summit brought the world’s largest economies together this week to look at the progress the world’s made on recovering from the economic downturn. As the summit in Pittsburgh wraps up, take a look at some sources from the Pittsburgh area that covered the event and the protests surrounding it, and get a perspective on how the region is coping in the new economy.

WDUQ’s news blog is covering the daily G-20 events, from the spouses of dignitaries touring the city, to protestors urging racial equality and a complete pullout of troops from Iraq.

The WDUQ blog wrote about the mood of the city on Thursday:

“A typical workday downtown is normally overflowing with with pedestrians and traffic during morning rush hour. Today, however, as a result of the road and business closures during the G20 Summit being held at the convention center, there’s an unusual, desolate mood to the city. Some groups of pedestrians walk through town, some workers and others curious passersby, dodging police barricades and tents.”

The Environment Report covered Pittsburgh’s image as a Rust Belt City and how the city has adapted to a decline in population.

The New York Times blog The Caucus looked at why Pittsburgh was chosen to host the summit. “The White House has repeatedly cited the city’s transformation from a Rust Belt shell to one whose economy rebounded on the base of the health, education and perhaps technology industries, ” Kate Phillips writes.

Indeed, a recent Pittsburgh Business Journal story noted that Google CEO Eric Schmidt sees tech developments in Pittsburgh as a model for helping other former manufacturing-based cities survive.

ProPublica’s ShovelWatch project analyzed Pennsylvania data and found that 32 institutions in Pennsylvania received government bailout funds, totaling 2% of the total $11.3 billion allocated to Pennsylvania so far in the recovery plan.

Will the combination of bank bailouts, the bustling tech sector, a young mayor and , international attention be a way out – or up — for hard-pressed Pittsburgh?

When’s the real estate rebound?

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For Sale sign/ Credit: Flickr user Casey Serin

For Sale sign/ Credit: Flickr user Casey Serin

While there have been fewer layoffs and other positive signs in the overall economy, economists are still waiting on a change in the real estate market. Only a few areas in the U.S. saw an uptick in new home sales in August and lower housing prices haven’t instilled confidence in some of the hardest-hit areas of the country.

This week’s audio Q&A with Patchwork Nation Director Dante Chinni discusses the downside of lower home prices, and in turn, slower consumer spending in these types of areas.

“A lot of people have been counting on their homes as their nest egg, their retirement plan and they’ve been using it to finance a lot of things,” Chinni said. “And unless those prices start coming up, it’s hard to imagine how those places are going to be willing or able to spend a lot to get us out of the recession.”

Play audio: Patchwork Nation Q&A

In Columbus, Ohio, WOSU reported that home sales in the area rose one percent compared to July. Columbus is in Franklin County, one of Patchwork Nation’s Industrial Metropolis communities. But that change is so slight compared with how much prices have dropped that it’s unclear what the long-term impact will be.

On EconomyBeat.org, blogger Jon Brooks finds a real estate predictor blog that shows even less optimism for a real estate comeback, specifically for California, which was slammed by the mortgage crisis.

In May, KCET program SoCalConnected looked at communities in Southern California where housing prices have dropped significantly to help determine whether it is the right time to buy.