How a Facebook Lawsuit Helped An Attorney Sometimes a middle initial can come in handy for a Facebook lawsuit against Mark Zuckerbeg and also to earn more money.

Mark S. Zuckerberg is suing Mark E. Zuckerberg.

Mark Steven Zuckerberg is a longtime bankruptcy attorney in Indiana while Mark Elliot Zuckerberg runs Facebook.

Mark Steven Zuckerberg wants Facebook to stop hassling him. But, there is more. #econlife

econlife.com/2025/09/face...

What the Misery Index Says About Inflation and Employment As a shorthand gauge of our well-being, the Misery Index is a handy way to judge how inflation and employment could affect us.

When President Lyndon Johnson wanted a quickie take on the U.S. economy during the 1960s, his chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, economist Arthur Okun (1928-1980), came up with the Economic Discomfort Index.
#econlife econlife.com/2025/09/mise...

How Sleep Time Varies Wondering how our sleep time affects us, we can compare when we go to bed and wake-up in different U.S. states.

Some of us sleep more than everyone else. But it
could depend on where we live.
#econlife econlife.com/2025/09/slee...

How Two Economic Systems Differ When Gallup tells us that Americans have a diminished opinion of capitalism, we should look more closely at economic systems.

According to a recent Gallup poll, a shrinking proportion of Americans expressed support for capitalism. However,
based on their answers, I suspect that they really prefer capitalism. The poll’s participants just need to know what it really means. #econlife econlife.com/2025/09/econ...

Why Crunchy French Fries Can Be Concern With concerns that range from its potatoes' length to their frying temperature, McDonald's has always worried about crunchy French fries.

Droughts make us ask what we will do to get our French fries.
#econlife econlife.com/2025/09/crun...

Famous for their coconuts, Indonesia’s Banggai Islands Regency have a new name and owner—“Luckin Exclusive Coconut Island.” With a coconut latte its flagship drink and a whopping 500,000 coconuts used daily, Luckin added an island to its competitive toolkit. #econlife econlife.com/2025/09/coff...

Why Nigeria's Shea Nuts Will Not Be exported For Six Months Trying to boost female income and inadequate industrial capacity, Nigeria's shea nuts won't be exported for six months.

For the next six months, during Nigeria’s shea nut export ban, they hope to figure out how to produce more lucrative shea-based products. #econlife

econlife.com/2025/09/nige...

Why Buoy Removal is Controversial Seemingly practical, the Coast Guard's East Coast buoy removal plan generated considerable opposition from fishermen and boaters.

At 3,000, an avalanche of comments responded when the Coast Guard announced it would remove 350 of the 1,700 large buoys that dot the waters extending from Maine to New Jersey. The fishermen that oppose the decision cite safety. But there is more. #econlife
econlife.com/2025/09/buoy...

Creating Perverse Incentives Through Statistics Through the numbers that quantify miles per gallon or omit household production, we create perverse incentives.

In the U.S. we use MPG (miles per gallon). In Europe, it’s liters per 100 kilometers driven. The metric makes a difference. #econlife
econlife.com/2025/09/perv...

How the Impact of Electrification Comes From GERD To see the potential impact of electrification and its complexities, we can look at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will soon be officially inaugurated. Holding 67 billion cubic meters of water, the dam’s goal is to bring light to the 60 percent of the population that is “suffering in darkness.” #econlife econlife.com/2025/09/impa...

Where the AI Domain Became a Moneymaker Reflecting the benefits of standardization, the random assignment of a domain for the URL of a small island became a massive moneymaker.

Anguilla was assigned the .ai in its URL. Because the year was 1995, the designation was relatively meaningless. Now it is a huge moneymaker. #econlife econlife.com/2025/09/ai-u...

The Cost of Air Travel Delays A close look at air travel delays reveals a massive cost that varies among all of the travelers and for the airlines.

Using Department of Transportation data for 2022, Finance Buzz estimated the hours that maintenance, weather, and staffing delays cost us. #econlife econlife.com/2025/09/air-...

The U.S. Transportation Infrastructure Receives Low Grades Graded domestically and compared to other countries, the U.S. transportation infrastructure needs an uptick.

Because of the unusual frequency with which drivers misjudge the height of bridges along Stover Drive, near Boston, they say their truck has been Stovered if calamity strikes. Where are we going? To problems with the U.S. transportation infrastructure. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/tran...

How Federal Reserve Independence Evolved in 1935 and 1951 With considerable debate and presidential disagreement, the Congress established Federal Reserve independence in 1935 and 1951.

The Congress clearly told us during 1935 and 1951 that Federal Reserve independence would not be subject to the President’s power. But it all began in lower Manhattan during October 1907.
#econlife econlife.com/2025/08/fede...

Where Tariff Revenue Comes From Looking at the what, where, and how much of tariff revenue, we csn see why Adam Smith and David Ricardo would have protested.

The answers to three questions demonstrate the impact of tariffs. We can ask what, where, and how much. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/tari...

Why Expiration Dates Vary Varying from state to state, the expiration dates on our food create the incentive to waste massive amounts of what we buy.

No one is quite sure about what food labels mean. But still, they seem to alarm us. Where are we going? To our labels and our waste. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/expi...

What Longer Summers Cost Us Not necessarily giving us more vacation, instead, longer summers at the beginning and end, just have extra costly days that are hot.

While my summers always seem to be too short, they are actually longer. The Washington Post told us where.
#econlife econlife.com/2025/08/long...

Why Federal Reserve Policies Require Tradeoffs Reflecting Federal Reserve Policy challenges, Chairman Powell and "The Economist" see the U.S. inflation threat differently.

During this past week at Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell talked about inflation. His comments were not quite what The Economist recently concluded.
#econlife econlife.com/2025/08/fede...

Where a De Minimis Tariff Creates New Incentives Demonstrated by the elimination of the de minimis exemption, new tariff incentives include a global ripple of delivery cancellations.

We might not be getting our packages from DHL. Like many others, they’ve temporarily suspended deliveries on imports. The reason is tariff uncertainty. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/de-m...

By Naming Heat Waves, We Increasingly Recognize Their Impact With average global temperatures rising, naming heat waves can create the incentives that encourage appropriate fiscal policies.

Few of us have heard of the 2021 heat dome over Washington and Oregon, although 600 people died. We also might not remember the Gulf Coast storm of 2005, except it was named Katrina. A name makes the difference. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/nami...

Why the Cost of Raising a Child Is Up While the tooth fairy is spending less, for almost everything else, the cost of raising a child has gone up.

Recognizing that tomorrow is National Tooth Fairy Day, we begin with $5.01. Down by 14 percent from last year’s $5.84, a lost tooth was less valuable this year. For all else, the cost of raising a child is up. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/cost...

How Methane Emissions Come From Cows As one reason for global warming, methane emissions from cow burps can be explained by the tragedy of the commons.

Methane emissions are trending upwards. Because methane is much more potent than CO2, we can be especially concerned with cow burps. #econlife
econlife.com/2025/08/meth...

Why Coffee Tariffs Are Complicated When we look at the long list of countries that grow, process, roast, and brew coffee beans, we see the complicated impact of tariffs.

CNN tells us that the U.S. consumes 516 million cups of coffee each day. Almost all of this coffee–99 percent–comes from the “coffee belt.” #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/coff...

When Accurate Statistics Are a Crime Politically painful, the quest for Greece's accurate economic statistics had unusual results for its government statisticians.

Headlines about the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics remind us of a Greek statistical saga. Let’s take a look. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/gree...

When Smaller Snack Packages Reflect Higher Prices When inflation nudges prices higher and higher, large firms can use packaging strategies to preserve demand.

Higher prices can bring us smaller packages. With inflation accelerating, food makers worry that we could erase pricier snacks and sodas from our shopping lists. Their solution is a smaller, cheaper package. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/smal...

Looking At Women in the Labor Force Looking at women in the labor force, we can ask the impact of an increasing proportion of young mothers departing.

The workforce is losing young women. Displaying a shrinking participation rate, working women, aged 25-44 with young children, have been leaving their jobs. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/wome...

When Free Goods Are Really Expensive Supposedly "free," the goods and services that are priced at zero wind up costing us much more than we realize.

The Wall Street Journal introduced us to a group of people who, for months, plan their birthday freebies. The one person they followed hoped to top his record of 35. At the end of his birthday, his freebies included drinks, snacks, dinners, and discounts. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/expe...

What An Inflation Breakdown Teaches Us Used to inflation expressed as a number showing how much it changed, instead, we can do a breakdown to see the items that moved the index.

Yesterday, the BLS reported that the CPI was up by 2.7%, July to July. Called disinflation, the rate of inflation was less than the 2.9 % rate for the same time period in the previous year. However, an inflation breakdown shows us what really happened. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/infl...

When Arizona Iced Tea Cans Became Too Expensive Making production of AriZona Iced Tea cans too costly, the 50% tariff on Canadian aluminum exports could end their 99 cents tradition.

At 99 cents, the price of AriZona Iced Tea has remained the same since 1997. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/ariz...

The Oreo Reese Partnership We have an Oreo Reese partnership because two sweets makers see a synergy between two of the most popular snacks.

Mondelez has been cooperating with Hershey. Each has something the other wants. #econlife econlife.com/2025/08/the-...