marcacito

This just in from the Department of Why I am Not Suprised: Americans are giving less to charity this Christmas. A recent poll from the Red Cross shows that 20 percent of Americans plan to reduce their charitable giving this year. Salvation Army centers and Toys for Tots drives across the country...

I recently learned how to avoid arguing about money with my spouse from an unlikely source: composer Phillip Glass. Not Glass himself - I'm hip, but I'm not that hip. No, I got marriage and money advice from Glass's setting of the classic Jean Cocteau film Orphée, which is having its West...

Since the recession began, we've all been tightening our belts, but only metaphorically. As our finances have grown leaner, Americans' bellies continue to grow larger. Therefore, the question of how to increase net worth while decreasing net girth has been on my mind for a while -- like about 20...

According to a recent Nielsen survey, savvy recessionistas now shop at dollar stores. Wanting to be savvy, I journeyed to the nearest Dollar Tree, which makes me sound like a character in a fairy tale: "And there, Marco the Scribe found a magnificent tree and it was blooming money..." My initial...

I know, I know: no one wants to hear artists complain about how hard it is to make a living. It's as if the freedom from being a cubicle-dweller has disqualified us from ever venting our frustrations with the constant hustle and the ongoing economic insecurity. Remember that know-it-all uncle who...

Just because I haven't read a book doesn't stop me from debating it at cocktail parties. I mean, why let something like a lack of information get in the way of forming a strongly held opinion? So what's currently on my mind is "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" by Chris Anderson, editor of Wired...

"Welcome to Jakarta," the sign read. And: "Death Penalty for Drug Traffickers!" "All that exclamation point needs is a happy emoticon," said my traveling companion, novelist Eve Yohalem."Or one of those ADA icons with someone hanging from a noose," I added.

"I don't use the word recession," says gallery owner and art consultant Heidi McBride. "Any time I think about financial challenges I say 'I'm dealing with the new economy.' "I couldn't agree more. For two years now the prognosticators have been like unrepentant drunks, promising us that we've hit...

The restaurant industry should have seen it coming. After all, when President Obama was Candidate Arugula he actually lost weight by avoiding fatty photo-ops, going so far as to order pancakes to go. (I know, who eats take-out pancakes? No one. Which was exactly the point.)I can relate. I used to...