The Best (and Worst) Investments of 2016
Year-end reviews allow investors to examine which investments did well and which were better left out of the portfolio. They also provide a summary of trends, and perhaps hint at future ones. With an…
All Work
Mike Sauter
The Most Dangerous Cities in America
The FBI reported Monday that 1,197,704 violent crimes were committed in 2015, up 3.9% from 2014. Violent crime rates are by no means uniform across the country. Some of the nation’s cities are far…
10 Brands That Will Disappear in 2017
A great deal needs to happen for an established brand to die. Brands can have immense power and the fortunes of a brand do not necessarily reflect the company’s fortunes. For example, car manufacturers…
The Best Charities to Donate to This Year!
Generosity is at the core of the holiday season, and each year many Americans make it a point to donate to the causes most important to them. Choosing which nonprofit to give to this…
18 Biggest Companies That May IPO in 2017
Investors generally expect companies valued at billions of dollars to go public. Companies that issue an initial public offering (IPO) can use the funds to invest in growth opportunities. In exchange, they are exposed…
The Best and Worst Run States in America: A Survey of All 50
Comparing the quality of governance between states can be challenging. The decisions state governors, legislators, city mayors and other elected officials make can have wide-reaching effects on state residents, and these decisions can sometimes…
20 American Ghost Towns
The U.S. housing market has recovered substantially since the housing crisis. The improvement, however, has been uneven, and in many U.S. cities housing markets continue to struggle. In some, property values and foreclosure rates…
80 Most Influential Americans Over 80
The United States is not known for respecting its elderly, who are often overlooked, perceived as lacking the value of the young who are still likely to be in the workforce. Yet, some of…
States With the Highest (and Lowest) Voter Turnout
In this year’s presidential primaries, more than 57.6 million Americans went to the polls, slightly less than the 2008 all-time record. It remains to be seen if high primary turnout will translate to high…
Companies Paying Americans the Least
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest company and private employer, recently raised the minimum wage of its employees to $10 an hour. Since the company’s announcement last year, several of the corporate giant’s competitors, including Target…
Cities With the Fastest Growing (and Shrinking) Economies
The economies of the vast majority of U.S. metropolitan areas expanded last year. In aggregate, GDP across the nation’s 382 metro areas grew by 2.5%, up from a 2.3% growth rate the previous year.…
The World’s 13 Most Valuable Startups
Every tech startup wants to become a unicorn — a private company valued at more than $1 billion. Because they typically dominate a new business or technology, unicorns are able to raise billions of…
America’s Best (and Worst) Car Brands
American car owners seem to love their Lincolns while they are least satisfied with their Acuras, according to a recent survey of the auto industry. These are some of the findings from the 2016…
America’s Most Segregated Cities
Of the 28.7 million black Americans living in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, nearly one-quarter reside in segregated neighborhoods — where at least 80% of residents are black. People living in urban areas are…
17 Counties Where People Die Old
Americans are living longer than they ever have before, as life expectancy has risen in recent years to 78.5 years. While the nation’s life expectancy has improved, the country gained ground much slower than most high-income…
States With the Fastest (and Slowest) Growing Economies
The U.S. economy grew 2.4% in 2015. This is the most the economy has grown in more than five years, and is a slight improvement on 2014’s 2.2% growth. The economies of all but…
Poorest Town in Every State
Incomes in the United States are far from uniform. A typical household in Scarsdale, New York earns nearly a quarter of a million dollars a year, or more than 13 times the income of…
The Most (and Least) Dangerous States to Drive
The number of fatal car crashes in the United States has declined, at least partially due to better safety measures and improved road design. In 2014, 32,675 Americans died in car crashes, roughly 10,000…
States Where the Most People Work for the Government
More than 22 million Americans are government workers. While the ideal size of government in the United States is a matter of intense debate, most Americans agree that government workers are necessary in some…
The Largest Employer in Every State
A diverse array of companies is essential for a state to maintain a stable and healthy labor market. Some companies, however, impact a state’s economy and labor market far more than others. In almost…