Work+Money - News, Photos and More on the Windy Citizen

The government collects data on consumer's behavior

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:05 -0500

When Margaret Humphrey goes shopping, she isn't just shopping for herself; she is shopping for the entire country.

Humphrey is one of the economic assistants for the Chicago regional office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employees that collect the price data that is used to generate the Consumer Price Index, or CPI.

Chicago restaurants face challenges when going green

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:05 -0500

Companies are looking to lessen their carbon footprints, but their efforts are not always being matched by the cities in which they reside. Take Sopraffina Marketcaffe in Chicago, for instance.

Dan Rosenthal, president of The Rosenthal Group Inc. and owner of Sopraffina, has hit a snag in his effort to turn his five Loop-located restaurants into low-waste producers.

Filling up the piggy bank

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:05 -0500

The ideal time to start saving and planning for your child's education
is of course as soon as possible, but perhaps you didn't have the
forethought to open a 529 plan on the day your child was born. The
important thing is to evaluate your financial situation based on the
number of years you have until your child begins college and to make
decisions accordingly.

Maybe you have a teen who is planning to start college in just a
couple of years. Or perhaps you've been saving for a while and want

Waste Management landfill gives new life to Buckley Growers in Taylorville, Ill.

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:47:15 -0500

Throughout the spring months, trucks loaded down with trays of multicolored annuals travel from Buckley Growers in Taylorville, Ill., to the Busy Bee Nursery in Crestwood, Ill. Busy Bee, which is in its 20th year, hired Buckley because the grower offers varieties of flowers that general manager Peter Barones can't find anywhere else.

"We've always been happy with their service and product," said Barones, who has been a Buckley customer for five years. "We're comfortable with them because they run a good business."

Not your father's Trib(une)

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:14:03 -0500

Editor&Pubiisher reported on a leaked, radical redesign of the Chicago Tribune. The Tribune is among Tribune Co. media properties order to develop prototypes and implement other cost-cutting measures in wake of an advertising downturn.

Which local advertisers medaled in Beijing?

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:11:03 -0500

Chicago's big Olympic advertisers and even Barack Obamagot more bang for their buck out of a record number of viewers for the Beijing Games and the lasting impressions of mostly feel-good, soft-sell commercials.

In another venue where winners and losers can be separated by subjective judgment calls, McDonalds Corp. took home the gold, while Kraft Foods Inc. edged out United Airlines for the silver medal, according to a sampling of local ad industry insiders.

"Only McDonald's competes on the highest stage," says Dennis Ryan, chief creative officer for Chicago ad shop Element 79.

None of the companies revealed the amount of money they spent, or how well their ads performed relative to others. A Kraft commercial featuring a Western girl and an Asian girl eating Oreo cookies on stopped, side-by-side trains was the second-best remembered and liked among 41 Chinese-themed commercials, according to Nielsen IAG. The New York-based consumer survey firm tracked 228 commercials overall.

For once, IRS has to pony up

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:35:25 -0500

Score one for the little guy.

An accountant has won a court judgement against the IRS over the way it taxes shares distributed to mutual life insurance policies. The ruling could mean millions to taxpayers who meet the criteria and whose claims haven't reached the three-year statute of limitations.

U.S. economy in for rough patch, economist says

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:05 -0500

The Producer Price Index, a key measure of inflation for companies, jumped again Tuesday. Its 9.8 percent rate of increase over the past year is the highest in 27 years, according to a government report. Last week another report revealed that the trailing twelve-month inflation rate for consumers is now at 5.6 percent-the quickest pace since 1991. These new data justify a rising level of concern for the state of the U.S. economy. Adolfo Laurenti, a senior economist with Chicago-based Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc., sees trouble in the next few quarters but remains cautiously optimistic about a recovery sometime in the second half of 2009.

Q: What did you think about the PPI [Producer Price Index] data that came out today?

A: I think they are bad, quite frankly.

Private equity pool dry for banks seeking capital

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:05 -0500

The battered bank sector is looking for ways to shore up its shaky balance sheet in the wake of the financial crisis brought on by the collapse of investments in mortgage-backed securities. One solution that has been proposed by both Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is private equity investment in the banking sector.

Roosevelt is latest university to go straight to Uncle Sam for student loans

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:06 -0500

Jennifer Smith already had her Chase loan application approved and had submitted her paperwork to the financial aid office at Roosevelt University in Chicago when she was told that, instead, she would be borrowing directly from Uncle Sam.

“They never told me why,” the 24-year-old integrated marketing communication major said. “All of a sudden I had direct loans of this and that much.”