I recall a college economics class when I first heard the term “NIMBY”. It was a clever way to sum up certain negative feelings – Not In My Back Yard – as in do not build that nuclear power plant in my town. Recently, the terms reshoring and nearshoring are grabbing headlines. One clever writer […]
Last month, my colleague Maeghan Thompson wrote about how consumers and retailers are planning to cope with what could be a recessionary Holiday season. In the meantime, forecasters have now given their predictions of Holiday sales. At first sight, the estimates seem rather jolly, but the fuller picture shows Scrooge in the background. To provide […]
Bachman-Turner Overdrive famously sang, “You get up every morning from your alarm clock’s warning, Take the 8:15 into the city.” The song is about the daily routine of takin’ care of business (unless you are lucky enough to be a musician). Elon Musk must be a Bachman-Turner Overdrive fan. Last week, he sent a pair […]
Until late 2020, the most Mike Winkleman – the digital artist known as Beeple – had ever sold a print for was $100. Last year, he sold a non-fungible token, or “NFT,” piece of work for $69 million at Christie’s. Consumer brands are also entering the world of NFTs and the digital, virtual realm in […]
Last year, when Holiday sales forecasts were made, times were as unprecedented as ever experienced. COVID cast a long shadow. However, enough optimism prevailed that prognosticators foresaw modest Holiday gains over 2019 ranging from 1% to 4%. What actually happened made Santa blush. Holiday sales gained 8.3%. There were plenty of supporting economic factors: stimulus […]