journalist and author
Journalist Helaine Olen is the author of Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry and the co-author of The Index Card: Why Personal Finance Doesn't Have to Be Complicated.
PROFILE
Helaine Olen
Guest
FROM Helaine Olen
To the Point
Will airline service ever be great again? The "back of the bus" has turned into the back of the plane — with discrimination based on class, social status… and money. When airlines sell more seats than a plane will hold, they're allowed to force one paid passenger to give up a seat to another. Video of a doctor dragged screaming down the aisle or United Airlines plane is evidence of an increasingly common practice. And First Class isn't immune. With just four main carriers left because of consolidation, passenger service is a casualty of the drive for profit and America's increased wealth inequality.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Who's regulating amusement, water park rides? A 10-year-old boy was killed earlier this week on a waterslide in Kansas City. The accident is raising a lot of questions about amusement park safety. As it turns out, there is very little regulation of water slides and roller coasters. Six states have no amusement park regulations at all. So how do you know whether amusement or water park rides are safe enough to ride?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The Myth of Extreme Saving Despite an improving economy, Americans aren’t saving much money. According to one recent survey, as many as 40 percent of adults in the country are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Many personal finance gurus say the key to saving more is adopting more frugal habits. But we talk to one expert who says that advice misses the point.
To the Point
American Workers and the Retirement Squeeze For the first time since the New Deal, retiring Americans will be worse off than their parents, and it's not just because of the Great Recession. Guaranteed pensions have been replaced by 401(k)'s -- but they make more for the financial industry than they do for retirees. There's a growing consensus that more than half American workers over 30 will be unprepared for retirement. Can popular personal financial advisers help? Are wage earners at fault for spending instead of investing or are they just not making enough money?
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To the Point
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?