Co-author, 'Your Money of Your Life'
Co-author of Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence, a bestselling book that has been revised for current economic times
PROFILE
Vicky Robin
Guest
FROM Vicky Robin
To the Point
Money: The Key to Happiness or the Root of All Evil? In a put-down of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemmingway once wrote, "The very rich are different from you and me… they have more money." But ever since Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations in 1776, western economies have been based on growth and prosperity as the keys to happiness. On the day after Christmas, with the US heading into a major recession, it's worth asking if that’s really true. One study says Puerto Ricans are happier than Germans or Japanese? How come? Is a simpler, more frugal life more satisfying after all?
Which Way, L.A.?
The New Thriftiness in America Today's news that consumer spending dropped by one percent last month -- the biggest decrease since 2001, isn't what retailers want to hear right now. After a day of thanksgiving, the holiday shopping season kicks off on Friday, traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year. Retailers count on weeks ahead to bring in one-third of their annual sales. What are retailers doing to bring shoppers in? Are Americans re-thinking their consumer habits in the midst of economic hard times? Will more people be drawn to the simple lifestyle movement? What shifts does that signal for an economy that depends on consumer spending?
To the Point
The New Thriftiness in America Today's news that consumer spending dropped by one percent last month, the biggest decrease since 2001, isn't what retailers want to hear right now. After a day of thanksgiving, the holiday shopping season kicks off on Friday, traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year. Retailers count on weeks ahead to bring in one-third of their annual sales. What are retailers doing to bring shoppers in? Are Americans re-thinking their consumer habits in the midst of economic hard times? Will more people be drawn to the simple lifestyle movement? What shifts does that signal for an economy that depends on consumer spending?
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To the Point
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
To the Point
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?