Today we bring you the first in a new series of weekly posts where we re-cap this week’s news on the money side of life.
Unemployment rate down last month…sorta. New reports say the unemployment rate dropped slightly last month, down to 8.1%. But don’t get too excited: the number was mostly due to 342,000 people “leaving” the labor force–meaning they finally threw in the towel, stopped looking for a job, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics stopped counting them as unemployed. Bummer all around.
$30 Facebook shares. Anticipation for Facebook’s Initial Public Offering has been brewing for months, and this week Mark Zuckerberg set a price: $28-35 per share. If all goes as planned, Facebook could raise up to $13.58 billion, or more than 7 times the amount of Google’s 2004 IPO, which holds the current Internet company record. Yes, this will make the Zuckster even more filthy rich…and guarantee unwelcome Facebook “upgrades” for the foreseeable future.
Screamin’ sale at Sotheby’s. Edvard Munch’s famous 1895 painting “The Scream” sold for $119.9 million this week at Sotheby’s, making it the most expensive piece of art ever purchased at auction. Why so much for such a downer? Read up on the historical significance of the eerie work of art.
Occupy Wall Street back in action. After losing momentum and public attention over the past few months, members of the Occupy Wall Street movement rallied in cities nationwide on Tuesday–International Worker’s Day–in what they hoped would help kick off new energy for the cause and reclaim a spot in national dialogue. Fortunately, breaking windows at American Apparel is a tried-and-true way to start becoming more culturally relevant.
About that degree I don’t really have… Padding your resume with fancified job titles or fluffy filler isn’t exactly 100% honest, but probably won’t turn any heads. Claiming a degree you didn’t actually earn, however, is bad news–especially when you’re a bigwig at a major company. Word broke this week that Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson doesn’t in fact have the computer science degree he claimed. This could be a problem.
Let’s try this again, or the Great Unsinkable Titanic 2.0. Oh the irony! In a move both intriguing and in bad taste, Australian billionaire Clive Palmer has decided to build a replica of the 1914 cruise ship that was destined for glory but doomed to despair. According to Palmer, his ship will be a real-deal accurate remake, just as luxurious as the original, and is scheduled to set sail on a maiden voyage re-do (creeeepy) from London to New York City in 2016. The only difference in models will be the updated technology and safety precautions that’ll make this version unsinkable. No, really. He swears.
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O the hubris of man!