Fed rate cuts unlikely thanks spending by rich Americans

As baby boomers have aged, they have accumulated more assets leading to more discretionary spending. Since retiring two years ago, Joan Harris has upped her travel game.Once or twice a year, she visits her two adult children in different states. She’s planning multiple other trips, including to a science fiction convention in Scotland and a Disney cruise soon after that, along with a trip next year to neolithic sites in Great Britain.“I really have more money to spend now than when I was working,” said Harris, 64, an engineer who worked 29 years for the federal government and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Back then, she and her now-ex-husband were paying for their children’s college educations and piling money into savings accounts. Now, she’s splurging a bit and, for the first time, is willing to pay for first-class plane tickets. She plans to fly business class to Scotland and has arranged for a higher-level suite on the cruise.“I suddenly realized, with my dad getting old and my mom dying, it’s like, ‘No, you can’t take it with you,’ ” she said. “I could become incapacitated to the point where I couldn’t enjoy something like going to Scotland or going on a cruise. So I better do it, right?”Older Americans like Harris are fueling a sustained boost to the U.S. economy. Benefiting from outsize gains in the stock and housing markets over the past several years, they are accounting for a larger share of consumer spending — the principal driver of economic growth — than... Continue reading at 'Fast Company'

[ Fast Company | 2024-04-29 13:22:05 UTC ]

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Michael Levy, Longtime 'PW' Reviewer, Dies at 66

Michael M. Levy, a scholar of science fiction and longtime 'Publishers Weekly' reviewer, died of cancer on April 3. He was 66. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hodder appoints former bookseller Sam Bradbury as SFF editor

Hodder and Stoughton has appointed Sam Bradbury, currently with Jo Fletcher Books, as editor with commissioning responsibilities in the area of science fiction, fantasy and horror, reporting to publisher Oliver Johnson. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Ahmed Khaled Towfik on the Outlook for Arabic Sci-Fi

Better times are ahead, says writer Ahmed Khaled Towfik, who recently appeared at Dubai’s festival: the Arab world is readier for science fiction, he says. By Dennis Abrams | @DennisAbrams2 ‘Looking Good for Science Fiction’ t The National, Hala Khalaf asserts that “Arab readers don’t like... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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NASA demonstrates EM Drive theory, but don't get too excited

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[ Engadget | 2016-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scale-hungry Facebook video publishers are in trouble if they don’t think long term

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[ Digiday | 2016-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Verso buys Miéville on Russian revolution

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[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pinterest Enlists Top Creators and Production Shops to Craft Posts for Marketers

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[ AdWeek | 2016-10-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter Opens 'Moments,' Its Once-Hidden Tweet Collection Feature, to All Users

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[ AdWeek | 2016-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google swallows 11,000 novels to improve AI's conversation

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[ The Guardian | 2016-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Beware of page latency: The side effects to header bidding

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[ Digiday | 2016-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Children of Time wins Arthur C Clarke award

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[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gaiman and Jemisin among Hugo award winners

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[ The Bookseller | 2016-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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​Airbus planning driverless sky Uber

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[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2016-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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N.K. Jemisin Has a Plan for Diversity in Science Fiction

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[ Wired | 2016-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gollancz Festival 2016 partners with Foyles

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[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What Publishers Can Learn from the Rise and Fall of Social Gaming on Facebook

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Small Beer to Publish 400-Year-Old SF Novel

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Wired' Culture Launches a Book Club

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pears' app shortlisted for Arthur C Clarke award

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[ The Bookseller | 2016-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Watch the posthumously released video for David Bowie's 'I Can't Give Everything Away'

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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