Representatives from the nation’s leading technology companies urged Massachusetts lawmakers on Wednesday to address a “talent crisis” among the state’s college graduates in the field of computing. Officials from Google, […]
Cost of Living and Consumer Affairs
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Back Story
EBT solution hiding in plain sight
State officials say the technology doesn’t exist to make sure users of Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, which took the place of paper food stamps, aren’t buying alcohol, tobacco, or Lottery […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service
Many Mass. residents have little saved up
Low- and middle- income families in Massachusetts are in rough shape when it comes to managing their money and saving for a rainy day, according to a new annual survey […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Solarize Massachusetts spreads to 17 towns
Massachusetts is rolling out a bulk-purchasing solar program to more than a dozen communities this summer that will allow homeowners to save as much as 30 percent on installations. Patterned […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Tap vs. bottled
in the battle between tap and bottled water, bottled water usually has all the zest. Perrier, Poland Spring, Fiji, Glacier—these companies reel consumers in with big-budget advertising campaigns promoting crystal […]
Posted inEconomy, Health Care, Politics, State House News Service
Senate passes food pricing bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE With just two senators present, the Senate on Monday morning approved a bill that food stores in Massachusetts have been pressing unsuccessfully for a decade. Under […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, State House News Service
Creem proposal would ban bottled water
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Sen. Cynthia Creem thinks she has a solution to the long-stalled effort on Beacon Hill to expand the state’s bottle redemption law to include water: just ban […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
House bill eases grocery price tag law
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Grocery stores in Massachusetts would no longer be required to put price tags on each item and could instead deploy price scanners for consumers to use, […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Cape Wind part of merger deal
NStar and Northeast Utilities have agreed to freeze their rates, rebate $21 million to Massachusetts customers, and buy more than a quarter of Cape Wind’s electricity output to secure the […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Mass. consumer confidence rebounds from 2011 lows
Consumer confidence in Massachusetts is on the rise, an indication that the state’s residents are starting to feel the benefits of the economic recovery and that incumbent politicians may have […]
Posted inEconomy
Mass. auto insurance rates fall 12.7%
The average auto insurance premium in Massachusetts fell 12.7 percent between 2007 and 2009, far outpacing the national decline of 1.4 pecent, according to a report issued by the National […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Study takes measure of Boston poverty
A study released last month by The Boston Foundation delivered grim news about the state of racial inequality in the Hub, depicting alarmingly high levels of poverty within black and […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Inequality or failure to rise?
According to a recent WBUR poll done by The MassINC Polling Group, more than half of us doubt that the American Dream of a better life for the next generation […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Politics
A way out of gridlock
with unemployment too high, economic growth too low, and the gap between the rich and poor widening, the American Dream is hurting. Adding to the gloom is the polarization in […]
Posted inEducation
Learning curve
FOR MOST OF the 20th century, America truly was the land of opportunity. The nation emerged as the world’s dominant economic superpower, and the prosperity that resulted was widely shared. […]
Posted inEconomy
American Dream: More than a bumper sticker
In 1996, the first issue of CommonWealth magazine featured a cover story on the changing economics of middle-class life in Massachusetts. The story focused on Heritage Road in Billerica, where […]
Posted inEconomy
The great squeeze
Pinched: How the Great Recession Has Narrowed Our Futures and What We Can do About It By Don PeckNew York, Random House, 224 pagesreviewed by Mark Erlichfifteen years ago , […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, Health Care
97.4
the bay state economy expanded by more than 10 percent last decade—8 percent growth on a per capita basis after accounting for inflation. It’s not the Massachusetts Miracle, but given […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
The lost decade
the past decade in both the United States and Massachusetts has been referred to as a “Lost Decade” for the economy and especially its workers. Nationally, the Gross Domestic Product […]
Posted inEconomy
Time to get to work
the big dig was touted as saving time and money for commuters, but the most recent Census data show travel time to work for most cities and towns around Boston […]
Posted inEconomy
Swan Boats, Sullivan’s get sweet deals from city, state
the swan boats in the Public Garden and Sullivan’s hot dog stand on Castle Island in South Boston are two of Boston’s most beloved businesses. But the landmark operations are […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Mooring mess
Robert Guimond is like a lot of retirees who stay in Massachusetts. The biggest attraction for him is the ocean, which is why the former salesman for General Motors and […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story
Coakley’s regulatory retreat
In an embarrassing retreat, Attorney General Martha Coakley has quietly withdrawn regulations she proposed more than a year ago to protect auto insurance consumers. A three-paragraph message posted on the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Economy, Health Care
Piloting global payments
Gerri Vaughan, the executive director of the Lowell General Physicians Hospital Organization, answers a question about the state’s rush to embrace a global payment system with a question. “If Pat […]