Derek Thompson

Derek Thompson is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where he oversees business coverage for TheAtlantic.com. More

Thompson has written for Slate, BusinessWeek, and the Daily Beast. He has also appeared as a guest on radio and television networks, including NPR, the BBC, CNBC, and MSNBC.

Pandora's Bucks and the Future of Music

Business Jul 28 2009, 2:44 PM ET

If you haven't heard of Pandora, a personalized radio site based around your favorite bands, then it's time to start paying attention. It's not simply because the record industry just struck a deal with webcasters that paves the way for personalized radio to flourish, or simply because Pandora, the Internet's radio leader, just secured $35 million in funding. No, you should start paying attention because streaming music really could be the future of the music industry.

Home Prices Rise for First Time in Three Years

Business Jul 28 2009, 1:39 PM ET

Home prices are up for the first time since July 2006, according to the Case-Schiller Index. This comes one day after we reported that home sales increased, by 11 percent, for the third consecutive month. What a week for the American home!

But wait, say my trusted bloggy advisers on housing issues, Calculated Risk and Felix Salmon. We're not out of the woods yet...

Was the Bank Bailout Just a "Big Fat Lie"?

Business Jul 28 2009, 12:39 PM ET

John Carney, writing for Business Insider, is mad as hell that banks are using billions of dollars in TARP funds to cushion their capital rather than spur lending. He's right: Banks do appear to be using TARP funds to recapitalize rather than lend money, and I wish that wasn't the case. But is he right that slower lending makes the TARP funds -- and the entire bank bailout -- one "big, fat lie"? No.

Conor Clarke Interview II

Business Jul 28 2009, 12:32 PM ET

Part one is here. There is one more part to come, which I'll post tomorrow. Part two, which is pasted below, is mostly about health economics. Arrow wrote the definite modern health economics paper -- "Uncertainty and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care"; I believe the PDF is here -- which is required reading for every student of the subject. My questions are in bold.

In Praise of the Four-Day Workweek

Business Jul 28 2009, 10:10 AM ET

Forget everybody working for the weekend. In Utah all government employees have shifted to a four-day workweek, and the state is calling it a win-win-win for its budget, workers and clean air. Utah has saved $1.8 million in electrical bills in the last year, the air has been spared an estimated 6,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, and workers are thrilled. Eighty-two percent of them say they prefer the new arrangement, which still enforces the 40-hour week by requiring 10 or more hours a day Monday - Friday. Is it time to ask your boss if you can take off Friday .... forever?

Dark Days for Obama's Health Care "Game-Changer"

Business Jul 27 2009, 3:17 PM ET

President Obama told the Washington Post last week that he considered a powerful independent board advising on Medicare a key component of the health care plan he expects to sign this fall. Elsewhere, the administration has called a strong independent Medicare council a "gamechanger" with the potential to significantly lower the long term costs of health care. But according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the proposal would save little money over the next ten years. Politico called the report "a serious blow." Is that right?

Home Sales Up 11%: Three Reasons to Cheer

Business Jul 27 2009, 1:07 PM ET

Home sales soared 11 percent in June, the third consecutive month of recovery for the housing industry, signaling that we likely hit the bottom of the housing market in the first quarter of this year. To be sure, the market remains depressed and distressed: Sales are still 21% below the 2008 levels, and more than three times below their 2005 highs. But today's housing news is almost all positive. Let's count down three happy things to take away from this:

My Internet Browser Crashed While I Was Writing This Article About Whether or Not Robots Were Evil, Which Makes the Answer to That Question Pretty Self-Evident!

Business Jul 27 2009, 10:45 AM ET

We are used to advances in medical technology, such as cloning and stem cell research, colliding with issues of morality. But could robot technology pose the same sticky moral questions? I was in the middle of blogging a New York Times report about an association of computer scientists discussing the dangers of artificial intelligence and ... my Internet browser just crashed, erasing half of this article! I kid you not!

So ... hey, you know what I think about robots? I think they're wonderful. Every last one. Bless our robots! Especially Mozilla Firefox. And as I return to the story about robots' morality, I proceed with caution and promiscuous use of the Save button.

Obama's $4 Billion Education Prize: Incentive or Bribe?

Business Jul 24 2009, 4:40 PM ET

President Obama announced a new education initiative today that sets aside a pool of $4 billion to reward states for improving their school systems. The theme of his speech was twofold: We need better teachers, and we need better standards. We need to find better teachers by using data from student achievement to highlight effective teachers. And we need better standards to keep some states (ahem, Mississippi) from setting their education bar so low that they gut the word "standard" of all meaning.

Dow 10,000?

Business Jul 24 2009, 11:45 AM ET

The Dow pushed past 9000 yesterday to close at an eight-month high. This was just two days after notching a seventh consecutive winning session for only the fourth time in the last 20 years. What does it all mean? Truly, I haven't the slightest clue. If I did, I'd find a way to market that kind of clairvoyance for a seven-figure salary on Wall Street and pool half my earnings into daily sports betting. Instead, as a mere blogger, all I have is analysis. So let's ask: Should investors prepare themselves for a 5-digit Dow?

Hey Obama, There is Consensus on Health Care Reform!

Business Jul 24 2009, 11:02 AM ET

If you haven't been following the debate over health care reform closely, you might have missed something interesting. There is a consensus building over how to pay for health care reform. It doesn't appear in the Democrats' Senate health care reform plan. It doesn't appear in the Democrats' House health care reform plan. But you can find it almost everywhere else: from the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal to the front runners of the liberal blogosphere. What is it?

Why Apple is Dominating the Premium Computer Market

Business Jul 23 2009, 3:50 PM ET

Among computer shoppers looking to spend at least $1000, 91 percent choose Macs. That's according to research from the NPD Group, in a CNET report. How different is the Apple market from its competitors? The average price for a Windows PC is $515. For Macs, it's $1,400. Is that good news or bad news for Apple?

Don't Give Ben Another Term

Business Jul 23 2009, 3:46 PM ET

Speculation that Ben Bernanke might very well be appointed for a second-term as Federal Reserve Chairman when his term expires in January 2010 has to remind one of Washington's Alice in Wonderland-like quality.

For if Bernanke were indeed to be reappointed as Fed Chairman, it would mean that, in the depths of by far the worst U.S. economic recession in the post-war period, one would be reappointing to the job the very person whose fingerprints, along with Alan Greenspan's, are all over that recession.

Annals of Rank Hubris, Larry Summers Edition

Business Jul 23 2009, 3:44 PM ET

This is why I love the blogs. The Epicurean Dealmaker has picked up on a detail buried in the 17th paragraph of a dry Bloomberg story from March about the relative funding costs of Harvard and Princeton -- a story which, in light of TED's comments, surely counts as having massively buried its lede.

Fannie and Freddie: The Mother of All Bailouts

Business Jul 23 2009, 3:11 PM ET

Move over, AIG. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage giants, could shortly become the most expensive bailout of the Great Recession.

How Relationships Help Explain Obamanomics

Business Jul 23 2009, 1:06 PM ET

This I learned from the Washington Post interview with Barack Obama: Our president is really into MedPAC! That's the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a independent federal agency that advises Congress about issues involving Medicare and private health insurers. Obama says he would like to it expanded and empowered. Is it me, or does Obama suddenly have a thing for empowered, independent agencies?

Americans: 3X More Miserable Than Previously Calculated

Business Jul 23 2009, 11:55 AM ET

Economists like to call their profession "The Dismal Science," so you'd think they would have a monopoly on, or at least competence in, measuring dreariness. But it turns out they're not even measuring our misery properly. So claims the Huffington Post, which recently debuted its own Misery Index -- the sum of unemployment and inflation -- to account for the millions of Americans who've been pushed to part-time, or simply given up looking for jobs altogether, but don't appear in the official unemployment rate.

How Relationships Help Explain Obamanomics

Business Jul 23 2009, 10:55 AM ET

This I learned from the Washington Post interview with Barack Obama: Our president is really into MedPAC! That's the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a independent federal agency that advises Congress about issues involving Medicare and private health insurers. Obama says he would like to it expanded and empowered. Is it me, or does Obama suddenly have a thing for empowered, independent agencies?

Would You Stand on Planes for Cheaper Tickets?

Business Jul 22 2009, 5:45 PM ET

According to a study conducted by Irish airline Ryanair, 42 percent of passengers said they would be willing to stand on short flights for half-priced tickets. Buck up, Ireland! What kind of country turns down hundred-dollar rebates for fear of one-hour foot soreness? There are already plenty of Americans who regularly stand for an hour to travel cheaply. They're called New Yorkers!

The Lessons of the Californiapocalypse

Business Jul 22 2009, 3:55 PM ET

California lawmakers and the governor have agreed on a budget that would close the state's $26 billion deficit. Voters recently rejected a budget plan that required tax increases, and so the budget in Sacramento's hands heavily focuses on the other end of tax/spend spectrum. Spending will be slashed across the state, and the cuts will be most painful for social services affecting children and the poor, and statewide education. Are there other places California could have cut some fat? Well, Conor Friedersdorf might say, that's a bit like asking Jabba the Hutt if there there are places besides his chin where he might benefit from losing some weight.

« Previous 1… 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 … 167 Next »

More at the Atlantic

Meet the Most Indebted Man in the World

Meet the Most Indebted Man in the World

Sandy: The Aftermath

Sandy: The Aftermath

Occupy Wounded Knee

Occupy Wounded Knee

Writers

James Fallows
Two Bits of Life-Getting-Better Tech News
May 22, 2013
Alexis C. Madrigal
'Real Books From Real Trees for Real People':…
May 22, 2013
Derek Thompson
If Cable Is Dying, Why Is It Still Making So Much…
May 22, 2013
Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Myth of the Crack Baby
May 21, 2013
Garance Franke-Ruta
If a Senate Candidate Chops a Watermelon with an…
May 21, 2013
Steve Clemons
McCain's Benghazi Fishing Trip Lands Gregory Hicks
May 8, 2013

The Biggest Story in Photos

Photos of Tornado Damage in Moore, Oklahoma

May 21, 2013

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters