Nicole Allan

In yet another horrifically bad year for the airline industry, Southwest Airlines has risen above the fray again with a fourth-quarter profit -- contributing to its 37th straight year in the black. Less expected was a profit from Continental, which ended a string of 8 consecutive quarterly losses. The airlines said that business travel was slowly beginning to recover, and they have taken steps to hedge against a steep expected climb in oil prices this year. … More »

Poverty is following the minivans and manicured lawn groomers into American suburbia. Suburban poverty rose 25 percent between 2000 and 2008, according to a new Brookings report, as poor suburban populations grew five times faster than their urban counterparts. … More »

Grotesque food is dripping with humor and excess, but what about voyeurism and insecurity?… More »

Berkshire Hathaway shareholders will vote Wednesday on a 50-to-1 split of the company's Class B shares to finance a $26 billion purchase of Burlington Northern railway. Chairman Warren Buffett has described this purchase as an "all-in wager on the economic future of the United States" that, while potentially incurring short-term losses, will benefit Berkshire Hathaway over time. This reasoned, patient approach is trademark Buffett -- the kind of investing that has…… More »

A rocky advertising climate might force the International Olympics Committee to delay bidding for media rights to the 2014 and 2016 games. Over the past years, bidding wars have become the norm for broadcasters who want to gain access to the NFL, NCAA, and Olympic markets, and fees have skyrocketed. But now, as traditionally big TV advertisers spend more on the Web and less in general, media companies are reluctant to shell out billions for events that aren't the…… More »

The Associated Press is close to winning a fight to get search engines and news aggregators to share the online advertising wealth. The Wall Street Journal reports that the nonprofit newswire is nearing a deal with Yahoo that would impose tighter restrictions on content, and potentially boost the price for news.… More »

Heralding the triumph of women in the workforce last week, the Economist reported that women not only make up the majority of professional workers in many countries, but also that they earn nearly 60 percent of university degrees in America and Europe. Reinforcing the case for the Great Recession being a Great "Mancession," the article cites an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent for women but 11.2 percent for men.
The cover, brandishing Rosie the Riveter and the…… More »

445 days after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the launch of the current financial crisis, it is tempting to think that we may be through the worst of it. Unfortunately, these thoughts were prevalent among sufferers of the Great Depression on January 16, 1931--445 days after Black Monday tolled the beginning of that downturn--but they had a rocky road still ahead. The Dow wouldn't hit bottom until July 8, 1932. In the event that our current crisis follows a…… More »

444 days after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy signaled the beginning of the current financial crisis, many are wondering: Is it over? It looked close to over on January 15, 1931, 444 days after the stock market crash that led to the Great Depression. Yet the Dow wouldn't hit bottom until July 8, 1932. The equivalent date in the current downturn would be May 27, 2011. … More »

It has been 443 days since the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy signaled the beginning of the current financial crisis. Is it over? Many people think so. Many thought so on January 14, 1931, 443 days after the stock market crash that led to the Great Depression. Yet the Dow wouldn't hit bottom until July 8, 1932. The equivalent date in the current downturn would be May 27, 2011.… More »

Survey finds White House press secretary accessible but too often hostile to reporters.… More »

Bill McKibben, author of the first global warming book for a general audience, was none too impressed with President Obama's speech to the U.N.'s climate summit on Tuesday. Obama stressed the urgency of the climate crisis and the need for diplomatic cooperation by industrial giants but also by developing countries. While many listeners appreciated the president's strong-handed rhetoric, McKibben thought he set the bar too low. Or, actually, not low enough. The…… More »

A preview of the major players and where they stand… More »

Why women lawmakers are more successful.… More »

Anti-abortion protesters pose more of a threat.… More »

The Web was supposed to bring new citizens into the political process. A new study finds that’s just not happening.… More »

The problems of succeeding Ted Kennedy, and why Caroline struggled.… More »