Economy

Senate Panel To Hear From Fed Chief Nominee Janet Yellen

6:53am November 14, 2013

by John Ydstie

The first woman to be nominated to head the Federal Reserve takes the witness chair on Capitol Hill Thursday morning for her confirmation hearing. Janet Yellen's challenge will be to reassure her Democratic supporters that she's focused on job creation, while convincing at least a few Republicans that she'll keep inflation in check.

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Adam Minter has also written for The Atlantic, Foreign Policy and The Wall Street Journal. Junkyard Planet is his first book.

Christmas Lights Make Slippers In Global 'Junkyard' Economy

7:01pm November 13, 2013

The Chinese town of Shijiao is known for recycling discarded Christmas tree lights for their copper and wire insulation, which are then used to support growing economies and make slipper soles, respectively. In Junkyard Planet, Adam Minter explores the business of recycling what developed nations throw away.

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What Today's Online Sharing Companies Can Learn From Napster

9:02pm November 11, 2013

by Laura Sydell

Perhaps no company showed how the Internet could turn sharing into a global phenomenon more than Napster. The music-sharing site upended the record industry. But the industry ultimately survived and free-music Napster did not. What are new businesses doing to avoid the same fate?

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Ronald Heifetz draws on his training as a psychiatrist to coach aspiring leaders at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Lessons In Leadership: It's Not About You. (It's About Them)

7:15pm November 11, 2013

by Shankar Vedantam

It takes more than a decisive vision to solve intractable world problems, says Harvard leadership expert Ronald Heifetz. Instead, he advises his students — including budding heads-of-state — to think less like surgeons and more like psychiatrists.

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Economy

There's Help for Those Facing Foreclosure

6:43pm November 11, 2013

According to RealtyTrac

Economy

The Town of Kernersville is Experiencing a Big Economic Development Boom

4:10pm November 11, 2013

by Keri Brown

The town of Kernersville is growing, thanks to several major economic development projects over the past ten years.

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Merchant Marines See New Obstacles In Food Aid Proposal

9:54am November 11, 2013

by NPR Staff

The U.S. share of international shipping has been shrinking ever since World War II. The latest threat comes from a proposed change that would allow the U.S. to buy a large percentage of its food aid in local markets, instead of from the U.S. That would mean less shipping from the U.S., and possibly fewer jobs.

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Economy

Hospitals Respond to Industry Changes with Job Shifts

7:00am November 08, 2013

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I Applied For An Online Payday Loan. Here's What Happened Next

5:06pm November 06, 2013

by Pam Fessler

For months, NPR's Pam Fessler got calls from around the world offering her short-term loans. She had fallen into the world of online lead generation.

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Seattle coffee giant Starbucks says the company will hire at least 10,000 veterans or their spouses over the next five years.

Economy

Starbucks Is Latest Company Aiming To Help Vets Land Jobs

9:22am November 06, 2013

by Ashley Gross

The coffee giant says it will hire at least 10,000 veterans or their spouses over the next five years. It joins companies ranging from JPMorgan Chase to Walmart to Boeing in trying to bring down a stubbornly high unemployment rate for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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