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Infographic: Lifestyle creep and how to avoid it

Safiyyah Bazemore Business Management, Services & Risk Management

Getting a promotion or raise when you’ve been hard at work on your career is one of the most rewarding feelings. For all the potential good that comes with increased earnings, there’s also danger in upping your spending to match your additional income. This phenomenon, called lifestyle creep, begins to happen more and more until expenses that were once considered to be luxuries or splurges suddenly feel as if they’re necessary. To tell whether you’re in danger of lifestyle creep and to learn more about how to combat its negative effects, see this infographic.

The 127 Yard Sale: 690 miles of roadside shopping

Dave G. Houser Recreation & Leisure

The 127 Yard Sale is commonly known as "The World’s Longest Yard Sale." It is a serial shopper’s dream come true, snaking each August for 690 miles through six states: Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. The majority of the route follows U.S. Highway 127 from Addison, Michigan, south to Chattanooga, Tennessee, switching there to trace a route along the scenic Lookout Mountain Parkway to Gadsden, Alabama. "It is a mutual exchange of cultures with a common goal: to look, buy and sell," says Alabama photographer Dennis Keim, who’s documented the event for years.

Making the ‘Snap’ decision to double down on authenticity

Brie Ragland Marketing

Authentic. Transparent. Real. Those are three words we’re not really accustomed to seeing these days, what with fake news, secret backgrounds and hidden motives. Yet, for the savvy businessperson, these same three words could be the ace in the hole when it comes to successful marketing. In a world where everyone is hedging their bets and playing it safe until the odds are more promising, now is the time to double down on authenticity.

US economy adds 164,000 new hires; unemployment rate stays at 3.7%

Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk Management

In July, U.S. payrolls added 164,000 workers versus job gains of 224,000 in June, as the unemployment rate stayed at 3.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were 6.1 million unemployed workers in July, close to the same number as June. The number of long-term unemployed persons decreased 248,000 in July from June. The employment-to-population ratio rate stayed nearly the same in July versus June, the BLS reported.

How to role model good choices for your employees

Anne Rose Business Management, Services & Risk Management

I am not advocating parenting your employees. But some of your employees may not have had the best role models in their life, so they have undeveloped critical judgment skills and poor decision-making with an inability to predict the consequences of their behavior. I worked with a young lady once who had barely been on the job for one week before asking for a day off to go shopping with her mother. That judgment is bad enough, but she confided to me that her mother had advised her to simply call in sick and not risk asking for the day off!

Cruises are popular, but what effect do they have on the environment?

Bambi Majumdar Waste Management & Environmental

Princess Cruises, a Carnival subsidiary, recently made news for the wrong reasons. Carnival will have to pay a $20 million fine after illegal and environmentally damaging acts were revealed on Princess ships. Princess violated the terms of its 2017 probation when it was convicted for improper waste disposal. Perhaps even more damaging was that the cruise line did not report the findings of environmental inspections to the authorities. Carnival is not the only cruise line to flout regulations, and the environmental costs of these firms' negligence are high.

Infographic: Has the gig economy jumped the shark?

Brian Wallace Business Management, Services & Risk Management

Increasingly, workers may have realized that gig jobs cannot replace traditional work. Many workers do not earn a living wage, according to their median monthly income. And from 2014-18, pay for even the most active participants on Uber and Lyft dropped significantly. Now, some gig-providing companies have employee turnover as high as 500% each year. With top companies in chaos and workers jumping ship, is the gig economy doomed? Learn more about the problems facing the gig economy with this infographic.

After months of controversy and consequences, Boeing may end 737 Max production

Michelle R. Matisons Manufacturing

When news of the Boeing 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia spread, repercussions were immense. So far, Boeing reports an $8 billion loss. After the second crash, the company rolled production back from 52 to 42 planes per month. Recently, Boeing suggested it may even end 737 Max production, which could cause "the financial equivalent of a prolonged government shutdown or a significant natural disaster." Already, Southwest Airlines has cancelled Newark service because it cannot fly the 737 Max, for example.

Travel2020: Annoying hotel fees are finally getting their day in court

Lark Gould Travel, Hospitality & Event Management

If you have been to a hotel or a resort lately, you likely saw some unexpected hotel fees tacked on to the bottom of your bill. Hotel and resort fees are nothing new. We have been seeing "fee creep" for years and find ourselves either accepting these unwanted pests as part of the price of traveling or finding ways to delete them during front desk dealings upon checkout. Until this month. July was an interesting month for Marriott and Hilton, as both are under siege by angry hotel room consumers who are questioning just what those fees are for and whether they are legal.

Secrets of 3 Texas state parks

Cindy Belt Recreation & Leisure

Texas has some wonderful state parks. The maps of hiking trails and online resources are great, but they don’t include everything. Here are some secrets at three of Texas' state parks — McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, Choke Canyon State Park in Three Rivers, and Caprock Canyons State Park in Briscoe County.

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