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The Unemployment Game Show: Are You Really Unemployed?

The government is telling us that the economic stimulus is working and the recession is over. But you wouldn’t know it from looking at the unemployment numbers. While we may have dodged another great depression, unemployment is at its worst since then, having fallen to 10 percent by the Fed’s own reckoning. And, while we don’t like to be the bearers of bad news, we do stand for transparency in reporting statistics. So we’ve produced an animated infographic explaining who gets to call themselves ‘officially’ unemployed, and why the government leaves out millions of jobless Americans in their often cited and repeated unemployment rate statistic. So while the economy may be recovering, it might be awhile before many Americans feel it in their wallets.

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Free budget software – Mint.com

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Free budget software – Mint.com

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Earning Power: A Visual Survey of 80 Occupations

As part of our efforts to provide you with creative ways to improve your finances, we have featured a couple of examples of how a radical change – such as moving to a new city – can lead to new opportunities, or at the very least a reduced cost of living. You may have seen our guide to the Best and Worst Places to Work by Salary, and this is a more comprehensive follow-up, which includes a total of 80 jobs, with a comparison of the lowest, average and highest paying cities for each respective occupation. Please note that, due to the diverse range of regional and specialized industries throughout the US, cost of living often isn’t always as much of a factor as you might think in determining your salary, so these figures are not adjusted for cost of living.

Cookie Monster Succeed

Cookie Monster Succeed

Defense of Marriage? Let's Ban Divorce for Straight Californians

This is hilarious, it's also for real. Activists in California are taking the Prop 8 stupidity to its very logical conclusion: ban divorce in California for everybody. Want defense of marriage? Sign here.

NPR:

Marcotte needs 694,354 valid signatures by March 22, a high hurdle in a state where the typical petition drive costs millions of dollars. Even if his proposed constitutional amendment made next year's ballot, it's not clear how voters would react.

Nationwide, about half of all marriages end in divorce.

Not surprisingly, Marcotte's campaign to make divorce in California illegal has divided those involved in last year's campaign for and against Proposition 8.

As much as everyone would like to see fewer divorces, making it illegal would be "impractical," said Ron Prentice, the executive director of the California Family Council who led a coalition of religious and conservative groups to qualify Proposition 8.

But it's so very practical to keep marriage illegal for gays and lesbians. What a crock.