Business is better this year, the owner of the gourmet Two Smart Cookies shop in St. Paul, Minnesota, tells me. The Denver Post (October 8, 2011) reports business is down 10 percent at the Big Hoss Bar-B-Q Steakhouse, but the owner says that’s not bad in today’s economy. More

The Great Recession officially ended more than two years ago, yet its aftershocks still linger. With sour economic updates about unemployment, the housing market, the stock market, and the nation’s debt crisis constantly in the news, consumers haven’t leapt vigorously back into spending mode. More

The income tax was first used to raise revenues for the U.S. government during the Civil War, and it was repealed soon after. In 1894, with President Grover Cleveland in the White House and both houses of Congress controlled by Democrats, the income tax was re-instituted, imposing tax at the rate of 2 percent on incomes above $4,000. More

The year 2011 is almost gone, and for those in the aging-services field, it’s been an interesting ride. From the state budget challenges and reimbursement cuts to declining occupancy and the whirlwind of health care reform—we can only wonder what the next 12 months will have in store. More