08-22-2016, 12:17 AM
Partly because the state charges too little for the guarantees it offers, taxpayers are subsidising housing borrowers to the tune of up to $150 billion a year, or 1% of GDP. Since the government mortgage machine need not make a profit or have safety buffers, well-run private firms cannot compete, so many banks have withdrawn from making mortgages. If there is another crisis the taxpayer will still have to foot the bill, which could be 2-4% of GDP, not far off the cost of the 2008-09 bank bail-out.
Nightmare on Main Street | The Economist
In his book Your Brain at Work, author David Rock says that the average office worker is interrupted every three minutes, and recovering from this disconnect is costly. In fact, it takes us an average of 23 minutes to fully return to a task after an interruption. That said, discoveries in neuroscience also confirm what we’ve always known: our brains aren’t wired to concentrate intensely for eight hours straight. They get tired! Our minds work in cycles of activity and downtime designed to keep us alert and responsive to our surroundings. But harnessing those cycles to promote productivity proves challenging.
How Working Long Hours Is Killing Your Productivity
Your view on the economy affects most of your decisions in life, from how you invest and how you vote, to how much you spend in restaurants. So it’s too bad that a lot of what you “know” about the economy is probably just plain wrong. Think I’m wrong? Well, here’s my challenge to you: See how many of the following six widespread economic myths you believe.
Six myths about the U.S. economy that are just plain wrong - MarketWatch
A 4:52 mile time may seem like an impossibility to most. It also seemed to be out of the realm for Jacqueline Katzman, a cross country and track & field runner from Cornell University. Until she used this psychological trick to get out from behind the pack. Check out Katzman's other tricks to get out there and start running.
This simple trick helped this runner run a 4:52 mile - Business Insider
Now Microsoft has won a reputation as the trendsetter in tablets, with companies like Dell and HP following suit. And when Apple announced the iPad Pro in late 2015, the whole world couldn't help but notice that, with its keyboard cover and big screen, it looked more a lot like the Microsoft Surface Pro 4. Last year also saw the launch of the Microsoft Surface Book, the company's very first actual laptop, to positive reviews, with Wired calling it "the most exciting Windows laptop in years." Microsoft? A hardware company?
Microsoft CVP Panos Panay on the history of Microsoft Surface - Business Insider