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The cacao bean, once thought a divine food by the Aztecs that imparted wisdom, is now considered by its farmers the curse of “brown gold.” The curse itself is easy to understand: manufacturers like Hershey’s and Nestlé must sell cheap chocolate to make a profit, and where else to cut costs but at the very bottom of this food chain? There, we find the cacao farmers of the Ivory Coast. These impoverished Ivorian farmers supply 40% of the world’s total supply of cacao beans alone. Despite playing such a dominant role in the global chocolate industry, the Ivory Coast benefits little from its position and does not have the leverage required to raise the prices of cacao exports to support its workers.Continue Reading

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Tax cuts are generally a very popular policy. As then Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and other proponents of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act argued, who doesn’t want their government to “giv[e] the people their money back”? President Donald Trump went even further, claiming that the “…huge tax cut will be rocket fuel for [the] economy” by creating new investment, raising workers’ wages and bonuses, and increasing growth. Continue Reading

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The credit card business has since been recovering since the Great Recession when banks drastically cut consumer lending as they scrambled to reduce risky loans. The number of people with credit cards has since increased, from 152 million in 2010 to 176 million in 2017. At the same time, the number of credit card accounts in the U.S increased from 386 million to 455 million in 2017. Alongside a modest increase in the average number of cards each person holds, more people are getting a credit card for the first time.Continue Reading

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On February 17th 2020, the richest man alive announced that he will donate about 8% of his fortune to fighting climate change. Jeff Bezos, the founder and one of the current shareholders of Amazon, made this announcement through his Instagram account saying that he will donate 10 billion USD to fund “scientists, activists, NGOs — any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world.” After seeing that post, many people had the same question in their mind: Where exactly will this money go?Continue Reading

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Graphic Designed by Katharina Giebel BRB Bottomline: Changes in technology and business models have created the opportunity for millions of people to participate in what is now deemed the gig economy.  Companies such as Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Rover are leading the forefront of this new economy by empowering workersContinue Reading

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If you are someone who even just occasionally uses Rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft, then you’ve probably noticed how expensive these services are starting to become, even for short trips and with options like “Lyft shared” or “Uber Pool.” Here’s an estimate for the Uber and Lyft pricing for an actual trip I recently made, for around 2 miles worth of total travel. Continue Reading

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FICO Score 10 Suite has just been announced, so what does that mean for you? With average credit scores at an all time high but ever increasing total household debt in the US, the new FICO scoring model is intended to improve consumer behavior predictions and may cause a change in your credit score. Will these changes be advantageous or disadvantageous to you?Continue Reading