Weekly Catch Up: October 24-28

By Jane Long on October 28th, 2011 • Catch up, Dollar bill, Economy, Income, Life

Welcome back to the second edition of our weekly Catch Up! No more ketchup images in the works, thank goodness--just updates on this week's money happenings from around the web and world.

This week's latest: The rich got richer, 7 billion earthlings, and who likes dollar bills anyway?

Income inequality increased: A new report from the Congressional Budget Office found that over the past 30 years, after-tax income of the top 1% of the population increased by 275%, at a significantly higher rate than the rest of the population. Here's one look at how it happened.

Population 7 billion: The United Nations is celebrating October 31st as 7 Billion Day, signifying our population boom to 7 billion (more or less) people on Earth. In a series of photos, The Atlantic describes the economic and environmental challenges we'll face meeting the needs of people around the globe.

Death to the dollar bill: A new proposal in Washington calls for the government to replace the $1 bill with the $1 coin. Proponents say the move could save us $5.6 billion over a period of 30 years. Would you trade out your paper Washingtons for coins if it would save the country some dough?

WikiLeaks gone broke: Julian Assange's infamous operation is putting further release of leaks on hold because it is reportedly out of money, in part due to blockades by the companies processing donations to the site.

The economy in Haiku: Our sock monkey Haiku contest ran earlier this month, and now The Economist is hosting its own 5-7-5-syllable poetry contest. Check out their Haikus on the nation's economy.

How healthy are your finances?: CNN Money's online calculator gauges how you're doing managing expenses, debt, and savings. Punch in your numbers for a virtual financial check-up.

That's it for this week--have a great weekend!

--Jane

Did we miss anything major on this week's list? What would you like to see more of? Comment or email and tell us what you think.

Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license. (Photo by taxbrackets.org)