Prepared Food Aisle Is the New Restaurant

Expanding into suburban markets is working out well for organic grocer

(NEWSER) - Whole Foods wants you to know—or, at least, believe—that you won't go broke by shopping there. The upscale grocer is expanding beyond its traditional urban haunts into suburban markets, and in the process trying to shed the reputation that earned it the nickname "Whole Paycheck," the Wall Street Journal reports. The chain is offering more price promotions and discounts, and, despite rising costs, is even keeping prices on many items flat. More»

But most remain upbeat about their future: Pew survey

(NEWSER) - The economy is doing a number on those aged 18 to 34, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center :

• Half say they have taken a job they didn't want.
• More than a third have gone back to school because of the job market.
• Nearly a quarter have taken unpaid work to gain experience.
• About a quarter have moved back in with the folks.
• More than 1 in 5 have postponed having a baby, and about the same number have put off getting married.

Charlie Trotter plans 'sabbatical' after 25 years

(NEWSER) - A Chicago landmark will soon be history. Legendary chef Charlie Trotter is closing his restaurant in August, after a quarter-century of service. It's not a financial matter: "We’ve always been profitable, that’s for sure," he tells the Sun-Times . But Trotter is ready "to put the flag in the sand" and achieve some non-culinary goals, including travel and a graduate degree in philosophy and political theory. More»

Forecast sees it at 8.6% at end of 2012

(NEWSER) - If President Obama were hoping for a quick election-year turnaround in the jobless rate, the Federal Reserve burst his bubble today. The Fed projected unemployment will be at 8.6% at the end of 2012, not much better than the 9.1% registered in September of this year, reports the Wall Street Journal . The projections don't get remarkably better after that: The Fed sees the rate at 8% by the end of 2013 and 7.7% the following year. More»

At least new industries arose in the 1930s: Leonhardt

(NEWSER) - There's never a Great Depression around when you need one, apparently. Despite its misery, "the United States economy was quietly making enormous strides during the 1930s," argues David Leonhardt in the New York Times . Americans were getting a better education—high school, back then—while industrious entrepreneurs were inventing television, mass marketing refrigerators, and improving railroads. "It would clearly be nice if we could take some comfort from this bit of history," writes Leonhardt. "If anything, though, the lesson of the 1930s may be the opposite one." More»