From a market-driven perspective, the fight against global warming hinges on creating demand for both energy-efficient technologies and renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. But these innovations come at a steep price, and cost-conscious businesses, already burdened by rising health care costs, want a relatively quick return on their investment in a facility upgrade or solar panels. If the payback is too long, most won’t commit.

Add “weak dollar” to the list of factors that drive up the cost of gasoline for Americans. War, political uncertainty, refinery shutdowns, speculation and rising demand are typically cited for causing our pain at the pump.

Gay equality is more than just a matter of fairness— it’s also good for the economy. The estimated 15.3 million gay adults in the United States have a combined buying power of more than $660 billion, and it’s estimated to grow to $835 billion by 2011, according to Witeck-Combs ...

How economically powerful are gays and lesbians? An estimated 15.3 million gay and lesbian consumers had a combined buying power of more than $660 billion in 2006...

Skyrocketing energy prices and plunging home values have driven the U.S. consumer confidence level to its lowest point in 16 years and is impacting more than a few retirement and savings accounts. But there is no reason to panic, according to seasoned investment advisers.

People generally spend a smaller share of their budget on food as their income rises. As people get richer they can afford better-quality food, so their food spending may increase overall, but...

Just how unfair and deceptive are some credit card policies? So unfair that federal regulators have taken the unprecedented step of trying to ban some of the more egregious industry practices.

Lake Michigan is more than a recreational attraction. It also fuels more 120 water-related businesses in the Milwaukee area, including world-class companies on the cutting edge of water technologies: Veolia Water, ITT Corp., GE Water & Process Technologies and Siemens.

Oligopoly: When a few firms dominate a market. Together, they can behave as if they were single monopoly, perhaps by forming a cartel. Or they may collude informally, by prefering non-price competition to a price war.

Engineers, skilled machinists and welders are among the hardest-to-fill jobs in the Milwaukee area. Nurses are hot, so to speak, and computer network professionals are also at a premium, according to interviews with area recruiters and Manpower Inc.’s annual survey of employers.

1. Engineers 2. Machinists/Machine Operators 3. Skilled Trades...

Seek out the 20 Milwaukee-area Fair Trade shops offering special activities and deals on World Fair Trade Day on Saturday, May 10. Vendors in Bay View, Riverwest, the Washington Park neighborhood and elsewhere are promoting Fair Trade goods to shoppers, along with a simple message: Consumers have the power to protect the natural environment while promoting sustainable development around the world.

The practice of selling a product at very low prices to drive out or discipline competitors, weaken them for possible mergers and/or to prevent other firms from entering the market.

Ask any employer what’s keeping him or her up at night, and you’ll likely hear, “The rising cost of health care.” In 2007, total national health expenditures rose nearly 7%—twice the rate of inflation, according to The National Coalition on Health Care.

Wisconsin is front and center in a regional push to create 820,000 new jobs producing cleaner energy technologies. The Green Jobs for America Campaign joins the United Steelworkers (USW), the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Blue Green Alliance...

In the late 1980s, Wisconsin was ranked as the fifth most equal state in income distribution. Since then, the state has dropped to 11th, and the gap continues to widen, according to the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) and the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families (WCCF).

There was a time when an area’s prosperity was directly linked to its natural resources, low-cost labor and tax incentives. The Mountain West mined. The Plains States grew wheat and corn. The Pacific Northwest cut lumber. Cities along the Great Lakes, like Milwaukee, blessed with cheap transportation...

Corporate social responsibility has come a long way since 1970, when economist Milton Friedman called its advocates “unwitting puppets of the intellectual forces that have been undermining the basis of a free society for three decades.”

Frustrated by lack of leadership at the national level, more states are turning to energy efficiency initiatives to secure their own futures. Wisconsin recently entered the fray with Clean Energy Wisconsin, which is aimed at making the state a leader in alternative energy research and development.