Author: Tom Silva

While the American public was bailing out Wall Street, those same taxpayers saw their families’ net worth decline by nearly 40 percent. The recession took roughly 20 years of Americans’ wealth, according to government data, with middle-class families faring the worst.  According to the Federal Reserve, the median net worth of families plummeted by 39 […]

Last year, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback stunned the national arts community by vetoing funding for the Kansas Arts Commission.  Brownback recently changed his mind and approved a state budget that includes $700,000 for a newly created Creative Arts Industries Commission. “It’s a big win for Kansas,” said Sarah Fizell of Kansas Citizens for the Arts.  […]

Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Company is buying the movie theater chain AMC Entertainment Holdings, for $2.6 billion in China’s biggest takeover of an American company.  The purchase reflects the global ambitions of a wave of cash-rich Chinese companies that are speeding their expansion by obtaining foreign skills and brand names.  According to Wanda, the […]

In a body known for such talented orators as Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen and Senator Robert Byrd, it’s disheartening to learn that a new study has determined that the average member of Congress speaks at the same level as a high school sophomore – that’s nearly a full grade lower than in 2005.  According to […]

In what may be the largest-ever Manhattan office lease, Viacom, Inc., has committed itself to remaining a tenant in SL Green Realty Corp.’s 56-story, two million SF 1515 Broadway through 2031,  Viacom is the company behind major cable networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon and BET.  The media company will expand into 1.6 million SF, which […]

Are you a corporate athlete?  According to Gail Golden, Principal at Gail Golden Consulting LLC, a corporate athlete is an executive in a high-level role who faces many of the challenges, stresses and constraints similar to what celebrity professional athletes also face.  In a recent interview for the Alter NOW Podcasts.  Golden says corporate athletes […]

Couch potatoes of the world can find something new to cheer about.  If sitting at the drive-through at your local Burger King isn’t working for you,  a few stores in Virginia and Maryland are now home delivering meals — for a $2 charge on a minimum order of $8 to $10.  Burger King is is […]

Two young New York entrepreneurs are looking to cash in on what might be one of the commercial real estate brokerage community’s best-known secrets – that brokers commonly share hush-hush details of office transactions.  But Michael Mandel, a 29-year-old broker who spent more than five years with Grubb & Ellis, and Vadim Belobrovka, a 33-year-old […]

After rising steadily for four months, gas prices at last seem to be stabilizing. Suddenly, pump prices have fallen six cents over two weeks to a national average of $3.88.  Experts say gasoline could fall another nickel or more in the immediate future.  Drivers might also get to say something they haven’t since October 2009 […]

Europe’s financial woes have spread across the English Channel as the United Kingdom slid into its first double-dip recession since the 1970s. Britain’s GDP fell 0.2 percent from the 4th quarter of 2011, when it declined 0.3 percent, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). As anti-austerity backlash grows on the Continent, Prime Minister […]