Today at TILE we talked about the possibility of a strike by the National Football League (NFL). But wait… didn’t they just put on one of the most expensive and exciting Super Bowls in recent memory? What about all that post-game hugging and champagne? Aren’t sports by definition supposed to be fun and games?

The NFL is a business, and like most businesses, money is at the center of this disagreement – How big is the pie? How much goes to each person? How will that mix change in the future?

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(photo by Thomas Euler)

Did you see this? NYTimes foodman Mark Bittman is the kind of guy you want thinking about the food supply.

Says Mark:

“For decades, Americans believed that we had the world’s healthiest and safest diet. We worried little about this diet’s effect on the environment or on the lives of the animals (or even the workers) it relies upon. Nor did we worry about its ability to endure — that is, its sustainability.

That didn’t mean all was well. And we’ve come to recognize that our diet is unhealthful and unsafe. Many food production workers labor in difficult, even deplorable, conditions, and animals are produced as if they were widgets. It would be hard to devise a more wasteful, damaging, unsustainable system.”

Everyone needs food, so it’s funny (and okay, scary) that we have so little control over how our food gets to our plates. And like everything, food production has an economic story behind it.

Read Mark’s suggestions for shaking up the system, reclaiming our diets, and ensuring clean, nutritious food that’s good for us and the planet.

Terrifying. John B. Carnett

Japan has a rapidly aging population, but not enough home care workers to help elderly folks with daily tasks. So Japanese engineers, true to form, began building robotic home care workers.

Only problem is… old folks don’t want to be cared for by robots. It’s… kind of creepy. While cute animal-themed robots are selling reasonably well, the creepy humanoid models are being put on the shelf. (Until they’re reactivated in the Great Robot Wars begin in 2033, of course.)

Now the helper robot industry is shifting focus from fake people to smart furniture – like a wheelchair that can transform itself into a bed.

Technology has always been blamed for eliminating jobs – why pay a person to do what a machine can do faster, better, and cheaper? But Japan’s situation is a little different. It’s not eliminating jobs for willing workers; it’s creating workers to fill necessary jobs.

Hmm… wonder what kind of career track can an entry-level home healthcare worker can look forward to?

How many independently-owned businesses are there in your city?

The Indie City Index looked at all the metropolitan areas in the U.S. to come up with a rank of which areas are great places to put a strip mall full of chain stores, and which places would rather support a family business.

Read about the study and about the importance of strong local economies here.

Have you seen any “Buy Local” signs around your town? Well they’re all over the place, and it turns out they actually work. In places with “buy local” campaigns, residents spend more money at locally-owned stores.

When you spend $1 at a corporate chain, only $0.15 of that money stays in your town. But when you spend that same $1 at a local store, $0.45 stays local. That’s a pretty big difference when you consider all the financial troubles local economies are facing these days.

The thing about an economy is that every financial transaction is somehow connected to every other financial transaction. And all those financial transactions are connected to the economic, political, and social health of an entire nation, which is connected to the rest of the world.

Something worth thinking about the next time you’re itching to spend a dollar.

Today at TILE we talked about the massive political upheaval in Egypt – the 27th largest country in the world – and what it means for the country’s economy.

First, it’s important to know that Egypt’s economy relies heavily on two things – tourism and foreign investment. In other words, it depends heavily on the money of outsiders. And the protests – at least for now – have put a stop to that outside money.

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(photo credit: Яick Harris)

No, not like that. Like this:

A Dutch company called OAT has invented shoes made of… oats.

Instead of living in a garbage dump (or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch) for the rest of eternity after you’ve worn them out, these kicks will break down like any other normal organic substance.

And then – here comes the good part – the seeds that have been hiding inside of the shoes all along will come to life and grow trees! Shoe trees.

Do you already do something clever with your old sneakers? Plant flowers in them? Use them to insulate your attic? Save them for special shoe-throwing occasions?

Thanks for the tip, GOOD.

Today at TILE we talked about possible signs of life in the economy. Is it time to be optimistic? Have you been hearing people around you talk about money with a sigh of relief rather than a grunt of disgust? Mixed messages are always around us, but the earnings reports and other economic numbers that came out in the last few weeks have shown some signs of life worth talking about.

So what are we seeing? Let’s take a closer look:

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credit: _Fidelio_

(Is this some sort of sign from Zeus that our crazy American economy is chugging back to life?)

Our Canadian friends at The Globe and Mail reveal the latest trend in financial education:

Making personal finance books pink. You know, so girls will read them.

Harlequin, publisher of such romance classics as Alaskan Heat and Surrender to an Irish Warrior*, has already put out one book (The Frugalista Files: How One Woman Got Out of Debt Without Giving Up the Fabulous Life) and plans to publish more in the future.

Okay, we know men and women spend differently and even think about money differently. But will coloring personal finance books pink and talking about shoes really make finance matter for the ladies?

What do you think?

*Trahern MacEgan—his body is honed for fighting, his soul is black and tortured. Women want to tame him, but he has loved once, and now is lost. – eharlequin.com