Retail therapy: It's the answer for almost any problem. Girlfriend broke up with you? Didn't get that promotion? Buy yourself something pretty. People like to shop, especially for high-status items, when they're feeling down. But parting with cash is also a painful process, so what gives? In a new paper in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, researchers Niro Sivanathan of the London Business School and Nathan Pettit of Cornell University describe how they think people resolve this conflict. more ›

Today Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa revealed his budget plan for the City of Los Angeles, and while it did not include layoffs, it did include furloughs. "In an effort to close a $457.5 million deficit, the mayor is calling for 26 furlough days for city workers who will not get cost-of-living raises as part of their contracts, and 36 furloughs days for employees scheduled to get raises," explains the Daily News. more ›

Today the NAACP released a report called "Misplaced Priorities," which "examines America's escalating levels of prison spending and its impact on state budgets and our nation’s children." Among the six cities explored in the report is Los Angeles, where "more than a billion taxpayer dollars are spent every year to incarcerate people from Los Angeles neighborhoods where less than 20 percent of Los Angeles residents live." more ›

California Governor Jerry Brown has been slowly peeling the band-aid off the "deep cuts" of his proposed state budget since he was sworn in last week. Brown released the budget today, which reflects a "painful spending plan affecting all aspects of state government," according to the Daily News. more ›

In Beverly Hills, the city might not be able to keep the public library open every day, and life is so sweet they're bottling their own scent, and now one of the world's most iconic zip codes has been hailed as one of the 25 most affluent suburbs in the nation. more ›

Now that the numbers from Tuesday's vote are being finalized, we can divide what losing candidate Meg Whitman spent on her campaign by the number of votes cast for her, and come up with a figure close to $50 per vote. Today, LA Times columnist Steve Lopez takes on her expenditures, on their own and compared to the winning Jerry Brown. more ›

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and President Barack Obama are scheduled to meet tomorrow in the nation's capital to discuss federal funding for transit projects in Los Angeles, according to the Daily News. The Mayor "has been seeking congressional support for a plan to accelerate the construction of 12 major transit projects in Los Angeles County," and this marks his third visit to DC in four weeks. Several other state and city leaders, as well as Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood are among those who will be attending the meeting on infrastructure spending. more ›

Meg Whitman has set a new record, having now spent more of her own money on her gubernatorial campaign than any politician has spent in US history, according to abc7. more ›

Where you buy your fruit and veggies, books, albums, and t-shirts--really, where you buy anything--makes a huge difference in the economy. We vote with our wallets everyday, but because of our global culture and the era of convenience, we tend to spend without pausing to think where our dollars go, and what it means to how things work where we call home. more ›

How much of what you earn do you wind up eating? more ›

The spending habits of Michael Steele, the first African American chairman of the Republican National Committee, are the subject of much scrutiny, including large amounts of money spent here in Los Angeles at hotels and clubs. more ›

City Controller Wendy Greuel is at it again and this morning released a report showing off more wasteful spending in the city. With over 40,000 phone lines totaling $7.2 million a year in phone calls, she looked at phone call policies and if there is proper oversight in the justification employees making calls. Some findings her office released in a teaser are as follows: more ›

Recently announced news that LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas was planning to give his offices a remodel that would cost $707,000 caused a public backlash, according to the Daily News. The project would use the funds to "add seven workstations, replace the ceiling system and recarpet his eighth-floor space in the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration," according to the Supervisor's website. The office has not been upgraded in about 15-20 years. more ›

The economy is worse than anyone could predict. It's so bad, the budget passed--just a few weeks ago--is already falling short $8 billion because of it. more ›

A report filed yesterday with the California Secretary of State reveals that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "spent $190,000 more supporting the Proposition 8 gay marriage ban than they previously reported," according to the Daily News. The amount previous given was only $2,078. The money was spent on travel for church leaders based in Utah, use of facilities and equipment at their Salt Lake City headquarters, and to pay employees to work on passing the controversial proposition banning same-sex marriage. The Mormon church is now "being investigated by the state Fair Political Practices Commission." Donations to the Prop 8 campaign have attracted much attention from the media and from groups who opposed Prop 8; a recent motion to keep private the names of donors was denied on Thursday. A full list of Mormons for 8 donors is available online. more ›

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Mark Paul, former deputy treasurer of California, among other things, has a good point about all the money-spending initiatives on this November's ballot. "In a little-noticed report, Treasurer Bill Lockyer projected last year that, at current tax levels, California will not be able to pay for its existing programs and its debt service at any time in the next two decades if voters keep approving bonds at the same rate as they have over the last 20 years." There are six props (1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10) that would effect the budget at the tune of "$2.7 billion a year in bond debt service and direct state spending," all without any way to pay for them. If a 13th one is added, which would be a water bond, that number jumps to beyond $3 billion. more ›

Unless you've got a 6-11 year-old girl in your life, you've probably managed to avoid the notorious American Girl Place at the Grove (and you consider yourself lucky, indeed). Oh, you've heard tell of their ostentatious parties for little darlings and their little darling dollies (that's around $90 a pop to sip tiny cups of tea and get matching hairdos for each girl and her girl doll) but you've steered clear, right?* more ›

Why do all these prisoners love our governor? Because in his budget cuts that were released today, it proposes just that -- an early release for 22,000 low-risk inmates. "The governor says the cuts are necessary to erase a $14 billion revenue shortfall over the next 18 months. Schwarzenegger's new budget would spend 3 percent less than the one he signed last summer," according to the AP. more ›

President Bush may have passed a $460 billion defense bill, but he has vetoed a $150 billion bill that would have funded the Labor and Health and Human Services departments according to a report by the Daily News. It is also rumored that he will veto an upcoming $105.6 billion transportation bill. Congress is gearing up for a battle, with House Republicans upholding presidential vetoes and Democrats accusing their GOP counterparts of ignoring the... more ›

This could be the end (maybe temporary end) of your local street festival, maybe even make your block party a bit more costly. It also could mean changes for major festivals like Sunset Junction. Yesterday, Karen Sisson, the Los Angeles City Administrative Officer (she's in charge of the money), told City Council that due to an increasing amount of financial concerns, they should "freeze all new spending and end the politically popular practice of... more ›

Núñez represents downtown Los Angeles, to the south of, and East LA in the state assembly. It is rumored he wants to run for Mayor. It is not like Democrat Fabian Núñez, Speaker of the California State Assembly, is some bogus politician with bad intentions and total self-serving motives. I am not going to argue with him for looking into universal preschool, high speed rail and global warming solutions for California; in fact, I... more ›