Big-Box Banking: Why the Unbanked Are Cashing Checks at Walmart

Walmart, Kmart, and Best Buy are among the big retailers offering customers what are known as “alternative financial services”—allowing consumers to cash checks, pay utility bills, and transfer money without a traditional bank account. And hey, while consumers are in the store cashing a check, it might be possible they’ll be tempted …

When an 8-Hour Day Earns You $4.38

There are plenty of paying gigs to be found in online marketplaces, where employers hire freelancers to complete quick mini-tasks like transcribing interviews, verifying info listed on websites, and committing quasi-plagiarism. The only problem with this system—well, the only problem besides the plagiarism—is that even the most …

Behind Egypt’s revolt: A dictatorship without development

I was in Cairo in November, and a friend, Hasan, was kind enough to invite us to his house for dinner. Hasan is not a member of the super elite, but he’s not among the poorest in Egypt either. (His daughter has a new Samsung smartphone.) Yet as we turned onto the streets around his apartment block, I was dumbfounded by what I saw – …