Dollars and Sense

In news that would make Steve Jobs proud, Apple has been named America’s most profitable retailer, beating out other powerhouses like Tiffany & Co., GameStop and Select Comfort.

Forget the financial experts or the Dow index. If you want to know what’s really going on with the state of the US economy, ask the Tooth Fairy.

In an effort to hit the pause button on wanton spending and focus on the importance of squirreling away a little money for a rainy day, February 19-26 has been set aside as “America Saves Week.”

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says wireless resources are not infinite. In fact, the smartphones to which we’re all so addicted are gobbling so much bandwidth that as early as next year, we could be paying more for our service — not to mention seeing slower data speeds and an increase in dropped calls.

Facing huge budget shortfalls, the United States Postal Service has proposed solutions including closing hundreds of post offices and eliminating Saturday deliveries. Now it may be considering jacking up the price of stamps, too.

Freelancing allows you to make money on your own terms without permanent employment, but it also means you don’t have access to certain perks like group insurance, administrative support and job growth assistance. Though, since a reported 30 percent of the US workforce is now freelance, that has changed.

Ticket prices for movies recently hit an all-time high of almost $8.00, and with the current state of the economy, that’s meant a lot of people don’t head to cineplexes as often as they used to. But that doesn’t mean folks aren’t seeing movies — they’re just finding more cost-effective ways to do it.

Unless you’ve been involved in a total media blackout, you’ve likely heard about Jeremy Lin — aka “Linsation” — the New York Knicks guard who’s such an on-court phenomenon that TV ratings of Knicks games have jumped 70 percent, causing the publicly traded stock of Madison Square Garden, where the team plays, to hit a 52-week high. But Wall Street isn’t the only one profiting from all the hype. Re