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Daily Archives: December 13, 2018

More Americans are making no weekly purchases with cash

“Americans are becoming less reliant on physical currency. Roughly three-in-ten U.S. adults (29%) say they make no purchases using cash during a typical week, up slightly from 24% in 2015. And the share who say that all or almost all of their weekly purchases are made using cash has modestly decreased, from 24% in 2015 to 18% today, according to a new Pew Research Center survey that comes as some businesses experiment with becoming cashless establishments. Demographic patterns in the new survey, which was conducted in September and October, are similar to those in a 2015 survey by the Center. Most notably, adults with an annual household income of $75,000 or more are more than twice as likely as those earning less than $30,000 a year to say they do not make any purchases using cash in a typical week (41% vs. 18%). Conversely, lower-income Americans are about four times as likely as higher-income Americans to say they make all or almost all of their purchases using cash (29% vs. 7%)…As more Americans are going cash-free, a growing share of the public is comfortable being without physical currency. Today, 53% of Americans say they try to make sure they always have cash on hand just in case they need it. That represents a 7-percentage-point decline from the 60% who reported this in 2015. Conversely, just under half (46%) of Americans “don’t really worry much about whether they have cash with them, since there are lots of other ways to pay for things.” That is an increase from 2015, when 39% reported this. Roughly four-in-ten who say they do not really worry about carrying cash (43%) say they don’t use cash for their typical weekly purchases, compared with 18% of Americans who report that they try to ensure that they always have cash…”

Abstract Aerial Photographs Reveal the Beauty of Meandering Waterways

Colassal: “The project Water.Shapes.Earth uses aerial photography and storytelling to bring an understanding to the complex and diverse ways water inhabits our planet, from a radioactive water pond in Huelva, Spain to mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan. The images provide an abstract look at Earth’s surface, presenting purple-hued veins of a divergent river or an icy… Continue Reading

CBO Options for Reducing the Deficit, 2019-2028

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: “Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its “Options for Reducing the Deficit, 2019-2028” report, featuring 121 policy options and their ten-year budgetary effects. The report updates the last set of budget options that was released in 2016. Each option is covered in detail, with a full description of… Continue Reading

Reports – Law firms are having the best financial-growth year in about a decade

ABA Journal: “Law firms increased revenues this year, posting gains during the first three quarters that are the best in about a decade, according to two new reports. The numbers differed slightly, but the conclusion was the same: 2018 is shaping up to be a good year, thanks to higher billing rates and higher demand… Continue Reading

Young lawyers can be technophobes too

ABA Journal – legal tech entrepreneur Monica Goyal – “Many lawyers are reluctant to adopt new legal technology, says Monica Goyal, who developed platforms including My Legal Briefcase, which helps parties in the Canadian small claims courts, and Aluvion Law, which uses automation to cut legal services costs for small businesses. “Even young lawyers—we think… Continue Reading