And just like that (how else did you expect me to start this story?), Sarah Jessica Parker is shutting down her shoe collection.
"After 10 colorful years, SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker has made the difficult decision to close its doors this fall," the brand told Footwear News late last week.
Flashback: Parker partnered with the late George Malkemus, who helmed the Manolo Blahnik shoe brand — made famous by her "Sex and the City" character Carrie Bradshaw — in the U.S.
One fun fact: The actress often worked in her West Village store.
The big picture: SJP's styles have focused on heels, which have fallen out of favor as comfort and versatility have taken priority.
A central economic fact of the Biden years has been that Americans' attitudes about the economy have been highly negative despite economic data that has been good, and sometimes great.
The big picture: Economists — in the White House and elsewhere — are increasingly taking public opinion seriously, relying on a skill not often taught in the halls of academia where they earned their PhDs: empathy.
That means understanding the sense of misery facing sticker-shocked consumers as an important input, even if the data show the rate of inflation has declined precipitously from 2022 highs.
Incoming Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol's new pay package prompted raised eyebrows and eye emojis last week.
The intrigue: Luring the rising star away from Chipotle wasn't going to be cheap. And it's his success at the burrito chain — reflected in its share appreciation — that's helping to fatten his number at Starbucks.
Kamala Harris,presidential candidate, has proved herself unafraid of chasing votes with populist policy promises — no taxes on tips!money to buy houses! — that abandon orthodox economics.
Why it matters: Such policies tend to elicit eye-rolls from economists, who see them as counterproductive and say they would push up prices and worsen the inflation problem they're attempting to address.
