If you have any money at all, America is your oyster. I'm making my annual CNBC pilgrimage to the Big Apple, and the savings this year make me want to come back on my own dime.    Read More

Oil prices surged yesterday, ostensibly, if media accounts are to be believed (they’re not) on news that sales of existing homes in the U.S. increased for a third straight month.  We will be honest… we had no idea it required so much crude oil to resell a home in the U.S., writes Stephen Schork.   Read More

Tomorrow the bank holding the $40 million loan on Washington DC's Watergate Hotel, New York-based PB Capital, will put the foreclosed property up for auction.  The 251-room, formerly grand, 12-story lodging has been empty since 2007.  Just the memories of those few burglars who slept there the night before they did their historic deed still haunt the hallways.   Read More

First, let me give you a funny story about my experience blogging about Annemarie Dooling, the young lady who Tweeted during a bank robbery yesterday in Manhattan. After reading her account of what happened on Twitter, I wanted to confirm there had actually been a bank robbery. The web folks wanted to make sure we weren't being punked.   Read More