National News

More than a million industrial robots work in manufacturing plants all over the world already.  And they're getting smaller, cheaper and smarter all the time.   Christopher Mims has written an article for Quartz titled "How Robots are Eating the Last of America's—and the World's—Manufacturing Jobs." He begins by remembering the party at which he met Baxter, a robot made by Rethink Robotics.

Baxter, he says, can be programmed "drunk and one handed" (he tried). Mims says you can “literally grab its wrist and show it what to do." The robot also has humanoid features including expressive eyes on a touch-screen face.

Mims notes Baxter’s low cost. One Baxter robot is expected to cost about $20,000 -- a far cry from the $100,000 and up that most manufacturing robots cost now. The average American worker making minimum wage makes around $15,000. And while Baxter is "experimental," Mims calls it "a taste of things to come, although it's an awful lot closer than previous robots have been."

In the future, a factory filled with Baxters might only have a handful of humans to run the machines, especially those that require high precision work. And of course, people will need to build the robots. But Mims says, "not surprisingly, companies that make robots are sometimes the first to adopt automation as well."

The rise of automation means -- without a doubt -- manufacturing jobs for humans continue to fade away. But economists aren't quite sure what this will mean for the jobs market. Education seems key, but Mims says "you definitely have a problem of where do no or low-skilled workers go and that has a lot of economists worried."

In his article for Quartz, Mims also says automation, not off-shoring, is the biggest threat to American jobs in the future.  

Since you asked, one brilliant tip jar strategy can be found at Rize Coffee in Midtown Manhattan. It's actually two tip jars. Lee Major is the manager.

"Every day we change what each jar says, so it's usually a choice between two different things, For example, today the choice was between coffee and sleep. When you make your tip, you choose by placing a dollar and voting for coffee or sleep, whichever you prefer," says Major.

As you can imagine, coming up with a choice every day -- "bourbon vs. scotch," "Knicks vs. Nets," "duck-billed platypus vs. the sloth" -- can be pretty tough. And over time, he's learned some things about what makes people tip. But maybe not what you'd expect.

"Although it's a fun game, I don't think it really affects the amount of total tips. At the end of the day, what increases tips is good service and a great product," says Major.

Of course, this one coffee shop is a pretty small sample size. It's probably worth looking into the larger research on tipping.So, I went to TippingResearch.com. That's where you'll find Michael Lynn, a professor at Cornell's School of hotel management.

"I don't know of any studies that look into the effect of tip jar messaging on tips. I can speculate," says Lynn.

Which is exactly what we'll do. Professor Lynn thinks the Rize Coffee "vote by tip" method is probably a good strategy.

"People find the opportunity to say something about themselves valuable. I would fully expect that would increase tips," says Lynn.

We go through a little list of tip jar messages that I've seen, and he tells me what she thinks.

The classic one that says, "barista college fund."

"Um, I don't think that's terribly clever, funny. I would doubt that it would have a big impact," says Lynn.

One that says, "Every time you don't tip, a child gets a mullet."

He pauses. "OK, and my guess is that's an attempt to be funny. It creates positive affect, and people in a good mood tip more. My guess is that it would work," says Lynn."It's a joke at the expense of people who have mullets."

One that just says, "Don't be a selfish bastard."

"People who feel guilt, social pressure, are more likely to leave a tip, but they leave smaller amounts... The biggest thing you can do to increase tips is literally to communicate: 'Hey, everyone else is doing it, and you should too.' And frankly, the easiest way to communicate that is not through a message on the jar, but by salting the jar, putting money in yourself," says Lynn.  

OK baristas, ball's in your court. Back at Rize Coffee, Lee Major is emptying the tip jar and counting the day's results for the showdown between coffee and sleep. Quarters, dollars, the occasional fiver.

"And that's it, coffee wins by a landslide," says Major.

"I guess that's a good thing, right? I mean, you are a coffee shop?" I ask.

"I guess so. Although me, personally, I drink a lot of coffee, but a good night's sleep is something very special," says Major.

Look, no matter your preference, to Lee, and his tip jar, every day is election day. And the important thing is that you vote.

Since you asked, one brilliant tip jar strategy can be found at Rize Coffee in Midtown Manhattan. It's actually two tip jars. Lee Major is the manager.

"Every day we change what each jar says, so it's usually a choice between two different things, For example, today the choice was between coffee and sleep. When you make your tip, you choose by placing a dollar and voting for coffee or sleep, whichever you prefer," says Major.

As you can imagine, coming up with a choice every day -- "bourbon vs. scotch," "Knicks vs. Nets," "duck-billed platypus vs. the sloth" -- can be pretty tough. And over time, he's learned some things about what makes people tip. But maybe not what you'd expect.

"Although it's a fun game, I don't think it really affects the amount of total tips. At the end of the day, what increases tips is good service and a great product," says Major.

Of course, this one coffee shop is a pretty small sample size. It's probably worth looking into the larger research on tipping.So, I went to TippingResearch.com. That's where you'll find Michael Lynn, a professor at Cornell's School of hotel management.

"I don't know of any studies that look into the effect of tip jar messaging on tips. I can speculate," says Lynn.

Which is exactly what we'll do. Professor Lynn thinks the Rize Coffee "vote by tip" method is probably a good strategy.

"People find the opportunity to say something about themselves valuable. I would fully expect that would increase tips," says Lynn.

We go through a little list of tip jar messages that I've seen, and he tells me what she thinks.

The classic one that says, "barista college fund."

"Um, I don't think that's terribly clever, funny. I would doubt that it would have a big impact," says Lynn.

One that says, "Every time you don't tip, a child gets a mullet."

He pauses. "OK, and my guess is that's an attempt to be funny. It creates positive affect, and people in a good mood tip more. My guess is that it would work," says Lynn."It's a joke at the expense of people who have mullets."

One that just says, "Don't be a selfish bastard."

"People who feel guilt, social pressure, are more likely to leave a tip, but they leave smaller amounts... The biggest thing you can do to increase tips is literally to communicate: 'Hey, everyone else is doing it, and you should too.' And frankly, the easiest way to communicate that is not through a message on the jar, but by salting the jar, putting money in yourself," says Lynn.  

OK baristas, ball's in your court. Back at Rize Coffee, Lee Major is emptying the tip jar and counting the day's results for the showdown between coffee and sleep. Quarters, dollars, the occasional fiver.

"And that's it, coffee wins by a landslide," says Major.

"I guess that's a good thing, right? I mean, you are a coffee shop?" I ask.

"I guess so. Although me, personally, I drink a lot of coffee, but a good night's sleep is something very special," says Major.

Look, no matter your preference, to Lee, and his tip jar, every day is election day. And the important thing is that you vote.

It doesn’t seem fair, right? The U.S. Treasury gets to borrow money at about 2 percent interest these days. That’s latest yield on the 10-year Treasury note. When the government turns around and loans that money to college students, most of them are paying well over 6 percent interest. Meanwhile, the average fixed rate on a 30-year mortgage these days is just over 3.5 percent.

To understand why student borrowers pay so much more, I started with my go-to guy for all things financial aid, Mark Kantrowitz of FinAid.org. He says there are two big reasons federal student loans cost more than, say, a mortgage or car loan. Nobody checks your credit. And there’s no collateral.

“If you default on a federal education loan, they can’t repossess your education,” he says.

Other kinds of unsecured debt -- like credit cards -- usually cost much more, he says. “For someone with a typical credit pattern of a college graduate, we’re talking a 10, 11 percentage interest rate -- maybe even as high as 14 percent.”

Even at comparatively low rates, more people are defaulting on their education loans. And unlike other types of debt, you can’t escape student loans by filing for bankruptcy.

One youth advocacy group is pitching an idea to make it easier to pay them off -- a federal loan refinancing program.

“If you refinance loans down to 5 percent -- so just the loans that are above that -- that would save people about $14 billion in interest rate payments for this year alone,” says Tobin Van Ostern, deputy director of Campus Progress. It's part of the liberal Center for American Progress.

“It would be huge,” says Jennifer Belmont Jennings, an attorney in St. Louis. “For us, personally, it would just add a significant level of security to us.”

Belmont Jennings finished law school just as high-paying legal jobs seemed to evaporate. She owes about $170,000 in student loans, and says she could really use a few hundred extra dollars a month.

“Just from a spending standpoint of being able to do things, you know,” she says. “We bought a house several years later than we would have had we had that extra money.”

When they did buy a house, this year, they got a mortgage rate of 3.7 percent.

It is possible to refinance student loans -- privately. SoFi makes loans to students and graduates of certain colleges. The loans are funded by alumni of those schools. For a re-fi CEO Mike Cagney says the average borrower comes in with a rate of about 7.2 percent.

“We’re refinancing them into rates between 6 and 6.5,” he says. “And the borrower’s savings have been about $10,000 over the life of the loan.”

But to qualify you have to have gone to one of the 79 schools SoFi works with, like Carnegie Mellon or the University of Michigan. To refinance on a large scale, Cagney says, the federal government would need to step in.

A system of favors among Greek media outlets, politicians and banks helped produce one of the most inflated media sectors in Europe. But the media have been hit hard by the country's massive austerity drive, and have taken a huge loss in terms of credibility.

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It's been nearly four tumultuous months since Superstorm Sandy forced the residents of Belle Harbor Manor from their adult home. Last week, the residents, who suffer mental and physical illnesses, were allowed to return home, only to find that things were not at all like they left them.

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"What goes on inside our heads?" Perhaps the most basic biological question about humankind. The Obama administration is working on a plan to map human brain activity that may be released next month. Scientists say the decade-long project could spark an explosion in new devices, medical therapies and business opportunities we’ve never dreamed of.

The goal of this project is bold -- understand how the brain works and figure out how to influence, or manipulate the mind. Ralph Greenspan is the associate director of the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind at the University of California, San Diego. He says right now the brain moves too quickly to assess and measure what happens when we play the piano… or recognize a tune.

“And we all believe being able to do that is a key step towards understanding how the brain does what it does,” he says.

If we can unlock the answers to those questions, Greenspan says he and his colleagues can tackle trickier ones, like what’s happening in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, or schizophrenia.

“That can lead us towards ways to try to bring back balance where things are out of balance,” says Greenspan.

Greenspan thinks this project will spawn tons of new business for the pharmaceutical industry, of course, and the larger medical field. But the possibilities for high tech may be even greater, says NYU psychology professor Gary Marcus.

“I wrote a piece in the New York Times a few years ago about having Google built into your brain, but for your own thoughts and as we better understand how the brain works, that thing that was kind of a fantasy when I wrote about it a few years ago, that’s going to become a reality,” he says.

This brain mapping project hasn’t been unveiled yet. Scientists believe this initiative could boost the nation’s economic growth substantially. But NYU’s Marcus says if the U.S. doesn’t pour money into the brain, we could lose our intellectual capital.

“The scientist needs money to do their work. And it’s been a tough funding climate here lately,” he says.

Marcus says with the EU pursuing a similar project, the country faces a brain drain if it doesn’t pony up some cash quick.

There are an estimated 40 millions guns in India -- and as concerns rise about safety, the number of applications for gun licenses is growing.

Tanmay Chatterjee is a spokesperson for the group Indians for Guns. Chatterjee says, "More and more women are enquiring about the procurement process and are applying for licenses. The rise in the number of applications is very sharp."

But getting a gun license can take years. First, you have to prove there's a direct threat to your life. So the black market for guns is growing, says gun-dealer Joydeep Biswas, whose family has been in the gun business for five generations.

"A large chunk of people want it for self-defense. So yes, people want it for their own personal safety. And they will buy illegal arms irrespective of whether the government gives them a license or not."

One estimate puts illegal gun ownership in India at more than 85 percent of the total. And that, says Biswas, is wiping out businesses like his. "This is a dying trade. We are here because our family has been doing this for generations. In the cases of the gunshops, the new generation is not coming in. We are probably the last generation."

Many of the black market guns are made in India, but they're also coming in from neighboring Nepal and Bangladesh. And as regulation of gun ownership remains tight and concerns about safety grow, the balck arms market will likely continue to thrive.

Korean-American pastor Peter Chin leads an African American church, and lives in a predominately black neighborhood. It hasn't always been easy, but in this holiday rebroadcast, Chin tells host Michel Martin how he's worked through diversity issues with his family, his congregation and himself.

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a surprise return to his country Monday after spending over two months in Cuba for cancer treatment.

The political climate and economy in oil-rich Venezuela has grown increasingly uncertain during his absence, as observers criticized the Venezuelan government for lacking transparency on his health. The calls eventually prompted the government to release photos of a smiling Chavez just days before his return.

"He had been a micro-manager of basically everything," Federico Barriga, a Latin America economist for the Economist Intelligence Unit, says Venezuela is an economy recovering from a double-digit deficit, stagnant growth and increasing inflation, but that without Chavez there was a lack of certainty. "His ministers weren't sure about how to take the economy forward."

Barriga also said that if Chavez's health deteriorates again, or new elections come up, the country may be required to adjust economic policy.

Herring drizzled with mustard sauce, ham hocks and hog jowls — these are some of the historic foods that Sandy Levins painstakingly recreates for America's historic houses. So you, too, can gaze upon our founding fathers' dinners. Just don't try to eat them: These foods are sculpted replicas.

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The dreaded federal budget axe known as the sequester is scheduled to fall on March 1. Congress and the president can only avoid the across-the-board cuts by coming up with a deficit reduction deal. The sequester standoff is causing widespread uncertainty and stress -- and not just for the more than four million federal workers. The cuts would be felt across the country in places that might surprise you, like a science lab in Baltimore.

Housing is on the economic stat agenda this week. We get new-home starts and building permits on Wednesday. That’s a good indicator of where homebuilding and new-home sales are heading. Then on Thursday, existing-home sales are reported. That’s a barometer of how much consumers are starting to jump back into the market to buy a first-home or trade up, or move to a place where the sun shines a little brighter and there are more jobs.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a surprise return to his country. Chavez has been in Cuba for more than two months receiving cancer treatment. During that time, the political situation in oil rich Venezuela has become increasingly uncertain.

And finally, the Denver Airport is dealing with an unusual problem: Bunnies. The little guys have caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to cars by nibbling on wiring under the car. One proposed solution? Fox urine, which apparently spoils rabbits' appetite for car parts and probably everything else.

Robert Menendez was re-elected in a landslide and recently became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee. But the Democratic senator has been hit with an ethics probe amid scrutiny over his ties to a wealthy Florida eye doctor and big political donor.

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The company that owns Maker's Mark, the brand known for bottles that are hand-sealed with wax, is backing down from a decision to dilute its bourbon.

In order to meet growing demand and prevent supply shortages, the spirits maker announced last week that it would dilute the alcohol content of its bourbon -- from 45 percent alcohol to 42 percent.

Though two of the company's heirs, Rob and Bill Samuels, assured customers the new Maker's Mark formula would taste the same, loyal fans revolted on social media -- and the company took note.

On Sunday, Maker's Mark bowed to customer complaints and reversed their decision to weaken their bourbon:

"Effective immediately, we are reversing our decision to lower the ABV of Maker’s Mark, and resuming production at 45% alcohol by volume (90 proof). Just like we’ve made it since the very beginning."

A win for fans of Maker's Mark, whose spirits are safe at 90 proof, but be warned if you're a bourbon drinker: The supply problem is industry-wide.

Michael Veach is the author of "Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage." He says in  recent years bourbon has been on a roll.

"The problem is that these last 10 years the industry has been growing faster than anyone thought it would," Veach says.

That is a problem for aged whiskey because the bourbon distilling now won't be out of the casks for another six years. Beam, Inc., which owns Maker's, said it had't anticipated the increase in popularity and didn't age enough to keep up with current demand.

The company that owns Maker's Mark, the brand known for bottles that are hand-sealed with wax, is backing down from a decision to dilute its bourbon.

In order to meet growing demand and prevent supply shortages, the spirits maker announced last week that it would dilute the alcohol content of its bourbon -- from 45 percent alcohol to 42 percent.

Though two of the company's heirs, Rob and Bill Samuels, assured customers the new Maker's Mark formula would taste the same, loyal fans revolted on social media -- and the company took note.

On Sunday, Maker's Mark bowed to customer complaints and reversed their decision to weaken their bourbon:

"Effective immediately, we are reversing our decision to lower the ABV of Maker’s Mark, and resuming production at 45% alcohol by volume (90 proof). Just like we’ve made it since the very beginning."

A win for fans of Maker's Mark, whose spirits are safe at 90 proof, but be warned if you're a bourbon drinker: The supply problem is industry-wide.

Michael Veach is the author of "Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey: An American Heritage." He says in  recent years bourbon has been on a roll.

"The problem is that these last 10 years the industry has been growing faster than anyone thought it would," Veach says.

That is a problem for aged whiskey because the bourbon distilling now won't be out of the casks for another six years. Beam, Inc., which owns Maker's, says it hasn't made enough to keep up with demand. So Rob Samuels, the grandson of Maker's founder, announced a solution.

Also: the best books coming out this week; the return of Haruki Murakami; and Ian McEwan's crisis of faith.

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A vote in the European Parliament tomorrow could deal a fatal blow to one of the key measures for tackling climate change.

Europe’s emissions trading system aims to make it more costly for companies to emit harmful greenhouse gases, but the system is creaking at the seams. There are too many so-called carbon permits in circulation; the price of the permits has slumped and the cost of emitting carbon has now fallen to a derisory $5 a ton. That’s not much of a deterrent against pollution. 

Tomorrow the European Parliament votes on a potential remedy. The influential environment committee will decide  whether the European Commission should be given the power to halt the issuing of new permits and so drive their price up again.

Mark Nicholls, Editor of  Environmental Finance Magazine, says a great deal is riding on the vote:

“There’s lots of interest in emissions trading as a solution to climate change, but if the EU’s system is seen to be collapsing, it could damage the credibility of the approach,” says Nicholls.

If the European system does fall apart, the Chinese might well shelve their plans for emissions trading. And  it could undermine confidence in some of the systems that are already up and running in the United States.  

For two decades, international calls --- made through traditional phone companies --- had been growing at a clip of about 13 percent a year. Then things hit a speed bump.

"We saw about 9 percent growth in 2011 and estimate about five percent growth in 2012," says Stephan Beckert, an analyst at the research and consulting firm TeleGeography.

Meanwhile Skype's international calls grew about 45 percent. Beckert estimates that Skype handles about one-third of the international calls being made today.

Charles Golvin, an analyst at Forrester, says international calls were once a high-profit business for traditional phone companies but today, "it's a small part of their business, they don't feel the pinch."

Golvin says phone companies have moved onto data. Selling data plans for smartphones is a growth spot for companies like Verizon and AT&T.

And as more Voice-over-Internet calls, like the ones made on Skype, move from the desktop to the smartphone -- that means selling more data -- and the phone companies will make out just fine.

Not happy with your career? It might be time to look at who your friends are, according to the new book, Friendfluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We Are.

According to author Carlin Flora, it all starts with the friends we make as teenagers. "If you are from a lower socio-economic status and you befriend people in a higher socio-economic status, it sort of opens up vistas for you. You see other people's parents and their careers and it helps you envision yourself in those careers," she says.

As we get older, we may experience something akin to career peer pressure -- adapting to the high or low career standards of our friends.

"In a more tangible sense, if you are hanging around friends who are doing well, they are going to give you more opportunities to say, invest in venture or they are going to give you tips," says Flora.

To hear more about how friendships can affect your career choices, click on the audio player above.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned home to Venezuela early Monday after more than two months of medical treatment in Cuba following cancer surgery.

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