Elliot Shaw

Elliot follows the news that ends up on your bill, and the stranger stories that turn up along the way.

A record shop window in Rotterdam with a Black Friday Weekend sale sign in yellow and red letters

Why Black Friday Is Called Black Friday (It Isn't About Profits)

Elliot Shaw · November 8, 2026

Black-and-white photo of a clerk in Baltimore sorting work cards for Social Security account applications on a tilted board

Social Security's 3.6% Raise for 2027: What It Will and Won't Cover

Elliot Shaw · November 4, 2026

A dense crowd in dark suits and hats filling Wall Street outside Federal Hall during the Panic of 1907, with carriages among them

The Weekend J.P. Morgan Locked Bankers in His Library to Stop a Panic

Elliot Shaw · November 2, 2026

The Statue of Liberty seen from the water, standing on its tall granite pedestal above the star-shaped fort walls, with visitors along the shore

Pennies for Liberty: How Small Donors Paid for the Statue's Pedestal

Elliot Shaw · October 28, 2026

A 1918 World War I poster headed Saving Daylight showing Uncle Sam stretching in bed beside a clock marked one hour of extra daylight, with the line Set the clock ahead one hour and win the war

Clocks Go Back: The Century-Old Money Fight Over Daylight Saving Time

Elliot Shaw · October 25, 2026

Traders crowd the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in a black-and-white photo from the 1960s

Black Monday 1987: The Day the Dow Fell 22.6% and What Changed After

Elliot Shaw · October 21, 2026