Posts by Peter Bengston

According to a recent blog entry by the Foreign Trade Division of the U.S. Census Bureau the U.S. export of goods and services hit a record high during the month of June 2013 with more $134 billion in goods and close to $57 billion in services being vended abroad.

The second quarter of 2013 (April-June) saw a grand total of $565.8 billion in U.S. goods and services exports which is the highest quarterly amount ever recorded.

If you are a businessperson already engaged in international trade or just a small businessperson interested in international trade then World Trade Week NYC 2013 may be of interest to you. The New York international business community celebrates World Trade Week to underscore the importance of the foreign trade in goods and services to the New York City metropolitan area economy.

There is a full calendar of trade focused events in the region including two at the 

Although the rapidly approaching holidays usually only induces feelings of anxiety, I do look forward to getting out the cookware and making my tried and true holiday desserts and side dishes such as English trifle, Danish rice pudding (risengrød a la mande) and sweet potatoes baked in a sauce of maple syrup, butter and BOURBON!

You heard me, a little bourbon makes something I used to dislike when I was younger into the talk of any Thanksgiving get-together. Basically, after gently boiling 3 lbs. of scrubbed sweet potatoes in their skins for about 15-20 

After the collapse of financial markets in 2008 and the resulting job loss experienced by millions of Americans, The New York Public Library decided the time was right to expand the services of the former Job Information Center at Mid-Manhattan Library and transform it into the current Job Search Central (JSC) in the Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) to provide a broader range of assistance to those in urgent need of finding new avenues of 

Recent opinion polling has revealed that consumer confidence in the United States economy has plummeted. However, an even more important question to ask is: how's your confidence in your own economy, that is, your personal finances? This Fall, The New York Public Library is offering a number of programs educating New Yorkers on how to take control of their finances.

Financial Planning Day @ SIBL will be held on October 6, 2011. A number of classes on investing and financial planning, as well as 

In addition to my "day job" as material selector for the neighborhood libraries, I've been a member of the Steering Committe of World Trade Week NYC for the past six years.  Ever since the tenure of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the President of the United States has officially declared the third full week of every May to be World Trade Week.  

In the beginning it was known as "National Foreign 

The deadline for filing your income taxes may be rapidly approaching but that is no reason to put your personal finances on the back burner until next April.  If that little voice at the back of your mind is telling your that you need to finally get serious about planning for your financial future, you're in luck!

On April 29th, NYPL's Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) on Madison Avenue at 34th Street is holding a Financial Empowerment Day starting at 11 AM and lasting until 6 

The recent activities of Wikileaks and Julian Assange have once again reignited the controversy of the degree to which the public has a right to unfettered access to government information.  This year, Freedom of Information Day is being observed nationally on March 16.  At The New York Public Library, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for the New York Times, David Barstow, has been invited to