The High Demand For Christmas Trees

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, why are you becoming more and more expensive? In today's world, this is a common phrase that many consumers are repeating. For many people buying a Christmas tree is a way to brighten up their homes with the festive Christmas Spirit. However, in recent years the demand for fairly inexpensive and reasonable priced trees has become nearly nonexistent. A report from last year showed that 24.5 million trees were bought, compared to 30.8 million trees in 2011. The average cost a consumer spent last year on a tree was $40.30. As a way to compete with the incredibly high demands, department stores are increasing the prices of trees to staggering costs. For a 7-8 foot Frasier fur located at Sears, Target, and Home Depot the average cost is a whopping $135. To make the prices seem a little less Scrooge-like, Target and Sears are knocking 25% off the original tree costs.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101269778

A Cheap Art Thief

A Columbia County Board Representative, Susan Raimer, announced earlier this past week that three art pieces were stolen from the walls of the courthouse in Columbia, Wisconsin. The specific area inside the courthouse where the incident took place was in a Branch 2 jury room. This is typically an area used for private conferences between attorneys and their clients, deliberating jurors, and for employees to finish up paperwork or eating their lunch. Three 3-D photos were added to this area to "brighten up the space", making it look more friendly and colorful. The pictures showed very realistic imagery and the images changed, based on where you viewed them in the room. The price value of each of the three pieces was supposedly only $5. The pictures have thus been replaced by similar-looking and more motivational pictures. 

http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2013/12/09/art-thief-strikes-courthouse-jury-room/

Art Repays Wealth

Jorge Perez, a billionaire real estate developer, was recently given the honor of having a Miami art museum named after him. The worth value of the museum's structure is about $220 million. In 2011, Perez donated $40 million to the same art museum. Half of the trove was some of his own personal art collections and the other half was roughly $20 million. In showing their appreciation, the art museum agreed to have Jorge Perez be named after the facility. The museum will open to the public this month during the Art Basel Miami Beach Festival. Seeing the portraits that were once held on his home walls, but now encountering them in the newly refurbished art museum will be a surreal experience for Perez.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2013/11/26/inside-the-new-220-million-art-museum-named-after-billionaire-jorge-perez/