News

Recession Briefing 6.9

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

Some airlines are dropping cutlery from their meal kits — or making spoons and forks fractionally smaller — in order to shed weight and save money on fuel costs. (Daily Telegraph)

“I would not be surprised if the official end of the U.S. recession ends up being, in retrospect, dated sometime this summer,” Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said yesterday. (Daily Finance)

For fine art, the recession may turn out to be inspirational. A wave of small-scale, independent initiatives is leading a shift toward a rediscovery of accessibility and classical skills. (New York Times)

A Florida couple has issued a million-dollar “coupon” for a discount on their waterfront mansion. (Los Angeles Times)

Credit card delinquencies jumped in the first quarter as strapped borrowers used their tax refunds to meet daily expenses instead of paying down their  balances. (Wall Street Journal)

A new report says bank stress tests should be repeated if the unemployment rate continues to rise beyond the levels assumed by regulators. (Reuters)

Travel writer Pico Iyer writes about his recession-friendly lifestyle — happily spending his days in a small apartment in Kyoto with very few possessions. (New York Times/Happy Days)

Burlap becomes the new velvet as recession-time furniture mixes trends in organic, industrial and recycled. (Los Angeles Times)

A record 27 percent of the nation’s 14.5 million jobless have been unemployed for about six months or longer. (Washington Post)

Business is good for a handful of repo specialists who get the call when a bank wants back its Gulfstream II jet. (Salon)

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