Madoff’s Gluttonous Competition

In Dante’s fourth circle of hell, we might well find Bernie Madoff—but while he’s the first name that comes to mind when you think of greed these days, he’s up against a lot of competition when measured against the paragons of financial fraud and all-around selfishness over millennia. Remember Genghis? No slouch of avarice. Or Pope Sixtus? Lest you forget, he built his fortune on the backs of brothels.

Bernie and the rest of Wall Street’s recently exiled heavyweights are just the latest in a long line of titans who let greed and excess get the best of them. Here are some stars from that hall of fame…

Screwed: 350 at Caraco Pharmaceutical Labs

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Partial Total: 618

Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories is laying off 350 employees, more than half of its workforce… 105 workers will be out of work in Shelby County, Tennessee… Pro Health Care lays off 50… 50 will lose their jobs at Sunoco Inc… All facets of the auto industry are suffering as car mat manufacturer Racemark announces that 36 employees are to be laid off by September 30… Toronto Star lays off 27 full-time and partime employees…

Recession Briefing 7.7

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

Sperm banks and donor agencies say the recession is prompting a surge in calls from people who hope to make money by donating their sperm or eggs. (USA Today)

Pamplona, Spain, is known for daredevils sprinting with one-ton fighting bulls. But a new brand of jitters has set in at one of the world’s great fiestas as businesses ponder the partypooping impact of economic woes. (Associated Press)

A group of the biggest U.S. banks said they would stop accepting California’s IOUs on Friday. (Wall Street Journal)

Joblessness Gets Juicy

As we all found out last week, the layoffs ain’t over. With the official unemployment rate now at 9.5 percent (and the actual unemployment rate coursing through the double-digits), real people are very much losing real jobs and real income. Not that anyone who plans economic policy or makes economic predictions would have cared (see Stimulus Plan, Obama Administration basis of; or take a look at the predictions in our The Recession Will End… series). Unemployment? Oh, that’s a lagging indicator. No one need pay attention to it now.

Before we all get back into the game of talking in macroeconomics about how jobs means income which means spending which means GDP which means company profits and back ’round again, we thought we’d just take a moment to consider the tangible experience of losing a job. BargainBabe.com posted an interview with a friend of hers who was among last month’s 476,000 laid-off workers…

The Upsides of Our Family Foreclosure

We found out about the foreclosure by accident. Little boys aren’t the best at keeping secrets, and during a Friday afternoon drive home, my husband’s 11-year-old son let the cat out of the bag: “I guess the drive will take a little longer when we live with Joe and Diane,” he said.

We knew right away that his mom was losing her home—their home. My stepson and stepdaughter would be moving from their pale yellow house on a quiet, tree-lined street into a basement apartment at their cousin’s new home. I was nauseous with anger, furious that their mother had sold the house she and my husband once shared and landed everyone in this predicament—and also devastated for the woman who had become my unlikely friend…

How Much for that Item in the Window? 25 Weeks.

If the recession hasn’t obliterated your non-essential spending altogether, how do you determine whether you can afford the fancier restaurant, the better suit or the weekend away? Most personal finance metrics take a monthly view on budgeting — how much money is coming in minus cost of regular monthly expenses (rent, utilities, groceries, etc.). Whatever is left over is usually recommended for savings. That’s when your own math comes in — of the amount left over, how much can you spend on the better life? And that’s between you and your conscience — or, uh, your personal budgeting philosophy.

But My Two Dollars has another view, one that while clever and perhaps effective in keeping spending fantasies in check, may also induce more guilt and a sense of burden: Tallying the number of work hours required to cover the cost of desired purchases. Here’s how it works: Say you earn about $50 per hour. If you’ve got your eye on a $38,000 BMW, that would cost you in cash, after taxes, about 1,000 hours, or 25 weeks of work ($50 x 25% taxes = $38/hour) — and that’s without laying out for food and shelter. Ouch…

Screwed: 7,000 at CFR Freight

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s partial total: 7,409

CFR Freight, a branch of Romanian Railways, plans to temporarily layoff 7,000 employees… Western Corporate Federal Credit Union is set to cut 100 jobs… Harvard University‘s faculty of arts and sciences are losing 77 staff members… Sanofi-Aventis is laying off 60 workers in Great Valley, Pennsylvania… Genesys Regional Medical Center is keeping quiet about their recent layoff of 54 nurses and their plans for future layoffs… Wellpoint is set to layoff 50 employees in Richmond, Virginia… Pendleton Wollen Mills plans to layoff 43 workers… Tower Tech Systems plans to layoff 25 employees in Abilene, Texas…

Recession Briefing 7.6

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

Vice-President Joe Biden yesterday admitted that the Obama Administration “misread” the economy earlier this year. (ABC News)

As galleries close and art nonprofits suffer from cutbacks in funding and the loss of support from private institutions, the recession is adding new meaning to “struggling artist.” (Gotham Gazette)

Tens of thousands of laid-off workers have turned to retraining as a lifeline. Yet for all the popularity of these government-financed programs, there are questions about whether they actually work. (New York Times)

The collapse in home prices is finally beginning to hit the country’s wealthiest neighborhoods. (ABC News)…

Living the Weisure Life

Thanks to the fadeout of 9-to-5 workdays and technology that keeps us reachable 24/7, more people are able to work hard and play hard … at the same time.

“Weisure” is the cute buzzword coined to describe the combo of employment and enjoyment. Not only are we Facebooking in the office, but we’re also checking our Blackberries on dates and emailing clients while watching “The Office.” NYU sociologist Dalton Conley, who created the word, explains that Americans’ increased workloads make it easier to take a quick work phone call after hours than wait till you get to the office in the morning when you have more to do.

And now, our “social” networks like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are tools we’re using at work, too …

Fun and Free: Couples Coupons

You know what’s a real bummer? When the economy is depressed and the only fiscal Prozac we’ve been prescribed is time-released, baby (Did you only an estimated 11% of the “Stimulus” dollars will be disbursed in 2009, per the Congressional Budget Office?). But, we’re humans so we do what men and Muppets do best: persevere. We take joy (not just solace) in small pleasures and learn from the situation (note: savings have increased over the last year and spending actually increased in May 2009, hopefully a portent of good things). But, for now, we have to make romance on the cheap.

But cheap doesn’t have to mean crappy. And a little creativity can be even more precious than all that material stuff (except diamonds from Zimbabwe, they were paid for with blood). Next time when you’ve got to show old girl or old boy that you appreciate her or him, hook her or him up with coupons…