Lamest Business Excuse of the Year

The self-esteem movement isn’t just making our kids responsibility-shirkers—the adults might be even worse. As Daniel Gross points out in Newsweek today, CEOs of troubled companies from Eddie Bauer to Creative Scrapbooking to Six Flags are blaming balance sheets for their bankruptcies. That’s sort of like blaming your credit card statement for getting you into $80,000 worth of debt…

8 Vacation Spots: What’s Hot and Not in Recession

“Staycation” may be the buzzword of the recession thus far, but that doesn’t mean everyone is spending their holidays at home. With cheap Caribbean deals around and a surge in house-swapping, it’s seeming like the biggest post-recession change isn’t how much we’re traveling so much as where we’re traveling to.

Destinations like Hawaii, Mexico, and the Disney amusement parks all report that they’ve been hit hard by the downturn, even while the cruise industry and campgrounds report record numbers of tourists. We took a closer look some of summer’s most popular destinations to see what’s hot (and not)–so you can see where there might be bargains, or too many recession travelers.

Hawaii
Worldwide economic fears have diminished Hawaii’s tourism industry, with the state experiencing its lowest month for tourism in 18 years back in April and hotel occupancy rates dropping to 75 percent…

How Not to Look Desperate

Desperate times can lead you to show how desperate really are to land that job. But no matter how tough a time you’ve been having—dwindling savings, unemployment running out, bills overdue—that’s the last impression you want to give a prospective employer.

Job hunting is like dating. People are attracted to confidence and turned off by the hard-up. So how can you seem self-assured while looking for work and land that job as the market heats up? Keep in mind these dos and don’ts.

DO
Remember that the more you have going on, the less desperate you will feel…

Avoiding Money Fights with Your Mate

It’s no surprise that the recession has caused stress in people’s lives. Pressure of any sort has a negative impact on relationships, but financial strain can cause even more of a burden between loved ones. While the recession is affecting relationships worldwide, for some reason it’s having more of a negative impact on the marriages and relationships of American’s than in other countries. Read: Surviving A Breakup During The Recession

Reuters reported that in a recent poll, 30 percent of Americans attested to the recession adding stress or strain to their relationship or marriage—if not ruining it entirely. This compared to only 23 percent of Canadians, 24 percent of French and 12 percent of Germans admitting a similar effect…

Screwed: 5,000 at Taylor, Bean & Whitaker

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

Today’s Partial Total: 7,408

Taylor, Bean & Whitaker is shutting down with 5,000 jobs at stake…Alcoholic drinks manufacturer Altia plans to put all of its 650 employees on furlough… Kindred Healthcare intends to layoff 573 employees in Florida…Neste Oil has recently announced 450 new layoffs…Axa is set to layoff 350 employees…University of Iowa Health Care is cutting 285 jobs…Bobcat plans a further 100 layoffs…

Recession Briefing 8.7: Recession Brings on a Baby Bust

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

For the first time since the decade began, Americans are having fewer babies, and some experts are blaming the economy. (New York Times)

The American economy lost 247,000 jobs in July, and in a reversal, the unemployment rate fell slightly, to 9.4 percent, the government reported Friday. (New York Times)

Americans have been losing their jobs in droves, yet one group has gained ground in employment during this recession: workers 55 and older. The reason is economic necessity. (McClatchy)

Love in the Time of Layoff: The Appeal of Employment

Raj had me almost at hello, but he didn’t seem to realize it. As so often happens, the same was true in the reverse, as well—but we two somewhat wary people didn’t realize it on our first meeting. We had sat in the park after a friend suggested we meet (we could “be good contacts for one another”) and shared stories from our lives. We parted with no further plans.

As weeks passed, I wondered if there was a way to meet up with Raj again. I planned to invite him to a party I would throw. And then, out of nowhere, an email: “Call me urgently.” Two minutes later, we were on the phone. He was charming and funny—and he had a proposal, a potentially very lucrative project that would come from one of his clients. My thrill at hearing from Raj was a bit deflated by the absence of romance in it, but I was also very happy and relieved to have work fall into my lap, as I needed it very badly.

It’s always tricky to mix up work and romance, but in this downturn, I couldn’t ignore the very real tug of the rent, loans, bills piling up. So if I couldn’t have Raj as my boyfriend, at least there was something else I might get out of this encounter: some much needed peace of mind…

Healthy—and Free—iPhone Apps

In a recession, health can become a much bigger issue. We get more stressed out, we have less money to spend on keeping ourselves healthy, some people have lost our healthcare coverage and many of us have more time to obsess about whether that new freckle might in fact be skin cancer.

That’s why we were psyched to find FierceHealthcare’s list of 15 free healthcare iPhone apps. Yes, some should be on a list of Apps Your Hypochondriac Boyfriend Shouldn’t Have…

Recession Briefing 8.5: Restaurants Hiring Hot Help

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

Are bars and restaurants hiring hotter servers as a result of the recession? Hugo Lindgren thinks so. (New York)

As idle workers fill coffee-shop tables and as shop owners struggle to stay in business, a decade-old love affair between coffee shops and laptop-wielding customers is fading. (Wall Street Journal)

A government report says a middle-income family with a child born last year will spend about $221,000 raising that child through age 17. (Associated Press)

If you come across a good article or blog post about the recession pass it on. To receive Recession Briefing in your inbox, subscribe to our daily email.

Screwed: 400 at Mohawk Industries

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

Today’s Partial Total: 746

Mohawk Industries are laying off 400 workers in Dublinl, Georgia between now and March 2010… Global chemical company Celanese Corp. plans to lay off 100 North Carolina employees… Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is laying off 92 employees, 6.2 percent of the Journal Sentinel workforce… Pittsburgh-based bank, PNC, will lay off 74 employees in Miamisburg, Ohio… Altera Corp is cutting about 3 percent of its workforce, approximately 80 people…