Recession Briefing 9.8: More Meals on Wheels

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

With the economic downturn, restaurateurs have struggled to find funding to open full-scale restaurants — so many are opening gourmet food trucks instead. (Reuters)

El Centro, California, now has the highest rate of unemployment in the nation, at 30.2%. (NPR)

Like the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Great Recession seems destined to turn many Americans into lasting coupon-cutters, scrimpers and savers. (Associated Press)…

Recession Lexicon: Fretworking

/v. This word popped up on the Recessionwire-inspired contest that vocabularist Ben Schott held at the New York Times website last weekend. The “official” definition, offered by a reader who goes by Hotfrostins: Extreme networking driven by the fear of potential job loss…

Love to Spend? Your Best Match Should, Too

We’ve all heard (and perhaps lived by) the motto: opposites attract. Maybe we’ve only leaned on this old cliche in order to quiet naysayers and excuse an illogical attraction to somebody so obviously wrong. Opposites Attract When It Comes To Spending Money

A recent study by the University of Michigan proves (once again) that when it comes to spending and saving, those with a strong inclination to either financial style end up attracted to their opposite. Out of a pool of 1,000 married and unmarried adults, the researcher found this attraction has roots in the individual’s discomfort in his/her own ways. In other words, spendthrifts who feel extreme guilt for their extravagant ways tend to be attracted penny pinchers. A wild shopper who beats herself up for collecting racks of pricey shoes may find solace in the coupon-cutting mate who rationalizes holes in his sneakers in lieu of a heftier savings account…

Recession Briefing 9.4: Food Stamps for All

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

More than 35 million Americans received food stamps in June, up 22 percent from June 2008 and a new record. (Reuters)

If more mothers were amateur economists, they’d probably tell you to cover your mouth when you frown. That’s because doing so could help prevent a recession. (The Big Money)

Students are borrowing dramatically more to pay for college, accelerating a trend that has wide-ranging implications for a generation of young people. (Wall Street Journal)

Screwed: 1,500 at American Apparel

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

Today’s Total: 5,087

American Apparel will cut 1,500 illegal workers from its downtown Los Angeles factory… Continental Automotive Systems will lay off 1,000 employees and close its plant in Huntsville, Ala… Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri announced plans to cut 1,000 state workers… Suncor will lay off 1,000 employees after a merger with Petro-Canada… BAE Systems will cut 360 staff members from its operation in Santa Clara, Calif… The Archdiocese of Detroit will lay off 77 workers… 63 employees of Aurora, Ill. will be laid off… Store Kraft Manufacturing will “temporarily” cut 60 production employees from its Beatrice, Neb… Microsoft will lay off 27 workers from offices in Redmond and Bellevue, Wash…

Downturn’s Up!

The Sex and the City ladies may have been content sipping on Cosmopolitans at the city’s poshest restaurants on a nightly basis, but today’s economy calls for something different.

Luckily, savvy bartenders from around the country have stepped in the fill the void, creating recession-themed cocktail recipes that anyone can make at home.

Whether you’re throwing a recession-themed party or drowning your sorrows with a group of recently laid off friends, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite downturn drinks from around the Web…

Cash for Clunker Businesses

Like cars, many small businesses out there are clunkers—cash guzzling, severely damaged by the recession. Now, the government is looking to bail out these business owners, as it did for car owners. If you have a venture that’s a bit of a stinker, you might benefit from the America’s Recovery Capital program, or ARC, which offers up to $35,000 to save your business.

Just like Cash for Clunkers, which ended this week, ARC a deadline. But don’t sweat it too much. ARC is set to end either September 2010 or when its $235 million budget runs out, “whichever comes first,“ according to the Small Business Administration. But only about 1,000 ARC loans have been approved since mid June, new lending data released this month shows. That’s well below the 10,000 loans the SBA says its budget can support.

To reach that target, the agency will have to get far more lenders on board. Of more than 8,000 FDIC-backed banks out there, only 400 have made loans to small businesses under ARC—mostly in the nation‘s heartland. Just three of the agency’s top 10 small-business lenders, Wells Fargo, PNC Financial and Zions Bank, are administering the $35,000 interest-free loans to “viable” small businesses struggling with debts as a result of the downturn. (By “viable,” the SBA means businesses that were in good shape before the crash.)…

Recession Briefing 9.3: Homeowners Are the New Landlords

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

With housing prices still in the dumps, more Americans are finding themselves in the uncomfortable position of renting out their homes. Many are finding that rent checks don’t come close to covering their mortgage payments. (Wall Street Journal)

To the long list of reasons American companies aren’t hiring — business losses, tight credit, consumer retrenchment — add the fact that many of their older workers are unable, or afraid, to retire. (New York Times)

A new study finds that the recession has left many jobless workers struggling to cope with the psychological stress caused by becoming unemployed in a weak economy. (Associated Press)…

Screwed: 60 at Stanford University

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

Today’s Total: 215

Standford University plans another round of layoffs, cutting 60 more staff positions… Friday will see the layoffs of up to 60 Mercer County employees… Midwest Airlines is laying off 59 employees, including 26 pilots and 33 flight attendants… Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal law firm is laying off up to 36 lawyers… Madison County, Illinois has laid off 50 percent of its probation division workforce, leaving only 32 employed probational officers…

Retooling: Affordable Art Keeps Gallery Afloat

Provenance be damned. These days the most important thing for gallery owners to master is the art of survival.

The art market—like everything else—has been in contraction for more than a year. Galleries are closing, and many are struggling.

But Jessica L. Porter, owner of a small gallery in New York City, started her business in a recession-friendly fashion. And in the downturn, she has figured out a way to keep people buying art…