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Recession Briefing 10.05: America is on Sale

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

There has never been a better time to be a consumer. America is on sale. The recession has caused massive job losses and hardship for millions, but it has also fostered a shoppers’ paradise. (Associated Press)

Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Sunday that the U.S. economy was “getting close” to the point where it would stop losing jobs. But he also predicted that the level of unemployment would “penetrate the ten percent barrier” and stay at the level for some time before going down. (Huffington Post)

For the first time, the average amount of time it takes fired employees to find a new job exceeds the length of their standard unemployment benefits. (Bloomberg)

The federal government is engaged in a massive mortgage modification program that’s on track to send billions in tax dollars to many of the very companies that judges or regulators have cited in recent years for abusive mortgage practices. (McClatchyDC)

The booming second market for burial plots is just one sign of how this prolonged economic winter has chilled the $15-billion-a-year funeral business. (Denver Post)

The recession has taken its toll on many large U.S. retailers but smaller ones catering to the second-hand market are flourishing as the cash-strapped seek the holy grail of the American consumer: a bargain. (Reuters)

In the two recessions prior to this one, working in the public sector pretty much guaranteed that you would avoid getting a pink slip. But that’s not true now. (Christian Science Monitor)

In 2009, roughly 47% of households, or 71 million, will not owe any federal income tax, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. (CNN/Money)

“In the last few months I’ve learned something new, something that might even be useful to others,” writes unemployed illustrator Jennifer Williams. “My time is valuable, really valuable, even if it’s not measured in paychecks.” (New York Times)

Friday’s Labor Department report underscored the risk that without jobs, consumers won’t have income to spend and that will restrain growth and give employers little reason to resume hiring after 21 consecutive months of job losses. (Wall Street Journal)

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