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Recession Briefing: Antarctica Gets $18.5 Million Stimulus

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

How far would you travel for a job? How about Antarctica? That’s where $18.5 million of stimulus money is ending up. (CNN/Money) Like we’ve said, Stimulation for everyone! (Recessionwire)

The Obama administration is intensifying its search for policies that can stoke job creation without adding significantly to the nation’s crippling budget deficit. (Washington Post)

The Senate and House are poised to agree on a compromise measure to extend unemployment benefits that also would expand a popular $8,000 tax credit for homebuyers. (New York Times)

There are persisting errors in the government’s latest effort to measure the effect of the $787 billion stimulus plan despite White House promises last week that the new data would undergo an “extensive review” to root out errors discovered in an earlier report. (Associated Press)

Concerns are mounting that efforts by governments and central banks to stoke a recovery will create a nasty side effect: asset bubbles in real-estate, stock and currency markets, especially in Asia. (Wall Street Journal)

According to information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data, African-American workers have lost jobs at a rate 50 percent higher than white employees over the past two years. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Given the many problems weighing on the economy, a mediocre recovery does indeed seem more likely than a strong one, writes David Leonhardt. But history certainly offers pessimists and semi-pessimists some cause for humility. (New York Times)

It is no surprise that the bursting of the credit bubble led to a global crash in consumer spending on luxury goods. (The Big Money)

Faced with lurking dangers to the budding recovery, Federal Reserve policymakers are sure to leave a key interest rate at a record low to entice Americans to spend more and help the economic turnaround gain traction. (Associated Press)

Newly empowered by the Supreme Court, the attorneys general of several states hit hard by the housing collapse are exploring consumer fraud suits against major mortgage lenders. (New York Times)

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Tags: economy, luxury, personal finance, politics, real estate, spending, stimulus, The Unemployed Life