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Recession Briefing 12.3: Families Going Rural

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

The recession is inspiring more young families and singles to head back to the country. Sometimes dubbed “ruralpolitans,” these city and town dwellers are looking at land as their new safe investment. (Wall Street Journal)

Some companies are banding together to save money by having group holiday parties. (New York Times)

Some 60 million adult Americans live without a bank account or use pawn shops and other non-bank operations to handle their finances, according to an FDIC report that called for an expansion of basic services to the “underbanked”. (Financial Times)

Has Ben Bernanke helped save the American economy? Or did he let the great recession happen? That is the debate that is set to unfold on Capitol Hill as the Federal Reserve chairman starts the reconfirmation process today. (ABC News)

The number of first-time filers for unemployment insurance fell last week to a nearly 15-month low, according to a government report released Wednesday. There were 457,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended Nov. 28. (CNN/Money)

U.S. credit card delinquencies rose in October, signaling that defaults may soon test record highs, as debt-burdened consumers keep losing their jobs, Fitch Ratings said. (Reuters)

Creating jobs is a political and economic imperative for President Obama, who is holding a high-profile jobs summit today. He has summoned 130 corporate executives, economists, small-business owners and union leaders to the White House to sound out ideas for accelerating job growth (Washington Post)

“The basic assumption that jobs will eventually return when the economy recovers is probably wrong,” writes Robert Reich. “Some jobs will come back, of course. But the reality that no one wants to talk about is a structural change in the economy that’s been going on for years but which the Great Recession has dramatically accelerated.” (Huffington Post)

When Suzan Colon was laid off from her dream job, her mother came up with some advice that has led to the next chapter of her life — “put up soup”, or resort to fortifying foods. This ended up inspiring her new recession-themed book, Cherries In Winter: My Family’s Recipe for Hope in Hard Times. (Reuters)

A recent American Red Cross poll found that 20% of charitable givers planned to reduce their contributions this year, though 62% were hoping to give about the same amount. Yet with unemployment at the highest level in a generation, basic needs are greater than they have been in recent memory. (Wall Street Journal)

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