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Recession Briefing 12.21: Happy Holidays! No Foreclosures

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

Mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are suspending foreclosures and evictions for about two weeks in a temporary break for borrowers during the holiday season. (Associated Press)

In nearly 200 years of recorded stock-market history, no calendar decade has seen such a dismal performance as the 2000s. Investors would have been better off investing in pretty much anything else, from bonds to gold or even just stuffing money under a mattress. (Wall Street Journal)

The recession has accentuated what was already a growing home-energy challenge for low-income and many middle-class households across the nation. Rising numbers have had their utilities shut off, causing desperate scrambles to pay arrears and penalties to get them restored. (New York Times)

Just as the Fed failed to protect borrowers from the consequences of subprime lending, so too it failed to protect banks. (Washington Post)

The hiring of temporary workers has surged, suggesting that the nation’s employers might soon take the next step, bringing on permanent workers, if they can just convince themselves that the upturn in the economy will be sustained. (New York Times)

The Confederation of British Industry has predicted that the UK will finally exit the recession before the end of 2009, but added that growth in the New Year would probably be subdued and would not return to pre-recession levels until 2011. (IBTimes)

Is the dwindling death penalty a victim of the recession? (Time)

The Obama administration is setting aside $30 billion from the financial bailout fund for a range of initiatives designed to encourage lending to small businesses to aid the economic recovery. (Associated Press)

Seven U.S. banks were seized by regulators, bringing this year’s total of failed lenders to 140 as financial companies are tested by the recession and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. anticipates more shutdowns. (Bloomberg)

The big test for home prices will come next spring when the U.S. starts to withdraw from the housing market. (Bloomberg Businessweek)

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Tags: financial crisis, foreclosures, jobs, obama, real estate, Small Business