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What We Lost (and Gained) in 2009
It was a very big year.
Several months ago we wrote about “recession speed“—the way things happened at an accelerated pace in the downturn. Banks failed overnight. Jobs vanished in a snap. In 2009, we’ve all experienced sudden losses, big and small. But (the upside!) we’ve also learned, earned and reaped some benefits. Here are 19 things we lost or found. What else should be on the list? Tell us in comments.
What We Lost
Jobs: The Department of Labor hasn’t put out official numbers for all of 2009, but adding up monthly data shows that more than 4 million jobs have been lost this year. More than 15 million people are looking for jobs in the U.S.
Any Sense of Job Security: See above.
Homes: If you still own your house, you’re one of the lucky ones. Foreclosure filings are expected to hit a whopping 3.9 million, a record for the second year in a row. “We are a long way from a recovery,” John Quigley, economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told Bloomberg. No shit.
Home Values: Even if you managed to hang on to your home, it’s probably not worth what it once was. Homeowners have lost $500 billion in value this year, with Los Angeles taking the biggest loss. The upside—that’s better than the $3.6 billion hit they took in 2008.
Benefits: From minor perks like coffee to more essential ones like health insurance, 401(k) matching and straight-up salary, companies have slashed employee benefits. Don’t expect to have them back after the ball drops—in a recent survey, less than half of employers said they would restore bennies within the year.
Brands: Gourmet magazine, Circuit City, Max Factor, Rocky Mountain News and Pontiac are some of the familiar names we won’t be seeing any more.
Banks: A total of 140 banks have failed since the start of the year, compared to 25 last year.
Respect for Wall Street: Two-thirds of Americans say they don’t like Wall Street. With a bailout costing taxpayers trillions of dollars, record bonuses and a refusal to dial back their risk, who can blame us?
Extravagant Tastes: At least temporarily. Back in June, a report from Bain & Co. predicted that luxury spending would be down 10 percent this year. But purveyors of Porsches, watches and art are seeing an uptick thanks to those big Wall Street bonuses.
What We Gained
Government Jobs: While municipalities have been laying off like crazy there has been an increase in federal gigs, thanks in part to stimulus spending. Though June of this year, federal jobs (not including the Post Office, otherwise known as the ninth circle of hell) increased by 6.5 percent.
Realism: Home prices can go down. Even smart, hard-working people can lose their jobs. And you can’t live beyond your means without it coming back to get you at some point. Get over it.
Better Financial Habits: At least we learn from our mistakes. America went from out-of-control spending to the highest savings rate since 1993 this year. We got smarter about credit cards, taking on less debt and paying off balances promptly. We learned to clip coupons and avoid impulse buying.
Home Cooking: People shifted from dining out to eating at home, which also meant untold numbers had to finally learn how to cook. (Still need help? See our Ten Tips for Beginners.)
Entrepreneurial Spirit: In part because of the lack of jobs, in part because their opportunity cost had suddenly dropped to zero, Americans launched new businesses like crazy this year–us included.
A Love of Learning: Last year saw record college enrollments, and this year schools around the country have said they are up even more.
Roommates: And sometimes they are your parents. To help defray costs, people are moving in together.
Paranoia: About a year ago, I was chatting with an asset manager who warned me that we were facing a financial apocalypse. I’d better put some canned goods aside—and a bunch of money, in small bills. “How much money?” I asked. “Enough to buy whatever you need on the black market,” he said. “$15,000.” When markets go down, paranoia goes up, according to a paranoia expert.
A Sense of What’s Really Important: Family, friends, love, purpose, joy, experiences and all the other things that can’t be bought and aren’t attached to a job title.
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I’m afraid I can’t agree with one statement you’ve made. It’s true that the recession has contributed to significant increases in college enrollment. But, alas, I don’t believe this has much to do with “a love of learning.”
This fall I taught a course on “Novels With a Social Conscience” in NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. The 11 students I had received no credit or obvious professional benefit from taking my class. They genuinely were there out of “a love of learning”–and they were wonderful!
But if you examine the rather large catalogue for that school, my course is very atypical. A huge proportion of the courses offered by SCPS are tied quite directly to students’ current or intended professions. These students–many in their 30s, 40s, and 50s–come to class to better prepare themselves for an already chosen profession, to learn how to get into that profession, or to get training to advance within the profession. And, from what I hear from friends who teach undergraduates, the same is increasingly true for many college students ages 17-22.
In a recession, learning just for the sake of learning is often a luxury unless you are unemployed or retired and are quite comfortable financially.