David Hirschman
Recession Briefing: Museums Benefit from Downturn (Sort Of)
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
Many museums across the country saw a spike in visitors during the economic slump last year, even as they experienced increasing financial stress, according to results of a study released Thursday. (Associated Press)
One thing employment-services firm Manpower has got better at during the recession is figuring out quickly which job-hunters can be helped, and which to send elsewhere rather than risk leading them on. (Economist)
It cost more than $500,000 in stimulus funds to create a single highway construction job, largely because of building materials, an analysis of stimulus reports shows. Education aid and research funding are among the cheapest ways of creating or saving jobs at less than $60,000 each, the analysis shows.( USA Today)…
Recession Briefing: Older African Americans Get Hit Worst
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
The recession has had a “devastating impact” on African-Americans age 45 and up, according to a new survey by AARP. The survey found that over the last year: 33 percent of African-Americans age 45 and older said they’ve had problems paying rent or mortgage, and 44 percent had problems paying for essential items, such as food and utilities. (Chicago Tribune)
Sign of the times? General Motors will shut down Hummer, the brand of big sport utility vehicles that became synonymous with the term gas guzzler. (New York Times)
JP Morgan Chase, the nation’s second-largest bank, expects the number of delinquent home loans to skyrocket over the next year, echoing analysts’ expectations of a gloomy housing market that is nowhere near recovery. (Huffington Post)…
Recession Briefing: Why Yellow Lights Are Shorter
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
Some cash-strapped cities have been shortening yellow lights in order to nab more drivers with tickets — and raise revenue. (AlterNet)
A little-noticed effect of the recession is the incredible shrinking work shift. Millions of workers are taking multiple part-time or freelance jobs, jumping back and forth repeatedly between work, other pursuits and more work. These weird schedules are creating new challenges. (Wall Street Journal)
In an era of populist outrage and nearly double-digit unemployment, the average Wall Street bonus jumped 25% in 2009 to $123,850 as financial firms rebounded from the recession with help from U.S. taxpayers’ money. (USA Today)…
Recession Briefing: Flying the Private Skies Again
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
Gingerly, some business travelers are venturing back into private aircraft after the battered economy — and a public outcry against that perk of fat cats, the corporate jet — walloped the general aviation industry starting in 2008. (New York Times)
The longest and deepest U.S. economic slump in seven decades has been dubbed the “Great Recession” by the Associated Press. The AP Stylebook Online notified subscribers this month it had added the term as a reference for the downturn that began in December 2007. (Bloomberg)
Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. workforce lacked adequate employment in January and struggled to make ends meet with reduced resources and bleak job prospects, according to a Gallup poll released on Tuesday. (Reuters)…
Recession Briefing: Outlook Bleak for Long-Term Unemployed
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed. (New York Times)
Bernard Madoff’s top lieutenant may get “extraordinary” leniency from prosecutors for his help in unraveling the largest Ponzi scheme on record. In a letter released on Friday, federal prosecutors in New York praised the efforts of Madoff associate Frank DiPascali in providing “substantial assistance to the government in its investigation and prosecution of others.” (Reuters)
Both domestic mobility and immigration were sharply down in 2007 to 2009 from the levels recorded during most of the decade. (The American)…
Recession Briefing: Monkey See, Monkey Do
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
Dr. Laurie Santos’s studies of monkey “economics” suggest that greedy, loss-averse human behavior — the kind in large part responsible for the recession — may have deep evolutionary origins. (Big Think)
While the Great Recession was tough on just about everyone, rookie CEOs were faced with what will likely be the biggest crisis of their careers. Here’s how four of them handled it. (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)
The nation’s health insurers have come under sharp attack by the Obama administration for seeking seemingly staggering rate increases on policies they sell to individuals. But the weak economy and the unrelenting rise in the cost of medical care make it increasingly difficult for companies to avoid substantial rate increases. (New York Times)…
Recession Briefing: Failure to Green
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
A new report due out this morning will show the $5-billion Obama administration program to make homes more energy efficient is so riddled with problems that so far it’s weatherized only about 9,000 homes. (Los Angeles Times)
Thousands are discovering an unexpected kink in the system that can mean drastic cuts in their unemployment benefits. Workers who seek to renew their benefits for a second year are finding that their new benefits are based on their most recent wages, even if it was low pay for temporary or part-time work. (Boston Globe)
Federal and state officials, many facing record budget deficits, are starting to aggressively pursue companies that try to pass off regular employees as independent contractors. (New York Times)
Recession Briefing: A Real Teeth-Grinder
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
In the wake of the recession more people are grinding and clenching their teeth, dentists say. A new survey by the Chicago Dental Society found that 65 percent of Chicago area dentists reported seeing an increase in jaw-clenching and teeth-grinding among patients in the past year. (Chicago Sun-Times)
“The ongoing Greek financial crisis is the same kind of crisis the United States might face a few years from now if we continue to make the same kinds of mistakes the Greeks have made over the last decade,” writes Anne Applebaum. (Slate)
Experts fear that a new wave of foreclosures will hit this year as prolonged unemployment makes it difficult for millions of homeowners to pay their mortgages — and many of them aren’t likely to get much help from a federal program aimed at keeping them in their houses. (Los Angeles Times)…
Recession Briefing: Courtroom Drama
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
In this time of double-digit unemployment and shrinking benefits for those who do have jobs, courts are finding it more difficult to seat juries for trials running more than a day or two. And in extreme cases, reluctance has escalated into rebellion, experts say. (Los Angeles Times)
More waves of foreclosures will keep downward pressure on home prices in parts of the U.S. over the next several years, two new studies project. The studies both conclude that most efforts to modify loans with easier terms will delay, not prevent, the loss of homes to foreclosure. (Wall Street Journal)
Over the next six months, the federal government plans to wind down many of its emergency programs for housing. Then it will become clear if the market can function on its own. People in Elkhart, Ind., are pretty sure the answer will be no. (New York Times)…
Recession Briefing: Snow Slams Job Market
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
This month’s blizzards are battering jobs. Economists estimate that between 90,000 and 150,000 jobs could be lost in February, as the snow kept people home from work and stalled hiring during the month. (CNN/Money)
The Obama administration projected Thursday that the unemployment rate would fall this year by only a little, if at all, and would remain well over 6 percent until 2015. (New York Times)
About a quarter of the 8.4 million jobs eliminated since the recession began won’t be coming back and will ultimately need to be replaced by other types of work in growing industries, according to economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey. (Wall Street Journal)…
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