David Hirschman
Recession Briefing: Sin Is In
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
More people are turning to vice amid the recession. “People are staying up until the wee hours of the morning, there’s an increase in smoking, drinking and sexual behaviors like surfing porn and using hookers,” confirms Jonathan Alpert, a psychotherapist and relationship columnist. (Forbes)
A different breed of house flipper has begun to proliferate: one who seeks bargains at foreclosure auctions. Unlike the boom-time flippers, the latest generation needs cold cash, lots of local-market knowledge and strong nerves. (Wall Street Journal)
Economic analyst Ed Yardeni runs the numbers on the effect of the economic stimulus on jobs and determines that the Obama administration has spent $246,436 per job saved or created based on the $157.8bn that has been awarded so far. (Reuters)
Recession Briefing 12.7: We’ll All Be Temps Soon
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
Some experts predict that temporary workers could constitute up to a quarter of the workforce in a few years. (USA Today)
With a record 5.9 million Americans who have been jobless for at least six months, many out-of-work professionals and managers, engineers and teachers have turned, in desperation, to holiday-season jobs as sales clerks. (Associated Press)
In less than two years, many of the biggest overseas government investment funds, known as sovereign wealth funds, have reaped huge gains from bailing out financial institutions, and in turn, the global financial system. (New York Times)
Recession Briefing 12.4: Even Restaurants Are Swapping Services
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
As they struggle to keep customers and pay the monthly bills, some restaurants are swapping food for services like oven-hood cleaning and pest control. (Wall Street Journal)
The United States economy shed 11,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate fell to 10 percent, down from 10.2 percent in October, the Labor Department said Friday. (New York Times)
Laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits today are almost twice as likely as their counterparts during the recession of the 1980s to be accused of misconduct by their former employers. (Huffington Post)…
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)
Recession Briefing 12.2: Downturn Breeds Vegetarians
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
More than half of Americans have cut back on meat, many becoming “recession-bred flexitarians,” says Gourmet magazine—people who use meat as a condiment not as a meal anchor. And even Martha Stewart broadcast a vegetarian Thanksgiving show last week. (AlterNet)
Climbing interest rates, lower spending limits and canceled accounts are prompting more holiday shoppers to leave their credit cards at home this year. (Wall Street Journal)
The wobbly economy is contributing to a rush by millions of online shoppers to a decidedly low-tech business: coupons. (USA Today)…
Recession Briefing 12.1: Only 12 Percent of Stimulus Spent??
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
Only $100 billion of the $787 billion stimulus package passed nine months ago has actually been spent by the federal government so far, with another $90 billion of stimulus coming in the form of tax reductions, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported. (Huffington Post)
The proliferation of underemployed workers could represent a profound reordering of the employment structure. Many people who had comfortable full-time jobs with benefits and advancement opportunities now are cobbling together smaller jobs often at lower pay. (Wall Street Journal)
Reviled by the public and spurned in private, more bankers have reportedly been looking for solace in adultery. IllicitEncounters.com said it has seen a huge increase in the number of financial workers signing up to have affairs after the collapse of the markets in October last year. (Reuters)…
Recession Briefing 11.30: Is Anyone Not on Food Stamps?
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children. (New York Times)
“If the United States succumbs to a fiscal crisis, as an increasing number of economic experts fear it may,” writes Niall Ferguson, “then the entire balance of global economic power could shift.” (Newsweek)
Growing ranks of U.S. citizens are heading to street corners and home improvement store parking lots to find day-labor work usually done by illegal immigrants. (USA Today)…
Recession Briefing 11.25: Be Thankful, But Spend Less
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
The 25-pound turkey, the office party, the year-end bonus, the family reunion, the second (or third) Christmas tree — all are threatened by what employment consultant John Challenger calls “a culture of frugality” and the need to refocus an alluring American dream: a happy holiday. (USA Today)
The Unemployment League, an ongoing bowling event in Battle Creek, Mich., is an attempt lift the spirits and prospects of unemployed residents in a state leveled by the economic downturn. A local alley partnered with a employment organization to hold weekly job fairs at the bowling alley — while job seekers are throwing strikes or picking up spares. (Wall Street Journal)
The Humane Society of the United States doesn’t have comprehensive numbers on animals abandoned, but there is anecdotal reporting of increases since the recession started. And press reports on overloaded shelters across the U.S. suggest a broader trend. (MSNBC)…
Recession Briefing 11.24: Even More Homes Underwater
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
The proportion of U.S. homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than the properties are worth has swelled to about 23%, threatening prospects for a sustained housing recovery. (Wall Street Journal)
A major new survey of American artists and how they are weathering the economic downturn has found that slightly more than half experienced a drop in income from 2008 to 2009, a blow to an already struggling group, two thirds of whose members reported that they earned less than $40,000 last year. (New York Times)
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center finds that 13% of parents with grown children say one of their adult sons or daughters has moved back home in the past year. Social scientists call them “boomerangers” — young adults who move in with parents after living away from home. This recession has produced a bumper crop. (Pew Research Center)…
Recession Briefing 11.23: Foreclosures Hits Renters
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
A new wave of foreclosures stands to hurt people who may have never taken out a mortgage: renters. In cities where many investors are carrying upside-down mortgages on large rental buildings, some tenants are watching their homes fall apart along with the financing. (Washington Post)
From takeaway pizza outlets to purveyors of deep-fried chickens, the recession has proved a boon for fast-food operators as more people have turned to cheap and easy food. (Financial Times)
Lawyers nationally have seen a drop in divorce filings compared to last fall — which had already seen a plunge in filings compared to 2007. (Washington Times)…
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