Screwed: Up to 126 in Lynchburg

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s Total: 226

Up to 126 positions may be cut in the city of Lynchburg, Va. … Plymouth, Mass. schools are looking at eliminating eight to 10 positions. …

Moviegoers in 2009: Make Us Laugh

When it came to the movies this year, it certainly was not our father’s (or grandfather, or great-grandfather’s) downturn. Like moviegoing in the Depression, more of us surely flocked to the cinema, but we were truly after an escape this time.

As Patrick J. Sauer noted earlier this year, Hollywood circa 1930 turned out films that reflected the times – Gold Diggers of 1933, Hallelujah I’m A Bum and Our Daily Bread, to name a few. This year, we had The Hangover. Clocking in at a $459.4 million global box office, I think we can safely say we weren’t eager to have our hard times memorialized on the silver screen just yet…

One Quick Look Back at a Tough Year

Did you ever think you’d talk so much about “sub-prime” and “stimulus”? Learn so many new, made-up terms, from “funemployment” to “collateralized debt obligations”? No doubt about it, 2009 was The Year of the Recession.

We dropped into the technical range for “recession” in December 2007, but it took months for all of the pieces to fall. In September 2008, Wall Street came to a standstill, and by the new year, it was still recovering. Layoffs spread through every sector of the economy at a rapid pace. For the first time since the Depression, no one no matter how rich or established was immune to the creeping clutch of joblessness, portfolio deflation, or even homelessness.

The headlines in our daily Recession Briefing, along with the personal experiences tracked on Recessionwire, revealed a new world en recession:…

Even though we dropped into the technical range for “recession” in December 2007, it took months for all of the pieces to fall. In September 2008, Wall Street came to a standstill, and by the new year, it was still recovering and layoffs were spreading through every sector of the economy at a rapid pace. For the first time since the Depression, no one no matter how rich or established was immune to the creeping clutch of joblessness, portfolio deflation, or even homelessness.

The headlines in our daily Recession Briefing, along with the personal experiences tracked on Recessionwire, revealed a new world en recession:…

Small Business 2009 Motto? What Doesn’t Kill Us…

This may be the year everyone wants to forget. Layoffs ruled, credit cut off our breath, and small businesses couldn’t catch a break. While the colossal banks on Wall Street got a bailout, many small businesses couldn’t get a loan.

Even so, the tough times can make us stronger — or at least point out what we might not want to do again. Here’s a look back at the year that was and what we learned:

You don’t need your office as much as you once thought you did. If the overhead is overwhelming—ditch it. Michael M., a small business owner in New Jersey, went virtual: Everyone worked from home, and the overhead costs were limited to warehouse space for his products…

The Recession Will End… When Obama Tames the “Fat Cat” Bankers

“I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street.” (via 60 Minutes)

Well, it looks like the recession is back on. Despite comments over the weekend from Larry Summers who said that “everybody agrees that the recession is over,” there’s still that niggling problem of 10 percent unemployment. And outsized bonuses on Wall Street, which only create a further disparity between the rich and everyone else. Populist rage over the bonuses and Obama’s claim that he gives his record so far a “solid b-plus” are a sign that people are mad, and not ready to call an end to the tough times—because they’re still experiencing them…

Recession Briefing 12.15: Drugs Saved the Economy

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were “the only liquid investment capital” available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result. (The Guardian)

35 percent of American consumers plan to buy a farm grown tree for the holidays, compared to 9 percent who plan to buy an artificial Christmas tree. The Home Depot, the world’s largest retailer of Christmas trees, reports no decline in sales over last year so far. (Foxnews)

The bankers are treating President Obama like he’s just another politician who talks big but backs down from taking concrete action. And he will continue to get dissed as long as he behaves like one. (Portfolio.com)…

Recession Briefing 12.14: Free Haircuts Go Uptown

“Unemployment haircuts” have become a weekly fixture at Cora’s studio for those lucky, or unlucky, enough to qualify. All it takes is an appointment and some proof — be it a pink slip or unemployment check — to join the growing list of job-hunters hoping for a spot each Tuesday. (LA Times)

Based on data from Stimulus Watch, we find that of the jobs the administration claims to have created with stimulus funds, only some 140,765 of them were private jobs. (Reason)

Retail sales jumped 1.3% in November, according to the Commerce Department, well more than the expected increase. (CNNMoney)…

Big, and Not a Failure (Book Review)

If you’re still trying to figure out where to point the finger on last year’s financial crisis, Andrew Ross Sorkin’s “Too Big Too Fail” will offer some guidance, but not enough.

Beginning with the tightening of the credit markets in the fall of 2007, Sorkin, a New York Times reporter who heads a daily Wall Street blog called Dealbook, leverages his breadth of sources to portray a comprehensive view of the year leading up to the fall of Lehman Brothers and near-collapse of the entire financial system last fall…

The Recovery is Here… Because Online Ad Revenue is Improving

Says who: David Silverman, PricewaterhouseCoopers

“While all segments of the media industry have experienced declines, online advertising remains resilient and is once again showing signs of growth.” [via Internet Advertising Bureau report]…

The Great Recession? That’s Entertainment

Are we all taking this recession just a little too seriously? In a series of short plays debuting at the Flea Theater in New York as “The Great Recession,” times are so tough that one may contemplate killing babies for money; you may end up living in squalor with others who’ve had their Tribeca lofts foreclosed on (subsisting on nothing but “tofu pops” and no cell phone or Internet); or, egads, have to come up with a Plan B when your dad is no longer able to fund your six-month vacation to wherever. Wow—get me off this train.

To hit their point home, one play features characters who’d probably be broke and a mess anyway blaming the recession. The fetish is understood.

Except for a rocky start by an Adam Rapp vignette featuring face-painted absurdist soldiers of the new order, delighting in the opportunity to exploit the downfallen, “The Great Recession” delivers pretty good entertainment and commentary on the recession…