The 99-cent iPhone Case

How the Gizmodo did we miss this one?

During the boom, there were a few too many smartphones riding around in Louis Vuitton cases. Well, tough times call for cheap cases. Case-Mate has a “recession” iPhone case made from cardboard for just 99 cents, including shipping…

Get Your Recession Scare On

Looking for some timely Halloween costume ideas? Let the recession be your inspiration. Whether you’re dressing up as Bernie Madoff, the repo man, or a laid off CEO—now’s the time to get crafty and start planning your recession-ready party wear. And if you’ve recently been laid off, then consider it a blessing. After all, you’ll have more time to grab your glue gun and start making your own costume from scratch.

After the jump, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite recession-inspired costume ideas…

Recession Anger is Kicking In

Is it us, or do people seem a bit more…pissed off these days?

One morning last week, we were at the entrance to a New York subway station, taking photos for an article. We tried to shoot when the stairs were clear, and move out of the way when trains arrived.

One woman, who was obviously on her way to the office, wanted to go down our side of the staircase and felt we were obstructing her.

“Morons!” she said loudly as she passed, in the withering tone that Gothamites have perfected.

When the recession began, we felt a sort of camaraderie in the air. Even though–in fact, because–the economy seemed to be teetering on the edge of collapse, there was a feeling that Americans were all in it together. They were more generous, more community oriented. It seemed like everyone was a little bit nicer.

Over the past few months, there’s been more anger and aggressiveness on the street, on the subway and in stores…

5 Things We Learned From Losing Our Dream Home

On June 30, 2009, we handed over the keys to our dream home, a beautiful house on a ridge in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. We had lost the 10-month battle to save it and were headed into the unknown with nothing but the solace that we had at least avoided foreclosure — and more importantly, that we had each other. We finally got it. It took losing our dream home to profoundly ground us in what really matters and teach us that it’s possible to be happy in the face of any circumstance… even foreclosure.

Here’s what we learned along the way.

1. Love wins. In the battle between love and money, love definitely wins. I know this for fact. I had the chance to prove it…

The Recession Will End… When We All Say So

Last week, a lot of you let us know when and how the recession will be over for you in our giveaway. Not surprisingly, common themes revolved around jobs, college tuition, and real estate. These days these topics make up the recession buzz and sound almost like another headline or statistic on the recession’s status. Yet, your input brought the recession’s tensions, struggles, frustrations, and hopes to a very human level—reminders that whether we like it or not, we’re in this together.

As mom Carol Connolly said, “I will know that the recession is over when I can stop wondering and worrying if my husband or I or one of my children will lose our jobs.”…

The Origin of Downturnaround

If you want to go pointing fingers over the economic downturn, there are the usual suspects—the quants at JP Morgan, the lenders at Countrywide, AIG… Take your pick. But Bard College’s Hannah Arendt Center for Ethical and Political Thinking wants to consider it more broadly. In a (free, mostly) conference next week at its campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, the issue will be viewed as a “Burden of Our Times.”

Topics to be explored include the role that fundamental human greed, and not just the modern kind, played in leading us to the brink of a second Depression. Experts in consumer culture, risk and chance will discuss. Also on the agenda…

Thrift Today, Gone Tomorrow

The global recession that began in 2007 revived Americans’ interest in an old-fashioned virtue: thrift. And some say it will last — but history says otherwise.

Thanks to shriveling job and stock markets and plummeting real estate values, saving money have become all the rage, and Americans en masse are re-using their tin foil, cutting coupons and boasting about their thrift-store bargains. (Read 13 Thrift Store Shopping Tips.) Conspicuous consumption is out, conspicuous frugality is in. Economists and pundits have pronounced the arrival of a new era – the era of like-it-or-not thrift.

Over the last few months, we’ve seen signs that the economy is perking up. The housing market is leveling out, growth in parts of Asia and Europe has been surprisingly robust, and many forecasters expect the U.S. economy to grow in the second half of the year. (Though Some Smart People Say We’re Still Kinda Screwed.)

Even during periods when thrift was framed as a virtue, it turned out to be a virtue Americans couldn’t wait to relinquish.

But one important piece of the puzzle – consumer spending – has remained stubbornly low, and economists and policy makers worry that consumption won’t ever climb back to pre-recession peaks…

Love in the Time of Layoff: Recession Helps Relationships Take Root

Timing-wise, it wasn’t the most promising beginning.

He was headed to the opposite coast. But the thousands of miles of separation was the least of our potential problems.

We started dating in the midst of one of the most stressful periods in both of our lives. I had just been laid off from a job I loved, and my industry seemed to be imploding. He would be gone for an unspecified period of time to reorganize his company and — he hoped — keep it from going under.

We were worried about money and questioning our careers. One of us had been stripped of title and paycheck, and was adjusting to a new identity. The other was wondering whether the enterprise he had built from scratch could survive the year…

I’m pretty certain that I would still be carrying on my relationship if I hadn’t lost my job. But it probably would have progressed more slowly. The downturn not only gave us more time and flexibility, it allowed us to see each other clearly and refocus our values.

Recession Lexicon: Dumpies

n./ Downwardly mobile professionals. Closely related to nouveau poor.

The recession has created a class on the flip side of yuppie, comprised of people who are canceling gym memberships, moving from big cities back to home towns, and shopping with coupons at Bed, Bath & Beyond instead of Bergdorf’s. (If they’re shopping at all.)…

Love in the Time of Layoff: Unemployment Jacked Up My Libido

Up until recently, if anyone had bothered to ask about my sex drive (which they never did), I would have said it was normal. I enjoyed sex as much as the next woman. But like many urban professionals, I was often too busy thinking about, say, the implications of some new regulation to give much thought to the sexual impulses that spiraled through my brain each day like dust motes.

Now that I have traded in my dry-cleaned, button-down, inoffensively colored work shirts for a set of neon green pajamas, the dust is gathering attention.

If I’m any example, unemployed girls do it better–or at least they want to do it more. Layoff has sent my libido to frenzied new heights…