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No Crisis in This Country
Ever since I left Manhattan for the quiet country life two years ago, I’ve missed the feeling of being in the center of the action: Buying the latest boots or colorful trench or micro-mini the morning it hits the stores, knowing about the hot new book before it’s on shelves because I met the author at a cocktail party, swapping ideas that just may become the next cultural trends. But being on the periphery is much more appealing these days. In New York City, everyone is talking recession. In New Paltz, the village up the Hudson where I live, everyone is discussing seed catalogues and tire chains and the estimated date for the last freeze.
The recession just isn’t happening with the same force in the Catskills. Sure, housing prices are down, grocery bills are up, and my babysitter just lost her day job at a non-profit. But most people in this laid-back, outdoorsy, grow-your-own-food-then-compost-it college town didn’t make or spend much money in the first place.
2001 All Over Again
For those of us in the mid-to-late thirtysomething category, this recession has a specific discomfort to it. The recession of 2001 is still a sharp memory, and today’s turmoil rustles up primal and unpleasant memories of that year’s slump.
Recession Briefing 2.11
What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.
In A Toy Store Near You: Wall Street Victim Play Set (Cityfile)
“These poor people represent the emotions many of us went through as we watched our investments plummet to unimaginable lows and then plummet some more,” reads McPhee’s product description.
Some Banks Want to Return Government Money
(NY Times)
Goldman and Morgan Stanley would rather pay back billions in bailout money than let the feds have more say in their business.
25 Random Things, Facts, Habits, or Goals About the Recession
We think all those Notes about random things have sharked, but then we ran across this one on Facebook:
1.) You’ll begin to think back wistfully to the days when dentists commonly put in gold fillings.
2.) Working out can be loosely defined to include being laid off.
3.) Lifting weights can include carrying boxes out of your office and if you’re really stretching it that security guard next to you could be called a spotter.
The New Feel-Good Movie
It’s Friday after another long week in the recession. Boost your mood with films about these poor suckers who are far worse off than you could possibly be. Consider:
The Fly – You could be half-insect.
The Hanoi Hilton – You could be a P.O.W.
Recession Lexicon: Propportunity
What you get when you look at a problem as a potential opportunity.
Redux: Will the Recession Spark a Music Revolution?
Little known fact: Many of America’s quintessential cultural elements – the hamburger, the hotdog, Hollywood, baseball, horse-racing and rock-and-roll, to name a few – can be traced to Great Depression. We’ve been shocked into recalling that financial markets feature cycles of contraction and expansion. But culture does, too. Oddly, these cycles appear to be inverted. When the market contracts, culture seems to expand. Innovators emerge, values shift, and tastes change. People begin to play outside the box.
Recession Lexicon: Pre-Fired
We have plenty of synonyms for losing one’s job: laid off, fired, canned, made redundant, eliminated, dismissed, pink-slipped, discharged, and my personal favorite from a friend: “squirted out of the company.”
But new times demand new words, to describe concepts and situations we’ve never encountered before—like losing your job before you’ve even started it.
The Book Reporter: Crash Proof
Peter D. Schiff deserves a gold medal, while most of us deserve a dunce cap. Schiff, an economic commentator and stockbroker, was once dubbed “Mr. Doom” and “Chicken Little” by the media for his dire warnings about the real estate bubble and the shaky state of the American economy.
Nearly Free Art
Many of us are spending more time in our homes just as we have less to spend on our homes. Happily, there are creative ways to spiff up your walls without breaking out the college posters. Here, four works of art that practically cost pennies.
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