Recession Briefing 10.9: Rappers Not Recession-Proof!

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

The recession is even affecting rappers like Slim Thug, their hangers-on, and those that make their bling. “I haven’t sold a single diamond-encrusted glock in about two years.” (Daily Show)

As Harvard cuts back as a result of the recession, students no longer have hot breakfasts in their dorms and varsity athletes are no longer guarantees free sweat suits. (New York Times)

Airline delays at South Florida airports have eased during the recession because fewer people are traveling and fewer planes are flying. (Miami Herald)…

A Bad Economy Can Be Good for You

Lost your job? Here’s some good news: Mortality rates are going down, since unemployed workers are less likely to catch illnesses from coworkers or be involved in commuter-related car accidents, and more likely to spend time doing healthy things like exercising in the outdoors and eating at home. That’s definitely an upside. Here’s how the recession is good for your health:

1. No more germy coworkers. Office cubicles can be a cesspool for germs, and with cases of H1N1 on the rise, this may not be such a bad time to be unemployed. Not only that, but unemployed and at-home workers are less likely to take public transportation during rush hour, reducing their chances of catching something during cold and flu season even more.

2. More incentive to quit smoking. With less discretionary income to spend on cigarettes, smoking is becoming a luxury not everyone can afford. In Great Britain, 39 percent of smokers polled said they’re planning to cut down on or quit smoking because of the economic downturn. Meanwhile, Washington State’s Tobacco Quit Line says it experienced a spike in calls during April 2009: 4,221 calls compared to 1,231 during the same time last year…

Recession Briefing 9.29: Recession’s Health Benefits

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

Living through a recession or economic downturn may be good for your health, a study on life during the Great Depression has claimed. (Telegraph)

Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking open positions in 2000. Only 2.4 million full-time permanent jobs were open in July, with 14.5 million people officially unemployed. (New York Times)

The recession has hit middle-income and poor families hardest, widening the economic gap between the richest and poorest Americans as rippling job layoffs ravaged household budgets. (Associated Press)…

$972,000 Payday for Recession-beaten Couple

Countless bloggers, reporters and plain old curiosity-seekers have crisscrossed the country in the last year to get a bead on just how the recession is playing out for the real people. We’ve covered the filmmakers behind “The Recess Ends,” run a piece by the Man in a Van project and noted the many film and TV projects focused on reflecting the recession. TheAtlantic.com‘s intrepid reporter Christina Davidson has actually compelled authorities to action with her road-trip coverage of an elderly Sacramento couple in ill health who lost their home and landed on the street. The story got the attention of the Committee for Veterans Affairs, and days later, the couple received a check for $972,000 – the amount of 18 years of military pension back pay owed them…

September Stress-Fighting Giveaway

Summer’s over, job losses aren’t, and despite Ben Bernanke’s statements this week, your 401(k) isn’t bouncing back to 2006 levels anytime soon. You could spring for a massage, but it’s way cheaper to tweet your way to some free massage cream, and convince a friend to use it on you.

We’re offering tubes of Tiger Balm’s new Neck & Shoulder Rub to two Recessionwire readers. It’s non-greasy, helps ease stiff or sore muscles, and smells like–well, like Tiger Balm.

Enter by following Recessionwire on Twitter. If you’re already a follower, tweet about an RW story of your choice…

Recession Briefing 9.10: Income Gap Shrinking

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

The downturn may finally shrink the gap between the very best-off Americans and everyone else. But if so, it won’t be by lifting up the bottom. It will be by pulling down the top. (Wall Street Journal)

Can cheap really be sexy? Laura Miller makes the case that it can. (Salon)

The recession is pushing more despondent people to call suicide hotlines. (Canadian Press)…

Is it a Mancession or Isn’t It?

A few weeks ago we wrote about the reasons we shouldn’t be crowing about the “mancession”—among them, single moms are hurting and women have less choice about their jobs.

A new survey by Decitica offers new evidence that women are worse off than men in the downturn. Sort of. The market strategy and research firm says that their poll of more than 1,000 people showed that “more women than men are depressed, scared, worried and stressed.”…

Recession Briefing 8.26: The End of Junk Mail

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

Thanks to the economic downturn and rising shipping costs, junk mail volume was down 16 percent in the nine months ending in June compared with the same period a year earlier. (Associated Press)

Karen Blumenthal writes about big-time booms and busts — and how she got caught up in the Beanie Babies bubble. (Wall Street Journal)

Build your own 360-square-foot home for less than $3000? Yup, if you’ve got a place to put it, here’s how to make one out of cob. (TreeHugger, The Year of Mud)…

Recession Briefing 8.24: Manorexia on the Rise

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession. If you come across a good article or blog post about the recession pass it on. To receive Recession Briefing in your inbox, subscribe to our daily email.

Financial fears and the recession are contributing to the rise in the number of men suffering from anorexia. (Sky News)

Obama administration officials are looking at 1937′s stalled comeback from the Great Depression for clues as to what this recession’s rebound might be like. (Wall Street Journal)

In the recession, there are a proliferation of scams that target job seekers. In addition to sham job-finding companies, perpetrators prey on the desperate by offering credit rating repairs, foreclosure rescues, and home-based businesses that aren’t legitimate. (Boston Herald)…

Recession Briefing 8.14: Bottled Water Market Washed Up

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession. (If you come across a good article or blog post about the recession pass it on. To receive Recession Briefing in your inbox, subscribe to our daily email.)

Sales of bottled water have fallen for the first time in at least five years, assailed by wrathful environmentalists and budget-conscious consumers who have discovered that tap water is practically free. (Los Angeles Times)

With Washington bickering over how to reform the health care system, many Americans are simply head to Mexico to get care they can afford. (Reuters)

Unemployed Americans are so discouraged about the prospect of finding a new job that they’re checking out of the labor force at the highest and fastest rate in nearly 10 years. Further, the recession has forced more full-time workers into part-time slots than at any time over the past 15 years. (Washington Post/The Ticker)…