Recession Briefing 11.05: Wearing Your Dirty Laundry

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

Some coin laundries are closing and many others are battling sales declines, asAmericans are cutting back even on their laundry costs. Some are using the home equipment of friends or relatives, while others are wearing items multiple times between washes. (Wall Street Journal)

Remember those 99-cent recession iPhone cases? Well, Case-Mate is holding a contest for artsy people who take the time to decorate them. Win a mo-ped! (Case-Mate)

Last week the Obama administration claimed the $787 stimulus program saved or created more than 640,000 jobs, but a review of those reports shows that some are simply wrong, while others contain apparently subjective estimates. (New York Times)…

Screwed: 8,000 at Johnson & Johnson

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

Today’s Total: 11,809

Johnson & Johnson plans to lay off up to 8,000 employees, affecting 6 to 8 percent of its global workforce…Royal Bank of Scotland will lay off 3,700 retail banking workers… 51 employees of the Fresno Bee‘s circulation department will lose their jobs…

Recession Briefing 10.22: Alligator Demand Sinks

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

The global economic recession is taking a bite out of an unlikely industry: the American alligator market. A drop in world demand for designer gator-skin handbags, watch straps and belts has caused an unprecedented decline in the industry. (USA Today)

The Obama administration plans to order companies that have received exceptionally large amounts of bailout money from the government to slash compensation for their highest-paid executives by about half on average. (Washington Post)…

Five hundred people applied recently for one administrative assistant job that pays $13 an hour. (New York Times)

Recession Briefing 10.19: From Middle-Class to Homeless

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

If Congress fails to pass an extension of unemployment benefits, Ricky Macoy of Quinlan, Texas plans to take it out on the Republican Party by camping on his congressman’s lawn. (Huffington Post)

Growing numbers of Americans who have lost houses to foreclosure are landing in homeless shelters. (New York Times)

The entire financial crisis in seven minutes. (YouTube/iheartwallstreet)…

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)…

Recession Briefing 10.06: Family Businesses Close, Sadly

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

After months of slow sales, many family businesses are being forced to close, ending legacies and leaving behind a wake of sad customers and loyal employees. (Wall Street Journal)

As the recession grinds on, more students are choosing to attend community colleges. Sky-rocketing university tuition, along with more reluctance to take on huge loans has spurred students to reconsider an alternative they once dismissed. (Boston Herald)

The adult entertainment industry certainly hasn’t been in freefall like the auto manufacturers, but it has felt the pinch of consumers with shallower pockets than they once had. Many agree the multibillion dollar industry is finding it harder to sell sex. (CNN)…

Recession Briefing 10.05: America is on Sale

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

There has never been a better time to be a consumer. America is on sale. The recession has caused massive job losses and hardship for millions, but it has also fostered a shoppers’ paradise. (Associated Press)

Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Sunday that the U.S. economy was “getting close” to the point where it would stop losing jobs. But he also predicted that the level of unemployment would “penetrate the ten percent barrier” and stay at the level for some time before going down. (Huffington Post)

For the first time, the average amount of time it takes fired employees to find a new job exceeds the length of their standard unemployment benefits. (Bloomberg)…

If You Love America, Keep the Money Hole Open

The Onion’s video about America’s money hole (the place where we like to throw all our money, sometimes adding gasoline and a light) is funny, but dated.

Or is it?

This week on Slate’s The Big Money, Heidi Moore argues that the next entity the government needs to bail out is the government itself. …

Recession Briefing 9.25: Recession Movie Premieres

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

Filmmakers Austin and Brian Chu drove through all 50 states — covering 30,000 miles — to make a recession-themed road film. About 300 or 400 hours of video have been boiled down to “The Recess Ends,” a 68-minute documentary that premieres next week. (San Francisco Chronicle, The Recess Ends)

It may be the digital age, but when it comes to pinching pennies, most consumers are opting for a method that is well over a 100 years old: the paper coupon. (New York Times)

The recession has had little impact on humanity’s over-consumption of resources, says a report. (BBC)

Recession Briefing 9.23: Candy is Dandy in Downturn

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

In a broad recession-related shift, many Americans have lost their taste for fancy cars, clothes and vacations, but their appetite for candy, it seems, only has become more pronounced. (San Francisco Chronicle)

The recession is apparently prompting more women to try to delay having babies, according to the first survey aimed at documenting the effects of the economic downtown on childbearing. (Washington Post)

The recession is complicating job hunts — and the lives — of two-career couples, particularly when one lands an offer out of town. The search for employment is forcing more couples into long-distance relationships. (Wall Street Journal)…