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 7.15

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

More than half of executive-level job seekers think the recession has been good for their children, as a lesson that opportunity will not be handed to them. (Reuters)

Buoyed by some positive forecasts, Daniel Gross is ready to call an end to this whole recession thing. (Slate)

Marion Maneker wonders whether our culture of narcissism unleashed the boom — and thus the recession. (The Big Money)

Recession Briefing 6.22

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

More women are turning to sex work in the bad economy. Strip clubs, X-rated Web cam companies and escort managers across the country have reported an increase in job applications in the last several months — ironically, at the same time that business is largely going down. (Salon)

Healthcare without insurance is like construction without power tools. It can be done, but it will take longer and require a lot more effort. And at times you’ll feel like you’re hammering your thumb. (Los Angeles Times)

Some people are handing over vintage toys, sets of dishes, baseball cards, furniture and clothes to auction houses and online auction sites hoping to generate cash. (New York Daily News)

Recession Briefing 6.18

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

Want to hedge against the downturn by investing in precious metals? In Germany, shoppers will soon be able to buy gold from vending machines. (Daily Telegraph)

More than 40 communities across the country have canceled their Fourth of July fireworks, conceding that shooting off a colorful array of explosives is now a luxury that borders on wasteful. (Washington Post)

Cash-strapped and unemployed New Yorkers are meeting job contacts on the fly, in nontraditional settings, outside of their professional networks. (New York/Daily Intel)

Recession Briefing 6.17

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

New analysis of job market data finds that Phoenix, Ariz., is where college graduates have the best chance of finding work in the current economy. (BusinessWeek)

Even sex is selling for less as a result of the recession: clubs and brothels in Europe have been offering discounts and other special offers to drum up business. (Associated Press)

President Barack Obama yesterday predicted that the unemployment rate would reach 10% this year. (Bloomberg)

The economic downturn is redefining retirement for many baby boomers. After losing jobs during what they thought would be some of their peak earning years, many are struggling to get back into the workforce. (USA Today)

A report from the State Department says the recession is causing a rise in human trafficking around the globe. (USA Today/On Deadline)

Forget about all the fired workers: What we really need to know is how New York’s super-rich hedge fund wives are learning to cope with the recession. (Times of London)

Economists advising the American Bankers Association said the U.S. recession will end in the third quarter, but lingering high unemployment and large federal deficits may pose a longer-term threat. (Reuters)

Whither the “American Dream?” Some families discover that cutting back from the boom’s excesses isn’t such a bad thing. (ABC News)

Banks continue to write off credit card debt as consumers hurt by record high unemployment default at an increasing rate. (CNN/Money)

“If our economy picks up too quickly, price cuts for food, real estate, and consumer goods due to the recession will fizzle quickly and be replaced by soaring inflation,” worries Boonie Erbe. (U.S. News & World Report)

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.

Recession Briefing 6.2

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

Could the plummeting economy be contributing to expanding waistlines? Something is: new data shows that in the past year the number of Americans considered obese has jumped by 1.7 percent. (Newsweek)

Spend wisely now and you’ll save a bundle over what things will cost once the recession lifts. Here are 10 things to buy now — before they get more expensive. (Time)

Fresh signs emerged Monday that the recession is letting up. “What looked like a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel is now starting to look like a beacon,” said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research. (Associated Press)

Recession Briefing: 06.01.09

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

General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today as part of the Obama administration’s plan to shrink the automaker to a sustainable size. (Associated Press)

Paul Krugman is blaming the recession on the economic policies begun in the early 1980s during the Reagan Administration. (New York Times)

Hugo Lindgren talks to a wide variety of economic forecasters to try and determine whether the “downturnaround: is real. They didn’t agree on much.(New York Magazine)

Recession Briefing 4.14

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

Six months after taking a $10 billion bailout from the government, Goldman Sachs has posted a profit and is hoping to return the money — not least in order to escape heightened government scrutiny. (New York Times)

White House economic adviser Christina Romer expects that there will be more job losses in the coming months. Still, officials are detecting “small little signs that maybe some parts of the economy are stabilizing.” (Associated Press)

With the recession digging deep into Americans’ pockets, there is likely to be a large upswing in the number of first-time delinquent taxpayers. (Reuters)

Prices paid to U.S. producers fell unexpectedly in March after two months of gains, indicating the recession is keeping inflation under control. (Bloomberg)

If you come across a good article or blog post about the recession pass it on.

Recession Briefing 4.13

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

GM has been told by the Treasury Department to lay the groundwork for a possible bankruptcy filing, despite the company’s claims that it can reorganize outside of court. (New York Times)

$80k for a year of not working? New York law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is offering some employees the possibility of taking a year off for one-third of their salary. (New York Times)

James Surowiecki looks at the strategies companies employ during a recession, and which are most likely to pay off. “Although deep pockets help in a downturn, recessions nonetheless create more opportunity for challengers, not less,” he writes. (The New Yorker)…

If you come across a good article or blog post about the recession pass it on.

Recession Briefing 3.25

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

President Barack Obama went on prime-time television last night to argue that the many efforts he is making to turn the economy around are beginning to take root. “We are beginning to see signs of progress, he said. (BusinessWeek)

“Would you like 10 more three-day weekends per year?” asks Frank Ahrens. “Would you still take them if the third day was unpaid — and if your alternative was getting laid off?” (The Big Money)

The financial devastation of the past year has wreaked havoc on many nest eggs, making money conversations between adult children and their aging parents more important than ever. (Wall Street Journal)