Recession Dispatch from… New Orleans

What an amazing town. The people… The music… The energy… Ahh, it’s so nice and personable, and fun! I love the character in the buildings, too.

I was surprised to get so many stories in New Orleans, especially because so many people told me the city was doing well now. Upon entering the town, I spoke to a dark-skinned man who explained that a lot of the jobs that resulted in stimulus funding went to people who moved to New Orleans to fill those positions. I got the impression he was referring to light-skinned people.

This morning, I met a man from Detroit named Bernard, who lost his job manufacturing nuts and bolts for the auto industry. He moved to New Orleans to look for work, but he hasn’t had any luck. Although he maintained a professional outlook and wore respectable clothing, he explained that he is homeless for the first time. He’s been on the streets for about a month, and it’s extremely difficult, he said…

Recession Lexicon: Silver Crime

/n. Aggressive and potentially criminal backlash from the over-65 crowd angry about getting screwed by the economy. First used by a British newspaper to describe a group of German pensioners who ganged up on their financial adviser and picked up by the New York Times‘ Ben Schott. Of course, the seniors in question here lost some $3 million. State-side, there are conflicting reports on whether seniors are more vulnerable to layoffs or in fact less, since they are experienced, reliable workers.

Ex. No, Grandpa isn’t coming to Christmas this year—he was arrested for a silver crime, shaking down his broker…

Recession Lexicon: Mancession

/n. A downturn in which men are affected more than women. Several economists, including Mark Perry, a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan who coined the term, agree that men have been falling behind in several areas, from life expectancy to employment. In this recession, American Enterprise Institute scholar Christina Hoff Summers points out, 80 percent of the jobs lost were held by men, since they dominate manufacturing and construction.

Thanks to Derek Thompson at The Atlantic for uncovering the mancession trend.

Recession Lexicon: Downturnaround

/n. Describes the period when the economy stops worsening and starts improving. The term, a combination of “downturn” and “turnaround” is specific to this Recession.

Downturnaround was (we think) was first used prominently by the clever people at New York Magazine…

Recession Lexicon: Nouveau Poor

/n. Your class distinction if you used to have two private jets and now just have one. Or had to give up your Pilates class or nanny. You’re feeling poor, but really, you’re not actually poor-poor.

The term has been around for months now, and Barbara Ehrenreich, a chronicler of social change, discussed this demographic in the New York Times on July 14. The recession, she says, has been portrayed as “smudging the dizzying levels of inequality that characterized the last couple of decades and squeezing everyone into a single great class, the Nouveau Poor, in which we will all drive tiny fuel-efficient cars and grow tomatoes on our porches.”

Just as “nouveau riche” was a pretension, “nouveau poor” occupies the same distinction.

Recession Lexicon: Bridge Job

/n. Unlike many of the terms that have wiggled into our vocabulary during the downturn, this one isn’t new (or one that we invented sitting around our living rooms). Economists have used it to describe the work that people took to transition from their careers to full retirement—consulting gigs, part-time jobs, whatever. Sometimes they needed to money; other times they just didn’t want to go from 60 m.p.h. to zero.

Now, bridge jobs tide you over if you’ve been laid off and can’t find another job in your profession.

Recession Lexicon: New Words for a New Era

The world has turned truly upside down. The Dow used to be way up, now it’s down (climbing back, but still down). Your house used to be a source of pride — and value. Now it’s underwater. Job security? Forget about it. And all that shopping and spending — now, saving’s the name of the day.

As we navigate this new, sometimes foreign turf, we’re learning to speak a new language. Here are a few of the terms you’ll need to know:

Pre-Fired
n. Being dismissed from a new position before you even start. Usually because the company folds between the offer and your start date.

Bleakonomics
n. The dire forecasts, depressing warnings, and otherwise gloomy chatter that’s still brewing beneath the recent round of cheerier economic predictions…

You Say “Recession,” I Say “Spad”

In American English, we have a handful of words for the recession: downturn, slump, bust, economic collapse, financial crisis. We talk about “hard times” and “tough times.” Here at Recessionwire, we’ve used all those synonyms to death. So we decided to look beyond our borders at how our friends around the world refer to the recession. (And not so we can look smart at cocktail parties.) (Okay, maybe a little bit.) We think they sound best thrown randomly into the middle of an English sentence, using a thick, “authentic” accent…

Recession Lexicon: Brokavore

/n. Foodies who are low on cash aren’t just your ordinary brand of foodies: they’re “brokavores.” So says the brilliant new site Brokelyn, started by writer Faye Penn. A takeoff on “locavore,” someone who eats locally grown or produced food, a brokavore is “an obsessively cheap but highly discerning eater.”

ex. The brokavore sought out hot dog stands, pretzel vendors, shawarma trucks and taco joints for local delights.

Recession Lexicon: Bleakonomics

/n. “Bleakonomics” refers to the dire forecasts, depressing warnings, and otherwise gloomy chatter that’s still brewing beneath the recent round of cheerier economic predictions. The bleakonomists warn us that any sense of hope we feel is entirely unfounded. Recently, Havard’s Niall Ferguson announced that we are in a “slight depression”…