Recession Briefing: Booze Gets Pricier

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

Americans’ love affair with top-shelf booze cooled last year as the recession took a toll on high-priced tipples. People drank more liquor but turned to cheaper brands, according to a report by an industry group. (Washington Post)

On Tuesday night, a new New York City reality TV show, “Job Hunt,” kicked off, starring actual job seekers. The 10-part series, which runs on the NYC Life network, tries to help New Yorkers get back on their feet if they are out of work. (Christian Science Monitor)

The number of car dealerships in the United States has been shrinking since the 1940s, and the Big Three’s recent troubles have hastened the slide. So what happens to the abandoned showrooms? Many stay vacant, but others see opportunity in the empty space. Here are some of the best examples of “recycled” dealerships in North America. (The Big Money)…

Recession Briefing: Highway Robbery on the Rise

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

Thieves are increasingly swiping tractor-trailers filled with goods, triggering a spike in cargo theft on the nation’s highways. (Wall Street Journal)

Nationally, 37 million people — about one in eight Americans — visited food pantries and soup kitchens in 2009, compared with 25 million in 2006, according to Feeding America, the national hunger-relief network that did the study. Officials say the numbers really began to skyrocket at the onset of the recession in late 2007. (Chicago Sun-Times)

President Obama’s proposals to tax and curb the activities of Wall Street have thrown an unpredictable element into the debate over financial regulatory reform. They also have touched off an intensive new round of lobbying and raised questions in Congress over whether his plan will add urgency or merely bog things down. (New York Times)…

Next Year Will Be a Better Year

When the ball drops at midnight and we say goodbye to 2009, look ahead with us at what we may hope for in 2010. All together now: We resolve to…

…get everyone (who wants one) a job. Unemployment benefits will run out for millions this year, but corporate profits are improving. Let’s turn this combo into a stronger job market.

…be a little more sure of our “recession is over” pronouncements. We’re talking about folks like Ben Bernanke, who talked of “green shoots” in March, but later pulled back from that. Or people like Larry Summers, who said that “everyone agrees the recession is over,” only to be followed up by others in the White House who softened that statement…

One Quick Look Back at a Tough Year

Did you ever think you’d talk so much about “sub-prime” and “stimulus”? Learn so many new, made-up terms, from “funemployment” to “collateralized debt obligations”? No doubt about it, 2009 was The Year of the Recession.

We dropped into the technical range for “recession” in December 2007, but it took months for all of the pieces to fall. In September 2008, Wall Street came to a standstill, and by the new year, it was still recovering. Layoffs spread through every sector of the economy at a rapid pace. For the first time since the Depression, no one no matter how rich or established was immune to the creeping clutch of joblessness, portfolio deflation, or even homelessness.

The headlines in our daily Recession Briefing, along with the personal experiences tracked on Recessionwire, revealed a new world en recession:…

Even though we dropped into the technical range for “recession” in December 2007, it took months for all of the pieces to fall. In September 2008, Wall Street came to a standstill, and by the new year, it was still recovering and layoffs were spreading through every sector of the economy at a rapid pace. For the first time since the Depression, no one no matter how rich or established was immune to the creeping clutch of joblessness, portfolio deflation, or even homelessness.

The headlines in our daily Recession Briefing, along with the personal experiences tracked on Recessionwire, revealed a new world en recession:…

Small Business 2009 Motto? What Doesn’t Kill Us…

This may be the year everyone wants to forget. Layoffs ruled, credit cut off our breath, and small businesses couldn’t catch a break. While the colossal banks on Wall Street got a bailout, many small businesses couldn’t get a loan.

Even so, the tough times can make us stronger — or at least point out what we might not want to do again. Here’s a look back at the year that was and what we learned:

You don’t need your office as much as you once thought you did. If the overhead is overwhelming—ditch it. Michael M., a small business owner in New Jersey, went virtual: Everyone worked from home, and the overhead costs were limited to warehouse space for his products…

Recession Briefing 12.21: Happy Holidays! No Foreclosures

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

Mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are suspending foreclosures and evictions for about two weeks in a temporary break for borrowers during the holiday season. (Associated Press)

In nearly 200 years of recorded stock-market history, no calendar decade has seen such a dismal performance as the 2000s. Investors would have been better off investing in pretty much anything else, from bonds to gold or even just stuffing money under a mattress. (Wall Street Journal)

The recession has accentuated what was already a growing home-energy challenge for low-income and many middle-class households across the nation. Rising numbers have had their utilities shut off, causing desperate scrambles to pay arrears and penalties to get them restored. (New York Times)…

Don’t Close Your Business, Change It

When Amy Lechelt-Basta opened her clothing boutique on Chicago’s north side in 2006, sales were strong and business was bustling. But by this past summer, things had deteriorated so rapidly that she had to close up shop. However, all was not lost, because she transitioned her skills and expertise selling clothes into a consulting business that advises individuals on their wardrobes. Take a lesson from Lechelt-Basta: When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.

If you’re one of the many business owners whose companies have been pummeled by the economy this year, you don’t have to throw the baby out with the bath water. Even if you think you’ve hit the end of your resources and are considering bankruptcy as the only option, you probably still have some tricks up your sleeve; find the hidden strengths in your business and needs of your clients and you’ll find a new market opportunity…

Yes, You Should Pre-Poach Now

You laid off a bunch of people this year. You’d love to staff back up, but you believe you can’t even think about that … not until the business improves. Right? Wrong. Now – instead of when you’re under pressure to hire – is the best time to identify and build relationships with talent.

Business expert, headhunter and founder of AskTheHeadHunter.com, Nick Corcodilos stresses that in order to effectively recruit great employees, you need to make a connection with them long before you actually need them. You need to seek out those interested in what your company offers and build relationships with those that have common interests and goals when neither you nor they are desperate. The following tips can help you attract and maintain relationships with key talent now…

Last-Minute Holiday Marketing Tips

There are just days left in the holiday shopping season, and that means your marketing efforts are getting a lot more intense. But the new rules for the changed economy say no business owners should have to unload a huge chunk of their earnings into a holiday season marketing program, even though they might have spent this way in the old days … and even if their businesses lean a lot on this time of year. So which low-cost marketing strategies yield the best results?

The following strategies represent some recession-friendly, creative ways to market your company over the next few holiday weeks…

The Recession Will End… Uh, Sure It Will

We were really disheartened by some of the data in today’s Recession Briefing:

* 23% of homeowners’ properties are underwater
* 13% of parents of adults say one or more of their grown children have moved back in
* 34.5% of black males between the ages of 16 and 24 are unemployed: these are Great Depression proportions, folks
* 17.5% of people are unemployed, according to U-6 data, which includes discouraged and part-time workers who are looking
* The Small Business Administration has run out of money to back loans issued to small businesses.
* 33,000 people were laid off from from a single employer, the postal service in Russia

Things aren’t great, and maybe even scary. In an interview with CNBC.com, one economist suggested that, “Unless you create another bubble in which the economy can create jobs, then you’re not going to have growth. That’s the sad truth.” As such, Michael Pento, chief economist at Delta Global Advisors, added that he expects more of an L-shaped recovery—prolonged pain with no sudden rebound…