recession depression – News Stories About recession depression - Page 7

Apr 1, 2009 4:18 AM CDT

Boss Hijackings Spike in France

Anger moves to menace as economic tensions mount

(Newser) - Worrisome "hijackings" of bosses are spiking in France, underlining the threatening tensions within a staggering economy, reports the Wall Street Journal. Workers angered by layoffs surrounded the car of Salma Hayek's retail tycoon hubby François Pinault in Paris yesterday for over an hour until they were dispersed by...

Site Reaches Out to Those Worried Sick About Money

Mar 31, 2009 9:33 AM CDT

Site Reaches Out to Those Worried Sick About Money

Addresses economy-related health issues

(Newser) - A federal agency has launched an online rescue kit for people whose mental and physical health is being wrecked by economic worries, reports Reuters. The "Getting Through Tough Economic Times" website aims to help people spot the warning signs of emotional distress in themselves and others and point them...

Recession Marks the End
of Supersized America

OPINION

Mar 28, 2009 11:11 AM CDT

Recession Marks the End of Supersized America

'Great Recession' comes as a reality check after decades of '80s-style excess

(Newser) - The recession has brought the long '80s boom to an end, but maybe a better America can emerge from the ashes of a self-destructive age of excess, Kurt Andersen writes in a Time cover story. It was plain that the years of giddy growth that started around 1983 had to...

Tent Cities Sprout Across US

Mar 26, 2009 5:08 AM CDT

Tent Cities Sprout Across US

'Hoovervilles' return as recession forces thousands from homes

(Newser) - Cities across the country are struggling to deal with mushrooming shantytowns, reports the New York Times. In a chilling echo of the Great Depression, tent cities are springing up on vacant lots in smaller cities, while homeless encampments in larger cities are burgeoning as more and more people lose their...

Iconic Depression Setting Makes Do Amid Recession

Mar 24, 2009 5:46 PM CDT

Iconic Depression Setting Makes Do Amid Recession

Could things get as bad for Sallisaw, Okla., as they did in the 1930s?

(Newser) - Many have made the parallel between the current economic slump and the Great Depression. Interested in pursuing the connection, Rafael Alvarez visited Sallisaw, Okla., an icon of the troubled 1930s as the setting of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, he writes for the Christian Science Monitor. The downturn...

As Economy Tanks, So
Does Alimony

Mar 24, 2009 9:39 AM CDT

As Economy Tanks, So Does Alimony

Wealthy argue that falling assets make old settlements unfair

(Newser) - The impact of plunging asset values is making itself felt in divorce courts, reports the Daily Telegraph. Celebrities and corporate high-fliers pleading poverty have managed to wrangle reduced payments to their exes in recent months. Lawyers warn that the trend toward cut-price settlements is now becoming mainstream and urge estranged...

RI Strip Club Hosts Job Fair

Mar 20, 2009 12:22 PM CDT

RI Strip Club Hosts Job Fair

Establishment hopes to attract 'new faces' to adult industry

(Newser) - A prominent Rhode Island strip club is betting that long spells of unemployment will attract newcomers to the adult entertainment industry, the Providence Journal reports. The Foxy Lady is even hosting a job fair tomorrow, looking to hire up to 25 new dancers, bartenders and bouncers. Unemployment in Rhode Island...

French Demand
for Sex Toys Fizzles

Mar 17, 2009 8:25 AM CDT

French Demand for Sex Toys Fizzles

Worried consumers cutting kinky goods from their budgets at exotic fair

(Newser) - The economic downturn has thrown cold water on France's usually robust demand for sex toys, lingerie, and other naughty goods, Reuters reports. Organizers of the world's largest erotic fair, which opened near Paris last week, say that while attendance is still healthy, sales of kinky products are down around a...

Give Summers'
Genius More Leeway

OPINION

Mar 16, 2009 3:13 PM CDT

Give Summers' Genius More Leeway

To combat crisis, perhaps Obama's economic genius should be given free reign: Scheiber

(Newser) - The most common worry over Larry Summers’ directorship of President Obama’s economics advisory council has been that his hard-charging intellectual style would alienate politicians the administration needs, writes Noam Scheiber in the New Republic. But considering Summers’ experience as Clinton’s Treasury Secretary, as well as his prescient 1991...

Recession Blues Rot Big Apple

OPINION

Mar 16, 2009 11:45 AM CDT

Recession Blues Rot Big Apple

(Newser) - Sure, people everywhere are suffering from the recession, but most of the country is managing to deal with it. Not New York. The Big Apple is “perpetually freaked out,” writes Hugo Lindgren in New York. The city is so packed with people, Lindgren theorizes, that it’s “...

Volunteer Boom
Becoming a Burden

Mar 16, 2009 9:48 AM CDT

Volunteer Boom Becoming a Burden

Charities overwhelmed by would-be free workers

(Newser) - As more people lose jobs, they’ve got hours to fill—and many are turning to volunteer work, looking to do good and perhaps network, the New York Times reports. But organizations have been so flooded that many have had to put would-be helpers on waiting lists—and for some,...

In Barren Job Market,
to Get a Job, Create One

Mar 14, 2009 9:43 AM CDT

In Barren Job Market, to Get a Job, Create One

Recession becomes the mother of invention for would-be businesspeople

(Newser) - New businesses are sprouting up across America as unemployed people running out of time and money decide that the only way to get a job is to create one, the New York Times reports. Economists say now is the time in the downturn cycle when "forced entrepreneurship" starts,...

Noonan: Maybe Wall Street Was High on Xanax

OPINION

Mar 13, 2009 7:39 AM CDT

Noonan: Maybe Wall Street Was High on Xanax

Maybe money men were hopped up on anti-depressants

(Newser) - Peggy Noonan has a novel explanation for the crash (“or the great recession, or the collapse—it’s time it got its name”): What if the bankers were all hopped up on happy pills? Antidepressant use became widespread in New York after 9/11, she notes in the Wall ...

18% of US Wealth
Up in Smoke Last Year

Mar 13, 2009 6:36 AM CDT

18% of US Wealth Up in Smoke Last Year

Fed figures show $11 trillion was wiped out Americans' net worth last year

(Newser) - Last year's stock market and housing slumps wiped out nearly a fifth of the wealth of American families, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Federal Reserve announced yesterday that $11 trillion—more than the output of Britain, Germany and combined—was erased from the net worth of households in 2008,...

US Household Wealth
Falls Record $5.1T

Mar 12, 2009 2:19 PM CDT

US Household Wealth Falls Record $5.1T

Combined five-quarter drop is nearly as big as US GDP for 2008

(Newser) - The wealth of US households fell at a record pace in the last quarter of 2008, as drops in home values and stock prices accelerated, Bloomberg reports. Net worth for households and non-profits fell $5.1 trillion to $51.5 trillion, nearly twice the decline between the second and third...

Wall Street's Woes Hit Sesame Street

Mar 12, 2009 2:51 AM CDT

Wall Street's Woes Hit Sesame Street

Drop in donations forcing round of layoffs at Sesame Workshop

(Newser) - The recession is pushing Sesame Street closer to Skid Row, reports the Financial Times. The educational foundation behind the TV show and a variety of community programs is laying off a fifth of its 355 staff. The Sesame Workshop has been hit hard by market turmoil eroding its investments and...

Unemployment
Hits 10% in 4 States

Mar 11, 2009 1:56 PM CDT

Unemployment Hits 10% in 4 States

California, Michigan, South Carolina and Rhode Island lead jobless statistics

(Newser) - Four states—California, South Carolina, Michigan, and Rhode Island—registered unemployment rates above 10% in January, and the national rate is expected to hit double digits by year-end. The US Labor Department's report on state unemployment, released today, showed the increasing damage inflicted on workers and companies from a recession...

Russia Touts 'Crisis Diet' for Cash-Strapped Citizens

Mar 11, 2009 12:30 PM CDT

Russia Touts 'Crisis Diet' for Cash-Strapped Citizens

Government urges return to traditional foods, for thrift and nutrition

(Newser) - Russia enjoyed the recent boom as much as any other country, as high gas prices funded quick economic expansion and citizens took a liking to Western foods such as burgers, pizza, and potato chips, Time reports. But with commodities cheap, credit crunched, and unemployment rising, Moscow is recommending a new...

'Hidden Homeless'
Turn to Motels

Mar 11, 2009 9:48 AM CDT

'Hidden Homeless' Turn to Motels

Recession forces middle-income families into uncomfortable new quarters

(Newser) - As the economy leaves people without the income they need to afford a mortgage or monthly rent, more and more families find themselves checking into motels for indefinite stays. While they may be a step above homeless shelters, motels bring with them a unique set of problems as long-term stopgaps,...

Recession's Latest Victim:
Maternity Leave

Mar 11, 2009 9:11 AM CDT

Recession's Latest Victim: Maternity Leave

Struggling moms abandon plans for months, years off work with children

(Newser) - Stay-at-home moms are becoming the next casualty of the recession, the Wall Street Journal reports. Women who hoped to take several months or even years of maternity leave are now scrambling to find work or increase their hours as the family finances crumble. One mom-centric staffing agency has seen a...