recession

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Intel Unveils High-Speed Chip

(Newser) - Intel has rolled out a new chip for servers that will more than double the effectiveness of systems but consume no extra power, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Xeon 5500 excels at “virtualization,” allowing multiple operating systems and applications to run on one server—which Intel hopes...

Uptick in Mass Murders Could Be Linked to Economy

(Newser) - The recent spate of shootings could point to a link between violence and the faltering US economy, the Christian Science Monitor reports. “Most of these mass killings are precipitated by some catastrophic loss, and when the economy goes south, there are simply more of these losses,” said criminologist...

How the US Became a Banana Republic
 How the US Became 
 a Banana Republic 
GLOSSIES

How the US Became a Banana Republic

America is a textbook IMF case—but one without a solution

(Newser) - As chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, MIT professor Simon Johnson saw a pattern in bankrupted countries from Argentina to Indonesia: "The powerful elites within them overreached in good times and took too many risks." The current US crisis, Johnson writes in the Atlantic, is "shockingly...

Obama: G20 Will Prepare World for Recovery

Upbeat prez dismisses rift with Europe over need for stimulus

(Newser) - Barack Obama voiced optimism for a global deal at this week's G20 summit in London and downplayed talk of a split between the US and Europe, in his first interview with a foreign publication, the Financial Times. Saying that "we need stimulus and we need regulation," the president...

Posh Eateries Uncork Deals in Downturn

(Newser) - High-end eateries are rolling out three-course deals and wine specials to lure America's hungry in hard times, CNN reports. "A year ago, to be honest, I didn't have to hit that three-course menu at $35 a head," said a Manhattan restaurateur whose business is down 20%. "...

Pinched Fathers Plead for Break in Child Support

Modification cases flooding courts across the country

(Newser) - Newly unemployed fathers have begun flooding courts across the country for reductions in child support payments, the New York Times reports. The faltering economy is prompting judges to decrease payments, angering financially strapped mothers and forcing families to go on welfare, apply for food stamps, and face possible eviction. “...

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...

'Tentative' Signs Point to Healing US Economy

But changes on paper may take time to hit pockets

(Newser) - Next month, the US recession is set to become the longest since the Great Depression, but the Wall Street Journal, in the first up-beat prediction in months, musters “tentative” signs that things could be turning around. Consumer spending and sentiment rose in February, the housing market is looking more...

Downturn Dulls Gem Trade's Gleam

Effects felt worldwide as Americans stop buying bling

(Newser) - The worldwide slowdown in spending is making for rough times in all facets of the jewelry business, reports the Washington Post. More than a thousand jewelers in the US—which buys almost half the world's polished diamonds—have gone bust, and the effects are being felt from the mines of...

Recession Dents Party Coffers
 Recession Dents Party Coffers 

Recession Dents Party Coffers

Fundraising unusually low for this point in the cycle

(Newser) - With recession raging and without a campaign to attract attention, donations to both political parties have fallen, reports the Washington Post. Donations to the six major party committees are off 26% from the same period 2 years ago. “People are feeling it,” an energy executive told Rep. Chris...

Safety Nets Help Europe Resist Stimulus
Safety Nets
Help Europe
Resist Stimulus
ANALYSIS

Safety Nets Help Europe Resist Stimulus

Protections for workers put in place long ago may lessen the need

(Newser) - Ahead of next week's G20 summit, the US and Europe are engaged in a major dispute over the best way to end the global recession: Washington wants more stimulus, while Germany and other EU nations say they've done enough. One overlooked factor in the debate, writes Nicholas Kulish in...

Google Cuts 200 Jobs
 Google Cuts 200 Jobs 

Google Cuts 200 Jobs

Search king slashes sales jobs as recession shrinks revenue

(Newser) - Google is cutting 200 sales and marketing positions to save costs as companies worldwide slash their online advertising budgets, Bloomberg reports. Company officials hope the trims will also help streamline the decision-making process. The jobs will be eliminated globally, and employees have been encouraged to seek new positions within the...

Economy Sees Law Firms Defer New Hires

(Newser) - The sluggish economy has more law firms deferring offers of positions to graduating law students, Time reports. The idle young lawyers join more than 3,000 attorneys who have lost jobs since January 2008; the industry is expected to earn up to 10% less this year than last. One upside:...

Times Cuts Salaries, Jobs; Post Offers More Buyouts

(Newser) - The economic crisis and outdated business models are forcing steep cuts at three venerable news organizations. The New York Times today announced a 5% pay cut for all employees, who were offered 10 extra days off as compensation, "in a spirit of shared sacrifice and as a way to...

Vet Bills Force Families to Euthanize Pets

Tough times make care harder to justify; few have animal insurance

(Newser) - The recession is having some tragic consequences for family pets. Experts say owners are delaying care, opting out of pricey treatments, and putting down pets they’d otherwise save, MSNBC reports. One shelter has seen a 20% jump in admittances. “They come straight from the vet and say, ‘...

Commercial Real Estate Crisis May Rival '90s Disaster

(Newser) - Commercial real-estate borrowers are defaulting on their loans at an ever-faster pace, and experts now believe the crisis could match or exceed the early-1990s slump, the Wall Street Journal reports. That catastrophe killed off 1,000 banks and savings institutions, with lenders taking $48.5 billion in charges. This time,...

Tent Cities Sprout Across US
 Tent Cities Sprout Across US 

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...

Recession a Long-Term Bummer for SoCal, Dude

(Newser) - The recession hit Southern California earlier and harder than almost any other part of the country—and it’s likely to linger a lot longer too, Steve Pearlstein writes in the Washington Post. The area played a “central role in the Bubble Economy,” and now, being the “...

Arson Catches Fire as Car Insurance Fraud Climbs

(Newser) - Car owners sideswiped by the economy have spurred a nationwide wave of arson and abandonment—last-ditch attempts to collect on insurance, the Wall Street Journal reports. Auto arson claims rose 6% nationally in 2008; in some particularly speculative states, the rate jumped as much as 18%. “Lots of desperate...

Obama: Budget Is Key to Economic Recovery

(Newser) - President Obama took to the primetime airwaves last night to make the case that his economic recovery plan is showing "signs of progress," the Washington Post reports. "We will recover from this recession," he asserted, emphasizing repeatedly that his budget is "inseparable" from that recovery,...

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