recession

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Saks' Deep Price Cuts Changed All the Rules

Even high-end shoppers have gotten a taste for bargains

(Newser) - When Saks Fifth Avenue slashed prices 70% in November to kickstart a stalled holiday shopping season, it changed the rules for the entire luxe market, reports the Wall Street Journal. Retailers like Neiman Marcus and Barney's followed suit, putting an end to the unwritten deal the stores had with designers:...

Blame Obama for Botched Stimulus
Blame Obama for Botched Stimulus
OPINION
Feb 9, 2009 7:27 AM CST

Blame Obama for Botched Stimulus

President's hunger for bipartisan support led to disaster: Krugman

(Newser) - Even if the Obama stimulus package had been enacted in its original $800 billion form, writes Paul Krugman, it wouldn't have plugged the hole in the American economy. Yet the "centrists" who cut it down have taken out some of its best provisions, like aid for state governments,...

Salmonella Scare Rattles Peanut County

Farmers report fewer contracts

(Newser) - A Georgia county that boasts a big peanut in its courthouse square is getting crunched by the salmonella outbreak, the Los Angeles Times reports. In Blakely-Early County, Ga.—the self-proclaimed "Peanut Capital of the World"—peanut plant workers are losing jobs and farmers are getting fewer contracts....

Credit-Addicted Family Faces Life on $550 a Month

On top of the list: no restaurants

(Newser) - His wife kicked him out for 9 months for overspending. Now W. Hodding Carter is helping his family try the unthinkable: living within their means. Saddled with credit-card debt after years of pricey counter tops and dreams of wealth, Carter’s family of six plans to make do with their...

It's Time for a Backup Plan
 It's Time for a Backup Plan 
Feb 8, 2009 2:50 PM CST

It's Time for a Backup Plan

Stay calm, be optimistic, or just go back to school

(Newser) - If you've gotten the ax or fear you're next, it’s time to prepare yourself without panicking, NPR reports. The American Psychological Association advises people to stay calm and make a financial plan to cope with tough times. "It's very hard, but try to stay focused in the present,...

Recession, Free Dating Sites Are Match Made in Heaven

Paid online dating sites see customers flooding to free upstarts

(Newser) - Traffic on free online dating sites has spiked, a trend fueled by the recession and by daters’ realization that finding love for free beats paying, reports BusinessWeek. “If it’s free, why would I go to Match?” asks a Florida woman who met her fiancé on PlentyofFish.com, which...

Reality Bites Starbucks Fantasy
 Reality Bites Starbucks Fantasy 
OPINION
Feb 6, 2009 3:41 PM CST

Reality Bites Starbucks Fantasy

(Newser) - Many Americans fantasized of tuning in, dropping out, and working at Starbucks, Mary Schmich writes in the Chicago Tribune, but that dream died with the economic slowdown. “Starbucks was the great American backup plan,” Schmich writes. “The emergency exit. The parachute,” fueled by the “promise...

Americans Ask: Is Anyone in Charge?
Americans Ask: Is Anyone in Charge?
OPINION
Feb 6, 2009 10:24 AM CST

Americans Ask: Is Anyone in Charge?

As Washington squabbles, citizens lose faith: Noonan

(Newser) - Americans are indulging in a strange disjunction between real life and the fate of the nation, Peggy Noonan writes for the Wall Street Journal: "Your long-term thoughts are pessimistic, and yet you're cheerful in the day to day." But as the recession gets worse and the threat of...

Pols Get Failing Grades on Economic Literacy
Pols Get Failing Grades
on Economic Literacy
OPINION
Feb 6, 2009 10:05 AM CST

Pols Get Failing Grades on Economic Literacy

Critics of stimulus spending reveal lack of economic literacy

(Newser) - Given all the "silly" arguments coming out of Washington these days, maybe we should pony up $50 million or so and let congressmen hire "economic trainers," writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post. Those who complain that the stimulus has too much spending just don't get it....

Sarkozy Disses Brown, Vows to Avoid British 'Mistakes'

Paris tries to smooth over diplomatic rift after president's interview

(Newser) - Nicolas Sarkozy used a 90-minute TV interview last night to defend his handling of the global economic downturn—and swore to avoid the "mistakes" of his frequent ally, Gordon Brown. The French president claimed the Brit's decision to cut sales tax had "absolutely not worked." This morning...

Job Losses Hit 3.6M; Unemployment at 7.6%

(Newser) - Nonfarm payrolls plunged 598,000 in January, the Labor Department announced today, bringing the total job losses to 3.6 million since the recession began in December 2007. The drop was significantly worse than analysts anticipated, and the worst since December 1974, the Wall Street Journal reports. The jobless rate...

US Women Set to Surpass Men in Labor Force

Rise of working females may change office, family life

(Newser) - As unemployment rises, the US is on the verge of a surprising milestone: for the first time, more women than men will be on the nation's payrolls. As the New York Times reports, 82% of the people who have lost their jobs in the recession are men, who have substantial...

News Corp. Posts $6.4B Loss
 News Corp. Posts $6.4B Loss 
Feb 5, 2009 5:23 PM CST

News Corp. Posts $6.4B Loss

(Newser) - News Corp., the global media giant controlled by Rupert Murdoch, said today it lost $6.4 billion in its most recent quarter because of a massive write-down in the value of its assets. The company, which owns the Wall Street Journal and Fox, also forecast a 30% drop in operating...

Small Designers Try to Ride Out Recession

As downturn bites, young designers prepare for worst

(Newser) - The beginning of the decade seemed like a golden age for ambitious American fashion. New prizes, elaborate sponsorships, and an expanded New York Fashion Week made the early 2000s the age of the young designer. But now stores are reducing their orders or folding entirely, and money is drying up,...

Jobless Claims Set Another Record

626,000 claims filed last week, far more than expected

(Newser) - New jobless claims jumped far more than expected last week in an already dismal labor market, and there's no relief in sight for workers as mass layoffs persist. The Labor Department reports that the number of laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits rose last week to 626,000 from the previous...

Credit Freeze Hits High Fliers of Commercial Real Estate

Slowdown plus tough credit slams office market

(Newser) - When the commercial real estate market was hot, the sky seemed to be the limit, and increasingly complicated financing arrangements were common. Now the combination of economic crisis and credit freeze has exposed the market's precarious underpinnings, which resemble the pitfalls that brought the residential real estate sector to its...

Busted Fatcats Have Everything —Except a Clue

High-fliers fail to realize that national mood has turned against them

(Newser) - The real problem with Tom Daschle is the $5 million he made on the post-Senate gravy train, not his unpaid taxes, Steven Pearlstein writes in the Washington Post. Daschle, John Thain, and their fellow corporate and government high fliers have run afoul of an American public that's "no longer...

Economy Takes Bite Out of Girl Scout Cookies

Higher costs force Scouts to shrink cookies, boxes to keep prices steady

(Newser) - The stingy economy has forced the Girl Scouts to downsize their boxes of cookies, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Soaring prices of flour, oil and cocoa have forced them to sell smaller Samoas and thinner boxes of Thin Mints to avoid hiking prices. Shrunken household budgets are expected to hurt this...

Cobblers in Stitches Thanks to Recession

Dwindling trade gets boost as Americans pinch pennies

(Newser) - If this recession reaches Great Depression levels, there may not be enough cobblers to go around. There are only 7,000 of them left in the US—down from 120,000 in the 1920s—and their business is piling up faster than they can manage as strapped Americans repair shoes...

When Economy Gets Tough, the Tough Go Blond

Celebrity Brit hairdresser finds clients turning to the dye bottle for cheer

(Newser) - The grim economy is causing a gold rush in Britain's hair salons, a celebrity hairdresser tells the Daily Telegraph. His sales of blond hair products have jumped 67% since last year, and he credits the sales bombshell to women looking for a quick way to cheer themselves up amid the...

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