Gawker
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New Depression
539,000 people lost their jobs in April. Atrocious figure, but fewer than in March.
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cars
Important Auto Industry News
"[White House National Economic Council Director Lawrence] Summers owns a 1995 Mazda Protege that's registered in Massachusetts." [Detroit News]
1,351
By PareeneComment by Moff: Well, for fuck's sake, if these people are going to save the American auto industry, they need decent cars to... 2 Responses | Other threads
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stimulus
Liveblogging Obama's Guilt Trip to Unemployment Town
Barack Obama is in Elkhart, Indiana, one of those towns where there aren't any jobs left, to shame the Senate into passing his damn stimulus bill already. More »
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By PareeneComment by drunkexpatwriter: I'd try to watch this, but I don't really care about people in flyover states. I think they are responsible... 31 Responses | Other threads
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oh no
Government Job Database Hacked
Were you looking for a job, maybe with President Obama? Hah, you just got identity thefted! USAJOBS, the government's online job database, has been hacked. More »
3,404
By PareeneComment by Aaron Altman: Dear Sir: I would Like to introduce you to the Prospect of receiving A Job with the United States of Government.... 3 Responses | Other threads
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culture wars
Obama So Far Stimulating Decades-Old Arguments
Guys have you heard about this stimulus bill? It is made up entirely of $1 trillion dollars spent on sex, filthy unreproductive sex! More »
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By PareeneComment by TorrentFreak: The point is not that it's funding "sex" that's bad but it is bad that funding that DOESN'T stimulate anything... 10 Responses | Other threads
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new york magazine
Most Amortizable of New York
In tough times we all need to cut back on frivolous expenditures. And no expenditures are more frivolous than the ones listed in New York's annual "Best of New York" issue. Except this year! More »
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By PareeneComment by TedSez: A $1.2-million apartment that will be worth $1.5 million by next ye-- Whoop, sorry -- that's from last year's list. 4 Responses | Other threads
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no depression
Tina Brown on the True Victims of the Recession
Tina Brown, author of a best-selling book on Princess Diana and editor-in-chief of a neat blogsite that is like HuffPo but without the faux-populism "anyone can blog" shtick, is really sweating this new media environment. More »
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By PareeneComment by katastic: Yes, welcome to my impoverished little world. Want some of my can of tuna fish? 4 Responses | Other threads
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history
Happy First Day of the Obama Administration
This is it! January 5, 2009: the beginning of the Obama presidency. He is on TV fixing the economy, making tough decisions, being presidential, and the inauguration is just a formality now. More »
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By PareeneComment by uninspired: Why do all politicians have to use ancient furniture? Time for some modern digs. 9 Responses | Other threads
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recessionomics
How Long Will the Greatest Depression Be?
When does a recession turn into a depression? When economists start getting fired! Since the experts can't even agree on how long this downturn will last, let's hope that starts happening soon.
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By Owen ThomasComment by ADismalScience: Owen, I'm a fan, and I'm saying this because I like you - this is an unworthy post. First, I'm not... 8 Responses | Other threads
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sad things
Kathy Fuld's Recessiony $10,000 'Secret Shopping' Sprees
Fabulously rich people are nothing if not sensitive. Take Kathy Fuld, who still goes on once-a-week $5,000-10,000 shopping sprees at Hermès, but nowadays, so she doesn't offend anyone, she tries to keep quiet about it.
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Comment by contradicto: That much money and she dresses like that? Rich people frustrate me so. 9 Responses | Other threads
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don't fire sheila
Obama Money-Fixer To Fire Actual Maverick
Tim Geithner is Barack Obama's pick for Treasury Secretary, which is probably the most important job in his administration, and no one really quite knows how to feel about that. He's a Rubinite and maybe responsible for killing Lehman but also he's never been a banker, so there you go. But now apparently Tim Geithner is inexplicably going after beloved FDIC chair Sheila Bair. Not Sheila Bair! More »
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By PareeneComment by hypocriteoath: I like her but... She is not a real Maverick. Real Mavericks are from Texas and have a last name that... 6 Responses | Other threads
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change
Obama Defense: Insiders Haven't Been Inside In Years!
People criticize President-Elect Hopey Hussein McGee for promising "change" and then appointing "people with experience in Washington." At his press conference today, he was asked about all the grizzled white dudes from Washington he keeps hiring to fix the economy. As he points out, new Economic Recovery Advisory Board head Paul Volcker hasn't been anywhere near Washington in years, and board staffer Austin Goolsbee has never been to Washington, ever. Then there is an implied joke about Austin's "fresh face" or something, which gets a chuckle from the crowd, thus fulfilling Obama's "one moment of levity per press conference" mandate. A new tone!
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By PareeneComment by SkidooNevada: Who thinks that an Econ prof at U of Chicago is an "outsider"? On the other hand, George Will likes... 5 Responses | Other threads
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money
Obama Appoints Tall Man to Save Economy
Hey, Barry Obama had his third press conference in three days. This one was about introducing his Economic Recovery Advisement Board, headed by Paul Volcker, founding member of the Trilateral Commission and former Fed Chair under Carter and Reagan. He's very tall which is reassuring in these dark times. Volcker is also not a Clintonite! He is a Carterite. Reassuring, right? "Help is on the way," Obama said during his presser. That was John Kerry's campaign slogan so we're doomed. Obama also said he'd go shopping this Friday, but neglected to urge Americans to continue spending beyond their means on useless consumer goods, which proves he's a terrible leader. [HuffPo, Photo: AP]
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By PareeneComment by caligulash: The Volker myth that he knows how to fight inflation (by raising interest rates) may again bring about more disaster... 5 Responses | Other threads
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the panic of '08
Experts Agree: Treasury Pick Geithner Either Worst or Best Ever
Tim Geithner, the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, is the next United States Treasury Secretary. That job is suddenly more important than all the other cabinet positions, because the economy is cratering. Is he a good pick, because he's knowledgeable and not a banker and will think big? Or is he a terrible pick because he's a Rubinite and killed Lehman and the whole recession is all his fault? No one knows but many will speculate wildly. More »
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By PareeneComment by ADismalScience: His career's defining moment thus far is allowing Lehman Brothers to fail. There are a few responses I've heard about... 11 Responses | Other threads
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recessionomics
When It Sucks To Be Santa
It's hard to think of a segment of the economy not affected by the recession, but Santa? The sight of the friendly guy is usually everywhere as December nears, but his pricetag is becoming prohibitive. Apparently you weren't aware of how much a hardworking Bad Santa can take down in a typical Christmas season. Things were really, really good for Lower East Side Santa Dick Shea two years ago, according to the New York Post. He pulled in a jawdropping $30,000, a number he won't approach in 2008 even if it he sells off his reindeer and sleigh. You'll be shocked by what he expects to pull in this Christmas: More »
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Comment by Private Hangnail: So that explains the phalanx of Santas I saw working the corner near the Liberty Inn last night. Let me... 9 Responses | Other threads
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hooray
Obama Selects Money-Fixer
Barack Obama's Treasury Secretary pick made the stocks jump! We're all saved! Drudge calls New York Fed President Tim Geithner "The Man Who Can Save Economy?" (Family Love Geithner!) Geithner worked, obviously, at the Treasury Department that helped create this mess, in the Bob Rubin and Larry Summers days. His background is solid "didn't foresee this in retrospect obvious problem" economist, what with his IMF and Group of Thirty stints, just like everyone else considered for the job. Woman-hater Larry Summers will still probably do something in an Obama administration. Meanwhile comical New Mexico governor Bill Richardson will be our Commerce Secretary, because he's clearly bored in New Mexico. Hillary Clinton is still dithering about her job offer, and Obama will apparently finally announce that whole thing after Thanksgiving. -
where's your god now
Jesus Lays Off Yet More Followers
More good layoffs! Shortly after Focus on the Family announced its workforce reduction, Oral Roberts announces it's laying off 100 employees. The economy: winning the culture war for us. Related: look at that creepy campus sculpture! [Wonkette] More »
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By PareeneComment by hortense: A friend of mine from Tulsa always refers to the campus as "Six Flags Over Jesus." 6 Responses | Other threads
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hate is a luxury
Finally, Good Layoffs
Focus on the Family, the official religious arm of all that is wrong and bad in America, is laying off 149 hateful scumbags. That's 21% of their workforce! They'll all be forced to roam the streets of Colorado Springs, hopefully resorting to cannibalism or possibly having the gay sex they've always secretly longed for in exchange for the drugs they're all addicted to. Also four of the group's eight magazines will now appear only on-line. Eight magazines! Jesus! Apparently donations to Dr. James Dobson's International House of Cartoonish Intolerance are way down, on account of the Christian right being demoralized by our Muslim Terrorist President-elect. So, hey, let's all celebrate! A round of abortions on us! [UPI]
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By PareeneComment by overunderover: Do we know the departments these folks were in, and their job titles? Did they just cut customer service reps,... 8 Responses | Other threads
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meltdowns
Worldwide financial crisis may only last another eight months
The financiapocalypse? So 2008. The economy may start growing again in the second half of next year. July? That's practically next month. Too bad about your job, though: Unemployment is expected to peak at 7.7 percent in December 2009. [WSJ]
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By Owen ThomasComment by sample032: But unemployment lasts 26 weeks, right? Add that to the vacation time I have saved up, and I'm good... 1 Responses | Other threads
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videuhoh
The Obama Witch Project
Fuzzy handheld footage of Obama's first meeting with his economic team. "This is literally coming in at the moment... It's gonna be a little rough here, folks." None of the talking heads have any idea what's going on.
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By SheilaComment by BK_KT: Ummmm?? Who's the chick in the hoodie? 3 Responses | Other threads
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we're here to help
These People Will Fix Your Money
These are the men and women Barack Obama assembled today to advise him on how best to fix the cratering economy. They are a largely respected group, and though they ain't perfect—so many CEOs and so much Larry "Women Be Unable to Learn Math" Summers!—they are certainly more reassuring than the ideologues and incompetents our last guy surrounded himself with. We've identified them for your benefit and their brief bios are below. More »
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By PareeneComment by flossy: Larry Summers may be really weird looking and a total dick, but the man knows about economics. Okay so... 11 Responses | Other threads
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liveblog
Liveblogging the First President Obama Press Conference
OBAMA FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE RUNNING TEN TO FIFTEEN MINUTES LATE! That's not change we can believe in! "Before the election, he was always on time," CNN reports. Now they're playing Rush Limbaugh complaining about Rahm Emanuel on one side of the screen and an empty podium on the other. We'll update with details and eventually video! More »
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By PareeneComment by bjonston: This guy just ooooozes charm. He is going to give Clinton a run for his money. I just... 9 Responses | Other threads
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working 'with' the press
Obama Takes First Questions as President-Elect Today
At 2:30 today, President-elect Barack Obama will hold his first press conference since the election. Reporters will ask him for his magical plan to fix the miserable economy and Obama will announce that out-of-work Americans will be relocated to state-run Unicorn Ranches, or something, and the markets will rally, hooray. But he'll make no personnel announcements! Those wondering who might end up on his presidential money team could look at his current advisors, of course. More »
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By PareeneComment by Triborough: Let me say something positive - he has the good sense not to interrupt The Price Is Right. There I... 17 Responses | Other threads
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change
New Obama Website America's Last Hope For Job
Earlier today, we were sent a link to Change.gov, the amusingly named official government website of President-elect Obama's transition team. The site is a wholesale transfer of Obama's Apple-inspired fancy millennial Brand to an official White House website, which is still jarring and a bit, uh, hard to believe. The site links to Obama's acceptance speech, a blog, and, tantalizingly, jobs. Obama administration jobs!! Everyone in America needs jobs, right now, so of course now Change.gov has crashed, and it returns only an error message when you try to visit. Breaking promises already, Senator Hopey! Click for the screenshot of the New America that was too good to be true, while you endlessly refresh the page and fine-tune your resume.
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By PareeneComment by Elizabeth Bathory was Framed!!!: i think there could be a huge upswing in male cosmetic surgery now that biden is vice president all of the... 5 Responses | Other threads
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dash
Dash To Can Its Hardware Biz, License Its Web-Connected Nav OS To Other Devices
We've always been fans of the Dash Express, with its real-time web-delivered traffic monitoring and its constantly evolving app platform. Somewhat sad news today is that Dash Navigation will be pulling out of the consumer hardware business entirely and cutting 50 jobs (two-thirds of its work force)—enabling them to move toward licensing their innovative software platform to other GPS nav makers, as well as to cellphones and MID platforms in the future. But in a lot of ways, the move makes perfect sense. [Gizmodo]
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By John MahoneyComment by Veeber: aw crap, I just bought one on their $100 off special at Amazon. Oh well, here's to hoping the service... 2 Responses | Other threads
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desperate housewives
Wall Street Wives Make The Economic Crash Worthwhile
It's the story we never get tired of hearing, and today the Los Angeles Times has it. The wives of Wall Street executives are having to scale back spending in the wake of poor economic times, and their mild suffering can become our immoral enjoyment as the previously pampered significant others have to tell their children, "Daddy can't buy you a Sea Doo watercraft this year." More »
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Comment by ae38: On the one hand, its easy to point to people who have lived charmed lives and laugh at their being... 24 Responses | Other threads
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gallery
The Greatest Depression, as Seen on the Covers of The Economist
It's always fun to get slammed by a disaster and then to look back and discover that some people had been warning you about it forever. Well, The Economist has been publishing scary covers warning of DOOM for years, and they are compiled in a nifty slide show here. We've put together a tasty little sampler after the jump. More »
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Comment by Ogiri W Surie: Pretty soon it'll be time to wall off the city and dump all the criminals here. Was it also a prescient... 7 Responses | Other threads
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goodbyes
Hedge Fund Manager to Wall Street: See Ya, Suckas!
There's nothing like a truly excellent goodbye letter. One case in point is a rambling missive to the world from former hedge fund manager Andrew Lahde, who closed shop last month after deciding that it was just too risky to keep doing business with banks. Specifically, he calls out the, "low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America." More »
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Comment by Brooklyn Battery: Just so it's not lost here - his fund had returns of 870 percent last year. 2 Responses | Other threads
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the panic of '08
The Depression's Most Innocent Victims: Mimes!
With money scarce, locals and tourists alike have stopped tossing their spare change and loose dollars to New York City's famed street performers. When every last penny has to be preserved for booze, tranqs, and anti-anxiety drugs, people are simply not splurging on curbside entertainment like they used to. Even that silver statue/robot dude from Times Square and the South Street Seaport is feeling the pinch. The performer, who calls himself Orange Mime, testifies, "The economy has definitely affected my earnings as a street performer. I am a living statue (silver/gold robot guy) and I have noticed a significant loss in recent weeks... I only hope it gets better for December because that is usually my best month." More »
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Comment by Aaron Altman: Dear Silver Surfer / Silver Dollar / Silver Spurs / Hi Ho Silver / One Troy Ounce Silver / Joel... 4 Responses | Other threads
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the panic of '08
Rating The Media Winners (And Losers)
Although the business media can't sell any ads during an economic meltdown like the one we're having now, it sure is a great chance for reporters to make names for themselves. Business reporters absolutely live for the periodic destruction of the American economy. This is their Normandy! After the jump, we survey the media landscape and pick out the winners and losers—all your favorites, from Paul Krugman to Jim Cramer, ranked on a merciless 10-point scale!
More »
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Comment by Cannot Find Server: NPR's been knocking it out of the park too. The "This American Life" that explained everything two weeks ago (entitled,... 3 Responses | Other threads
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halloween
Prepare For The Lamest Halloween Ever
Man, Halloween is going to suck this year. A hollow-eyed populace, hobbled by the Wall Street meltdown and unable to afford real costumes, will just wander the streets aimlessly, their kids draped in old bedsheets or festooned with cardboard cutouts in the rough shape of a pirate hat, begging their poverty-stricken neighbors for a boiled egg or a pinch of precious table sugar. Even the corporate bloodsuckers—who normally use Halloween as a marketing opportunity, to drain every last cent out of us in order to blow it on worthless Candy Corn futures—can see what's happening. The only monster this year is ourselves: More »
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Comment by BookishLookish: You kooky kids and your conceptual costumes! Every year I go as Marie Antoinette and I always seem to get cake.... 11 Responses | Other threads
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the panic of '08
Crash Has Wall Streeters Lighting Up
While some shell-shocked banking douches are selling blow-jobs as a way to cope with the economic meltdown, others are turning to more pedestrian methods to ease their stress. Namely, they're smoking their lungs out. Now that their hopes and dreams are dead, there's not much point to looking after their health, and they can be found puffing away all over the financial district like metalheads behind the high school bleachers. "Before the turmoil, says [Erick] Giliberti, a manager at Deloitte who works with mortgage-backed securities, I was maybe a pack a week.' Now? 'Probably double that...I can't stare at my computer screen anymore and watch the market collapse in front of me—I just want to get away from it.'" More »
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Comment by Ogiri W Surie: A pack a week? Pshaw! Get back to me when you're reached journalism numbers, soon-to-be unemployed financionados. 4 Responses | Other threads
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the panic of '08
That Bailout Deal? Nevermind.
The $700 billion bailout that leaders of Congress ran out in the middle of the night to shout about, maybe isn't happening after all. Dealbreaker reports that Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich is now telling the press that the bailout plan just doesn't have the votes to get through Congress. "I will tell you right now I don't know if they have votes...If the votes were there, this would be on the floor [...] None of this has been subject to a critical analysis. We haven't had access to the books to the people who are claiming they are going broke. They rushed this Congress into the Iraq resolution and look what happened. Catastrophe for this nation as well as for the people of Iraq." After the jump, video of Kucinich blowing his lid over the proposal on the House floor this afternoon. More »
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Comment by ADismalScience: Oh boy. And gun-shy politicians have us on the edge of the unthinkable. This is quite a gamble... 10 Responses | Other threads
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meltdowns
Silicon Valley scratches its head as Wall Street implodes
NEW YORK — And then there were none. Did you read that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are turning into boring old moneylenders, leaving Wall Street without any investment banks? Few in the Valley will weep; the investment banks abandoned tech long ago. The handful of investment bankers left in San Francisco and Palo Alto handle private placements and wealth management. IPOs? Are you kidding? Even the M&A deals going on are too small to attract New York's attention. The main worry on the left-behind coast is that Wall Street will drag the economy down, and take tech spending with it. Not that anyone is admitting it. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by goodstory77: Bailout is the new black this autumn. more » | Other threads
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usa! usa!
Snippy Eurotrash Gloating Over American Recession
Not to use that hacky old line about saving all their asses in WWII and leaving them free to invest in things other than standing armies for the last 60-plus years, but Europe is just laughing its delicate ass off at us now that we're in financial trouble. The little bastards. "They list greed and Greenspan among the culprits, and there are comparisons to . . . Albania. But amid the gloating, there is fear for financial systems in Britain, Spain, Italy and elsewhere. It's a rare day when finance officials, leftist intellectuals and ordinary salespeople can agree on something. But the economic meltdown that wrought its wrath from Rome to Madrid to Berlin this week brought Europeans together in a harsh chorus of condemnation of the excess and disarray on Wall Street. The finance minister of Italy's conservative and pro-U.S. government warned of nothing less than a systemic breakdown. Giulio Tremonti excoriated the 'voracious selfishness' of speculators and 'stupid sluggishness' of regulators. And he singled out Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, with startling scorn." More »
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Comment by Baroness: Sometimes lately I wonder. Your last graf mentioning Euro Fascism.. it's not impossible something similar could happen here. If... 16 Responses | Other threads
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stats
Take this job and love it, if you're working there any more
Scorelogix, a research firm which has created an index of job security, says — no surprise! — that the chances of keeping your job dropped again in August. This was before this week's six-figure layoffs, mind you. The good news? There are some industries where job security is rising. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by SquirrelMaster: I knew I should have listened to those commericals that told me to go back to school and be a... more » | Other threads
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art
Dead Animals in Formaldehyde Sell For Millions, But Not Everyone's Happy
The huge sum of $125 million for animal-loving British artist Damien Hirst's London Sotheby's auction set a new record for a sale of a single artist's work, which should be a relief for the contemporary art market. "Golden Calf," a bull suspended in a tank of formaldehyde, sold for $18 million and also became the highest price of a Hirst sold ever. "The Kingdom," a shark also preserved in formaldehyde, sold for $17 million. But it isn't good news for everyone in the art world. What's really significant about the sale is that Hirst is selling over two hundred of his works to Sotheby's directly. This cuts his dealer completely out of a commission, which may be great money for Hirst and the art market, but is a bad precedent to set for gallerists—all the time they spent supporting young artists, only to be abandoned when they hit big. More »
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By SheilaComment by Sarcastro: I work at a medical school. You want something soaked in formaldehyde? I can get you a lung, a brain.... 11 Responses | Other threads
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State of the Valley
Bracing for the big one
The Valley's latest extreme sport is feigning nonchalance about the economy. Living in an earthquake zone requires developing a habit of stoic flinchiness. The economy's seismic shifts are slower, but just as unpredictable; all one can do it shrug one's shoulders, stock the emergency kit, and keep on living. "We're watching the economy crater all around us, but ... well, we're not really seeing any direct impact," writes Tech Ticker anchor Sarah Lacy. "Making things more uneasy for those here in 2000: We didn't cause this one." Lacy's right to reach back in history for examples, but her timing is off. This is 1998 all over again. More » -
headline of the day
Breaking Economic News
America's fiscal crisis finally hits us where it hurts. We hear the prices these days are obscene. (Very special thanks to tipster A.H.) [Reuters]
economy
New York, 5:35 AM
Tue Jul 14
55 posts in the last 24 hours
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