Media Frenzy Makes Recession Worse

But most remain upbeat about their future: Pew survey

(NEWSER) - The economy is doing a number on those aged 18 to 34, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center :

• Half say they have taken a job they didn't want.
• More than a third have gone back to school because of the job market.
• Nearly a quarter have taken unpaid work to gain experience.
• About a quarter have moved back in with the folks.
• More than 1 in 5 have postponed having a baby, and about the same number have put off getting married.

They're getting even more popular, with families citing savings

(NEWSER) - The dismal state of the economy has prompted more Americans to choose cremation over traditional burial services to save money, reports the New York Times . Cremations have been steadily rising in popularity since 1985 (41% now vs. 15% then) but the spike has been more pronounced in the last decade. A study last year found that one-third picked cremation mainly to save money, up from 19% in 1990. More»

Forecast sees it at 8.6% at end of 2012

(NEWSER) - If President Obama were hoping for a quick election-year turnaround in the jobless rate, the Federal Reserve burst his bubble today. The Fed projected unemployment will be at 8.6% at the end of 2012, not much better than the 9.1% registered in September of this year, reports the Wall Street Journal . The projections don't get remarkably better after that: The Fed sees the rate at 8% by the end of 2013 and 7.7% the following year. More»

At least new industries arose in the 1930s: Leonhardt

(NEWSER) - There's never a Great Depression around when you need one, apparently. Despite its misery, "the United States economy was quietly making enormous strides during the 1930s," argues David Leonhardt in the New York Times . Americans were getting a better education—high school, back then—while industrious entrepreneurs were inventing television, mass marketing refrigerators, and improving railroads. "It would clearly be nice if we could take some comfort from this bit of history," writes Leonhardt. "If anything, though, the lesson of the 1930s may be the opposite one." More»

Dozens of indexes indicate downturn: ECRI

(NEWSER) - The crippled US economy is already tumbling into another recession, according to one economic institute. The Economic Cycle Research Institute reports on its website that dozens of leading indexes indicate another "full-blown recession" is occurring, not a "soft landing." Why heed ECRI’s warning? "Perhaps because, as the Economist has noted, we’ve correctly called three recessions without any false alarms in-between." More»