Pinched Writer Picks Up the Toilet Brush

Roubini thinks macro data contradict cheery recovery theories

(NEWSER) - There’s a debate raging over whether the US will recover quickly or undergo a painful double-dip recession . Guess which side eternal pessimist Nouriel Roubini is on? Dr. Doom doesn’t like the macroeconomic numbers he’s seeing. The horrendous consumer confidence, housing and employment numbers “actually suggest a significant downside risk even to the anemic levels of growth which I forecast for” the first half of 2010, he writes in Forbes. More»

(NEWSER) - If you’re the glass-half-full type, recent economic indicators look good: Unemployment fell last month, the savings rate is up, and productivity hit a 6-year high. But that same data proves that ordinary people aren’t likely to feel the good vibrations anytime soon, the Washington Post reports. “It's going to be a recovery only a statistician can love,” said a Wells Fargo economist. More»

(NEWSER) - As affluent Americans downsize their household staffs, the once distinct lines between nannies and housekeepers are getting a little fuzzy, the Los Angeles Times reports. More and more, nannies are being asked to scrub the toilets along with watching the kids, and housekeepers are being asked to vacuum with a young charge in tow. “It just doesn't make much sense to keep them both," said one woman who gave her nanny cleaning duties. More»

Worse than anticipated

(AP) - The US economy contracted at a staggering 6.2% pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in more than a quarter-century, as consumers and businesses ratcheted back spending, plunging the country deeper into recession. That's drastically worse than the 3.8% the government originally estimated, and the 5.4% economists predicted. Looking ahead, economists predict consumers and businesses will keep cutting back spending, making the first six months of this year especially rocky. More»

Revenue is down, parties are scaling back

(NEWSER) - Even the Oscars are feeling the economic strain, People reports. Sure, there are still dozens of parties planned on the big day, but organizers are pumping up the “greenness” of the soirées and downplaying the extravagance—Vanity Fair is using decorations from past events. Even those not scaling back are adopting a “quiet and Zen-like” atmosphere “that is reflective of the hard times going on out there,” says one chairperson. More»