recession depression

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More Gloom: Layoffs Hit 9-Month High

And the future is looking bleak, say economists

(Newser) - Layoffs have climbed to their highest level in nearly a year—1.78 million workers were handed pink slips in May, the most since August 2010—increasing ever-present fears about the US economy. The Wall Street Journal highlights the latest casualties: Cisco Systems plans to slash 6,500 jobs; Lockheed...

It&#39;s the Busted Consumer Bubble, Stupid
 It's the Busted 
 Consumer Bubble, Stupid 
DAVID LEONHARDT
Jul 17, 2011 8:56 AM CDT

It's the Busted Consumer Bubble, Stupid

With no consumer spending, economy keeps dragging

(Newser) - There are plenty of theories and explanations for the economic crisis that has afflicted the United States for years now, but they all miss the element of the continuing malaise—it's really about the bursting of the decades-long consumer spending bubble, writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times...

Dow Plummets Below 12K
 Dow Plummets Below 12K 
Jun 23, 2011 10:26 AM CDT

Dow Plummets Below 12K

Unemployment claims, oil prices lead to drop

(Newser) - The number of unemployment claims jumped to 429,000 last week, an unexpected rise that led the Dow Jones industrial average to fall below 12,000. Falling oil prices—they decreased 5% today—also drove US stocks lower, the AP reports. The Dow was down recently more than 215 points,...

California Can't Afford Teachers for $105M School

Meanwhile nearby high school badly overcrowded

(Newser) - California is just about finished building its new $105 million high school, which would be good news for the overcrowded Alvord Unified School District—if it actually had the money to run the thing. Instead, budget constraints are so tight that the district can’t afford to hire administrators, teachers,...

Housing Prices Hit New Recession Low

And there's no bottom in sight

(Newser) - The housing industry keeps finding new lows: Today's Case-Shiller price index shows that prices fell in the first quarter to the lowest levels since the crash began, reports the Wall Street Journal . The drop of 4.2%, on top of last quarter's 3.6% drop, is evidence of...

SETI Hangs Up Phone Line to ET

Budget cuts force institute to shut down search for extraterrestrial life

(Newser) - Budget cuts have forced the SETI Institute in California to shut down its famous search for extraterrestrial life, reports the San Jose Mercury News . The institute can no longer afford to operate its Allen Telescope Array, which has been scanning outer space for sign of communication since 2007. As a...

Disability Fund Is Running Out of Money—Fast

Without changes, could be insolvent within 4 to 7 years

(Newser) - In more we're-out-of-money news : If no changes are made, the Social Security Disability Insurance fund will run dry in four to seven years, according to government auditors. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at some of the reasons why, focusing at length on Puerto Rico, one of the easiest...

One-Third of US Wages? Government Handouts

Social welfare benefits make up 35% of wages and salaries

(Newser) - More than a third of the total wages and salaries in the US is made up of government payouts, CNBC reports. Social welfare benefits including Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance account for 35% of wages and salaries—a record figure that is up from 21% in 2000 and 10%...

Providence Board Votes to Terminate All Teachers

More than 700 gathered to protest

(Newser) - Those 1,926 pink slips will definitely be going out in Providence: After two hours of debate, the school board voted last night to send out termination notices to every public school teacher in the city. More than 700 teachers gathered to express their feelings: "disrespected," "bullied,...

Providence Giving All Its Teachers Pink Slips

But it won't actually fire them all

(Newser) - All 1,926 teachers in the Providence Public School District are about to get termination notices. Tomorrow the school board will vote on a resolution to dismiss every teacher on the last day of school, Superintendent Tom Brady announced in a staff email today, according to the Providence Journal . Not...

Detroit to Close Half Its Schools

Michigan approves plan to cut $327M deficit

(Newser) - Michigan has approved a plan to close roughly half of Detroit’s public schools, pushing the average high-school class size in the struggling city to roughly 60 students, the Wall Street Journal reports. The plan is designed to eliminate the district’s $327 million deficit, but even its creator, district...

Did Bankers Go to Jail for Causing Great Depression?

No, although a couple were charged and some were embarrassed

(Newser) - The government could soon prosecute a few Wall Streeters who allegedly played a role in the financial crisis, and the commission that uncovered those at fault was modeled on a similar probe after the Great Depression. So did anyone who precipitated that collapse ever go to jail? Nope, writes Brian...

A Third of Working Families Live in Near-Poverty

Recession has hurt more than just the unemployed

(Newser) - Recession lamenters often focus on the unemployed, but the employed are taking a beating, too. Nearly one in three working families in America is now considered low income, meaning they earn less than twice the official poverty threshold, according to a report released today from the Working Poor Families Project....

'Recovery' Looking Like 10-Year Recession

Uncertainty is the 'new normal' in America

(Newser) - For many Americans, "recovery" feels a lot like recession—and it may take a decade for that to change, finds the New York Times . At the current rate of job creation, for instance, it would take nine years to recapture jobs lost thus far. Home prices, meanwhile, are down...

Bank 'Foreclosure Experts' Couldn't Define 'Mortgage'

Workers with no experience or training signed paperwork

(Newser) - Work experience as a hair stylist or at Wal-Mart was good enough to get you hired as a "foreclosure expert" at financial institutions rushing through thousands of foreclosures, a Florida court heard yesterday. A lawyer defending thousands of homeowners produced depositions from mortgage company workers who testified that they...

At Current Rate All Jobs Won't Be Back Until 2020
 US Won't Get All 
 Jobs Back Until 2020 
AT CURRENT RATE
Oct 10, 2010 10:48 AM CDT

US Won't Get All Jobs Back Until 2020

And we're likely to hit another recession before then

(Newser) - The US has in 2010 added 613,000 jobs as of September—a not-so-bad average of 68,111 per month. But at that rate, it will be 2020 before the US regains the 8.36 million total jobs lost in the Great Recession. That would break the post-WWII record of...

Census Finds Record Gap Between Rich and Poor

Young people hit hardest

(Newser) - The income gap between the richest and poorest Americans grew last year to its widest amount on record as young adults and children in particular struggled to stay afloat in the recession. The top-earning 20% of Americans—those making more than $100,000 each year—received 49.4% of all...

Why America Is So Angry and Miserable
Why America Is So Angry and Miserable
OPINION
Sep 23, 2010 8:53 AM CDT

Why America Is So Angry and Miserable

Blame our culture of entitlement, victimhood, and greed

(Newser) - These days, America seems defined by a near-ubiquitous “simmering resentment, frustration, and anger,” writes Charles Hugh Smith on his Of Two Minds blog. Why is that? Smith blames:
  • A culture of entitlement: From Social Security recipients to Wall Street welfare queens, “most of us have to elbow
...

US Poverty Rate Hits Record 14.3%

One in 7 fall within guidelines; highest since at least '65

(Newser) - The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty. The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3%, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said...

Home Repos Hit Recession High

US on track for 1M foreclosures this year

(Newser) - Lenders took back more homes in August than any month since the start of the US mortgage crisis. The increase in home repossessions came even as the number of properties entering the foreclosure process slowed for the seventh month in a row, RealtyTrac said today. In all, banks repossessed 95,...

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