It's the economy, stupid.
Get those red pencils from the '90s ready!
Hell may have frozen over yesterday when a $15 billion bill spurring job growth passed yesterday, 70 to 28, thanks to a bipartisan coalition of 55 Democrats, 2 independents and 13 Republicans.
The Times reports that the central element of the bill is giving companies who hire unemployed Americans an exemption from paying payroll taxes on those workers through the end of this year.
Happy job hunting, you lucky 25 million!
Who can even afford cardboard and permanent markers anymore?
For anybody hoping to enjoy their weekend, the NYT instead ran some sobering statistics about what the jobless are facing: formerly middle class, the “new poor” are now relying on food stamps with years of unemployment behind them and no future prospects in sight.
The reasons for this are after the jump (hint: now is a good time to reach for that second beer). Continue reading ‘Congratulations, long-term unemployed, you are the new poor!’
Miraculously, kittens gained the ability to discuss finance too.
Apparently, it’s socially OK to talk about money now. “Where it was once shameful to talk about some of these things, now it’s not,” Hilary Black, editor of the anthology “The Secret Currency of Love,” told the New York Times.
And the stigma of being laid off has certainly diminished, if not disappeared altogether. “One silver lining to this terribly scary time is that people can talk about their troubles without fearing that others are secretly judging them as failures,” Ms. Black said.
Hm, I don’t know if this author’s ever been to Brooklyn or anything, but being unemployed has had a certain cache ever since bankers were deemed Satan’s children for ruining our economy with their greed. (And eating babies dipped in gold.) In my experience anyway, complaining about how you can barely afford the drink you’re sipping is one of the few ways friendships are formed. The stigma is really with all of those lucky bastards who have a job. No one wants to be associated with a paycheck, which is only a few social security numbers away from THE MAN.
Let 40-Year-Old Virgin be a lesson to you, smartypants.
Ok, so that’s a bit of an overstatement. But it turns out most Ivy Leaguers are not getting laid. Maybe this explains why we’re so much more frustrated than everyone else? I’m not sure how this translates to the job hunt, but if the Jonas Brothers are any indication, your V-Card is a really good way to stay focused in the face of success.
According to a Crimson survey of the class of 2009, in their four years at Harvard, 52 percent of the students had one or zero sexual partners, and only 28 percent had even one dating partner. [...] “Go Ask Alice!”—Columbia University’s Dear Abby-equivalent—reports that the majority of polled college students also had zero or one sexual partners in a given year, while believing that their peers were having three times as much sex as they were. Other revealing statistics include that 31 percent of U.S. college women are still virgins at graduation and that college male sexual activity is down from 2.1 partners in 2001 to 1.6 partners in 2006. [The Crimson]
Sounds about right to me…(Thanks for the tip!)
Something tells me it's going to take more than this little piggy to pay 4 years of tuition.
The WSJ reports:
Most researchers agree that college graduates, even in rough economies, generally fare better than individuals with only high-school diplomas. But just how much better is where the math gets fuzzy.
The problem stems from the common source of the estimates, a 2002 Census Bureau report titled “The Big Payoff.” The report said the average high-school graduate earns $25,900 a year, and the average college graduate earns $45,400, based on 1999 data. The difference between the two figures is $19,500; multiply it by 40 years, as the Census Bureau did, and the result is $780,000.
Mark Schneider, a vice president of the American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, calls it “a million-dollar misunderstanding.”
Dr. Schneider estimated the actual lifetime-earnings advantage for college graduates is a mere $279,893 in a report he wrote last year. He included tuition payments and discounted earning streams, putting them into present value. He also used actual salary data for graduates 10 years after they completed their degrees to measure incomes. Even among graduates of top-tier institutions, the earnings came in well below the million-dollar mark, he says.
This women has just seen her student loan bill.
According to an annual nationwide survey released today, about two-thirds of incoming students said they had “some” or “major” concern about their ability to pay for their education.
The percentage of those with “some” concern — 55.4 — was at its highest level since 1971. The number of students taking out loans was at its highest in nine years, at 53.3 percent. The number whose fathers were unemployed — 4.5 percent — was the highest in the history of the survey. The number of students whose mothers were unemployed was higher — 7.9 percent — and at its highest since 1979.
“What all this points to is that they are going to be graduating with a larger debt burden than students in the past,” Mr. Pryor told the NYT. More fun stats below! Continue reading ‘The number of college students taking out loans is highest in nine years’
Want to hate your life as a morally questionable, unrespected, but very well-paid suit-wearing alcoholic? Get in line!
To all overachievers:
Invest in some coffee beans from Costco. Use your savings on a private essay coach. Hell, rescue a kid from Darfur if you’ve got the connections. That damn recession is going to mess with your perfect application. Apparently, you’re not the only unemployed brainiac who thinks going back to school in an economic downturn is a good idea.
The NYT reports that the number of people taking the LSAT in 2009 rose 20%, reaching an all-time high of 60,746, while the number of people taking the GREs rose 13 percent to a record 670,000 compared with 2008 . And tons of schools are reporting a major increase in applicants. Continue reading ‘In news no one is surprised by, law school and grad school apps are at all-time highs’
A weekly round-up of hopeless recession news.
Despite those warm eyes and soft smile, this is the face of a very angry man.
NYT columnist Paul Krugman schooled the government with his wrath-filled editorial last week. He invoked everything from the Great Depression to a year of grief ahead in an attempt to convince the feds that we need more stimulus than ever to keep the economy afloat.
The next G.D.P. report is likely to show solid growth in late 2009. There will be lots of bullish commentary — and the calls we’re already hearing for an end to stimulus, for reversing the steps the government and the Federal Reserve took to prop up the economy, will grow even louder.
But if those calls are heeded, we’ll be repeating the great mistake of 1937, when the Fed and the Roosevelt administration decided that the Great Depression was over, that it was time for the economy to throw away its crutches. Spending was cut back, monetary policy was tightened — and the economy promptly plunged back into the depths.
The reason we are seeing blips of recovery, according to the Nobel-prize winning economist, is due to an “inventory bounce.” Continue reading ‘Paul Krugman calls for continued government support’
These people are single handedly keeping the Christmas cheer alive.
Santa Claus costume sales with prices ranging from $35 to $400 have increased nearly 10% over this time last year according to Costume SuperCenter.com.
The PR release does not reveal whether or not the annual SantaCon has anything to do with higher sales and obviously, at least one eye should be cocked by these self-congratulatory stats.
But the good news is Santa costumes are not just for the drunk and merry. Apparently, the costume can also be used for a paycheck.
“According to Simplyhired.com, a mall Santa’s salary can average $24,000 for the season. Self employed visiting Santa’s can get from $150 – $250 an hour. A good quality Santa suit is therefore a wise investment,” Jim Moore, the marketing manager, said.
Clearly the power of Christmas is just too strong to bow down to the evil forces of the recession. Merry Christmas Eve, everybody!
