Consumerist
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recession watch
Market Forces And Recession Hurt Nevada's Legal Brothels
Legal brothels in Nevada are in a situation that has seemingly wandered out of an Economics 101 textbook. Scary as it is to reduce In the recession, more women are entering sex work (both legal and illegal) but there are fewer customers to go around. More » -
recession-proof jobs
Definitely Not "Free"To-Lay: Woman Arrested For Trading Sex For Chips
You know you're in a recession when you have to barter starchy snacks for oral sex. More » -
recession watch
Farmers Slaughtering Dairy Cows Rather Than Lose Money Producing Milk
It's so expensive to produce milk right now — due to low demand and high feed costs — that farmers are being paid to slaughter dairy cows in order to "shift the pain to consumers," says Bloomberg. More » -
Walgreens says declining home values and rising unemployment are causing consumers to cut back on everything but essentials like soap and milk. Consequently, the drugstore chain is having to spend money revamping its merchandise selection to match the trend. It's back to basics if you want to make money. [Bloomberg]
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recession watch
Stuff Is Cheaper Now Than It Was Last Year, Consumer Price Index Reveals
Even though gas prices keep rising, businesses haven't been sticking customers with price hikes. In fact, the bear economy has staggered the Consumer Price Index once again, with the index rising only 0.1 percent in May. The miniscule, less-than-expected increase, following a flat April, means that prices were 1.3 percent lower in May than they were a year ago — the largest year-over-year drop since 1950. More » -
recession
Direct Sales Grow As Unemployment Increases
Avon, Tupperware, and other direct-sales companies are gaining in popularity, just as they did during the 1990-91 recession. Whether they still have jobs or not, people are looking for ways to earn additional income. More » -
government
Here's An Extra $25 A Week — Whoops, Now You Don't Qualify For Food Stamps
The economic recovery plan includes a nice little $25 a week bump for unemployed folks — but for some it comes with a catch — they no longer qualify for hundreds of dollars a month in food stamp benefits. Whoopsies! More » -
recession watch
Hey, America: You Lost $1.3 Trillion!
Feeling poorer lately? You are! A new government report says that $1.3 trillion dollars of American wealth was vaporized in the first quarter of 2009. More » -
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trustafarians
Investments Are Down - Won't You Hire A Poor Trust-Funder?
It's the end of an era. The parentally-subsidized idle urbanites of New York aren't getting the fundage they used to, and they have to get paying jobs now. Or move in with their parents. (Here I thought living with my parents after college was too much parental subsidy.) While Gawker's coverage of this story is not to be missed, let's look at it through a Consumerist lens, shall we? More » -
recession watch
New York Mayor Says Luxury Homeless Shelter Residents Shouldn't Get Too Cozy
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the Daily News that the residents of the swanky failed-condo-turned-homeless-shelter shouldn't get too comfortable. They'll need to move on. More » -
spam eggs sausage and spam
Spam Starts New Ad Campaign Today - Not Via Unsolicited E-mail
Spam. It's cheap, it's versatile, and I've been told that some people even find it edible. Sales of all canned food, including canned meat, are up in the recession, and Hormel's new strategy is to promote Spam as something different for people to rotate into their monotonous meal plans. More » -
recession watch
New York City Converts Luxury Condo Into Homeless Shelter
Could this be the nicest homeless shelter in America? The Daily News is reporting that the city is paying $90 a night per apartment for the use of a failed luxury condo development — which features granite countertops, marble bathrooms and walk-in closets. (The $90 a night figure includes social services, housing help and job counseling designed to get families back on their feet.) Local residents, some of them interested in renting an apartment in the building, are pretty ticked off. More » -
recession watch
First-Time Home Buyers: Use $8k Tax Credit For Down Payments Or Closing Costs?
BusinessWeek has an interesting article about a little known program that will allow first-time home buyers (technically, those who have not owned a home in three years) to use the 8k tax credit to offset down payments or closing costs. More » -
recession watch
Good News? United States Shed 532,000 Jobs In May
A report from a private employment service says that US employers shed 532,000 jobs in May, less than in April, but not much less. It's also less than expected. More » -
sales
Sorry, 2009's Clothing Discounts Will Be Less Insane
Clothing retailers are holding off on their crazy, desperate discounts a bit, and plan to discount less aggressively this summer. Why? Women's Wear Daily reports that it's not so much that the economy's improving (it really isn't) or unemployment has stopped rising (it hasn't) but Americans need stuff. Retailers anticipate that they will need to mark down, but not at the desperate levels that have characterized the last six months or so. More » -
Need A Suit? S&K Menswear Closing All 105 Stores
The decline in the "work clothing" market continues to take its toll. S&K Menswear are closing all 105 of their retail stores. The liquidation will be handled by Gordon Brothers, so don't expect any actual deals. Going-out-of-business sales started on Thursday, May 21.
Oddly, the S&K web site shows no hint of impending doom. The company had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, but was unable to recover. S&K gift cards will be accepted during the liquidation.
S&K Menswear Closing All 105 Stores [DDI Magazine] (Thanks, John!)
(Photo: chrisjones)
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recession watch
Hormel Making Lots Of Money By Not Lowering Prices?
Remember last year when all the food manufacturers were raising prices and shrinking portions because the cost of raw materials had risen dramatically? Now that costs are down, they're reluctant to lower prices. It's a good time to be in the food business. More » -
recession watch
How Do You Stay Entertained In A Recession? Used Video Games.
Video games are up, and books are down. GameStop says sales of used games jumped 32%, as the retailer posted a 13% rise in fiscal first-quarter earnings. Why is GameStop doing so well while other retailers suffer? Its used video game program has excellent profit margins. More »
recession watch
New York, 6:54 PM
Fri Jul 3
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