What’s up, beer drinkers of America? Bloomberg notes that “take-out sales of alcoholic beverages tumbled 9.3 percent in the fourth quarter, the steepest drop since the U.S. Commerce Department started compiling data half a century ago,” and a drop four times greater than the overall fall in consumer spending. Most of that was due to the 14 percent drop in beer sales.
recession
Consumer Confidence Plunges To New Low
By 2.24.09
The consumer confidence index plunged to 25 in Feb., down from 37.4 in Jan. Many economists only predicted it would fall to 35. The index is based on a monthly survey of 5,000 households, responding “positive”, “negative” or “neutral” to five questions about how they feel about certain economic conditions. A decline means people are going to be spending less. Here’s a more specific breakdown of how people responded to the specific questions:
Freak Out Continues: Markets Close At Lowest Level Since 1997
By 2.23.09
Bad day on Wall Street today, folks. The S&P 500 closed at the lowest level since April 1997.
Sprint Loses Another 1.1 Million Customers
By 2.19.09
Wondering why Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has time to wander around NYC telling people about Sprint products? Well, it’s apparently come to that. Sprint has lost another 1.1 million customers.
JetBlue Will Refund Your Ticket If You Get Laid Off Or Fired
By 2.18.09
Afraid you might get laid off? Too worried to book plane tickets? JetBlue thinks you are. They’ve launched a program that guarantees a full refund to those of you who get laid off at least two weeks before you fly.
Don't Miss Frontline's "Inside The Meltdown" Tonight
By 2.17.09
Tonight at 9 eastern Frontline’s new documentary “Inside The Meltdown” will debut on PBS and online. We’ve only seen the trailer, but the press release makes it sound like the scariest documentary in the history of the universe.
By 2.11.09
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Not content to just outsource their customer service, United is shutting down its phone center in India in April, instead relying wholly on written complaints. They claim they’ll be able to better respond to written complaints, but we know it’s just as easy to paste irrelevant advice and insincere apologies as it is to speak them.
Store Cards Turning Into A Nightmare For Retailers
By 2.10.09
Our eyes shoot fire when stores make their poor employees harass us about opening a store card, so we’re feeling a perverse sense of joy at the news that store cards are turning into a nightmare for retailers.
Just How Bad Is This Recession? Look At The Scary, Scary Graph
By 2.9.09
Nancy Pelosi wants to scare the crap out of you, so her office has released the above scary graph, which we bring to you by way of Time’s Swampland blog.
AmEx Denies Existence Of A Store Blacklist, Will Slash Your Credit Whenever They Want
By 1.31.09 — Updated: 11.1.12
Despite sending customers letter saying otherwise, American Express now insists that it never blacklisted cardholders based on where they shopped. Those notes explaining that “other customers who have used their card at establishments where you recently shopped have a poor repayment history with American Express?” Whoops! Just a big misunderstanding! Not unlike the comment they gave to ABC explaining that “shopping patterns” were used as a “contributing factor” in slashing credit lines, a statement AmEx later retracted. So what’s really going on? Let’s explore…
What Is A Depression And Are We In One?
By 1.30.09
Yes, we’re saying the “D” word. Now that we’ve officially entered a recession — it’s time to wonder if we’re in a depression. We’d love to be able to give you a yes or no answer, but according to Marketplace’s personal finance guy, Chris Farrell, nobody agrees about what makes a depression different from a recession.
USPS Wants To Cut Back To Five-Day Work Week
By 1.30.09
A $3 billion deficit and expected losses of $6 billion more have led the Postmaster General to suggest cutting mail delivery from six to five days.
NewCreditRules Asks, Which Of These Stores Will Get Your AMEX Card Reduced?
By 1.29.09
Last month we posted about Kevin Johnson, a 29-year-old self-employed businessman with excellent credit and an established history with American Express, who had his credit limit cut by 65% because AMEX said he was shopping at the wrong sorts of stores. Johnson has created a website called NewCreditRules.com to try to uncover what, exactly, he did wrong to fall under AMEX’s high risk category.
By 1.26.09
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Sprint will cut a total of 8,000 jobs by March 31st, says CEO Dan Hesse, who enjoys being filmed in black and white as he takes long walks toward cameras. Sprint is also suspending its 401(k) match program, tuition reimbursement program, and is freezing salaries. [CNNMoney]
By 1.20.09
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Hope didn’t save the stock market…”The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 332.13 points, or 4%, to 7949.09. The index was hurt by declines in all its financial components. Bank of America fell 29% and J.P. Morgan Chase fell 21%. Citigroup declined 20%.” [WSJ]
By 1.14.09
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Nissan has decided to only make cars 4 days a week at its US plants as demand continues to drop. [Bloomberg ]
The Poverty-Stricken Masses Are Flocking To Libraries
By 1.11.09
Why waste precious cash at Borders and Barnes & Noble when you can go to the library for free? It’s a simple question that is causing traffic local libraries to spike as flocks of new patrons register for library cards. We’ve praised libraries before, but it takes a depressing recession to convince people that yes, even they could use an extra buck in their wallet.
