MetaFilter posts tagged with recession

Fun STD Facts

pick_the_flowers — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:49:30 -0800

More than two dozen bacterial, viral or parasitic infections are known to be transmitted largely or exclusively through sexual contact. U.S. public health authorities focus on a limited set of these STIs. Read more about it in "Facts on Sexually Transmitted Infections in the United States" published by the Guttmacher Institute. Guttmacher Institute has also published the following recent reports on the state of abortion that are quite interesting: Abortion Worldwide: A decade of uneven progress (a 68 page pdf document) Unsafe Abortion Costs the Developing World Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Each Year Recession has dramatically reshaped women's childbearing desires

Detroit and the Economy

HP LaserJet P10006 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:50:12 -0800

Last week in Detroit, where unemployment is close to 30%, one third of all households are in poverty, and whole neighborhoods have been abandoned, chaos ensued as an estimated 15,000 to 30,000 people lined up in the hopes of getting federal aid. 65,000 applications were taken for a new program that will fund only 3,500 people (via).

gravity

plexi — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:25:55 -0800

Saturn is no more. "Other industries could learn from the Saturn Corporation. Certainly GM is taking what they have learned from their Saturn investment and incorporating it into their existing plants and facilities where practical. It will not be an overnight experience. Like Saturn, it will take time, investment and a strong commitment to regain the role of world leader in the automobile industry."

In Debt We Trust

HP LaserJet P10006 — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:30:11 -0800

A government stimulus can overwhelm the impact of a credit crunch, and the innate dynamic of a productive economy can re-assert itself after such a crisis, leading to renewed growth. But this not merely a crisis of liquidity. It is one of excessive private debt, on a scale that is also unprecedented. Economist Steve Keen on the global debt bubble. Keen has long been concerned about the rise of household debt in the global economy, but he is not alone: although American consumers are now saving as never before, and in a way that worries some economists (see for instance the issue of "debt overhang"), personal debt remains historically high by almost any measure: Collectively, U.S. household debt rose to a high of 133% of after-tax income in 2007, double the percentage of the mid-1980s, according to Federal Reserve data.(LA Times, 9-21-09)

mapping the recession

kliuless — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:00:37 -0800

Recession Road Trip
Similar to Andrew Sullivan's Views From Your Recession & Sickbed, Christina Davidson has been touring across the country collecting and documenting individuals' tales of how the recession is affecting them, such as in Full Grown Boy Lost, in Las Vegas.

The Ghost Fleet of the Recession

vorfeed — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:29:37 -0800

A gigantic fleet of semi-abandoned cargo and container ships has been photographed east of Singapore. Meanwhile, the ship-breaking yards at Alang are booming, and the shipping industry is looking for ways to weather the storm. As the recession slashes demand, it seems the shipping industry may be heading for dry dock...

Misdirection

cashman — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:11:47 -0800

"What do you get when you combine the worst economic downturn since the Depression with the first black president? A surge of white racial resentment, loosely disguised as a populist revolt."

What's a city without a public library?

ocherdraco — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:37:31 -0800

As part of what Mayor Michael Nutter has dubbed the "Plan C" budget, the Free Library of Philadelphia (the Pennsylvania city's public library system), chartered in 1891, will close all its branches and cease all services October 2, 2009, unless measures to raise sales tax and delay some pension payments are approved by the State Legislature in Harrisburg. The closing could be a huge blow for a city whose most famous citizen, Benjamin Franklin, founded The Library Company of Philadelphia, the United States' first successful lending library, there in 1731. A list, from the city government's website, of all the cuts necessitated by the "Doomsday" budget:

Streets Budget Reduction: $14.4 million Positions Eliminated: 300 Impact: * Trash pickup reduced to twice monthly * Stop mechanical cleaning and special event cleaning * City-owned litter baskets removed * Switch 1,000 traffic signals to flash * Remove bulbs from 4,000 street lights for arterial roadways * Stop alley light repairs * Reduce maintenance of street lights By Early September: * Identify light bulbs to be removed and inform neighborhoods impacted * Notify citizens of reduced trash collection schedule * Identify traffic signals to be switched to flash Libraries Budget Reduction: $29.6 million Positions Eliminated: 490 Impact: * All 53 branch and Central Libraries cease operations including the following: * LEAP after school program for 80,000 children and teens * 150 Books Aloud! programs * Partnerships with schools including librarian visits, Reading Olympics, Philadelphia scholarship program * 15 Teen Author Series programs * 27 Adult education programs presented by literacy organizations * Summer Reading for 55,000 children, teens and adults * Free computer classes * 40 teen programs * 10 Small business programs * Sundays on Stage * 135 Author Events * One Book, One Philadelphia * Free Library Festival Grant Programs including: * IMLS Growing Our Own Student Librarians * GlaxoSmithKline Science in the summer – 47 sessions, 1,400 youth participating * Claneil Books Aloud with PHA Sites * PNC Books Aloud with Head Starts and libraries * Merck science programs with LEAP * LSTA College and Career Prep with LEAP and at 5 branches across city * IMLS Media Mash Up national project By Early September: * Stop 3 week book renewals * Cancel special collection loans and retrieve outside loans * Cancel Fall Author Series and all special programming for Fall * Begin to notify program providers, volunteers (including court-ordered volunteers) outside organizations using meeting spaces, special event and series’ sponsors, interns, work-study participants, parents, schools and others that all library functions cease October 2 Recreation Budget Reduction: $30.8 million Positions Eliminated: 520 Impact: * All 160 Recreation facilities and programs cease operation including: * 96 After School programs serving 3000 children * 13 Teen Centers serving 1100 teens * 34 Tot –Recreation programs serving 1200 young children * 6 Older Centers serving 180,000 meals for seniors and programs/activities * Maintenance to 73 Parks * Sports for 500 community groups using facilities * 30 Sports programs serving 45,000 people * 66 programs with public schools * 110 programs with Catholic Youth Organization * 262 baseball fields, 224 basket ball courts, 161 tennis courts, 142 sports fields, 120 school gyms, 56 other gyms By Early September: * Prepare notification for parents with children in pre-school program suggesting they consider finding alternative day care services for their children * Prepare notification for parents with children in after school programs suggesting they consider finding alternative after school care Fairmount Park Budget Reduction: $11 million Positions Eliminated: 140 Impact: * Operations cease throughout the system of 63 neighborhood parks, 115 athletic fields, 469 buildings and 13 fountains * No grass-cutting * No maintenance of restroom facilities * No maintenance of ball fields or trails * No trash removal * Limited tree removal * Horticulture Center and Lloyd Hall close to public * Permit holders for events may use permitted area but no services (electricity, cleanup, plumbing, security) provided By Early September * Notify organizations with permits for special events from October until the end of the year (such as Dragon Boat Festival, Columbus Day Parade, AIDS Walk) that necessary services may not be available * Notify all organizations with meetings, events in Horticulture Center and Lloyd Hall of possible cancellations * Notify 136 athletic and youth organizations with field permits of potential disruption including Wissahickon AA and St. Joseph’s Prep Police Budget Reduction: $43.9 million Positions Eliminated: 972 Impact: * Lack of police presence will be felt all across the City. Support for various Specialized Districts and further erosion of the remaining specialized Response Units (Strike Force, Traffic Unit, and the Neighborhood Services Unit) will severely hamper crime fighting. * Cuts to Anti-violence and anti-drug units, schools resource officers and community relations officers – combined to the massive cuts to services across the city – will only further damage the ability to provide public safety. Fire Budget Reduction: $16.7 million Positions Eliminated: 36 officer, 120 firefighter and 40 paramedic positions Impact: * Deactivation of up to Six Engine Companies, Three Ladder Companies, Five Advanced Life Support Medic Units, affecting neighborhoods across the City. * This is just the tip of the devastation the failure of HB 1828 would have in Public Safety. Health Budget Reduction: $4.7 million Positions Eliminated: 112 Impact: * Two of the City’s Eight Health Centers will cease operations at a time when visits to the centers has increased by 5% in the last year * Wait times will increase by 25% at all 6 remaining health centers * Delay treatments for neonatal care, family planning, dental care, immunizations, diabetes, and vaccinations for H1N1 City Planning, Commerce and Historical Commission Budget Reduction: $5.7 million Positions Eliminated: 59 Impact: * The City will no longer be able to issue permits needed for the majority of construction or renovation projects in Philadelphia. * The City will eliminate all tax credits for job creation and business expansion.

Mr. Penumbra's Twenty-Four-Hour Bookstore

WCityMike — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:36:31 -0800

"Mr. Penumbra's Twenty-Four-Hour Bookstore," by Robin Sloan. 'A short story about recession, attraction, and data visualization.' (via Boing Boing) A really nice short story with many choice turns of phrase. Despite having first found out about it from Boing Boing, after reading it, I thought it was just too good not to share with all of you.

Dark Stores

mippy — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 04:58:02 -0800

The recession has seen the closure of many stores - from small local outfits to famous longstanding chains. Brian Ulrich's Dark Stores chronicles the ghostboxes of America, and the Guardian's Recession Monitor Flickr pool shows the view from the other side of the Atlantic. NB - apologies for the horrid interface on the Time article. Goddamn.

Cemented

plexi — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:22:50 -0800

This fall, law students are competing for half as many openings at big firms as they were last year in what is shaping up to be the most wrenching job search season in over 50 years.

“Had I seen where the market was going, I would’ve gone to a lower-ranked but less expensive public school,” [a second year law student at Penn] said. “I’m questioning whether law school was the right choice at all."

Recession over in France and Germany

malapropist — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:18:13 -0800

The economy is abjectly terrible, right? It's so bad that nowadays, a picture is only worth 200 words. On the other hand, the recession is over in Germany and France, and in the United States, the unemployment rate dropped just a smidgen last month. To be fair, the recession wasn't as severe in France and Germany, and didn't start so early. Still, this seems a far cry from talk of a second depression.

The Motor(less) City

netbros — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:59:33 -0800

Detroit is one of the most visually interesting cities in the world, however it is also one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented. Detroit Book of Love is a group of photographs illustrating what contemporary Detroit artists have been doing in regards to developing an understanding and appreciation for this complex and diverse city; from street portraits of the survivors, to the landscapes of wild new growth, to the industrial leftovers. As a group they show Detroit as it is, not what it should be or what it once was. Detroit’s got problems. That’s not new. The question is how to tap into the potential, if any, that remains. How can Detroit, and Michigan, bring out the best in our creative, highly trained and skilled workers, stem the population loss, convince our students to get an education, and make a change from a largely industrial economy, into something else? Detroit’s had a “renaissance” at least twice in the past. One in the late 70’s, hence the Renaissance Center, and again in the late 90’s, when condos and lofts began to pop up all over the city. When will Detroit’s real renaissance occur? How can we make it happen faster? The Motor(less) City: Post-Industrial Detroit

"Walk the most cutest male Pomeranian...oh, and he wants a cute and sexy girl, send photos!"

ocherdraco — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:11:21 -0800

Looking for work? Avoid this job.

All You Can Eat

mippy — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:53:05 -0800

With Chinese buffets - an all-you-can-eat fixed price restaurant - making a killing in Manchester, a new chain of traditional English buffet-style restaurants are seeing a sharp rise in trade during a recession that is seeing 100 restaurants per month go to the wall. (By the way, my student dining days mean I can heartily recommend Tai Wu if you're ever at a loss for food in the Rainy City.)

How green was my valley

KokuRyu — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:51:06 -0800

How green was my valley: California's economic meltdown The fields of wheat, cotton and cantaloupe that sustained his family for three generations are gone. The land is a mess of fallow fields, cracked earth and swirling dust. (PDF - By some estimates, 12.8% of the United States' agricultural production (as measured by dollar value) comes from California, and the majority of that is in the Central Valley). However, his particular scene of devastation, Mr. Allen argues, has nothing to do with the credit crisis, the housing crash or the downturn that has California in a vice grip. It has to do with a seven-centimetre-long, semi-translucent, steel blue fish known as the Delta smelt. This is not a story about fish. Rather, it is a story about how efforts to save the fish through a court-ordered water shortage have pushed a region already brought to the brink by recession over the edge... "In the Central Valley regional area, we've got 40,000 unemployed people. General Motors had 30,000 and got a government bailout. We're getting nothing." See also: California v Texas

Buffett's favorite leading economic indicator

stbalbach — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:37:59 -0800

Warren Buffett says his favorite economic indicator (last 30sec) is the FTSI or Freight Transportation Services Index (blue line). Since 1979, across four recessions, the index "shows a strong leading relationship to the economy", with an acceleration of freight leading the economy "by an average of approximately 4 to 5 months". Explanation of the index (recommend PDF version), most recent analysis (July 2009).

Ruins of the Second Gilded Age

acb — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:14:58 -0800

The New York Times commissioned Portuguese photographer Edgar Martins to travel around the United States and take photographs of abandoned construction projects left in the wake of the housing and securities market collapse.

Polin' on the River

Miko — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:26:33 -0800

Since 1870, the Hatton Ferry in Hatton, VA, has been helping people and vehicles cross the James River - under pole power [ferry is cable-assisted, and poling starts at 3:42]. Before the nation was connected by a network of bridges, pole barges like this were a common means of transportation across smaller waterways. Hatton Ferry is thought to be the very last working survivor of those thousands of the pole-driven ferries; but today, due to DOT budget constraints, it may go out of existence. I wouldn't have known about this without having received an interesting ListServ email from Dr. Jurretta Jordan Heckscher, Research Specialist, Digital Reference Section of The Library of Congress, who provided many of the news and LOC links. Also, best part of the video is when the raft of tubers drifts along, 12-packs cooling in the water and all.

Back to the future of food

sararah — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:49:12 -0800

Canning makes a comeback. Is it just another foodie trend? Or is canning back for good? Eating locally has been the trend for a while now, but in-home food preservation is starting to make a comeback. And with more people gardening, it's time to learn how to preserve those delicious delights of summer. Everyone's saying it's yet another indicator of a more frugal America. How to get started? Well, here are some neat blogs: Food in Jars, Doris and Jilly, Bumblebee Blog And lots of references: National Center for Home Food Preservation, Ball Book of Home Preserving, Canning USA This year Ball has everything you need to get started, but really all you need are some jars and some other stuff you may already own.

Too Poor to Make the News

nooneyouknow — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:47:19 -0800

Too Poor to Make the News "The super-rich give up their personal jets; the upper middle class cut back on private Pilates classes; the merely middle class forgo vacations and evenings at Applebee’s. In some accounts, the recession is even described as the “great leveler,” smudging the dizzying levels of inequality that characterized the last couple of decades and squeezing everyone into a single great class, the Nouveau Poor, in which we will all drive tiny fuel-efficient cars and grow tomatoes on our porches.

But the outlook is not so cozy when we look at the effects of the recession on a group generally omitted from all the vivid narratives of downward mobility — the already poor. From their point of view “the economy,” as a shared condition, is a fiction."

The recession hits Williamsburg (Brooklyn) hipsters

mojohand — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:20:21 -0800

Parents can no longer support their hipster children's lifestyle. Oh, the humanity. I realize that schadenfreude is a particularly ignoble emotional response, but how am I expected to control myself after reading: "...Luis Illades, an owner of the Urban Rustic Market and Cafe on North 12th Street, said he had seen a steady number of applicants, in their late 20s, who had never held paid jobs: They were interns at a modeling agency, for example, or worked at a college radio station. In some cases, applicants have stormed out of the market after hearing the job requirements. “They say, ‘You want me to work eight hours?’ ...."” [Yeah, yeah, I know. Schadenfreude is the entire point of the piece.]

UK and USA might lose AAA rating

memebake — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:11:41 -0800

Standard & Poor’s changed the UK's credit outlook from stable to negative a few days ago, and warned that there is a chance the UK could lose its AAA rating. Meanwhile, Moodys, another of the big 3 rating agencies, has warned that the US might also eventually lose its AAA rating. The UK announcement caused sterling to drop by 1% and the FTSE by 2%. However, many blame the same rating agencies for their part in triggering the subprime crisis. The irony of this is not lost on the Wall Street Journal, who note that "After all, those governments are jacking up spending, in part, to bail out the financial firms who gobbled up those 'AAA' asset backed securities duly blessed by the credit ratings firms." How did the CDO's get AAA rated in the first place? There are reports that it may have been a bug in the rating software, although Greenspan says its because the ratings were based on only the last two decades, giving a too-optimistic outlook. This reseach paper by Vasiliki Skreta and Laura Veldkamp looks through some of the options. Incidentally, all the ratings given by the rating agencies come with a disclaimer: S&P says in small print: "Any user of the information contained herein should not rely on any credit rating or other opinion contained herein in making any investment decision". Joseph Mason, a former economist at the US Treasury Department, points out that "The ratings giveth and the disclaimer takes it away."

Mini Moo.

grapefruitmoon — Mon, 25 May 2009 10:10:23 -0800

In these hard economic times, everyone's feeling the pinch. Some farmers have started downsizing to miniature cows.

No Working No Die

dersins — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:13:57 -0800

Unemployment: good for the heart and the soul. "In studies over the past 10 years, Ruhm has consistently found death rates decline during recessions and rise when the economy expands. If unemployment rises 1 percent, he estimates the death rate will fall by about half a percent."