In the past week, I have had two men, ages between 25 and 50, show up at my front door and ask if I have any money I can spare or any jobs for them to do.I have lived in the same town for 23 years, and these are the first two times that has happened. In other words, I went through the circa 1990 recession, the dot com bust, and the post September 11 recession. This recession is a whole 'nother thing. Read Full Story

Yesterday afternoon the boss called to announce a meeting today, providing no other details. Since their contract is with Gannett, I did a quick Google News search and found that there will be company-wide one-week, unpaid furloughs for all non-union employees between now and the end of March. The union employees are being asked to consider a similar move.OK, well, I thought, they're probably passing on that one-week furlough to us. It will be a pain in the arse, but we can deal with it.W... Read Full Story

After a lot of contemplation, I've come to the conclusion that there is no reason whatsoever for anyone to care about my take on politics and economics - particularly economics.My own financial situation has deteriorated greatly over the past two years. Getting economic exegesis from me would be like getting legal advice from someone who has gone from being a two-bit shoplifter to being a murderer. They know the subject from one side, but that's not the side anyone cares about.I plan ... Read Full Story

So, yesterday was another day of reckoning. As in, "I reckon I could save some money by getting rid of satellite TV." It was $56.00 a month, and since the presidential election is over, I haven't been watching it that much.I called up DirecTV to cancel, knowing that they would beg me to stay, empathize, and whatever other soothing emotions one can convey while reading from a script. The lady that took my call was named "Gracie," and yes, she was very kind.She also sou... Read Full Story

Maybe it's just me, but it feels like we're all cautiously dipping our toes into 2009, wondering if it really will be a little warmer and more welcoming than 2008, or if we're going to have to dive in and get as much unpleasantness over as possible.Here's an interesting headline from Barrons: "Get Out Now!" The title only refers to U.S. Treasury bonds. Barrons thinks that other bonds - municipal, corporate, etc. - are doing just fine, thank you. There's even a wa... Read Full Story

Perhaps there will be a psychological lift in the markets now that we're in a brand new year, with a brand new president on deck, and at least some awareness of where things went wrong. That could be the boost that makes everyone decide to place maybe a little trust in the institutions that determine whether we get to retire or not. But then again, 2008 may have been bad enough that some more time will have to pass before that happens.If you ask different people what "the problem&quo... Read Full Story

Wow, talk about ungrateful. I mean you know how much we Americans like you and want to be like you.And we asked you nicely if you would pretty please take our Guantanamo detainees off our hands. So why are you refusing?Sure, these are men who have been locked up for years, some without being charged with any crimes, and yeah, they might be a little miffed about that. But I betcha that within a few months of being released you'll easily be able to tell which ones are cool and which ones a... Read Full Story

Bernard Madoff who?Bernard made off with all your money, so you're screwed. Happy New Year!The list of victims of Bernard Madoff's scheme is long and varied, ranging from actor Kevin Bacon to retirees in Florida to the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto.If you think about it, though, isn't the whole subprime crisis of 2007-2008 (and maybe-2009) its own kind of Ponzi scheme? Investors in mortgage backed securities came to rely on people coming in and buying those investments from... Read Full Story

First, I want to send a special shout out to my JS friends who are now following me here. I love you all, and I couldn't have kept as much of my sanity as I have the past two years if not for you. Welcome!OK, on with my totally unscientific roster of the top stories of 2008.#5. McCain campaign implodes. By late 2007, everyone was writing John McCain off as just another Republican candidate in a large field. And yet, he came back, as if from the dead, and took the lead in 2008. But it wasn... Read Full Story

Picking up from where we left off yesterday, here are #10 through #6.10. Lehman Brothers goes bankrupt. Beware the Ides of September: on September 15 of this year, Lehman Brothers announced it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The government decided not to step in as they had with other entities that were considered "too big to fail," and at that point, the panic got an order of magnitude worse. October was waiting in the wings, saying, "You ain't seen nothing yet."... Read Full Story