In a speech today in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said that the economy is a lot worse since the last time central bankers got together for their annual nature retreat and economic conference. Growth hasn’t picked up enough, the unemployment rate is still, um, excessive, and banks are still having Read More
April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
–T.S. Eliot, “The Waste Land”
We can’t remember the last time poetry bubbled up from Read More
Nannies and housekeepers to the rich are the latest casualties of the crumbling economy, as the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal simultaneously reported today.
As wealthy professionals forgo bonuses, get laid off, and take pay cuts, they are also cutting back on "the help." Many Read More
Usually at this time of year, there is a little flutter of excitement as one confronts one’s closet: all those layers and accessories necessitated by the slight snap in the air; the contemplation of the long party season begetting a kind of dream shopping space that doesn’t end till January. But in fall 2008?
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From a report released earlier this week by the city’s Independent Budget Office:
Although the recent economic data for New York City are ambiguous, IBO is forecasting that a local recession is imminent, if it has not begun already. While we expect the city to enter the recession later than the rest of the country, Read More
