Tag Archives: economy

Six months ago I asked, “How’s the recession treating you?” If you believe some of the talking heads, the economy has turned around a bit of late. Are you buying that? Has your personal situation improved or worsened in the last six months? How about your outlook?

The print death spiral continues. Today Conde Nast will announce the shuttering of its venerable Gourmet Magazine and three other titles. The magazine has suffered a severe decline in ad pages, but the cut still comes as a shock. There was speculation that Conde Nast would close one of its food titles — Gourmet or Bon Appétit — but most …

One of Time-Warner’s biggest shareholders has revealed that the company is planning to spin off its namesake magazine publishing unit. “Time Warner just spun off their cable division, they are going to sell their print division, they are going to spin off AOL and they’re just going to be Warner Brothers, HBO and the Turner Networks,” said Crawford, managing director …

Despite the delays, the cancellations, and the dangerously overcrowded skies, a newly-released poll shows that two-thirds of the residents of the 31-county NYC metropolitan area don’t support the building of a new airport. The survey found, over all, that respondents tended not to prioritize lower airfares or increasing the number of destinations reachable from the area’s airports. In fact, a …

Oooh WEEE! This is gonna be fun when the End Times folks get hold of it! The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said in a report published Monday that the U.S. dollar should be replaced as the world’s standard reserve currency, giving rise to a new global currency managed by an as-yet undetermined financial regulatory organization. Heiner Flassbeck, …

Listen, I love hyperbole as much as the next commie/homo/socialist on the internet, but this Huff Po headline is a million times worse than Hitler. Yes, banks have failed and more will fail. But “the end of a consumer economy”? As in the end of capitalism? Or something? Huh?

Embiggen the below graph to see how Forbes Magazine has ranked the stress levels of the 40 biggest metropolitan areas in the country, based on unemployment, housing prices, population density, air quality, and weather. Full chart here. Chicago is the most nerve-wracking, Austin is the least. My hometown of Orlando lands near the middle at 28.(Via – See My Briefs)

Freedom Communications, a sprawling media company comprising eight TV stations and more than 75 newspapers, including 30 dailies, is expected to declare bankruptcy this week. Freedom’s most well-known property is the Pulitzer-winning Orange County Register. The company will continue to operate as it reorganizes under bankruptcy protection. It’s just nonstop bad news for print anymore.

According to the second annual report from the Center For An Urban Future, the economic downturn has not hurt the number of national chain franchises in New York City, with 53 chains adding a total of 310 outlets and 62 chains closing 245 stores over the last 12 months. The most common stores in the five boroughs: 1. Dunkin’ Donuts …

Early this week, local news stations around New York delivered many heartwarming stories of low-income families reacting to a $200 per child windfall posted to the bank accounts of families receiving food stamps or welfare. The money, intended to buy back-to-school supplies, was authorized by Gov. Paterson and came from federal stimulus funds. Billionaire progressive George Soros contributed $35M of …

Rupert Murdoch, the largest owner of newspapers worldwide, says he plans to begin charging for access to all of their websites by next year. Stung by a collapse in advertising revenue as the recession shredded Fleet Street’s traditional business model, Murdoch declared that the era of a free-for-all in online news was over. “Quality journalism is not cheap,” said Murdoch. …

New York City’s Gay Men’s Chorus may have to disband unless its financial situation turns around quickly. Like so many nonprofit arts organizations in this economic downturn, we are hurting,” said Rick Clodfelter, Chairman of the Board of Big Apple Performing Arts, Inc., the umbrella organization for the NYCGMC. “Decreasing donations, limited resources and the rising costs of production make …

Trina Thompson just graduated from the Bronx campus of Monroe College this April. It’s now August and Thompson’s brand new bachelor’s degree hasn’t gotten her a job yet. So she is suing Monroe College for $70K, the complete cost of her tuition, saying they haven’t tried hard enough to find her employment. Not uncoincidentally, the first payments on Thompson’s student …

Openly gay California legislator Tom Ammiano’s bid to legalize and tax marijuana could come to the ballot in 2010. Right now 56% of voters in California favor legalization.

An unidentified man was found passed out in his underwear atop the Wall Street bull in the pre-dawn hours. Economic symbolism? Cruel party prank? Dejected trader?

Despite the miserable economy, the just-finished 2008-2009 Broadway season brought in a record $943M in ticket sales, more than any in the 24 years since collective records were kept. And the 2010 season looks promising. Once wary of the recession’s potential effect on tourists filling theater seats, Broadway producers have brightened their outlooks on the upcoming season, Variety reports. “It …

Discount Irish airline Ryanair made the news last week when they suggested they might start selling standing-only tickets for some of their shorter flights. A poll of the airline’s customers shows that almost half of their passengers would be willing to stand if the fare were cut by 50%. Under the proposal, passengers would lean on a stool or ledge …

NYC is 42 on the list. (Via – Derek Thompson)

Back in February, openly gay California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano proposed legalizing the sale of marijuana, a move tax experts predicted would bring in an annual $1B in desperately needed tax revenues. The tax experts were wrong. California tax officials have found that a state bill to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol would generate nearly $1.4 billion in revenue. A …