I took a different angle last week for my assessment on when the recession would end with a look at Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s prognosis of the economy. Before Schmidt, I had broken down and analyzed a lot economists’ forecasts. I had taken a look at recession inventions like staycations and cheap treats. For the first time, I selected a perspective of a prominent business leader outside of financial services. 

Schmidt said that the worst of the recession is over, but I say the jury’s still out. The worst of the recession seems to be over for Google, and that is welcome ...read more

For last week’s Recessionwire feature, I wrote a recap of readers’ feedback with regards to when they thought the recession would end. I mentioned that themes of jobs, college tuition, and real estate weren’t surprising to read but that the responses really put human faces to the recession. The challenges we face are so different, and we can all get caught in our own personal struggles and experiences of the highs and lows of the economic downturn. The responses served as reminders that we’re all in it together, whether we like it or not. Might as well try to make lemonade out of lemons.

For last week’s Recessionwire feature, I analyzed the coupon craze in terms of what it means for societal norms going forward. I assess whether clipping coupons would or wouldn’t be part of the new normal and why or why not. In the end, I say that easy cost cutting tricks will be here to stay but the more labor intensive ones will become history. There’s no reason not to continue smart cost cutting habits, especially for things like discount codes that are really easy to find. However, with regards to other practices that take a lot more time and effort to make a difference like clipping ...read more