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Times Richest and Neediest

Last week, we put out a call for a parody of the "Feel the Crunch" series  in the New York Times. Here is our favorite, by Elizabeth Lazar of Chicago:

"As the Recession Worsens, Rich Teens Show Character"

This fall, Morgan Wellington began her senior year of high school much like the other privileged students at Kenilworth High, on Chicago's suburban North Shore. Her parents were providing a weekly allowance to cover basics such as a spa regimen, bento-box lunches and gas to cover the strenuous 8-block school commute.

But in October, Morgan's dad lost his top-paying job managing his father's investment firm, Wellington Fund in the Loop. He was forced to take a lower-ranking executive position with more hours and less pay at the nearby Wellington Family Foundation. Morgan's life changed almost overnight.

First to go was the school morning spa ablutions, a daily package which included black-soap body cleansing, steam room, deluge of freezing water, Spanish-whirlpool followed by a brief massage.

"I had to start showering at home twice a week," said Morgan, who is 17. "At first it was really hard and my pore size almost doubled, but now I'm totally used to it. I've gotten really good with the exfoliator."

It is impossible to quantify how many hyper-affluent parents have pruned allowances in recent months—or how many of their offspring, in turn, have adjusted their lifestyles to meet the stringent terms of the newly pared budgets. But interviews with dozens of North Shore teenagers, parents and teachers suggest that many youngsters in the area seem to have developed a new work ethic as the economic crisis that has jeopardized their parents' investments has also led to reduced spending money for after-school shopping sprees at the local Marc Jacobs or study-group hangs at the Michelin 5 corner spot up the street.

"I told my friends just to meet me in my home library wing for exam crams because by the end of the week I was starving and couldn't afford anything on the menu except the veal carpaccio appetizer. I was embarrassed at first, but my friends have been really supportive."

OMG: Katie Couric Interviews Sarah Palin

Here's the interview on the economy, and here's the interview on foreign policy. Total viewing time is about eight minutes.

I am speechless. She cannot possibly be this uninformed. You absolutely have to see these for yourself to believe them. These are self-mocking; they could be SNL appearances. Tina Fey couldn't possibly improve on this.

This is why they've been keeping her under wraps.

Opting Out vs. Being Forced Out

The New York Times just posted an interesting story about women dropping out of the work force. It says that many economists now think that the supposed "opt out" movement has less to do with women's alleged desire to leave the work force and more to do with America's economic downturn. On Tuesday (tomorrow), a new congressional study will lay out all the data. As the Times reporter summarizes it:

The women, in sum, are for the first time withdrawing from work with the same uniformity as men in their prime working years. Ninety-six percent of the men held jobs in 1953, their peak year. That is down to 86.4 percent today. But while men are rarely thought of as dropping out to run the household, that is often the assumption when women pull out.

As Heather Boushey, an economist who's written a lot about the opt-out movement, observes, women who lose their jobs and can't get another say that they're staying home with the kids—the implication being that saying so saves face. Whereas for a man that's not the case. Another economist observes that women's median wages have dropped since 2004. She notes that this is a relatively new experience for women in the work force—not since the 1970s has there been so prolonged a decline—perhaps making women more reluctant than their male peers to accept lower wages.