The XX Factor

Recession Briefing 6.29

Just as many children of the Great Depression learned to hoard money in their houses, today’s children will develop financial habits based on what they learn from parents coping with the recession . ( Chicago Tribune )

With nearly one of 10 U.S. workers unable to land a job in the current economic conditions, some unemployed cubicle warriors with sudden free time are succumbing to wanderlust. ( USA Today )

The recession is causing some unhappy couples to rethink their marital situation, since a costly divorce would only further deplete already-shrunken assets. ( Wall Street Journal )

Five U.S. banks with total assets of about $1.04 billion were seized by regulators Friday, pushing this year’s tally of failures to 45 as a recession drives up unemployment and home foreclosures. ( Bloomberg )

We’re not undergoing one uniform recession nationwide . The effects on our 100 largest metropolitan areas have ranged from glancing blow to body slam. ( Los Angeles Times ) That’s why you may not be feeling the recession–or the recovery. ( Recessionwire )

The total number of rich people is back down to levels not seen since 2005. But  a coming boom in emerging market billionaires, led not surprisingly by the Chinese, is expected to kick those numbers up again quickly.  ( Newsweek )

Bernie Madoff, the man behind the biggest Ponzi scheme ever, will find out this morning how many years he will spend behind bars. ( MSN Money )

General Electric, the world’s largest industrial company, has quietly become the biggest beneficiary of one of the government’s key rescue programs for banks. ( Washington Post )

The administration portrays its mortgage program as a crucial piece of its broader effort to restore vigor to the economy. Yet in the four months since the Treasury Department announced the program, millions of new homeowners have slipped into delinquency and foreclosure. ( New York Times )

More struggling cities are canceling plans for fireworks on the 4th of July. ( Los Angeles Times )