Economy

Are Americans Experiencing Frugality Fatigue?

Posted November 4, 2009 - 06:00 by Sierra Black

Shopping

shopping

Are Americans suffering from "frugality fatigue"? After a year of tightened belts and tighter fists, we're reaching for our wallets again and returning to our bad old ways. Or so the theory goes.

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It's Time to Purchase Like It's 1999

Posted October 9, 2009 - 08:00 by Stacy Johnson

Real Estate and Housing, Investment

For those who have a job, a healthy savings account and some optimism about the long-term, it doesn’t get any better than this. Opportunity in the form of lower prices doesn’t knock all that often: if you have the wherewithal, my advice is to answer the door.

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5 Creative Ways to Invest During a Weak Market

Posted September 23, 2009 - 08:00 by Silicon Valley Blogger

Investment

With the stock market finally recovering to some degree this past month, even closing at highs for the year, a lot of investors may be breathing a sigh of relief about their stock investments. You may have checked your investment account recently and discovered your balance looking a bit healthier than it did several months ago. But given the volatility we've seen over the past year or so, can we really trust that the markets are reflecting a true recovery in our economy, or is this just a technical bounce?

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Walking the Tight Rope of Financial Recovery: The Mental Game

Posted August 11, 2009 - 12:00 by Sarah Winfrey

Personal Finance

Tight rope walker

Though some economists are tentative and a few disagree outright, the majority of people in the know believe that the worldwide recession has hit rock bottom and we are now, slowly but surely, climbing our way out of the financial doldrums and back into prosperity. Now we have to discover a way to walk a tightrope of a middle line—to actively embrace the recovery while still living with the present mess and acknowledging that fact that we might not erase its effects for quite a while.

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Will "forced frugality" last?

Posted July 18, 2009 - 09:00 by Xin Lu

Frugal Living, Lifestyle

Lately I have been hearing about the concept of "forced frugality" from the media and my peers. Many colleagues and family members say that they feel a need to be frugal in this economic climate due to job loss and investment losses. With this shift to frugality it seems that shopping at thrift or dollar stores is suddenly trendy. However, will this new wave of frugality last?

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Book review: Life Inc.

Posted July 7, 2009 - 14:24 by Philip Brewer

Consumer Affairs, General Tips

Cover of Life Inc

Corporations were invented a few hundred years ago--created to increase the wealth and power of favored businessmen (and the governments that favored them). They have become such a universal feature of our economy that few people give much thought to their origins--or how our economies are structured to suit them. But exactly that is the topic of Douglas Rushkoff's new book.

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The new normal economy

Posted June 30, 2009 - 05:34 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance, Frugal Living

Chairs and table on the beach

The economy is way short of full employment, so naturally, consumer spending is down. Sooner or later employment, I think, will return to normal levels. Consumer spending will return to normal too--but don't look to the first half of this decade as "normal." Normal is something very different.

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How Your Small Business Can Survive the Recession

Posted May 12, 2009 - 18:21 by Greg Go

Small Business Resource Center, Entrepreneurship

recession

By most accounts, this is going to be a long recession, and we’re still on the downward slope. As a small business owner, you will be forced to make drastic moves to survive. As you get your company into survival mode, keep in mind that the secret to surviving a down economy is cashflow.

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Economic effects of pandemic flu in a recession

Posted April 25, 2009 - 17:07 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance, Health and Beauty

Flu masks in Mexico

While health authorities worry about the human cost of pandemics, other policy-makers have tended to focus on the economic costs. Economic impact takes many forms--drops in production as workers stay home, drops in commerce as shoppers avoid crowded places, drops in tourism as travelers avoid affected areas. Does the current economic crisis make us more vulnerable than usual, if the swine flu outbreak in Mexico and a few US cities goes pandemic?

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Do You Live In One Of America’s Most Foreclosure-Ridden Towns?

Posted April 23, 2009 - 12:40 by Paul Michael

Real Estate and Housing, Investment, Consumer Affairs

Foreclosure

I’ve seen several houses in my area go into foreclosure over the last 12 months. The economy and over-inflated housing prices, coupled with predatory lenders and some very bad decision-making, have turned something that was once quite rare into a full-blown epidemic. But some places are having it worse than others; much worse. Do you live in one of those unfortunate towns? You're about to find out.

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