Is having babies recession-proof?

Susan Newman has an interesting discussion about whether having babies is recession-proof or not:

The economic crisis is giving couples pause before deciding whether to have or delay having another child. The global economic slowdown is hurting almost everyone in one way or another. Massive layoffs throughout the country make planning to have a baby tenuous at best. I wonder if having babies is recession-proof.

Is recession behind spike in bank robberies?

A rash of bank robberies in New York has the city’s police commissioner worried that criminals have turned banks into “virtual cash machines” and some wondering whether tough economic times are fueling the trend.

On Monday alone, robbers targeted five banks in the Big Apple, some striking in broad daylight and near famous landmarks.

Unemployment and Recession taking United States of America to insolvency

A shocking report at AlterNet reveals that at least 12 states of USA are on the brink of insolvency. In 20 other states, the funds have lost value, even before the big job losses of the past two months.

Rumor: MicroSoft Cutting Jobs

Has Microsoft struck by recession? Mini Microsoft Blog speculates M$ cutting at least 54 jobs from product groups and 10% of its fiance department. But these are all rumors, unless proven otherwise.

The D-Day is supposed to be January 15, so you can have your X-mas and new year’s eve in peace.

You know its Recession when Silicon Valley shuts down for Christmas

Workers at some of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies will find themselves spending an uncommonly long time with their families this Christmas as the technology industry responds to the downturn with office and factory closures and enforced holidays.

At least one job ticked off every 10 seconds

Nicolas Cage took just a minute to vanish away with one car in the 2000 Hollywood blockbuster ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’, but the jobs seem to be disappearing at a faster rate, with companies laying off at least one employee every 10 seconds to cut costs and fight the economic crisis.

So far in December, companies across the world have announced at least 1.15 lakh job cuts – a figure which translates into an average of more than 8,200 people being laid off a day or about six every one minute (60 seconds).

In reel scenes, the plot might have been thrilling but in real sequences, the story is getting gloomy, with lay-offs happening across diverse sectors – right from finance to electronics to mining, to name a few.

While the financial crisis cost more than 30,000 jobs in the first week of December, the number nearly trebled to touch about 85,000 in the following seven days.

More than one-third of the layoffs happened in the US, which has already seen a stunning 5,33,000 job losses in November alone.

UAE Poised For Two-year Slump

The UAE is poised for two years of slow economic growth as its property sector is hit by the global financial crisis and banks rein in expansion, the central bank governor said.

Growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter would fall to low-single-digit levels in 2009 and 2010, Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi said, as an economic boom spurred by six years of high oil prices comes to a close.

Still, a slump in the booming property sector would be limited as the country continues to adopt an expansionary fiscal policy, although it will take steps to ring-fence its banking system, Al Suwaidi said.

UAE economic growth will fall by more than half in 2009 to 3.1 per cent from 7.5 per cent this year on lower oil output and slowing consumer spending, EFG-Hermes said yesterday.

Tourism would also slow and force hotels to cut room rates, he warned.