Recession

Puttin' on that holiday mailbag, recession-style

Christmas, they say, comes but once a year and while this is good news for our wallets, it's probably a bit of a bummer for the snail-mail guys. For it's during this season that all kinds of business people haul out their paper envelopes, cards and stamps and set the air a-humming with jolly wishes. There seem to be fewer such this year, which is either a sign of the MORE

Where there's no post-Christmas slump

I read today that another bunch of analysts have emerged to tell us there's going to be a disappointing end to a slack holiday shopping season. I can report, however, that there is no post-Christmas slump in at least one location.

Things we can cut

Are you aware that there was a time in American history when you could go to a restaurant, order a meal, and not receive a sprig of something inedible and obnoxiously green on your plate? Why don't we start there. People who like parsley, mache or other sheep food can order it. Total cost savings to the nation: $157 million.

We could do away immediately, as far as I'm concerned, with MORE

It's official! The recession is here!

The National Bureau of Economic Research of Cambridge, Mass., which I personally have never heard of until yesterday, has declared that we are in a recession, thereby capturing the No, Duh trophy of the decade.

What recession?

Last Friday, after a Thanksgiving filled with good cheer, grog and incessant radio and television spots screaming about unprecedented buying opportunities, I asked myself: Who are these numbskulls who get up at dawn to purchase a flat screen TV?

Recession? Inflation? Help is on the way!

Why are we now required to read up on strategies for both recession and inflation? This seems unfair to me. I would like to be worried about only one economic armageddon at a time. I realize these things come in threes, though. Recession. Inflation. What's next?