Here’s an animated map of unemployment rates by county from January 2007 to the present. As the map turns from lighter (more employed) to darker (less), you get a good sense of the economy’s deterioration. Click on the map and hit play to see it do its thing. More visuals: Health care reform explained on [...]

Welcome back everyone. You lived through Thanksgiving, and Black Friday. But just 3 1/2 more weeks till Christmas. Better get clicking, for today is: CYBER MONDAY! From Wikipedia: The term “Cyber Monday” is a neologism invented by Shop.org, part of the U.S. trade association National Retail Federation. It was first used within the ecommerce community [...]

Click on an image to see it full size. More photos here.

If you’re starting your holiday shopping tomorrow and are looking for bargains, check these sites… BlackFriday.info BlackFriday.com BlackFriday.net Black Friday 2009 Gottadeal.com Google search: Black Friday ads Related post: Buy Nothing Day

A list of our top ten most popular posts to date: Health care reform explained – on the back of a napkin – well, a series of napkins, but still quite impressive Funny unemployment photos – from the blog Unemploymentality Friday photo gallery – images courtesy of The Great Recession Repaired Things – the blog [...]

As most consumers with an early eye on holiday shopping know, the day after Thanksgiving is also known as Black Friday.” On that day, savvy purchasers arise at 4 a.m., attire themselves in running shoes, flak jacket, and football helmet, and brave the vast hordes of salivating shoppers intent on scoring a dirt cheap price for their desired merchandise.

Yes, it’s easy to be snide. But in the midst of this brutal recession, with 10% unemployment, who can blame beleaguered Americans for seizing any opportunity they can to achieve some semblance of their former lifestyle while still meeting their dwindling budgets? Plus the economy needs that holidays’ jolt. Early scenes from the mall have not been encouraging.

Earlier this year Austin and Brian Chu hit the road to document the effects of the country’s worst economic downturn in 70 years on communities in all 50 states.

In September, they held a free screening in San Francisco for their finished film. “I didn’t want people to have to buy a ticket to see a recession film,” he said in an interview. “It didn’t make sense to me.”

Check out the photos from the trip and these video clips.

Sifting through the seemingly infinite number of blogs devoted to the misery of long-term unemployment can be depressing (though probably not as depressing as actually being unemployed). So it’s nice to read one of the rare posts about a blogger actually landing a job and the method she used in doing it. Some excellent concrete steps to take here, from the blog Magnificent Soar:

On Boston Gal’s Open Wallet, a blog of the “ongoing chronicle of a single 30-something Bostonian who is seeking enlightenment and control of her Net Worth,” Boston Gal writes about the factors that helped create a “financial neurotic,” as she calls herself: I learned at an early age that while I could be too sick [...]

From the blog Pink Slips are the New Black: Inappropriate Comment of the Day: “You want to be unemployed.” -My dad Dear Dad, Contrary to your belief, I don’t want to be unemployed. In fact, I would love nothing more than to have a job to go to Monday through Friday, or hell, even Tuesday [...]