From the job search blog reCareered, a list of the top employers hiring this week: The hospitality, business services, retail, defense, health care, telecommunications, and banking verticals are the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ leading job boards… Total Job Openings by direct advertisers (recruiters & [...]

Who says reality TV shows are out of touch? Miss Pink Slip is a “34-year old formerly unemployed girl in Atlanta,” who writes about reality TV, the Super Bowl, Oscar nominations — pretty much anything in the entertainment world — and finds a way to connect it to the economy. She poured her slightly snarky [...]

If you’re against the health care bill now languishing/on life support in Congress, or the economic stimulus bill passed by Democrats, by all means send us your response to the following. And if it’s reasonably cogent, you’re due some equal time… But this here Craigslist post, reproduced on Economists Do It With Models, is a [...]

Speaking of gambling…from a paper titled “Loving a bad bet: Factors that induce low-income individuals to purchase state lottery tickets,” presented at the 2008 American Economic Association annual meeting. According to the paper, despite state lotterys having the worst odds of any form of legalized gambling, “low income individuals spend a higher percentage of their [...]

On Super Bowl betting, from The Sports Economist: The Saints beat the Colts 31-17 for their first Super Bowl victory. It was a thrilling win, with the outcome in doubt until Tracy Porters’ 74 yard “pick six” with 3:12 left in the game and the Colts driving for the potential tying score. The other big [...]

Let’s start the week with a little severe-economic-downturn-humor, courtesy of Maxine, found via the blog Economists Do It With Models. Think Jay Leno after he’s really given up… More bad-economy Maxine here…

Interesting post from a laid-off journalist confronting the realities of being a stay-at-home mom for the first time. From Los Angeles Moms Blog:

Unemployment puts new spin on feminism – Laura Clark

I have always rebelled against domesticity.

Maybe it was growing up with a single mom who worked. Maybe it was the fact that I can barely boil water without the risk of third-degree burns or something really bad. But maybe it’s because I was hell-bent on becoming a “career woman” while still developing ovaries in the womb.

Remember that public debate last week between Obama and congressional Republicans? From the New York Times: The encounter at a Baltimore hotel was unlike any of Mr. Obama’s presidency or very many other presidencies, for that matter. While he met with the Republican caucus once before and occasionally invites Republican leaders to the White House, [...]

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

A post on the legal blog Lowering the Bar comments on a judge’s ruling that a $125,000 plaintiffs’ attorney fee be paid in the same $10 gift cards he “won” for his clients.