Video starring the characters from the Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer Christmas special…

You know what might get me to cut down on my purchases and stay within a budget? Making a rule that I actually had to draw what I bought. Artist Kate Bingaman-Burt has been doing just that since 2002. She posts and archives illustrations of everything she buys on Obsessive Consumption. One commenter on the [...]

…but not in the way you think. What with the Fed printing money like it’s Parker Brothers, the dollar ain’t what it used to be. Yet, it’s also so much more, thanks to master of origami Won Park. The site Design Inspiration has posted a couple of dozen photos of Park’s creations — either one [...]

With jokes like “that’s like saying that tautologies are tautological,” not sure you’ll be seeing Yoram Bauman, Ph.D, aka The Stand-Up Economist, on Conan O’Brien (though Jay Leno may be willing to give him a whirl, at this point). In this video, he riffs on Greg Mankiw‘s classic textbook, Principles of Economics.

Some guest poems from the Wall Street Poet’s web site, including No Investor or a Broker Be by Karl Neice No investor or a broker be In times when future nigh As postwar doldrums see Us through 2025 Cash is king, long live its value Its liquidity, and interest free When deflation signs can tell [...]

Michael Silverstein is a financial writer and former senior editor for Bloomberg. But more recently, he’s known as The Wall Street Poet, writing market commentary in the form of satiricial verse. A regular contributor to Minnesota Public Radio, he also has his own web site, WallStreetPoet.com, featuring a substantial archive. Those in the know about [...]

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.

I’m way into Smigley. This one, called The Stimulus Package, is about as concise an indictment of late-2000s America as you’ll find, and the lead character’s obliviousness in the face of such a decline is almost chilling. More Smigley below ↓ or here.

Smigly is–unknowingly–having a bad day at the big bank. More Smigley below ↓ or here.

Haiku mania continues. Coming to us over the Facebook transom from Patricia Milton: The cash for clunkers program worked. Shiny new cars in foreclosed driveways.