Recession 101 Billboards: Amusing or Annoying?

Ad man Charlie Robb says that the anonymous client who thought up the series of "Recession101" billboards appearing all over the nation "wants people to quit freaking out about the economy."

The campaign (which consists of over 1,000 billboards) is now sponsored by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, which spends $400 million each year on public service campaigns.

Other "Recession 101" messages include:

- "Don't switch to cheaper scotch. Drink slower."

- "Nobody can repossess your future."

-"Bill Gates started Microsoft during a recession."

- “The only downturns comparable to this were in: 1797, 1807, 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893, 1907, 1918, 1929, 1937,1945, 1948, 1953, 1957, 1960, 1969, 1973, 1980, 1981 1990, 2001 and… Hmm? …never mind.” and

- "Interesting thing about recessions... they end."

Personally, I can't help but find it a little annoying that some guy with the time and money to spend on a frivolous campaign feels entitled to tease others - who may have, oh, recently lost their jobs or houses - for feeling a little desperate.

The Death of Macho in the Great He-cession

Of all the factors that might correlate with overconfident investment in financial markets (age, marital status, socioeconomic upbringing, education) the most obvious factor is simple, small, and impossible to control. It's the Y chromosome. At least that's what behavioral finance economists Brad Barber and Terrance Odean demonstrated in 2001 with their study on "gender, overconfidence, and common stock investment" ("Boys Will Be Boys.")

For years, macho bravado in this country has been artificially supported - subsidized, you could say - by U.S. economic policy. As Reihan Salam notes in "The Death of Macho," the now-popped housing bubble translated during its apex into bubbles of construction jobs - and with them unrealistic, unsustainable job security and pay for the over ten million men employed by that industry. The boom in the housing market also meant inflated income in sectors like cement production, truck transport, and architecture - also male dominated fields.

And now, accordingly, the recession is having its greatest effect on men. More than 80 percent of job losses in the United States since November have fallen on men, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. All told, by the end of 2009, the global recession is expected to put as many as 28 million men out of work worldwide, projects Salam.

But subsidized machismo goes all the way back to the New Deal, when a huge effort was made to revive the figurehead of the male breadwinner, who had been kicked in the balls by the Depression. This effort was made at the general expense of women, who were sent to the kitchen and expected to be happy with the "economic security" provided by their government-employed husbands. Essentially, as historian Stephanie Coontz writes in her book, The Way We Never Were, women were promised economic security in exchange for the state’s entrenchment of male economic power.

Well, the false sense of security generated by all that contrived support for the male ego backfired, as now men are not only unemployed (again) but also undereducated (statistics indicate that soon there will be three female college graduates for every two male graduates in the United States) and psychologically ill-equipped to deal with unemployment.

So the US can expect to see a whole bunch of bummed-out bros in the years to come. But to what effect? Well, an increase in rates of heavy drinking, for one, says Social Science & Medicine magazine, and also decreased rates of marriage, which has been found by Economist Eric D. Gould to be a factor that correlates with both economic and educational achievement in men.

So as the Recession barrels on, slapping everyone it meets with a nice fat reality check, the “macho” man can choose to adapt or to resist, to evolve or to be left behind and rendered historically obsolete. The choices men make may divide them geographically or culturally, by religion or by class. Only time will tell, and we can only hope that more dudes than not choose to embrace the death of macho.

Recession Weddings: Party Like its $19.99

Well, it is now officially wedding season, which for many a lovestruck 20-something means stress, starvation, pain, tears, and, above all else, debt.

The average cost for U.S. weddings peaked in 2007 at an unbelievable $28,000 - this is enough dough for a down payment on a house, a brand new car, or a romantic cruise for two around Europe - ten times over. And all of this is spent in one measly day!

So far in 2009 the average is down to $22,000 and falling, due to the recession slapping some sense into the wedding-crazed. Here are some popular cost-saving tips making the rounds.

Don't give out party favors. This isn't a 3rd grade birthday party where your guests are little goobers desperate to prolong their sugar high with a doggy bag of cheap candy. Wedding favors are a recent invention, and are not necessary or even appreciated - most are left behind on the table.
Do your own music - a professional wedding band can cost anywhere from 2,400 to over $5,000. Save it for the honeymoon (or your rent) by plugging an ipod into some good speakers. This also allows you to avoid all of the unknowns that come with a wedding band (think bitter Adam Sandler singing "Love Stinks" to the happy couple in Wedding Singer.)
Never say "bridal." Retailers salivate at the word, because it means the stakes are high and you will pay whatever it takes to find the right whateveritis. That makes you, my friend, the sucker. "Bridal" shoes typically cost twice as much as regular dress shoes that could easily fit a wedding theme, and don't even get me started on the "bridesmaids." Its almost impossible to find "bridesmaid" dresses for less than $300, and no one wants to wear OR see a "bridesmaid" dress anyway! Use your imagination and find some nice dresses (no taffeta or pastels) without the "bridesmaid" label. Shh, no one will know.
Barter. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. When money is short, kick it pre-capitalism style and exchange goods for services. See if any of the wedding vendors have a use for one of your many skills and talents, or offer to advertise their services on your wedding program for a discount.
The Dress. Many brides are not willing to compromise when it comes to The Dress, but wedding dresses are sometimes the most expensive element of the whole affair (the average dress is $1,000 and many are upwards of $4,000) Buy a second hand dress and you could save half. Encorebridal.com and PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com are two popular sites but their prices are still outrageous - BravoBride is a better bet if you actually want to spend less than $500.

Drink Your Cab Fare

If you find it impossible to think of a single reason to leave Brooklyn for a drink, let alone venture above 86th, this one's for you.

Take a cab to the Village Pourhouse on 109th and Amsterdam and the bar will reimburse you for your cab fare in the form of a bar tab!

You will still have to pay for a cab ride home, of course, but by then you'll be too drunk off of semi-free booze to care! Pish posh, credit card payments...

Got Skills?

While the over-educated masses sit around on their butts desperate for work and cursing their expensive, seemingly useless degrees, a certain population of U.S. workers can't even keep up with their job offers.

The New York Times reports that companies and contracters looking to hire experienced skilled labor are having trouble filling the positions -- it took one manager 18 months to find the 80 welders he needed for one particular project.

Those who are looking to retrain for a new skill in order to dive back into that job market should consider the following, according to the Times: welding; critical care nursing; electrical lining; special education; geotechnical engineering; repiratory therapy; and civil engineering. Nurses, as always, are also in demand, but slightly less so than in recent years, partly because many are coming out of retirement back into the work force since the recession hit.

But, however wise it may be to get some training now, this immediate opening in the job market is not for recent vocational school graduates Most of the jobs going unfilled right now require skills that take years to attain, and in some cases employers even demand ten years of experience before considering a resume. Plus, according to one Oregon-based research firm, often times those who have the vocational training necessary for these jobs do not have the educational background that employers seek in filling demanding and high-paying skilled labor jobs- so getting an academic education first is not a waste of time, but instead a means to reach the upper level and higher paying of skilled labor jobs.

No Overhead = Gourmet for $10 per Head

It all started in a taco truck.

What is now a growing phenomenon of "nonrestaurants" in the bay area got its start with one guy named Anthony Myint. He was a line cook with a dream, a dream that one day he would get out from behind that hot and sweaty grill, escape the monotony of an established restaurant, and run - or drive, as it were - his own damn kitchen!

Myint decided to sublet a local taco truck - the cost of which was low enough to allow him to dive right in without too much planning or paperwork. Working out of that truck a couple nights a week, he started to create original, delicious sandwiches and sell them on the street in San Francisco's Mission District.

The mobile venture was so cheap in fact that Myint could afford to use only excellent, eco-friendly, local and generally P.C. ingredients - and for this he gained huge popularity with the crunchy foodies that abound in the Bay area.

The truckstaurant eventually could not meet the demand for Myint's creations, so he moved on to sublet a local Chinese restaurant for use two nights a week, with the help of his wife. To their own amazement, the (semi?)restaurant continued to turn a major profit, week after week. The couple decided that they would, after paying themselves a modest hourly wage, donate the rest of their proceeds to food-related charities.

They hope that what they've done will be profitable enough to really catch on as a business model, and that the idea of having a restaurant (or other business) that directly benefits the community will come to be so popular that it will be its own marketing strategy. Whether or not this happens, and I hope that it does, the idea is also a great way for restaurants and other small business to deal with decreased demand and profit during the recession - giving up their lease and sharing that of another restaurant, for example, and using the space on alternating nights.

Mission Street Food now has a blog, where they advertise their special events, favorite food charities, and menu. Some delicious-sounding and creative selections from the latter are: a pork belly jicama salad, shrimp and grits, smoked duck beignets, and a buttermilk panna cotta dessert. All of these at only $6 - $8 each!